Road Ride Report Breathless Agony 2010

I did this ride 2 years ago. Missed it last year. Not sure why.
Beth signed up for it this year so I did too. A few weeks ago I was looking in my ride journal and came across my BA entry from '08. I finished the entry with;"DO NOT DO THIS AGAIN" Too late.

So due to some personal issues and injuries, I was unable to do the amount of training that is normally required for this type of event. Max miles:80. Max climbing:6000 ft. That was it for training.
Plus 10 days off the bike for a trip/work/injury recovery.

I planned on meeting Beth AKA Madame Dabalot at 6:30 but had to run back home after 15 minutes because I couldn't find my wallet. I arrived at 6:45 or 7? Not sure.

Hey guess what? Prius's can go 95 but not feel like it! :bang:

We got going by 7:15. Gorgeous day (as you all know) Got lost a bit and then finally got on track.
Felt pretty good. I was running a 39x27 and kept it in the 25/27 for the most part.

First rest stop I did some muffin diving and wolfed down 2 halves of different types of Costco muffin goodness.
Then things went south for me. Not sure why, but I started to hurt all over. The worst climb was coming up too. I could hear my heart beating and that freaked me out. So now I was suffering plus having anxiety.
I had already been dealing with gastrointestinal distress.
AKA farts and runs! Is this TMI? Sorry.:?:

On the climb to Oak Glen my legs seized up. My hands were numb, my back was spazzing, my neck hurt, it was hot and I could barely turn the pedals over. I was finished. I was miserable. Death ran next to me cheering me on and I gave him a feeble smile.
It was still a nice day though.
Somewhere at some point I took some Endurolytes. Those things are incredible. I have to assume that's what turned me around. That and Gu after Gu after Gu after Gu. If I ever see another Gu again....:-s
Something kicked in 3/4 of the way up Oak Glen climb.
Maybe because it went from 10% to 7%.
At the top the sweetest down hill on the ride S turned down..down..down. Now I knew I'd catch Beth. And I did.

It was pretty good after that. The ride up Damnation Alley to Angelus Oaks was made easier because I brought music. Not something I usually do on rides but I needed the stimulation from the lack of training.

So everything turned around for me! With a great tailwind and Pink,Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Garbage, Madonna, Gwen Stefani, old disco tunes and every other upbeat tune on my Ipod I danced and farted my way to the next rest stop. Beth came in a few minutes later and we hugged(like girls do) because we really didn't think we'd get this far.
Shot a PBJ and a Mountain Dew and more Endurolytes and off we went on the roller section. Saw a Jenks Lake sign and that brought back some good mountain biking memories.
More tunes. Legs felt good. Then the grind to Onyx summit. This is the section where I suffered so horribly 2 years ago.
But this was a reversal from 2 years ago. Then, I felt great on Oak Glen but suffered on the final climb.

At last the top!!:clap: Beth came in practically right behind me.
Brian AKA MTBMaven called out to me(such a handsome boy) and I sat with him and Red Hawk and Bergsteiger.
Oh yeah, I saw Bvader at the second rest stop but at that point I was recovering from my earlier horror. Hope you did well dude!

Ate strawberries and cookies and basked in the sun. Brian was sitting weird, but it turned out he was trying to avoid a rather large, large spider. It wanted shade I guess. I caught it and put it by a pine tree.

Thus begins the fun fun downhill. Except for the uphill sections. I sat on Brians wheel going down and he does have a fine boy butt to be behind as he gets into a tuck.

I decided to wait for Beth, so said bye to Brian but then lost Beth on the next downhill.
Then my front wheel went 'sproing'. I had a busted spoke! Wrapped it around another spoke and opened my brakes and cursed the luck on the fun downhill as I was now too spooked to go fast. But a catastrophic failure at 25 or 30 all work out to the same I guess. Didn't happen though! Thank you Beth for sticking with me.

Mexican food and cookies at the finish. 116 miles and 12,000 feet of climbing. :bang::clap:
Yeah, I'm proud I toughed it out! Beth is too. And all that finished should be also. Will I do this again? No!
Sorry about not having pics.
If you got this far,thanks for reading!

 

Great job Liz...nice to kind of meet you sort of (Steve) I was about 100 yards behind you on Damnation Alley then you just started to pull away, I stopped for water at the Forest Falls turn and never saw you again. I suffered from lack of training and I really felt it, not to mention a few extra lbs etc. It was opposite for me I was getting slower and slower and suffering more which is mostly opposite of my normal mode..stronger later in the ride.. I have a 39x27 which I have completed the whole ride on before but I swear I will never do I ride like that again without a compact crank. I made Angelus Oaks with time to spare (not much), but I could really feel my self starting to twitch / fade etc and was concerned I would get halfway to Onyx and bonk / fall apart...so I took my 3 passes and called it a day. Of course now after shower nap food etc..I am second guessing that decision but I am pretty sure it was the right one.

One thing , I am not sure how it was when you were descending but the wind on the decent was pretty sketchy...especially back on the Alley.

I had fun, it was a beautiful day and lots of good folks, I have some regrets about not pushing up to Onyx (and forgetting sunscreen on the back of my neck.. ouch) but all in all it was a good day for a ride.

So congrats...good on ya for all that finished.

Next year ... who knows?

 

I, for one, appreciate 'keeping it real'.

Breaking a spoke descending that road would have given me 'gastrointestinal distress'.

The late arrival to the start probably contributed to the situation. Nice to be able to overcome the obstacles like you did. Thanks for sharing.

 

This ride was a blast! I only like like 7 miles off part of the course, so I may do loops that are basically the 3 pass route on a more daily basis. I did not feel that the ride up the 38 was so dangerous (well it was for the idiots that like to ride in the middle of the road. This was my first group ride, I normally stay as far right as I can. Turns out a lot of roadies don't. Now I know why cars hate roadies so much!).

I was feeling good in the beginning, got pulled into some huge pack of riders that I felt was riding unsafe so I backed off and just stayed solo the whole ride. I thought Jack Rabbit was fun, not sketchy at all. People probably thought I was insane because I was going down the hill at the end at like 30mph. I felt super great going up Oak Glen, very strong. Said a joke to death, but I don't think he got it. Something like, "I am gonna kill you Death!" He is already dead though so how can I kill him? The descent was so fun. I was pushing the pace through all of the corners. My knees were practically dragging on the ground! After rest stop 2 I had problems though. I started up damnation alley and immediately felt tired (i think because I stopped a little too long at the rest stop and my legs got cold). Then, after like 2 miles or so I started cramping. So for the next like 3-4 miles I would ride like a third of a mile and cramp and stop and get off. I was riding with my HR at like 140 (I normally have a really high HR and 140 is really low for me, genetics I guess?). So that went on for a long time and I started thinking I was not going to be able to finish. It was still a long way to Angeles Oaks so I contemplated just turning around there. Well, I get to the forest falls turn off, finally, and re fill with some water. Keep riding, keep cramping. Then, while stopped on the side of the road I start talking to myself like all crazy people do and decide that I need to stop being a pansy and just ride hard. If I cramp up, just try and ride as long as I can and see if I can ride through my cramps, otherwise, I wont make the cut off at Angeles Oaks. So I take off, get my HR to a more familiar 160 bpm and strangely enough, no more cramps. I start pulling in more people, make it to Angeles Oaks. Rest there for a little too long again, and take off. Cramp a half mile after Angeles Oaks, but then am fine after that until about 3 miles from the summit. I cramped really hard, bummed a couple gels off a couple people and got to the top.

So, I learned a few lessons that day. Riding up in the mountains is a blast. I feel sorry for people who only ride the river trail, they are missing the best part of road biking, the part about being out on the open road, seeing all that there is to see. There were some pretty amazing views up there and a lot of those little waterfalls on the side of the road were breathtaking. I had a lot of time to notice with all of my cramp stopping. Another thing which lead to my demise was the whole crazy group in the beginning. I forgot to drink because I was freaked out from being in the big group. I don't think I drank anything until the Jack Rabbit trail. SO I already started out in a bad way. One more thing which I think caused problems was that I was not hydrated enough even when I was drinking. I had a bottle filled with 6 scoops of sustained energy that was supposed to be a multi hour bottle, but I would drink it more frequently than I should have, hoping it would give me more sodium so I would stop cramping, but I think it did the opposite. I think it was so concentrated that I wasn't getting enough water. After the forest falls water re-fill, I added water to my sustained energy and to my other bottle which was almost empty (but had a little bit of my motortab solution in it). So my bottles were both more diluted, almost plain water. After drinking a lot of plain water is when I started to feel better. One last thing I learned is that I don't have to take it easy and ride like a whimp to not cramp. As long as I keep my effort steady and if my nutrition stays up, I can continue to ride at a moderate (for me) heart rate.

I did take a few breaks along the way because I haven't have many super long rides in the saddle like that lately, most have been around 4 hours for me and I hadn't been seated the whole time like that, so my rear couldn't take it. I also need (and I mean NEED) to start using some type of chamois butter. Its getting painful on the long rides.

All in all, I loved the ride. I was struggling with the demons up damnation alley, but managed to overcome them and get to the top. Once my nutrition got better my cramps went away, for the most part.

Oh yeah, one final note. If you don't have you own gel and have to borrow one from someone else, they will give you the only flavor you HATE, but because you are cramping and need one super bad, you will have no choice but to use it. I bummed two gels off of two different people. The first one I got was a GU latte, which I hate coffee flavors. The second one I get was a Clif Shot Espresso, again, hate coffee flavors.

 

Wow what a great day! I went into the ride feeling well prepared. I did a little jog home from the metro station (~1.5 miles) on Thursday and not being a runner my calves were a bit tight. One minute on the bike and I didn't notice a thing. I spent my day riding mostly with Sean (Red Hawk) and Krisztian (Bergsteiger).



As usual I was slow on the first little climb but did a nice upper 20 mph pull on the stretch before the first sticker stop. From the first sticker stop to Jack Rabbit was pretty fast as well (probably a bit too fast but staying in a pace line was worth it). I was really happy with my 25mm Conti GP4000s on those torn up roads.



I don't know what people are talking about with jack Rabbit. There is nothing wrong with that road at all. Sure it's bumpy but not big deal at all. I really enjoyed Jack Rabbit and the views were amazing. I saw Ron (Endo Verendo) on the descent and several other times throughout the day.



There was a really bad crash on the new metal grates before Beaumont. Dude looked jacked, laying in a small pool of blood. He was conscious luckily. I hope he is ok.

The Oak Glen climb was interesting. I normally climb hunched over the bars using my hamstrings more. Yesterday I decided to sit more upright to use my quads more. My hamstrings were tired from the morning and switching things up really helped. It took a few minutes to find a groove but after that I was able to pound out a nice rhythm. The backside descent was fast and fun with big sweeping turns.



Damnation Alley was not so bad. Riding in large groups helped keep drives speeds down. Once the road widened I got dropped by my riding partners for a while. I settled into my upright position and rode my own ride. Not too far before Forrest Falls I pulled ahead of the guys (who I learned were not feeling too well).





I switched from music to my audiobook Wild Trees (about tree climbers searching for the world's largest sequoia trees). The climb to Forrest Falls seemed never ending but the rest of the climb to AO was excellent. AO came up much sooner than I expected. The news that Onxy was still like 20 miles further was not too nice.



Past AO the road was rolling for quite sometime which helped pass the miles. I managed to crank out the miles setting little mileage goals and staying mentally positive.








The party at the top was nice and luckily warm. I finally got to see Liz again. I don't think we have ridden since last summer on the ride up the Gab to Wilson. We all hung out for a while shooting the sh!t.



Liz and I descended together. Mike (Pain Freak) warned me not to chill on the descent so the legs don't cramp up for the climbs back to AO. So we pedaled most of the way down. Fast and fun!

On the descent past AO I was pulling a group of about 4 doing upper 30s when I looked down and noticed my Garmin had unclipped. I keep a USB battery pack in a Bento Box and run a small USB cable to my Garmin. The Garmin was flapping round dangling from the cable. Scary! Luckily nothing happened and I continued my descent after reinstalling the Garmin.

There were really strong headwinds after Forrest Falls. Through deep tucks or pedaling I could keep speeds in the upper 20 down low. I felt strong all the way to the finish.

I made it to Onxy in 7:15 total time and back to the car in 9:40ish. I was very happy with this performance. Now on to Heartbreak Hundred!

PS: Liz you are too kind.

 

Yeah, money well spent!

Well, leave it to Liz to pull me through another long ride! I think the late start really helped my head. We may have been some of the last people at the 12 mile cheater's checkpoint ( really people, cheating?). We were passed on Jack Rabbit trail and then were alone until we caught some guys we had been playing tag with on the fwy. I saw the blood puddle from the crash - no idea what it was at the time since it was brown by then. Things started to look up for me as Liz and I started up Oak Glen. We finally caught the early starters and passed a lot of people. There were no fast folk coming up behind us - they were all well ahead by now. That gave me confidence that I could finish so long as I didn't cramp or bonk. I was really careful about eating and drinking and made it through! Bvader, I know what you mean about second guessing and I didn't want to be there. But, I did tell myself I would turn around anytime it seemed prudent.

Thanks, Liz, for the pep talk before Oak Glen (Um, you are riding like shit and I don't like your attitude, can I dump you?) What a great motivator you are!:bang:

 

Still second guessing today, so Mdm Good on Ya,!!...and getting a little worse because I feel pretty good today, and all the RRs and pictures are great!, but the reality is I was in pretty searing pain yesterday and could not getover the top of my pedals on the way to Angelus Oaks, and I had not been on my road bike in ~2 months (other than the shortened tandem wildflower the week before), had been sick for the better part of a month, and all along I told myself I wasn't going to punish myself to death, not to mention for the most part I was riding alone. This was only my 2nd non-complete/DNF in the last 10 years...funny 1st was my first BA when Damnation Alley was nearly 100 degrees, and that is where it got it's name (can you hear the rationalization/convincing myself ) , So be it! .. but it is still a bit disappointing, maybe a little extra motivation will be a by product.

Sheewww cathartic whine over.

Oddly, I really did enjoy the ride at the same time...The weather was truly spectacular, and I too Like Jack Rabbit its fun, and strangely enough Oak Glen is painful but a fun climb and great decent.

I did see the aftermath of the wreck at the grates...not good! The guy was standing/leaning / a bit wobbly with the Amber Lances on the way, entire right side of his face was bloody and it looked like the grate took his fork and front wheel right off ... which was NOT a good mental image.

Funny the Mrs was glad I didn't destroy myself and by tonight I will be dreaming of soon to come trips to Sedona and Noble

Glad the rest of you really showed us how its done, and hope to see you all out somewhere again.

 

My gawd this is early to be up, omg- it's chilly, here we go, chase that big peloton so we can latch on, nevermind...wait for the train to pass, ok these guys don't know how to ride-drop em, Jackrabbit+road tubeless tires... weee!, Damnation Alley=beautiful climb+poppies, downhillllll weeeeeee!!!!!, here we go up again, tailwind!, up, crosswinds, up, up, up, up, seriously, still up?, rollers yay!, crap-this downhill means we just have to climb up again, almost there? Nope another 5 miles, ouch, 8000' so almost there, nope, up, up, up, ok you have to be joking? shut up, up up, uuuuuuuuup, made it! Lay down on the padded parking lot, cramp! eat, drink, cramp! Downhill, chilly, weeeeeee! headwind but fast still, weeeeee! Burrito.

 

I made it to the top - enough said...

it was a long day...snapped a couple lousy phone pics - perhaps you guys are in these. Congrats to all who made it or even attempted it!!

 

What do you guys think the total number of riders is that made it to the top? Is the list impressive?

 

Pretty sure that is Liz in the bottom right corner.

 

I am pretty sure, I see the spider.

 

Okay, so I decided I'd post my own report on this ride. It was a great route, I think I can't wait to try for it again next year. I failed to finish the ride, I came within 4 miles of the finish before I had to pull out. I'm having a problem with my sport drink not agreeing with me. Time to change it I guess. I started having problems well before I reached Mills ranger station, but I tried to push on. I was so sick feeling, that I couldn't eat, I got worse two hours later. I pushed so hard, that I found I was stopping every quarter mile to try and relax a moment. This went on for the near 20 miles with the exception of the areas I was able to hull ass through. But every climb beyond that felt like a mission. Oh, well next year I guess. Uh, I might take a year off from it so I can do the other rides I've been dying to try.

 

I don't get it? How'd you get to the top, SAG?
Didn't you ride down? Next year will be better for you.

 

the results: http://www.cyclingpros.com/Onyx1004.htm

 

Man...sucks when you think you do everything right and see the word "Penalty" next to your name...not the quickest in 6:24 to the top, but those 15 minutes make a top-100 time sound better than a top 150 time.

Good training, good people, good time though...but maybe I should train FOR the ride next year, instead of using the ride AS training.

 

Anyone notice anything weird about the person who got 100ths time? It only took him 25 minutes from rest stop 3 to the top.

 

Yeah, SAG car took me up. The guy was cool, he was trying to encourage me to keep riding the last of it. I was so tempted, but didn't want a 600 dollar ride to the hospital once I did reach the top. haha

 

Probably a typo...one of those gave me a 12-hr Temecula win until the error in the Excel formula was discovered.

 

Rockin' 235 place!