Gold Coast Ride for Literacy – Ventura and Santa Barbara: 04-28-2012

[herbm]

Originally Posted by Jaguar27

I will do it with you Guys!!

It's gonna be nice to stare at Herb's back wheel all Day

The last two Centuries I attempted, Tour de Palm Springs and Desert I did 57 and 51 miles respectively.

Could be third time a charm?

Would love to have you there Peter!!! the Mrs too....
this is an awesome ride!!
I give good draft!!!

[MarkAJ]

Challenging new routes this year.

Metric – 4K climbing
Century – 7.5k climbing
Double Metric – 9k climbing


UPDATE: I am not doing this ride. They are forcing you to buy a jersey and post-ride BBQ at $80.

3-2-2012: I am IN now. See post below.

[MarkAJ]

UPDATE: After flaming the event coordinator in an email they realized an error when they setup Acitve registration. I HAVE registered for the Century route today. The Active sign up web site was corrected and buying into a jersey or BBQ is now optional. I hope to see some of you there. They have a ride for all levels: 10 mile family ride, 30 mile fun ride, Metric and Century and Double Metric Century. This is a good cause supporting adult literacy.

[herbm]

IN, but I signed up for the metric....thats still 4k
We do have Tour de Cure the next day!

[MarkAJ]

Right now it looks like good weather. Riding in Ventura and SB is always nice.

Is anyone else doing this ride besides HerbM and me?

[herbm]

Looking for someone to do the metric with me......

[scootcore]

probably working I'm afraid....

[M2M]

Originally Posted by herbm

Looking for someone to do the metric with me......

make it the double and I'm in !!!!

[MarkAJ]

I started the ride with Jeff at about 6:10 a.m. just before the sun broke over the mountains. Before I go further I have to tell you about Jeff. He is a strong and courageous person. You see Jeff lost his hearing at three years of age resulting in him not being able to speak too. Think about this. You have no hearing and you are riding your road bike like a pro in the mountains and city streets. You cannot hear your bike, traffic or other riders making calls. I am always awestruck when I ride with Jeff. He is amazing.

It was cold at first but by the time we had eight miles on our legs I was feeling fine in my arm warmers and vest. Jeff and I both know this area well so that is a big help. We start with some moderate climbing to Lake Casitas then off for the first big climb of the day Highway 33 above Ojai Valley to Rose Valley a 13.1 mile climb. It does have some reliefs and averages 5%-9% grade but it has one section at the beginning that holds 11%-13% grade. Jeff road this section out of the saddle. Being we left nice and early we had no heat issues climbing in the sun. At the top I removed my vest and arm warmers for the day.

Then next big climb retuned us to Lake Casitas Highway 150 to ride over the entire pass and down into Carpinteria. Again we had no overheating because of the breeze and time of day. Now it would be rollers for the last 40 miles and some good ones here and there. Up until this point we had mostly moderate head winds all day.

Jeff and I stopped at all the RS to poty and take in fluids. Well I was eating a few chocolate chip cooks here and there. We never stayed long at any RS. The RS were well manned and had all the fixings you would expect. The ground markers were well laid out and they had very good signage about. The people were all nice and friendly too.

Finally on the return along the coast we got some tail wind. It was now that we really took to pace lining helping one another. We began to pass slower riders who I assumed were on one of the shorter rides. All riders came home the same way for the last 20 miles. It was another good experience today and my money went to help adult literacy.

Oh, I almost forgot. I got a goodie bag too. I now have two more useless water bottles.

99 miles; 6,332 feet

[MarkAJ]

Gold Coast Ride for Literacy Hwy 33 Climb