It rained off and on for most of the night, generally light but occasionally heavier. I had to go pee but was able to get to the bathroom and back without getting so wet. The tent stayed dry (-ish), with some water getting in near the front tent flap. But we had put down a tarp there, and that seemed to help capture the water and keep it from going further. I was worried when I heard dripping sounds that Joe's sleeping bag was getting wet, but he was fine.
When I woke up, I knew this was going to be a memorable day. It rained off and on the entire night while we were camping at Lake Cachuma. I got some sleep, not the best sleep before a big ride I've ever gotten. Joe, Mike, Jason, and I headed over in two vehicles to the Marriott in Buellton, which was the starting and finishing point for the ride. I won't detail all of the roads we rode on, will instead try and capture my recollections. As we were driving over, the sky was overcast, but there were some clear areas, so we were hopeful that the day wouldn't be filled with rainy riding. We headed out of Buellton and over to Santa Rosa Rd, which winds through normally beautiful country but on this day was a gray, misty/rainy mess. The general condition of this road was awful, lots of potholes and cracks in it that made riding on it a mess. Fairly quickly, Mike, Jason, and I got ahead of Joe, and the three of us rode pretty much together for this section, with Mike and me in the lead and Jason usually not too far behind. There were a couple of little hills along the way, nothing more than a mile long and not too steep. I remembered the last climb up to San Julian Rd as being longer and steeper than it really was. We got a little bit of separation from Jason here, but not too much. At the tee, we waited to Joe to catch up so that we could judge how he was doing and not get too far from him if he experienced any bike issues. Once he showed up, we continued on into Lompoc. Initially taking a nice downhill run. I got behind the others here when I stopped to zip up my rain jacket. I didn't notice the wind at this point, and the rain had let up for a time, with gray skies still. Then we rode through some city streets to get over to Harris Grade Rd, which is about 1.5 miles long but again not steep. Partway up this climb was the first SAG stop, at St Mary's Episcopal Church, where there were bike-centric snacks (bananas, Clif bars, electrolyte powder) as well as donuts. I had a couple donut halves, a banana, and filled one water bottle with electrolyte drink. Had a pee as well. I'd also had a GU while we waited for Joe. Mike and I both had to lean on Joe to get him to eat, and he did. We continued, after the break, up Harris Grade Rd, then over to Hwy 1 on Burton Mesa Blvd. I remembered this stretch from 2014, where we rode the same main roads On Hwy 1, there were some ups and downs before we had a more extended climbing section, again not that steep, which continued after we turned, by Vandenburg SFB (Space Force Base), right to stay on Hwy 1, the Cabrillo Hwy. The three of us were kinda hanging together, I was a little in front and Jason was a little behind. We got onto San Antonio Rd and had an extended downhill, which was fast and which I took by riding on the brakes, since the road conditions were sketchy. Mike descended faster, so I had to work to catch back up to him. The weather was holding okay, but the wind was more noticeable. I think I got out ahead of the other two around this time, riding for a short while with a guy from Santa Ynez, who was quite strong. He had caught up with me, and I hung on for a time before he powered ahead. We got onto Graciosa Rd and headed north, and the wind was a factor here, since it was coming at least partly from the north. Also, the condition of this road was terrible, just teeth-rattling. Along Graciosa Rd was the second SAG stop, around mile 38. I came in and was followed shortly by Mike and then Jason. We waited for Joe to show up and talked with some of the others about the bad road condition. The weather was fair at this time, no rain. I fueled up some more while at the stop, had a pee, and then we took off. Jason and Joe rode out first, and I waited while Mike finished up a phone call. He was dealing with some issues back home involving his girlfriend and his stepson Tyler, who is battling addiction and alcohol abuse. We were briefly on Hwy 135 before getting back onto Graciosa Rd, riding north and dealing with wind. Then we got some slight downhill segments, and I rode out a little ahead of the others, who had gotten ahead of Joe as well. I won't describe the loop we rode around the Santa Maria Public Airport, but it involved another stretch along Hwy 1, heading northwest. This section had some headwind to deal with. I gradually got out of sight ahead of the others, until Mike and Jason caught up with me, I think along Skyway Dr. We rode through Orcutt on Orcutt Rd, then stopped at Orcutt Community Park for the third SAG stop. This one was well laid out, with lunch sandwiches, Cokes, Oreos, chips, and bike-centric snacks. I fueled up here, had a sandwich, a couple of packs of Oreos, a banana, and a Coke. Also had a pee, and tried to pee again before we left but without success. It took Joe quite a while to get into this stop, and he looked pretty tired. We encouraged him to eat. He told me later that this stretch of the ride was the most difficult for him, he didn't have a lot of energy and had to fight through it. While we were taking a break, a brief rain shower came through, but it didn't last. It was gone by the time we got on our bikes, at mile 60. Headed up Bradley Rd and then turned on Clark Ave, and it was at this time that Mike and Jason couldn't keep up with my pace. I'll say a little about my strategy for this ride. I was determined to ride at a decent pace and not chase the riders who passed me. I didn't want to bonk on this ride, so at every stop I ate something, even when I didn't feel hungry and got tired of carbs later on. After we got off Clark Ave, which had some little climbs to negotiate, we were more into back country, again on some roads were bad street conditions. As we were generally heading east, the coastal breeze was helping us on for the most part. There was a nice long downhill stretch through pretty country, which started on Dominion Rd and continued on Palmer Rd. This was just before mile 70. I got on Foxen Canyon Rd around mile 72. I was doing okay here, aided by a tailwind but generally climbing a shallow ascent. The fourth SAG stop was around mile 80, and I arrived a couple of minutes ahead of Mike, with Jason following shortly after. This was a small stop, but the volunteer there was super friendly. I had another Coke, a little brownie, another pee (actually 2, one at the start and one before we continued on), and maybe some more food. The wind was more noticeable, and we had gotten some intermittent showers on the way to this stop. Joe took quite a while to show up, and he was looking tired, saying his seat was hurting. We continued on Foxen Canyon Rd, and this next stretch was quite different from what I had remembered. I thought it was a moderately steep climb for much of the next 6 miles, but instead it continued to be gradual, with some occasional little bumps, until a little after mile 83, when it kicked up and got serious for about a mile, with 5-10% gradients. Just before this steep section was Zaca Mesa Winery, which I think we visited back in 1989 (?), when Pat and I rode the century. Then there was a nice little downhill run into the last SAG stop a little after mile 86, near the Fess Parker Winery. I got sprinkled on during this stretch, but it was actually refreshing after the climbing effort. Joe made it up that grade without having to walk his bike, like he did in 2014, and he was very stoked about doing this (it was a big reason why he wanted to do this ride again). He wasn't very far back this time, as it was only 6.5 miles from the previous stop. It was at this stop that I noticed my Fitbit battery was dead, having stopped around the previous stop. So the Fitbit data for the ride are not complete. We continued downhill, generally together, until mile 89, when the last big climb split us up. I got out ahead and felt pretty good going up, steady cadence but in low gear. It was a nice downhill run after that, but I couldn't mash the pedals too hard, legs were starting to feel the effects of the miles. But the weather was fine, just a little windy. Down to the Chumash Hwy, where there was a turn onto Ballard Canyon Rd and a short sharp little climb and descent just after the turn. The road was wet and windy on the descent, and I rode the brakes on most of it, didn't want to spill my bike so close to the end. Jason and Mike didn't make that turn, so they ended up taking a different route back to the finish line, as I found out later. One last little climb, then I waited around mile 98 for the others to show up, so we could ride to the finish line together. When Joe showed but not the others, I figured (correctly, it turned out) they had made a wrong turn. So Joe and I rode back to Mission Dr, the main road linking Solvang and Buellton. I tried to ride slowly but still got ahead of Joe, so I waited for him a couple more times before we finished the ride together at the Mariott. I missed the very last turn into the hotel parking lot, but we figured it out pretty quickly and turned around to finish it off. The weather held out until the end, and overall it wasn't so bad. Was terrible for the first 15 miles or so, and there was wind to deal with occasionally and to benefit from at other times. The biggest disappointment for me was the quality of the roads, which at times was quite bad. I won't ride this century again, mainly because of the poor condition of some of the main roads used each year. My body held up well on the ride. Some minor neck twinges at times, but they never became a problem. My fingers were stiff between miles 20 and 40. I had to stretch out my lower back in the middle section of the ride, but again it didn't get worse. Also, around 2/3 of the way, my groin muscles were giving warning signs, probably because of the constant pedaling action. The signs went away as I kept on pedaling and stayed determined to be consistent and not go into the red zone. My leg muscles held out the whole ride, and I was as fresh at the end of the ride as I have ever been after finishing a century. We were fortunate that none of us had any flats or mechanical issues, although Joe's front derailleur quit allowing him to shift onto his biggest chainring with about 20 miles to go, and Mike discovered when we were at the cars that one of his tires was flat. So, good fortune. I saw many people on the side of the road on this ride, most of them fixing flats. My guess is that the higher frequency of flats came about from a combination of bad roads and debris from all the recent rains.
Avg speed = 15.5 mph. Total mileage = 101.0 mi
Avg power = 148 W. Weighted avg power = 168 W
Total elevation gain = 5110'
Avg heartrate = 133 bpm
Joe and I drove back to the campsite, and we were both in a state of mild euphoria, glad to have completed this ride and looking forward to a nice evening. We got back and I started preparing dinner, making the rice and heating up / spicing up the chicken. Joe helped with chopping vegetables. We all had a beer and toasted the day. After the rice was done, I started the beans, adding some onions, fresh and canned jalapenos, and chile pepper spices. The resulting burritos were pretty good, according to the others' comments, although the beans were really hot (I didn't think they were so spicy). Mike had brought a Belgian craft beer (11% alcohol content) that he had been saving for a special occasion, and we each had a small cup of it. It was really rich, not my style but interesting to taste.
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