# santa cruz mountains challenge century



## shanedawg (Aug 3, 2005)

Has anyone done this ride before. I am signed up to ride it this sat the 6th and am wondering how much food I need to actually carry with me vs. how much/ what types will they have at the rest stops. Did everyone find the rest stops placed close enough together?


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

shanedawg said:


> Has anyone done this ride before. I am signed up to ride it this sat the 6th and am wondering how much food I need to actually carry with me vs. how much/ what types will they have at the rest stops. Did everyone find the rest stops placed close enough together?


I've done this three times. It's a pretty good ride with good support, so don't worry about carrying too much food. I always bring a bar or two to any organized ride, just in case. 

A bigger worry is water. After the lunch stop, it's about 22 miles to the next rest stop, which is up and over Zayante. If it's as hot as last year (and given the current weather, it probably will be), you might want to make sure you get <u>cold</u> water before you hit the climb, because the second half of Zayante is a tough climb and it gets damn hot. Get water at the covered bridge park at the bottom of Zayante, or at the little store in the town of Zayante. Miss either one and you are out of luck.


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## shanedawg (Aug 3, 2005)

mohair_chair said:


> I've done this three times. It's a pretty good ride with good support, so don't worry about carrying too much food. I always bring a bar or two to any organized ride, just in case.
> 
> A bigger worry is water. After the lunch stop, it's about 22 miles to the next rest stop, which is up and over Zayante. If it's as hot as last year (and given the current weather, it probably will be), you might want to make sure you get <u>cold</u> water before you hit the climb, because the second half of Zayante is a tough climb and it gets damn hot. Get water at the covered bridge park at the bottom of Zayante, or at the little store in the town of Zayante. Miss either one and you are out of luck.



Sounds like great advice. I drink a lot so I setup my bike with three water bottle cages. I'm guessing that for the first two legs I might not fill them all but for the leg you are talking about it sounds like I'll have to fill them and maybe make that stop for some topping off too. I am riding with a friend who rode it last year but he's not much help because he doesn't sweat near as much as me and therfore doesn't drink as much.


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## robwh9 (Sep 2, 2004)

*I recommend that you...*

eat a large burrito at the finish. Good luck and have fun.


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## Creed (Apr 3, 2003)

*New Rest Stops*

The rest stops are different this year, the first one has been moved out some, which is a longer pull then it looks on paper. And they moved the one at the top of zayante a bit down the hill to the tree farm, all in all it looks like good moves and should help with the hot grind up zayante. The rest stops were always well stocked with plenty of selection. I carry a bar with me and then put some in the pockets at teh first stop.

check it out

http://www.santacruzcycling.org/scmc/2005/100milerouteSCMC05.pdf

Say Hi if you see me, chubby white boy on an older Trek 5500 with ksyriums


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## shanedawg (Aug 3, 2005)

Well, thanks everyone for your input. The ride went well, considering the heat. The volunteers set up an additional water stop about 1/3 of the way up zayante which really helped a lot. I was slow, but finished.
9-1/2 hours with about an hour of total rest stop time.
around 13 bottles of water total. ( middle portion up zayante and across summit was hot!)
Jamison was steep but with the triple chainring was totally rideable. Some people with double chainrings literally fell over!?# I plan on doing it again next year. See ya there!


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## Creed (Apr 3, 2003)

Congrats that is truly a tough ride.

I finished ok, had a good time. Zayante was by far the hardest part for me (as it was last year) the heat is the killer more then the climb itself.

See ya next year


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