# Santa Cruz Mountain Challenges



## CHL (Jun 24, 2005)

Hi Guys:

Has anyone participated in this event? Would like to do another organized ride and this one appeared very interesting. Just finished the metric version of the Sequoia Century. Is the metric rideof the Santa Cruz Mountain Challenges any more difficult? Would love to ride the 100 miles but I don't have the conditioning for 11K feet of climbing.

Appreciate any feedback on the roads that this ride will feature.

C.


----------



## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

You are plenty fit to do 100 miles and 11k. Key on the first one is to pace yourself early. Drink and eat a lot and yes that means bring 2 bottles ( I know how much you hate that).


----------



## poff (Jul 21, 2007)

It is a well-organized event. I liked it.


----------



## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

Did the 100 mi last year - it's a really good ride, hitting a lot of the best roads out there. The Jamison Creek TT is crazy (I knocked minutes off my PR on that day).

The climbs off Empire Grade can be hard to get to solo so it's a great opportunity to ride them with rest stops and support.


----------



## CHL (Jun 24, 2005)

Alrighty, well if I'm going to suffer, I might as well do so in the company of other riders. Signed up for the 100 miles. It's going to be my first foray into the Santa Cruz mountains. Only bothersome thing is the start time. The course that the club has outlined on an Excel worksheet looks like a continuous slow climb dotted by steeper longer steeper passes. I wonder if there will actually be any part to rest, apart from the summits of each ascent. 

Yup, I absolutely hate riding with two water bottles. With water stops at just about every 20 miles, I think I might be able to just go with one bottle.


----------



## sometimerider (Sep 21, 2007)

Just to note that the course this year differs from the last 2 years. It pretty much matches the course of 2008 - with the addtion of a 200K option.


----------



## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

Quite different routes this year from last.. doesn't go down to the coast this year, but the descent of Felton Empire Rd makes up for that - one of my favorite descents, even if it's not very technical. I like all the additional "spurs" to make the 200K. I think I've talked myself into doing this ride again this year!


----------



## CHL (Jun 24, 2005)

Any of you staying over in Scotts Valley instead of driving Hwy 17 during the early hours of the morning? I'm going to ride the 100 miles version. Should I try to start as the course open at 6:30AM or will I be alright to start around 7:30-8:00AM?

Is Jameson Creek, the hardest section (gradient wise) of the course? I've heard people compare it to Welch Creek or Hicks Road. Are they exaggerating the gradient? I'm going to ride over the first half very gingerly until Jameson Creek. Once over, I'll try to ride at a little faster pace. Would that be the correct approach to this course? 

I'll be riding my carbon bike with a Pig Horn on the handlebars.

C.


----------



## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

CHL said:


> Any of you staying over in Scotts Valley instead of driving Hwy 17 during the early hours of the morning? I'm going to ride the 100 miles version. Should I try to start as the course open at 6:30AM or will I be alright to start around 7:30-8:00AM?
> 
> Is Jameson Creek, the hardest section (gradient wise) of the course? I've heard people compare it to Welch Creek or Hicks Road. Are they exaggerating the gradient? I'm going to ride over the first half very gingerly until Jameson Creek. Once over, I'll try to ride at a little faster pace. Would that be the correct approach to this course?
> 
> ...


Nah.. I'll drive over from Redwood City.. doesn't take that long at that time of the morning (and good wake-up training for the much earlier start the following Saturday). I'm planning on being there at 6:30am to ride with Zen_Turtle but otherwise I'd probably roll in a bit later: I find I do these climbs much faster with lots of rabbits ahead to chase down (haven't come close to my Jamison Creek climb on last year's SCMC).

Jamison Creek is nowhere near as bad as Welch Creek Rd. It *is* steep, but nothing like the 20% grades of Welch Creek. From LKHC...

"1420 feet at a daunting 9.0%. However, the real devil's in the details: after an opening 1.3 miles at a humane 5%, things get serious: the remaining 1.7 miles average 11.5%, with sections closer to 14%."










You don't need to save yourself for it unless you plan to go all out on the TT and set a time.


----------



## sometimerider (Sep 21, 2007)

CHL said:


> Any of you staying over in Scotts Valley instead of driving Hwy 17 during the early hours of the morning? I'm going to ride the 100 miles version. Should I try to start as the course open at 6:30AM or will I be alright to start around 7:30-8:00AM?
> 
> Is Jameson Creek, the hardest section (gradient wise) of the course? I've heard people compare it to Welch Creek or Hicks Road. Are they exaggerating the gradient? I'm going to ride over the first half very gingerly until Jameson Creek. Once over, I'll try to ride at a little faster pace. Would that be the correct approach to this course?


Last weekend I did the worker's ride, but just the 100K. Started at 7:50. This worked out fine. Those doing longer versions started over half an hour earlier.

But the 100M is 35mi longer, and it looks like it's going to be a bit warmer on Saturday. I wouldn't start any later than 7:30 for the century.

Note that these routes take longer than the typical century (if there is such a thing). You won't be making any personal bests here.

Jamison is harder than Hicks; it's shorter but about the same difficulty as Welch Crk. ACTC has a nice climb comparator. The worst switchbacks hit about 22% (there's a couple similar ones on Zayante), but the bigger problem is sustained 12-15% sections on Jamison.

FYI, there are now, on the SCMC web page, links to ridewithgps maps for all 3 routes. From those pages you can download gps course info if your bike computer supports such.


----------



## scarab$ (Jun 14, 2010)

See you all there tomorrow AM! It's starts out overcast and cool this time of year (about 58 dgrees right now) so be sure to bring arm warmers/vest if your cold-blooded.

We'll be doing the 100K and leaving ~ 8AM.


----------



## robwh9 (Sep 2, 2004)

Do guys really think those routes have 8 and 12 K feet of elevation gain? GPS inflation?


----------



## sometimerider (Sep 21, 2007)

robwh9 said:


> Do guys really think those routes have 8 and 12 K feet of elevation gain? GPS inflation?


Yes, there's likely some inflation on the ridewithgps maps.

I did the 100K using a Garmin 500; I got over 7100 feet of climbing (in 63 miles). Another guy got 7300 ft. The rwg map says 8121 feet.


----------



## sometimerider (Sep 21, 2007)

I want to warn folks about road maintenance (being done yesterday and today) that will affect some riders. This is on Summit Rd. southeast of Hwy 17 - probably extending to Soquel-San Jose Rd. This does not affect the 100K route.

Oil and screen (gravel) has been used on the entire road surface. This can make things a bit dicey for a few weeks - especially near the edge of the road. Take care.

It is also likely to wipe out some of the road marking we've done. Just make sure you take a right on Soquel-San Jose Rd.

If you really don't want to deal with it, you could backtrack and go down Mt. Charlie Rd. (the same way you came up in the morning (not a great descending road)). Those doing the 200K could come up the north side of Mt. Charlie Rd., cross over 17, and then go down south Mt. Charlie. On the 100M route, this would shorten it by about 15 miles.


----------



## ziscwg (Apr 19, 2010)

I wish I would have seen this sooner. The 100k ride looks good, but the site says the last day is the 26th. Well, I'll plan for next yr.


----------



## CHL (Jun 24, 2005)

Wow, this was a very interesting ride. There was definitely ample climbing, both sustained gradients and rollers. Started up Mt. Charlie Road right away. It's tough to immediately climb without warming up. Riva Ridge at the top was a rude awakening and a nice introduction to high double digit gradients. The fog took a long time to dissipate and we were treated to some great "Pacific Northwest Like" views. Roads were wet as if it had recently rained.

Jamison Creek proved every bit as hard as some of you have claimed. It's rather deceptive since it's starts out in such a mellow manner. The organizers put the lunch stop shortly after Jamison Creek, which came as a welcomed respite.

We descended down to Zayante and it went down hill for me at that point. I was quite surprised as I was feeling good but the power went out half way on Zayante. Drank a Coca Cola at the Summit Road rest stop. Can't explain it but I felt fine afterwards. The descent on San Jose Soquel is spectacular. The road is very smooth and there aren't too many blind turns. It was only about 15 miles back to the finish where we turned off from San Jose Soquel.


----------



## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

How did we all do? 

I loved the new 200K route. Saw a bunch of folks out there having fun. I failed to improve my time on the Jamison Creek TT but mostly because I decided quite late to go for it. After climbing Ice Cream Grade, we had ice cream in our heads for the next few hours so we *had* to stop at The Summit Store for a fix!






My PoS Garmin crapped out for a bit and I couldn't get it restarted for quite a while so lost about 4 miles/300K'.. only a dent in a 200K though.


----------



## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

Hmm.. ride report.. excellent idea CHL! Sadly, no photos.. I took a camera but decided at the last moment to leave it in the car as I was a little worried about how hard my riding partner was going to push me (he's doing the Leadville 100 in 2 weeks.. that's crazy)

*Checkin*
Every ride's checkin seems so lame now compared with the Terrible Two but really, it was fine! SCMC uses rider numbers that you stick to your top tube, rather than pin to your clothing. Last year it was a bit annoying, flapping around on descents, but this year I seem to have got it right and mostly forgot it was there all day.

While I was waiting for Zen_Turtle, I saw a bunch of riders I knew (and some former work colleagues). At 7am, I met Zen_Turtle and we headed out. I had, as usual, taken the route description and mapped it on bikeroutetoaster.com, then compressed it on coursemapper.com (in the hope of not causing my pathetically flimsy Garmin to crash/freeze/barf). 

The morning was very foggy, getting quite thick at the higher elevations. That convinced me to take my wind shell/rain jacket, as I hates the cold! Of course, it came off at the top of the first climb and sat in my pocket the rest of the day, but at least I knew that would likely be the case!

*Mtn Charlie - first climb*
The ride starts the same as always, up from Scotts Valley High School to Mountain Charlie Rd to Summit (via Riva Ridge & Hutchinson). We were riding with a bunch of folks for the first few miles, then fell back after a bit. We had a casual pace up Mtn Charlie overall, but passed a bunch of people including a woman on an all-pink bike (hereafter called "Pink Bike") who we passed right as we came to a very steep pitch - she uttered something R rated - to my amusement .

We were through most of the fog by the top so ZT took off a layer and we headed up Riva Ridge. I was ready for this climb this year, so quite enjoyed it (last year it was a rude shock!). Summit was a nice ride, the road still a bit damp, but sunny in spots. 

*First 200K Spur*
We stopped at the first water stop at Bear Creek. I unfogged my glasses and we had some of the delicious zucchini cake (I want that recipe) and other food. Then the first 200K "spur". The 200K ride is basically the 100 mile ride with 5 "spurs" or detours to add 25 miles and about 4K of extra climbing. It's a nice way to do it because you can choose to do all or just one or a few of them as you go along. We did them all.

The first spur took us down Bear Creek Rd towards CA-17 where we would turn right back up and climb Black to Skyline. I lamented that we would miss the fun rollers on Skyline with this spur, but at least the 100 milers were doing them in the uphill direction which isn't quite as fun as the downhill direction.

On the descent, I realized my Garmin was frozen.. several choice words were uttered (I have quite a history with this pathetically unstable and poorly programmed device). I powered it down while descending then powered it up, a few times, but each time it froze. This had happened before but I didn't immediately remember the problem and fix. So I tried to enjoy the descent, knowing that it wasn't being recorded (oh, the agony of that for a data geek!). At Montevina, I power-cycled it again with no luck, ZT had a spare 305 with him (he trusts his 705 as much as I trust mine  so I switched that on and we rode off to Black. A mile or so up Black, I remembered that the problem which caused this in the past was a course that the Garmin couldn't handle, so I powered it back on and quickly stopped the course before it froze and it was good from then on. Luckily, I had memorized the course from entering it into bikeroutetoaster.com (and Marco had it on his 705 if needed as well). So, on we went.

*Black Rd and Skyline to The Gap*
It's been a while since I've climbed Black and I remembered it being steep at the bottom, flat in the middle and I couldn't remember the top. The top is steep too. Not too bad, though, and we made good time. Up on Skyline, ZT turned on his turbo-jets and started powering up Skyline towards the Castle Rock summit. I was feeling good too, so I took a pull and kept us at a good pace, passing a lot of the 100 milers. We passed Pink Bike for the second time on the climb to Castle Rock.

ZT then took over on the descent to Saratoga Gap; ZT is heavier than me and can really power down the hills - I decided he was to be our descender for the rest of the day and that got me a few new PRs along the way 

First stop at the Gap and I had the weird feeling of being itchy to get back on the road. Perhaps because of the double centuries where you have to minimize stopped time. Still took time to eat and refill bottles, I removed my knee warmers, then we stormed down Hwy 9 towards Big Basin. 

*Hwy 9 descent, China Grade, Big Basin*
We made good time, even though we stopped for a "natural break" because the line was too long at the porta-potties at the Gap. At the 236 intersection, we turned down 9 towards Boulder Creek for our second 200K spur. Again, I was lamenting missing the climb of 236 up to the top of China Grade, but at least we get to climb China Grade! The descent from 236 down to Boulder Creek was a lot more fun than I remembered, being a good descending grade and a bit twisty and of course, surrounded by gorgeous redwoods.

In no time, we hit Boulder Creek and turned up 236. There was another 200K rider there hanging around seemingly lost - we pointed out the direction, but I guess he was waiting for buddies. I should add that the 200K spurs were not well marked on the road - you had to know where you going or it was very easy to get lost.

236 would be a nice road but for all the traffic. I realized we were going to pass Jamison Creek Rd before turning onto China Grade, so I warned ZT. China Grade starts mellow. We came up behind some equestrians and both of us being mountain bikers, we knew to yell out that we were coming so the riders could let us know if it was ok to pass. We had a brief chat with them then kept going. Eventually, we hit the steep part - there's some water that's been flowing over the first steep for some months which makes it quite slippery until the tires dry.. kinda fun, for some reason, trying to regulate torque to avoid spinning out.

I had warned ZT that the road was really terrible, making the grade seem even steeper. But the first mile or so is actually ok, so ZT noted that it was actually pretty good. I said, "just wait", destroying his optimism  We made decent time to the top then began one of my favorite descents down into Big Basin State Park on 236.

.. as long as there are no cars in front of you, that is! I got nearly all the way down before coming up on a car with a couple of cyclists stuck behind. Too close to the park to bother trying to pass so I sat up and cruised down the rest. We stopped for the restrooms and water in the park, even though there was a water stop coming in a few miles to avoid delays. Pink Bike had stopped too and left just before us.

*Jamison Creek TT*
We took off and ZT again lit the jets and stormed off up 236 towards Sempervirens. We came upon quite a big group of riders, including Pink Bike and eventually passed them. One of them (we'll call him Cervelo) took offense to this and came after us and passed us. ZT wasn't going to have any of that and jumped to his wheel! I ramped up my pace in a Cadel-lian fashion but the looming climb of Jamison Creek stopped me from going all out in pursuit. It was quite a funny moment watching ZT chase Cervelo down! After quite a while, Cervelo "broke the elastic" and I rejoined ZT just in time for the rest stop. I thought about passing by but ZT pointed out correctly that we hadn't eaten in a bit so we stopped for a bite.

The ramping up had exposed that my legs were no longer fresh, and now that it was warm I was sweating freely, so I popped an Endurolyte for the Jamison climb.

I'm glad we did stop because I ran into a bunch of fellow club members I had been hoping to see. I had a chat, ate some food and we took off without too much delay.

A nice descent down 236 which I tried not to push too hard, saving energy for Jamison Creek Rd. We turned up Jamison and I made sure they correctly took my number for the TT. I raised the pace a bit (hey, this bit is a race!) while trying not to drop ZT. I was surprised that there weren't many rabbits ahead of us - last year, we seemed to be passing hundreds of them! But they were mostly further up the road.

Jamison eventually turned skyward and we geared down. I felt the click of the TT clock and when ZT fell back, I decided to go all out. So I pushed the pace for the rest of it getting a fairly decent TT time (but not as good as last year when we pushed the whole thing). Lots of rabbits on the steep bits and it felt good chasing them all down. ZT arrived a few minutes later - his strategy was to rest on the steeps and push hard on the flat and less-steep climbs, something he says comes from his single-speed mountain biking. It's the reverse of my "strategy" which is probably why I'm so slow on flats.

At the top of Jamison Creek Rd is an illegal MTB downhill trail called "Jailbreak" - it's been fenced off and signed but there were a bunch of downhillers who were going to ride it anyway, going as far as busting through a thick bush of poison oak to bypass the fence - it must be a _really_ good trail!

*Lunch, Empire, Smith and Ice Cream Grades*
We rewatered then continued up Empire Grade to lunch. Lunch is basic sandwich fare but it's nice to sit in the shade for a bit. I wasn't really feeling the need but I had a Coke anyway. We met up with a few other friends there and were back on the road in about 20 mins.

More fun descending for a while, as we bombed down Empire Grade (me tucked in ZT's shadow), passing by the Pine Flat turnoff. I had checked out the map at lunch to make sure my memory of the course was correct and was disturbed to see that the map said to turn down Pine flat while the turn-by-turn directions said to keep going down Empire Grade. We had measured the course using the latter method to be 124 miles, so that had to be correct! So we kept going. A fun but bumpy descent. We bypassed the Empire/Ice Cream grade intersection, which we would soon be returning to, and continued down to the Smith Grade intersection. No course markers on this intersection and I was becoming convinced that the course _had_ been changed, even though that change made no sense.

I hadn't ridden Smith Grade in this direction, so was interested to see how it compared to the other direction. A long, fast descent started us off. The air had turned cold once we passed Ice Cream Grade and there was some damp spots on the road, so we couldn't go all out on the descent. Still fun, though. We got to a flat section which I assumed was the bottom but then it descended more and it was quite a while before we started climbing towards Pine Flat/Bonny Doon Rd. When we did, the climb was steepish but short (this was definitely the "downhill" direction).

We turned right on Pine Flat, where we were relieved to find course markers again and climbed briefly until Martin Rd, which was a connector to Ice Cream Grade. ZT admonished me to stop saying "ice cream" as it beginning to start cravings! We came up with some alternative pronunciations to avoid these problems!

Martin Rd was _really_ interesting - it goes through an area terribly devastated by the Bonny Doon fire and is unlike anything else in that area. Really quite amazing. Take this detour if you're climbing Bonny Doon any time soon. Soon we were back on Ice Cream Grade which was a nice mild tree-covered climb up to Empire Grade. 

*Felton Empire Grade - the descent of champions!*
We paused a moment at the top of Felton Empire - I was so excited about this descent - another of my all-time favorites - and I wanted it to be perfect. I waited for a good 3 minute gap after some cars then bombed down. It was *awesome*! Right up until I caught the cars - not even half way down. Urgh. I decided to stop and give them room which confused ZT a bit. Another car passed while I waited.. urgh! After about 2 mins I started down again but caught the new car quickly - fine people that they were, they pulled to the side and let me pass! chapeau! So I got a few more seconds of glorious descending until I caught the original cars again. I settled in this time since we were close to Felton.

After a long wait at traffic lights, I thought it might be fun to take ZT through the Felton Covered Bridge since that was the designated water stop. We went slightly off course but it was fun, as always, to ride through the bridge. Last time there were a troop of Irish dancers rehearsing in there.. very cool! We rewatered and used the restrooms, then went on our way.

*Zayante*
Up Zayante. I warned ZT that it was a very long climb - about 10 miles from memory (actually 11). We got through the lower section - I really don't like that part of Zayante with a lot of traffic headed to Lompico and every one of them seems to be a ******* with a seething hate for cyclists. We were buzzed only once, which is less than usual, probably because the organizers had diverted us up W.Zayante (big improvement :thumbsup.

Eventually, Zayante got steep. I was feeling really good but ZT was beginning to hurt so we kept the pace comfortable. About half way up we passed a SAG van with a group of riders chatting, including Pink Bike! I forgot that there are a few little descents on Zayante which were a welcome break from the steep pitches.

As with all climbs, keep pedaling and eventually you get to the top and we did. It got quite warm on the top of Upper Zayante and even though I wasn't working hard, I cooled myself by squirting water over the back of my neck - one of those things you can do when there's a plentiful water supply!

*Final 200K spur - back down to Lexington and climb back to Summit Rd*
Lest I plant an idea, I didn't mention to ZT that a right turn would take us right to Summit. Perhaps he knew  Either way, we were resolved to do the whole 200K so we turned left and rode up to the rest stop at Bear Creek. They were running low there, with just some water and a bit of very diluted Gatorade. Gatorade is sometimes nice at the end of a ride, so I took that in one bottle. Then I remembered I had a bag of Perpetuem in my saddle pack so I dumped that in the other.

Another descent of Bear Creek Rd towards CA-17. This time I was expecting a fun descent, since we had done it before so there was familiarity and it was warm and dry. Alas, we quickly came up on the slowest and most nervous driver in the whole Bay Area, who braked at every corner, every approaching car and every 5 seconds if neither of these appeared. Unfortunately, there were no opportunities to pass. I swear I wore out half my brake pads on this descent.

Mercifully, we eventually parted at the bottom and began the climb back to Summit Rd. I kinda wanted to circle the reservoir, but ZT understandably would have none of it! So we began the climb up to Summit. I think this climb was actually ZT's low point, probably because we hadn't eaten in quite a while (oh Perpetuem, how I love thee!). There was also a ton of traffic with people trying to bypass the lane closure on CA-17. Urgh. I practiced my "unstable rider" technique, swerving a bit as cars approach to make them give me room (always works).

At the top, ZT let out a cry of relief as we hit Summit Rd and immediately jumped to the front to pull us to the Summit Store. Ice Cream was on the brain and provided gravity for the next few miles. At the store, we found plentiful supplies of ice cream, and also cold espresso drinks. I was soon to experience the remarkable rejuvenating effect of espresso on an Italian! We chatted with some mountain bikers who had returned from Demo, stopping at the store for a beer. I rechecked the route sheet and noted with horror that there was another 1,000' of climbing to do before we were done! And still 20ish miles to go.

*It's all downhill from here*
As we were enjoying our ice creams, we saw a tandem ride past. We'd seen them a few times early in the ride but ZT had an itch to catch them. So when we were done, we took off at a "start-of-the-day" pace, turned down Soquel-San Jose Rd and soon passed them. That descent was just what the doctor ordered and we were both feeling pretty good by the end.

The next streets were unknown to me: Laurel Glenn and Mountain View Rds. One of these had a bit of a climb, not too long. Weirdly, there was a rest stop on MTV Rd barely 10 miles from the finish; I'm not sure why. We skipped it. This was our final passing of Pink Bike!

Eventually we got to Branciforte and ZT took the lead and hammered out a big descent - I haven't seen anyone within 2 minutes of our time on this Strava segment yet (I dare not look at Tim Clark's ride  

We turned up Granite Creek Rd. There are two ways to climb from Branciforte to the CA-17 crossing at Glenwood Rd: one is quite steep and the other pretty easy. I wasn't sure which this was - turns out it was the steep one. But I had last climbed it a couple of years ago when everything was harder and it wasn't so bad this time. Once in Scott's Valley, the road leveled out then descended down to CA-17 and crossed over.

There was a bit of confusion as the road arrows seemed to point in the wrong direction. No matter, as we knew we had to turn up Glenwood which we eventually did. A short, mild climb up Glenwood and we were done; sprint up the school driveway, through the balloon arch to a cowbell cheer.

*Done*
My Garmin read 121 miles, ZT's 125, the difference being the lost descent early in the ride. We changed then ate: post-ride meal is chicken burritos and some pretty delicious ice cream.

Another fantastic SCMC. I'm going to make this an annual signup from now on!


----------



## sometimerider (Sep 21, 2007)

ratpick said:


> Hmm.. ride report


Next time, a few more details please.

No, I appreciate that report. I might even use it to help improve the ride for next year (I'm not the ride director, but I'm known to voice my opinion about things). (I've reported the incorrect road marking on Scotts Valley Dr. for 3 years now. Doesn't matter, the great old guy that marks the road does it his way. The way he marks it may have actually been the route sometime in the deep dark past. The cue sheet has the official route.)

My hat really goes off for those doing the 200K. I still don't have the urge to try even the 100M (but I'm pretty comfortable on the 100K or doing a more "normal" full century).

BTW, the Jamison TT results are now posted


----------



## Zen_Turtle (Aug 19, 2010)

Very nice writeup Ratpick! That was an excellent day on the bike and definitely a well organized event.
The espresso/ice cream combination has always brought me back to life, this time was no exception. I was hoping to break the 10hrs, but I think we did great this way, next year...
You forgot to mention you had to wait for me on a few climbs... 
ZT


----------



## CHL (Jun 24, 2005)

Here are some pictures I took along the ride. Forgive the quality as they are from my piece of ******* crap HTC Eris phone. So much for the 5MP built-in camera.

View attachment 236788

View from Mt. Charlie Road

View attachment 236789

Mt. Charlie Road

View attachment 236791

House on Summit Road - Early AM

View attachment 236798

View from Summit Road

View attachment 236797

View from Hwy 35

View attachment 236800

Ratpick's Lost Cyclist

View attachment 236796

Hwy 9 & 236 Intersection (Breath taking here)

View attachment 236799

Towards Big Basin - Wonderful little climb.

View attachment 236795

The Guardian at Big Basin Camp

View attachment 236790
View attachment 236793

Forest fire remnants after Bonny Doon

View attachment 236794

The beggining of the latter climb of Zayante Road. A few miles up, it started to go bad for me.

View attachment 236792

Summit Road Rest Stop View - Coca Cola fixed all my endurance issues.


----------



## pmarshall (Jul 18, 2010)

I enjoyed this ride a lot. It was my first century ride and I think I picked a good one. My buddy and I kinda of puttered along because he was pushing a standard crank bike. He regretted doing that in the end because he thought he slowed us down. Didn't matter to me as I had no way of judging just how I would feel. The descents were awesome but I found that I would catch a group and have to brake often. I didn't want to have somebody break left and crash into me since we were going so fast they would never hear me so I didn't pass. The Jamison Creek rd was hard but since I make Sierra Rd my training ride, this didn't seem so bad. I have never been on this road before and certainly never tried for a TT after 45 miles of riding. However, like many of you guys, you see rabbits and you give chase. I didn't go as fast as I could have but liked my time regardless. If I do this ride next year, I will crush my previous times for sure as I know it isn't very long. I had an absolute blast on this ride. My legs felt heavy at times but I still had power to climb and enjoy it. The fantastic zuchini bread made all the difference for me. I thought it was well organized and the volunteers were super friendly. 

Paul


----------



## RRsurfer (Mar 8, 2010)

Great ride reports! I hope to do this ride next year. I need to start training now, I'm always freaked out I won't be able to finish one of these SCMC because I'm very prone to cramping up. I really would not want to have to get aboard the SAG wagon, I'm not sure if I would be able to live with myself


----------



## Dr_John (Oct 11, 2005)

> Forgive the quality as they are from my piece of ******* crap HTC Eris phone.


 Nonetheless, they're pretty nice. :thumbsup: 

I should have done this ride. :cryin: Next year for sure.


----------



## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

Dr_John said:


> Nonetheless, they're pretty nice. :thumbsup:
> 
> I should have done this ride. :cryin: Next year for sure.


+1.. excellent photos. Of course, I now wish I had taken my camera!


----------



## scarab$ (Jun 14, 2010)

Hat's off to the Century and 200K riders! WOW.

Never done Jamison before the ride, and like someone said, that's one heckova TT after riding 45 miles. Cramped about 1/4 mile before the top. Shameful, I know. :yikes:

Other than that, the 100K ride was awesome! 






Nevermind the Garmin user-error at the start... Switched on at Mt. Charlie.


----------

