# ukbloke's King Ridge Giant Fondue 2011 (Tour of the Santa Rosan Alps)



## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

I'd like to ride King Ridge this year, but I can't justify $135 to ride a public road! I figure that if I do 6 self-supported century rides this year, then I can buy a set of carbon wheels or a wireless PowerTap wheel instead!

So who wants to ride with ukbloke on the same King Ridge route as that other ride? Here are some of the other advantages:

We don't have to wait until October!
No registration, no active.com sign-up, and the server won't crash (well maybe on that last one).
You get to ride with probably several other RBR members, instead of 1000s of complete strangers.
You don't have to pay extra for the jersey. There is no jersey.
No need to stay overnight. We'll have a sensible start time.
No SAG support or rest stops - all the more epic! Hopefully we'll find somewhere decent for lunch and post-ride dinner.

I'm thinking late April or early May (before the Tour of California). There probably won't be a Little Fondue or a Medium Fondue option - go big with the Giant Fondue or stay at home. Anyone?


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## roadriderR5 (Jan 12, 2011)

I'd be up for it. Live in Santa Rosa already! Already signed up for the Death Ride in July, need the training miles.
Keep us informed.


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## Dr_John (Oct 11, 2005)

I'm in. I'll bring my wireless power tap.


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## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

Sounds fun. In!


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## alex3780 (Nov 7, 2009)

sign me up.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Excellent - we have 5 already! We only need another 7,495 to match that other ride.


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## ricz (Jul 26, 2010)

I'll join in. I also plan to join the self funded Super Bowl ride.


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 2001)

ricz said:


> I'll join in. I also plan to join the self funded Super Bowl ride.


We are charging. One premium beer to share per entry. 

fc


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 2001)

This is a damn fine idea. I am in like sin!!


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## ricz (Jul 26, 2010)

Buena cerveza it is.


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## poff (Jul 21, 2007)

After Grizzly Peak century would be better.


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## rj2 (Jun 22, 2005)

Post-ride celebration at Russian River Brewery?

Pencil me in as a definite maybe.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

rj2 said:


> Post-ride celebration at Russian River Brewery?


This had occurred to me also - imagine how jealous the MTBR'ers would be!

It is too soon to nail down details, but one option is to make the ride on a Sunday so that people have the choice of going up Saturday to make a weekend of it and stay in Santa Rosa overnight. This leads to the dangerous possibility of pre-ride imbibing at the Brewery the night before ...


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## sometimerider (Sep 21, 2007)

Great idea. (The organized ride has too many negatives for me.)

So, 102 miles, 9400 feet - a little imposing (for me). I'll keep my eye on this - would love to do it.

Map and cue sheet (not done by me).


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## moschika (Feb 1, 2004)

i may be up for this at that time. we'll see how my riding goes this semester. i signed up for the "real deal", but wouldn't mind trying it before. i couldn't finish it the first year due to mechanical, so i hope to finish it this time.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Great - a couple more possible riders!

sometimerider - thanks for the link, very helpful.

moschika - do you happen to have the official cue sheet from last year?


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## EBrider (Aug 9, 2009)

I might be in too, depending on the date. 

I found this on Garmin Connect. I think it can be uploaded to mapmyride, or we can come up with a cue sheet.
<iframe width='465' height='548' frameborder='0' src='http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/52477681'></iframe>


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## sometimerider (Sep 21, 2007)

ukbloke said:


> do you happen to have the official cue sheet from last year?


I'm not sure how _official_ it is, but this looks like the real deal. And then the ridewithgps map I posted before also has essentially the same cue sheet.


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## rox (Jul 7, 2009)

I think Im in. I did the first one and those roads were so beautiful Ive been wanting to go back since. I sure wouldnt mind starting in occidental and leaving off all that flat road near santa rosa though. make it a more managable 80 miles for a self supported ride.


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## rox (Jul 7, 2009)

a couple other things

if you do want to ride all the way into santa rosa i recommend finding an alternative to the last part of that route. just continue on hall road instead of turning on willowside and you can avoid a couple miles of gravel path which was really no fun on a road bike 95 miles into a ride.

the king ridge area is really remote. you might able to find some water around duncan mills but from there i would count on not having any stops until jenner on the coast.

coleman valley is fairly steep and starts at mile 75. there were lots of people walking this so I would suggest having a low gear of like 34-25


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## moschika (Feb 1, 2004)

rox said:


> a couple other things
> 
> if you do want to ride all the way into santa rosa i recommend finding an alternative to the last part of that route. *just continue on hall road instead of turning on willowside and you can avoid a couple miles of gravel path* which was really no fun on a road bike 95 miles into a ride.
> 
> ...


the path from willowside is now paved all the way back to SR. there's still the gravel side if you want to do it for "old times sake" but i'ld recommend the paved path back. 

i don't have the official cue sheet from last year but EBrider's garmin pic looks to be right. i can look around and see if i can find the map from the first year. they didn't change it.


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## shibaman (May 2, 2008)

I might be in. It will depend on when, Sundays are better since I would have to drive from Sacramento. I guess I could drive up early since there is no pre registration to deal with. On 4-30-11 I am doing Devil Mt. It would be a good training ride for that.


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## coachstevo (Sep 11, 2009)

i'd be in...after April 15th please...


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## norton55 (Jan 10, 2006)

ukbloke, et al. 

I lived in Cazadero for over 30 years. I know these roads like the back of my hand. The reason I don't do the Grand Fondo is, I cannot justify driving 30 miles to Santa Rosa and riding by property.

Having said that I am willing to give a guided tour from Duncans Mills. Early or mid April works best for me, weather depending. I know all the water spots along the way.

When we are done your reward is Pliny on tap!


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

It looks like we will have some numbers for this ride! I agree that this should be scheduled after tax day. I'm afraid that it won't be possible to please everyone with a single day, but we'll do our best to schedule it so that as many as possible can make it.

norton55 - that would be awesome! Hopefully we can swing by en route and benefit from your local knowledge.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

It looks like we will have some numbers for this ride! I agree that this should be scheduled after tax day. I'm afraid that it won't be possible to please everyone with a single day, but we'll do our best to schedule it so that as many as possible can make it.

norton55 - that would be awesome! Hopefully we can swing by en route and benefit from your local knowledge.


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## diver160651 (Sep 13, 2010)

*I'm in if t isn't 4/24 MTB Tour de Penisula*

It sounds fun.. Thinking of doing the 2nd MTB Tour de Peninsula 4/24. So hopefully,it isn't that day.. Really got to figure out how to get more people on the main loop and hopefully more finishers this year!

Jt



ukbloke said:


> It looks like we will have some numbers for this ride! I agree that this should be scheduled after tax day. I'm afraid that it won't be possible to please everyone with a single day, but we'll do our best to schedule it so that as many as possible can make it.
> 
> norton55 - that would be awesome! Hopefully we can swing by en route and benefit from your local knowledge.


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## lastchild (Jul 4, 2009)

rox said:


> I think Im in. I did the first one and those roads were so beautiful Ive been wanting to go back since. I sure wouldnt mind starting in occidental and leaving off all that flat road near santa rosa though. make it a more managable 80 miles for a self supported ride.



Starting in Occidental is the best way to go...the roads to and from Santa Rosa are really just so-so compared to the rest of the ride.

I'd be down...I do that ride 3-4 times a year so doing it with other riders would be a gas.


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## Blue CheeseHead (Jul 14, 2008)

There are 13 of us coming out from Wisconsin to do 4 self supported rides in the Geyserville/Santa Rosa area on 4/15-4/20. Rides include:

4/15 - Skaggs Spring Century - http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=41904
4/16 - Vineman 1/2 IM route - (recovery day)
4/17 - A double loop out of St. Helena. http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=194421
4/18 - Geyser Peak Loop (cause after day 1 and 3 we will need another 5,000 feet of climbing)

The group has riders of varying ability. If anyone wants to jump on, just PM me.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

JT - glad to hear that you are going to do another MTB Tour this year. I got my butt kicked last year, mostly because of lack of MTB miles in my legs. If I get to ride this year, I have no doubt that the same situation will arise again!

lastchild - there will probably be some (eg. me!) who want to do the full route regardless. It sounds like we'll have two start points and stagger so that we can meet up en route. I still haven't picked a date. It sounds like that there are a lot of early season rides in April/May this year.

Blue CheeseHead - enjoy your rides! Sounds like an awesome spring training camp.


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## norton55 (Jan 10, 2006)

Bump...........

Boys and Girls, how are we looking?


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

norton55 said:


> Bump...........
> 
> Boys and Girls, how are we looking?


Thanks for the reminder!

It has been hard to find holes in the calendar for this. April is just a disaster for me, and May is too far away to predict. The best option I have right now is SUNDAY, MARCH 27TH. Yes, that is just 2 weeks after this weekend. This is early in the season so not much time to build up stamina. And this is still potentially the rainy season so if the weather does not look favourable I would call it off, and try to find a later date. I realize that any date will have pluses and minuses for everyone, and one date will not make everyone happy. But if we have numbers for that date and the weather co-operates, I say let's go do it. Anyone?


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## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

There's an RBR Sierra Rd ride the day before, but I'm interested in this.. so +1 on Mar 27!


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

ratpick said:


> There's an RBR Sierra Rd ride the day before, but I'm interested in this.. so +1 on Mar 27!


Good to have you in! I thought about that clash, but not much I can do about it. I suppose the real heroes can do both for extra Strava KOM credit!


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## poff (Jul 21, 2007)

I am not sure what condition I am in since I've been skiing more than riding, but I would like to join if ratpick would pull me when I am dead. I have also done this course several times and it is very nice:
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=41904


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## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

poff said:


> I am not sure what condition I am in since I've been skiing more than riding, but I would like to join if ratpick would pull me when I am dead. I have also done this course several times and it is very nice:
> http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=41904


Will bring two tow ropes (one to attach to ukbloke's Tarmac at mile 75).

OT: you in for Kaiser again? Time to sign up, I think, and I'd really rather have someone to ride with.


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## poff (Jul 21, 2007)

Can't do Kaiser this year, will be riding in Portugal that week. But will join you for Alta Alpine.


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## Art853 (May 30, 2003)

Bookmark.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

It looks like the weather is not going to co-operate for this weekend. The predictions are for a big wet storm to come in and sit on Northern California for pretty much the rest of the month. I'll wait a few more days to see if the forecasters have got it right before officially postponing it. It is a good thing that the ToC is being run in May again this year.


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## norton55 (Jan 10, 2006)

ukbloke, our roads are a mess right now, and much as I would like to join you, I think it not wise at this time. We measure our rain in feet not inches here and I think it would be wise to wait.


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## sparkyJay (Mar 3, 2011)

diver160651 said:


> .. Thinking of doing the 2nd MTB Tour de Peninsula 4/24. ...Really got to figure out how to get more people on the main loop and hopefully more finishers this year!
> Jt


Hope this works on 4/24. Some poor strategy kept me from getting into Purisma last year. I will finish this year. Don't forget the mtbr cross post! :thumbsup:

edit: it was Purisma I missed, not Skeggs.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

The forecast for Sunday is more hopeful now - partly cloudy and high of 61, no rain. I appreciate the advice about road conditions. I'm still playing wait and see.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

I'm going to cancel for this weekend. The weather is marginal at best. The forecast keeps flipping between showers and cloudy, but it is going to be cold up top and getting wet would be utterly miserable. Sorry ratpick and anyone else if you were making plans to go. We'll find another date with more suitable weather and hopefully more riders, so that we can do this route in style.


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## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

I was hoping you wouldn't but I think it's a good call. Still looking forward to it whenever we can make it!


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## Dr_John (Oct 11, 2005)

> I'm going to cancel for this weekend


:thumbsup: For me, it's not the projected weather as much as the weather here in the recent past. This is the longest I've been off a bike, and I wouldn't have enjoyed it. I was even worried about being ready for a mid-April ride date.


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## norton55 (Jan 10, 2006)

You guys should be thankful that you didn't ride out here today. Between the down trees and potholes, it is pouring out here again. At 75"+ of rain for the season, I am pacing around my house like a caged tiger. 

At some point the weather will be good for a ride out here.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

norton55 said:


> You guys should be thankful that you didn't ride out here today. Between the down trees and potholes, it is pouring out here again. At 75"+ of rain for the season, I am pacing around my house like a caged tiger.
> 
> At some point the weather will be good for a ride out here.


Thanks for the validation - I'm glad that it turned out to be pretty miserable up there after all. Today, there's a big yellow thing in the sky and a strange pleasant warming sensation on my arms. Spring is here!


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Bad news ... this ride isn't going to happen as planned. Too many family distractions over the next few weeks.

Good news ... rox is planning a similar ride for Sunday 5/15 over in this thread. Get out there and enjoy these fabulous roads!


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