New Carbon bars for the next Double :)

OK so while the Ritchey WCS aluminum bars that I had put on after the carbon felt bars gave up the ghost on the felt did the trick for the last day of the Vuelta and the Camino Real.... I picked up a great deal on a set of Easton Carbon bars (EASTON EC90 SLX3 ) at Jensonusa.com - 100$ :) regularly 249$

So we will try them out on Sunday at the Cycle Folsom Peleton ride.

Have fun out there!

Apparently We Didn't Learn Our Lesson :)

So if the pain and torture of the Camino Real Double Century was not enough.... We have signed up for the Solvang Spring Double Century.

The route has two big climbs... one from the start and one near the end. We travel from Solvang up the coast to Moro Bay and then back

The event will happen on March 27 2010, and if completed would make double century #2 of a possible 3 for the season. Getting 3 done would qualify us to get the California Triple Crown Jersey of accomplishment http://www.caltriplecrown.com/info.htm.

:)

Keep the rubber side down~!

We survived the Camino Real Double Century:)

So we completed the Camino Real Double Century - 198 miles and about 8800 ft of climbing.
We were questioning our resolve and sanity in the last few miles but we did well.
(the jury is out on whether there will be any further 200 milers in our future.... we will see)

The day started at 5:30 am heading out from Irvine CA... we had about an hour or so of rain which ended just about as the sun was rising.

The rest of the day was mostly cloudy with light to medium winds with temperatures from 45 to about 60 or so.

We began the biggest climb of the day at mile 150 which took us up for about 30 miles and then finally mostly downhill back into Irvine.

We arrived back at the start at 8:40pm for a total of 13hr 35min actually riding and 1hr 35 min stopped (either at stop lights or at rest stops)

Anyways a great ride and our bikes held up fantastically in spite of riding through mud and water and down highway I-5 for 10 miles with big truck whizzing by and lots of debris on the roadside)

now time for some recover :)

Cheers

If my head was not attached....

So Lisa and I met for a little tapering ride before the big double on Saturday... and all is well except that I forgot my shoes and helmet...DOH!

So instead of wasting the trip I biked in my running shoes on my clipless pedals and w/o my helmet - for the 13 mi around Lake Natomas. It is really hard to climb the last steep bit to the Hazel bridge(!)

Took it easy and felt kind of exposed without a helmet - and really don't recommend a long ride in running shoes on clipless pedals ...

I better double check that I have everything on Saturday!

(making a list and checking it twice)

R

An interesting product LOL

Hi Folks... worried about the air where you live? doing a double century and maybe need to carry a little O2 to help out... have I got the product for you :)

check out:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-10454345-247.html

Oxyfit, a lightweight backpack-with-tube that is touted as "the world's first compact personal oxygen supply."

Just what I need for those tough climbs

Cheers

We spent a little time with Garmin Training Center and Photoshop to lay out the main features of the 3 days of the Vuelta Puerto Rico.

Note that Training center has a tendency to smooth the gradients (even with smoothing turned off) such that the max gradient seen during the climb is usually 1.5 -2 % greater than that seen in the graphs after processing by Training center....

In any event you can see there were a number of good climbs on the three days...

Enjoy

Ron and Lisa

Getting ready for the new Challenge 200mi in 1 day

So we are in the last few days before we head to Irvine CA for the Camino Real Double Century. 200 miles and 8500 ft of climbing.

I guess we are a ready as we will get. The weather looks to cooperate with mid 40F when we start and end (in the dark) and up to about 70F during the day - so sounds perfect. We hope to do the ride in about 15 hours... we will see... it ends with some serious climbing (pray for no cramps:)

We have tried to plot the course and dissect it a bit for some strategy regarding stop points.

On the weekend we stretched the legs with Cycle Folsom ( and hurt abit - still not recovered from Puerto Rico I think... and then a nice easy ride on Valentines day w Lisa :)

Hope you all had a nice Valentines day <3

Back In California

Hi there...

Wed had a fantastic time in Puerto Rico and certainly hope to visit again!

My colleague Josue was kind enough to pickus up and deliver us safely to the airport where we had no problems to check in and our flkihgt to dallas was on time.

Flight was bumpy but uneventful. We were also lucky in Dally to have our plan on time given the storms in Washington and Chicago etc delaying flights.... We safely arrived in Sacramento about 6:30 pm and JEff pciked up.

A quick check of the bikes showed a bit of scratching from a wheel axle on Lisas downtube... My fault for not quite getting the protection around that tube lined up right - sorry, Lisa :( !

Other than that the end of a great adventure. Checking the scales at the gym this mornign I am 10 lbs liughter than 2.5 weeks ago - must be still dehydrated :)

Stay tuned for the next adventure:
Real Camino Double Century ( 200 miles in one day) on Feb 20th in Sother California with Planet Ultra... should be a 14 - 16 hour event starting at 5am

Cheers and keep on having fun!

Ron and Lisa

Last day and heading home

So we had ... a nice day wandering old town San Juan

we apacked up the bikes and hopefully they will do well on the trip back

We met up with about 24 other bikers for the 1.5 hour drive out to the N E corner of the island ( Fajardo) to do the bioluminescent tour in the kayak.

The kayak tour was really quite magical... the night was pretty dark with no moon and little city lights nearby so we saw tons of stars above us and then "stars" and in the water> as you move the paddle or your hand through the water it lights up as a glowing froth... very neat!

We got back about 10pm after fighting traffic due to a car accident on the hiway and looked for some dinner but ended up with just a snack.

Back we go to CA in a few hours :)

Have a great day!

Ron and Lisa

For Stan, who suspects I made up the broken handlebars story to avoid a butt kicking from Lisa :)

here is the photographic evidence

Cheers

TA-DA - We made it!

SO we finished the 139 mile final stage of the Vuelta PR from Mayaguez back to Old San Juan.

The Day served up some serious climbing over the first 50 miles as well as some spectacular scenery past some wonderful little villages on the ocean

Since we started on the West coast of the island we had some shade for the first few climbs and then had a head wind for most of the last 100 miles but we were in a large peleton so that helped to cut thru the wind

We left at 6am in the dark and arrived in Old San Juan at 6:30pm to a wild welcome with the streets lined with people cheering helicopter over head etc. We were given our finishers medal and treated to a nice dinner and live music

Tomorrow we have a day to relax a bit start to pack up and in the afternoon/evening we go kayaking on the bio-luminecent bay... should be fun

Hope all is well with you:)

Ron and Lisa

Day 2 completed

Updated with a few Pics:)

Hi everyone:

after the 148 miles of Day 1 we expected an easier day at only about 97 miles. The day started well with a 3 mile 5:30 am ride to the downtown and then off with the whole group using lights at 6am.. we covered the first 22 miles in just over an hour and 15 min and had breakfast in an unusual open brick building... neat.

After breakfast we climbed for a while and then rolled in to a rest stop at mile 42... Ron noticed at that point that his carbon handle bars had broken.. we think maybe at the breakfast stop when the bikes fell over... not sure - either way it was the end of the day's ride for Ron and he spent the rest of the day riding in the Van while the mechanical support took his bike way to try to get him a new handle bar (He got the bike with new bars about 6pm) so only 45 miles for Ron..

Lisa continued on and under some hot windy conditions and many steep hills she finished the day.. advising that it was infact a more difficult day than the first. She may have gotten on film as the Travel channel film helicopter buzzed over her climbing to the light house :)

Off to bed around 8 pm and up for a 6am start on a 133 mi ride which looks to be a difficult one as well and likely into the wind and with lots of hills especially in the first 50 miles>

Ron and Lisa

We survived day 1!!

We completed the first day 150 miler... we both rode with the B group which averaged supposedly 18 mph...however there were lots of 26 mph 5 or 6 mile sessions... Total climbing about 4463ft and lovely ocean views and rain forest

We stopped for water and fruit about every 20 miles and at mile 112 - r
Ron was hurting so Lisa continued with the B group and eventually ended up in the A group(!!!) o
averaging over 21 mph for much of the last 35 mi

Ron went with the C group and we averaged about 18 ... unfortunately Ron did most of the last 35mi on a flat (slow leak) tire and had to stop acouple of times to pump it and then catch back up

Moer later and maybe some pictures :)

cheers
team vanHuuHaa

Hi everyone...

Up at 4:30 am then a short ride to Caficultura coffee shop, a new chic cafe in downtown Old San Juan, then headed out in our San Juan Cycling club jerseys.

We toured many areas of San Juan in a 45 person group followed by a team car and and emergency vehicle. We got to go through the red lights with the siren going from the emergency vehicle helping to hold traffic, and our fearless (really fearless) event leader William simply stopped all traffic- city buses and all- with a raise of his hand and had us deftly weaving through rush hour traffic.

Hawaii has nothing on this island. Puerto Rico is the best of Kauai and Puerta Vallarta smashed together with old world castles and artillary bases dating back to the early 1500's. And how can you beat 85 degree sunny days in February?

We stopped for drinks at a local small elementary school, rode past the University of PR, and dragged our bikes through a fruit market ( plaza de mercado) for a lovely fruit smoothie. Along the way were shouts and cheers from pedestrians either thrilled or irked to see a giant peloton riding through the streets.

After 35 miles we returned to Old San Juan for a press conference at the PR Tourism Bureau. We also learned that The Travel Channel will fly overhead in a helicopter during the 3 day ride filming for a segment on endurance ridng to air in May.

Lots of fun- now off to a pasta feed and debriefing. We feel ready to tackle the 150 mile ride tomorrow!

Hope you are all well :)

pics are being difficult so will try to upload in a bit

1st day in SanJuan

After a nice breakfast and assembling the bikes we took a long walk out to Fort El Morro and thru the streets of Old San Juan. We then took the bikes and hit the streets along the North coast and eventually down to Hato Rey area to find a bike shop.

Interesting to say the least as we ended up biking on a highway strangely called an Interstate even though it only goes inside PR> we did 15 miles in temps up to 93 F and high humidity

Tomorrow we go on a 45 mile 5 hour city tour on the bikes :)

Hope all is well where you are

All packed and waiting at the airport

Hi friends:
up at 2:30 am and after Kona coffee and banana bread we loaded up the truck and made it to the airport without any issues>

AA counter did not open till 4:30 but after $120 to check in our suitcase and the bike we headed to the gate... Attached some pictures of the packed up bikes :)

cheers