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2003 Tierra Bella Metric Century Ride Report
(Saturday, April 05 in Gilroy, CA.)
See also my photo album from
this ride
Sarah & I hit the road at a bit after 6am after getting some much-needed
caffeine, arriving at Gavillan College in Gilroy just before 7:00. There was
actually parking in the college lot this time (I had to park way down the
road last year). We used the facilites,
found Denise, geared up, and rolled out at 7:45 (we'd checked in the night
before in San Jose to save time in the morning). As we were leaving two women
recognized Sarah's Velo Girls armwarmers and came over and introduced
themselves (they were also members of that team). The 5 of us left together,
but the two other women fell back, being on knobby-tired mountain bikes.
I had originally planned on riding the 200km route, but since I was still
recovering from an extended cold/flu/cough, my trainer told me to ride 100km
instead, which was fine since I got to ride with Sarah and Denise. It was
cool, in the low 40s, when we rolled out, and mostly cloudy, with just a few
patches of sun. Fellow SunSpot Jerry joined us early on, and I also saw Rod
and Lee from the SunSpots team, who I rode with on the CA AIDS ride. We cruised north on Santa Teresa for a
little ways, then left civilization and we rode together on lovely rural
Burchell, Watsonville, and Uvas roads. Jerry was riding very well - he's
obviously been training hard for the upcoming AIDS/LifeCycle! There was a rest stop at Uvas Reservoir
(12mi), but it wasn't listed on our route sheet, so I guess its a stop on one
of the other routes. We briefly stopped here to fill our bellies and empty
our bladders, then continued north on Uvas Rd. along the reservoir. A turn on
Oak Glen Rd. led us past Chesbro
Reservoir and along some pretty gently rolling hills to the first "real"
rest stop at the Machado
School (23.5mi).
They had lots of eats here, breads, PB&J, cookies, etc., and we stayed a
few. I saw a fellow in a California
Triple Crown jersey and asked him which double centuries he'd done. Turns
out he'd done, among others, the Devil Mountain Double and the Terrible Two,
both of which are in my plan for this year. I talked to him and his friends
for a few (one of them lost 10 pounds over the course of a particularly hot
Terrible Two!). We backtracked a block or so on Sycamore, then had a short
climb, fairly steep towards the end. We zig-zagged through residental Gilroy
on roads with entirely too many stop signs. Two riders hopped on Denise &
my drafts and were there for a good long while. I don't mind folks drafting
me, but these guys were surly and didn't talk at all, and after sucking our
wheels for nearly half an hour, passed us without so much as a "thanks." Bah!
Denise & I stopped after crossing Ferguson Rd. to regroup for the lovely
climb up Gilroy Hot Springs. We had a nice view of the hills to the east as we waited.
Sarah showed up shortly, but Jerry didn't, so the three of us headed for the
hills. The climb up to the Gilroy Hot Springs rest stop is a tiered climb,
with several distinct climbs and breaks in between. Denise & I stopped on
one hill to admire some pretty
horses in a field. They came over to us and turned out to be huge, enough so that I
was actually scared to pet them! They were some clydesdale variant I'd not
seen before. We continued climbing along the
wildflower-banked road until we
got to the second (and last)
rest
stop (45.3mi).
Happily, unlike last year, there was food
a-plenty at this stop! They had delicious garlicy potatoes, nutbread,
pre-baggied gorp, and other edibles. We stretched and rested for a bit, then
pulled out. Jerry arrived as we were leaving and said he wanted to stay a
while, so we parted ways. There was a beautiful gradual climb up Canada Rd.
I was feeling especially good after eating a bunch, so I took off and rode a
fairly brisk pace to the top of the climb, past lovely fields, hills, and
wildflowers. Sarah, Denise
& I regrouped at the summit, then dropped down towards Gilroy. The ACTC
had a staffer in a skeleton suit warning riders to be careful on the descent,
where a rider crashed last year. Its not really a scary descent, but does
feature some blind corners and one must keep one's wits about them, especially
if unused to twisty downhills. I had a great time plunging towards the
valley, hitting 40mph in a few places, but the downhill is mostly too
technical to get up great speeds. The route returned the way it came
more-or-less, except that I missed a turn (taking a half dozen riders with
me), so we got a little bonus climb up to Santa Teresa before getting back
on-route and we soon arrived back at Gavillan College at 12:45. They had
chicken, beans, salad, and bread for the taking, although I wasn't all that
hungry myself. Jerry arrived while we were eating, but he didn't see me, and
was out of sight before I could flag him down. After eating and changing,
Sarah & I hit the Gilroy Outlet stores for a bit, then headed back home.
The ACTC was really on the ball this year,
providing great food and support. The route was very pretty with no
unnecessary junk miles, and, although cool, the weather was pleasant. I was a
little disappointed to not do the 100mi or 200km routes because they climb
Metcalf, a challenging hill that I've not yet tackled, but there's always next
year!
Ride Stats:
| Distance: |
62.4mi |
| Total Time: |
5h 1m |
| On-bike Time: |
4h 9m |
| Average Speed: |
15.2mph |
| Maximum Speed: |
40.1mph |
| Calories Burned: |
4,163 |
| Total Climbing: |
2,050' |
Ride Rating:
| Difficulty: |
2 - a solid climb up to Gilroy Hot Springs, but not difficult
overall |
| Support: |
4 - lots of SAG vehicles, intersection control, and rest stop
staff |
| Food: |
4 - MUCH better than last year! |
| Route: |
3 - pretty, but largely familiar |
| Overall: |
3 |