Malibu Double 2012

[Nerius Landys]

So how did it go?  Pray do tell!

[robert#5639]

You missed out. I think I made 14 hours on the Highland route. Should have been sub 13 but I took some extra time at a couple controls to chat with a few friends, both old and new. The wind didn't help, and the route sheet is still a bit goofy, so more than a few of us ended up with bonus miles. The temps were perfect. No need for warm clothes but still stayed under 90. Of course the day was not without incident. I was with three other guys climbing Grimes Canyon when we got a some road rage on the descent, and later I was on my own about halfway up Dennison going into Ojai, I nearly became a but splat on a windscreens as a car decided to enter the oncoming lane to pass 5 cars on a blind sweeping corner @ 50+ mph. A couple more inches and I would not be writing this. Fun ride with a variety of people. Best part was the looks I got from the "racers" as I zipped by on the climbs. Something about a steel bike with fenders and downtube shifters is supposed to be slow. Eh, 16.9 mph average speed for my riding time wasn't too shabby.

If I do it next year, I'll most likely do the triple. Or possibly the double on my single speed. Highland of course. Never have done the lowland route but from what I hear it's a "why bother".

[karlos]

Another NCCC group out there with Robert was Tony/Diana, John, me, Evelyn, and Anthony. We left at 6am. Gorgeous PCH 25 miles with not a cloud in the sky and ocean on our left to Pt. Hueneme. Averaged 19.6 mph to the first check point at mile 35. Tony and Diana did great on the tandem, with the only slow going up the 14-18% wall on Portrero. The rest of us came off the top of the Portrero wall and accidentally slid past the next right turn taking us all the way to US 101 - no comment about John going down in slime from a dead start and my rolling over his quad. We lost (more accurately, added) 8 miles there. Thousand Oaks and Moorpark were uneventful and nicely traffic-free, but Anthony missed a turn at the bottom of the Grimes Canyon descent, adding 4-5 miles to his "double" as he took a detour to Fillmore. As we finished lunch, Evelyn asked John to "go look for Anthony." John looked up and said, "there he is" as Anthony was just rolling in about 20 minutes behind us, so we were once again all back together. After the nicest part of the ride on 150 from Ojai back to the coast over Casitas Pass, we left the Rincon checkpoint, and with about 60 miles to go, Evelyn's rear tire shredded, about a 3in. casing rip. It took two boots to get us four miles. There we ran into a roadside SAG and a guy who was calling it quits - who graciously sold a brand new front tire (Armadillo to keep Evelyn bullet-proof) to Evelyn for $20! That was another good 20-25 minutes for the two stops (only Evelyn, Anthony, and I participated as John was just a 100 yds ahead of the action and Tony/Diana had left Rincon early). The 3 of us boogied back and arrived EXACTLY at sunset - 8:10pm. The food at the end was really great - bbq chicken and tri-tip, although Tony/Diana skipped that part as they were in a hurry to drive back. All in all, a grand ride, but it was the 208 for 3 of us and 213 for Anthony - never believe it when they say "200 miles."

[Nerius Landys]

Do none of you have a Garmin device with the route loaded on there?
I've never used a Garmin myself, but I'm going to be renting one for my France trip.
Seems like a good idea when you're doing lots of miles/climbing on unfamiliar roads.

[karlos]

The route was not published prior to the ride, although we could have entered it that evening and done the same. Part of the problem was a course detour which we picked up at last minute, meaning all the mileage marks were off on the route sheet - which is why we missed the first right turn. 2nd problem is that we followed people, assuming they knew the route - wrong again.

But, where's your sense of adventure, Nerius? No tales to tell if nothing goes wrong.

[robert#5639]

As far as the route not being published before the ride, it's irritating. I like to make my own cue sheets to clean up and simplify it. However, I still have the cue sheet from the last time i did it in '09 or '10 I think, and I'm 99.9% sure it's exactly the same. Search Map My Ride or Ride with GPS and I'm sure you can find it on there.