I finished my first 200km brevet yesterday! Woohoo! I’m now officially entitled to the title “randonneur.” It’s been a year in the making but I’m very proud to have done it. Here’s a long-ish ride report for anyone interested…
The ride was the first brevet of the PCH Randos 2010 series. Started from a shopping mall on Tierra Rejada in Moorpark (Java Kai to be precise). We departed at 6:32am and immediately on exiting the parking lot I blew a double shift and dropped my chain. It wrapped around the inner chainring bolt holes (I’m using a triple crank setup as a compact double) and took me a couple minutes to sort out, in the dark. The lead group had left me pretty far behind at that point, but no worries, because randonneuring is not racing. Your only goals are to A) finish within the time limits and B) have a good time. My kind of riding, in other words.
The riding along the “Moorpark Ridge” section of the course was fantastic. There are two pretty easy climbs up Grimes Canyon Road and then Balcolm Canyon Road, and the rest is pretty much gentle rollers through some very scenic country (reminiscent of Foothill between Montecito and Carp). The first “secret” control was located about 8mi into the ride at the top of the first climb, the second about 27mi into the ride, just before re-entering the 118.
On the subject of controls: Brevets have a few different types of controls, including manned controls (where a volunteer is there to note the time and to stamp your brevet card), unmanned controls (where you have to get a receipt with timestamp from a local establishment), information controls (where you have to answer a question either on the brevet card or posted on a sign setup by the brevet organizers) and lastly “secret controls”, which are manned controls but which are not announced ahead of time. Secret controls are intended to “keep you honest” and prevent you from taking shortcuts (actually, ALL of the controls are intended for that purpose, but secret controls especially so).
Anyways, after that, there was a short stretch on the 118 through Saticoy and then we got on Foothill and took that into Ventura. Stopped in Ventura to refill bottles and then headed up the bike path. I rode mostly solo except for this section, where I rode just behind another guy doing the ride. I ended up passing him just at the point we were supposed to turn off the bike path and go up Casitas Vista Road (and then Santa Ana), which resulted in the first of my “bonus miles” (i.e. miles you incur by getting lost / zoning out / being an idiot and therefore having to backtrack to get back on course). I ended up riding about 3 miles up the bike path before intersecting Santa Ana and then saying, “Hey wait a minute, where is Casitas Vista? Ooooops….”
I zoomed back down the bike path, found the correct turn, headed up and immediately caught up to the self-proclaimed “lantern rouge” contingent (we’d had some jokes on the subject prior to the start of the ride). For those not in the know, the so-called “lantern rouge” is the last person to finish a brevet. Often, the lantern rouge is accorded as much or even more unofficial honors as the person who finishes first, because it is believed that the lantern rouge had to overcome greater difficulties (be they physical, mechanical or whatever) than the first finisher. It should be noted that randonneuring results do not list riders by completion time, but rather alphabetically. There is a very self-conscious effort to not emphasis the speed of completion, but rather the self-sufficient nature of the event (there is no outside support permitted at all, you are not even allowed to draft people not on the same ride because that constitutes support).
Anyways, shortly after catching up to the lantern rouge crew, I got my first flat tire. How humiliating to pass group of people, then be brought down by a flat, and then have them pass you in turn! It’s not a race, but that is embarrassing no matter what.
Between my bonus miles and my flat, I started to get worried I was getting behind schedule. In rather rushed fashion I fixed my flat, giving only a cursory check of the tire for foreign bodies (this would prove a poor decision later on). Fortunately the next control was just a mile or so up the road at the Corner Market and I had plenty of time before the control’s closing time (controls have opening and closing times, if you get there early you have to wait for it to open, if you get there late, your ride is done… you have DQ’ed).
I refilled my bottles again in preparation for the only “serious” climbing on the course, which was going over Casitas Pass. I rode on alongside the lake and it was absolutely beautiful, pure sheet glass and very scenic. I turned onto 150 and started preparing for the big climb only to realize my rear tire was going soft again. UN####INGBELIEVABLE. I stopped at that ranger station with the water fountain and did some serious inspection to figure out why my new tube had gone flat, and found a shard of glass that had embedded itself in the tire. Got that out, put in my 2nd (and last) spare tube, and proceeded onwards.
I made it up the pass without too much difficulty although the day had turned out to be warmer than I’d expected. As I neared the top my stomach was growling and I was slightly concerned I might bonk, so I took it easy and just tried to spin to win. At the top I had a nice chat with some of the “lantern rouge” guys who I’d caught up to again for what was now the 3rd time (I had passed them again by the lake) and shared some laughs about my flat. I ate the first of my peanut butter sandwiches and a banana, as well as chugged some Gatorade. My mood improved immediately.
The descent into Carp was fun as always, so nice after the climb out of the valley. The route turned right onto Foothill (192) and then left at Linden. I went to the liquor store to buy more Gatorade and get my timestamp, then stopped at Rincon Cycles to get a couple more tubes (not wanting to take any chances). After that I headed out again and found I had a little tailwind on 101 south. Passed my friend Tosh and his buddy who were out on a training ride, and was able to maintain a nice 22mph pace with very little effort, then about 19mph along Rincon Parkway. Having 700×32 tires makes that stretch of road not so aggravatingly rough 😉
Then the slogging began… rode down to Ventura, along Harbor Boulevard where I was nearly right hooked a few times (including once by a motorcycle… WTF dude same team!!) and then across the Santa Clara River bridge into Oxnard (glass everywhere). At Channel Islands Blvd I turned left, and then had the 2nd of my boneheaded “bonus miles” episodes.
The problem was that I used to go surfing down in Oxnard at Silver Strand pretty regularly, so when I saw the turn for Victoria Rd, I misread it as “Ventura Road” (which is actually about 2mi further down) and ended up riding down to Silver Strand before realizing I’d messed up.. AGAIN. That was pretty demoralizing but there’s nothing else to do but turn around, get back on course and try not to screw up again.
I turned at Ventura Road and then took that all the way down to Port Hueneme where I stopped at the intersection with Hueneme Road and got another timestamp receipt for a Snicker’s bar at the liquor store there.
Then it was Hueneme Road all the way out to Naval Air Road, then took that all the way down to Gate #3 at Pt. Mugu where there was an information control (had to indicate the number on the gate on the brevet card). After that, took Las Posas out to Camarillo, fighting a 10-15mph headwind the whole way. Then turned right on Pleasant Valley and took that all the way through Camarillo, along the Santa Rosa river valley.
About five miles before the intersection with Moorpark Road (my next turnpoint), I stopped on an embankment along the side of the road for some classic “roadside dining”… another randonneuring tradition! I ate my last peanut butter sandwich and last banana, and once again they helped my mood climb. That mood lift was really timely, because about a mile after that I got my 3rd flat tire of the day. A straight up puncture… who knows from what, the shoulder was full of tons of gravel and glass and whatever. It seems that one of the main hobbies in Ventura County is throwing glass bottles out your window.
Anyways, there was a last little bit of climbing into Moorpark and then it was done. I finished at 5:08pm, exactly 10hr 36min after starting. I was pretty tired from being on the bike so long and having so much drama, but glad to be done. It was definitely the toughest long ride I’ve done, but was still fun. As I’ve said many times, what I like best about long rides is the adventure… you don’t know what’s going to happen, but you know that something is gonna happen. Always true so far!