Rob

Canyon Classic Lick Observatory Ride 2010
June 12, 2010

Team Marathon Bar
To look at the ride from my GPS, copy and paste the following web address into maps.google.com.
http://www.robstone.org/gps_data/canyon_classic_6-12-2010.kml
All 55 pictures from the ride are at the bottom of the write up.

Israel

Prelude While most years I find myself fighting the good fight against the forces of nature (and many times evil) that try to oppress me and keep me down, I must say that 2010 has been one of my more challenging fights. The year started off with grandiose plans that culminated with my first Ironman in July, though my plans were derailed by circumstances (injury and sickness) that have left me humbled, yet resolute to continue fighting to overcome. My first event of the year was supposed to be the Sacramento Shamrock'n Half Marathon in March, however I came down with a stomach bug (likely the same one that my daughter had a few days before), and was unable to keep any food down for the day before; Gretchen did rise to the challenge and ended up running in my stead finishing in under 2 hours. In late April I was supposed to ride the Chico Wildflower, but the day before I threw my back out in such horrific fashion that I couldn't stand up straight for nearly 2 weeks. This back injury also killed my plans for the Napa Half-Ironman that I was supposed to be doing in the first week of May. I was left with only remorse, regret, and self-pity for the remainder of May as I stewed upon not only the fact that I had forfeited ~$300 is race registration fees, but I was also incapable of doing any real workouts that required me to stand up straight or raise my heart rate above a resting rate. Late May did bring the exciting news that I was selected to represent Marathon Bars on Team Marathon Bar, so the nice clothing schwag and healthy supply of Marathon bars did brighten my outlook, but I did want to get back out and attack some of the challenges that I'd set forth to do at the beginning of the year.
While I would be unable to do many of the events I planned for the year (difficult when I had to take 6 weeks off in the middle of the Ironman training schedule), I reassessed my situation, and came up with a solid plan for the rest of the year - the Canyon Classic Lick Observatory Ride being first on the new schedule. So the other key thing that played into the decision to do the Canyon Classic is that my buddy and riding partner over the last 18 months, Israel, is moving up to Kodiak, Alaska to help save the dudes from the Deadliest Catch and make sure that the Russians who live across from Sarah Palin aren't smuggling caviar into the USA. Looking at the ride calendar, the Canyon Classic fit in nicely and wouldn't require overnight stays anywhere, so we decided to sign up and give it a shot. We planned to do the Lick Observatory ride which would take us from the valleys of Patterson up to the Lick Observatory and back, all packed into about 91 miles and riding thru the Del Puerto Canyon.
After the back injury was feeling good enough for me to start doing some more training rides, Israel and I did do a decent 60 miler around Folsom Lake as well as a 65 miler up the famed Iowa Hill (some 20% grades). The back was feeling quite a bit better, and I felt ready to take on the challenges that lay ahead.
Ride Morning
So Israel planned to pick me up at 5:15 in the morning so we could begin our pilgrimage 85 miles south to the town of Patterson, CA. I set the alarm for 4:50, but found myself confused and somehow panic stricken staring at the alarm clock at 5:06 as I didn't understand what was going on and why the little contraption was making noise. After slapping at it, trying to get the noise to stop, I realized that somehow I had hit the snooze bar a couple of times and that Israel would be to the house shortly. I quickly got up, got on my clothes, and got a bagel in the toaster. Israel showed up on time, we got my bike loaded, and then we were off on our way to Patterson. Upon reaching Creekside Middle School (the ride headquarters), we checked in with the staff, got our goodie bags, and then headed back to the truck to get situated. I was proudly sporting the Team Marathon Bar kit that I had received the week prior, enjoying the fact that I was actually color coordinated for not only the first ride of the year, but likely the first time in my life. I pulled on the Halo head wear that Gretchen and the kids had gotten me for my birthday, as I have been having serious issues with sweat dripping into my eyes and causing them to burn as if I had just been sprayed with pepper spray. The Halo head wear is not only a totally awesome do rag that protects my eyes from the stinging barbs of my own sweat, but it also prevents my forehead (which seems to be increasing in size) from getting sunburned thru the vents in my helmet. I got my Garmin GPS and heart rate monitor on, and shortly thereafter we began our ride out of Patterson.
The Ride
About 2.5 miles outside of Patterson, is the Del Puerto Canyon with the Del Puerto Canyon Road going right thru the middle of it. Seeing as it was the middle of June, the first part of the canyon was like the well known color of a 1970's kitchen appliance (nope, not Avocado Green) a beautiful Harvest Gold. The first 20 or so miles of this ride are on a steady, but not too difficult incline of about 2 or 3 percent. The part that made this difficult was the 20 mph winds that seemed to swirl around as we were climbing portions of this grade. The views were really quite gorgeous though, and there was virtually no traffic at all save the SAG wagons that were driving up and down the road looking for folks who needed help. The beautiful harvest gold rolling hills in the first 7 or 8 miles gave way to some glorious Avocado Green hillsides as we got deeper into the canyon. There was a majestic little stream which ran alongside the canyon road that we were on, and there was what appeared to be an inordinate number (actually it became ordinate when we decided to actually count them) of cattle grates which shake the body and bike a little bit when you go over them.
After riding just over 20 miles up thru the canyon, we came to the first rest stop at Frank Raines park, which appeared to have a slide and a bunch of dirt for the kids to play in. The rest stop was well stocked, and I enjoyed a bagel and some gorp as well as a couple cans of cola from the Royal Crown (aka RC Cola). Israel chatted with a retired Air Force guy and they talked airplanes and military life. We found that a lot of people would be heading back to Patterson from this rest stop, although some would be continuing on. After getting our fill of snacks and RC, we got back on our trusty pedal powered contraptions and continued onward.
A couple miles after the initial rest stop we hit our first significant grade of the day, a solid 8 percenter that went on for a couple of miles. I got to the top of it shortly before Israel and was able to get some decent shots of him coming up the hill. After the hill we continued downhill for a few miles and came to a 'water stop' which actually had quite a bit more than just water (which was awesome). We topped off our bottles, chatted with the super nice folks from the Rotary Club, and chatted with some of the other riders who would be headed in the same direction as us...up to the Lick Observatory. A bunch of people said it was a very difficult climb, but Israel and I dismissed this as we felt we were young and full of vitality. I probably should mention that we also had a bit of a schedule to keep, as Israel intended to go to a college graduation of a buddy that started at 6pm. In our lofty expectations, we assumed that the ride out would take no more than 4 hours and then the ride back (pretty much a descent) would take about 2 hours. At this point of our ride, we were right on schedule and anticipated that our precision timing and plan execution would allow for us to enjoy a perfectly planned day.
After leaving the rest stop, we enjoyed about 18 miles of flat roads and relatively easy riding. Again, the area was absolutely beautiful, so we enjoyed the scenery and discussion as we made our way to the base of the Lick Observatory climb; little did we know what torment and torture lay in wait for us.
So the culmination of the ride is the climb to the Lick Observatory which rests approximately 4000 feet above sea level. On the map the climb looks steep but not necessarily long, so I think we failed to grasp a true appreciation for how challenging it would be for two individuals who have battled weight issues over the course of our lifetimes. We got to the base of the climb and we attacked it with gusto which lasted for probably the first 2 or 3 minutes. After the initial adrenaline subsided, the monotony of the climb with the numerous switchbacks kicked in. Don't get me wrong, the scenery was beautiful, and the roads were in pretty good condition, however when the heart is racing at 175 beats per minute for what seemed to be an hour or more, one starts to look for an ending. Like many of the other climbs I've done on twisting mountain roads, I usually anticipate going around the next switchback and seeing the top of the mountain, and I am usually sorely disappointed to see yet more climbing. On this climb I kept looking for the big white domes of the Lick Observatory telescopes, but I was having a difficult time seeing any of them. I put into my mind that the mileage would be the main thing that would let me know when I was close, but it appeared that my odometer was slightly off as I kept climbing over the 44.7 mile mark, where I thought the lunch stop would be. After what seemed like an eternity, I finally saw the Lick Observatory in the distance (after a few more climbs), and I found the sign that said Lunch Stop ahead; of course the lunch stop was another 100 feet of steep incline to get to the top of the observatory. I was thrilled to get up there, and after getting my helmet and other gear off, I immediately went about to making a sandwich, eating some pretzels and chips, and enjoying a few refreshing cans of Royal Crown soda. I found a shady spot to enjoy my feast as I waited for Israel to make the top of the climb. I also noticed in looking at my GPS time that our precision execution of our planned schedule had been completely obliterated by the Lick Observatory climb. After eating and going back for seconds and thirds I began to get a little worried about Israel as it had been probably 20 or 30 minutes since I had been at the lunch stop. A few minutes later, Israel rolled into the stop and we bantered back and forth about the difficulties of the climb. After we finished eating, we took some pictures at the top of the observatory and it was pretty interesting as we could see San Jose way off in the distance. We then climbed aboard our mechanical stallions and began the hand cramping (due to holding on the brakes) descent back down.
After the initial descent, we ended up back on the roads where we had some slight climbs (although they were pretty challenging at this point) back towards Patterson. We ended up almost running over a 4 foot snake in the middle of the road, and it served as a good diversion to stop and take a picture of the wild serpent. The winds were still moving at a decent clip, so I paced Israel for awhile to try and lessen the load of the headwind. Making our way back to the next rest stop was probably the most difficult portion of the ride as we felt like we were off in no man's land and that the next rest stop was always around the next corner, which of course it wasn't. We ended up splitting up a little bit, and I got to the next rest stop and was happy to talk to the nice woman and man who were running it. Israel got to the rest stop a couple minutes later and appeared to be in bad shape as he talked about hallucinations and inability to control his most rudimentary functions. While we recovered at the rest stop, we chatted with the folks from the Rotary Club and they told us about the money they raise from the bike ride. One of the main things that they do is try to eradicate polio world wide, but they also use the money for local programs for children. It really is pretty cool.
After that rest stop we had one more slight climb and then a good 20 miles of downhill. We skipped the last rest area and simply pushed ourselves back down the hill and into the wind for the last 20 or so miles. We ended up going over 15 cattle grates coming back from the observatory, which made for 30 cattle grate crossings overall; we made jokes about calling it the 'Cattle Grate Classic'- everything seemed funny at this point. We finally made it out of the canyon and back down to Patterson where we made our way back to Israel's truck, victorious in our conquest of the Lick Observatory ride (we even got a pin to prove it - 'I licked the Lick Observatory climb') We got our first look at the clock and realized that we had totally overshot our time estimate as it was 4:15 in the afternoon, far beyond our 1 to 2 o'clock thoughts. We ended up skipping the post ride dinner so that we could get back and Israel could make the 6 o'clock graduation.
Post Ride
The ride back wasn't too eventful, but there was a great highlight of seeing a car with a license plate that said 'Eye(heart)Rob'. I'm not entirely sure if they were talking about me, but I think there may have been a possibility. Israel dropped me off, and I quickly showered and went out and got a grilled cheese bacon burger from Carl's Jr. as a reward for a solid day on the bike. Gretchen and the kids got home a little bit later (they had been at the labyrinth known as Ikea), and so I regaled the family with stories from the ride.
Overall this was a great ride. The support was tremendous as the Rotary Club of Modesto did a great job hosting a great event for a good cause. This wasn't a huge ride with thousands of riders which often times simply feel like an assembly line approach to support. Each rest stop had some great volunteers who were super nice and very helpful and friendly. The roads were in pretty good condition throughout, and there was virtually no traffic the entire day. I would go as far as to say that this was one of my favorite rides I have ever done.

2010 Canyon Classic Century

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Canyon Classic Lick Observatory Ride 2010June 12, 2010

2010 Canyon Classic Century

Created by IrfanView

Canyon Classic Lick Observatory Ride 2010
June 12, 2010