Lane’s Notes and Snaps

This is one of my favorite centuries and it travels through some of the most scenic areas of Northern California.  This year the ride director was my good friend Maura who did a great job putting the ride together.  It was nearly cancelled until she stepped in to save the day.  As usual, the ride was well supported and lots of fun but challenging.

I definitely found this year’s ride to be a challenge.  Steve stopped by my house and rode down to Scotts Valley with me.  It turned out to be the only time I could keep up with him all day.  Steve and I met up with Ken & Barry at the high school and after a couple of photos we took off for the first of 11,000 feet of climbing.

Ken, Steve, and Barry were strong as usual and I struggled to keep them in sight riding up Mountain Charlie.  They were kind enough to wait for me at the rest stops even though I encouraged them to roll on and not stay out all day with me.  When I hit Jamison Creek Road for the time trial, the heat was really getting to me so I struggled to get to the top.  Then I hit Zayante and that really took it out of me.  A very tough day for yours truly.

Of the other rides I’ve repeated I’ve gone faster each year.  This was my fourth time on this one and I’ve been getting faster each year until this one.  I was 15 minutes slower this year than last, kinda disappointing.  Better luck next time.

Click on the map above to get to my photos or this link.  This was my 16th century of 2008 so I’m still a little bit behind my pace of 33 in 2007.

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Lance finally brought Livestrong to San Jose.  There were three ride distances: 100, 65, and 50 miles.  There was also a 5K run.  The rides and run combined consisted of 2800 people who raised $1.5M for the Lance Armstrong Foundation to further research toward a cure for cancer.

I rode the 10 miles from my house to the 7:30AM start since I really didn’t want to search around for a parking spot and with gas nearly $5.00 a gallon it was a good excuse to have a warm up ride.

It was a festive occasion in downtown San Jose with lots of riders, runners, volunteers, and dignitaries.  I was lucky to get to the front of the staging area since Lance and his entourage led us out of downtown along with a police escort.  I was able to stay in sight of Lance for the first 15 miles until we hit the Shannon Road climb when the front 40 or so riders took off and left me and others in their dust.

After that I spent most of the ride alone and occasionally jumping on trains of riders as they flew by.  I had a great ride with 5 and 1/2 hours of saddle time over the 95-mile distance.  With 5000 feet of climbing, I’m satisfied with that time.  And it was nice to ride for such a great cause.

Click on the map above to get to my photos or this link.  This was my 15th century of 2008 so I’m a little bit behind my pace of 33 in 2007.

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Twelve of us decided to brave the high temperatures by riding a century from Los Gatos out to the coast and back.  When we rolled at 7:30AM it was 75F so we knew we were in for a hot day on the bike.  Fortunately, there’s a lot of shade on this route since it travels through some well forested areas, mostly Redwoods.

Due to the immediate climb up Old Santa Cruz, Mountain Charlie, Summit, Bear Creek, and Skyline we split up quite a bit.  By the time we made it to the Skyline peak there were four of us out front with Richard leading the way.    After San Gregorio I didn’t see any of the group I was supposed to be leading and I found out later that we used four different routes back to Los Gatos.  Only one person, John P, rode the 110-mile route with 9,000 feet of climbing.

It was really cool out at the coast so the ride through Pescadero and San Gregorio was a lot more enjoyable than when I made it to the top of the Tunitas Creek climb.  Descending Kings Mountain, the temperature was at least 100F with massive heat radiating off the pavement.  It was then that I decided to take the easy way back and skip Mt Eden, Pierce, and Highway 9 on the way back.

It was great to be back at my car with a cold chocolate milk and water waiting for me.  But it wasn’t fun riding up the 2 miles of unpaved Los Gatos Creek Trail to get there.

Check here for photos or click on the map above.

This was my 14th century (90+ miles) of the year.  I’ve done 1810 miles on the road counting the shorter rides along with the centuries.

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