The proposed ride was up Bedford (everyone's favorite climb), across the Main Divide, down the Silverado Motorway, back up Maple Springs, down the Main Divide and back down Bedford.
We started with 12 riders:
Dave (me)
John H (the man of the hour)
Bob
Steve
Joe
Brian
Skippy
Domenick
Patrick
Adrian
John A
Chris (a friend of John H)
And 11 of us completed the entire thing.
A couple of really cool and memorable things happened on this ride. One was that my buddy Dom flew all the way down from Seattle to spend the weekend with me and my Southern California friends. I've been inviting him for years and he finally took me up on the offer. Jeff, who usually rides the Tour and is about the same height as Dom, let us borrow his bike, which was very cool.
Dom is a strong road rider who does about 5-6 centuries per year and this was to be his first mountain biking adventure off road. That made me a little nervous because this is a pretty difficult route that we had planned. I knew he'd do well, and at worst he'd have to simply turn around and wait for us at the house. But my main concern was that this ride would turn him off to mountain biking completely.
We woke up early and drove up Bedford in my wife's Highlander to drop off a big Arrowhead bottle full of water. I did this last time and it was a big relief for everyone. Plus, I thought it was a good idea to give Dom a hint of what's to come. Turns out it wasn't what he expected... at all!
The starting time was 10:00, but as usual, everyone took their time getting ready. Plus, we wanted to wait for Steve who was coming from his kid's soccer game. We shoved off right at 10:30.
The pace started off very casual, which was good. Climbing up Bedford is no picnic, and most everyone knew that. But, just like every year, Patrick takes off like a bullet. I was expecting John to follow him, but John waited in the back with his buddy Chris, who "hasn't done this kind of ride in years." Dom was in the back as well, getting used to the bike and trying to find his pace. We continued up to around 2,000 feet and couldn't see Dom and Chris on the trail, so I called Dom. They were by the main gate and Dom was ready to throw in the towel and head back to the house by himself. I was sort of relieved because I didn't want him to have a miserable time. I called Tricia and told her to expect Dom in a little while.
John A, Bob and I headed up together, and John H waited for Chris. Everyone else was way ahead at this point.We got to the Main Divide and Patrick has been waiting for about an hour. I can tell he was on a mission... but the rest of us were just looking for a casual ride. We filled up with water, had a snack, and when everyone gathered I get a call from Tricia saying that Dom never made it home. "Oh shit," I thought... "what if something happened?" I quickly call Dom and he picks up panting. Turns out he decided to ride up by himself after all. I didn't like it one bit, but he was determined to at least make it to the Main Divide. The only thing I can do was to call him often, so I did.
The rest of us took off across the Main Divide, then down The Silverado Motorway. It was a little loose, but man, I love that trail! Steve got the first flat somewhere in the middle.At the bottom of Silverado, we all congratulated John for making it past "the point". Skippy was awesome enough to stash more water for us at the bottom, and man, we needed it. It was a pretty warm day so far.
The ride up Maple Springs was nice and cool though, but holy crap was it hard! My knees were starting to hurt pretty bad, so I just wanted to take my time. Pretty much everyone was in front, but I think Steve was behind Skippy for most of the climb... I'm not sure. I rode a good portion with John A so I was asking tons of questions about his Ironman races. He claims any of us can do it with the proper training, but I don't know. It was inspiring nonetheless.
John and I pull up to Four Corners and see someone with a sombrero in the distance... "What the F?" We get closer and see that our friend Darrell drove up in his car with his two dogs and kindly set up a Tour de Corona Hydration Station. "Want a beer?" he said. "Oh, hell yeah!" That was the coolest thing I'd ever seen!I get a text from Dom saying that Patrick was already back to the top of Bedford, so they road down together. I texted back "Having a beer at 4 corners!" I learned later that Patrick saw the message and told Dom that I was just messing with him. Too bad Patrick blew through Four Corners and didn't wait for us.
We waited quite a while for Chris and started to get a little worried. John H and Joe headed back down Maple Springs to see what was going on. A little while later they come back up, and Chris was hurting pretty bad. He didn't crash or anything, he just got his ass handed to him on this part of the climb.
When Chris arrived, he enjoyed the last beer that we saved for him. If he didn't take it, it would've been a bloody fight over who got it.
We all shove off together, but immediately, Bob gets a flat and Brian busted a spoke. There were a few more small climbs, and my knees were done! This was the first time I've felt this sort of joint pain. I know, I know... I'm turning 40 next year so I have to expect this kind of crap... whatever!
We get to the top of Bedford and had some guy in a truck take my empty Arrowhead water bottle down to the gate. I really didn't want to drive back up to get it. From the gate, Brian grabbed it and strapped it to his back the rest of the way down.At home, Dom and Patrick were already cleaned up. Patrick was pissed when he found out I was telling the truth about the beers at Four Corners. That was pretty funny.
More friends and their significant others starting showing up, Patrick took over on the grill, and everyone else helped with the prep work while I fixed the TV. We enjoyed some well deserved beers, carne asada and chicken tacos and the UFC fight on pay-per-view.
The highlights were, of course, John redeeming himself, Domenick actually flying down from Seattle for the ride, and Darrell's awesomely cool hydration station at four corners. Besides Shogun loosing the main event in the fight, it turned out to be the best Tour de Corona so far. This will be a hard one to top. Can't wait until next year!Here are the stats:
Distance: 31.24 miles
Total climb: ~6,200 feet
Total time: ~7 hours
Patrick's record ride time: 3:52:59 (wow!)
Flats: 2
Busted Spokes: 1
Crashes: none!
