Battle of the Century

Well, here I am alive and walking after completing my second century ever (same course 2011, 2012).

I have a long story, however I figured it would give first time event riders an inside look of all the little details on getting ready for ride day.

Team 4D-SST started with four riders: Myself, Bryan, Craig and his brother Sean.  There was probably 200 riders doing the 100 mile trek through the rugged, edgy Long Beach terminal island and the fine lines of Palos Verdes.

4 a.m. I woke up and gathered up last of the items and enjoyed a 1 egg sandwich to get some fuel in my system.  I couldn't find my trusty headphones in my backpack the night before and decided to stop by the 24 hour WalMart and grab myself a set.  I picked up Bryan around 5 a.m., loaded up his bike and off we went to the Queen Mary, Long Beach.

6 a.m.  We arrive around and headed straight for the registration tables.  As having done 4 rides with the Tour De Cure (American Diabetes Association), I find that they are very organized and very efficient in getting us going quickly.  We picked up our t-shirts, hit the beverage-food table and gobbled up some oranges, bagels and drinks.  We returned to our truck to change into our riding attire and exchanged questions: Which glasses to wear? (it was a bit overcast), arm warmers? vest? how much food to bring?  We settle on arm warmers and Bryan ended up bring 2 sets of glasses to adjust to the changing conditons.  I chew down a whole PowerBar, took a dose of SportsLegs and washed it down with some water. 

Sean, Craig, Bryan, Bill

7:00 a.m. We line up with Craig and Sean with lots of eagerness to get going and get our team picture taken by a fellow rider.  The singing of the Star Spangled Banner always gets me; a reminder that we have the freedom to do things like this in this country and be proud of it.

7:15 a.m. Not sure what the hold up was as it was suppose to be a 7 a.m. roll.  We roll through downtown Long Beach and it is always cool to see every year the leftover k-rails and tire marks from the recent LB Grand Prix.  Talk about going 180 to 15 mph in 4 seconds to make a u-turn on the course!  We quickly find ourselves crossing the 1st of 2 bridges - Desmond and then the St. Vincent Thomas.  These bridges are usually closed to pedestrians and bicycles; they close at least one direction to allow us to enjoy the breathtaking, elevated views of the harbor.  Nothing like endless sea of shipping containers, huge boats and rail cars - a 4 year old boy's wild imagination!  The size of these bridges fool your mind when you are driving in a car; you find yourself a little daunted by the grade of the climb sitting on your saddle.  Bryan and I led the group and the bridge got us warmed up and settled.  Bombing the downhill, it was the first time I got to test my new cassette setup - I went from a 12 small tooth cog down to 11.  As having a compact crank, I always felt I was out geared going down hill.  I was smiling all the way down as the 1 tooth difference gave me what I wanted short of changing out the crankset.

8:00 a.m. We roll into port of call and I hear this PFFFFFFFFTTT sound behind me and noticed that Sean landed a flat front tire.  We quickly worked together to get him changed in about 4 minutes and he mentioned he saw a small sidewall cut on his tire on a previous day's inspection (although I couldn't find it).

We roll through our first rest stop with a quick 2 minute pee break and headed through the hills of Palos Verdes.  The sun continued to hide from us and the wind was calm at this point.  Bryan and I laid the hammer down and dropped the group, including Craig and Sean.  We decided to stop at the next rest stop to get sun screen on Bryan and refuel food and Gatorade for myself.  We never saw Sean or Craig so we decided to take off as they may have passed us while we were stopped. 

*** Turned out Sean had flatted again right before the rest stop.  He would flat 2 more times and decided to DNF and take the sag van back at mile 55.  Craig flatted 2 more times after leaving Sean and ended up doing the 65 mile loop.  We never saw the duo after losing contact earlier.

Miles 20-30 was through the rolling hills and ranches of Palos Verdes.  This is pretty much my favorite part of the ride - Ocean views, beautiful homes, nice people!  The one thing that miffed Bryan and I was a lady cop that decided to pull over a Tour De Cure cyclist for rolling through a stop sign and was citing him.  I overhear her as we roll pass "......I'm going to ticket every single one of you running that stop sign!".  Afterwards she rolls behind Bryan and I (on a very quiet road that runs next to the golf course) and gets on the bullhorn " Stay off the roadway!"  MAN, what was her problem?!?!?!   For the next 3 miles going DOWNHILL, Bryan and I decide to come to a complete stop at every stop sign to avoid getting a ticket by the Palos Verdes finest.  She sure did leave a sour taste in our mouth.

 Mile 40 gave us the mega climb that we all looked forward to, the PV switchbacks.  The road was quiet and my new cassette held up well (as my large cog got smaller).  Bryan, a strong climber, led the way.  He landed at the top by at least 45 seconds to a minute!  The next 30 miles brought us back to the Queen Mary and continued through Seal Beach.  The wind picked up and we worked together to keep the pace going.  At times we were moving from 19mph to 22 mph.  Bryan truly showed his stamina as he kept the pace going.  The one thing that destroyed us was the constant RED stoplights!  At this time my inner quads kept giving me trouble and all I could do was eat and stretch and try to do my share of the pull.

11:50 a.m.  Mile 75 was where our families had come to cheer us on.  They had PB&J sammiches, cold Cokes and Gatorades.  It was nice to take a break from the constant push through the mid-day wind.  It is such an honor to be a Dad to represent what we want for our kids: To be healthy, enjoy the outdoors and to perservere to a personal goal!  We wrap up our visit in about 20 minutes and they yelled as we rolled out, " SEE YOU AT THE FINISH LINE!"

For the next 23 miles, we battled constant winds on top of constant red lights.  This was the most frustrating part of the ride and there was nothing really we could do other then enjoy the scenery.  We partnered up a guy named John, who was doing the ride on a mountain bike!  I came to find out that he was preparing for a 100 mile mtb race in a few weeks in AZ.  He was also a 4 time KONA Ironman finisher! It was cool to trade talk to help me subside the muscle pain that was increasing as the miles ticked on.

Ironman John bringing us in on his mountain bike

Congrats to each other and a finish prayer

We roll back into the Queen Mary area and finish strong as our families and others cheered us back home!  WE DID IT!  Bryan had planned for a 5:30 ride time goal and I was aiming for a 5:55.  We finished it in 5:45 for an average of 17 mph.  Our elasped time was 6:41 that included our family break, Sean's flat, rest stops and the numerous red lights.  Bryan and I enjoyed the Wahoo's lunch that came with our ride and it was sure a hit after eating all those Cliff bars.  Our team raised over $680 for a cause that hits close to our friends and families and we were proud to represent with our 100 mile bike ride!

The Hughes and Voong Family at the 100 mile finish line






One of the weirdest rides we saw on the road