San Ardo Road Race Report

From last years start.
Photo Credit: www.procyclingphotos.com/san_ardo/2008/men/

Saturday, August 22 found me punching holes in my jersey while sitting on my truck's tail gate in the small Salinas Valley town of San Ardo. I've always had a fondness for this race, maybe because it was the last race I raced back in the 80's when I gave up bicycle racing the first time. In the last 4 years I've been back a few times with this being my first race as a NorCal racer. The irony here is that I figured the drive to San Ardo would be quicker and closer, as it is a NorCal race, and I now live in the NorCal. What a surprise to find out that San Ardo is almost exactly the same distance from our home in the Napa Valley as it was to our previous home in the Antelope Valley of SoCal - around 230 miles away.

I decided to race the Masters' Cat 4/5 race and it was set to go off at 9:05. By 8:00 I was on my bike warming up by riding a part of the race course backwards. I like to get about an hour in for a warm-up and I prefer to ride my bike around the course whenever possible as opposed to attaching my bike to a static trainer. I ended up getting close to 12 miles in before the start of the 47 mile race. As usual, I've got a MapMyRide link and map at the end of this post.

San Ardo's course is a 23.5 mile loop around the farm land of the Salinas Valley. The race organizers always list the race as loops of 21 miles, but my Garmin has always shown each loop to be closer to 24 miles. The race is advertised as flat but it does have a couple of sprinter's hills embedded in the course, and it seemed that most of us dropped to our smaller chain ring on one of the first hills. My Garmin says we climbed a total of 1585 feet in the two laps of 47 miles that made up our race. MapMyRide shows a climb of 912 feet so I'm guessing the real climb data is somewhere between the two - my legs sure felt like the Garmin was the more correct of the two; started feeling some slight cramping in the finishing sprint.

After the usual words about the course from the race official, we were off. You start almost immediately going uphill but it is very gradual. The race starts in town right in front of the high school and heads across a bridge over the Salinas River. It gradually climbs past the feed stop and up the overpass for the crossing of the 101 freeway. 50 guys were listed as starting the race but the final results show several no shows. I looked around the peloton and it seemed like we had close to 50 guys. The pace at this point was pretty easy. I did my usual routine of staying near the front but not trying to stay so close that I had to do any work at the front. In any case, the speed was relaxing as all knew that we would have two laps for this race.

Just before 3 miles the first hill crests out and you level for just a short time and then start a 2nd hill. This one is steeper than the first and it is here that I saw and heard others dropping to their small chain ring, including myself. Compared to a true hill course, these two initial hills are no big deal but by the time you come around them a second time, the hill climbers are attacking and you're driving your bike over them in the big ring - it's good for getting your heart rate up and mine topped out at 175 bpm, which is pretty good as my max is right around 180-181 bpm. After mile 5 you hit the top and start a long decent of about 6 miles, with just a couple of rollers to add excitement as someone will always attack on them. With a course so devoid of hills, sorting can only happen on the big ring rollers and pretty much only on the 2nd lap. At around mile 11.5 you cross a bridge over the Salinas River again and start a gradual ascent that will last all the way to the starting or finishing area. Mile 13 brings another sprinter's hill and is a good spot for someone to make an attack. Lap one though, we went neutral as the Cat 3 leaders started passing our peloton, followed a couple of minutes later by their peloton. I was riding near the front so I missed the crash that occurred during the fracas of the two groups meeting each other. I heard it took several of our guys down but that all got back in the race - thankfully no one hurt. Staying near the front has its advantages in avoiding crashes. It is also helpful because in a flat race like this one, I can respond to any attack that takes place. The downside of staying near the front is that I tend to get over excited and end up pulling the peloton around which I did, way too much, in lap 2.

Lap 1 ends uneventfully, if you don't count the crash, and lap 2 starts with a bang. Immediately the climbers attack on the first 2 hills of the course. I'm still 180lbs+ so I really feel the exertion that's needed to stay with the leaders. As we crest the 2nd hill I'm still there, about 15th from the front. I take a quick look back and think I see most of the group, I couldn't tell if we shelled anybody off the back or not. At this point I rotated on to the front and nobody came around me so it would appear that I would be pulling the peloton for a bit. Actually, rather than work hard, I took this opportunity to just ride at my pace and recover from the hard exertion we had just put in cresting the first hills. After crossing the bridge a second time, guys had finally gotten tired of my 20mph cruise and came around me on the left. The pace immediately went up as we headed for the sprinters hill at mile 13. Boom - off they went and I stayed in my big ring as I jumped out of the saddle and started up the hill. We came over the top and I'm still sitting pretty at around 10th place or so. Somebody next to me asks if we dropped anybody on that surge - I take a quick look back but answer, "dunno." I still couldn't tell if we dropped anybody as the peloton seemed unchanged. This was a strong group of guys for a 4/5 race. We averaged over 22 mph with a top speed of 37 mph so we weren't lolly gagging on this course. Quite the contrary, there were a large number of surges to see if we could break the peloton into manageable groups - very tiring.

Somewhere around mile 40 or so, I stayed with a couple of flyer attempts but nothing too tough, just enough to wear you down a little. At about mile 42 the guys were content to just sit in at around 22 mph and it looked like it was going to be a mass sprint at the finish. Guys began to cheat up and around and crowd the front of the peloton but no one wanted to attack. I had felt a little cramping on the last sprinter's hill so I knew I wasn't in any condition to attack myself and was now a little concerned about my ability to sprint up the small hill, created by the freeway overpass, that marks the finish area. I tried to maintain my position at the front but I kept slipping gradually back to around 15th place as we moved through the town with only 1k to go or so to the finish. It was here something strange happened. We overtook the rear guard of the Cat 3s. Our peloton swallowed them up but rather than move over as the Cat 3s should have done, they increased speed and stayed in the front group of 15. If anything they started blocking our sprint group. I'm still not sure what exactly was going on but I did see one of the young Cat 3s turn completely around on his seat and scream at our guys. He started yelling, our guys started yelling back and it looked like we were in for a nasty crash as we were now only 500m from the finish. I took stock of this and said to myself, I'm not going to make the podium and a crash looks imminent, in point of fact, the cocky Cat 3 guy turned around again just as he hit a bump and almost went down - that was it for me, I backed off the speed and allowed myself to drift to the back of our group. I traded a top 10 or 15th placing for a 22nd place but in any case, it wouldn't be worth the crash if it occurred. Turns out it didn't so I dropped back for nothing. I did throw in the fastest sprint I still had left and made it pass a few guys. I was happy with the place as I felt I worked real hard in this race; staying at the front 90% of the time. Better yet, I had fun and that's pretty much what road racing is all about for me - and I stayed on the bike and off the ground. Check out the results at Velo Promo.

Final data: 46.73 miles in 2hr 06'47" for an average speed of 22.1 mph. Click on the map below for a MapMyRide view of the course.

Idaho's Stop-Sign Solution

Haven't been posting too much lately as I've been getting ready for this Saturday's San Ardo Road Race. But I picked up the September 2009 Bicycling issue and on page 22 read with much interest an article by Bob Mionske. Bob is the author of "Bicycling and the Law" and writes how Idaho handles bicycles and stop signs/red lights. It is exactly the way I've been saying and handling stop signs myself.

For the last 26 years cyclists in Idaho can roll through stop signs - legally. When a cyclist approaches an intersection with a stop sign, the cyclist must slow to a "reasonable speed," but doesn't have to come to a complete stop if there is no opposing traffic. My rides are almost all in rural areas and it seems pretty asinine to come to a complete stop at stop sign controlled intersections when you are clearly not a hazard to other traffic. I've always argued that coming to a complete stop is even dangerous as you now may have to pull out of your cleats or risk being unstable as you try to balance at the intersection. As a pilot of small planes, I like the saying, "out of altitude and air speed" and it applies to bicycles too; in other words, your bike is now too slow to maneuver well and more likely to get into trouble if evasive action is needed. I've even slipped on the street when my cleats make it seem that I've stepped on an ice rink rather than the road service.

As far as red lights are concerned, Idaho allows you to come to a complete stop but then proceed if safe; in other words you can treat the light as if it was a stop sign. A couple of years ago in Santa Cruz, California, I was out stretching my legs with a short ride, as I had the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey to race the next day. I was on the outskirts of town coming up on a left turn controlled by a light. The light was red so I actually stopped but since I didn't see a car within a quarter of a mile of the intersection, I started up again and pedaled through the red light. Immediately I heard a siren go off in the distance, with a loud acceleration of a car's engine - it was a California Highway Patrolman racing up to pull me over with red light and siren. The patrolman kept me on the side of the road for over a half hour before writing me a ticket for not stopping and waiting for the red light to turn green. I never did receive the ticket but that's another story, and another case of me breaking the law...

Calistoga to Pt. Reyes Station

Esmeralda climbing the 300+ steps

What an incredible ride! I had vistas, hills, valleys, rivers, oceans, etc. Once again I was looking for a one-way trip that would provide me with the above, and give my wife and daughter something cool to see when they picked me up - the ride from Calistoga to Pt. Reyes Station is perfect. Not only do you get all the above but you also get a great bakery at the Station as well as the chance to tour Pt. Reyes National Seashore and the 1870 lighthouse situated way out on the point.

The Lighthouse

The ride is a good 58 miles (93 km) long and has challenging climbs and high speed descents. You get to ride through the towns of Santa Rosa and Petaluma , which may not be the high point of your ride, depends on how you like the towns. Hitting all the stop lights in Santa Rosa was kind of a pain but I did like riding through the old town. I had never been to Petaluma before so I did enjoy the trip through town and the right turn onto D street to start the long ride to the South West and eventually the town of Pt. Reyes Station. As usual, you can get all the information, including route directions and elevations from MapMyRide and the download from my Garmin.

Once in Pt. Reyes Station I found a public restroom right next to a small playground that was perfect for changing out of my bike clothes and putting the bike on my wife's car. Then a short walk to a bakery you can't miss - just look for the line coming out the door. The bakery is called Bovine Bakery and I've included a link from a fellow blogger who did a great posting on this wonderful place.

A trip to Pt. Reyes wouldn't be complete without a side trip to the lighthouse constructed in 1870. This is a must see for all lighthouse buffs out there. Here's a link for information on this neat place.

Jade with the 300 steps

The ride took me 3 hours and 18 minutes. I ended up crashing the Marin Century ride as literally hundreds of roadies were on the same road as myself. There also seemed to be some kind of ride coming out of Pt. Reyes Station too. Another huge group of roadies with different kind of numbers on their backs and yet another group with green wrist bands on. I enjoyed all the company on the ride down and was not bothered by any of the traffic that was relatively light. Check out my ride below and enjoy:


Oh, if you have a better way to get there or other variations of this ride, please comment below. I really like to get a locals take on routes. See my trip to Bodega Bay; Mat, of Bodega Bay Cycles commented on a much better route to get me to Bodega Bay from Calistoga.

Photo by Jade

Speed Interval Training

My next race is the San Ardo Road Race on Saturday, August 22. With such a big gap in my racing schedule caused by my relocation to Northern California, I've had a lot of time to work on my endurance and stamina. My workouts of late have been to get a couple of hill climbs (see Howell Mt. Road in my Hills of Napa series) in during the week, followed by long rides on either Saturday or Sunday or both (rides to Davis, Bodega Bay, etc.) So stamina is not an issue right now. What I really need, with a race just 3 weeks away, is sharpening or working on my speed. San Ardo is a pretty much flat course anyway and ends in a slightly uphill sprint. So now is the time to drop some of my threshold workouts/week and replace them with speed.

For the most part I follow Training Peaks workouts as I've been a paying member for several years now. I am also very much a student of Joe Friel and his workouts in both training Peaks and his "Training Bible." But this week I chose a workout from Chris Carmichael, as laid out in the August issue of Bicycle Magazine)see page 42 of that issue for a complete discussion. But here's how I completed the workouts in a nutshell:

Monday: Core Day (I do light weight lifting and stomach/lower back work

Tuesday: Interval Day (Descending Ladder) - 2' hard/2' recover, 1:30' hard/1:30'recover, 1:00' hard/1:00 recover, 45" hard/5 full minutes to recover between sets. I do this workout over my 21 mile circuit around Calistoga.

The above makes one set and after 5 mins. I do another, followed by one more, so I do three sets of the above. Coach Carmichael advises beginners to do only 1 set, intermediates 2, and advanced to do 3. I start each interval by going as hard as I think I can maintain for the full allotment of time for that interval. In other words, as I start the first 2' I ramp up to the highest power I can maintain and not lose power over the complete 2'.

Wednesday: recovery day - I do my usual 21 mile circuit around Calistoga but back off on speed and complete the 21 miles in around 1:07 or so.

Thursday: Interval Day (pure speed) - I alternate between going full out (maximum speed and power) for 30" followed by 30" of recovery. I do 7 of these and then recover over 4 minutes to do the whole thing all over again. It would look like this in my workout journal:

7 X 30" (30" RI) X 2 (with 4' RI between sets)

Carmichael advises that beginners 2 sets of 5, intermediates 3 sets of 5, and advanced 2 sets of 7. Again, I do this over my 21 mile course.

Friday: recovery day (same as Wednesday)

Saturday: Long ride. I like 3 - 5 hours for this ride.

Sunday: Easy ride of around 1.5 - 2.5 hours.

This should get me peaked for San Ardo. I also have a couple of races right after, one just the next week; the Winters Road Race, so I hope to maintain my peak for this race too. The last race is the Henleyville Road Race and it is also the last race of the season (not counting Tour of Tucson in November which is kind of a special thing for me) held on September 19th, and it is a class B race for me so I'll start tailing off on intensity and working on endurance again to prepare for the 109 miles in Tucson.

Calistoga to Bodega Bay

I shot this pic of Bodega Head at the end of my ride...

The variety of the type of rides available to Napa Valley roadies is amazing. On this ride I decided to leave the warm valley behind and head for the cool coast, which is much closer than you think. This Sunday morning I headed both North and West to finish my ride in Bodega Bay, roughly 44 miles (70km) away. I made it a one-way trip as my wife and Jade would meet me at the bay for lunch and a sight seeing trip. Then with the bike safely on the bike rack we would drive North and work our way back home by driving next to the Russian River.

You have a couple of choices on getting over the hills that separate Calistoga with Santa Rosa but I don't recommend most of them. The most direct way is via the Petrified Forest Road all the way down to Calistoga Road as it enters Santa Rosa - this was the route used by stage one in the '09 Tour of California. But the pros had the advantage of a closed route; you don't. The Petrified Forest Road is narrow, steep, and has a lot of traffic that does not want to give up an inch of space, especially to a bicycle rider. With this said, I decided on taking Franz Valley School road to leave the Napa Valley. This road is right off of the Petrified Forest Road as you are leaving Calistoga. You're only on this road for less than a mile and you make a right turn onto Franz Valley School road. You can check out the route, as usual, below via MapMyRide and the data provided by my Garmin Forerunner 305 unit.

Franz Valley School road is the first major climb of two climbs you will face on this trip. I could also do a Napa Valley Hills post on this road. It is a sustained climb of around 2 miles with a grade higher than 7% at times. At just over 9 miles you come to a T-intersection with Franz Valley road, make a left turn and you immediately start the 2nd major climb of the route. You crest this climb at around mile 11 and face a 8%, technical descent for around 1.5 miles - be careful here. I locked up my rear wheel on a nasty right hair-pin turn and almost got myself in trouble. Thank goodness that no car was coming up the road as I needed the whole road to save myself.

You now descend into Santa Rosa and here I took Fulton road to travel South to Highway 12 and the trip West. The 12 has a lot of traffic and you can avoid it by taking a bike path just south of 12. I did take the path after riding the 12 for a short time. I'm not sure I would do it again as the bike path is loaded with recreational riders and people walking their dogs. The path is limited to 15mph and going any faster would be hazardous due to the above mentioned traffic. In the future I would probably stay on 12, where the bike lane is wide and you can keep your speed up all the way into the town of Sebastopol. You now have several miles of light climbing as you leave Sebastopol. The climbing actually surprised me as I figured I would have a gradual descent all the way down to the coast. The grades are light but you will certainly notice them. Your other problem as you get close to the coast is the traffic, so watch out for the huge motor homes that will pass you a foot away!

Eventually you'll see a restaurant with picnic tables on the left side of the road just before you enter the actual town of Bodega Bay. I swung left here and patiently waited for the wife and kid - lunch of fish & chips tasted great and we had an enjoyable trip back home via the Russian River - enjoy.

Napa Valley Hills - Mt. Veeder (Dry Creek Side)

Looking down Dry Creek Road
Photo Credit: http://srcc.memberlodge.com

With my next race still 4 weeks away in August (San Ardo RR) it's time for more travelogues from my weekend long rides. Each day I put in about 21 miles around my town of Calistoga, Ca but the weekends are for the long rides, and I usually want this ride to be hilly.

This ride actually encompasses two climbs listed on Bruce DeBell's web page, "The Hills of Napa Valley" where he lists 17 climbs in the Napa Valley, from the most difficult to the easiest. Mt Veeder, Dry Creek side is #10 on his list and at the top of Dry Creek you do a short climb, Oakville Grade which is #16. This post is the second in my series called Napa Valley Hills - see my first hill, Mt. Howell Road here. And as usual, I've included a MapMyRide map at the bottom of this post; MapMyRide will give you all kinds of data, from Satellite views to full elevation, profile data.

To start this climb, I have to ride almost 25 miles to the town of Napa, located to the South of Calistoga. A long way to go perhaps for a single hill or two but 25 miles on the Silverado Trail is a great ride in itself. After I enter the town of Napa, I've got about 3 miles or so of traversing the town from East to West, and then I turn North onto Dry Creek Road for the start of the climb that will peak out 10 miles closer to Calistoga for my return trip on Ca-29, the road that links all the towns in the Napa Valley.

The climb itself is not that tough. About 4 miles long with over 700' of elevation gain. The road is very scenic however, and under a lot of shade - in short, it's a beautiful ride. The toughest pitch in my book was not even on this road but rather at the top of the road where you make a right turn onto Oakville Grade. This is my 2nd hill of the ride, and though short, a little over a mile, is relatively steep. MapMyRide shows an average of around 4% but I remember pitches of up to 8 - 10% during the short climb. Hang onto your bars when you crest this hill - the downhill is steep and somewhat technical but not too bad. I hit a speed of over 43 mph on the downhill and that's while I was sitting up and feathering the brakes as it was my first time on this road. This descent is Bruce's #1 toughest climb in the Napa Valley going the other way - I've got to check this hill out soon.

That's it for this training ride, around 54.5 miles. Check out the map link below:

Napa Valley Hills - Howell Mt. Road

A view from Howell Mt. Road
Photo Credit: http://wine.appellationamerica.com/images/appellations/features/Craig%20Howell%20web1.jpg

I did a great hill workout today climbing Howell Mt. Road right off the Silverado Trail. There are a lot of great hill workouts in the Napa Valley so I thought I would start a series describing the climbs after I've ridden them. A very good web resource is a page called "Hills of Napa Valley" where author Bruce DeBell lays out his 17 hill rides in the Napa Valley. Howell Mt. Road is #14 on Bruce's list. Bruce does give a very brief description of the ride but not a lot of location information, which could make the ride tough to find for an out of town roadie. I've provided a MapMyRide map that should get you the hill in no time.

You can find the start of this 4.2 mile climb right at the junction of the Silverado Trail just North of the town of St. Helena. St. Helena is located just South of Calistoga. Look for Howell Mt. Road 1.7 miles South of Deer Park Road. The climb is moderate but very scenic (see pic above.) My Garmin showed several pitches above 7% with a total elevation climb of over 1100 feet. I completed the climb, without working too hard, in exactly 23 minutes. This will be my baseline, and I'll now work on lowering that time in future rides. The road is narrow but traffic is very light. The road surface is fair to good. The descent down Deer Park Road is a lot of fun and was also used in stage 1 of the 2009 Tour of California.

Here's my MapMyRide map of the route: