Wow! The Grizzly Peak Century ride kicked my ass! and I didn't even do the full century. This was hands down the most challenging ride i've done to date. It truly tested me physically and mentally. It probably would have helped if I had kept up with cycle training the past month.
I woke up at 5:00 am and got to the check in at Campolindo High School in Moraga around 6:30 am. There I met up with the riding crew, Nanditha, Cheryl, Julie, Sree, Kurt, and Gil. We rolled out a little past 7:00 am.
Mile 1 - 19.8It was absolutely freezing in the morning. Of course the day I finally decide to wear bike shorts and fingerless bike gloves, it's blistering cold outside. As a result, my knees and fingers were numb during this first stretch of the ride. The first 5 miles was a descent. Then came the climb at Skyline and Grizzly Peak Blvd. This was the second hardest climb of the day and boy was it sick. About 1100 feet of elevation gain in 10 miles. I think I was going up at around 6-7 mph. It was extremely foggy, which I didn't mind because then I wouldn't have to see how high I was climbing. By the time we got to the top, Nanditha, Cheryl, Julie, and I instantly realized our cycling fitness had diminished since training for Solvang. At the top, my stomach did not feel good. I wanted to hurl. I think it was because I took in my GU too soon from when I last drank my Cytomax. Yes, stupid Phil! The descent for the next 5 miles or so was pretty sweet, which then led us to the first rest stop.
Mile 19.8 - 44.2Finally the sun came out! This portion had no real big climbs. It was mostly descents and some annoyingly dragged out inclines around the San Pablo Reservoir. Not much to see either. Lots of industrial plants especially in the City of Hercules. I do think the climbs from the first part of the ride was having it's toll and at least for me, I was running low on energy. I wasn't probably drinking or eating enough. Also, I think I was reaching my mileage limit. After Solvang, my longest rides were a 50 and 40 miler and that was like a few months back. On top of everything, my lower back was aching again. I stopped to stretch it out a couple times while in Pinole. By mile 42, I looked to my left and was amazed we had cycled all the way to the Carquinez Bridge. A few miles later we finally hit rest stop #2.
Mile 44.2 - 61.4I wished I had never left rest stop #2. Immediately after the rest stop, we started the most sickest climb I had ever encountered: McEwen. It's only about a 700 feet climb; however, the grade was unforgiving. I think I was going only about 3 mph. You know it's not pretty when you see people walk up their bikes. I must have stopped 5 times just to catch my breath. About mid-way through the climb, I made the big mistake of standing up and mashing to push me over. My right quad tugged. I knew that feeling from my calves during my marathons. My quad was going to cramp up. Sure enough, by mile 50 when I pulled over to stop, I planted my right foot and my quad locked up in pain. I couldn't move for 2 minutes and it felt like to my quad was gonna burst out of my skin. I told Cheryl, "I can't move." So there I was...stuck in the middle of the road, frozen, just standing over my bike. Somehow the pain subsided and I was contemplating of just calling it a day. But I got back on my bike even though my quad was so sore and with each crank especially going up the inclines, I could feel it was severely pissed off.
The sad part, was we still had four climbs to go. We had Pig Farm Hill, Mama Bear, Baby Bear, and Papa Bear. I had doubts whether I was gonna even make it to the end of the ride. I managed to take it cautiously up Pig Farm Hill. The quad was okay. I also made it up to Mama Bear; however, my quads felt it during this one and it was just a matter of time before it locked up again. The other obstacle was the crazy headwinds. We seemed to always get it. No way to escape it. It's kind of like on TV where that one rain cloud follows that one person. Wherever we were, the headwinds just followed us. Especially during the downhill parts, which was way unfair. C'mon! That's our reward! I had serious thoughts if I could continue or if I needed to be SAG-ed out. I finally made it to rest stop #3 in Briones. I scarfed down some awesome red-skinned potatoes and took in crap loads of salt, hoping to help with the cramping. At this point, my quad was done, and my body was all-around tired. However, there were only 12 miles left to go and I knew I had to finish.
Mile 61.4 -75I sucked it up and decided to face Papa Bear, with that being the last "big" climb of the day. Papa Bear was worse than what I remembered it. Well then again, I felt like crap. Thanks to Papa Bear, my left quad also began to get aggravated. However, I knew that as long as I could continue pedaling, I wasn't going to cramp. From what I figured, it was as soon as I stopped to plant my foot and extend my leg that was when the quad would lock. So that was my motivation to just keep it pedaling. Of course the downside was I was going to be exhausted. At this point, I went to my last resort and pulled out the cancer card to convince myself I could do this and this was nothing compared to those battling or had passed away from cancer. So I grunted (like Monica Seles) my way to the top. It wasn't a pretty sight, but I got up there. While descending Papa Bear, there was an accident involving a motorcyclist and emergency vehicles were at the scene. The police closed off the street; however, they did allow us cyclist to get through. I've never been so close to a traffic accident before. It was pretty gruesome. I was definitely more cautious the remaining part of the ride.
We continued on down Papa Bear and then I realized we still had to go up "Goldilocks." Hers was a very short climb, but extremely steep. Thanks to Goldilocks, my quads tightened like I never felt it tighten before. At this point, I knew if I stopped, I was going to cramp like crazy. So of course at the top of climb, we came to a red signal light. Just my luck. With no more room to pedal around, I stopped and planted my left leg first. Instant cramping. I managed to get my right leg around my bike. Instant cramping. Both legs were cramping at the same time. Double the agony. I could not believe it. I had to do something because the pain was killing me. I just decided to plop my ass down on some rock gravel and do (I guess they call it now) criss cross applesauce (?). Wouldn't you know? It worked and the cramping stopped. There, I just sat on my butt and said in a sarcastic and exhausted state, "What a day." Nanditha chuckled and I knew she understood what I meant.
Nanditha and I waited for Cheryl to catch up. When she got there, we discussed about the various options to finish the last 8 miles of the ride. The map said we could either do one more climb to get back at 73 miles or do an extra 2.5 miles of mostly flat riding to finish with 75 miles, 5000+ feet elevation. Given our current state, there was not much opposition to do the extra 2.5 miles if we didn't have to climb anymore. The rest of the ride felt like forever, but we made it back a little past 3:30 pm. Lessons Learned: cycle smarter, train more, and never do this ride again.
elevation chart
