[OHPV-list] Chico Wildfower Century Ride Report

[Rand Milam]

Chico is an area in the Northern part of California inland farming valley only possible through irrrigation.   During the entire 350 mile drive North the skies were filled with smog and visibility was about ten miles, sometime you could see the faint outlines of the distance mountains.

The ride was Sunday with registration pickup on Saturday, Kip registered and I rode self supported.  We had spere time on Saturday afternoon so we drove part of the course, had expected to see a fairly easy routs as there was 4,700' of climb for the century version.

Much to our surprise there were two long climbs over  eight miles long with steep sections, fortunately the first climb up Honeydew Run was mostly a shaded single lane road and the second climb up to the bluffs  had occaissional shade.  After seeing the climbs Kip and Martin as their base milage was low opted for the flat 65 mile and I estimated about a six hour century time for me.

We rode just after 5AM and had oatmeal with eggs over easy with two cups of coffee.  Had five water bottles filled with nutrients/calories and left the start at the Chico fairgrounds 7:20AM starting the ride with my red bodysock on.

Zipping by bikes I slowed on  the century's first loop because of very rough roads, was something you didn't enjoy but endured.  This was a shallow climb that had a return 40+ mph non pedaling decent on a very smooth road.

Then rolling hills where the GRR passed bike after bike gobbling up the miles, came across a local peleton and even their shocked expressions as I summited a roller passing them and then rode out of their vision.

At the first rest stop before the steep part of the climb I stopped just long enough to take off the body sock, as I was stuffing the red sock into my bag the local peleton passed, I chucled to myself because they would be working very hard to catch up to the red socked bike on the climb ahead of them.

Was fortunate this climb was well shaded, was in my small 30 tooth chain ring for the next five miles and glad to have the 12-27 cassette on the rear. An occassioal rider passed on the accent, you saw people standing on the side resting and felt sorry for the tandem rider with a young child on the back.

Leaving this climb and entering the town of Paradise  about 9AM you saw gobs of riders resting in shaded area of buildings.

Had thought I would be stopping to buy food and water here but was well ahead of what my expected pace would be an rode on through more climbs and rollers with decents in between.

Next was the long climb to Table Top, the flat bluffs over looking the valley, about an 1800' climb, its starts very easy with rollers and shallow climbs for miles then start another  serious climb mostly in the small chain ring.  Saw a couple riders stopped on the roadside with red faces, you knew they were over heated.  Just kept the crank spinning and steadily ate up the miles of this climb too.

At the plateaus top there was another rest stop that I rode by, this was a flat rolling area where you hoped to see the most wildflowers, there were some but not an overwhelming display of colors.

Parts of the following decents were very fast on roads marked 35mph, there were times when you were forced out of the lane passing because riders sometimes rode side by side three and four across.

Made a wrong turn here, there was a sign pointing two directions and almost did this second climb again but traced   my steps and got back on course.


When this rode joined a two lane road I stopped juts long enough to put the body sock back on and head out after the bikes was just coming up on, estimated about 60 miles so far.

Turn the very next corner and saw another rest stop that passed by, there were hundreds of bikes there.

About five miles just onto the flats I stopped to buy some fresh picked strawberries to gulp down and sped off again.  It was all flats to the finish now, the wind was blowing hard, gusting about 20 mph at times.  There was a wind sock at an airport flying horizontal, wish I knew what that meant.

Was glad I had the sock on here, is easier to cut through the wind and I was passing rider after rider suffering, seemd it was harder here than the climbs.

Came up on a matching jersy paceline and passed them, one rider broke away from his group to catch me, I watched him work hard into the wind to bridge the gap.  Then, just when he caught me I shifted gears and pushed faster, his head slumped, there was no reply and I zipped off into the distance.

Coming up on Durham I stopped to but water and chocolate milk, three other riders also stopped at this liquor store, I asked if anyone wanted some chocolate milk as a quart was more than I needed.  

Gulped down some milk and water then off I go, passing another rest stop.  I see a sign that says last rest stop, its all flat and the wind is blowing, there are groups of trees that give some relief from the wind.

I catch the three riders that were stopped at the market, they say I must be on a choclolate high in a friendly way.  After this I don't see any riders for miles until I reach the fairgrounds, I had passed hundreds and hundreds of riders.

As I near the fairground I see it close to five hours and I push a little harder.

Reach the start/finish at 12:18 pm, 4hours 58 minutes total time averaging 20+ mph for 104 miles, about an hour better than I had expected to do.

The course had many miles of rough roads that were not fun to ride, I did enjoy the climbs, was the only time I would get to talk with other riders.  Overall I could not reccomend this ride.

They did have camping at the fairgrounds, showers and a large room with tables and food.

Talked with a few people that cut the flat section short because of the wind, is unusual for people to skip a flat area I thought to myself.

Monster Cookie ride would have been way more fun on my Human Party Vehicle!!!!

Hubba,

rand

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://ohpv.org/pipermail/ohpv-list_ohpv.org/attachments/20060502/f3eacc01/attachment.html