[GRRiders] Re: Santa Rosa or SF 600K?

[Zach Kaplan]

On 13 May 2005, at 09:17, Bruce Berg wrote:

> I would certainly support Bill's message for having a backup ride.  
> Just too easy for something, bike or rider wise to go wrong.  Dan 
> Brekke and I were having a great SR300k a few weeks ago, riding strong 
> and feeling great when his pedal just snapped off at the axle.  
> Luckily he was fine, but without a spare pedal around, his ride was 
> finished.

Just curious what brand and model of pedal it was that failed.

> I did last years inagural SR 600 and I loved the route and ride.  The 
> weather was wonderful, though I wouldn't underestimate how cold it can 
> get in the wee hours of the morning.  Every rider commented on it.  
> There are a couple of great write ups on it at 
> http://home.pacbell.net/donnk/results04.html.  I haven't done the SF 
> 600 but I believe it's going from the Golden Gate Bridge up to Fort 
> Bragg and back.  While I haven't done the SF 600, I probably have 
> ridden all of the roads, many of them on last years fleche.  It's 
> likely to be cooler than the SR route, with a good chance of fog and 
> even some fog that's so heavy it feels like rain.  While the SR route 
> to Davis is beautiful, with some parts that are stunning, it isn't 
> highway 1 along the coast.  Donn King will have some support along the 
> SR route and last year, it was second to none.  I can't overstate how 
> wonderful Bill and Evelyn were at looking after all of us in the 
> middle of the night in Pope Valley or how great Sue, Alan, Bill and 
> Lois were at the motel in the morning in Clearlake Oaks.  On the other 
> hand, the SF 600 is not a supported route.

I did the SF 600 in 1999 and it is a beautiful ride, the most scenic 
600 I've done. It was also the most difficult as there was a cold rain 
non-stop from Petaluma to Fort Bragg and it continued raining through 
the night. I was planning on riding it straight through but was so wet 
and cold at Fort Bragg that I got a motel room and left the next 
morning just as the rain was stopping. There was an unusual head wind 
coming from the south thrown in for good measure. I felt after 
completing that ride in a bit over 39 hours that finishing PBP would be 
no problem. That was my first unsupported 600 km brevet and I found 
there was something thrilling about being way out there on my own with 
absolutely no support from the ride organiser and in my case that was 
my first time on many of those roads so it was a real adventure.

> Because I'll be out of town for the SR 600, I'll be doing the SF 600.  
> If, for some reason I don't complete it, I'll probably head for 
> Portland for theirs the next weekend, or if I absolutely have to, give 
> up on the Terrible Two and fly to Denver for the Rocky Mountain 
> Cycling Clubs 600 on 6/25.

It seems like there should be a way of doing a 600 km ride on your own, 
documenting it with receipts in the unlikely event you aren't able to 
complete the SF 600. It seems very wasteful to require a rider who has 
proven they can complete a 600 km ride on their own within the time 
limit but had bad luck on the only 600 in the area they could attend to 
go through the expense and environmental/resource use of taking a long 
petroleum powered  journey to another state just to officially complete 
the required brevet.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Zach Kaplan Cycles
Alameda, Northern California, North America
510-522-BENT (2368)
zakaplan at earthlink.net