2017 SFR Fort Bragg 600k

Last weekend's SFR Fort Bragg ride was my fourth -- well, technically, fifth(*) -- 600k, and it's the first one, of the four, that I feel good about. It's also my first repeat of a 600k course.

Those other 600s:

• I did Fort Bragg in 2009 as a Rando newbie, with only a couple of 2's, a poorly-ridden 3, and a flèche under my belt. That 2009 ride is one I should have abandoned before Cloverdale outbound due to double knee pain, but I made the PLC of continuing through and hurting myself more, completing the ride in 36+ hours, ever slowing my pace as I rode, with nary a couple of super-brief ditchnaps. I was kind of in a daze for the week that followed. Ugh. Ouch. Just...no.
• I did the Davis Antelope Lake 6....showered & slept (90 minutes) *outbound* at Oroville (good move!) but cut sleep waaaay too short in Oroville on the return -- bad move, and a long story, for another day, involving cash under the table, a double-booked room, and showering with a cockroach.
• I did the SLO Pinnacles Traveler in 2015, which was an AWESOME route....but I did it as "homework" for early PBP qualification in April of 2015, getting my series done before having to cut Claus that check for airfare....so I (intentionally) cut my sleep short to give myself a huge time buffer, which made for a crappy Sunday....plus I had nutrition issues to work through.
• (*) I also did Orr Springs a couple of years back, and it's the ride accomplishment of which I'm most proud, but, to me, it's a different category of ride. For me, it required a very different approach, and was very much unlike the others.

This ride:

Ok, so I think I got it kind of right, finally! (And this after more than 20,000 RUSAmile kilometers....ugh, I'm a slow learner.) Here's how it went down...

~~~ Prep ~~~

I like to train, but started ramping up late for this season -- in January, rather than in the fall. This proved to be a bad move for me, as my form had been juuust behind the curve for Pierce Point & the SFR 3, which made them loads less fun than they might have been. It finally started to come on for the Hopland 4, which boosted my confidence approaching the 6.

The bummer, though, is that Hopland recovery -- I need a full week after a 4 before training again! -- practically dovetailed with the pre-6 taper, with not much opportunity for (gainful) training between the two. I really forced myself to take that recovery week, followed by a solid but not-too-heavy training week, and then forced myself to take it easy for that third week, just before the 6, to ensure that I would be fresh for Fort Bragg.

I've never felt so relaxed going into a 6. The form confidence helped. Having ridden the SFR events this year, as well as Sarah's Novato-Caz perm -- all sharing parts of the Fort Bragg route -- helped me to easily visualize much of the 6's course. I've also done a wee tiny bit of bike camping in the past year, and I have my sleeping gear figured out, so I felt good about the prospects of sleeping at the campground.

I carefully studied the official route sheet as issued Monday before the ride. Two small -- but HUGELY significant -- differences compared to the run I'd done in 2009:

• The drop bag campground was moved significantly closer to Cloverdale, so you hit it sooner outbound and later inbound; mile 225 on the return makes for a pretty good spot for catching sleep on a 600k.
• Cloverdale was no longer a timed control! The next timed control after the (relocated) campground was mile 294, Guerneville Safeway, closing at 13:32 Sunday. (<--remember this "fact" for later in the ride report!)

With the 2009 controls, if you wanted to sleep, you had to decide whether to sleep briefly at the former, distant campground, and rush 50+ miles to Cloverdale before it closed, OR ride much farther, into the wee hours, and get that Cloverdale receipt before checking in to a Cloverdale hotel, sans drop bag. Er, or sleep on a post office floor, or ditchnap, or something.

So, I planned my ride around this 13:32 Sunday closing time of the Guerneville control. Call it ~70miles from the campground to Guerneville. Ok, how about a very conservative 10mph, that's 7 hours...add a couple of extra hours for Murphy's Law (not Cole's, Megan -- Murphy's!), and you had a recipe for departing the campground between 4-5am. I was pretty confident I could make it to the campground by midnight, maybe sooner, which would add up to a decent bout of sleep. All I had to do was not linger at controls, and avoid foul luck.

~~~ From the start ~~~

On the rollout from Crissy Field, I made loose plans with Dan B. to depart the campground together around 4:15am, ride gently to that Guerneville 13:32 timed control, and generally take our sweet time on the return to SF.

Nice riding and chatting with folks out to Point Reyes Station, the first control. I made a bee-line for the park with restrooms & spigot to take care of that business before getting my receipt. I'd had primarily Perpetuem to that point, and was looking forward to some serious pastry action. Unfortunately, the Bovine Bakery line was out the door, so I popped into the supermarket....but I could see as soon as I stepped in that the line there was similar, or worse, with just one register...and I really did have a date with a pastry....

Don't overthink this, dude...back to Bovine! Stay on plan!!

The Fruit Slipper du jour was blueberry, and it was FANTASTIC.

(Dan went for savory.)

~~~ PRS->Petaluma ~~~

The plan was water in the bottles for the short stage to Petaluma, running on Fruit Slipper and supplementing with some fruit/nut bars from my bag, if the spirit moved me.

Much of the ride to Petaluma was with Dan, Carlin, and Brian. (No, not Bryan, nor Bryan, nor the other Brian, but Brian Johnston. Br*an is the new Eri*, so you'd better watch out, Larsen, Marshall, Hetzner, Walstad, et al.)

Carlin & I would watch Dan & Brian crawl away from us on the climbs, but we would get back on soon enough on the descents/flats. Petaluma arrived pretty quickly.

Petaluma is pretty dependably consistent. At Safeway, the self-checkout seemed like the Rando grab'n'go hot tip, but there were....issues...with the system:

~~~ PRS->Healdsburg ~~~

The human attendant appeased the machine, and I got back on the road with Brian, Carlin, Dan and my cheese sticks, for this Safeway(Petaluma)-to-Safeway(Healdsburg) leg. Heh. Safeway-to-Safeway. Sooo Rando.

Inbound to Healdsburg, we were joined by Juliayn, Aron, Steve, and...Tom, I think?

Bumping over the roundabout potholes right before the control, the mount for my (tethered) Fly6 camera / secondary taillight busted off, whoops!

It was fun seeing Potis & Joseph -- volunteers -- at the Healdsburg Safeway. Some folks were having a quick sit-down; some of us got receipts and pressed on. I scarfed half of my packaged potato salad (mustard flavor), shoved my donut intp the front of my jersey, jammed my full-sized Pringles can into my handlebar brevet bag, and tagged on to the group heading out.

~~~ Healdsburg->campground ~~~

I rode out again with Brian, Carlin, and Dan. I'd grabbed an additional bottle of water there at the Healdsburg Safeway, and stuck it in my jersey pocket...Cloverdale seemed too close to stop again, Booneville too far -- and, once in Boonville, the campground wouldn't be much farther down the road anyhow. I drink lots of water, and wanted to be covered.

Wind was developing as the theme of the day by this point, as I recall. Not atrocious, but steady, and not favorably-directed. Another theme for the afternoon was catching up & riding with Metin, his fixie pace putting him on a different rhythm.

As I recall, Dan and Brian were again climbing a bit more quickly as we made our way up & out of Cloverdale, but the four of us never got separated by too much through the hills.

Dan explained that there was a store in Yorkville, after the descent on 128, a good bit before Boonville. That could be a good water stop.

I was at the back on a flatter, windier bit after the bulk of the descent. Carlin was motoring out front, with a bit of a gap; I was feeling pretty good, so I came around and got on his wheel. I'm pretty sure that Carlin did more work than I did, but we fell into taking turns pushing the wind.

As we approached Yorkville, Carlin didn't need water; for me, my third bottle was perfect -- I'd be able to reach the campground comfortably hydrated, making for a Healdsburg -> campground leg without stops.

Well...without breaks, I should say, as I seemed to keep dropping things....!! Over a period of a couple of hours, this included...

• the afore-mentioned taillight / camera
• my glasses-cleaning cloth (string tether failed as I pulled my toothbrush out of my bag, grrr)
• a bottle (rolled clear across 128! argh!)
• Dan
• my tertiary headlight, when I hit it with my knee

Carlin & I planned for a brief stop at the campground. I asked for patience / gave my warning that I'd have a bit of stuff to sort through from my bag, like some warmer clothes for the out & back that would take us into the night, and some bike food restocking...but I would try to be quick.

So many friendly faces volunteering! Thanks everyone!! And thanks, Potis, for taking the remainder of my Pringles tube and parking it there on the table for later. Mmmm, Pringles....

Carlin popped back up to the road to wait for me, and we headed out toward Fort Bragg together.

~~~ campground->Fort Bragg ~~~

Carlin and I got into a rhythm again, taking turns working. (Again, Carlin probably did more than his fair share. Thanks, Carlin!!)

Through the forest section, we hooked up a bit with, I think, Renato, for some quiet three-way teamwork:

At the mouth of the river, the road climbs up to the coastal cliffs. As we made our way up, an oncoming motorist, with bikes on a rack, cheered us on. IT WAS BRIAN!! (No, not Brian, nor Bryan, nor Bryan, nor Brian -- it was Brian!!) Yaaaay!! He was headed from a MTB ride to help staff the campground. Woot!

The stretch northbound along the coast was basically a lot of steady work in the wind. The skies were clear, and the coast was stunning as the sun steadily inched lower.

We wondered where the heck the front group was? How could we have missed their return as we headed outbound?

We hooked up with Bob on the last bit in. As we turned into the Fort Bragg Safeway parking lot, Bryan "BFK" Kilgore (aka "The Slowest Fastest") & The Front Bunch were departing the control! WHOA!!! I guess we were making good time, then?!? Wowzers. Ok!

I think I grabbed water, some more kiddie string cheese sticks, and another donut. (Why don't they have cake donuts at Safeway?) I put on some warmer layers in anticipation of cooling temperatures, and we -- Carlin, Bob & I -- were out of there pretty quickly. We also rode a bit with Michael, but he, like Metin, had a rhythm dictated by his fixed gear.

Night fell as we descended from the coastal cliffs, back down to the river and the forest. I believe it was Brian J. who joined us on this leg? We were four for quite a while there on 128. Getting close to the campground, I needed a quick nature break; Carlin sat up a bit to let me get back on, while the other two maintained pace. It was looking like we'd arrive at the campground by 10:30pm(!!), so Carlin & I eased up a bit to finish up the day's riding.

~~~ campground ~~~

My first order of business was to get as much of a "sponge bath" as I could. The bathrooms were pretty luxurious for a campsite, so this was pretty easy, all things considered. Well, this was first order of business alongside ingesting a couple of boxes of chocolate milk for protein+sugar recovery nutrition! Yum. The compression leggings felt really good, too. Nice!

Eric M. helped me find a suitable tent. Brian #5 whipped me up some quesadillas, which I inhaled...and I asked for more.

I was pretty soon ready to hit the sack, but remembered to grab some food for the night...I knew I was going to wake up hungry! I found my Pringles can, with the remainder of the Pringles, poured in Goldfish crackers, and popped a couple of cookies in there -- goaded along by Eric "Eric Knows Feasting" Marshall, who encouraged me to let the feast guide my hand as I loaded the can.

At ~11:30pm I set my alarm for 3:45am, which would give me a modest amount of time to try to get out of the campsite ca. 4:15am, hopefully with Dan, as we'd arranged, so that we could hit that 13:32 timed control at the Guerneville Safeway.

Curiously, though, in a moment of famished rousing some time later, as I reached for the can for some more mid-sleep cookie feasting, I heard Eric (Larsen) explaining to someone that Dan was going to get up at like 5 or 5:15?!? Hmmmm.....welp, best-laid plans, and all that! I drifted back to sleep.

I awoke at 3:30am and decided to start slowly getting ready ahead of my 3:45 alarm. I moved steadily, but pretty slowly...by the time I was out of the tent and getting some breakfast help from Brian #5, it was pushing 4:15, and Carlin was heading out. (No sign of Dan....nor anybody else getting up around this time??)

I encouraged Carlin to not wait for me, as I was going to be a little bit yet, needing to down breakfast and hit the restroom.

~~~ campground->Cloverdale ~~~

I headed east, solo, in the pre-dawn dark. Traffic was non-existent at first, and what did come was predominantly westbound.

Not much to say -- just lots of easy pedaling as the Anderson Valley woke up. I saw, barely, in the early light, a couple of bunnies dash into the bushes as I rode by, and birds provided the soundtrack as the sun rose. It was chilly, but I didn't feel as cold as I'd feared, given the forecast temps in the low 40s.

I was in Cloverdale soon enough, and my thoughts turned to pancakes. I wanted to not linger anywhere, so I began visualizing a MacDonald's on the main drag, and settling for some quick hotcakes à la Ronald.

Sure enough, there were the golden arches in a strip mall, right on the corner. Well, sort of -- I stopped on the corner, crossed the sidewalk, went through some bushes, across the drive-thru to the side door -- definitely designed for the automobile, not the human!

I seem to recall from when I worked at McDonald's that the side door was always locked to entry from the outside, but this one was open. Maybe policy changed? It was about 7:20am, and pretty quiet; I decided to enter gently with my bike.

The side dining area was populated with middle-aged men; my impression was that they might be Sunday-morning regulars? One of them, sitting alone, looked at me, and pronounced, in his BEST "Hey you kids, get off of my lawn!" voice, "Maaaan, you can't bring that bike in here."

Ugh....I wanted a serving of hotcakes, hold the conflict. I turned the tone dials toward "benevolently uninformed" and "horse whisperer," and let out a gentle "Why's that?"

"There's a lot of people in here!"

Errr...the restaurant was less than half full, no kids, nobody walking around, plenty of completely-empty tables.

As I was saying "I won't be long," a closer-by gentleman, sitting with his buddies, turned a bit to face me and did a worthy-of-a-twelve-year-old eye-roll, giving me, in an instant, the group's impression of the crotchety guy, and complete social license to ignore him.

Heh. I did.

I got to the empty counter (where were the lots of people?), and the cashier pretty quickly served up my tray with liner, napkins, fork in plastic wrapping, syrup container, butter container, other butter container, and receipt...but no hotcakes! She instantly realized the mistake, and grabbed an oversized (for three small hotcakes) tray with lid. We both chuckled.

I inhaled the McFood, and threw away my plate, lid, fork, fork wrapper, syrup container, butter container, other butter container, and liner in the landfill receptacle. (Thanks, Ronald!)

I kinda wanted to be out of there, so I popped back through the bushes and across the street to the gas station for a restroom visit, bottle fill-up, and purchase of a banana for the road. Aron Mason was there, setting out for the road as I arrived.

~~~ Cloverdale->Healdsburg ~~~

Mostly unremarkable solo riding for this stretch. Sunshine, mild temperatures, and tailwinds! I felt ok; although not particularly strong or energetic, I felt like I was making pretty good progress.

I knew that the one & only info control on the route sheet was coming up in Healdsburg. As you can see in my McD's picture above, my brevet card shows through the window of my card wallet, and I'd folded the card around so that the controls would show through. The route sheet was taking me to "Mill St; b/c Westside Rd," followed by the info control.

Peeking through the window of my brevet card wallet, it was easy to see that one & only info control: I was on the lookout for the Union 76 gas station, at Mill & Main.

I stopped on the sidewalk at the turn to Mill Street, about to head out of town into the vineyards. Where was the gas station? Was it on the other side of the roundabout construction? And where was Main Street?

I got out my phone. Google, show me the Union 76 in Healdsburg!

Ugh...no Union 76 in Healdsburg? Uh-oh.

Show me...the gas stations? No.

Ok, show me...Main Street?

No Main Street?!? (Get with it, Healdsburg!)

This wasn't going particularly well.

Hmmmm....route sheet seems to say that the info control is just beyond, where Mill turns to Westside? It's sometimes hard to see where a name change happens, but Healdsburg peters out pretty instantly in that direction, and there's no place for a Union 76 to hide. Maybe the brevet card had a boo-boo?

After a couple of minutes of looking at the route sheet, card, & phone maps, I pulled my brevet card out of its wallet.

It turned out that the card was riding high in the wallet, covering up the very top row of the card. I had been looking at the second row on that side of the card, which was showing me the one-and-only info control, the Union 76....aaaaand the first row of the card had ANOTHER info control! Whoops!!!

WHAT?!? The Union 76 was at mile 294, in Guerneville? And that 13:32 timed info control at the Guerneville Safeway, around which I'd planned my campground arrival, sleep, and campground departure, was an info control on the card?!?

I was sure I'd used the route sheet from the ride info e-mail...right? I pulled it up in my mail...Yep! Guerneville Safeway, 13:32.

Ugh. Had I missed a correction at the pre-ride announcements? I had actually tried to pay attention...

At least one thing became clear: everyone else had been intentionally sleeping in at the campground, as the next timed control wasn't Guerneville 13:32, but PRS open control, 18:04. Dang. :/

Welp....the flipside was that I would be home sooner, eh? Onward, to the first of two info controls, just a bit down the road.

~~~ Healdsburg->Guerneville ~~~

The ride to Guerneville was uneventful, until that part where I somehow, amazingly, didn't witness a rear-end collision, I didn't witness a head-on collision, I didn't get run over by a small pickup barreling at me the wrong way on a one-way street, and I didn't witness another head-on collision directly behind me, all in about four seconds:

https://youtu.be/9M7HDc0vnx4

I don't think that I have much to say about this....as in....speechless.

Anywho, I survived to ride into Guerneville, with my eyes open for the brevet card's Union 76 at "Mill & Main" at Mile 294, ever hopeful it would reveal itself, there on the leg described on the route sheet as "CA-116 / River Road," with no mention of Mill or Main......

Aha! So River Road changes name to Main Street in Guerneville! And there, just before the Safeway, there's a Mill Street crossing Main (aka River, aka CA-116).....aaaand a Union 76. Info control number two found!

I popped in to Safeway, for everything that it offers....I crossed paths there with Aron, a Br*an, and one other rider -- who was that? -- and rolled out solo when I was ready.

~~~ Guerneville->Tomales ~~~

Traffic began to pick up on this stretch, particularly after Occidental, and just pretty much got worse, on average, through Sir Francis Drake. I had hoped that Highway 1 after Valley Ford would be quiet, but it was not -- lots of passes at speed, many of the motorists choosing a generous gap...but some making poor decisions, like the motorist who chose to whiz by me, quite close, at speed, just as a motorcyclist was passing in the oncoming direction. Why? Just....why.....

I pulled into the bakery at Tomales, hoping they'd have some nice black tea to accompany pastries. They did:

Pesto Pizzette, and a lovely brownie. So good...and you shoulda seen all the pastries I passed up! Sigh.

It was early afternoon, and while I wasn't drowsy or (unusually) beat, I decided to lie down for ~ten minutes on the grass along the sidewalk in front of the church at the south edge of town to refresh myself before returning to the road for Point Reyes Station.

 ~~~ Tomales->PRS ~~~

You know that bit just south of Tomales? It's one of my favorite spots on the planet. It's like its own little world, this winding canyon that carries Keys Creek to Tomales Bay. The stout cliffs along the bank shared with the road are steeper, while the opposite side is bounded by gentler small hills.

You can't really see out of the canyon to the sides. The road follows the curves of the creek, so you can't ever see very far ahead or very far behind. Rather than making me feel trapped, I feels like I'm in a special, cozy, secret place, apart from the rest of the world.

Plus it's really pretty, right there were the continents are grinding together. There was a headwind there today, but isn't there usually? It was stiff, but it wasn't a surprise, and it was over with pretty quickly.

Pretty much sh*t traffic (in terms of quantity) all the way to the next bakery. Ugh. Who woulda guessed that there would be so many Happy Mothers' Days?

I was feeling fresh after my tea and my little lie-down, and picked up the pace just a wee bit. This may have been what brought on a bit of pain in my right knee. It wasn't killer, but it wasn't familiar. It only hurt when I pedaled. Heh. If I got off the bike for a couple of minutes, it would be totally fine when I got back on the bike, but would come back after a short bit.

Strangely, it seemed to be linked more to motion than to effort, at least partially. Standing was a bit better, if I didn't bend my leg much, so I stood a lot. I also found that picking "too big" of a gear, and mashing (I'm a spinner) was a bit more pleasant. This remained the state of affairs for the duration of the ride.

Fruit slippers were gone for the day at Bovine (shoot), but I got an alternate fruity thing and a pain au chocolat, so labeled, that the clerk called a chocolate cruhsawnt. That works, too. :)

Oh! I saw Brian J. there, too. Hmmmm...and Aron, yeah?

~~~ PRS->SammyPee ~~~

I crossed paths with Brian between PRS & Samuel P. Taylor. Traffic volume was again the theme, at least for me. Uhhhhgh.

Arriving at the park entrance I found that it was a good time for a natural break, so I made a pit stop. Sooo many picnickers at the park! Wow.

I'd had enough of the traffic, so I advanced on the park trail from there, rather than play on the road. That was lovely.

~~~ SammyPee->finish ~~~

My knee and I continued along Drake, negotiating the whole way. Approaching White's Hill, a non-Rando threesome came along. I sat behind, as it was nice to have someone set the pace, and it was nice to chat a bit.

The rest of the way in was pretty much par for the course -- again, with high volumes of people out, in every mode. A nice day!

I dropped down from the bridge to the bike path to Crissy Field -- soooo done with traffic -- and was received by the nice volunteers. And Pudu.

~~~ Aftermath ~~~

I've never felt this....good??...in the days following a 600k. I think I've got bike fit/clothing/discomfort challenges managed now well enough so that a 600k isn't so brutal, but I was on the cusp of sliding downhill at the end of this one. However, I now feel kind of good about the 600k distance.

Well, you never know how the next one will go, but it's nice how this one turned out. I'm a wee bit torn between having a fresh go at a longer-distance event this year, vs. taking the time out now to hit the lingering fit/comfort issues, and seek out one or two more 2017 600k's, and come back to the longer ones next year. Decisions, decisions!

There are ride stats here.

Thanks for reading. 'Til next time!!