Training Log Archive: biggins

grand tour - highland triple.

Started about 4:30am from Malibu, headed north on pch. Somewhere around mile 50 the two routes (highland and lowland) split, they went for some loops around the farmlands, and we headed straight into the mountains up Potrero canyon, which is only a couple miles long but tops out at 15% grade or so. I've been down it a few times and you mostly have to white knuckle the brakes the whole time, but I've never gone up it before. Turns out its actually a whole lot easier going down. Then we cut north through Westlake to some more climbs, and around mile 100 hit a long 10 mile climb up a dry valley towards Ojai. It was late morning by now, and about 100 degrees, so I ran out of water and bonked pretty hard, but rolled over the top and down into ojai for a lunch stop. Drank a gallon or so of water, but it was too late, I was trashed, so I crammed down some calories and took off, knowing I might as well be rolling and miserable instead of just miserable.

Did the next 40 miles at about 14mph (not counting the two big climbs), and then decided I actually wasn't having much fun. Right at the end of the last climb though you come over into a canyon heading back down towards the ocean, and over the top of that the temperature instantly dropped about 30 degrees. Which was nice until I started freezing. Around mile 140 down on the coast the two routes (low and high) come back together, but at the same point the double and triple routes split. The double heads home, while the triple heads north for a bonus 100. There were only about fifty people doing the triple (vs 350 for the double), so they didn't bother to mark this end of the route at all. Which was bad because it wound through some random streets of Santa Barbara, and all the important turns were at intersections where they were doing construction, so they had taken down all the road signs. I got to one at a combination interstate / state highway / boulevard / parking lot / roundabout junction (I can't imagine why), and did a bonus mile or two of trial and error before I found the right road out. The last 20 miles out to the end were straight into a headwind, and I was still pretty miserable when I hit the turnaround.

Going back was better though, there was a bit of a tailwind, and the checkpoint at mile 215 was cooking up chicken noodle soup. I was finally starting to get rehydrated again, and could actually stomach a bowl of soup. It was dark by now though, and I somehow managed to get back through the random roads of Santa Barbara without any mistakes. When I got out the other side (back to the checkpoint where the double and triple split) it was getting colder again and I actually felt pretty good. From there I knew the entire route home, so even in the dark I didn't have to worry about navigation and could just crank.

Had barely seen anyone since the first double/triple split at mile 140, but the guys at the checkpoints were telling us our places, and I had been floating somewhere around 16th. Four guys passed me on the way out to the end into the headwind and I didn't even try to keep up, but then they disappeared in the dark coming back through Santa Barbara so I assume they got lost. Passed another couple people fixing a flat right near then end, so I think I ended up 13th.

Moving time was just over 19:00, elapsed time was 22:30 or so. The hundred splits were actually pretty even, I think 6:20, 6:30, and 6:10, because the first one was hilly, the second one I was bonked, and the last one was dead flat but in the dark.

C • Congratulations! 7

C • Did you ever fix your rolle... 3