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RosEns0404.jpg |
Thanks to the photographers of brightroom.com, here I am on the Rosarito-Ensenada 50-mile fun ride which took place on April 17, 2004. My friend John graciously offered to shuttle my car from Rosarito to Ensenada while I rode the ride. John and I left from his place around 7:45. We arrived in Rosarito around 9:00. Unfortunately, I left my bib number on the dining room table, so I had to find the registration desk to get a new number. The registration desk was located in the courtyard of the Rosarito Beach Hotel, next to the starting line. Usually, we'll park way back from the starting line where the crowd is thin. Instead, we parked several blocks from the start, one block west of the main road. John brought a pair of family service radios. I rode my bike toward the south. I had a radio so we could talk to each other. I got a replacement bib number easily enough. The registration volunteer had a list and saw I had registered. Then, John and I tried to get back together. He said he was by the giant (inflatable) "Dos XX" bottle to which I replied I didn't see him there. I said I was at the big blue "Powerade" bottle. He went over to it (he said). But I didn't see him. As it turned out, he was near the starting line, while I was in the registration area, near but west of the starting line. Anyway, once we realized this, I headed toward the starting line area and we met a few minutes later. I found I had left my sunscreen in the car. I "borrowed" some from another rider. By then it was a few minutes to 10:00 and time to get over to the starting line. John and I discussed logistics for meeting in Ensenada. I returned his GPS unit with a waypoint for the San Nicolas Hotel. This would be our meeting spot. By the time we worked this out, the mayor of Ensenada was counting down the start of the ride. It was right at 10:00! I was so surprised, because they usually start late. I merged into the mass of riders having to backtrack slightly along the sidewalk since I was slightly in front of the starting line. I was in a pack with the first couple hundred riders. Going kinda slow. Some people were riding it fast. Well, some really can ride 50 miles fast, but I knew to take it slow in order to finish uninjured. And most of those riding fast didn't look they'd keep up that speed for more than 20 miles or so. Along the way, I tossed candy to the kids. I got rid of the candy pretty quickly this time. I rode pretty much with the pack of riders I started out with. I stopped for about 5 minutes at the first sag stop. I drank some water, but was disappointed to find no food provided. I stayed with the rider group until about an hour into the ride. Before "The Hill" I bought a couple of bananas from vendor, and ate one. At "the hill" I rode up pretty fast compared with the others. I think I passed many 10s, maybe 100 riders. Only one person passed me. At the top of the hill there was another sag stop. I drank a lot more water. Here they were handing out bananas. I ate one of these. As I ate it, the sky grew quite dark. The wind from the west picked up. The gray sky soon broke as raindrops began to fall. I had my jacket with me, thank goodness. As I put it on, it began to rain. From this point, it was rainy all the way to Ensenada, where it stopped! But the rest of the ride was more of a "challenge" ride, rather than a "fun" ride. Now on the mesa, I *could* increase my speed, but with rain slick pavement of uncertain quality, I kept my speed down. Also, the crown doesn't really shed water. Long puddles of water formed on the pavement instead of shedding off to the side. So riding might be treacherous. I kept back from riders ahead of me to keep the spray from their tires from getting into my face. But there was still about 500 vertical feet to climb. On the uphill parts, I pedaled as fast as I could, mainly to keep warm. On downhill, I would brake constantly, mostly to keep my brakes dry and functioning. At the top of La Tigre, the road descends almost continuously from 1300 feet to sea level. This I took very slow. The wind was driving the rain hard. At a turn toward the northwest, I was going down the steep grade, and with only mild braking, could only sustain 10 miles per hour or maybe even less. The wind was that strong. The raindrops were stinging like little pins. It was getting hard to see with all the rain. At the bottom of the hill the rain finally let up. I then kept a moderate pace the last 10 miles along the beach road to Ensenada. I arrived at the finish line at 1:17pm, 3 hours, 15 minutes after starting. The ride official was warning to riders to "slow down. The floor is wet!" I knew exactly what he meant, even though he used a different idiom than what we would. I turned on the radio to let John I had arrived. He answered right away that he had arrived just 15 minutes before and was at the Hotel. We met without delay. It was still cool, and I was wet and getting chilly. I had the foresight to take a complete change of clothes with me, including shoes and sweater. I changed at the hotel. I felt much better in dry clothes. I found out the showers we used a couple years ago were taken out, so I didn't get a chance to shower. I didn't feel like going back out to the fiesta even though the rain had stopped. I still needed to warm up. So we ate lunch at the hotel restaurant. It was not that good, but seemed good enough for me! Then we went out to the fiesta, walked around awhile, went over to the harbor. By then I was feeling warmed up and better. I felt bad for the riders, who really were not prepared for or experienced with riding in rain. I saw a lot of really miserable riders. Around 3:30 or so, we decided to leave. I was getting tired, and would be driving back. We got to the border a little after 5:00, and crossed the border at 6:00 pm. On arriving home I couldn't find my gym bag. Unfortunately, I had left it in the hotel. I thought I'd just leave it there, but it had my keys and cell phone in it in addition to the wet bike clothes. I called the hotel in the morning to confirm they had it. They did. I drove back to Ensenada, crossed the border around 8:00am, returned home around 2:00pm. Total mileage: 210 miles. The silver lining was a glorious drive. Blue skies with fair weather clouds. Relatively light traffic. Crystal clear air making for incredible views. Large waves crashing on the shore. Storm generated no doubt. Unfortunately we did not have the conditions of Sunday on Saturday. Alas, I didn't bring a camera! But brightroom.com sent me a couple pictures of me. This one is toward the beginning of the ride, before the rain.
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