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Terrible Two route. 200 miles, 16,000' of climbing

This was my first time riding the Terrible Two double century. I had done two doubles previously this year (Solvang and Davis) but the Terrible Two has more hill climbing than both of those rides combined.

At Davis I got caught up in an extremely fast paceline and was hammering from the start. Then I stopped eating at around mile 150 and felt miserable for the last part of the ride. Even though Terrible Two is a harder ride, I went into it actually looking forward to going at a nice sustainable pace and, not burning out early, and hopefully having a strong finish.

I drove up on Friday and spent the night with Ramon at Motel 6 in Santa Rosa. The ride begins in Sebastapol, 9 miles to the west so unlike previous doubles, we had to drive to the start instead of just biking.

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I slept in late and didn't hit the road until after 1:00pm but still managed to get a decent ride in and a lot of new (to me) roads.

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This was my second double century, the first being the Solvang Double earlier this year. For both events I started out riding a pretty brisk pace and had some doubts that I could sustain it for 200 miles. At Solvang I finished strong and felt really great even including the final Drum Canyon climb. Yesterday ... not so much.

Even though I finished the ride relatively quickly I keep thinking about what went wrong and how to not make those mistakes again. I felt worse after this ride than I've ever felt after any other. I was seriously second guessing whether I wanted to ride any more doubles ever. Today I feel fine. There's the usual muscle soreness and general fatigue but overall I'm recovered from what was ailing me yesterday.

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I made a few small changes to the site:

* Anonymous comments are now allowed (you have to solve a captcha first though)
* Registering as a member no longer requires moderator approval (you just have to solve a captcha and have a valid email address)

You can take a helicopter tour of many of the Hawaiian islands. However Kauai's super rugged terrain is supposed to be especially amazing from the air. And so it was that we splurged for a one-hour joy ride at over $250 per seat. It seems even more expensive considering that we had recently paid just $100 to fly from San Francisco to Boston.

Our helicopter was a Hughes 500 with all the doors removed. Supposedly the only company that offers tours in this aircraft is Jack Harter Helicopters. This helicopter seats 5 people with three seats in the front (pilot on the left) and two in the rear. All aerial tours circle the island in a clockwise direction and so seats on the right side are better however seating assignment is determined by the company based on passenger weight so as to keep the aircraft balanced. Luckily we got the two front passenger seats! Susanne was in the middle and I was on the right which was really an ideal arrangement.

Helicopter shots

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Later on Monday 12/28 we headed to the National Tropical Botanical Garden visitor center which is on the southern shore of the island near the resort town of Poipu. The NTBG is a nonprofit organization that runs multiple gardens in Hawaii and one in Florida. You can take a self-guided tour or a tour led by one of their guides depending on which garden you visit.

On Monday we got to the visitor center in the afternoon. The tours seemed a bit expensive and it was late enough in the day that a guided tour was no longer an option. But I grabbed a brochure and we wandered the small area surrounding the visitor center before leaving.

In the grounds near the visitor center was a palm tree and a sign with a dire warning. Danger makes me curious so I had to take a closer look.

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Monday December 28 we ventured south from Lihue and managed to make it to the Koloa Sunshine market shortly after its noon opening. This market is held in the parking lot for a baseball field. Lots of local fruit, veggies, and flowers for sale.

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On Saturday I did my November century which came in at 106 miles and 5500' of climbing including Sierra, Calaveras, and Welch Creek roads. Warning, long post without many pictures!

Counter-clockwise starting at the bottom in Los Gatos. Click for interactive map

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I've loved the Pacific Ocean and the California coast for as long as I can remember so what better way to spend a Saturday than ride alongside the water for 80 miles from San Francisco to Santa Cruz? No better ways came to my mind and so this is how I spent my Halloween 2009.

Due to the logistics of doing this ride I ended up logging 127 miles for the day (a double metric century) with about 5300 feet of climbing.

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I had a really good time out on the bike Saturday and felt much better than the Bohlman/Hicks ride. Rather than do a full ride report I think I'll just give some highlights this time.

Ron, another rider, took some pictures which are here

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