Mt. Tam Double Century — Workers’ Ride (posted half-awake; definitely closer to the sleeping part) Picture this. Take a 200-mile (320-kilometer) route. Now fill it with say 500 people scattered in different parts. That’s about a person every half-mile / kilometer or so. Pretty stretched out, right? Now imagine just a 10th of that number of people — that’s a person every 4 miles (6.4 kilometers). That’s what the Mt. Tam Double Century Workers’ ride was like. Whereas last weeks main event was brimming with hundreds of people — cyclists, volunteers, medical team, bike mechanics — there were maybe 60 people tops this time around: 47 riders, all volunteers for last weeks event, supported by an even smaller crew. The workers’ ride isn’t easy. In my opinion, it’s probably harder. The 17.5 time limit may have been relaxed, but riders have to contend with a severely limited amount of support. No “fixed rest stops” to look forward to. Having no time cut-offs simply means you’re out there even possibly *much longer*, greatly increasing the risks and challenges on an already tough course. Self-reliance and self-sufficiency are *absolutely* essential. Unless you’re really lucky, there are no mechanics or tech support to help you on the road. What you need to *survive* you take with you — food, water, and especially wits. You can be alone for hours at a time, on a very challenging course, on a very long day. No cellphone service, barely a soul in sight, and rarely a chance to pull-over and flag someone down for help. The thought of giving up can quickly enter your mind — but the problem is, how/where do you get help when theres not a soul in sight for miles? And who knows if help is coming if youve gotten yourself off the course? And what happens if its at midnight and your lights are starting to die? Yet in spite of all that, you’ll find that the people who do the workers’ ride are a breed of their own. Because these people DON’T take the event lightly at all. They’re the craziest and toughest of the tough-as-nails bunch I’ve ever seen. Lessons learned from doing first-time SAG duty, all from on-the-job: - Gauge support by time, not distance. As a rider on an organized ride, rest-stops are fixed locations. We refuel accordingly in between them according to our needs, but the fixed points are nice mental anchors. As roving SAG, the goal was to provide support within 1-2 hour timeframe (if we could manage that) - Downtime (which was rare) meant taking pictures. At least now some people will have something to remember the moment by, other than their sore butts and aching bodies. - Dedicated GPS with pre-loaded maps and POIs can help. Or fallback to Google Maps with offline mode support. I was out of cell coverage for 90% of the time, and smart phones can become “pretty dumb” quickly without the Internet. - Study the route in advance. My only studying was having ridden it the week before, so I at least knew what was in store for the folks. But in a car, I got lost. A lot. - Taking time to think helps. Working out where a rider could be if you havent seen them in a while is easier when youre not panicking, wondering if theyre lost, injured, or worse. Making notes of when you last saw them, where, and how far they were from the next rider allows you to guesstimate where they could/should be at a given time. Meme warning: Keep Calm and SAG on. - Marin County is *cold* — it was low 60°F most of the day, but when the fog rolled in, that plunged down to 50°F. - Bovine Bakery == yum! Must go back soon. - Have extras of *everything*: sweaters, lights, towels, tums, food, water, etc. I’m glad I did. The extra sweaters and towels were all used to avoid hypothermia, the lights as well for those whose equipment failed or batteries ran out (no/failed lights == no ride == Did Not Finish == soul-crushing). - Sometimes, you have to stay quiet and let them work it out on their own. Providing info on how steep or long an upcoming hill is can be disastrous. I’ve learned hereit’s better to just say: just hard enough to push you, but something you can totally do (even if your own muscles are screaming in protest). - Timely hot water is a god-send. When the temperatures are near-freezing, it’s pitch black, and there’s no support in sight for *miles*, a cooler filled with ice-cold drinks isn’t something you look forward to. But hot water, a cup of instant noodles? Warms the body and soul right there. To the store attendant on Tides 76 Gas Station on Bodega Bay: thank you for not thinking me mentally certifiable. Yes, I got very excited at the sight of a hot water dispenser. It was 5 minutes before closing, and I had asked for “20 cups of hot water” (at $0.25 a piece). Then I’m glad I remembered I had a thermos, and used that to drain their hot water supply instead. Best $2 ever spent. - Driving in pitch-black darkness on narrow roads? Eery. With rolling fogs? Down right scary, especially when the reflected lights blind you. Doing that in a bicycle with the elements beating down on you? Unfathomable. At least I had the luxury of a working heater in my car. The riders had to brave it with just the clothes on their back and the pedaling to keep them warm. And their wits to keep them going. - Take care of yourself if you’re taking care of others. Yes, too many times to want to text and drive at the same time, or take away your eyes off the road to clarify something on the map. Or skipping eating/drinking for some reason or the other. But you’re useless to others if you’re not functional. - I think I was starting to see things on the way home. Driving back on I-280, the road markers with red reflectors morphed into cyclists for me, and the halo from street lights made me think I was seeing more bike headlights, and that some of them needed SAG. Last time I was awake for 25+ hours was over a decade ago. Not easy to pull off anymore. But this was a nice addition to the Double Century experiences this year. At this point, the Mt. Tam Double Century will be permanently burned in my head — first as a rider, then as a volunteer. Hats off to Franck Battelli, our chief MTDC coordinator, and Lorraine Trautwein, Ride Director for Marin Century, for pulling off these events. And much appreciation developed for the other ride directors, volunteers, and sponsors who put on these events. It’s a feat of herculean efforts to say the least. Some Photos: https://facebook/ginolvledesma/media_set?set=a.756785637712126.1073741895.100001420912930&type=3
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 01:03:04 +0000
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