Stagecoach Century, Saturday Jan 17

(click to enlarge map)

I have about six weeks worth of training into this 100 mile bike ride. The last few weeks, had to forgo the surfing and golf to be sure that my back would be good for the ride. As you get older, you either get smarter or pay the price.

The night before the ride, got to bed early and made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast. Set two alarm clocks and then went to bed after taking a temazepam (used for high altitude sleep aid). Somehow, overslept and woke in a panic with 15 minutes to leave the house. This was not in the plan, but felt reassured that things never go completely as planned. Also, kind of regretted telling Jeremy (my friend who flew in from Portland to do the ride) the day before that he was always late.



Sunrise in Ocotillo was beautiful, in the 50's and felt desert warm already. The start point is now West of town, at the community park. The participants are a diverse group, both serious bikers and weekend warriors. The mood is slightly anxious, but friendly. Our team of Mike, Bruce, Pat, Jeremy and myself start at the designated 7:15 time and get in a pace line of other riders moving a bit fast for me. After about ten or fifteen minutes, decided that I better drop off and ride at my own pace, if I was going to make the distance. Score one for strategy but a lessening of the certitude that I was really ready for this one.

Since the wind wasn't a factor going out, the pace line wasn't really as essential as in previous Stagecoach rides. This was good for me, because there was no pressure to keep up with any group to beat the wind. At the first rest stop at the Carrizo Badland Overlook, everyone in my group got back together and then I realized that we weren't separated by that much time afterall. The volunteers were very friendly and organized.

The ocotillos were in deep green from the recent rains. The smell of the open desert is unique and brings back many childhood memories for me. The sun was brilliant and all our spirits were rising with it. This was going to be an easy one. My friends and I became more confident and you could feel a lifting of our fears about lack of conditioning etc.

Mike made an excellent summary of the ride and I can't hope to top it for nailing the facts of the ride:

"The ride conditions were very good. Winds were calm to slight tail wind going out and variable head winds coming back, except for a short stretch near the end were we were able to cruise easily at 26 mph. Temps were 54 at the start and got up to 80. No crashes or flats or cramps. Aid stations were fully stocked with good stuff and attended by able friendly volunteers."

"The top section is the raw and calculated data, most of which shows up on the graphs on the far right. The ascent and decent data is not found on the graphs. The top graph is plotted over time. The bottom is plotted over distance." (click to enlarge, from Mike's bike computer download)

We all finished the ride in good shape. According to the computer on Jeremy's bike, we did the 100 miles in 6 hours and 59 minutes of actual bike riding. Many thanks to Mike for the Corona that tasted better than any beer in a long time. Looking forward to next year, when I may even buy a tee shirt.

For you adrenaline junkies, take a look at my friend Bill's helmet cam on a speed run:


Kitchen Creek by Bill Ross from John McFrog on Vimeo.

Training for the Stagecoach Century and a few New Year's goals

I like to do the century rides in the desert more than training. In early December Mike questioned why my name was not on the list for the Stagecoach. So, this allowed 6 weeks or so for preparation and training. My bike still had two wheels, but my legs were small from inactivity and my normal steel will was diminished from the holiday preparations and my proclivity for rest and party activities.

So, I made a plan. It involved rides from my door to Willow Road and then out Dehesa. Eventually, it would include rides up Harbison Canyon to Alpine. I usually just ride the five cities ride (around the San Diego Bay and back by ferry) on Sundays as a penance for Friday and Saturday self abuse experiments. Bike riders from all over San Diego come to Rancho to ride the Willow access to the hill country around where we live, so bikers are familiar if not respected members of the community and surrounding roads.

During the weekdays, Willow is populated by over caffinated commuters, nervous gamblers and native Americans. Armed with my 1 inch bike mirror and an assumed air of invincibility, I try to appear nonchalant about the apparent disparity between the automobile mass and speed versus mine. Any sign of excessive speed, intoxication, cell use or apparent ineptitude are met by my moving over to the right of an already diminished bike lane area. The weekends provide the additional composition of automobile test pilots, tourists, Harley riders and Ninja thrill seekers. Each ride to better my ability to complete the Century has at its completion a sacrifice to the lucky gods for my good fortune to survive another day and solid proof that I live a charmed life.

I started with 20 mile flat rides and at one week before the ride am up to a five cities ride in the morning and a ride to Alpine from my home soon after. This is about 60 miles, which should put me in a good position to complete the 100 miles in the desert. The desert ride will be completely safe in relation to the training rides. I look forward to the beauty of the desert and the companionship of my four partners on the ride. All are experienced riders and we will be probably be "drafting", which will make the ride easier if there is wind. Drafting involves riding within inches of the next person in a row while peddling at speed. It assumes confidence in your friends and full concentration on not touching wheels. If you do touch wheels, bad things can and usually do happen. The payoff is that you are "pulled" along with 10 to 20 percent free propulsion, during the time you are not the leader.

My training rides are quite boring and all that breaks the monotony is the road kill, trucker pee bottles, broken vodka containers and avoiding obvious road hazards. Lately, my thoughts tend toward ruminations on where things are going in America, especially in light of some books that I have been reading lately( The Limits of Power and The War for Wealth). When I spout off on our mountain bike rides, my friends listen patiently and sometimes are sympathetic. Carl realizes my profound concern about current trends/events and has the good sense to suggest that our part in this big machine is indeed quite puny and thus offers some sense of proportion to my dismay. My goals for the coming year center around trying to keep my concerns a motivation for action rather than a negative emotional reaction.

The retired lifestyle that I am fortunate enough to enjoy in relative good health offers almost complete freedom of action. I can make good on my moral values by concrete action. We live in a desert (San Diego), so this year am going to shift to succulents for landscaping. Going to get more diligent in using buckets to capture water otherwise wasted waiting for warm. I will endeavor to buy American where possible and support stores that pay a living wage. Want to continue to communicate with elected government reps on policy matters, especially my willingness to pay more taxes for education, medical care and infrastructure that will make my country a more humane place now and for the lives of my children and grandchildren. I will try to drive at a fuel efficient speed if it is all safe. It probably won't change the world in the grand scheme of things, but it will hopefully make me feel better about my part and make me a little more positive around my friends.

The last few days I have been experimenting with conversion software to transfer DVD content into a more web and pc friendly format. Take a look at this video that I uploaded to Vimeo. If you want better resolution, the 65 megabyte file can be downloaded to your computer. Click vimeo on the bottom tool bar to get text summary and download possibility.


Toroweap 2006 with Friends from John McFrog on Vimeo.

Stagecoach Bike Century Background

Some places live in our hearts and our minds. Ocotillo, a desert town 80 miles east of San Diego, is one of those places for me. It sits dusty and austere just on the edge of the Anza-Borrego State Park. My grandfather Ben had been a King's Canyon horse ranger, until he met my grandmother, a teacher in Ely, Nevada. They lived in La Mesa when he became a civil servant and one of the founders of the North Island Credit Union. He loved the desert and my earliest memories of camping were feeding the kangaroo rats at Borrego Springs. Here is a picture of us at Borrego Palm Canyon in 1949.

He liked the desert and bought a trailer/house shack in Ocotillo. I would go down with my grandparents on weekends and holidays. We would wander around the lunar landscape with its prickly vegetation and spare, big sky beauty. The power of powder was revealed to me in the form of a .22 rifle and the merciless killing of numerous beer and soda cans. We hunted petrified wood and talked to the petrified denizens of this arid outpost amid the nuclear fears of the 50's.

So, when my friend Mike told me about the Stagecoach Century Bike ride, it was hard to resist. It starts in Ocotillo at about 300 ft elevation and turn around close to Shelter Valley at about 2600 feet. The weather defines the ride. You have already paid your entry fee, so if the wind decides to blow or it turns cold, the sparkling desert sun of your hopes meets the cold ass reality of your fears.

Manger Makeover

My family is prolific, your typical Irish Catholic types. We have 26 family members at Christmas gatherings, spanning four generations. So when it was our turn to host the event, it didn't take a genius to figure out that the suburban house was not going to work very well. It was then that my wife and I hit on the idea of a Manger Makeover.


OK, so a garage is not technically a trough for horses nor does it have that biblical cache of manger. Give me a little license, please... We decided that the garage had the square footage to seal the deal, but what about our messy possessions? Kathy is resourceful, and thought that they could be hidden for under $50 by hanging sheets on the sides of the room. (12 sheets bought on line from a hotel supplier) We strung twine through a sewn pocket on the top of those sheets that could not be stapled to something solid. Then, we bought $20 worth of on sale Xmas lights to string across the dining area. These were stapled up, except for the garage door, where we used clear packing tape.

Two 15,000 BTU heaters were fired up for two hours before the event. When Nathan, the two year old toddler, arrived we turned them off and put them away. Free Christmas MP3 music was downloaded for further mood enhancement. A good time was had by all during the dining and even more fun when we moved to the living room for the Chinese gift exchange.