Borrego to the Sea, 2006

Posted by Stephen Waits Mon, 09 Jan 2006 07:16:00 GMT

Day One – Friday January 5th, 2006

Arrival

My good friend Dave agreed to do the Borrego to the Sea 100k ride with me. He just bought his bike a few months back and was anxious to see how he matched up against some other riders. I knew he’d outclass the pack, but event day would tell everything. I was excited to have someone to share my new hobby with!

We met up in the morning, at our hotel, the Palm Canyon Resort. He had a four and a half hour drive against my two hour drive; but we timed our arrivals pretty close. It was great to see Dave again. I think the last time I saw him was at MotoGP ‘05, at Laguna Seca. We got checked in, and unloaded. I’d never been to Borrego Springs, but the view was nice enough, for a small podunk desert town. This photo was shot just outside our room, looking northeast, toward the Salton Sea.

Once we got settled in, it was time to get an easy 15 mile ride in. But before we did that, I had to check out Dave’s ride. This thing is sweet. Weighs in at around 17 pounds, fully equipped with Dura-Ace 10, carbon all the way around, frame, cranks, bars, seatpost, the works.

I really like shiny things, and I’m in love with this one…

I must have one! How much? $2500. That’s a helluva deal. In fact, I think if I upgraded my Trek 2100 to Dura-Ace I’d be at the same price! Felt is definitely on my radar, and maybe even my wishlist. :)

An Easy Ride

Finally, I had to stop stroking Dave’s bike and get on with our ride. We just set out to the east, went through “Christmas Circle”, a traffic circle in the center of “Downtown”, then south a bit. Turned around at 7.5 miles and headed back toward the hotel.

Hunting Down Food

A few miles before getting back to the room, we decided to scope out food. It was still morning, and we wanted to carboload both lunch and dinner. Well, there wasn’t much choice. We passed one place that might have worked and then decided to stop at The Mall – that’s what it’s actually called. In Borrego Springs, when you say, “I’m going to The Mall”, there’s no question about it.

The Mall was pretty hopeless too. Just a few greasy spoons that weren’t going to cut it. Then we stumbled upon the local post office, oddly enough, and met this local uber-endurance guy. Perfect! So, we asked him for suggestions on where to eat. He said he could sell us some Cytomax or Jelly Chews, but didn’t really know where we could eat. He’s a Trek/Fisher dealer too. This guy was fit. He’s into dirt events; mostly ultra-cycling. He does 24 hour relay and 24 hour solo events. Nuts! His legs were as defined as can be… very impressive athlete and quite a talker too. Still though, he didn’t know where to eat.

We managed to end the uber-athlete conversation and decided we’d just scope out food with the hotel desk. So we headed that direction, got back to our rooms, and changed out of our cycling gear.

Lunch Adventure

We ended up eating lunch at the hotel restaurant. They had several pasta dishes on the menu. Once they figured out they weren’t out of pasta, we were able to get our lunch underway. Lunch was comical. The pasta had a few pounds of completely taste-free fatty cream sauce on it. Not good. But the chef, I use the term loosely, was very friendly and came out to talk to us. We mentioned that there would be a lot of cyclists looking for pasta for dinner - and he was encouraged to create a pasta special for us! That was really cool of him.

The hotel owner was eating nearby. When the chef went over and talked to him, he proclaimed, “This is the best pasta I’ve ever eaten!”. Dave and I lost it immediately. I couldn’t face him for a few minutes, or I’d crack up. We chugged our way through the rest of our lunch and politely took the leftovers back to our room – where we promptly threw it in the trash.

As we passed the front desk I was flagged down. Apparently I’d forgotten my credit card there when we checked in. Whoops! Thanks!

Lazy Afternoon

After lunch, we stroked our rides and took some naps. Woke up, stroked the bikes some more, and then went to scope out the hot tub. Some family was in it – three pissing kids. Forget that.

Dinner time, headed back over to the hotel restaurant to check out the pasta special. The whole place had a weird vibe to it. The people were all actually very friendly and helpful; it was just, kinda odd. The special was much better than our lunch ordeal.

Back to the room and both asleep by 21:30 or 22:00. It was a great day. Relaxing, restful, and fun.

Day Two – Saturday January 6th, 2006

Get Ready!

Woke up at 6:30. Dave showered, I ate a bagel and a banana. I showered, dave ate Ramen noodles! He swears by ‘em.

Pumped up our tires and we were ready to go. Here’s Dave before the ride:

Dave managed to get a great shot of me too. Kind of embarrassing – I’m supposed to be the photo guy!

We walked over and claimed our T-Shirts. We were looking for safety pins, but all they had was twist-ties. Got back to the room and managed to rig our numbers on our frames and then headed back to the start.

Ride!

After a brief warmup, and a few instructions, we were off to the Salton Sea. I said, “see you at the end” and Dave headed right up to the lead group. I actually was three to five riders behind him for the first 7 miles. Then a few guys came past and pulled Dave away. They were about five riders. Since it was an out and back course, I knew I’d see him again soon.

I was with a decent group, but doubting the pace. I felt it a bit strong for me. But oh well, I decided I’d give it a shot. I knew I’d eaten and rested well.

At the first rest stop, 1/4 distance, our group was down to about 8 riders. About five stopped and the rest of us went on. Then I got dropped. Soon we transitioned from San Diego county to Imperial county. The road was so bad I could barely see straight – and I was actually realizing that I was going to need to tighten up several parts of my bike after the ride.

The riders that stopped soon caught me and I was able to hook up with them, whew, not alone any more. A few miles before half-way Dave passed me on his way back. His group was down to three. We yelled our hellos and traded thumbs-ups!

Downhill Easy, Uphill Hard

I stopped at the half-way mark rest station, and had averaged 20.1 mph; however, it was overall downhill. A net of 800’ or so. I knew the ride back would be more painful. I ate and made use of the facilities, and noticed the group I came in with, now down to three, had headed back out. I got out a few hundred yards behind them, but caught them pretty quickly. It was me, a girl and two guys – one of whom was very fit.

Eventually the girl and one of the guys hit their end, and the fit guy started to leave. I felt better than the two, and went with the stronger guy. But, I could only hang with him for a few miles. Now I’m the only one on the road in either direction as far as I can see. My legs hurt pretty bad, but weren’t going to give up.

This second half was a grind for me. I spent most of it, probably two-thirds, alone. That really gets your mind going. How am I doing? Am I too tired? What’s my pace like? Where is everyone? How did that guy get out of sight? How did the people behind me get out of sight? Am I on the right course? That last question was really nagging at me for some reason.

Bring it Home

Turns out I was off-course! I’d missed a turn that ended up shaving off nearly two miles. I never saw the turn sign. Oh well. I brought it home at 17.5 mph – excellent for me. I would have been satisfied with less! There were about 20 or 30 riders hanging out, eating Julian Pie Company pie and ice cream.

I quickly found Dave sitting at the “fast guy table”, trading “fast guy stories”, and asked how he did. Just as I suspected, nobody could hang with him. In fact he basically held back just because he didn’t want to strike out solo. He did the whole ride at 20.9 mph, but thinks he had at least a few more mph in him. Awesome!

Checkout

We headed back to our room, packed our cars, then back to the front desk. Everyone around agreed that my Ty Beanie Baby MasterCard was “cute”. sigh. The girl at the desk realized we were with the bike ride, and gave us a significant discount on our room. Next year I hope they actually advertise the special room rate for cyclists.

Dave and I shook hands and split. He headed east back to Phoenix, and I cruised west, to San Diego.

Summary

The ride was just organized enough. A few minor niggles..

• It wasn’t a full 100k! Seems like it would have been pretty easy to get the distance up too.
• I don’t know how obvious the route was marked, but I, along with quite a few others, completely missed the last turn on the way in. As mentioned before, this seemed to shorten the route by a few miles. This isn’t a big deal, just slightly disappointing.
• Maps were handed out, but they lacked road names, and distance markers. A small turn sheet would be more useful.
• Turnout could be improved; though, maybe it’s not a goal. I say the more the merrier

The rest though was great. The hotel was quirky, but fun, and very accommodating. The owner talked with us and seems very interested in promoting this event better next year.

Overall, I had a great time! I’d do it again. Dave was a little disappointed that it wasn’t a little more competitive, but he still got a good feel for how his fitness level might compare to others. He’d fit right in at a bigger ride (Palm Springs, Solvang) or an actual race. Overall, he had fun too.

Now, if only we could somehow convince our other sucker friends, Ralf, Nate, and Quan to get off of their collective sorry ass and come ride with us… That’d be a riot!

Statistics

My Stats:

• Duration: 3:14:02
• Distance: 56.58 miles (just under two miles short of the full ride)
• Speed: Average 17.5 mph, Max 37.1 mph (that’s it!?!)

Dave’s Stats:

• Duration: 2:47:55.4
• Distance: 58.4 miles (the full route)
• Speed: Average 20.9 mph, Max 39.9 mph

Shared Stats:

• Ascent: 2159 (.3%)
• Total Riders: About 180

Update: Rich Wolf, the ride organizer, wrote me today. He said he’d take my comments under consideration. Specifically, extending the ride to 100k is possible, but might seem “mickey mouse”. He agrees the turn could have been marked better because that’s the part of the ride where people are focussing within instead of sightseeing. Finally, he wouldn’t mind if the ride got up to about 300 people. Also, he reminded me of the uber-athlete guy’s name – Desert Dan.