Hemet Double Century
Mr Bonk, Pain Freak and Bonk's brother Lincoln talked me into doing the Hemet Double Century (they've done at least a couple each, so far this year!). My longest ride ever was about 125 miles, so I had my doubts if I'd make it. Thanks to the fact that I excel at wheelsucking, I finished! Seriously, those guys pulled me the whole day, probably saving me at least an hour (Lincoln pulled darn near the whole day!). I hung on for dear life, to take advantage of the draft, but the last 7 or 8 miles I just let them go, as my sore a$$ just couldn't take any more! They finished about 10 minutes ahead of me. My total time was just over 13 hours, ride time just under 12 hours. All in all, a well organized event with plenty of support. They've got me hooked.......I've got to do another.
Posted by Closet Roadie  a 52 year old Die-hard Enthusiast riding a Trek 2200 from Upland on 04/10/05
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- Re: Hemet Double Century
Oh no, another DC addict, pretty stinking good time for a first timer too! When one of you gets a chance, must have a full write-up as I've never done Hemet. I hope it was more fun than riding up those d@mn hills at Castaic (and crashing on the downhill). But suffering is suffering I guess.
Posted by FFW a 46 year old Cross-Country Rider riding a Stumpy from Palmdale on 04/11/05
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- Re: Hemet Double Century
Well, I finally earned this. We have been reporting some very good ride times on our doubles, but I have to admit, it's because we have the testosterone twins pulling us. Between Mr. Bonk and his brother Lincoln we can't get a freekin break. If one even thinks about slowing down a little and giving us a break, the other jumps out front and starts pulling.
The ride at Hemet is a must do. All except the head winds. Fortunately for us, they weren"t quite as bad as forecasted, but we did feel them. We planned on an early start. Lincoln asked for 4 and I asked for 4:30. Lincoln said I'd be up at 3:05 anyways so what the hay, just give them a call when I woke up. He was wrong. I woke up at 3:10. I gave the twins their wake up call and off we go. At this time in the morning it was really cold. Not Solvang cold, but cold none the less. Around 42 degrees,but I'm a wimp and hate the cold. This is listed as one of the easiest of the doubles, but I knew right from the start I was going to have a tough time with it. I'd stayed off the bike the week after the Solvang double and was planning on riding somewhere around 100 miles between the two doubles,but some family things came up and I was unable to get any riding in what so ever. Big mistake. We typically ride between 80 to 100 miles on our weekeend ride and nothing was working out to let me get a ride in. Almost immediately my knee started to hurt.Anything that hurts in the beginning of these rides gets amplified by ten fold towards the end of the ride and that was the case here. We did the first century as Closet Roadie said in a good time.Somewhere around 6 hours. Lincoln had said if we made it back in time before checkout he was going to grab a shower between the two centuries and he did. I welcomed the extended break as his idea of a break is about 30 seconds. I think his favorite sentence is "Are you ready, Mike?" Gawd, knows he said it enough times.
The second part starts with a gentle climb for awhile.I was at this time contemplating calling it a day. I was dog tired and in the previous doubles I was still feeling pretty good at this point, but not today. I started playing games in my head, like well, I've got 6 miles into the double and if I turn around here and go back then I'll have 12 and that would only make 88 left to do so that ain't to bad....I really didn't want to think about it. After what seemed like a short period of time we hit the biggest climb of the day.It wasn't much as far as climbs go,but I was having an off day, and it just plain hurt. One saving grace was that the scenery was beautiful here. I'm not real sure where we were at this point,but there were all kinds of new homes surronded by newly planted grapevines.Big beautiful brand spanking new homes. I guess thats the latest thing to do for people with too much money. After we crested this mother we headed back towards Lake Elsinore. The downhill was over in no time.Somewhere along the way we managed to hit 45+mph. I'm not exactly sure where, but it was over way to quick. After we hit Lake Elsinore the route followed 30 miles or so of the first century and we now were on familiar ground. But we kept hitting those dam headwinds. I was watching my odometer as we were moving along at a good pace and we were at 22 mph. We made a right hand turn and ran into the wind, when I looked back down at the odometer we had fallen all the way to 13 mph. it sure made it a lot harder then it needed to be about then. The ride itself was a good one though. A little harder then say Solvang, but not as hard as Butterfield. The food at lunch was the best dam chicken I ever ate. I'd like to try this one again, after I train a little more seriously. What about it FFW,next year? Oh yeah, and Lincoln pulled probably 175 of the 200 miles.The guys a stud.
Posted by Pain Freak riding a Surly Turner from The 909 on 04/11/05
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- Re: Hemet Double Century
PF and Closet Rodie,
You guys rock!
PF you left the part out where you sprinted after those two guys to catch the wheel at the 160 mile mark and when you pulled up that hill.
Your a true Pain Freak!!!
I'm thinking of Davis , Eastern Sierra, and the Grand tour.And maybe throw in Ride around the Bear just for kicks.What do you think? Anyone want to play?
Posted by Mr Bonk a 41 year old Die-hard Enthusiast riding a Trek 5200 from Fontana California on 04/11/05
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- Re: Hemet Double Century
They're still taking registration via email for Mulhulland this weekend.... By the way, they upped the climbing to 16.5K and I am now officially freaking out! I'll try to do a write up afterward if I'm still alive.
Posted by FFW a 46 year old Die-hard Enthusiast riding a LeMond from Palmdale on 04/12/05
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- Re: Hemet Double Century
16.5k of climbing? Man, I know my limit, and that's miles beyond it! Best of luck FFW.....
Posted by Closet Roadie a 52 year old Die-hard Enthusiast riding a Trek 2200 from Upland on 04/12/05
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Thanks! Hopefully will get to do some riding with some of you guys sometime soon, maybe even a DC or two. I'm planning on a Angeles Forest/Crest loop soon if anyone's interested - awesome views, hard but not totally painful climbs and a great rest stop at the biker bar (forgot the name) before the climb to Dawson Summit. Probably June 11 or 12 - two weeks after Heartbreak DC. If anyone's interested, email me, could start in Palmdale, SF Valley or? Also if anyone's planning on riding heartbreak - it starts down the road from my house so if you need a place to crash the night before I'll kick STP out ;-) Man, PF beat me to the triple crown jersey this year - I don't earn mine until this weekend assuming I finish.
Posted by FFW a 46 year old Die-hard Enthusiast from Palmdale on 04/13/05
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