Monday, June 19: Meltdown take 2! Yea, this amazing heat is royally kicking my ass. But I’m ok, and just to make my sister feel good I’m telling her that I used my head, I backed off when I needed to, and I didn’t push over the that thin red line. There you go doc! I’m listening - for once. 

All right, got up and moving at 5:30 AM and was out the door at 6:30 in the van for our drive back to yesterday’s finish. Got there and was on the bike at 7:15, and it was hotter this morning than it was yesterday morning. Now Dave stayed with Judy for a bit to get some work done because he did this section yesterday. So I took off solo for the ride’s first 8-10 miles. And damn, I was just sweating from the get go. Knocked down a tall bottle of Gatorade and some Enduroyltes by the time Judy and Dave got up with me. Stopped, Dave jumped in while I refueled. Now along the way, I was getting eaten alive by these biting house flies. So I opened the door and some 10-20 of those harpies went inside. 

Judy raved about all the flies as I was mixing my drink, and that was it - those pups were with her for the rest of the day. Okay, we went through Colusa, and then got on a host of gravel and asphalt roads south and west past I-5. I was knocking down over a bottle of liquid per hour as we got up to the foothills that would take us out of the Central Valley basin. Did a 2.5 mile climb on asphalt and then stopped at Old Wilber Rd to begin our grunt session through the foothill. Judy had done support up to this point, but we were on our own from there forward. 

Both of us put our Camelbacks on, each with about three tall bottles worth of water per bladder, and we took some solid food. Now the first issue was that Old Wilber Rd was gated and locked. There were no signs indicating No Trespassing, so after some deliberation we decided to go for it. Hoisted the bikes over and off we went, through some really beautiful foothills country, covered in gold from the vegetation glowing in the sun. Then came a second gate, this one with a Private Property: No Trespassing sign on it. More deliberation. We had no service and really no choice but to move on. 

So we past this little ranch hand lot with some trailers, a car and a ATC. Yelled out for anyone, but the place was vacant. We continued on. And again, the scenery was really awesome - save for the nearing 100-degree temps. All was honky dory for a bit….until we rounded this corner and ran into a whole different roadway - this freshly graded mess that resembled a dried up creekbed. And in fact is was right next to a dried creekbed. this suddenly changed the game for me. The surface was just a thick, unconsolidated jumble of   dirt and rocks. Not easy stuff to ride on for sure, at least for me. Dave looked smooth and comfortable as I was working pretty hard to hold a line on the one of two tire tracks on the road. Get off one of those tracks and you’re kind of washing out the front and or rear wheels. 

Now under different circumstances, it would have been hard, but pretty doable for me, but with nearly a hundy degrees, it was just zapping me of energy. And the really gnarly thing was that this thing was gradually climbing. After a couple miles of that I was just getting pounded by the heat, just mashing through this loose shit, trying to hold a line, trying to stay upright, trying not to crack. 

Once this thing began to pitch up at a steeper gradient I really felt like I was getting into deep doo-doo. It was as if a hammer smacked me up aside the head. Good gosh, I mean my energy level went from ok, to E in a matter of a mile or two. It was as if I could see my fuel gage moving to E in fast forward. Finally, when Dave told me his  Garmin indicated we were doing a steep climb - I had it on mine but I was too fatigued to even look at the profiles - I knew the jig was up. Like as soon as it pitched up steeply, with all this loose dirt and rock I just couldn’t even keep it rolling. Like it was taking way more energy to hold a line and and climb than it should have been. I finally just about fell off the bike in fatigue. That’s when I began the long walk, the walk of desperation. 

I just pushed the bike as Dave disappeared over switchback after switchback. I’d stop every so often to kind of catch my breath and let my system settle down. Then, with lower HR and exertion level, I’d continue onward pushing the bike up the mountain. After about 10 minutes of this I saw Dave walking back towards me. He took my bike and pushed it to the top as I staggered behind him looking like a freaking drunk. We stopped once so I could rest, then we continued. Man, I have to say that Dave really saved my ass. I was the walking…well, not going to say it. Bad karma. But what he did was awesome. So we got to his bike, but the climb continued up another steep switchback pitch. Dave rode his bike up that one then came back down for me. I joked to him that “little did he know that he’d be a nurse maid for me”. 

We got to the top and I was thinking, “if this loose shit continues, and there’s more climbing, I’m done, because in essence I WAS already done.” I didn’t want to worry Dave, but I kind of knew my new set of limitations, and I was beginning to push the envelope. Okay, we descended down the loose crap for a bit and then came to like the 5th or 6th gate on this stretch of track. Hoisted our bikes over this guy and we saw our next track just down the road, Bear Valley Rd. Luckily the remainder of the Old Wilber Rt track was just vegetated instead of freshly graded. And I’m telling you, that graded road was as if dump trucks had just poured that crap onto the track. 

Descended down the rest of Old Wilber and got on Bear Valley, which is nice hardpack gravel. The riding was easy, but I was toast. And I had to stop several times under shade trees to regroup, let the HR come down and the breathing to settle down, then move on again for a mile or so. Did this for several miles. I’d sucked down my entire Camleback bladder in just Wilbur Rd, so Dave gave me some of his water. I finally told him to go on and get Judy, since the gravel road was totally drivable. I figured this way he could move on without my stopping him each mile, and Judy could get me some cold water and nourishment so I could finish the ride. 

Took a couple more rest stops in the shade as I plodded on to the jcn. with Rt 20. I’d feel okay for a bit once I got going, then within a half mile the heat was just blazing again. It was like being in a convection oven. Judy rolled in with about 2 miles to go. Got in the van with the AC just hammering away, drank a ice cold Coke, had water and tried to regroup for the umpteenth time. Rode the final 2 miles without my pack and without helmet - it was like having a hairdryer on my head with this heat. 

Made it to the Rt 20 jcn. and that was it - 42 miles in like 5 hours. Again, Dave helped to get my bike strapped in while I sat like a blob of protoplasm in the front seat. 

Now we had reservations at the Travel Lodge in Clear Lake, CA, but when we got there they told us we couldn’t get in until 2. So we went to a place called The Spot for lunch. All of us got salads, with me doing all I could to get the stuff in my ugly feeling stomach. Salad was great, but my gut was just feeling pretty nauseous from the ride. Then, when we went back to the motel, all sort of shit hit the fan, like the booking place that did the room reservations didn’t give us a room with two beds, and the Travel Lodge wouldn’t change anything because they claimed our reservations were for one bed. With me a slightly comatose mess, Dave took over the angry dude role and began lecturing this young dude about customer service. We F’ed around with the motel and the booking co. for I don’t know how long. Plus, with this booking co., we had a NO Refund on this thing. So we just couldn’t pick up and move to another place. 

Dave, good natured guy that he is, finally settled with giving Jude and I the bed while he sleeps on the floor in his sleeping back. The motel staff was just determined to hold the line and give us what the booking co. booked. 

Now I’m feeling better, but I’m still a bit on the weak and knackered side. Feels like I did a race. Funny too, because with this heat wave going on out here I adjusted the segments down in mileage, yet this 42 miles just smoked me today. Now I have to admit that some of that was due to the horrible surface on Old Wilbur Rd. That was an energy black hole that nearly drew me past the Event Horizon. 

Well, that was the drama for today. I’m still kicking and still working to get this pup in the bag. Again, many, many thanks to Judy and Dave to helping me though this tough day.