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Saturday 05/08/04

07:30 am - This was the day of the Tour de Lincoln and the Bicycle Club had decided to participate.  We were to show up at McBean Park in Lincoln around 7:30 am.  It was too much later that most everyone showed up that was planning on doing the ride. My Dad had really wanted to do this ride with me and so he came along with me in my car.  Upon arrival we signed in at the registration area, got our maps, grabbed a few snacks, listened to the music playing in the background and watched all of the other cyclists make their way in.  This was the first time I had ever participated in an organized cycling event so I was really taking everything in.  I was amazed how many different types of cyclists there were.  You had everything from the recreational to the serious.  You even had the families that were out for a quick ride around town.  After we took a few pictures and stretched a few muscles it was off to the hills.

08:20 am - We officially started riding around 8:20 am and headed east out of Lincoln.  They had police directing traffic as we left they park and they made sure we had the right of way to cross.  The next couple of miles were a nice warm up.  At first I was worried about having to keep an eye on the map they had given us.  But I soon found that there were yellow arrows painted on the street and yellow plates on poles directing us at every turn.  Soon the warm up was over and it was time to start climbing.  Little did I realize just what kind of climbing we would be doing.  Our first hill was up a street called Gold Hill.  It should actually be called straight up hill.  In the beginning it wasn't that bad, but the higher you got the more it went up.  This hill average between 8% and 10% as far as the grade.  It actually peaked at 15%.  There were a number of riders in the pack as we went up this hill.  At one point it was a little hairy as a car came speeding by on our left and a hummer came down the hill.  Thank goodness no one was riding double file.  You really had to stay to the right of the road, even though it was a road out in the middle of no where you still had cars.

09:00 - Soon we left Gold Hill and turned onto Ridge.  Ridge was more of the same, straight up.  Soon the climbing was done and it was a nice ride straight down, of course the down hill never seems to be as long as the up hill.  As we rode through we had a number of opportunities to take in some breath taking views.  Oak trees are along many of the roads.  Then once you break out above the tree tops you have a view of the surrounding area from about 1,000 feet above see level. Many of the fields have just started to turn brown so it is quite the patch work of light green and browns.  We then had a gently down hill slope and then it was time for our first rest stop.

10:00 am - As we came in from the hills I thought we were right next to Interstate 80, but it was only State Route 193, a smaller road that takes you up and over to Auburn.  Located in the park and ride area was Rest Stop #1.  It already had a number of cyclists there enjoying the water, oranges, bananas, grapes, strawberries, and other things to quickly eat and move on.  I took a look at my stats real quick to gauge how I was doing so far.  Considering the hills we had just gone up and down I felt it was too bad. But I was hearing talk of Bald Hill being worse than what we had just done.  I better get another handful of fruit.

10:15 am - After topping off the water bottles it was back on the bike heading for Bald Hill.  I soon found out what all of the rumblings were.  Bald hill is straight up, I was actually able to make it almost to the top without stopping, but I did not walk my bike.  I merely stopped took a breather to let my heart back into my chest and then I continued on for about 50 feet and then made it to the top.  From here it is a spectacular view of the Lincoln area.  You can see past Lincoln and over towards the Sutter Buttes.  But it's not exactly the best mode of travel to get this kind of view.  I had found early on in the Tour that I would be waiting a lot for my Dad to catch up.  While he has been training over the last two months, he has been at a disadvantage.  In Elk Grove there are no hills to practice climbing.  So it has been the flat lands for him.  This was all new to him as far as cycling goes.  I decided that I would wait for him at every major turn and every major hill to let him catch up.  Once at the top of Bald Hill it was another screaming ride down the back side.  At least this one lasted longer than the last down hill ride.  And within no time at all we were already at Rest Stop #2.

11:15 am - At this point my Dad and I were able to catch up with Jerold Dougal just before he headed back out.  He was enjoying the trip but knew he would be feeling it the next day.  Again we were greeted by a very friendly volunteer staff with lots of fruits, water, and bagels.  Just enough to keep the energy levels up.  We didn't know it at the time but Chris Gale was at least 20 minutes ahead of us all.  Connie and Bryce Hathaway were probably only about 10 minutes behind. We stayed here about 10 or 15 minutes and then it was time to hit the road again.  

11:30 am - Shortly after we left Rest Stop #2 the 65 mile route (yellow route) took a right turn while the 41 mile route (blue route) continued straight on.  It was at this point the my Dad and I would be the last of the pack.  At the time we did not know it we figured there were others behind us.  But we had lost so much time climbing the hills we had dropped way back.  We were now heading North towards Camp Far West Reservoir and the housing was getting more and more sparse.  I was amazed how little there was out here.  Not the best place to get a flat or have any kind of trouble.  Along McCourtney road I saw something very novel, cows.  But it wasn't just the cows, in the middle of the herd was a cowboy.  I thought this was the coolest thing, when was the last time you saw a guy on a horse herding his cattle?  I can't remember when I saw that, in fact this was probably a first.  So I took a picture and moved on.

12:00 pm - Upon arriving at the main entrance of Camp Far West Reservoir I decided to pull over under a shade tree to wait for my Dad since we were making another turn before continuing on.  As I pulled over an older man in a pickup truck got out in a hurry came over and asked me if everything was okay, he let me know he was part of the Tour Volunteer Staff.  I let him know I was fine I was just waiting for my Dad to catch up.  He said, "I've got a radio if you need it."  I let him know everything was okay.  About 5 minutes later Dad showed up, he rested for a minute and then we continued on our way.  It was at this point that I did some calculations and figured we were not going to make it back in time for the barbeque.  It was only being served until 2:00 pm and we would not be back until at least 3:00 pm.  Due to the waiting at each turn for my Dad and letting him catch up we were only averaging about 12 to 13 miles an hour.  Not enough to make it back in time with 30 miles to go.  The next rest stop was still about 11 miles away, at least an hour ride with our pace.  The rode became very bad at this point.  Not that it was small with no bike lanes, it was very old and bumpy.  You had to be careful where you rode or you might bang up your rim.

01:00 pm - It was right around this time that we hit Rest Stop #3.  As we pulled up the older man in the truck had passed us up and was waiting for us here.  Soon after we arrived a van pulled up with the word SAG on the side of the vehicle.  We had seen this vehicle at least twice in the last hour as we made our way to the rest stop.  It was nice to know there were eyes out there watching over us.  I realized quickly that the volunteers at this Rest Stop were only there because we were the last on the route.  I asked when the last time a cyclist had stopped through, at least 20 minutes.  Well at least it wasn't an hour and twenty minutes.  We enjoyed the oranges and cold water.  There wasn't much else that we wanted.  After another fill-up of the water bottles and thanking the staff profusely for waiting on our behalf we moved on.

01:50 pm - It was around this time that the older man in the pickup passed us up and waved us down.  We pulled over and he wanted to know if my Dad wanted a ride back to the park.  I had already decided that I was going to finish the entire course.  I had the map so I knew where to go.  Dad said that no he wanted to finish up with me as well.  With that the volunteer radio man moved on.  In about a mile he was back on the side of the ride waving us to stop.  He said that he was supposed to inform us that the course was now officially closed and that there would be no support vehicles out on the road for us.  Next he said that the support team wanted to know he we wanted to have a lunch saved for us.  I knew it would be at least another hour before we finished, there was no way I was going to make someone wait for the next hour for me.  I told the volunteer we would again be fine, we filled up at the last Rest Stop and would be good until the end, and that they did not need to hold a lunch for us.  At this point I asked for the name of the volunteer that was so willing and eager to help us out, his name was Carl Lind (hope I spelt it right).  Carl asked one more time to make sure we didn't want a ride back to the park.  There were only 12 more miles to go, I was bound and determined to finish.  Carl was concerned about my Dad and wanted to make sure my Dad would be okay, Dad said he would be fine.  I shook Carl's hands and thanked him for being such a caring volunteer.  It's people like Carl that make these rides great.  Carl drove off waving and we headed back out on the road for the final stretch, Sun City.

02:30 pm - After a nice ride down Highway 193 we made a right turn onto Sierra College Drive to come up to the back side of Sun City Lincoln.  The cycling club I'm in started practicing here at Sun City two months ago.  We would go up and down the many hills located here in this senior community.  The big hill on the back side was to be the last hill of the day.  We made our way up and as I had all day long I waited at the top for Dad to come up.  As I stood there waiting a car pulled up and a little old lady asked if my partner back there was going to be okay.  I responded, "As long as he's on his bike he should be fine."  Then I thought man Dad must look really bad when he's riding up a hill.  About 5 minutes later Dad pulled up and we had a good laugh at his expense.  After making out way through Sun City we headed down and around the hill and enjoyed one last ride without having to peddle.  Then it was a quick up and around back to McBean Park.

03:15 pm - We made it.  As we came down the side walk I asked a passerby to take a quick picture of us.  I stood there with a flood of memories from the day rushing back through, I made it, all 65 miles.  They may have closed down the course but I made it and so did my Dad.

Later that day I was able to get a hold of the other riders who started out with us in the morning and found that we were the only ones from our group that actually made the whole thing.  Most all of the other rides either didn't have enough left to finish the last loop through Sun City or they didn't realize there was one last loop.  Chris "Armstrong" Gale was just following the other riders and didn't have a map with him.  Instead of doing the whole 65 he only did 52.  When I told him there was another loop to do to make the 65 he felt cheated of the glory of finishing.  Of course he was done by 11:30 am, even doing all of the hills and the 52 miles he was done in no time at all.  If I was on my own I probably would have finished the route around 1:30 pm.  That's okay, next year I'll be back and I'll have that barbequed lunch yet! 

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