Century and Double Century Rides
My Bicycling Background:
My first experience riding a bicycle was at age four riding a neighbor's toddler bicycle up a long driveway. This was an experiment by my parents to see if I could ride a bike unassisted, since my mother felt that my previous few months using a scooter should have developed my sense of balance. With a gentle push I was set in motion, and to my mother's delight I peddled a pretty straight line up the driveway, put my feet down, turned the bike around and returned on my own. The next move was up to my father.
As a machinist with his own shop my father went to work on a bicycle project. My first real bicycle was at age four (almost five) when my father cut down the frame of a full sized bicycle, and I could almost handle the bicycle. I remember riding it around the corner and falling off when trying to turn too sharply. The bicycle used narrow tires that were tubeless and had to be sealed with an adhesive to the rim. Within a year or so I could actually do pretty good at riding it, and at age ten my father and older brother fitted it with new rims and tires with tubes and a hand brake on the front tire in addition to the coaster brake on the rear.
I used that first bicycle to deliver newspapers until at age fourteen when I had saved enough money to buy a new bicycle that I had been admiring for over a year. In 1956 I purchased my first bicycle with multiple gears from Andy Jensen's bicycle shop on west Main Street in Alhambra. It was a Schwinn Varsity with a three speed Sturmey Archer rear hub. I put a lot of miles on that lead sled, and in 1973 the rear hub simply stripped out. I used that as an excuse to purchase a new bicycle.
With assistance from an experienced friend I acquired a 1973 Schwinn Le Tour as my first bike with derailleurs and ten gear combinations. I started reading about Alpine shifting and subscribed to a bicycle magazine. I still have the Le Tour as a backup, but it does not get ridden too much now. In the early 1980s I purchased a Nashbar bike with 12 gears ratios. By this time my rides were often 50 to 70 miles. I would often take off riding around the San Gabriel Valley or one-way rides to the beach. The frame of the Nashbar was too big for me. I first heard of century rides in the mid-1970s, but a ride to San Diego was only a dream in the back of my mind.
I drifted into jogging in 1982, which lasted until my knees began bothering me in around 1997. I had stopped riding regularly and in 1999 my doctor told be to start getting more exercise. I cleaned up the Nashbar, replaced the cables and the broken chain ring on the crank as well as the chain and the freewheel gears. I started talking at church with another amateur radio operator, who was into bicycling in a big way. Somewhere along the series of conversations he advised me that if I rode 100 miles a week for a couple of months and could maintain around 20 mph on flat terrain, that a century ride (100 miles) would be no problem. I quickly worked my way from about 50 miles a week to over 100 miles and speeds typically in the 15 to 20 mph range in hilly terrain.
In July, 2001 I undertook my first century with the Nashbar bicycle. It was the Tailwinds Century sponsored by the Santa Maria Bicycle Club. I totally enjoyed it and wanted more. On August 18, 2001 I did the Channel Islands Bicycle Club's Cool Breeze Century. The old Nashbar had a flat near the start and at the half way point broke a spoke. Fortunately I was prepared to replace spokes as it was a common event on that bicycle. Before any SAG support appeared I had the spoke replaced and the wheel "tuned" and was back on the road. Needless to say I was carrying a lot of weight in the form of tools for this ride.
School started on August 20, 2001, and one of my fellow teachers encouraged me to take a Physical Education class on stationary bicycles that he had taken during the summer. It was quite an experience. A different form of riding with seated climbs, standing climbs, runs, jumps, etc. Coach Greg Smith was very helpful and I learned and developed from the class. I also began riding twice a week with the Los Angeles Wheelmen, and I met some very nice, experience riders.
At the end of August I took delivery on a Cannondale R-1000 that was built up from a used frame by the Open Road Bicycle Shop in Pasadena. On September 15, 2001 I rode the Los Angeles Wheelmen's Grand Tour Lite Century low land version. I was pleased that I completed the 100 miles in exactly 6 hours finishing with standing climbs on the Malibu hills along the Pacific Coast Highway. I now felt very comfortable doing a century. I maintained well over 100 miles of riding each week through the following winter.
On June 29, 2002 I was lucky to be able to do the Los Angeles Wheelmen's Grand Tour Lowland Double Century ride. I did not expect to be able to do it because on June 27th I had a cyst removed from my neck by a surgeon. While he was removing it we talked about the Tour de France. When he finished I asked when I could go riding. He said, "You can take the dressing off tomorrow and go riding. Just keep the area clean." I do not know if he realized that I had a double century in mind, but I was off to try my first double century. At the beginning of the ride I met Dave Morris and Forrest Roberts to whom I had been introduced through the weekly rides with the L. A. Wheelmen. They were surprised to see me, and I was invited to join them. I learned a great deal from riding with them. By now I was hooked on endurance riding.
Later in the summer of 2002 I completed the Windmill Century and Cool Breeze Centuries again. On September 28, 2002 I did the highland version of the Grand Tour Lite, which was my introduction to some fairly serious hill climbing. During the summer I used rides over the Glendora Mountain Road and Glendora Ridge Road in the Angeles Forest to condition myself for hill climbing. Unfortunately that area burned in a forest fire in late September. My hill climb training for the moment is mostly confined to the hills behind the Griffith Park Zoo and whatever rides I can find with hills that do not conflict with my six day a week teaching assignment. On October 6, 2002 the Tour de Poway provided an enjoyable 50 mile ride with some nice hills.
A current project is the slow restoration of a 1969 Schwinn Paramount that has provided enjoyment and provides some added experience in bicycle maintanance. The Paramount can now be ridden and refinements are being made to improve the comfort. Perhaps I will ride it in a century in the future. For now it will be a backup to the Cannondale.
09 October 2002
