Hi Randall:

How did the ride go for you? I had a smooth, uneventful ride. The
weather was about the best I've ever seen it on the DDC, cooler than
usual and I didn't notice the usual headwinds on the last flat stretch.
I started off the ride with a strong upright rider named Bruce who I've
ridden with before on club rides. We took turns drafting each other. I
kept expecting to see the usual fast multi-tandem led paceline but
never saw it. I started the ride at 05:33. Maybe I left a bit too late
or too early to encounter them. Bruce turned off at the first rest stop
which I never stop at. A while after that stop I picked up another
drafter who drafted me all the way to the area of rolling hills before
the dam. I was cruising at 40 km/h+ the whole way. I passed a big
paceline and didn't want to pick them up so I gave them plenty of
passing room and brought the speed up to about 47 km/h (slight descent)
and this guy stayed glued to me hunched down on the drops. He looked
pretty strong and I figured he'd pass me on the first set of hills but
instead he dropped off and joined a paceline. That is when he said his
first and only word to me "Thanks!". I think when I passed you I had
this guy behind me. I figured you were going a slower pace so as not to
drop Kathy but I didn't see her.

There was a long line at the outhouses at Monticello Dam so I kept
going until I reached the abandoned gas station just past Moscowite
Corner. I used the facilities behind the station and applied sunscreen
there. I continued on. A couple on a tandem drafted me for a while but
dropped back on a climb. My first real rest stop was at the Pople
Valley Grange Hall. When I pulled in there I found a Bacchetta Aero
parked against one of the tables and I parked across from it. I
wondered if this bike was being ridden by one of the Bacchetta RAAM
team members. After getting some food the other Bacchetta was gone. I
saw a lime green Lightning F-40 and two lime green Gold Rushs with body
socks. I talked to the F-40 rider and told him I had done this ride on
an F-40 a couple times. He asked me if my name was Zach. His name is
Tony Rinaldi and it turns out we had spoken on the phone a number of
years ago. He and his buddies came from Corvallis, OR to to this ride.
We compared notes about the F-40 for a while.

I continued on to the Middletown High School rest stop where I saw the
Bacchetta again. This time the rider was with it and I asked if he was
on the Bacchetta RAAM team. It turns out he is and his name is John
Quarterman. He and Tim Woudenberg and Jim Kern had been doing a
practice run the night before doing hand offs from a vehicle Jim was
driving (Jim is the crew chief). John was having a foot problem due to
a callous and was considering dropping out of the ride. I gave him some
suggestions and recommended he continue to do the ride even if his foot
really hurts because on RAAM situations like this will likely come up
and he can look back and recall how he got through the Davis Double
with the foot pain. The pulls on team RAAM will only be 45 minutes at
the longest and John is now an alternate rider since one of the owners
of the Bacchetta company has decided to join the team as a rider. John
left Middletown before me and I didn't see him again until the lunch
stop.

Going up Big Canyon I got passed by a number of riders but also passed
a number of riders. There was no need to stop at the rest stop on that
climb so I didn't. Here are links to some photos taken on that climb.

http://www.photocrazy.com/perl/view.pl?ev=626&sd=2005-05-21&st=12:04:
52&lfn=P050521120452360a9.jpg&d=f&nts=0301&bibno=

http://www.photocrazy.com/perl/view.pl?ev=626&sd=2005-05-21&st=12:04:
57&lfn=P050521120457445a6.jpg&d=f&nts=0301&bibno=

http://www.photocrazy.com/perl/view.pl?ev=626&sd=2005-05-21&st=12:04:
58&lfn=P050521120458387ac.jpg&d=f&nts=0301&bibno=

http://www.photocrazy.com/perl/view.pl?ev=626&sd=2005-05-21&st=12:04:
58&lfn=P050521120458447a6.jpg&d=f&nts=0301&bibno=

I had a long sit down lunch with John at Lower Lake High School. He
said that was good advice about riding through the pain. He readjusted
his callous pads and the pain had subsided. I told him on long rides
pains seem to be cyclical. One pain lingers for a while, then goes away
and is replaced by another pain. We left lunch at about the same time
and I rode with him for a bit. On the climb on Highway 53 John passed
me. It looked like he was working pretty hard. I had decided going into
this ride that I would ride it at my own pace. My heart rate was in the
145-150 range on the climb and I didn't want to go any higher and get
worn out so I let him go ahead. There was a gusty descent after the
climb and because I had the 3-spoke wheels I rode the brakes on this
descent. Surprisingly on the flats after the descent I gradually caught
back up to John. He told me the descent was great and he got up to 53
mph. I told him I was on the brakes because of the 3-spoke wheels. At
that point my top speed had only been about 75 km/h. On the climb going
up Resurrection John passed me again but then at some point I passed
him while he stopped beside the road. Around this point I had my only
name calling incident on the ride. I was riding completely in the
shoulder when a grey Toyota 4Runner passed by. A caucasian male
teenager in the back seat leaned out the window and incorrectly guessed
my sexual orientation. Then for good measure he gave me the finger.

I normally don't stop at the resurrection rest stop and had plenty of
food and water from lunch so I continued on. The wind was a bit less
gusty on the descent from Resurrection and on this descent I reached my
highest speed on the ride of 77.6 km/h but I was still on the brakes.
The last time I rode Davis on a solo bike was in 2003 on the Gold Rush
and that time I didn't use the brakes and hit 81.7 km/h coming down
this descent. Last year on the Double Vision I reached 84.3 km/h. So
the Aero is very aerodynamic and without a deep section front wheel I
would have gone faster. Even though I had to take these two descents
slower I think the H3 wheels were still the right ones for this ride as
there is so much time spent riding the flats where the aerodynamic
advantage of these wheels really add up. Plus I don't like going
highway speeds without at least 4 wheels and a protective body
structure around me so the cross-wind sensitive front wheel requiring
me to keep my descent speeds sane is sort of a safety feature in a way.

The section riding along Cache Creek on Highway 16 was nice as usual
with welcome shade and knowing all the serious climbs were over. I
stopped there to use the facilities and saw John ride by. About ten
minutes later I saw him by the side of the rode fixing a rear puncture.
I pulled into the Guinda Fire Station rest stop and had my second
caffeinated soda while talking with a rest stop volunteer about
recumbents. I noticed there was an air conditioner vent on the side of
the fire station so I continued drinking inside the fire station to get
out of the heat. Just as I was leaving John pulled in.

The final stretch was very easy, mostly flat with some rollers. My
least favourite section of the ride is the section of Highway 16 past
the casino. That section of two lane shoulderless Highway 16 by the
casino is really scary. Back when it was a country road with liittle
traffic (like the stretch off road before getting to the casino) it is
no big deal but after the pasing the casino the traffic volume greatly
increases and probably a number of the drivers have been drinking at
the casino. It seems like every year I ride by that casino it gets
larger. Now it is a resort complete with a car wash. I found myself
resorting to my forced buffer zone technique while riding down the
heavily trafficked shoulderless secton of this road. Every time I'd see
a vehicle approaching in my rear view mirror I'd start making a slow
swatting motion with my left arm. This had the effect of both slowing
the traffic down and forcing them to cross the yellow line to pass me.
Always at the last moment before the vehicle passed I'd return my left
hand to the handlebars so in case they passed too close I wouldn't lose
it. I noticed traffic was passing the other cyclists who weren't making
active arm movements much closer. I also had dual CatEye TL-LD600 5-LED
flashing taillights switched on. They were actually on for the entire
ride to increase conspicuousness.

The CHP were doing a good job on Highway 16. After passing the casino I
saw a CHP car hiding behind some bushes by the side of the road. A ways
down the road it drove behind me at my speed for a while and then
passed continuing to go well under the speed limit with a long line of
vehicles behind it. Later on I saw it hiding behind some bushes on the
right side of the road again and shortly after that saw a CHP car on
the other side of the road pulling a motorist over.

Once I turned onto Road 85B the rest of the ride was uneventful. Going
over the Highway 505 overpass which is the last hill a big rig truck on
505 honked at me and I waved. I reached the finish at 18:01 and soon
saw Tim Woudenberg and Jim Kern who had already changed out of their
cycling clothes. I hung around with them for a while having the post
ride dinner and waiting for John Quarterman to arrive. We thought he'd
be in about ten minutes after me but it took a while longer.

For comparison below are the times for my last few Davis Doubles. Note
the 2004 and 2003 distances and rolling times include to the start from
the motel and back to the motel from the finish while in 2005 I stayed
in the parking lot so eliminated that extra distance. Also one reason
the 2004 total time was so long was a couple rear punctures caused by a
problem with the tyre that required booting it. In 2003 on the Gold
Rush I was riding harder and spending less time in rest stops.

2005 on Bacchetta Aero
317.9 km (197.53 miles)
30.2 km/h average rolling speed (18.77 mph)
77.6 km/h maximum speed (48.22 mph)
10:31:17 rolling time
12:28:04 total time
2535 metres elevation gain (Polar S720i) (8317 feet)
136 bpm average heart rate
168 bpm maximum heart rate

2004 on Double Vision
325.37 km (202.18 miles)
27.1 km/h average rolling speed (16.84 mph)
84.3 km/h maximum speed (52.38 mph)
11:58:05 rolling time
14:17 total time on DDC portion of ride
2525 metres elevation gain (Polar S720i) (8284 feet)

2003 Easy Racers Gold Rush
330.02 km (205.06 miles)
29.3 km/h average rolling speed (18.2 mph)
81.7 km/h maximum speed (50.77 mph)
11:15:17 rolling time
11:30 total time on DDC portion of ride
1985 metres elevation gain (Avocet Vertech) (6512 feet)