Davis Double Century

[az_cyclist]

I had heard the Davis Double Century was one of the best supported doubles in California, ran by the Davis Bike Club.  Since I had for the most part thought the Grand Tour had great support (LA Wheelmen). I added Davis to my cycling bucket list. 

It is a 14 hour drive from Phoenix to Davis.  Gina (my carpool partner) could not leave until after 1 on Thursday because she had to work.  Other than driving thru the wind on I-10 and the rain in SoCal, the drive was ok.  We got to Bakersfield at 9:30, then left again Friday morning at 8.  We got to the motel at noon, had lunch, then at 2:30 I met a forumite from bikeforums,net, and took an easy flat ride around Davis.  The Cal-Davis campus is very bike friendly, with roundabouts for the bike paths.

We started the ride at 3:55 am Saturday, riding 3 miles to the start.  The first 25 miles or so were relatively flat, and they had volunteers at many of the intersections with flags to point the way.  In additon, they had markers on the roads at all the turns, for the entire route. There were 3 big climbs before lunch, and 1 after.  After the first rest stop we started climbing into the mountains to the west, eventually riding into Napa Co.  The first climb was listed as Cardiac. 

The sag stops had plenty of volunteers, and the food was great (although I should have ate my power bars .. more on that later).  At the 3rd or 4th rest stop we heard that a rider was killed early in the ride.  We later found out he had went thru an intersection and was hit by a tractor-trailer.  It must have happened 15 minutes or so after we went thru that intersection, and happened about5 -6 miles into the ride.

The weather was a bit chilly to start, but was great the rest of the day.  Lunch was good, and the last big climb started about about mile 112.  It has 2 summits, with a rest stop just before the first.  I was the second of our group to stop there, and started eating watermelon and choc chip cookies.  I was feeling pretty good, but, I should have at the rest of my power bar.  I felt good after both summits, then  of course in the downhill.  Next we rode thru a canyon, with great scenery and some rollers.  our group of 6 got spread out on these rollers.  I was just riding at a speed that felt good for 130 miles, and we were going to regroup a the rest stop at 146 miles.   Then we got a headwind, and my energy started to run low.  I realized I had not ate anough power bars.  I made it into the next rest stop and ate a honey stinger waffle, drank a v8 and a coke, and ate some of the food they had.  We left together, and stayed that way for 8-9 miles.  After that we had a lot of headwinds or crosswinds to deal with, and we got separated often.  If I was riding alone I tended to watch my computer too much, wanting the miles to go by faster. 

We caught a break on the last stretch before entering Davis, as the wind became a crosswind/tailwind.  That helped, and I made it into town before stopping to turn on my lights (about 7-7:30).  They cheered you as you got the finish, which was by the US Bicycling Hall of Fame.  They had good food at the end, and bike valets to take your bike while you ate.  We ate and BS'd a bit, then rode to the hotel (actually Motel 6)

https://www.strava.com/activities/307005297

[Square Wheels]

Sorry about the lose of a fellow cyclist on the ride.

Sounds like a great ride, from mile 127 - end it's all downhill.  

[smudge ★]

Holy crap. Ha!! That's just craziness. Fantastic AZ!

[az_cyclist]

I didnt make much progress on my video yesterday.  Hopefully this evening and tomorrow