Terrible Two 2004

In April Paul McKenzie had just guided us around his first annual `Nifty Ten Fifty', a 50-mile ride with 10,000 feet of climbing up and down every hill in Berkeley (and there are lots of them and some are 26% grade). Bill Dunn, was in charge of another group and sitting at Paul's house we were contemplating the wonderful challenges of climbs! Bill Dunn looks at me with a twinkle in his eye and says `Cat, how about a double Terrible Two?' Without hesitation and in my usual manner of throwing myself head first (or is it headless?) into challenges, I say; `Sounds fun! Will you crew for me?'. Bill does not hesitate a second, and there I am, the path of no return…. `What did I get myself into?' Immediately Bill starts planning and having had limited experience in crewing he takes on the task with great enthusiasm and energy and offers to use his van. He quickly enrolls another crewmember, Sarah Aukner from Oregon, and then I enroll my `personal crew' and dear friend, Cheryll. The only guy who has done this before was Brent Nordlund, who completed the TTx2 in 38 hours in 1995. Two other guys are contemplating on doing it this year, Rich Boettner and Doug Simon. Doug Simon attempts the challenge a month prior to my attempt, and has to DNF after 24 hours. Rich decides that his young daughter is more fun to play with than to train hard for TTx2. So there I am, the first one this

I decided to do it concurrently with the regular Terrible Two Double Century so as to make it more fun, although non-drafting. I figure that doing the first loop prior to the race would make more sense since it is psychologically hard to go on a second loop when all other riders stop for dinner consisting of barbecue chicken! So the plans become to start on Friday June 18th at 3 pm and ride the first loop, and then pass through the start/finish sometime in the morning when the official race start at 5.30 am. I have a goal, 27 hours. That would give me 2 more hours than my course record set two years ago. I am stronger and leaner this year. According to tests made by Dr Max Testa at the Sports Medical Center in Sacramento, my VO2 max and VO2 at aerobic threshold has improved 20% compared to two years ago.

On Friday afternoon we gather at the Willowside high school in Santa Rosa. Sarah has made us t-shirts with cog sets and wings and the Chinese saying “Fey Shung” meaning `Fly high' or as my Chinese friend, Ling Ling said `Soar wide'. Tracy Fawns and Andrew Bohannon had come up from Sunnyvale to help us crew during Friday night. I am touched by the support I get at both the start and finish of my challenge. Dough Mckenzie come to bike with me out through Santa Rosa, Paul McKenzie rush from Berkeley to take some photos from the start and get me some Clif bars, Bill Ellis stands by the road in Santa Rosa and then I meet Rich Boettner at the bottom of Trinity climb. Friday afternoon and evening is really nice. I have the opportunity to chat and get to know Andrew for a few hours as he rides alongside me. I climb up Geysers in the sunlight with beautiful views. I was really happy to get down this climb before dark. As I am ready to attack Skaggs climb, Andrew and Trace go back to Santa Rosa for the night and we carry on. I enjoy the climb up Skaggs with the stars, the deer looking at me, and Bill's van lighting up my path. Then I switch to my Bianchi cross-bike, which has aerobars and a lot of climbing gears. On the twisty descents I rely on Bill's great Niterider to light up my path. Unfortunately I feel the aerobar holder for the light shaking loose and I find myself doing the twisty downhills on the aerobars and holding onto the light simultaneously (I did not want to break a $400 light). We duct tape it onto the aerobars and off I go again. The 15 miles along the coast are really nice, I can hear the ocean and smell it, but not see it. Bill and Sarah does a great job lighting up my path and taking the turns rapidly. Next challenge, Fort Ross climb. I attack it on my cross bike which has a 36-32 gear combination, trying to save my legs for second loop. Then the terrible descents down from Fort Ross climb. They are so twisty the van cannot stay with me, and I just hope to not hit anything on the road. Most people fear this descent in daytime. The temperatures at night are perfect, an extra long sleeve Clif bar jersey keeps me perfectly warm. I find that I enjoy getting hot cocoa to drink instead of my regular energy drinks: Accelerade and Sustained Energy. As we pass through Willowside High School the time reads 12.38. I had done the first lap faster than planned and felt great. I was a couple of hours ahead of the start. Sarah heats up some hot miso soup to drink, and that tastes great.

As I start to attack Trinity grade we tape up my left hand who is strained. I think I rock my bike too much when climbing and it strains the wrists. Second time up Trinity and it is barely getting light. Wow. I was expecting to get a bit of a rest on the flats before Geysers but find myself fighting a head wind all the way. This is the only time during the ride that I find myself not smiling. `Get into a grove!' shouts Bill, and I realize I have to stop fighting the wind, and just charge into it. I hate flat lands; they demoralize me and don't challenge me! Then we finally reach Geysers. Cheryl gives me her mp3 player with old ABBA songs, and Cat is singing again. There is a song on the mp3 player `fly like a Bumble-bee', that is me! Trace and Andrew swing by in the car and cheer me on. As I reach the top of Geysers I stop at the rest stop where they are waiting for the first riders. They tell me that the first riders should come through soon. A woman comes up to me and says `You are awesome, you are doing what we all want to do, and you are doing it for all of us!' The words stick to me, what an awesome support I get. After a change of cloths I take off. I think `I will see how far I can go before the first guys catch me'. At the lunch stop they still have not caught me, I stop and chat a while with Janet Dehaven who is waiting for Paul McKenzie and Ray Blumbhoff on the tandem, who are out to break Paul and my record from last year. I then attack Skaggs. I feel that I have some miles in my legs and some steep parts look kind of challenging, but I find that I can still ride them. I tell the SAG vehicle to do short leapfrogs so that I can see them, it makes it easier. Half way up the climb the first racers come through. I stay with them for a while and chat, then they take off. Paul and Ray come by 10 minutes later and they are doing good, perfect cool day to set a record. Rich Boettner stays with them. A few minutes later, Jeff Landauer comes. `Go get the tandem Jeff','Check out my bike', I say, showing off my Orbea Orca. I chat with them and then they move on. A third group catches me on the descent, and there I find Doug McKenzie. He has as a goal to break 12 hours and I cheer him on, as we attack the steep climb out to the coast. Going down the coast I realize that my back wheel of my cross bike is untrue and as I stop at the Fort Ross rest stop I see that I have broken a spoke. We find that the spare wheel does not fit well and I then decide to attack the last climb on my Orbea. I had a 39-26 lowest gear combination on that one, but thought that it would maybe not be enough. To my surprise I have no problems with that gearing, but do some snaking up the 20% grades. By now every single muscle in my body is hurting. My crew tells me that I look good, but I tell them that I don't feel too good. I still have power, but everything, and I mean every muscle, just hurts, and the twisty descents down Fort Ross are really painful, because I have to keep still and concentrate on the terrible twisty pot hole roads. Final stretch through the beautiful, shady canyon to Santa Rosa. My mind starts thinking about the `barbecue chicken'. I am getting a bit tired of Clifbars and energy drinks. Miles seems longer and longer. Four miles to go, Paul McKenzie comes out on his single bike and ride with me to the finish, like he had promised!! Finish in Santa Rosa. What a welcome! All people cheering and clapping and congratulating me! Wow, I feel blessed. I hug my wonderful crew and then head for the showers, since I have to be clean before I attack the `barbecue chicken'. Second lap in 13.42. Total time 26.33. I made my goal. I could have gone faster on lap 2 if I had cut out some breaks, but it sure was nice and stop a bit and talk to all great people at the rest stops.