White Mountain Double Century by Elpidio Lardizabal Sept.11,2011

It was a challenge to everyone of us. This ride was the toughest so far that I've done, altitude wise (10,000ft)

I started with Joe at 4am with a group of 25-30 riders. Few miles away from the starting point some riders were just so anxious of breaking away.

I decided to speed up to catch those guys. Without noticing, I was by myself chasing. All I saw were lights blinking ahead of me with the distance.

I just kept on going to my speed & before sunlight I caught five guys..  now I was in the front group. 

Almost day light when we started ascending. Hours pass by without noticing... nothing to do except pedaling, watching the scenery, looking at the hills in front of me, counting guys ahead until I was just about to run down my stamina, riders passing by one at a time.

I thought there was no end ascending & I just refused to get off my bike to get a 2nd wind before reaching the top...

Using 36x28t, I managed.. talking about torture, this was one! what a relief! Not too long at the SagStop, here comes Joe.

Descending was no problem. You could speed up to your max if you're brave enough. Joe is one of the brave guy.. he descended like no fear! Opps, not for me! he left me in minutes. I glanced him once & never see him again until the next SagStop. While descending, saw Jess/Tisoy & Louie coming up> At the SagStop, Joe got hooked up with a rider named Annie (BorregoDoubleOrganizer) & we rode together at the last ascending part of the ride. While speeding down hill,  my rear tire flatted & lost them. I ended up riding by myself until I got lost. Made my way back & got to the lunch Stop (12 noon). Decided to ride by myself until some riders caught me & managed to stay with them.

This group was the same group I was with earlier at the ride. We started pace line until the last 2nd SagStop. I was getting hungry then.. had a "pepsi"  then decided to eat "cantaloupe"...... wow!! 33 milesto go, I got a problem. I started getting this sour taste & everytime I drink my water I felt throwing up.. decided to take it easy. I refused to drink my water.. 18 miles to go, getting weaker & rain started pouring. Stopped to wear my wind breaker. I felt getting sick! Saw a sign 10 miles Bishop.. feeling better until another group caught me, by surprised the same group. They stopped at the last SagStop to have hot soup which I refused. They waited for me to adopt to their pace but can't keep up with them so I let them go. At last, the city lights were here. I went straight to sign in (7:35p) & took a quick shower. I was feeling good then for a dinner after>went to Dennis with the gang.

Another memorable double for me. This was my 8th this year.

Kuya el

White Mountain Double Century by Louie Rivera Sept.11,2011

Fellow Adobos, WMD (white mountain double) is tough double. on paper, everything looks
Doable but when you are at 8000 ft altitude and you are about to climb another 2500 ft to
Reach 10,000 + ft of elevation, I questioned Myself. What were you thinking before doing
This. Is there air in here. It felt that my pulse ox was only 40%. I stopped for a while pretending
That I was enjoying the scenery, but it was double take for the color of my nail beds to see
If they are blue now. Suddenly I hear my heart beats, not necessarily that fast but bounding
Really strong, Luckily I was only a couple of 100 meters away before we head down to  the check station at the end of white mountain road.

OK the idea was to see this this "ancient bristle cones" trees that is about 4000 years old
And some that are almost 5000 years old. That went into a flash drive in my head including
A scenery upon descent, where I thought I saw switchbacks reminiscing Alp de Huez.

All above action was for the first 38 miles only of our journey. El and Joe Leon were
Descending from this mountain as we(Jess St Maria, Tisoy Adeva and yours truly) were
Just ascending. we started 0515 and Joe and El started an hour earlier.

Tisoy and Jess were at different zone. they kept waiting for me at each stop and I ended
Up playing catchup. Seeing that their momentum must go on, I just told them not to wait for me anymore. We regrouped and rode together again from Boonies mile 89, where we had
Our lunch to mile 143  and to my surprise I see them again at mile 163. They were having noodles. By the way along the way we had the chance to ride with TROPA guy name Ken B. From bay area But he needed more rest than we did. Back to mile mile 123, Priscila, the
Wife of the organizer Jim Cook, is of Philippine decent and she was very helpful and attentive
To our needs. I ate the killer PBJ sandwich , she made and her brother James fixed us also
Killer smoothies. I believe I had two cups as well as Jess.

All of a sudden at mile 163, we noticed this ominous cloud coming towards us. Lightning,
Thunder is happening along with strong wind. Only thing we did not know where the wind
Is blowing to. So we scrambled to  leave at around 1900 and within a mile I got dropped
From strong pace of Roy and within two miles rain started pouring. so I stopped to put
My jacket on. My lights were working but my cyclometer ran out of battery, so I am guessing
My speed while enjoying the strong tailwind. I managed to turn on my cyclometer and actually saw that I was doing 26 mph, then it died again. Then the road just turned pitch black and I
Noticed hail slapping on my left face, so I fixed my helmet and rode with my head cocked
To the left. Then I kept hearing like it was a big creek filled with water just about to cross the road.I don't know, may be it was my mind playing with me but I suddenly got sacred but not
Panicking, yet. looking for signs of city lights. Nothing. I started to shiver from cold. Then a big
Sign at the side of the road  Bishop 10 miles, so I guess I am on the right direction, route 6
heading south. Then a pick up truck stopped and offered me a ride to town. I guess Even looked crazier when I refused his offer. A couple of miles after that, the road is dry
And now I can see the beacon light from their airport, what a relief. Rolled in at 2105
And went directly to tub bath to reheat my self and got out just in time to join everybody
At Denny's and relived our adventure.

Congratulations to all my buddies and strong performance Roy for your first finished dbl.

Louie R.

February 18, 2011

Camino Real Double Century
by ASTIG Elpidio Lardizabal

Not too many started the ride. The day started in our favor but ended up terrible. I believe they gave everybody a credit because of the harsh weather, gusty wind, cold temperatures, road conditions, and riders getting lost after dark. Jun Usi, Richard Reh, and I took our time just to finish under the alloted time. The plan was to finish safe. This was Richard's first double and he was tested.  He called it "brutal". The ride was okay until the rain dropped and it did not stop from there. Then the darkness of the night came. We hooked up with other slow riders and stayed behind them just to make sure we finish the ride in time. The canyon was too dark for me and too dangerous and there were more on the descends. We were unable to see the reflectors on the road. Water streams from one side to another. The road was too dark. I depended on riders tail lights in front of me. Our brakes were wet and slippery. Imagine riding in bad weather conditions... freezing, soaking wet with numb finger tips! I can't even pull out my water bottle from it's cage! I can't even shift to change to my other chainring... I was just depending on my right hand still being able to shift my gears at the back.

That was another experience that I never had before. After all... we felt super good (ASTIGS). Going through challenges, hardship, and obstacles. I'm proud that we didn't quit. I called it the survival of defeat!
While riding I was thinking, why I'm doing this punishment! It's torture! But after all, it's pride, an experience/challenge that not everyone could take.

Frank Natividad endured the event also.

It was the harshest conditions I have ever ridden a double in! The pelting of the hailstones was particularily painful!!! I too could not feel my fingers to shift my gears. I sat in my truck at the finish, shivering for 20 minutes with the heater on , unable to use my fingers to unclip my helmet!

Brad House
backontrackproductions.com

Tour de Palm Springs 2011

We had more than 30 Adobovelo's signed up for Tour De Palm Springs on February 12, 2011. The temperature was at 43 degrees Fahrenheit at the start of the ride. Everyone was bundled up as we started one block from the start line. Fifteen Adobovelos waited for the rest to appear. We were waiting on others including Kumander Agimat, Jonas, El, Ed, Egay, Filbert, Carlo A decision was made to regroup at the first SAG stop at mile 16. So off we went. It was a relatively fast ascent to mile 16 considering the 2-4% grade. Everyone climbed with ease, spinning to the tops of the hills. You can tell our riders have been training hard for this ride. As the sun warmed up, we shed our warm layers to cool off. The group swelled to 25 riders at mile 25. Still no sign of the others so we headed for mile 50 SAG stop. We hooked up with a group of 15 other riders when we approached the long descents to reach speeds of up to 40 mph. Once the road flattened out, we maintained a cruising speed of 25-27 mph. We were trading pulls. Gil and Deo were just hammering away. Deo, for his part, kept complaining his bike was too light! He felt he was not working hard on his bike at all. Deo debuted his fully assembled new Adobobelo bike for it's maiden voyage.

At mile 50, at long last, most of the Adobovelo riders caught up with the main peloton, except for Jonas' group. A couple of MMCC riders were present and stayed with us for lunch. We then trekked to our own personal Adobovelo SAG on mile 68. Roehl, Froy, Edmond maintained a steady pace of 22-25 mph as we passed other riders. The Adobovelos were looking good. We reached Eva Rivera, Frances Gorospe and a few of her running buddies at our SAG station on 54th and Jefferson where they had food and drinks ready. Non-Adobovelo riders would stop too, thinking we are at an official TdPS SAG station . We told them they are welcome to stay, but the official SAG was another 2 miles away. Some decided to enjoy our hospitality. I overheard some riders say,"They know what they are doing."

As we left, El the Dies-EL, hammered at a blistering pace of 25mph into headwinds as we left La Quinta for Rancho Mirage. We had a quick stop on mile 91 to refuel and restroom breaks. The remaining 12 miles was on easy pace to keep the group together as we crossed the finish line in one large group.

The day finished with, of course, Chicken Adobo, BBQ on a stick, drinks, chips, salsa, salad, beer at the Gorospe residence in La Quinta. About 30 riders with their families, children were present. Thanks to all who brought drinks and food. We had a great company.

We missed Kuya El at the BBQ. I understand he was on his way home to celebrate his birthday ASAP. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KUYA EL!

The Adobovelos used the TdPS as a training ride for Death Valley Double Century. Looks like we will break our last record of 15 riders finishing the DVD. Let's wait and see.

Our total riding time was 5:39 with average speed of 18.1 mph. (from my Garmin, I'll bet Kuya El's average was faster)

Congratulations to all the Adobovelos who finished this year's TdPS.

Looking forward to next year's TdPS,

Dennis