Giro d' California Report

I wanted to publicly thank the organizers of the Giro d' California, Harley and Deb for another great event. I really
thought the whole thing was very professional and can only admire the
effort they both put in to make a great event! Thank you Harley! And
thank you Deb!

Here is the story... I was running well in the morning Monday (although not as well as Hans!). We were running north
on 25 looking for the turn on Bitterwater Rd to head toward King City.
Unfortunately, I didn't realize how far off my odometer was, and when
I reached Bitterwater Road, I was not sure it was the turn as I
thought I had more than 2 miles to go. So I kept going on 25 North.
When my odometer ran down to what I thought was the turning point, I
realized I had missed the turn. So I reversed direction and headed
back South. Of course when I finally got to Bitterwater Road, I
thought I was well behind schedule and was zooming as fast as I could
go. And I was totally confused as to what to make of my mileage. At
any rate, I zoomed down Bitterwater. Harley had arranged a gas stop,
with it's accompanying 10 minute break, just before the final check in
front of the lunch stop. When I got to the gas station, I didn't
recognize it, as I still thought the gas stop was a mile or so ahead!
So I rode right by, and turning the corner in town I saw Deb and the
checkpoint right ahead. Knowing I couldn't (by the rules) stop ahead
of the checkpoint, I drove right up to Deb, with her looking at me
with dismay! I was 17 minutes early! I must have been ahead of time to
begin with, and then flown down Bitterwater road, and then gained
another 10 minutes by skipping the gas stop. Sigh. I was "cooked". I realized right away that I was way out of the running.
I was significantly disappointed, but it's hard to stay sorry when on
such a great event and surrounded by such nice people. So I perked up
during lunch.
Actually, the ride after lunch was great, it was nice to enjoy some
time on the Rumi without worrying about my timing!
But then in the evening while cleaning my bike, I found one of the
rear struts that holds my seat above the rear tire had broken. I made
a search for a local welder, but didn't find one open. Frankly, the
Rumi is a real prize for me, and I was very hesitant to just let some
muffler shop have a go at it. I have almost 4000 miles on it since the
restoration, and I'm not hurting to put in miles on it. So after
considering the situation overnight, Lorraine and I decided to work
checkpoints the next day. We worked one right before lunch and one
right at the end of the day. Both were emergency checkpoints, so I
guess our extra help was useful. Regardless, it was much more fun than
I expected. Lorraine and I got to know Dean and Patrick better, and it
was really neat seeing all of the gang come through!
My congratulations to all the winners and especially to Hans. Hans
rode VERY competitively and his commitment to his pace was to be
admired. I can only hope to give him a run next year!
I'll be back in 2008 for sure.
Carl