The PCBR 1500 is a 1500 mile race from Portland to San Diego. Big Sur was closed due to road construction at the time, so the total was more like 1650 miles or something like that. I've ridden between the Bay Area and LA a lot so I do enjoy seeing how quickly I can do the route, and I've done most of the route from Seattle to LA before, so this would fill in some of the rest. I love bike touring but I'm not the sort of human that cares about seeing special points or going to museums or whatever along a route, so I typically do long days in the saddle and go kinda fast, as I enjoy that much more. I know a lot of people look at me sideways and say they don't understand why anyone would want to go that far or fast or whatever and one should smell the roses etc, but there are different sorts of minds out there and I get my jollies in different ways. Plus I hate being in cities so that cuts out most of the touristy things right off the bat. I DO, HOWEVER, wanna go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium again someday. Haven't been since I was little. Would prefer not to leave my bike outside...
Craig helped me think on whether I wanted to compete in this race. I conversed with him up at Fuji Camp on a few occasions, unsure if I wanted to join, having only done a couple day long races which I didn't take seriously. I figured since endurance is my strongpoint and I live on the bike I could do rather well, as it's all second nature to me. He helped me decide to join so in springtime I put my money down and entered the race. I had to rebuild my Surly Midnight Special so I'd have something to ride in the event. It's a road plus bike (27.5 x 2 inch tires), or a gravel bike as some may say, steel frame with a carbon fork and set up for long distance riding at a spirited (but not race) pace for extended periods of time. Durable, reliable, fits right, can carry what I need to live. It needed new drivetrain components, tires, and a few other things to be rideable after the last big ride I did last year. I had considered riding my 90's Cannondale touring bike with sandals, but I didn't have my new wheels built up in time (still don't) and sandals on those smaller pedals would've been uncomfortable.
Anyway, before I lose interest and throw this report away completely, I'm gonna shift focus. So the route is pretty chill along the coast from Portland south. You head northwest to Astoria to gain the coastline, then mostly follow the regular ACA PC route south, taking some detours that were added for this reason or another. There were some steep twisty roads added in which I really enjoyed, as well as some scenic bike paths which I personally would've gone without had I been drawing the route up. The coast has plenty of hills but its' no mountain route, which makes it excellent for a speed run/time attack, cause you can get into the aero bars and put power down for long stretches and knock out a ton of miles with relative ease. Per the rules you must take a selfie at the California border sign, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Santa Monica Pier, and the statue next to the USS Midway when you're done.
I joined figuring I'd finish mid-pack and focus on learning a lot for later races, having never done an event such as this before. People often tell me I'd be really good at something but I do not let that cloud my judgement or give me a big ego boost, as that has just set me up for disappointment and failure in the past. In this case they were right though, as my lifestyle of constant physical output has given me the edge over most other people. I don't have to think much about these things, I just move and my body and mind are already tuned to do long days without rest. I just keep going and my body just keeps putting out.
In the end I finished in first place, which feels really cool, and I did indeed learn a whole lot. I learned that I am good at this sort of thing, which I was told and had a hunch would be the case. I learned about some changes I want to make tactically, strategically, and equipment wise. I saw that I really enjoy the whole game of racing, having someone ahead of you and having to get ahead of them through whatever means you can, and how to build a lead over others and maintain it, as well as seeing how much simple mistakes such as navigation errors can impact that lead. I forgot to take the required selfie at the Santa Monica Pier on the last day, which meant I had to go back something like 7-10 miles to get that photo, and then continue on. I was very mad at myself for doing that, having thought the pier was up ahead.
I learned what changes I want to do to equipment, namely that instead of modifying my current bike into something 'raceable', I should instead use working at a bike shop to my advantage and make a race bike which will also by its very nature still be practical as a commuter bike. It will still be practical for everyday use and for the kinds of long rides I enjoy doing, but will be focused on speed and minimalism, trading away the durability and carrying capacity of an around-the-world bike for something designed for chasing people and expanding leads. Current bike is heavy and requires more effort to race, as once my opponents were awake they were able to travel at much higher average speeds and regain lost ground. I love building things so aside from the money side of things (which isn't nearly so bad, as I work in the industry), a new bike is exciting. I reckon it'll probably take me more than a year to complete a rolling new bike. Who knows.
I'll give a brief summary of the days here:
Day one we left Portland at 0700, rode to Astoria via nice green quiet roads before turning south. I was in 4th or so for the day, but the lead guys slept at a hotel at mile 190. I turned my phone off airplane mode in the parking lot of that hotel and say they were stopped right near me, which was pretty funny. I chuckled, plotted out my route, and continued on for another 70 miles. There was light rain/heavy fog so I looked for a covered spot to sleep and found a dugout at mile 270, where I got 2 hours of sleep. Someone had taken a big piss in the dugout but whatever. Shortly after waking up, a huge friendly Husky popped his head in and said hi as I was packing up. 12,800ft of gain.
The next day I did 167 miles with only 8,500ft of gain. I believe I maintained my lead. The others averaged 166 miles or so. I went into this race with an Achilles tendon injury which caused a lot of issues for the whole thing for me so I was unable to put down the miles I wanted, but that's ok. Adapt and overcome. I think I got 4 hours of sleep. I don't remember much but I do recall that the northern Oregon coastline was hilly and beautiful, and felt like Big Sir if it wasn't in California, which means fewer people and thus fewer restrictions. One could camp on the side of the road here without worrying about much of anything. I would come back for this section again on a chill tour, if the rest of the route made sense. Much of the inland parts of the route in Oregon were nice but I wouldn't bother returning on a tour unless I could put a route together that made use of more interesting roads. I will not be doing that work though as it's impractical so if you want that, you will need to do that work yourself! I cannot be bothered!
I have too much on my plate in that regard and am working on desert routes for fat tire bikes instead! Come with me on those.Day 3 I did 196 miles with 9,800ft of gain, crossing into California and feeling pretty good. I was maintaining about 70 miles lead over the others for this time, I think, but things are fuzzy cause you're just riding a lot, trying to be efficient, eating constantly, and usually not sleeping much. Seals and other sea life turn off their digestive tracts when they swim or dive deep and stuff so I think of that while I do long rides. I turn off parts of my mind when I do this shit. I'm not super social or whatever cause that takes a LOT more resources than one would think. I am happy to say that I am proud of how polite I was to people on this race despite being tired. This hasn't always been the case but I put being good to others ahead of things so that's progress. Easier when I'm not juggling things at work I suppose. According to strava I built up a 130mi lead over the others at some point in this day. I rode for 16 hours 53 minutes.
Day 4 and 5 were combined on my tracker (strava) cause I didn't have reception to upload it. I rode from near Avenue of the Giants to San Francisco, where a very nice family took me in and I got to sleep indoors for 6 hours! Day 4 was 132 miles, day 5 was 133, doing 20,480ft of gain for the two days. Not many! I was dealing with the complications of my bad Achilles tendon which meant I couldn't stretch my left leg. As a result my left ankle swelled up, my left hamstring became very tight, and I lost a lot of mobility. I had to go very slow and it was much harder to do more miles. I tried two stretches that John showed me and that fixed 90% of the problem, but it did take some time for that to take effect. I tried to take a nap in light rain uncovered on my foam mat in a parking lot somewhere but only got maybe 30min of shuteye. I continued on a while and slept for a few hours for real in a parking lot on the coast. My battery bank was having trouble getting charged by my dyno so I was low on power for navigation. I was able to charge it up much more in SF.
Riding up and over the hill into the northern Bay Area was a challenge, with a narrow road without shoulders and once dipshit in a Camry pretending to be a real hard motherfucker nearly hitting me, then going wide open throttle once he passed me and nearly understeering into the barrier. What a dipshit. Calm down, bro, you're in a Camry with a bodykit. Nobody wants to extend your bloodline. I was relieved to reach the summit of this steep climb where it was very windy and the big Eucalyptus trees looked real creepy, soaking wet and dripping with fog, almost like rain. I dropped down into the northern Bay and stopped at a 7-11. A nice man asked me what I was doing and I explained my situation. I asked him if there were any cheap hotels nearby and he said there weren't any. He offered his yard and asked his wife if I could crash there. His wife said no to me staying in the yard and offered their guest room! I was excited and followed them home. I got a shower, excellent company, and got to charge my stuff and sleep in a fold out bed. Pure luxury! I was pretty far ahead of the rest of the guys so I had some time to rest. Their daughter put my sleeping bag in the drier which helped immensely as well. In the morning I was treated to blackberry pancakes. Thank you David, Cynthia, and Emma! Real bike touring magic on a race!
The next day I took it pretty easy, riding 106 miles to a spot in the hills above Santa Cruz. I dealt with a couple minor detours as a result of construction, which proved to be this year's issue. Last year it was rain. I'll take construction detours over rain, especially after commuting in all the rain we got last winter. I was able to go pretty fast on the route this day along the coastal flat sections, which felt badass. I had not previously ridden between SF and Santa Cruz so this was a new section for me, and it was pleasant. I wanted a little more rest and honestly I wanted the rest of the guys to be closer so we could race instead of me just running away trying to maintain a lead the whole time. I could have pushed it further and had a better finishing time, but I will leave that for a solo time attack on the route in the future when I am alone and don't get to play with others.
I got a fair bit of rest in Santa Cruz and lost my lead. I would start the day in 2nd place as planned, but I was on home turf I had ridden many times before, except for the detour around Big Sur. The Carmel Valley detour was quite nice and had low traffic, with a fair bit of climbing, more than anticipated I guess. I didn't expect, I just had an open mind as to what it would be like. With being in 2nd and having some actual rest, this allowed me to work on a project I've been doing for some time now, that of seeing how far I could go in one day. One day is in this case defined as without sleep. I stop for food, to pee, and that's about it. No naps, no sleep, no extra stops, just what is required to eat and pee etc. I managed to break my previous record by almost a hundred miles, doing 402 miles with 20,000ft of gain and apparently 21,000 calories spent over 42 hours. Santa Cruz to Point Mugu rest stop just south of Ventura and the Missile Park. The first place leader stopped for the night in King City but I passed him after eating McDonalds and rode through the night. It's a good thing he was sleeping cause there was a lot of slow climbing to the coast. Upon reaching the coast in Cayucos, I got to see bioluminescence in the waves in the very early morning. I was amazed and a bit shocked in my state, watching the waves glow bright with green rolling down them as they gently crashed along the beach in the dark with the Milky Way shining above. Really awesome. Really cool to be an ape on this amazing planet in this incredible universe all alone at that moment after all that hard work. I get to keep that memory as a special prize. I had some of the usual hallucinations from long days in the mountains on this ride, with one moment where I heard someone say my name over my left shoulder, and the usual sight of animals darting about from bushes and such. Nothing crazy, nothing fucked up like when you're mega dehydrated and in a bad state alone somewhere and worried about life or hypothermic and being dumb and slow and thinking everything is happy and okay despite the obvious. Bike stuff is much safer. You're not worried about leaning back after absent mindedly unclipping from your rope system or ice tools and falling into the void, tumbling... anywho, I continued on, occasionally falling asleep for microseconds before coming to and singing to myself to extend the day. I finally stopped at the rest stop at Point Mugu after 402 miles.
I got about 6 hours or sleep or so, or maybe 4, I don't know, and headed down through the Malibu section, which I never look forward to. Personally I dislike the whole section from Santa Barbara south. Malibu sucks cause you're in LA now and you notice a big difference in people and how they drive. Some real powerful specimen rolled coal on me in his diesel Dodge Ram towing a stupid old Chevy Impala. I have a feeling some minds need to be told they like certain cultural things to gain acceptance from those around them. Why like other cars when you can subscribe to a culture and follow their rules? Independent thought requires burning too many calories, just toe the line. Also imagine how strong of an alpha male you are when you disrespect someone else and are completely removed from having to deal with the consequences? Super strong and tough! Had he stopped at a light I probably would've mouthed off at him and spat on him through his window. I have had enough of this stupid behavior in society by this point in my life and I don't usually subscribe to being a live and let live. If you do something blatantly disrespectful to me or you physically hit me, I will make you feel great pain until you begin to truly understand that you do not do that to the common person. Respect those around you and treat them with kindness and love. I've been hit by cars, I got punched in the face riding home through Azusa last year, I've had so many things thrown at me and honked at and swerved at and run off the road. I do not subscribe to ignoring these things any longer. I have some abilities others lack and while I'm not mislead in thinking I'm some sort of champion samurai, I refuse to let these things go unpunished any longer, regardless of what others think is the 'right' way to deal with it. Let them use their tactics and see what it gets them. I also had someone roll coal on me earlier in California on this race as well. I've also been lunged at and attacked by dogs several times this week. C'mon people.
The last day involved riding 213 miles from Point Mugu to San Diego. I had a decent lead so I wasn't worried but did occasionally remind myself that it isn't over until it's over, and that this is indeed a race and that while I may not need to go as fast as I can, I cannot afford to lollygag. I made decent time down to LA, my favorite place on Earth, a huge concrete scab on this planet that may break down and return to nature once we are all gone, filled with love and joy and people staring at their phones while they go much faster than they know how to control in close proximity to pedestrians and cyclists. Busy, impatient, overstimulated, a monument to excess and humanity's desire to subjugate nature if only for a few generations. I forgot to take the required selfie at the Santa Monica Pier and had to go back 7-10 miles or so to do so. I was extremely mad at myself for this mistake which cost me much time and a good chunk of the lead I had worked so hard for. Once I got back to the 'front' point or whatever (bear with me I'm tired and don't wanna write more) I calmed down and continued on. Sean met me in Palos Verdes and we talked for a little bit before my stressed out self continued on towards Long Beach. Long Beach is rough to ride through, and is the worst part of the coastal route by far. Very dirty, very busy, not a nice place. I just kept chugging along. Much of the rest of the route went quickly, and I got to Camp Pendleton and I5, which is new to me. The 5 wasn't so bad, though I have no desire to repeat it for obvious reasons. I slowed down as I got closer to San Diego and since the finish was close it all seemed to take so long to finish. The route took steep streets and I was having a lot of knee pain, pushing a little more knowing I could rest soon. The route took a lot of different roads in San Diego which I'm sure looked cool in the daytime, but it was midnight now and John was waiting at the end to pick me up. It seemed to take forever to see the USS Midway, but it finally came within sight. People were texting me congratulations and motivating messages as I was nearing the end, which helped, and I finished around 3am. John gave my a congratulatory beverage which I greatly enjoyed, and I smoked two Swishers in lieu of a nice big cigar while tweekers idled about. I fell asleep on the drive home.
I wanna thank everyone involved, especially my family and friends who watched my dot and the race and had nice things to say. I enjoyed the event, the chasing, the running, the logistics, all that. Everyone was really cool and I had a great time riding with the guys. 8 started the race and 3 finished.
I am planning on building a race bike, likely a Trek Domane frameset with a lot of my kinda specific parts, with 700x32mm tires being the primary thing. It will be significantly lighter and 'faster' than my current bike, which will allow me to spend less energy to go further at a higher average speed. This bike will also be the Pass Assassin build I've been dreaming of for some time, for riding long distances out into the mountains to climb really big hills and then descend them at maximum speed. I am excited to see how that pans out, how fast I can do these things, and how far I can go for less effort. People keep telling me I would be very capable on a modern carbon or other light race bike and I think they're right. I gotta do that while my lifestyle still allows me to do such things, with my long commutes and lots of miles per month.
I can write more later but I'm excited to stop typing! I'm still recovering a bit, having been working this week and of course commuting which takes effort. Please feel free to ask me any questions if you like. Cheers all, and thank you.
