It's always about timing. Last month, the day before the SFR Two Rock/Valley Ford 200k I had a bad sore throat; good thing I had done the course the week before as part of the worker's ride and had gotten those miles in. I volunteered at the start and final controls and had a great time chatting with riders as they arrived. The sore throat has remained, complemented by lots of coughing and in addition I have pulled a muscle on my right leg while doing some trail running, nothing serious but it had me limping a little for a few days. So, I had been watching both throat and leg making sure that they both healed in time to allow me to ride comfortably the upcoming 300k.

This is my least favorite brevet distance, neither short nor quite long enough so its a hard event to pace myself, just a case where for me middle ground is no good. Well, time to confront my demons head on and challenge myself a little. This time I would try to do the 300k riding alone. To make sure that I would not have much of a chance to hide my weaknesses behind a paceline, I decided to volunteer at the final control for this event and do the volunteer's ride the weekend before.

Since not too many riders do the volunteer's ride for this distance there is a good chance I will be alone for most of the way. I was looking forward to this ride, it would be like touring alone but without the load. Just hoped for good weather. I had the bike and necessary supplies ready by Friday evening, but not before paying a visit to a local Safeway to familiarize myself with the layout of the store and the location of the stuff I like, V8 single serving cans/bottles and Odwalla energy bars.

I rarely go to Safeway, except during San Francisco randonneurs brevets as we use their stores for controls. On my hunt for individual bottles or cans of V8 I found that Safeway either stopped selling singles or the employees I asked about V8 singles are as clueless as I am. In any case, they place the Odwala bars not with all other energy bars but in small displays next to the Odwalla juices. One thing the caught my eye while in the energy bar aisle were the

I had decided to volunteer for the start control and the final control for the Valley Ford 200k so that meant if I wanted to do the event it would be easier if I rode the workers (volunteers) ride rather than start a while after everyone else on event day. As a bonus we were starting a little later, half an hour later. Woohoo!

As is always the case before a brevet, I checked the weather the day before and the miss-cast was for 30% chance of rain but probably sunny otherwise. The previous weekend I had decided against fenders and got wet because of that decision, this time I installed the very shwanky wooden fenders Willy N. gave me last year, (thanks again Willy!) I didn't install one of the rear bridge brackets but just tied it with some wire. They were firmly attached to the bike but rattled a little on rough road sections. All the work of installing fenders undoubtedly meant that there would be no rain, that is the rule in San Francisco. We would see about that.

Seven of us started from the front of the Marina Safeway at 7:30am. Rob H and Kevin F were doing the route as a Permanent. Greg B, Greg M, Willy N,  Robbins P. and I were doing the route as the "Workers' ride". The Workers' ride officially started from Mason and Halleck so Rob started counting our time when we reached that point, a little over a mile form the Marina Safeway.

The Point Reyes 200k weather forecast called for some rain for the day, just a 30% chance, but I had prepared the un-fendered Habanero MTB and decided to take my chances, after all I had a new untested secret weapon against light rain, on paper it should work fine.

I had missed the boat during the holidays to order a pair of Rainlegs when they were dirt cheap online. During the very rainy week before this brevet, cabin fever got into me in a good way. Scissors in hand I decided to make knickers out of a damaged pair of rain pants I had until recently been using for commute. Chopped them just above the legs zippers and got a new fashion thing going, yep, instant Ghetto Prêt-à-Porter Rain-Knicks. All I needed now was some 200k rain to test them out.

Proudly wearing my new fashion creation I rode the short 5 miles, in light rain, to the Golden Gate Bridge where plenty of riders had gathered for the privilege of enduring the leg killing rollers of this 200k brevet. A few familiar faces and many new ones.

I had not been sleeping well during the previous nights and the night before the event was just more of the same. I was not really worried about this event, I know the route  and I knew I was going to be riding at a slower pace than I would usually ride. I would be riding with my friend/coworker Mari M. who was going to be doing her first brevet as per my suggestion. She comes from a triathlon background and I have ridden with her a couple of times, enough to know she can do this event and have a good time.

This time Jim G. was going to drive so we met at his place and after some trial and error we (mostly Jim) solved the roof rack bicycle order puzzle. Unfortunately, all that extra time spent there made us late to the start. All riders left while we were getting our stuff ready. Sterling H. and Rob H. patiently waited for us. Veronica T. arrived while we were getting ready so the four of us left at the same time.

I didn't sleep well the night before thinking I was going to miss the alarm going off to get up, of course, I was very awake when the alarm went off, tired but awake.

6:00 AM and six of us started moving out of the Marina Safeway parking lot in San Francisco. The route will have us climbing 15,000 feet on its 129 mile course and from previous experience I knew it is a very though course, both physically and mentally. I knew I had to pace myself as if I was riding a much longer event. Jeremiah, Ernesto and Jim were riding cyclocross bikes, Charles a traditional frame with fenders and Greg and I were on mountain bikes. My tires as ussual cheap 1.5" hybrid ones, mostly smooth in the center with small knobs on the sidewall.



We rode as a group to the North side of the Golden Gate Bridge and then started climbing Conzelman where the group separated a little. I've done this ride twice before and knew all that climbing would take a physical and mental toll later on in the day so I was doing a comfortable pace. Ernesto, Jeremiah and Charles, all doing this route for the first time crested Conzelman ahead of me and then I joined them on the descent. They pulled away once again when we hit the Headlands fireroads, I was not going to chase them.

There was a rabbit convention going on in the Marin Headlands, I had never seen so many little rabbis jumping there. A foggy morning made for pleasant riding and the visibility was very limited so I could never see the riders ahead or behind me, the solitude was great. Once I got to Tennessee Valley the fog had cleared a bit and the first steep climb was just a mile away. I could see the leading group climbing a steep section of Coastal. Keep this pace, keep this pace.

The great ocean views the Coastal trail provides in this section were obscured by fog and I wished it had been a clear morning so riders could enjoy the views, maybe on the return the fog would be gone. I was feeling ok, not great but was not too tired and the nice downhill into Muir Beach kept me very awake. A couple of off camber turns helped with that.

I had my watch set to beep every two hours to remind me to eat, somewhere near (or in Deer Park, can't remember) it went off.