From: lous@hpnmdla.sr.hp.com (Lou Salz)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles
Subject: Re: Terrible Two
Date: 16 Apr 92 02:28:05 GMT
Article-I.D.: hpnmdla.1240061
Organization: HP Network Measurements Div, Santa Rosa, CA

In rec.bicycles, ehouse@Apple.COM (Eric House) writes:

    Has anyone on the net done this ride before?  What am I getting myself into?

I've driven the sag wagon on this 4 times and ride all the roads on the
course, but I've never really had the desire to string all these hills
together into one ride.  Allan Armstrong has done it a couple times so
he might be able to tell you what it's like to ride it.  Give him a few
days and he might see your note.

The general rule of thumb has been that if you can't finish the Davis
Double in under 12 hours, you really shouldn't try this ride.  Unlike
Davis, the Terrible Two (TT) is a daylight ride.  All riders are
expected to finish by dark or use the sag wagon.  The ride is held on
the Saturday closest to the summer solstice to allow the maximum
daylight.  For purposes of awarding "I did it" tee shirts, the Santa Rosa
Cycling Club has defined dark as 10:00 PM.  It's really pretty much dark
by 9:30 so the 10:00 cutoff is just a way to avoid arguments.  Why all
the details about cutoff times?  Well when someone has been riding for
nearly 16 hours, they aren't always all that rational any more.  I've
seen club members take a lot of grief from riders when they are trying
to sag them in from some narrow twisting mountain road after dark.
Bottom line : if you didn't finish by dark, you didn't do it.

The roads on this course are pretty rough in places.  Make sure both you
and your bike are in good condition.  It would be a real bitch to fight
a loose head set or woobly wheel over roads this rough, steep and
twisty.  I'd recommend something as low as a 39-26 low for gears.  The
oldtimers claimed you'd never make it around in time if you used
anything lower than 42-24, but that was before Skaggs Springs road was
rebuilt.

Historically only about 30 to 40 percent of the people who start this
ride ever complete it.  In recent years, this number has been somewhat
higher, but it is still under 50 percent.  Most riders seem to make it
to the lunch stop without too much trouble.  Trinity road and Geysers
are tough climbs, but most good century riders could do this part of the
ride.  The real test comes after lunch when you hit Skaggs Springs road.
This road was rebuilt about 10 years ago to go around Lake Sonoma when
Warm Springs Dam was built.  We call it the Army Corp of Engineers Dam
Road.  The road goes through some rugged mountains and seems to hit all
the high and low spots.  Regardless of how cool or foggy it was when you
started the ride at 5:30 AM, it will most likely be in the low 90s to
100 degrees on Skaggs Springs road.  If it's a warm day, the canyons up
there can be nearly 110 degrees.  This is the make or break part of the
ride.  If you get through Skaggs Springs and Annapolis roads and make it
to Sea Ranch without coming apart, you have a good chance to make it
the whole way.

It would be a good idea to ride Skaggs Springs and Annapolis roads once
before the TT so you have a rough mental model of what you face.  It's
over 40 miles from Warm Springs Dam to Sea Ranch and there are 8 or 9
substantial hills.  Most of the riders who drop out get half way up one
of these hills and either overheat or mentally quit.  If you quit way
out there, unless you have your own sag vehicle (something the founders
of this ride would never have done, but is common these days) you are in
for a long ride in the sag wagon.  It takes nearly 2 hours to drive back
to Santa Rosa from Annapolis, so the sag wagons aren't going to make a
trip for an individual rider.  You'll have to wait with the driver so he
can make sure other riders don't need help.

After the 20 or so mile run down the coast, most riders still moving
seem to recover somewhat.  The cooler ocean air and the commonly
occurring tail wind allow you to drink and eat.  You'll need all you can
get to make it up Fort Ross Road.  This road is hard if you try it when
you're fresh.  I can't imagine doing it after riding 150 miles of this
course.  After the big climb on Fort Ross, you still have one more
smaller climb before the drop into the redwoods.  If you make it to
Cazadero anytime before 7:00 PM, you are going to make it if you don't
do anything stupid.

The fastest that anyone has ever done this ride is just over 12 hours.
Most riders that complete the ride come in between 13 and 15 hours.  Of
the people I have known that did the ride, most say they would never do
it again.

Good Luck

Louis Salz 
lous@sr.hp.com

PS   You can make a real nice 130 mile loop out of Skaggs Springs by
     starting in Santa Rosa or Healdsburg and riding out Skaggs Springs
     and down to Fort Ross road and back through the Russian River area.
     The wildflowers make it really scenic right now.