Ride Report: Primavera Century

Posted by Katie

Today I rode the Calaveras 65K loop (read: NOT the full century) of the Primavera Century, hosted by the Fremont Freewheelers Bicycle Club. This being my first organized ride I wasn't sure what to expect. I have to say this ride totally exceeded my expectations and I would love to do the full century next year! 

My preparation for this ride was pretty dismal. The only long ride I've done in 2014 was the wine country 40 miles (broken up by lunch and wine tasting), last month. Besides that I think I did 15 flat miles outside once, and the stationary bike… maybe twice? 

Totally ready. 

Luckily my riding companions for the day were willing to take it easy to fully enjoy the ride (and all the free food!). 

Start pic!

About a week ago the forecast was predicting 90% of rain, so we were happy to have cool fog at the start. The weather was actually great, foggy and cool for the hilliest part of our ride, and the sun came out for the finish. 

Calaveras 65K Route

Noms.

What is nice about the 65K route is you get all the climbing out of the way early on. From miles 10-14 there is a 1,000+ ft climb up Calaveras Rd, culminating with the infamous “Wall” which maxes out at 13.9% grade. Rest stop #1 was part way up the climb. At first I thought this was sort of odd, why would you want to lose momentum on the climb? Turns out it was genius and allowed us to rest up and regroup before the toughest part (“the wall”). Also rest stop #1 had the most amazing pumpkin bread. Ever. Seriously ever. The picture does not do justice to the glorious spread of homemade goodies and coffee/hot drinks. We were also told at this stop that they are famous for their breads (pumpkin, chocolate nut, zucchini, etc) and rest stop #2 is famous for their cookies. This would end up being false but we were so pumped up on pumpkin bread and the thought of cookies that we flew* up the hill! 

*And by flew I mean struggled in the granny gear… 13.9% is no joke.

Done with the climb!

After the hill we were treated to the most amazing part of the course. Calaveras road had all sorts of curves and was only slightly rolling but mainly flat. The whole way we had a great views of the hills and reservoirs. Another amazing thing about this road is that we saw 3 vehicles the entire time and they were all SAG support vehicles! Awesome biking spot, very much worth the hill up. 

Next we descended into Sunol to Rest Stop #2, unfortunately this year it seems they went with oreos instead of home baked cookies. They had a ton of other food… but we had been talking about cookies for 16 miles, so that was a slight bummer. We actually saw the kind volunteer from rest stop #1 at the end of the race and she asked how the cookies were, and was equally shocked by the oreos. Rest stop #2… just saying… let’s step it up next year with the homemade cookies. At this point the 100K and 100 mile route splits off and our 65K route goes back towards the start through Niles Canyon and the town of Niles. Niles canyon can be a bit dicey on a bike because there are spots with no shoulder. Still not a ton of cars on the road, and staying in our group I felt comfortable but it would be so great if that stretch had a better shoulder.

Then, the finish. Finishing an organized ride is sort of weird when you are used to running races. There is no real finish line or clock you just sort of stop. Luckily this finishing chute went directly into a row of waiting food trucks and smelled delicious. A hot meal is included with the ride so after we checked in and got our voucher we were faced with the daunting task of deciding which food truck to go to. After thoroughly investigating all the choices (4-5 trucks) we all went with Philly cheesesteaks and they were amazing!

Ready for some tasty food..

Food trucks are such a brilliant idea for post-race food. I imagine they are cost effective, and it gives riders a choice. I am a huge fan. Also I just love food trucks in general. For dessert, the Fremont Whole Foods provided a sundae bar with was also amazing, AND they had cake, brownies, blondies, all sorts of baked goods. 

If all my long rides could be this fun, Ironman training would be no problem :)