Dorito Power

Since the Covid lockdowns started back in March 2020, organized bike rides and bike tours have pretty much vanished. Most ‘gatherings’ are verboten and even an outdoor, well spaced event like a fund raising bike ride has to make so many adaptations and follow so many rules that organizers simply give up.

So yesterday, the Ride 4 Art ride in Calaveras County decided to buck the trend and actually put on a ride. With modifications of course. No post ride meal or entertainment. Remote check in. No wrist bands for rest stops. No raffle.

The ride was not quite as advertised. The website said this:

But my Garmin and Strava told a different story:

An ‘extra’ 2,100 feet of climbing! This turned out to be my longest ride with the most climbing since I was in the Dolomites back in September 2019. In all of 2020 I didn’t do any ride even close to this one. The Panicdemic put all my trips and most of my cycling ambition on indefinite hold. It has been a long time since I spent over 6 hours pedaling.

Now normally when you pay your $65 to do a long ride like this, you get well stocked rest stops and a post ride meal. Usually there is fresh fruit, chips, and pastries at a first stop. The second stop usually has peanut butter sandwiches and turkey sandwiches, and a much needed Coke, I never drink Coke except during the second half of long bike rides.

I understand that the Covid Panicdemic rules mean some changes. And we were warned that the rest stops would be limited, but I was surprised at the extent of that limitation. There were plenty of water-only stops, so there was no danger of getting dehydrated. But the first food available was at the Harrah’s Casino at mile 39, when we had already climbed 3,800 feet and been pedaling for 3 hours. The fare on offer consisted of packaged chocolate brownies and Doritos. That was it. No fruit, no cookies, no sports drink. I ate a bag of the chips, put the brownies in my pocket, took a water bottle and pored it into my bidon and headed for the next stop, 17 miles away.

Here the conditions were the same, minus the brownies. We are at mile 52, and we have another 28 miles and 3,500 feet to climb. I ate another bag of Doritos and one of my brownies. I was carrying two energy gels of my own for nutrition emergencies. I took the first one earlier at the top of Stoney Creek Road. The last one I saved in case of bonk, which never happened.

I don’t blame the organizers for the meager provisions. I have no idea what the Covid rules for rest stops are. But given the minutia that we are bombarded with in the forms of rules, regulations, guidance, advice and social pressure during this panicdemic, I’m sure the restrictions are many and the choices are few. Perhaps Doritos have been found by science to have anti-viral properties.

It became obvious that the ride was going to be longer than planned, but I had some fine riding companions. Bill and I rode together for the whole thing. Kent started well ahead of us, but he said we would catch him, and eventually we did. We were joined by Captain Hawk who rode part of the course from his house, but he did about 60 miles and skipped Stoney Creek, so he only gets partial credit.

Instead of heading for the barn at mile 65, we decided to to the out and back on Hogan Dam Road. This road made me think of France. It is all up and down and curves and few cars. With one major difference from the French versions: there are people shooting loud guns at targets in some open space and hopefully away from the road. I’m not sure this is legal but I’m not going to argue the point.

The only problem with this road is that the pavement ends after 5 miles. So we turned around into the wind, which got stronger as the day went on and was going to be in our faces for the last 10 miles. Of course it was! Who wants to cap off an epic day of cycling enjoying a tailwind?

After the ride I was really hungry so I headed to Davinci’s deli for a much needed sandwich, and I took home some ravioli for dinner too. I was happy and kind of surprised I did the whole ride without any issues, although for some reason I got really tired around mile 50 but rode better after that and actually felt fine at the finish. Maybe the first bag of Doritos took a while to kick in.