Tour de Franz 2008

Tour de Franz 2008 routeAnother 100+ mile ride with my ACTC long distance friends on a ride to Franz’s house to celebrate his 60th birthday.  Steve and I decided to start with Deb and the 7:30 crew rather than chase David, Gary, Russ, Ken, Brian, et al at the 8:00 start.  By the time we were heading up to the top of Metcalf at mile 20 it was Steve, Barry, and me out in front.  Shortly after arriving at the top, everyone started arriving; including the 8:00 crew led out by Gary F.

After leaving Metcalf, Peter, Dave Z, and Mike M caught up to Steve and me on the Bailey climb.  The five of us raced to Willow Springs where Dave remembered he was tapering for the Solvang Double so he dialed it back.  All that time I thought we were running from David  H, Gary F, Russ, Ken, Brian, etc but Peter thought we were racing to catch them.  By the time we made it to the Woodlands climb at mile 42 those fast guys caught us.

I then chased Russ, David H, Brian B, and Mike up to the Henry Coe climb where they disappeared seconds into the climb.  It was a long, lonely 10-mile climb for me with the reward of an ice cold Coke and the end of the serious climbing for the day.

From there we made it to Franz’s house for a scrumptuous BBQ to celebrate his birthday. After the party, Gary B, Barry, Steve, and I ground out the last 30 miles heading north into the wind with the larger group starting out behind us.  As usual, Gary F blew by us at about mile 100 travelling about 10 MPH faster than us.  Kinda depressing but it won’t be the last time he flies by me after I get a head start I’m sure.

This was my sixth century ride of the year.  Click on the map above to get to my photos. . .

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