Yosemite Ride 2011

This years ride was silky smooth! More photos and video on the way.

We began our trek from Brommer st. and 30th at 0732 hours on Saturday, April 30th. A very strong north wind was pushing all morning. We (shorter riders) did not worry considering the wall of cyclists to hide behind on this 240 mile adventure. Only 3 of us were under 6' tall. Honoring tradition, Doug E. Fresh hit the Panaderia hard in little Saigon and radioed back for assistance from the SW van. Like a gazzel, Cory ascended Mt. Hamilton with ease. The Steel Wül van operated by Papa Bill was stocked with food o' plenty at the top. I went for the lightly toasted salami and cheese sando with kettle chips (sea salt of course) and a dream bar from New Leaf. BC who has attacked Mr. Hamilton early on two prior occasions with great success, expressed his utter hatred for him on this round. As it turns out, he was saving himself for Old Toll Rd and the Merced River Canyon (solid recovery). Mike Moore was almost taken out by a "racer" searching for water on his way back to Mt. Diablo on a double century ride (why?). The wild flowers were popping in the San Antonio Valley floor and there must have been a half a dozen Subaru Foresters parked along the road side with folks seeking a peek. Lucky for us the Junction Bar at Mines Rd was inundated with chamois not Carharts and Berretas this year. As usual, Del Puerto Canyon looked like a scene out of Mad Max with the graffiti, tumble weeds, deep canyons, nob cone pines and buzzards soaring above us. We approached Highway 5 without incident with Big Mike testing the deep dish for speed. Our next mission that afternoon (if we were to choose it) was to link highway 5 to highway 99. This is where Apple (Gilbert Duclose Lassele) comes in. We had 100+ miles and 8000' of elevation in the old get a way sticks and 25 to go into a 15 knot head/cross wind. Apple literally took a 22 mile pull for the group. I can still hear his rear wheel gripping with each peddle stroke. We ended day 1 in true Steel Wül fashion peddling through the dirt connecting roads through a Cal Trans detour. My eyes were bigger than my stomach at dinner as I had a hard time finishing the 4 lbs burrito and chicken salad. The Tylenol pm did absolutely nothing to counter act the 2 caffeine goos I hit in Los Palmas at hour 9 as a flopped around like a fish out of water in room 205 at 0300 am. I must have snuck in some REM because I woke up feeling stronger. My teammate Estabon Fraga always said that he could tell how well he would race in the first 7 pedal strokes of the day.

Day 2 started out smooth with the Gren full of piss and vinegar. I could here him chatting it up in the middle of the group at 25 mph. I knew he was going to have a good day. Eric was enjoying all the big ring miles as we finally after 5 years found the smartest route out of Turlock and on to Montpellier Oakdale Rd (J16 & J17). Sandwiches came earlier this year (Sneiling) knowing that we had some heavy roads ahead of us. The wind could not decide if it was on our 6 or our 9 o'clock on Hornitos rd. Cory sat on the front and took a couple of large pulls on this section even though the road was clearly not steep enough for her. We rolled into Hornitos with Fresh taking both the wooden and metal city limit sprints. This is where the ride "starts" according to the Gren. We have transitioned from the coastal range to the San Joaquin Valley to the foothills of the Sierra. Old Toll Rd is so incredibly beautiful and free of traffic that you hardly notice the grade. Cathey's Valley shoots out to the south west as you climb through some of the least cycled hills in California. John Caletti who has cycled through pretty much everything you can imagine was taken back by this section of the ride. He also spied the Dolce Vida Ranch for us. Fresh forgot about the 2k climb outside of Mt Bullion Camp on our way to Mariposa and launched a flyer on a slight downhill. Big Mike, Apple, and I bridged up to him wondering if he was feeling like superman or if he forgot about the rollers. Eric was caught in no-mans-land but as usual toughed it out all the way to Mariposa. Eric later told me that he not only forgot about the rollers but he told others it was relatively flat into Mariposa. The rollers came to an end as a 20 knot tailwind helped Big Mike launch into Mariposa picking up the coveted Mariposa city sign at 54 mph. Apple and I held off knowing that a very long climb was in front of us yet. That was my excuse anyway. The SW van was so pivotal at this point in the ride offering us more food, water, sunscreen, and moist towelettes than we could ever use. I was thinking of Super Dave Reid knowing that he would have changed out the old socks for some fresh ones in anticipation of the El Portal climb (veteran move). I could picture him on the bench eating salami and almonds and busting everyones chops. We were in good hands our security blanket this year was in the form of a 2003 Euro Van with a physician at the helm not a 2006 Lugged RockLobster with a hand on our back. The Gren and BC took off early to tackle the highway 49 boogie. We just caught them at the top as we worked our way into the rollers approaching the Merced River Canyon. I told John Caletti to follow Big Mike into the Canyon. Fresh led us out at the top and Mike disappeared in front of our eyes in his signature tuck. I was simply praying for adhesion as Caletti and Apple passed me (let the record show that they don't have children). We regrouped after some high fives and such to settle in on our 20 mile approach to El Portal. The Carroll clan offered us a nice break in the action with some words of encouragement from the Sienna. AC was kind enough to paint some SW jargon on Federal Property for us (that meant allot to me!). Our last push into the valley itself is always hard and we can never remember how much climbing there is. Apple did his best Schleck impression and melted off everyone up to the kiosk. I worked my magic again with some basic verbal judo skills I picked up while working with inmate Firefighters and I talked my way out of the 90 dollar fee for all the cyclist into Yosemite National Park. The Merced river was pushing at least 5000 CFS and Yosemite Falls was absolutely going off. Gren stopped to top off the bottles with a couple of cold ones to initiate the celebration. The best part of the ride for me was pulling up to the Yosemite Lodge and seeing Jess and Olive! I can't wait until next year. Happy birthday Gren and thanks for the invitation.

Jake