Camino Real Double Century

Race Report: Camino Real Double

Irvine California |Planet Ultra

In 2016 as I was training for Race Across America, I participated in the Camino Real Double. I must have blocked that memory out of my mind because as I got onto the course this weekend, I realized that this particular course was the one I “did not finish” – DNF because of some stress issues I was having. It was a combination of chest congestion, hip flexor swelling and headaches that eventually lead me to call Jan Stanton the most positive person in the world I know and the person I call when I’m either half dead or just went through something extraordinary. Following the call where I was completely bonked and struggling with the fact that if I couldn’t make it through a 200-mile race there was no way in the world that 4 months later I would be able to complete a race over 3,000 miles long.

I remember riding back down the hill to the Denny’s in Oceanside, recharging all my gear and eating for about an hour and then slowly making my way along the coastline in the dark back up to Irvine to the start after skipping about 40 miles of the course. Thankfully I found solutions in the following weeks, most notably being the Bacchetta Carbon Aero which has for years been my bike of choice and yesterday for my first official ride on the Carbon Aero 3.0 came through again.

We’ll call yesterday’s ride a mini redemption ride although I’ll have to say it did not come easy. I scheduled four days of video shoots last week with the final being a night shoot on Friday with Metro that ended at about 1:00am. I figured at the time that my two videographers wouldn’t mind being out on a Friday late, not even realizing at the time that I had a race the next morning where I would like to be at the start line as early as possible. I got home Saturday morning just after 1am and thankfully got about 3 hours sleep before my 4am wake up call to head to the race start. I packed up my new bike which I’ve cycled less than 50 miles onto my newly upgraded High Speed Yakima roof rack which I am so grateful for the quality and commitment to excellence of their gear and support. A group of about 40 cyclists left at 5:30am and I arrived minutes before their departure, so I had an opportunity to cheer them on as they hit the course. The 6:30am group had about 15 cyclists and one of those was my new friend Jen Orr who is one of the top female endurance cyclists and will be participating in Race Across America (RAAM) in June! The first 20 miles of the course I had the opportunity to chat with a few of the cyclists and eventually found myself riding with Jen which was an opportunity I wouldn’t ever pass up. I’m fascinated at how many RAAM cyclists are in California and they always have stories and performance tips you can pick up from as your riding along. After about 20 miles Jen speed off ahead and I navigated solo through the twists and turns of the course leading down toward the Pacific Coast Highway.

It was in this section that I began to have some issues. You would think as much as I have ridden in the past that I would have my “stuff” together but there are so many details to cycling that can play into a long ride. My novice level mistake this course started with having my new Garmin malfunction and quit announcing the turn by turns of the course. Not a major issue considering we have the route sheet and can follow each turn, except that I started my Garmin wrist watch late and was struggling with the math conversions of when the turns were coming up and the rain that hit three times pretty heavily through the day had soaked my route sheet. I had neglected to bring or ask for a zip lock bag to cover the paper sheet… Thankfully “the course provides” as we would say if I was walking the Camino, or God answers prayers in my own words and eventually as I was at my four locations where I struggled with directions either my Garmin magically booted up to tell me the turn was accurate or a few cyclists appeared at just the right time to keep me on the right course.

At about 35 miles we had a massive downpour and I got to an intersection where I couldn’t figure out where to go. I stopped for a few minutes and let Kristin know the situation and just at the right time two older cyclists appeared and pointed off to the right and said it’s this way. I followed these two Godsends for the next 30 miles or so until we had just come into Oceanside and I got my first flat tire of the year. I clocked my repair time, which was 12 minutes, once I get better it should take less than 5 minutes from when I realize I have a flat to when I am back on the road. Thankfully I had picked up another route sheet at the aid station and was able to navigate on my own through Oceanside and onto the bike path. This path in Oceanside holds extremely fond memories as it is also a part of the beginning of Race Across America. As I navigated through the 7-mile route I was recalling what I felt 4 years ago while starting off my 11-day journey across the country. It was enough to bring chills and a great big smile to my face.

As I approached the hundred-mile mark I was escorted for about 20 miles by a SAG vehicle who helped ensure I made the turns as I was the last rider on the course. A little humbling but not the first time I’ve been in that situation. Thankfully as I arrived at the lunch aid station there were a handful of cyclists there from the 5:30am start and after a quick break I was back on the course now surrounded by a handful of fellow cyclists again. After a fair amount of climbing in the hills behind Oceanside we returned to Hwy 76 on our way back to the beach. I came across a cyclist, Mani who had a flat tire and I loaned him my pump knowing he would catch me at the next aid station. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes later I got my second flat of the day and quickly took my tire off and prepared for him to come to where I was at. The timing was perfect. A SAG vehicle came up with Gloria and Steve who refer to themselves as “Gloria Estevan” so people will remember their names and gave me a few back up tubes because I had now gone through my two spare tubes. Right as I was putting the final touches to getting my bike back on the road Mani passed by and returned my pump.

Instead of going through Camp Pendleton like we used to, now we cycle about a 7-mile section on I-5 which is both fascinating and terrifying. I chose to just enjoy noticing the speed of the freeway traffic flying by as we pedal away at a safe distance on the very large shoulders. I caught back up with one of the old-time cyclists from earlier in the race and we navigated about 40 miles together, which was the last of the long flat section and into the rolling hills behind Irvine. This led into a 10-mile gradual hill that although not steep definitely slows down your average pace. At about 150 miles I started to get nervous that if I slowed too much, I might not make the official time cut off for the course. This inspired me to pick up the pace a bit and I was grateful for the handful of cyclists that I had the opportunity to pace with over these miles. At mile 165 we had the last aid station and I had some soup, a coke, half a banana, chips, and restocked my water and was quickly off with two cyclists who were experienced double century riders. The next 10 miles was filled with steep rolling hills that just sucked the wind out of you and pushed your legs to the limit before giving you a bit of relief on the downhill before repeating. Reminded me a bit of the Appalachians and how you have to mentally have to prepare yourself so that you don’t get demoralized gaining elevation so quickly only to have it sucked away by a rapid decent. After the last major roller, I decided I was going to make a break for the finish line and push the last hour in half or so of the ride. The riders I was pacing with stopped to adjust gear which gave me my excuse to go ahead. That lasted a total of about 3 minutes until I had my third flat of the day… Thankfully I was getting much faster at fixing flats and was on my way within about 5 minutes. Also the next section happened to be pretty much all downhill and flats into the finish line so within about 10 miles I realized I was going to have no problem with the time cut off and would even make it in time to get the complimentary burger at the finish line!

It was exhilarating riding in the last section counting down the few miles left. I road in with a new friend I had met on the course who was doing his first double century and had a very strong finish. One of the best compliments I received for the day was from the SAG guy Steve who said he, “enjoyed watching me get stronger as the day went on”. It’s not easy to push when your worn down, and I take a great deal of pride in the gifting that I have in being comfortable in uncomfortable situations and being able to perform well in the midst of adversity. I’ll consider this event a minor redemption story from being on the course 4 years ago, and also was a good reminder to me how difficult open courses can be and to appreciate and give the absolute respect that each course deserves in terms of preparation, and uncertainty to what the day will bring while also never underestimating how provision will find a way to get us through whatever obstacle comes our way.