Narrative by rider Vicki Pelton

While I have crewed for many long distance cycling events, I figured I wasn't strong enough to actually ride in one. I knew there were cross state records, but CA is a big state & out of my reach. The small states are far away. Then I realized they allowed 2-person teams. Hey, that's doable.

The CA east-west route was in Southern CA & people said it had tons of traffic so wasn't much fun. Then I noticed that they were going to allow another CA east-west route farther north. What an opportunity. If I designed a new route & actually finished it, then that would set the route for all future attempts. This was an exciting challenge. I chose a route that was accepted so now I just had to get a team & do it.

I was extremely fortunate to have Tim Woudenberg join me as my riding partner. He has done many long distance events but has never done a cross state record so he was eager to try something new.

It was also great to have Lee Mitchell join the team as the Official. While he would not be able to physically help as Official, with his vast experience, it was a great peace of mind to have him watching over us. Continuing on the same trend, Jim Kern & Anthony Gilbert joined as crew, each with years of experience crewing & riding. The combined experience of the team was longer than my years on this planet.

The ride would be a day of many firsts for me: night time riding, 24 hr. ride, hour on/hour off & supported ride. I was wondering how I'd do with all these challenges. I made sure I practiced night riding with a van following me. It's strange to have sufficient light to ride but to not be able to see the surrounding terrain. It makes it difficult to judge your speed. I was told the two shadows you see of yourself cycling can play tricks on your brain. I'm glad I practiced ahead of time.

The team drove to Reno, NV the night before the ride & then early the next morning went to the CA/NV state line for the ride to begin. Since I was the newbie, I got to start. After all of the effort to organize this ride, I was finally on my bike, riding. This was a big, complicated event for me, but once I was riding, it seemed so simple. Now it was just a long bike ride. It's actually a race, as others can come at any time to challenge the record. But right now, it was just my team, so we were racing against the clock.

This was the first pull ever of my first ever race & I was feeling good. The crew & Official are experienced, fun & get along great. My racing partner is very accomplished & in a great mood. I found I was biking faster than I usually would. Tim would be working hard on his pulls as he always does & I wanted to do my fair share so pulled as hard as I could & still be able to complete the race. Since I would be cycling only one hour at a time, it would be easier to keep my speed up. Also, the crew & Official were here on their vacation, so I wanted to do the best I could for them also.

Within 5 minutes, my bike was making a funny noise so I stopped. That was sure a short ride. The crew jumped out & found a piece of barbed wire caught in my frame. It's the little things.

The ride started in the high (i.e., cold) desert, then went over Yuba Pass (i.e., colder), through pine covered mountains. I was to do quite a bit of the uphills & Tim would do the steep downhills. This might sound strange, since Tim is a much stronger rider, but I enjoy the hills & the gap between our speeds is smaller on the uphills so that worked out.

We had to plan the date three weeks in advance so wouldn't know what the weather would be like. There could actually be quite a bit of snow. Tim wanted to be prepared so bought studded snow tires & put them on his alternate bike. I didn't know they made such things. While there was a bit of snow in the high peaks, the road was clear. But we briefly got Tim out on his alternate bike just to be able to say, "We even had to use studded snow tires." So there was the bike with studded snow tires, along with me & the four guys, so I said, "I'm surrounded by studs!"

During the descent, the road was often lined by steep rock walls. On the other side you could see the river below. It was a very dramatic setting. I was awed by the scenery. We then dropped down into the Central Valley grasslands. We were now half way through & encountered our first (& only) traffic & stop lights.

After an hour pull, it's time to make a rider swap. It's funny to have a racing partner, but to only see each other a few moments each hour. Then I get in the van & eat & rest. You can never eat enough to fulfill your energy requirements in this type of race, so you eat as much as your stomach can take. No guilt! Just shovel it in!

It's crucial for the riders to get enough calories, so the crew is not supposed to eat the riders' food. That worked out sort of well. Whenever I ate something, I would report it to the crew so they could keep track of my calories. I told them I ate a cup of rice. They said, "You have rice? We didn't see any rice?" I had put it in used Ricotta Cheese containers. So I learned how to "hide" my food from the crew.

It rained about half of the day, but with not much wind. While biking, I was able to stay warm. I was wearing a hat, neck warmer, undershirt, long sleeved wool jersey, heavy waterproof jacket, full finger winter gloves, shorts, tights, leg warmers, wool socks & neoprene booties. In the van, I cooled down quickly, so the crew blasted the heater for me, but it didn't reach into the back. The crew was roasting. They said it felt like one of those Hot Yoga places. But I was cold & even with 4 blankets on me, I ended up shivering during my hour rest. If I were warm & toasty in the van, it might have been hard for me to go back out into the rain, but as it was, I could hardly wait for my next pull, as that was the only time I could warm up.

Some of my friends called during the ride. That was terrific. You do feel rather alone out there, just your little team, finding its way through the rain. It was great having people at home call to find out how we were doing.

As night descended, I was excited (& a bit worried) to see how well I would do. My first night pull went well, & then it was Tim's turn. At the top of a pass, a cop pulled us over & said, "You can't do that. The van is too slow. It's dangerous." In unison, we all said, "What!?" To make a long story short, he shut us down. After all the time & money & organizational effort that went into this, it was over. Being the main organizer of this event, I felt a heavy weight pressing on my shoulders. I was overwhelmed by sadness.

But then, after some discussion, the team generously said they would be willing to sit out 12 hours in a hotel & continue in the morning. We were saved!!

Early the next morning, we were back at the same spot & continued on. The rain had stopped & the skies were clear. The sun was shinning. What a glorious day for a bike ride. Of course the clock had been ticking all night so we had a few extra minutes added to our time (i.e., about 12 hours!), but we were going to finish. Hurray!

It was a delight biking through the quaint little towns around Clear Lake. There was very little traffic, all was quiet, my wheels were crunching the fall leaves & the bright sun made everything look beautiful. I was so jazzed going up Hopland Grade. I was full of energy & around every turn I got a different view. I could look down & see the long twisty road I had just ascended. I did that?!

At about mile 290 we got to the final hills, with lots of 12% grades, on up to 16%. But I loved it. We were near the end & I powered up the hills. At each swap, Tim jumped on his bike & did the same.

Tim was rushed by two ferocious dogs … but they were so tiny, they could barely reach his heels. They would yap & jump but couldn't do much damage. Our crew said they'd report that Tim was attacked by a pack of squirrels.

We passed through dense redwood forests & then descended to the Pacific Ocean. The last few miles Tim & I rode together. We were biking on a spit of land on high cliffs, surrounded on three sides by the pounding Pacific waves, headed toward the Point Arena Lighthouse. The sun lit up the lighthouse & the ocean as we crossed the finish line. All was well with the world.

This route has little traffic, good roads & shows off the spectacular & varied scenery that CA has to offer. As a CA native, I'm thrilled to be given the opportunity to offer this route to the cycling community. My hope is that many others will be drawn to the beauty of this route & come out to establish many more records.