by Dave Zajac

Wanted to give my report of my first DC. Thanks to all of you who offered me some great advice prior to the ride as it all really helped.
I decided to focus on three items from all the great advice
1. Don’t start with the 7:30 group
2. Keep Heart Rate around 80 % of max (Did this up unto around mile 140)
3. Get in/out of rest stops fast Solvang was the perfect DC, great course, cool weather and really friendly riders.

I decided not to start at 7:30 AM as I did want to finish my first DC and not be stupid and ride too hard and burn out. I really don’t own good lights so I waited until the sun was fully bright to take off and hope nothing goes wrong where I have to ride in the dark with my cheapy $10 light. I rode easy staying in the HR range but had a mental problem taking the rolling hills slower than normal. But this would pay of big time later. Nothing big to report the first 130-140. I was lucky and caught on to many not too fast pacelines.

Because I only needed water, and hammer products from the rest stops I was in/out in short order. After the lunch stop where I ate half a sandwich (I normally don’t eat on long rides and use liquids) and downed two diet cokes (love that caffeine:)) I caught a tandem and their friend, very nice people who told me they would help me finish the ride. They where riding at a nice pace but a little slow up the hills but I figured it would be smart to stay with them and finish the ride. Being smart and ego don’t mix well as shortly a group from the 7:30 AM start came flying by, I could not stop myself and sprinted onto that train and felt bad as I told the friendly group I would stick with them. We where flying in the upper 20’s and
several riders started to drop back, I was able to hold on thanks to the many times I have been hanging on to David Hoag in the LDTRs, thanks
Dave your putting the hurt on really does help!

At the next to last rest stop I found out the group was trying to break 9.5 hrs and decided it would be smart to let them go, but after I took off from the rest stop I caught up with them as they where eating on the bike and getting ready for the next big pull. So off we went faster than I probaly should of been riding but at this point I lost my smarts somewhere back around mile 140. The ride into the last rest stop was really tough as there was just three of us and the two where flying, I could not hold a pull for long and I may of been in my 13 or 15 cog trying to keep up the speed,
HR was way above Threshold and lactic acid was burning the legs, lucky we hit the last rest as I was about to pull back or out. The rest stop was funny as the two fast guys never dismounted there bikes they filled water bottles and grabbed food while straddling the
bike, talk about being in a hurry.

I waved bye to them as I knew I could not climb with them and downed more soda for the caffeine then took off and missed to the turn to Drum Canyon, got back on course and got caught by two more 7:30 starters and barely held on to them for the climb. We lucked out and hit all the lights green through Buellton. I was now running on pure adrenalin knowing I was going to finish my first DC so much that when we hit the last roller into Solvang I pulled so hard that when I looked back the other two had dropped back.

Made it back before 5 PM and finished with a 10:24 total time. The pace off the last 60 miles is what really brought my time down. I asked one of the 7:30 riders his time and it was around 9:20, wow some fast riders out there!

I really learned alot out there but also know have many new questions to ponder. I plan on coming back next year and mayby my theme will be 24, as in knock off 24 minutes and break 10 hours. Hey I can dream
can’t I 🙂