IronCamp Day Three Update

Stockton to San Jose: 80 miles in 4:45

Today's stage, intended to be a rest day between yesterday's 110 miles and tomorrow's 130 miles, proved to be pretty tough on us real-world folk. Starting in the farmland outside of Stockton had us riding on rough chip-seal roads with a good headwind for the first 1.5 hours...just like we had finished in yesterday. Unfortunately, a really good story about an article on Dave Zabriskie's wife had us headed in the wrong direction...for about 5 miles. :(

Admin to the rescue had us back on point to Peterson's Pass...a nice rolling climb of about 1600 ft over 10 miles. Some fans but early enough in the day so it wasn't too crowded. After a basic descent we rolled through the sprint, up a mean short climb and off to the feed zone. Amazing how 50 miles feels like nothing after 200 miles in two days.

After some killer sandwiches, coke, fritos and Advil, we were off to the next climb. This was a killer route...some 15 miles of climbing that only gained 1200 feet. A twisting and winding road brought us out on a ridge overlooking Lake Berryesa and some amazing scenery. Just killer stuff. The knucklehead factor was pretty low here as the climb would probably just be a speedbump to the peloton later in the day. A great winding descent put us right into the outskirts of San Jose, and the lead up to the biggest climb of the day: Sierra Road.

Because of the speed of the peloton - and the wrong turn we took - we had little choice but to ride up to the top of this climb and then flip it. This meant we cut the ride short a bit, but after that climb (that CLIMB), no one was really complaining. This climb was a real beast...sections at 16% grade were broken up with random flat sections. The powers that be really could have put in a few more switchbacks on this climb, but it was almost as if they only had so much asphalt and so they went straight up. After all our riding, this route took me 34 mins to do...and that was just a bit too long for me.


And of course, the further we got up there, the more crowded it got. Here you can see Rich, me and Dave on the top...and that was only 20% of the group. It was so crazy at the top that I had to wind my way around folks just to get to the KOM line. After everyone hit the top, we rolled down to about 300feet up, just around a bend, and waited for the peloton.


We didn't have to wait too long. The group of seventeen alleged by the pre-race speaker car was only 5 guys with the peloton another 45 seconds back. Needless to say, the break didn't last. By the time the climb was done, Levi had taken the KOM points and was in an elite group of five. This group lasted all the way to the finish, with Jens Voigt taking a close finish.

Bottom Line: This was a short stage but a solid one. Sure wish I had another 100 guys to draft off of for the duration. Especially for those hills!!! Now all we have to do is last through another 100+ miles tomorrow...