2006 Solvang Double Century – No Surveillance Cameras at the Laundry Mat

This last Saturday a few buddies and I were out near Santa Barbara, California to put another 200 mile bike ride under our belt.  But unlike other double century rides where the sequence of events is something like suffer, suffer, suffer, finish … this one finished us!

Adam and Vic (two of my buddies from Vegas) and I pulled out at about 6:30am , which should have assured us completion before dark.  That would be important as we had no night gear (lights, reflectors, etc.).

Well long story short, we got lost twice and spent over an hour in no man’s land.  It rained on us for four hours and of course being from Vegas, we had no rain gear.  Vic got a flat but was so cold he was unable to change the tire.  We rode into a small town and had the flat fixed at a local bike store, bought rain coats and went into Frank’s Hot Dogs restaurant for warmth and food (maybe we should have had breakfast after all).  Of course, these activities would be considered unusual practices for such an event.

On the subject of unusual practices, we also decided to get more comfortable so we peddled to a laundry mat and borrowed towels from strangers while we put our soaked clothes in the dryer.  This was a ridiculous scene, Vic had a tiny pink towel.  My towel had so many holes, how you wrapped it around your waist mattered.  We were standing there shivering with our backs up against the dryers for 40 minutes while waiting for our clothes to dry.  There are a lot of surveillance cameras in Vegas, but none here!

180 miles into the race … while peddling in the dark on the shoulder of some freeway, without lights, the race director calls foul and removes us from the course.

And while we whimpered and shivered in the back of the van, they called in our names as DNF (Did Not Finish).  The misery of defeat!  All I wanted now was a Ho Ho (yeah, same family as the cup cake) and Thai food.  I’d been dreaming and talking about my Ho Ho fantasies for hours now.

This was only the second time I failed to finish a road ride.  The first time occurred when attempting to finish the Death Valley Double Century … need I explain?

Comments

[Margaret]

I believe that there are simply places that don't need hidden spy cameras at all, and yes, that includes Laundry Mat. But perhaps it's something to do with the crime rate in the area too. I guess there are more robbers in Vegas than in California.