The first 20 Miles: 5000 feet elevation

It's fun to read the newspaper after your favorite sports team (let's say, the Los Angeles Lakers) has won a game, because it's human nature to want to reminisce accomplishments.

The impulse to replay the event is especially strong if the event were particularly difficult (like this Stage 2 of Tour de Francis 2008), and you actually rode on the course (as opposed to merely watching a Lakers game on TV).

So to all of you who were there, here's something to reminisce, the first 20 miles.

The first 20 miles is on Frazier Mountain Park Road (FMPR). By the time you reach Apache Saddle Station, the marker at Mile 20 (the first rest stop), you would have gained 5_000 feet of elevation.

No one needs to tell you now what tremendous energy you expended for that kind of effort. Your legs and lungs were telling you that. It's like TWICE climbing "GMR" (Glendora Mountain Road), one our "training hills". In round numbers it's a 10-mile climb with 2_500 feet of gained elevation at 5% grade. (To readers on the METRIC system, such as readers in the Philippines, it's 16 Kilometers long, 770 Meters gained elevation. I wonder how it compares to infamous climbs in the Philippines, like KENNON ROAD in Baguio, TAGAYTAY in Batangas, or BUGARIN in Antipolo.). The difference is that GMR has a constant 5% gradient, whereas FMPR has a mix of gentle slopes and steep slopes in the end. It starts with a gentle 3% slope, then increases to 7%, then in the final stretch it ratchets to 9% (with some sections at 14%). Aray.

At 6:30 AM riders and staffers started to get ready at the parking lot of the Best Rest Inn (Frazier Park, CA).

At 7:45 AM the riders (numbering about 50) gathered for a group photo.

They started rolling on Frazier Mountain Park Road (video here). Here they are at Mile 0. It's quite a beautiful sight to see a huge peloton still tightly packed, in colorful attire.

The first 12 miles consist of 3% to 5% gradient. The morning air was just crisp, clear. In other words, gorgeous.
Right away the peloton gets splintered. Here's a video at Mile 5 showing the breadth of the field, from last to first. About 2 - 3 miles of separation.

Mile 12 is an important marker, because the road splits into 2. Volunteers were set up there to steer cyclists the correct way (veer right, into Mil Potrero Hwy). If you go the wrong way (left to Mt Pinos Rd), it will be a miserable experience.
First to arrive (10:15AM) were the same familiar pair famous already to the TDF: Deo Asuncion (Adobo) and Raffy (MMCC). They did it in 2 hrs 30 mins. The last rider to arrive did so 55 minutes later.

The forest air was cool (65F), the trees were tall. The elevation at this location is over 6,000 feet. It was a great place to have the rest stop.

Volunteers and riders alike enjoyed the camaraderie and scenery. But the day is only beginning. There's 80 more miles to go. Over 3,500 feet of elevation still to conquer. The dreaded "heartbreak" is still to come.

But in the meantime, among the first-timers on this particular course, there's plenty of smiles and laughs to go around. They are still not sure of what's in store up ahead.



Now it was time to continue the course. Check back later.
Here they come, resuming the ride. 20 done (miles, that is). 80 to go.

Roster: TDF Stage 2 (5/31/08 Frazier Park)

Here's the Roster. There are some "blanks" because some of the riders did not get to sign the roster sheet at the start ( but they are in the photos. I see bib numbers that are not in the roster). I'm hoping I can complete the roster with the help of readers.

2 mistakes I hope to avoid next time: We lacked a sign-in sheet at the finish line (which would have been neat so we could get riders' times and finish order) because in the chaos I failed to hand off the sheets and clipboards to the lead SAG that went to the finish line. The other mistake was for the freshly-charged batteries on my 2 pocket cameras to RUN OUT OF STEAM on heartbreak hill. So I don't have everyone's photos on that signature hill. Sorry folks. The look on your faces would be priceless.



Many clubs were represented: MMCC, SFVBC, RiverVelo, Sta Clarita, SoCalBikeForums, and of course AdoboVelo. There were 53 riders and 18 volunteers. It takes a village to pull off this thing. Francis and volunteers donated 60 gallons of water (we purposely planned on one gallon per person, whether rider or staffer), 10 large bags of ice, 5 dozen sodas. Francis prepared 5 loaves worth of sandwiches, and lots of crackers, fig Newtons, etc. Rosalie lent her truck. Volunteers donated their time and gasoline (can you say $4.25, ouch). Egay and family drove in at 2:00PM to deliver the hot food for the finish line.

We missed the presence of some favorite riders: the comedians Dennis Evangelista, Jonas "Jojo Mayabang" & Abe "Kumander Agimat". Then of course our "role models " Mang El, Efren, Ramon, and Roy "Tisoy Viznok" Adeva. Don't forget the steady Kuya Abe. The reliable Albert and Dong. Climber Jesse A (and his wife Juliet who usually SAGs w/a videocam). And so on. We hope to see you next time. Hibernation is over. It's summer time.

One of our fave riders from another club, who gave us a thrilling show in December TDF, Keith Brodsky (SFVBC), wearing a red Barloworld kit this time, was seen pacing riders up heartbreak hill (he would pace a rider up, then go down and repeat with another rider). What a talented rider. (Mang El would be doing that too if he could come, but he was busy at work.)

Three riders did only part of the route. Cheers for their efforts: Jun Grape (the dad of "Pid" Grape) fell behind at the start, so Ricky convinced him to SAG the ride instead; He got in the truck at mile 12. Mike O'Connell had back problems and wisely took a lift at lunch. Lito (Mr Hibernation) Aralar, one of our strongest climbers, had been in hibernation for so long; He was very valiant on this ride: At mile 60, before the lunch stop, he wanted to ride the car; I said lunch is just around the corner, and just right then Rosalie's group rolled by, and Lito followed their wheel and did get to the lunch stop on his own. He took a ride at lunch. (Photo: Lito Aralar, head hanging, and on the verge of abandoning at Mile 60, instead decided to hang onto Louie Rivera's wheel in these rollers 4 miles before the lunch stop. Rosalie Kneebone was pacing in front.)

Tour de Francis Roster, May 31, 2008,
Frazier Park, California
100 miles, 8_500 feet of climbing
Organized by: Francis Marlon Ignacio (Tour Director) and AdoboVelo

#	Last Name	First Name	Age	Club	Bib #
1	Nepumoceno	Mike	43	MMCC	92
2	Guerrero	Jerry	46	MMCC	99
3	Ignacio	Reggie	47	MMCC	106
4	Daniel	Al	37	MMCC	127
5	Tacloban	"Agent Al"	46	MMCC	128
6	Soriano	Raffy	36	MMCC	129
7	Phetsany	Scott		MMCC
8	De Leon	Bong	47	River Velo	154
9	Robles	Jose	45	River Velo	155
10	Brodsky	Keith	44	SFVBC	15
11	Thomson	Jim	51	SFVBC	31
12	Heinolz	Steve	57	SFVBC	80
13	Stramat	Cathy	56	SFVBC	89
14	Hallam	John	54	SFVBC	90
15	Schuler	Bill	60	SFVBC	102
16	Shprung	Shai	41	SFVBC	103
17		Maria		SFVBC	116
18	O'Connel	Mike	54	SoCal Bike Forum	133
19	Conrad	John	38	SoCal Bike Forum	152
20	Rafferty	M.E.	38	SoCal Bike Forum	153
21	Fusezi	Edina	31	SoCal Bike Forum	151
22	Doplito	Pete	41	SoCal Bike Forum	156
23	Shaker	Andy	50	SoCal Bike Forum	125
24	x	x		SoCal Bike Forum
25	x	x		SoCal Bike Forum
26	x	x		SoCal Bike Forum
27	Berdin	Glen	38	Sta Clarita Velo	107
28	x	Desi			108
29	Xavier	Patrick	41		120
30	Barrera	Thomas	46		130
31	Campued	Victor	49		132
32	Baden	Shawn	42		150
33	x	x
34	Abad	Rey	32	AdoboVelo	93
35	Aligue	William	38	AdoboVelo	160
36	Amit	Manny	49	AdoboVelo	149
37	Aragon	Ben	39	AdoboVelo	124
38	Aralar	Lito	45	AdoboVelo	131
39	Asuncion	Deo	59	AdoboVelo	94
40	Claudio	Tim	45	AdoboVelo	146
41	Dones	Richard	34	AdoboVelo	148
42	Grape	Jun	59	AdoboVelo	13
43	Grape	Cupid	34	AdoboVelo	26
44	Ibasco	Henry	40	AdoboVelo	159
45	Kneebone	Rosalie	38	AdoboVelo	122
46	Morente	Ed	44	AdoboVelo	105
47	Navalta	Louie	53	AdoboVelo	123
48	Primavera	Pete	47	AdoboVelo	126
49	Roldan	Ryan	35	Adobovelo
50	Rivera	Louie	55	AdoboVelo	100
51	Santamaria	Jesse	48	AdoboVelo	147
52				AdoboVelo
53	Usi	Jun	54	AdoboVelo	104
54	Santiago	Manny		MMCC SAG
55	Messara	Allan		AdoboVelo SAG
56	Genato	Mandy		AdoboVelo SAG
57	Herrera	Ricky		AdoboVelo SAG
58	Dakila	Victor		AdoboVelo SAG
59	Rivera	Mrs Louie		AdoboVelo SAG
60	Usi	Mrs Jun		AdoboVelo SAG
61	Usi	Daughter		AdoboVelo SAG
62		Regina		AdoboVelo SAG
63	Pacheco	Vince		AdoboVelo SAG
64	Udvarde	Imre		AdoboVelo SAG
65	Uyan	Egay		AdoboVelo SAG
66	Uyan			AdoboVelo SAG
67	Uyan			AdoboVelo SAG
68	Uyan			AdoboVelo SAG
69	Ignacio	Daughter		AdoboVelo SAG
70	Ignacio	MJ		AdoboVelo SAG
71	Ignacio	Francis		AdoboVelo Tour DS

Women of the Tour de Francis Stage 2 (May 2008)

Did we say this course was pretty, with great scenery?

Among the many reasons, is the presence of women cyclists.

(Above photo: OK, guilty, I shamelessly put this gratuitous and totally unnecessary photo. Credits: pezcycling.com's "Daily Distractions")

Road cycling seems to be a male-dominated activity. Having women on the course is a treat to the organizers and other riders.

(Photo: Regina and beau Gerald)

The boys like having them around, simple as that.

I don't know if you notice, but the boys get protective of the women cyclists. It's a primal instinct.

(Photo: Maria at Mile 20)









The TDF does not have the budget for "Porta-Potties" along the course.

Not having them is an inconvenience and disadvantage for the women (whether volunteers or riders). (The boys just do their business anytime anywhere.)

(Photo: That's me holding the door, and my breath, at the L.A. River Ride 2005)

But despite having to "rough it out", the women come to the TDF anyway. The boys are grateful.

Here are the WOMEN OF THE TDF. Six women. They all completed the entire course. Props to them.

Adobo's very own Rosalie (bib# 122) wearing the Hammer kit was all smiles from beginning to end. What else would you expect from this whirlpool of energy.

Rosalie

Cathy (bib # 89) wearing the knickers is not new to TDF. I think I remember her at the Big Bear and Castaic rides. She finished very strong, beating riders younger than her. Wow. She puts on the pressure.

Cathy

Desi (bib # 108) wearing the MTB knickers and fanny pack is a dedicated mountain biker (and only an occasional roadie). She tagged along with coworker (and co-MTB'ers) Manny Amit and Shawn . We saw her in the last group going up at the last hill at mile # 85. She was spent, but never complained one bit. What a trooper.

Desi

Edina (bib # 151) wearing the seafoam green jersey is a student (not sure if college or masters), who was too busy with papers and exams to train properly for a hilly century. She seemed to have a lot on her mind. She did well on this ride anyway. Very admirable example for us all.

Edina

Maria (bib # 116) wearing the OC REBEL jersey (or mint green windbreaker) has the light physique of a roadie. She did quite well too.

Maria

Mary Elizabeth in the sky-blue Trek is a "frequent flier" on the TDF. She's done a few double-centuries. She'll cuss and rage at Francis's evil genius as she suffers up the hills, but it's all in jest. You can tell she enjoys these epic rides that challenge her limits. When she arrived at the finish all her biker friends from SoCalBikeForum and Adobo gave her a very warm reception at the parking lot. She has a lot of loyal friends in the cycling community. Way to go M.E. !

Mary Elizabeth (more popularly known as "M.E.")

Personal growth

We now have had several consistent TDF's. They have been "brutal". We did Castaic twice (Dec 2006 and Dec 2007), Balcom Cyn twice (Feb 2007 and Feb 2008), Big Bear in July 2007, and now Frazier Park in May 2008.

WHY DO WE DO THIS? It's a question my relatives and friends always ask. We all have our own personal reasons.

The beauty of the Tour de Francis is that it brings all levels of cyclists together in one epic ride. The Tour de Francis has a reputation of challenging (actually, "brutal" is a more apt description for us mere "weekend" athletes).

Nothing is more satisfying than a hard-fought "victory", whether it's (A) finishing among the front, or (B) being in the middle but besting someone else in a "mini-race", or (C) being in the back but besting your own personal record, or (D) the entire ride being on the brink of quitting, and simply just willing yourself to the finish line after utterly depleting your physical and mental reserves.

In that sentence we just described 4 kinds of accomplishments, 4 kinds of cyclists, all equally deserving of recognition.

There were riders way in the back who had big smiles, despite the suffering, because they knew the enormity of their accomplishment.

And in the middle, we witnessed riders in groups. Each group was its own mini-race. That was fun to watch too.

Then there were the top athletes. To make it simple, let's consider the 4 front runners we witnessed racing to the top of Heartbreak.

Deo and Raffy reached the top together, mano-a-mano.


Pete was next (1 min 10 sec gap).


Following him was Henry (45 secs, but my camera jammed, sorry Henry) and "Agent Al" 4 secs later (I think that's him. If I'm wrong someone will let me know), then Glen, Mike, Reggie.

Being a top athlete like those guys requires 2 things: "potential" and "training".

Potential is something you're born with, e.g., naturally high hemtocrit (red blood cell count), low resting heart rate, large lung capacity, etc. Training is your plain hard work. It is what separates you from another person with exactly the same natural potential; The one who trains more, wins. The one who trains less, does not reach full potential.

The photo below is the elite group on the way to heartbreak. Notice the "Orange Crush" (those MMCC jerseys, they always come out to play!). In this elite group were 4 MMCC (Raffy, Reggie, Al and Mike), 3 Adobo (Deo, Pete and Henry), and 1 Sta Clarita (Glen Berdin).


Here below, Pete was trying to put a time gap before reaching the hills. Deo and Raffy pulled him back. The rest in that lead pack were Henry, Al, Mike, and Glen.


Those riders who raced to to top of heartbreak were simply awe-inspiring to watch. They were born with "potential." But that's not enough. If you don't train, you don't achieve your destiny. These top athletes trained hard to acheive their full potential. We must give them props.

15 miles prior to hearbreak, at mile 54 (pistachhio store) the lead group took a break.

They's still laughing and joking. Not all of them joined the heartbreak breakaway.



For "edutainment" let's digress a little bit on the topic of hematocrit (red blood cell count). In case you were absent from biology class that day, Red blood cells carry oxygen. The more you got, the easier it is to deliver oxygen to your cells. Reference range for hematocrit is 30 to 50, meaning, if you have 30 or lower, you are seriously anemic, and if you have 51 or more, you are automatically suspected of doping.

In truth, there are people who naturally have 51 or higher hematocrit. My own brother Jordan has 51 hematocrit, smokes Marlboros. I train twice as much and don't smoke, and I'll still lose to him going up Glendora Mountain Road (10 miles, 5% avg gradient) because my hematocrit is a crummy 38, and my resting heart rate is too high at 80 BPM. That's really lousy "potential".

So you see, you need "potential". You also need training. Jan Ulrich (one of my fave cyclists even to this day) had greater potential than Lance (another fave). But when Jan was night-clubbing and getting fat in the winter, Lance was training in the Alps. The results speak for themselves.

If you don't have "potential", you can raise it artificially (illegally) by doping. As you all know, dopers can raise their hematocrit by either taking EPO (a wonder medicine for recovering cancer patients whose RBC is depleted from chemo), or taking blood transfusions.

Either way, if done improperly, it can result in your blood getting too THICK. Guess what happens when blood is too thick: It's harder to pass through the veins, so the heart has to pump extra harder. That's like your heart working as hard as if you were climbing GMR, while you are asleep. That can result in death while you're asleep.

Unsupervised dopers who overdose on EPO have to take HEPARIN ( a blood thinner) when they feel their blood getting too thick.

Anyway, back to the topic of the four kinds of cyclists at the TDF. So let's say you have only average potential (or crummy, like mine).

No problem.

We can still make it fun. Whatever you are, whether it's top athlete, average, crummy, or barely making the cut-off time, you should carry on anyway. Train to reach your full potential, whatever that level is.

The TDF is there to TEST and CHALLENGE you. When the TDF is on the calendar, it makes you get up in the morning to train even in miserable weather. It makes you put in the miles.

It makes you pimp up your ride. It makes you come to the parking lot to join other cyclists for the camaraderie.

And in so doing, you achieve personal growth.

"The key to climbing a mountain, is to watch the pretty flowers along the way." Francis said that (in Tagalog) while we were climbing Angeles Crest Hwy in April. I wasn't sure what he was talking about. I didn't see any flowers. One of these days he will tell us what he means.