When the Brakes Don't Work

This morning Andy and I rolled over Graton Rd to the start of the King's Ridge Grasshopper.  I was feeling OK, not super spunky, but I was pleasantly surprised when Dan Hopley rolled up to the start pad.  That made 3 OrganicAthletes in the ride.  I say ride because it is not an official race by any means, but people ride it like it's a race.

With the threat of rain, the crowd was smaller than the last ride.  Still, there were some strong riders.  Brian Anderson, multi-time winner of the Terrible Two, and Roger Bartel, a regular Grasshopper fixture, would be key players.  I don't know the contenders very well yet, but Hopley pointed them out to me.

I did a little research on Brian:

Anderson is a bit of a mystery man. He doesn’t race. He doesn’t do other doubles or UMCA events. No brevets. As far as we know, he just rides around locally with his pals from the Pink Palace gang. And he flat nails the Terrible Two on the head, year after year.

Good, that makes me feel better.

The racing and the rain started as soon as the climbing on King's Ridge pitched up.  I felt strong on the climbs, but Brian and, to my surprise and delight, Hopley got a gap of a few meters.  Roger Bartel and I forced the pace while the pack behind kept whittling down.  As we reached the top of the ridge, Roger and I made it across to Brian and Hopley.

That's when things started to go downhill.  Literally.  And too quickly in my case.  The road along the top of King's Ridge rolls up and down.  On one of the descents, I discovered that my brakes weren't working too well.  This is a problem that has been ongoing, but it was especially pronounced with the rain.  I needed brakes.  I never crashed, though several times I knew I was going down.  At one point, I slid about 5 feet on a cattle guard.

At the turn for Hauser Bridge road, we had a lead group of 6 or 7 riders.  I stopped to try to fix my brakes.  I never saw the leaders again.  I'm lucky I saw home again.  Down Hauser Bridge Rd and Myers Grade, I had little control over my speed.  I could scrub speed, but I could never slow down more than that.  I don't think I've ever been that afraid on the bike.

After I stopped a couple times to fix my brakes (to no avail), I decided to ride in.  The rain was coming down good by this point.  The wind had picked up, and I was cold.  I cruised into Jenner with Leo, another local rider.  We had decided to head straight back to Occidental rather than go over Coleman Valley, when I heard "Hey Bradley!"  It was Hopley, shivering uncontrollably in the doorway to a little cafe.

I high-tailed it towards Occidental, bonked in Camp Meeker, fumbled with the keys to Hopley's car with my frozen hands, and eventually made it back to Jenner to pick him up.  He was still shivering. 

What a day.  Both Hopley and I were set to have good rides.  Andy finished 15th.  34 people completed the ride.