Alex Simmons said:I was in a donated Boba kit, and was an honorary Boba for the day.
If I didn't realise or recall, my apologies. I can't imagine there would have been all that many amputees out there. Certainly none wearing Boba kit. Mind you, at the bachelor's party that night I suspect a few might have become legless.
Alex Simmons said:Ah - OK - I remember someone calling out they were a ~ minute up the road. We did get them I think but I let them go again on another ascent - I was making my own pace and it paid off as Steve tells me that several of them were pretty cooked at the end and I was coming home strongly. Caught them just after we'd pretty much done with the last major descent and them I stayed at the front end of the bunch for the fast run back to Santa Rosa. 3 of us did a slight detour for the last couple of miles to avoid the dirt section. The names I haven't quite got fixed in my head yet - need to study the map a bit more.
My ride time was 6:04. and another ~20-min of stops for photos and bidon fills and a short while when someone had an early puncture. And the Boba peace offering in the graveyard early on
As for skipping the dirt/gravel ... I thought you had taken a wrong turn on Hall Road (I turned left and immediately someone yelled my rear wheel was going soft). You could simply take Hall Road and turn on West 3rd St.