Please welcome Tim and Tracy Bartoe as the new ride directors for the Knoxville Fall Classic Double Century rides. They have been supporting these rides for many years and are excited to take the reigns.

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The ride will continue to follow the format first used in 2019. There will be a “Staff Ride” September 17th, limited to 50 riders. Volunteers that work the “Public Ride” will have registration priority for this ride, but there will be room for 35 to 40 non-staff riders as well. This ride will be very similar to our staff rides of the past. For the most part, we will continue to use our traditional rest stop locations, each run by 1 or 2 people, who will also drive SAG for a period before and/or after their assigned rest stop. Lunch will be at the Lower Lake park used previously. There will be no Pardehsa rest stop. Riders will be supported only by SAG drivers for the last 45 miles. There will be no after-ride meal.

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The following week, September 24th, will be the “Public Ride”, also limited to 50 riders. This ride will have the exact same format as the “Staff Ride”. Those volunteers that work the “Staff Ride” will have registration priority for this ride, but there will be room for 35 to 40 non-staff riders as well.

 

There are 10 specific volunteer assignments for each ride. One is for both Friday and Saturday -- the Quack Van / Ride Director for the day. One assignment is for ride prep on Friday, working with the Ride Director. Dedicated SAG - 1 is all-day and all-night Saturday. The other 8 assignments vary between 8 and 11 hours the day of the event. Each position would require one person, but could accommodate two, especially if the two wanted to work/drive together. 

 

Volunteers will continue to receive a discounted entry (currently -0-) to the ride for which they are not working. The one assignment that would allow a volunteer to work and still ride either weekend would be the Friday prep.

 

This format was used is '19 for Knoxville and in '22 for Devil Mountain and has worked well.

 

 

 

Both staff an public rides qualify for California Triple Crown ride credit.

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​KEY POINTS
This is an endurance ride. It is not a race. It is not a timed event. We will be keeping track of rider times at Rest Stops, but these are not published and are simply used for the management of the ride.

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There is a new course for 2022 as follows:

Over the past few years, the overall condition of Knoxville Road along the northwest side of Lake Berryessa and up to Lower Lake has degraded to the point that it is not currently safe to send cyclists or support vehicles up the route toward Lower Lake.  As a result, the ride organizers have decided to create a new route for this event and will only be using one route rather than a highland and lowland route.  We feel however that the new route will be well received and will continue in the same spirit as previous editions of the Knoxville Double Century.  The new route is just over 199 miles in length with an elevation gain of just over 12,800 feet. 

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The route will start just southwest of the Ranch Hotel on the west side of Lagoon Valley Park on Rivera Road.  It will pick up the original route on Lyon Rd which will lead through the outskirts of Vacaville.  After traversing some mild rollers, you will make a sharp left turn on Hwy 121 and go up and over the first real climb of the day on Mt. George.  Once you hit the top, there is a fast somewhat technical descent into the Napa Valley.  At this point you will have some flatter sections of pavement as you head to the first rest stop just off of the Silverado Trail. 

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After refueling and filling your water bottles you will return to the Silverado Trail and head to the longest climb of the day on Deer Park Trail. This climb is approximately 7.5 miles long with just over 1700 feet of climbing as it takes you from St. Helena to Angwin. You are rewarded with a long descent once you reach the peak.  Extreme caution should be used though on the descent.   It is steep and has many off camber turns where going slow is the best course of action.  At the bottom of the descent, the route changes from previous years as you turn left on Pope Valley Rd rather than going right.  This will take you up Butts Canyon Road toward Middletown.  Before you reach Middletown there is a second rest stop at the Detert Reservoir.  This will also be used as the fourth rest stop of the day. 

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Once leaving rest stop 2 you will ride through Middletown and take a right onto Hwy 29.  You will be on Hwy 29 for 6 miles before turning onto Spruce Grove Road. Spruce Grove Road is just under 9 miles in length.  On this stretch you will ascend over 900 feet most of which is in gained on the first half of this stretch.  You will however have a nice descent to Hwy 29 where you will turn right just a short distance from the lunch stop at Lower Lake Park.

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After lunch you will again rejoin Hwy 29 as you make a left turn heading back toward Middletown.  This is the same section of Hwy 29 used in previous editions of the Knoxville Lowland route.  After getting to Middletown, you head back toward the Detert Reservoir at mile 111 for your fourth stop. This is a good place to make sure you have food and water for the next section of the route as you will ride up Butts Canyon in the opposite direction as you did in the morning toward Pope Valley. Fourteen miles after leaving the fourth rest stop you will turn left on Pope Valley Cross Road and head out toward Knoxville Rd.  You will be treated in this section of the route to 9 miles of rural riding with mild to moderately rolling terrain.  Soon you will be at the fifth rest stop at the corner of Knoxville and Berryessa-Knoxville Roads.  This will be a familiar stop as in years past this was used prior to heading toward Lower Lake on Knoxville Road.  Instead of heading north up Knoxville Rd though, riders will turn right and head southeast down Berryessa-Knoxville Road toward Spanish Flat and the Hwy 128 intersection at Turtle Rock Bar.  Take a right onto Hwy 128 as you head out to Moore Creek Park for your last full rest stop at mile 156. Just past mile 150, take a right onto Lower Chiles Valley Road and then a left on Chiles Pope Valley Road to reach Moore Park on your right.   

 

Please remember to eat and fill up at Moore Creek Park.  There should be warm food at this stop plus snacks which you can pack for the remainder of the ride.  After leaving Moore Creek Park, you are back on the traditional route as you climb the back side of Cardiac Hill and descend past Monticello Dam at Lake Berryessa.  There will be a water stop at mile 184 at the Putah Creek Trailhead.  Shortly after leaving the water stop, you will turn right onto Pleasants Valley Road for the final 13-mile stretch back to the ride start.

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All riders must be preregistered. Registration will close the Monday before the ride. There is no day-of-event registrations. There are no rider exchanges. Each entry is only good to the person registered. Proof of identity may be required. Cancellation and refund may be possible with timely notification and if we can fill your spot.

Entry fee: $115 prior to September 1st. $135 after August 31st. Please sign up early! 

Rider limit: 50 for each weekend. Rider entry applications beyond 50 will automatically be wait-listed and you will be contacted if space opens up. We will no longer have a permit with Napa County as any ride with 50 or fewer riders does not require one. However, we still do coordinate with them, and we are required to have 50 or fewer riders each weekend.

 

The ride will start & finish close to the traditional location at Pena Adobe Park. 

All registered riders must check in before you start to ride. Check in will be between 3 and 6 AM Saturday morning. The start is “open”, meaning any time after 3:00 Saturday morning. However, all riders must be off by 6:30 a.m. Please use an earlier starting time if you are concerned at all about making the cutoffs - see route sheet for rest stop opening and closing times. Preliminary Route Sheet should be available soon.

First light: (when you won’t need lights on your bike) about 6:30. Riders have until midnight to complete (with intermediate cut-off times that correlate to a midnight finish).
 

SUPPORT
We are really proud of the support we offer. Although the ride is much smaller in scope for both riders and volunteers, we still feel that our support will be excellent. There will be five rest stops. Lunch will be served at Foster's Freeze in Lower Lake. They have a wide selection of food (I really like the chicken salad) and have been our staff ride lunch stop for most of the 19 years we've been doing this. Bottled water (not hose water) will be available at each stop. Gatorade, Hammer Gel, Endurolytes, HEED, and Perpetuem will be available at each stop. All riders will have a route sheet. We are no longer marking the course with paint. There are still some remnants of prior year markings, but please don't count on those as the course has seem some changes over the years. We will also have SAG drivers on course Many of them also work a rest stop for a portion of the day.

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WHAT IF I'M HAVING AN "OFF" DAY?
The time cutoffs on the route sheet are intended to provide a pre-midnight finish.  If at any point during the day you find yourself falling behind the cutoffs, there are always at least a couple options:

(1) Offered a ride back to the start /finish. This would typically be with one of the rest stop workers, so you may need to be patient. As you likely don't have anything else planned for the day, this shouldn't be a problem.

 

(2) Offered a SAG forward on the course. Although you would not get double-century credit, you could still end up with a wonderful day on the bike. In my earlier years, I would have thought this a crazy option, but once had an opportunity to take this option and had a wonderful time seeing parts of the course I had never seen before as it had always been after-dark for me in the past.

 

(3) At many points on the course, you could just take a more or less direct route back to the finish if you desire to finish under your own power.

 

In any of these scenarios, please make sure and communicate with at least one ride volunteer. It would be super helpful if you also text the Ride Director for the Day. That number will be published on the route sheet. Please don't make us spend limited resources looking for you when you're okay.

In any of these options, you can still have a good day of riding, but just won’t be an official finisher. 
 

WEATHER CONDITIONS

Well, it’s early fall, so we can get, and have gotten, the gauntlet. Perfect weather, rain, or hottr’ than stink. We are personally hoping for perfect, . . . but . . . The last couple of years have seen moderately hot afternoons (depending on who's doing the talking). We do our best to get ice & plenty of water out there, but every rider needs to be smart for any conditions.

 

LIGHTING
Virtually all riders will need legal lights. First light: about 6:30 a.m., full darkness, about 7:30 p.m. The California Vehicle Code mandates that any rider on the course before 6:30 a.m. or after 7:30 p.m. must have a full complement of front & rear lighting. If you do not, you will be disqualified. Therefore, even if you think you are fast & can beat the daylight limits, we suggest that you do carry at least minimal lighting in case you get caught out late. Better to carry maybe ¼ lb of extra weight than to end up with a DQ.

CALIFORNIA TRIPLE CROWN STUFF
The Knoxville Fall Classic Double Century rides will count toward the California Triple Crown. Those who volunteer will receive "Volunteer" credit with the California Triple Crown.

REGISTERING & CONFIRMATION
We have been using an online registration process for a long time. The changes to the event structure have necessitated changes in that process, and I'm sure there are still have a few bugs to work out. Please be patient and let me know if you encounter difficulties. Once you've submitted your application online, you can pay either through PayPal or by sending a check. Please do not pay if you are on the wait-list.
  

Quackcyclists 
c/o Scott Halversen

140 Gregory Lane Ste 180
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523 

Once we receive your registration, we will send you an e-mail confirming we have you registered. Registration turnaround depends on how busy we are with our "regular" jobs & family life - registrations are processed on a more regular basis closer to the ride date. You will be sent a link to a web-page that contains “Instructions to Riders & Rules of the Ride”. It contains exactly that, as complete as we can make it. Hopefully it will cover all your questions, and give tips about the ride, a more thorough course description, and make clear the few “gotcha’s” we do have. Please read it carefully. 

We will also post on the web a   list of registered riders   as we receive them. If you don’t get an e-mail confirmation and don’t see your name on the list a week after submission, please contact us. The week before the ride, we will likely send out a final e-mail detailing last minute-stuff. 
 

QUACKCYCLISTS & OTHER VOLUNTEERS
Quackcyclists are not a club. We have no dues, no membership rolls, no formal meetings. We are just a group of friends & cyclists who somehow got this crazy notion to put on a couple of bike rides. We are not formally “non-profit”, but we don’t make any, and none of us gets paid. (We all have regular jobs for that.) The entry fee covers the ride’s expenses, and on the occasional times the rides actually make any money, we give it away to charities & cycling organizations. 

Our volunteers & workers on the rides are our friends, folks we’ve met riding, and their friends & family. We have always managed to pull it off, and most folks have a great time (sometimes better than the riders) helping out. The re-imagined format requires substantially few volunteers than we have needed in the past, but there is still a minimum of 9 for each event. Volunteers can receive a complimentary entry into the ride the opposing weekend if interested. It is important to sign up early as the "staff" slots will be released to paid-riders at some point. Volunteer Information 

ACCOMMODATIONS

Best Western Heritage Inn  -  707 448-8453 

Courtyard by Marriott  -  888 451-8700 

Motel 6   -  707 447-5550 

E-Z-8   -  707 426-6161  (Closest to the west in Fairfield)

 

LOCAL RESTAURANTS     

Pietro’s #1 is our local recommendation.  They catered our after-ride meal for 18 years.  It’s a guaranteed fill-up of fantastic and classic southern Italian fare.  Located at 407 Cernon St. In Vacaville, off Merchant St.    707 446-1771

There is almost any chain-restaurant you can think of available as well.

 

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

The Quackcyclists & The Knoxville Fall Classic Double Century reserve the right to refuse entry to anyone, to remove riders from the course for reasons of their own safety, for the safety of other riders, for obvious & flagrant violation of the course rules or the California Vehicle code, or for the general well-being of the rider, the ride, other riders, or the Quackcyclists.