Cyclists to mark daylight saving time with 25-hour ride

If you're one of those folks who can never remember to turn back your clocks – the kind who shows up Sunday to your kid's soccer game only to wonder where everyone is – think about Greg Wilson.

He's putting a new spin on "fall back, spring forward."

The long-distance cycling enthusiast wants you to set your clocks back – he really, really wants you to set your clocks back. In fact, Wilson, 43, has enlisted four fellow cyclists to issue a novel but excruciating reminder.

They're planning on riding the 32.5-mile bike trail along the American River up and down, over and over, from noon Saturday to noon Sunday for 25 – not 24 – hours. Get it? That whole fall-back thing?

Wilson, a cyclist and director of finance for the Sacramento Association of Realtors, expects to ride 300-plus miles during the noon-to-noon ordeal. He'll be joined by four others – Marsh Wildman, Todd Pearce, Rob Ryerson and Linnie Andreotti – who are members of the Hammerin' Wheels cycling club.

Wilson says the ride offers plenty of logistical challenges – where to park his truck, how much food to bring, what to wear when the weather will range from balmy to cool to downright cold. Wilson and others did the ride for the first time last year, gathering plenty of experience for this 25-hour marathon.

If all goes well, the cyclists will rotate in a paceline, following a lead rider to preserve energy, then taking a "pull" at the front before falling to the back of the line. If they average 15 mph, as expected, they will ride 320 or more miles – about 10 trips from Discovery Park downtown to Beals Point at Folsom Lake.

Wilson says there are plenty of psychological and physical pitfalls to navigate as they travel up and down the trail – boredom, aching feet, chills, hunger and that dreaded numbness that can plague cyclists who ride for hours on end.

Wilson has an answer for all of it. He'll dress in layers, pulling on and peeling off arm warmers and leg warmers as temperatures dictate; he'll be entertained by the wildlife or, to distract himself, he'll reassess not only his day but his past week, month and year; and to avoid saddle sores and related maladies, he'll have a timer that chimes every 10 minutes to remind him to stand on the pedals and give his backside a break.

The bike trail, he says, changes throughout the day.

"When you're riding on the bike trail at dawn, you see the cottontails. And when you're riding at night you see the owls. The skunks come out around 10 p.m. The snakes are there at sunset but disappear in 30 minutes," Wilson said.

As for supplies, the cyclist will pack peanut butter sandwiches, fresh fruit, nuts, beef jerky for protein and V-8 juice for electrolytes. After the ride? Beer and pizza.

Wilson and the others are hoping to make the ride an annual tradition and attract fellow endurance cyclists to participate, with an eye toward forming a team to compete in Race Across America by 2015.

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