Another RAMROD Hopeful

I just signed up to Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day! You know, the (in)famous RAMROD? I believe the stats are something like 10,000 feet of gain over 150 miles. Yeah. For comparison, the HPC was 7,500 feet of 115 miles. The HPC was tough, but doable. Interestingly these two rides are about a week apart! the 200-mile STP & the 275 mile S2S (Seattle to Spokane via Highway 2) happen about two weeks prior to the RAMROD! That'll be a high-mileage week month if all goes as planned.

There's a "lottery" to get in on the RAMROD, so I'll go on a wait-list if I don't win a spot. If it doesn't work out perhaps I could turn it into a multi-day unsupported gigantic loop from Seattle.. we'll see how it goes.


They say the RAMROD is good training for the S2S ride, another local long-distance classic that I'd like to finish. And that the double century Seattle-to-Portalnd ride doesn't count as training for S2S! How's that for a "You sure you're ready for this, kid?"

8/1/08 update: I did it, and then some.

Swallowing Cougar Mountain For Lunch

Today I made it out to the Wednesday lunchtime ride at work in Redmond, and it was a perfect day for it too - Sunny and 50F. Yesterday on the bike alias at work I suggested Cougar Mountain for today's ride, and they said yes! Sweet.

(These lunchtime rides aren't Microsoft-only, they are put on by the Cascade.org & Albert Meerscheidt, also a local PBP ancien and SiR rider.)

These Wednesday rides are "High Performance Cycling" (HPC) rides, meaning a faster pace. I've always wondered how fast the HPC rides actually are, since they say the pace is "strenuous" (18-21 mph as defined by Cascade). Could I hang? Well there's only one way to find out.

So I let my team know I'd be gone for a bit, and met up with about 10 other riders at the Overlake Transit Center in Redmond, about 1/2 mile from my building. After a few introductions, an explanation that Albert (our ride leader) had unfortunately dropped a drill on his foot and couldn't make it, we were off.

To get down to Cougar we took NE 40th St down the hill to W. Lake Sammmish, and headed south. The pace was pretty snappy indeed, and we were in the 22-25 mph range on the flats, with a good paceline going. I like pacelines, although it can be a little nerve-racking when it's a semi-serious one, and you've got to worry about touching a wheel, getting a flat, or something else that can ruin the delicate balance that is a paceline.

When we finally got to Cougar, our group of 10 had been whittled down to four of us. Oops, I guess we sped away from the other six, sorry 'bout that! We started the ascension, and one rider, Patrick, immediately spun away from us, but not in a "I'm racing you" kind of way, more in a "this is easy for me" way. The funny thing was that he'd said it was his first time doing it!

I ended up moving away from the other two riders, although I never caught up to Patrick until I found him waiting at the top - well rested and probably bored after waiting a few minutes! We waited around for another 15 minutes or so for the rest of the group (including the dropped six) to trickle up to the top.

On the way back we used a bike trail I hadn't seen yet, the I-90 trail through Eastgate (just off of Newport Way). That spit us out on about 164th St. and we followed that north back to the Microsoft "campus." On the way back the rolling hills split up the pack again, and Patrick & I ended up alone at the front, both hammering away. Not racing, just going fast. It was fun for sure, although I could've used some more calories towards the end.

Elevation profile for the ride:

(The way back from Cougar wasn't that much longer, I think I zoomed in closer when clicking the route on the way back)

Ride Stats:
Total Distance: 41.1 km (~25 miles)
Rolling Time: 1 hour 41 minutes
Avg Speed; 24.5 km/h (15 mph)
[map link]

Sorted SiR 100K Results: The Competitive Side Of The Rando World

The results are posted for last weekend's 100K!

They say that randonneurring is not a competitive sport (hence the official results are sorted by name), but with the finishing times being published, they're just asking for someone to sort that shit and see who's on top!

So here it is, the 100k finishers list, sorted by finishing time:

Kantner, Kole 4:05
Koenig, Urs 4:05
Luttrell, Ian 4:05
Ragsdale, Chris 4:05
Martin, Thomas 4:17
Beeson, Peter 4:20
Hamilton, Ryan 4:20
Ohlemeier, Brian 4:20
Brudvik, Bob 4:25
Howard, Seth 4:30
Mage, Tom 4:37
McHale, Mike 4:37
McKee, James 4:37
Paley, Greg 4:37
Rankin, Peter 4:37
Roberts, David 4:37
Vande Kamp, Mark 4:44
Shopland, Ian 4:45
Graham, Doug 4:49
Perera, Shan 4:49
Lewey, Art 4:50
Harper, David 4:53
Pasciuti, David 4:54
Acuff, Jan 4:57
Brace, Jack 4:57
Buktenica, Julie 4:57
Haight, Rick 4:57
Hefta-Gaub, Brad 4:57
Methner, Wayne 4:57
Smith, Donald 4:57
Stuart, Charles 5:02
Lee, Chen-Tai 5:03
Speier, Andy 5:03
Watkins, Dan 5:03
Roberts, Mark 5:04
James, Jeff 5:05
Miller, Tom 5:05
Prince, Gary 5:05
Frazier, Steve 5:07
Jones, Phil 5:07
Ryan, Jim 5:07
Isreal, Tom 5:08
Thompson, Corey 5:08
Huber, Michael 5:09
Hemmen, Bill 5:10
Mikkelsen, Ole 5:10
Stanley, Eamon 5:11
Lee, Stuart 5:12
McKay, Peter 5:13
Morse, Josh 5:13
Halstead, Tim 5:14
Cann, Michael 5:15
Chow, Galvin 5:15
Favro, Roseanne 5:15
Holmstrom, Cindi 5:15
Jensen, Daniel 5:15
McFall, Ray 5:15
Nussbaum, Carol 5:15
Nussbaum, Ralph 5:15
Thomas, Mark 5:15
Dunphy, Allan 5:16
Fry, David 5:16
Nguyen, Thai 5:16
Cox, Greg 5:17
Loomis, Jeff 5:17
Richeson, Mike 5:17
Slaback, Dennis 5:17
Schneider, Pat 5:29
Jensen, James 5:30
Platzner, Joe 5:32
Richards, Owen 5:32
Hoffman, Charles 5:33
Nowlis, Suzanne 5:33
Briant, Bailey 5:34
Howes, Noel 5:34
Jorstad, Lars 5:34
Rommen, David 5:34
Blachon, Domenique 5:38
Blacker, Rick 5:41
Sprague, James 5:41
Krishnamoorthy, Narayan 5:42
Brett, Tom 5:45
Comeaux, Rene 5:47
Salinger, Kristie 5:47
Muoneke, Vincent 5:49
Gay, Christopher 5:50
Higdon, Robert 5:50
Leahy, Pat 5:50
Mikul, Matt 5:50
Tilden, Jeff 5:50
Funcke, Craig 5:55
Heg, Christopher 6:00
Azzam, Saliha 6:10
Ratsch, Eric 6:10
Vigoren, Eric 6:13
Williams, Maggie 6:13
Vincent, John 6:15
Menge, Christopher 6:20
Chan, Denise 6:27
Hastings, Steve 6:27
Lowe, Richard 6:27
Teeter, Dan 6:27
Wright, Duane 6:27
Bailey, Allison 6:30
Davis, Steve 6:30
Gail, Teresa 6:30
Mallone, Rosemary 6:30
Meerscheidt, Albert 6:30
Siebenaler, Joshua 6:30
Winczewski, Peg 6:30
Jackson, Mark Hors Delai

The top of the list reads like a who's who of NW speedy randonneuring! I know I've seen Urs Koenig's (4:05) name on the Cascade 1200K, and I remember seeing that he finished it in some ridiculously fast time (close to 50 hours, maybe less).

And I was just reading somewhere about how Chris Ragsdale (4:05) did 502 miles in 24 hours! Maybe I'll have the honor of being dropped by one of them some day.

Even though I do like taking a look at the performance-side of this ride, I don't plan on racing through any of the Brevets this season. As long as I finish the Brevets within time, I guess it doesn't matter what my time actually is. I'd be happy to finish the PBP in exactly 90 hours, no doubt!

SiR's "Big Time" 100K Populaire - Urban Hill Riding!

Today's ride was with SiR again, and finally it was in Seattle!

I've previously ridden 30 miles to get to one of their rides and made it on time. But I was late to today's ride, and it started four miles from my house! Guess I was thinking I could get there at the last minute..

Since the Miyata was having issues on yesterday's 50-miler, I broke out the (racy & fenderless) Ciocc instead. And since it was dry, there was no worry of spraying other riders. If only that thing could take full fenders, I wouldn't really need another bike. (Although its geometry is tilted towards racing, so it gets uncomfortable after about 100 miles)

Anyway, I started out the ride with a road-side speedometer saying I was going 39 mph down 23rd Ave coming off of Capitol Hill - sweet! If only a cop had been around to give me a ticket that I've been dying to get: a speeding ticket on a bike. It'll happen, dammit!

So after missing the start of the ride, I rode north towards Ravenna, since I'd at least looked at the cue last night, and remembered a few key turns.

Riding a route like this without a cue is pretty much impossible by yourself. Thus I had to leech off of assorted riders for directions.

The first big hill was somewhere up north, not sure what the name of the street was, but it was pretty damn tough! I saw about 30 riders walking their bikes up it, and felt a little "show offy" by standing and grinding up it - but that's what you've got to do with a 39x23 with a hill like that!

On a different climb, two women on a tandem said, "Whoa, look at that stud!" as I passed them going uphill. All I could say was, "Yeah but I'm dying!" (Meaning, it may look fast, but it sure as hell ain't easy!)

Eventually I found Chris at the Ballard Locks - lucky for me, he had a flat, and had also dropped his chain. We met up with Joby & Robert at the Lincoln Park control, so the "group" was whole again. We rode, we rode some more, and we did lots of hills. That pretty much sums it up! Again, it was a great ride.

Here's the elevation graph from the Big Time 100K (courtesy of Robert's blog):


As a side-note, if anyone's interested in a similar route, check out the "five summits of Seattle" - similar to this SiR route, except half the distance (with almost the same amount of climbing).

A Week Of Commuting, And a Weekend of Riding. What Else Can I Ask For?

Usually I end up either riding the bus to Redmond to get to work, carpooling a few days with a friend, and cycling to work maybe two days out of the week. My carpool buddy is in Europe, so I decided to pedal in every day last week. I realize how lucky I am to have my health, a flexible work schedule, decently strong legs, and a place of work that's only 16 miles away. And I also have a working bicycle (the Miyata) - yup, I've got everything I need to be an independent traveler; all I need is pavement, bridges, and my gear.

On Monday I had to get in super-early (for me, that means 8 AM) to watch Bill Gates speak to my division ("Entertainment & Devices") at Microsoft. Even though I didn't see him in person (they broadcast his speech to other parts of campus), it was interesting to see my boss's boss's boss's ... he's the boss right now, although he's stepping down soon to run the Gates Foundation. I wish I could sit down with him for a day to give me coding tips, but I don't even know if I'd be able to understand his guru-speak.

Anyway, since I had to be in early, I just pedaled a mile down to the bus stop, and put my bike on the bus to get out to work. Even though it's just a mile, the bike saves probably 20-30 minutes of walking overall.

Tuesday was a full-commute, via I-90, Mercer Island, and Bellevue. Let me tell you something about downtown Bellevue: it was apparently designed by people who assumed that all drivers are in large, comfortable new cars, and that these drivers number in the thousands. Oh yeah, and the drivers don't mind waiting forever at stoplights (seems like up to 4-5 minutes sometimes) - well if you're in an air-conditioned box with music, who cares how long the light takes? (It turns out that their assumptions were correct, and that most cars you see in Bellevue are large SUVs, mixed in with Audi's, BMW's, etc, etc) (Disclaimer: Like Kent says, I'm not anti-car, just pro-bike)

What I'm getting at is that my commute is totally slowed down by Bellevue, mostly by the damn stoplights. I come up 108th Ave (the hilly way), and I somehow never, ever, get a green at the light on Bellevue Way, so I always get to stop at the bottom of a 150-foot hill. Then after that if I keep going straight up to Main St, take a right, cross over I-405 (a sea of traffic, always slowly moving it seems), then take a left on 116th Ave. Here's where the traffic gets heavy, and the lights become many, with long waits. (Remember, we're all riding in comfortable boxes w/ music, so nobody minds)

Wednesday was more of the same, but I was starting to get tired of the platform pedals with straps that I was running on the Miyata this whole time. While it sure is comfortable to wear sneakers on the bike, it sure isn't efficient! Pulling up on the straps can lend you a little more power, but not being able to pull the pedal for the full rotation is a weird sensation. That night, I went out and bought some Sidi shoes!

So the commute on Thursday was much better, since my new SPD pedals with Sidi shoes are excellent! I especially like the way that the SPD cleats aren't huge (like Speedplay), so the shoes are actually walkable - helps on the flights of stairs I navigate daily. High winds today, it was pushing me from side to side on the I-90 trail across Lake Washington.

Yesterday, Friday, when I woke up there was light rain outside! No biggie, I've got the gear & dedication it takes to pedal 16 miles to work in the rain. On the way back in the afternoon, I was hoping to make it to Critical Mass, but didn't get back to Seatown until 6:15, too late unless I wanted to hunt down the group. Dammit, I bet they had fun too - the rain had stopped, and it wasn't too cold. Next month I'll go.

Today, Saturday, I'll be riding out to Redmond via the Burke-Gilaman Trail & Sammamish River Trail. It'll be a flat ride, since Dennis is still recovering from his foot injury, but I'm always down for some form of pedaling or another. About 50 miles in total, should be a nice little jaunt.

Then tomorrow, Sunday, I'll be doing the "Big Time 100K Populaire" - Oh my fucking god, guess who's coming to Seattle to ride?! The "Seattle" Intl Randonneurs! Sweet, can't wait to show them around my town, their nominal headquarters, although so far their rides have mostly started far way from Seattle. Their route goes all around Seattle, in a similar fashion to Dennis' "Five summits of Seattle" route. I'll probably post some details about this route later on today, as I'm sure the elevation profile looks like a roller coaster.

Miles this year so far (prior to this weekend's rides): 1079 miles (yes, I broke the 1K mile-marker this week!)
See my cycling log for details.
----------

In off-topic news, I beat Super Mario Galaxy (for the Wii)! Yes, I'm almost 30 and I'm playing games for ages 10 and up, but that game gets hard towards the end! Don't be fooled by the cartoonish graphics, it's a challenging game. My generation: those that were partially raised by the 8-bit Nintendo. (For those of you confused at this point, to "beat" a game means to finish it to the point that it shows you the credits).

And while I'm at it (bragging, that is), I also beat The Legend Of Zelda: The Twilight Princess on the Wii a few months ago! Now that one is really really tough, and I actually had to cheat to find the answers to a few of the puzzles in it. But heavily recommended if you're into that kind of game.

95 Miles Of Up And Down - Hills of the Eastside Solo Tour

I slept through the alarm this morning, and once I did wake up my big plan of taking the bus to Everett and then cycling up to Conway didn't sound so appealing anymore. I went back to sleep - it was 5:45 A.M. after all! (The SiR ride was in Conway at 9 A.M. today, it looked like a great route, but I just couldn't make it.)

Instead I did a solo ride with three main goals: climbing Tiger Mountain (~700 ft), Cougar Mountain (1400 ft), and Tolt Hill (500 ft) - since it was sunny and dry outside, I took the Ciocc out for a fast spin. The route was Seattle to Renton to Issaquah to Tiger Mtn to Issaquah to Cougar Mountain to (almost) Fall City to Carnation to Redmond to Bellevue and back to Seattle.


In the end it wasn't necessarily a 'fast' ride, but the light Ciocc (with nice light wheels on it too) is a race bike, and it rides like one! A max gear of 53x11 lets me scream down hills, I think my max speed for the day was about 71 km/h, going down Inglewood Drive out in Sammamish. But the smallest gear I've got on the Ciocc is 39x23, which is probably the most I could push up Cougar, but somehow I made it without stopping.

The views of the Cascade Mountains (and Mt. Baker too) were incredible from Cougar Mtn! And the closer-up view of the Cascades from the road to Carnation were sweet too. I didn't have a camera, but just imagine snow-capped peaks and 4,000 ft cliffs.

I hadn't done Tolt Hill in a few months, and had forgotten how tough that climb really is! Same with Cougar Mountain. But in the end, I counqured them all and got some more miles under my belt.

My computer read 154.6 km at the end of the ride, with 6 hrs and 30 minutes of rolling time recorded. The average speed was only 23 km/h, but with all the climbing it was the best I could muster. Check out the elevation graph, you can really see how mighty Cougar Mountain puts all of the other climbs in perspective. (Click to enlarge)

Start time: 10:15 A.M.
End Time: 6:00 P.M.
Total Distance: 155 km (95 miles)
Average Speed: 23.5 km/h

Random Rambles - SiR, Miyata, Yuppie Thief

Well the Miyata is now running as smooth as butta, and I might even take it out on the SiR ride tomorrow: Conway to Bellingham loop. But there's the whole issue of the fact that Conway is about 52 miles from my house! SiR seems to enjoy staring their rides in far away & exotic places, so I guess I better get used to this. So if I'm gonna make it, I'll be busing it up to Everett, and then riding to Conway from there. I'll probably be late to the ride, but hopefully I could catch up.

Last night I took the Miyata on a 'test drive' - specifically, can this bike withstand the stress of a climb up N. Queen Anne Ave? (That's about 6-8 blocks of some of Seattle's steepest) Would the newly-attached chain pop off, or something similary horrible happen? Nope! I made it up, even though the gearing is maybe a bit too steep (38x25 I think) The other half of the test was can I haul this heavy thing all the way up without dying? The answer there was yes, and I made it to Kerry Park without too much suffering.

And the only time I can really feel how heavy the Miyata is is when I have to carry it up the four flights of stairs to get to our apt! Sometimes that's the most tiring part of my commute, just lugging that damn thing around.

And in other news, a local yuppie was stealing nice bikes! Couldn't he have just bought the damn things?!