SIR's Windy Ridge 600k 2009 - Another Great DNF

Of course I went into this ride with a determination, or at least some kind of afterthought, that I really needed to complete this ride this year. It's a tough course, not just in terms of time/distance, but also in terms of terrain. (Check out the profile here) Four major climbs: Paradise, Windy Ridge, White Pass, Chinook Pass. And extra challenging this year also in terms of sleep deprivation what with the 9 PM start.

If this is rando school then this 600k brevet is certainly an advanced course, not for beginners. Even as an intermediate rando at some points I feel like I'm over my head a bit on this ride. This is truly advanced suffering. But like they say shoot for the stars and you just might hit the moon, right? (e.g. I always figure that even if I DNF these big rides they at least make for a good story & photo set)

This year at least my camera's batteries were fresh, so once the sun came up I had plenty of opportunities to take some shots.

The Ride

After some pre-ride notes from Jan, the group of about 11-12(?) of us set off From Enumclaw into a clear summer night. Nice and warm, no need for a jacket or leg warmers yet. Seemingly within meters of starting a few riders were already way up the road, their red rear lights getting smaller and smaller - for some reason it always seems like they're on a motor scooter since you can't see their feet moving, and they seem to move away so fast.

The group of about 10 of us congregated and settled into a nice speed - I have no idea what that speed was as I was saving my Garmin's (15-hour) battery for closer to the start of the Paradise climb. Night riding can be a drag sometimes (well, most of the time for me), but in a large (and fast-ish) group time seems to fly and if you aren't conversing maybe you can listen to others and generally enjoy the ride.

Somewhere before Eatonville Chris & I noticed that Robert wasn't in the pack anymore. (read his ride saga here) Had he suffered a flat? We had no idea but were hoping we'd see his light behind us catching up at some point. Looking back, I kind of wish we'd waited but in the rush of the first few hours I think we were happy to be sailing along in the group.

Then, a Disaster of Sorts

I forget which road it was on, but some time in the first two or three hours I hit a large pothole (the kind that seemingly grabs your front wheel for a moment) that sent my handlebar bag into the top of my Schmidt E6 front light, knocking the whole casing of the lamp onto the ground. I heard the sound of plastic hitting the ground just after the pothole, looked down and saw my front wheel in darkness, which was bad since the light normally partially lights up my front wheel.

So I cursed loudly and slow down, hoping to recover the light and get it back working. After all it was maybe 11 or 12 at this point, so we had a good deal of night riding remaining in (not to mention the second night of the ride). Once the lights were out, and the group had quickly gone up the road, I realized how utterly dark it was on this road. As I was turning around I saw a bright bike light up ahead, and was relieved to see Chris roll up asking if that was my light that fell off. Indeed it was.

I found the light casing, screwed it back into the mount and spun the wheel. Nothing. Shit. Then Chris asked a great question - do you have a spare bulb? I didn't think that the bulb had fallen out altogether. The advantage of riding with someone else (especially at night!) is that when your brain isn't really working maybe theirs is.

In fact I did have a spare bulb, even if in the rush of this little disaster I'd forgotten it was stuffed into my handlebar bag. I was more than relieved when slapping it in there and it did the trick. Nothing like the feeling of fixing something broken, especially when you're depending on it to move forward.

Only thing was that part of the plastic mount the E6 on had broke off, so it wasn't mounted quite as solidly as it used to be. It was jiggly but stayed in place. I rode for an hour or so with it pointed way too low, only maybe 20 feet of light in front of me when there should be 100+.. I was too impatient to mess with it since it was at least partially working and Chris' LED E3(?) more than made up for my lack of light.

The thing about this handlebar bag was that I usually don't use it on this bike just for this reason - it comes down too low for how I mount the E6. So this time I thought I'd be slick and tie it around my brake/shifter cables instead of the bars, thus raising it a few inches - though this stopped working as soon as the weight of the bag was pulled down onto the light by that damn pothole. So after fixing the light I flipped the handlebar bag over so that it sat on my stem - an odd-looking position but it was the best I could do to help the light stay in place. It got the job done.

(For what it's worth I also had a backup light, but it was a weak CatEye LED I use for commuting - a true last resort that I luckily never had to break out - not something I would have wanted to descend a pass with, for sure)

Moving On To Paradise

We passed through the tiny town of Elbe, which I've passed through quite a few times this summer on various rides, but never at night. Water supplies were fine (had 2.5 bottles on the ride, 1.5 left at this point maybe), so it didn't matter to us so Chris & I just pedaled through.

At the Rainier National Forest Entrance I decided to finally fix up my light which had been pointing too far down. Chris was nice enough to stop and wait while I fiddled with it. I was hoping Robert would still catch up to us but still he was not to be found. Eventually my light was pointing straight again, hooray, I could climb & descend the mountain with confidence.

Paradise Climb

I always enjoy this climb and was excited to do it again even though I wasn't expecting to see any scenery since it was so dark out. It never gets overly steep, and this year I felt a little quicker up the mountains than last year's version of this ride (last year was on the Surly Pacer, which weighs about 10 lbs more loaded, and more importantly isn't as stiff as the Ciocc).

At one point we turned a corner and were met with what seemed like a blast of furnace air. Weird. It felt like riding into 12-noon out of nowhere, but it didn't last long and the temp got back to the 50-ish it was before (I assume).

To my shock we bridged up to Dan Boxer soon after Longmire - he's a pretty amazing climber and usually drops me on climbs of length. Seemed like he was a little tired and was happy to have company. We stuck together and the three of us got to the summit before too long.

Oh, and on the way up we could see Mt. Rainier's peak in the moonlight! A sight I'll never forget.

The Ciocc atop Paradise (4,000+ft) at about 4 in the morning.

Dan took a 10-minute cat nap (Chris might have as well) up at the top, and another rando was up at this control (Barry?) sitting down and possibly also napping. After all it was 4 AM.. I was antsy to roll but at the same time didn't feel like descending into the night alone, most likely to have them catch up later anyway.

The four of us left eventually, and the descent down was a blast, albeit a bit risky at times I suppose. I led it out and was pushing it on some of the initial straight-aways, trying to spin out my 53x11 gear. Before too long there were three small lights behind me, off in the distance. Soon we hit the stop sign and they weren't too far behind me so we continued together.

Sometimes on a sharp turn my E6 lamp (which doesn't have the widest beam) didn't quite cover the whole road - so I was either going off of moonlight to see or maybe the riders' lights from behind. It was a rush though, I loved every second of it!

On To Packwood

After the descent we took a right on Highway 123 (Cayuse) and got a nice little downhill for the most part to Packwood. By this time it was starting to get way colder and I donned my leg warmers & long-fingered gloves. It seemed odd that it was getting coldest at sunrise or so but that's the way it was.

I had a breakfast "burrito" here at the store, and refilled my water bottles. So far, so good. I think we'd done about 100 miles at this point and while we weren't breaking records we were moving along.

This section on US-12 & a backroad we got to Randle the last place we could buy food or water for something like 90 miles. Next up was the climb up to Windy Ridge, just 30 miles away. Sometimes 30 miles can seem like an eternity, especially when the overall average speed approaches 12 mph not to mention this is a mountain climb.

Climb to Windy Ridge

In fact this portion of our ride encompassed the High Pass Challenge, a century+ put on by Cascade for the last few years that was my first intro into mountain climbing on a bicycle. Funny how things have progressed since then, though I still wouldn't say the HPC is an "easy" ride.

The difference with our approach to the Windy Ridge takes us up a slightly smaller & steeper road, FS-26. Leave it up to SIR to find an even more challenging route than the "Challenge."

I felt stronger here than last year, as I remember being dropped by our little group early in this climb then. I stopped for a photo-op/rest opportunity shortly after reaching FS-26, and let Dan and Chris go ahead. After that I felt invigorated and found myself climbing in the big ring (well, part of the time), hoping to catch back up to my companions before too long.

Eventually I caught them, though they'd taken their own break so that certainly helped.

Dan on FS-26, a Forest Service road heading up to FS-99 and Windy Ridge. It's got some nice kicks up towards the top, I think this was where they started.

Up towards the end of FS-26 it seems to just go straight and no more switch-backs to help you with the grade, the engineers decided 10%+ was OK for the last mile or two. Ouch, that section hurt with a 39x27 low gear, but I somehow made it. If nothing else a good workout in itself.

We got to a "control" where a lone volunteer had been sitting in the sun and signing brevet cards and handing out water all day. Though I had enough water to get by it was nice to munch on some chips and get some ice in my bottle. Huge thanks to John(?) that sat out there forever helping us out.

We started the ascent and were now in the blast zone, taking in all the scenery. Almost too much to take in at once: St. Helens crater in the distance, Rainier behind us, Adams and Hood over to the left. Wow. It just doesn't get much better than that.

The only thing I hate about this climb is that a) I can never tell where the end is, at least based off visual clues, e.g. all those turns look the same! and that b) there's a good deal of down along with the up, so on the way back you're not always descending. Ugh.

Finally, the Windy Ridge viewpoint! At about 12:00 PM we reached the viewpoint of the blast crater and Spirit Lake. Here's a shot of Dan & Chris taking in the scenery, and enjoying some off-bike time.

(As a side-note, I learned yesterday on my return visit here with Kira that there's a much better view of St. Helens at the viewpoint just before Windy Ridge - next time around I'll stop there for a photo op too)

We didn't take too long here and before too long were rolling again. We were well within the time limits and I felt decent, though was looking forward to some "real" (e.g. hot) food back in Packwood, which was hours away.

We went back to the mini-control and I had a Sprite that really hit the spot. Chips also hit the spot as did some pancake pieces that were offered. I'd been running off Clif Shot Blox/Gels, and some peanuts I bought in Packwood, but I didn't bring any real food and was depending on resources to fill in that void. Possibly a mistake but it's worked on other rides..

We set off and started the (annoying) descent/ascent back to US-12 and onward to Packwood. I actually felt pretty strong on US-12 heading back east and we had a nice tailwind so I geared it up and got it going - then a big truck came by and gave me an extra woosh, so I geared it up to 53x11 and got it really going. Only for a few seconds probably but it feels good to do that ~20 hours into a ride. Dropped my companions but I knew I'd see them again in Packwood which was only miles away.

Back in Packwood, I had two orders of mozzarella sticks, a piece of Dan's burrito - which hit the spot, but looking back I should have had more food here. Also, I probably shouldn't have doused the burrito scraps in "Taco Sauce" that ended up being spicy.. I like spicy but not on long rides.

I caught a case of the hiccups here in Packwood that lasted, off and on, all the way to the overnight control at Rimrock Lake which was something like 30 miles away. In fact the hiccups even re-surfaced a little the next day, weird. Rando rides do strange things to your stomach, this much I know.

Climbing White Pass

Leaving Packwood I started to feel less and less "good," and the ride started to be less and less "fun." Also, food/drink seemed less and less enticing. Uh oh. These are signs of either dehydration or inadequate fueling.. I probably should have had a real meal at some point along the way. I was thinking about calling it a day/night at the control if possible. The ironic thing is that Chris was feeling a bit ill up to this point and was saying the "D" word a lot, but I kept silent and hoped we'd both get past our ill feelings toward the ride at that moment.

On one hand this was "the big brevet" for me this year, but also I didn't feel a great sense of urgency to carry on for some reason. I'd already accomplished Super-Randonneur for this year so that wasn't an issue I guess.

Now climbing White Pass (4,500ft) at about 7 PM or so - the sun was setting and we were nearing the "overnight" control - the mile markers seemed to take forever to tick down, we "only" had 12 miles to the summit or something like that. Just a few 6% grade stretches for 2-4 miles and some slightly less steep stuff and we're home free. We'd covered about 370k (230 mi) at this point.

Chris said we were holding about 6 mph and I was happy with that, it was faster than it felt. It was a pace we could all live with, and we reached the summit at about the same time. It was getting darker and colder now, and Dan & Chris stopped to add some more layers for our descent to the cabin at Rimrock Lake.

I just wanted to get this section over with and only donned arm warmers for the descent, I didn't feel like digging out my jacket or leg warmers even though I might regret it. So I set off and told them I'd see them soon, most likely at the control.

An Early End

I made it to the overnight at about 8 PM and was extremely happy to be there but still not feeling good about the rest of the ride. We'd get maybe an hour of sleep and then need to set off or else be in danger of getting close to the control closing times. I felt like I needed about four hours of sleep in order to tackle Chinook at this point - things just weren't adding up to me finishing.

Would I be able to even stay there at the cabin? Since there's no SAG wagon, would Kira even be up for picking me up and taking me back to Seattle? How much would a taxi back to Seattle cost anyway?

Ryan generously offered chili, minestrone, cheese, water, all kinds of good stuff. Mostly at that point I just wanted plain water, which I hadn't had in hours since all of mine had Nuun-tablet flavor in it, which I was now sick of.

I picked at my chili and couldn't really get much of it down, and the hiccups were still off and on. I didn't feel necessarily sick but didn't feel like riding over a pass in an hour or so either. The options were clear: sleep for an hour, get up at about 11 PM and head up and over Chinook Pass in the night, or stay here, sleep in, and hope Kira would pick me up in the morning.

I was relieved when Ryan said I could stay there overnight no problem, and even more relieved when I called Kira and she agreed to pick me up the next day. Thanks baby! That was a huge favor). My ride was over and I couldn't have been happier, at the time. Though of course in the back of my mind I already knew I'd regret it, but oh well. It's just a bike ride.

When Ryan woke Dan & Chris up after their hour-long nap, I was soooo glad to be curled up in bad and able to just stay there.

My incomplete control card - a memento for motivation for next year.

The Next Day

Kira came and got me from Rimrock Lake pretty early in the morning, and since it was such a long drive I figured we might as well make the trip worth it for her and visit some of the local sights. We went back up over White Pass, stopped at the scenic overlooks and headed out to Windy Ridge.

Kira had never been there so we figured this was the time to do it! And even though I was there the day before it would be fun to visit Windy Ridge as a passenger and take in the sights. (She posted some cool photos from our mini day-trip here)

I kept thinking about how if I'd continued on I'd still be riding at that moment - which was hard to imagine after having slept in and now going on a road trip. The latest one could finish the ride was 1 PM Sunday morning, and had I continued on I'm sure I would have been close to that. It was more riding than I was ready to deal with I guess.

Chris said later that he and Dan took three "ditch naps" on the way up Chinook Pass, and got up to the top at about sunrise. Wow. Kudos to them (and everyone else that finished!) for being strong and sticking it out - I'm truly impressed. Hopefully I can join the club next year, but until then this will just have to be another one of my growing collection of epic DNFs.

SIR's September 600k: Another Epic DNF

Prologue

If you look at the timestamp on this post, you will either surmise that I was really fast in finishing the 600k, or instead that I didn't finish it.. well unfortunately it's the latter case.

But it wasn't a total loss, and I'd even say it was a great ride. (Although finishing it some day would be fun too - anyone want to make a Permanent out of this route? I'm already itching to give it another shot.)


Anyway here's my story of attempting yet another 600k.

Challenges Before The Ride

From the outset I knew it was going to be a long day. (And by "day" I mean the 22-28 hours of bike riding I expected it to take to get to Naches, about 400k into the ride.)

Just as I'm about to launch for the ~7 mile ride to Robert's house, I realize my cycling shoes are at work! And work is in Redmond.. argh! I tried on some old Speedplay-equipped shoes but they were really uncomfortable and tight-feeling. Could I stand that for 30+ hours? Hell no. I needed my other shoes.

With all the packing I'd done getting ready for the ride, you'd think I would have looked for my shoes too. Should've done a pre-ride "shakedown," but these things happen. Lucky for me Kira was sweet enough to drive me out to Redmond, and then all the way down to Eatonville as well! Thanks, baby!! The ride wouldn't have been possible without you.

Even on the way down to Eatonville we thought we were lost; Our Mapquest directions were basically wrong in the Puyallup area, but a general sense of direction, and optimism that we were on the correct highway, kept us going in the right direction. Eventually we made it at 3:30 or so, with time to prepare.

The brevet start in Eatonville, WA at 4 AM

We started in the dark of course, with all of our lights looking like travelling Christmas trees. I was in the front of the pack at first, until two riders (Bob B & Robin P I think) sprinted past us like a breakaway by one of the French teams at the start of a TdF stage.

It was chilly but not too bad; my arm warmers & wool jersey, and shorts were plenty to shield me. I rode with Jacques from Alaska for the first hour or so, chatting about the crazy races he's done (like long-distance paddling races, snow-biking), and the brevets he's done around the country.

Bob & Robin were still ahead of us, but we kept their tail lights in sight for quite a while, surpsingly. For some reason I decided to ride sans cyclocomputer for this event, so I have no idea what our pace was exactly. But we must have been going at a decent speed, since looking back on some stretches I couldn't see anything, not even the flash of a rando's headlamp.

Upon entering the Rainier National Forest (I think we were supposed to pay at the ATM thingy, but riding through there was no attendant so we just kept riding.. I didn't have change anyway), it was time to ascend to Paradise.

Climb to Paradise

While at this point I was well ahead of most of the pack, I knew I'd be seeing most, if not all, of them at some point further down the road. I took a "arret naturale" and waited for Robert, Jack, and Dan (or some combination of them) to show up. The sun was rising now, and the darkness was being painted with lush green forest.

After only a few minutes Jack & Dan rode by, so I caught up with them. We rode together for quite a while, chatting and generally just enoying the beautiful scenery. Dan climbed quite fast, but was nice enough to wait for Jack & I a few times.

Eventually Andy caught up with us, and the four of us kept chugging our way up the mountain. The view of Rainier was clear, not a cloud in the sky! It was truly going to be a perfect day, at least weather-wise.

Jack looking strong climbing up to Paradise.

Breakfast At Paradise - 69 km, 7:53 AM

On the last three-mile stretch up to the lodge, I was dropped by the pack of three I'd been riding with. My heart rate felt a bit fast all day, and already I felt like I was pushing it too much. When you've still got at least 30 or more hours left in the ride, the last thing you want to do is redline!

I let them go, and just soft-pedaled up to the Paradise Lodge. Mt. Rainier looked extrememly cool, and once in the lodge I spotted a breakfast buffet. Having only had two croissants and a banana before the start of the ride, I was wanting something solid.

Each silver container contained hidden goodies, as if I were opening a treasure chest. Bacon?! Sounds good. Eggs? You bet. Oatmeal? Sure. Hash browns? Oh yeah. Even grabbed a pastry too. Paradise indeed! My eyes were bigger than my stomach, and I regretfully had to leave some scraps behind. I left a $20 bill on the table for my $12.95 breakfast; partially out of sympathy as a former food-worker myself, but mostly because it was time to hurry, no time for change.


The downside to this 15-minute break was that I lost contact with Jack/Dan/Andy/Robert in the process. Time to play catch up. With a full belly, and a renewed sense of strength, I set off to enjoy a blazing descent! I think descending mountains (on a clear day) could never get old.

I rode alone for a good two hours on the way to Packwood, being passed by litterally about three cars the whole time! After the ~5-mile climb up Backbone Ridge, I was greeted by smiling faces providing a refill of water, which was much appreciated. They said it would be a nice pedal down to Packwood from here, but I had no idea how nice! It was pretty much all downhill from there to Packwood, about 20 miles away.

After turning right on Highway 123/12, I realized I was descending the last part of Cayuse. At the intersection of 12, taking a right, I then thought about how we'd be coming back up this way later on, as this was the bottom of White Pass. The next 8 miles were an easy downhill to Packwood. (Which of course translates into an eight mile climb later on to get back there)

Packwood, The First Time (124 km, 10:25 AM)

Much to my surprise, I found my group of four at the gas station in Packwood, getting ready to head out. I made record-time in getting in and out, probably five minutes max. After a short sprint I caught up with this group of four strong riders, and I was glad to be in the company of humans again.

This gas station was right next to where the High Pass Challenge starts. Interestingly, we were about to ride the equivalent of the HPC!

Riding with Andy, Dan, Jack, and Robert on a back road west of Packwood:Resting in Randle, WA - I had no idea how hard things were about to get!

Windy Ridge

One of many washouts we encountered on FS26, heading up to Windy Ridge. Just before this we encountered a SIR sign with an note that we could choose either FS25 or FS26, and that 26 was filled with "adventure" and washouts.

And indeed, it was one of the most challenging roads I've ever done! But also one of the most scenic. Well worth the effort. Jan & Ryan did an excellent job laying out the course, and I hope to see the rest of it some day..Robert climbing in the Mt. St. Helens Blast Zone.

Robert enjoying the ascent to Windy Ridge.

One of many cracks in the road on the way down from Windy Ridge. The advantage to these broken roads was that cars weren't allowed in this section! It made for some very peaceful riding. Blast Zone.
After getting a PB&J sandwich from Jan, we set off to make our way back to Packwood. Jan had graciously lugged a whole trailer of food & water just for us! It definitely helped, thanks, Jan!

Packwood, The Second Time (288 km, 8:46 PM)

I arrived in Packwood at about 8:45 PM, surprised again to spot the trio of Jack/Andy/Dan there. They were about to leave, but it at least gave me a renewed confidence that if we weren't going to make it to the next controle in time, we weren't the only ones. Or that if we were this close to the rest of the ride(rs), we really weren't as far "behind" as it seemed.

Robert & Mark showed up shortly after I did, things were coming together. We'd figured it was going to take about four hours to conquer White Pass (20 miles of up I think), which would put us up there at roughly 1 AM, with 45 miles to go. And the 400k-mark cutoff time was at about 6 AM, so it was doable but the main question was would we get to sleep?

I got my card signed, filled up on water (with an extra bottle jammed in my rear pocket since the next 100k were sans any services!), and downed some food. White Pass loomed in the distance, daunting in the dark.

The End

But as Mark pulled out it sounded like Robert was hurting. Achilles tendon I think he said was acting up, and that he wanted to call it a day. And knowing that Robert has already done a succesful 600k and is a strong rider, I knew he was in serious pain.

And this was enough to give me a way out of something that was actually pretty scary to me: going up White Pass in the dark. I guess we knew all day that this was going to be the case, but now that reality had set in, I took the easy way out.

On brevets I think the unsupported part is what gets me through the ride. If it's 3 AM, you're hundreds of miles away from home, out of cell coverage, quitting might not be a real option. That really helps will power, because at that point it's either sit still or stay on the move, towards the finish and a chance to rest.

But with an actual option of being able to bail, the choice was too much to resist. My lack of motivation got the best of me. Part of me also didn't want to leave a friend alone; while I knew he'd be fine, with Jane & their friend just starting a drive down from Seattle, it was going to be a while before they got there. Would I want to sit alone there for hours? Nobody would.

We sat around and ate a few servings of "cheese" nachos, a few sodas, and lots of phone calls. We estimated maybe $5 worth of quarters in those things..

The locals kept us pretty entertained, and one even gave us this chilling tip: "Don't go to the bar," he said to us after giving us a good look up n' down. He also mumbled something about dog shit after that, and then went inside. I guess he's in the anti-lycra camp?? That is until Sunday football comes on..

Our bikes in Packwood (that's my new Pacer on the left):
Robert's wife Jane and their friend graciously drove down from Seattle to scoop us up (thanks a mil!!). We ended up waiting until about 12:30 AM, and I could only think about the riders that were probably still ascending White Pass.

I got home at roughly 3:30 AM, and I was dead tired. Most of the riders were probably still going at this point, I kept thinking. But I was glad to be home. Congrats to all the riders that finished or attempted this great ride!

I might do the OR 600 starting in The Dalles next week, which would allow me to at least get a Super Randonneur medal for the year. I'll keep you posted!

Ride results are here: link

The photoset on on flickr.

RUSA 10th Anniversary 200k Brevet: Sometimes DNF Stands For "Don't Neglect Friends"

Yesterday I set out to do Seattle Rando's 200k brevet, part of a series of brevets going on around the nation, in celebration of Randonneur USA's 10th Anniversary. About 50 Riders showed up for the ride to Bremerton via the ferry, a good showing for this soon-to-be-hot day.

As per my usual, I left home later than I wanted to, and barely made the ferry! When I got there at first, there was a double-line of autos!! And here I was at the back, patiently waiting:


Lucky for me the cashier waved me ahead of a bunch of cars, and I was the last person/car/anything to board the ferry! It wasn't the first time I'd been almost-late to catch a ferry.. hopefully the last though.

Rando bikes on the ferry:

Riders preparing to leave the ferry in Bremerton:

After some starting notes from organizer Eric, we were off! The beginning reminded me just a tad of Critical Mass - but instead of lots of fixed gears, these were mosty rando bikes, and there was no traffic to get in our way:

We got off to a good start, and held a nice pace. Robert on his fixed gear was looking strong. My buddy Dennis and his friend John came along, always nice to have more randos!

John and other riders on the way to the first control:

Dennis has always been a strong rider, and has a way of doing big rides with little-to-no-training - so neither of us thought it was a big deal that he hadn't ridden a lot before this 200k. We'd just planned to take it easy. And normally things might have just been a bit slower than usual; but with the 90F heat surrounding us, things went south pretty quick. But first...

Free Mozarella Sticks!

In Belfair, we stopped at a gas station for fuel/water. I like - scratch that, I love - fried foods, so I rarely shy away from the mysterious fried items on display at country gas stations. I ordered up some mozarella sticks, and when I went to pay for them she said, "You can have these for free, since they don't keep for very long."

What?! Well not to look the gift-horse in the mouth, I accepted my "gift" of who-knows-how-old cheese sticks without any question. They were fine. Surely not fresh, but they didn't taste bad anyway.


Free food never tasted so good:
The Ride Goes South

Technically we were headed north, but the ride was about to go south, in a bad way. The bad started when we took a wrong turn... a Big Wrong Turn that gave us ~20 bonus kilometers! The cue said the turn was easy to miss, and that the road was unmarked. Cryptic instructions went like: "Turn left after the Subway, but before the 76, towards QFC." All of which made sense when we took the turn... and the road was unmarked, so we just pushed along and hoped for the best. All of the roads out here look the same to me anyway, so I had no idea we were going the wrong way!

Our next turn was to be to the left, but on our left was nothing but water.. And soon the street name we were on became "North Shore Drive." Hmm. So we asked for directions, and sure enough they said, "About six miles back that way." Ouch!

Dennis was already suffering a bit, and while none of us were happy to have taken a detour, he certainly wasn't excited to turn around. Speeds slowed, and John & Robert were nice enough to wait for us back at the US 3/Old Belfair Highway junction.

After getting back to the junction, we saw the correct road, and finally took it. We knew what was coming next, thanks to our cues: Bear Creek-Dewatto Road, 8% grade for 1/2 mile! Finally the turn came, and the 8% grade was presented before us.

Dennis spotted a creek so we stopped and got our hats wet. My trusty bandanna, which can serve so many purposes, was dunked and felt great wrapped around my neck. We were running low on water, but the next control was only 10 or so miles away. No problem.

We had plenty of time to make it (at least an hour), or so I thought. But after we started going uphill, Dennis was really having a tough time at it. I waited for a few minutes at the top, and eventually he came around the bend. We rested in the shade for a bit, then set off again.

From Bad To Worse

After climbing this hill, which was longer than 1/2 mile (but not 8% the whole way), Dennis said at this point he started swerving, and just didn't feel "right." So we took another break, and he laid down on some rocks/bushes/whatever - not the most comfortable, but he really needed to rest! After 10 minutes he felt better, so we set off again.

But the hill just kept on going up, and it was really hot by this point (it was about 2 PM and 90F degrees). Dennis was feeling ill again, so we stopped and he needed more rest & shade. I could tell he was really not feeling well, and didn't want to push him to leave, but at this point we were really cutting it close to missing the cut-off time at the next control.

Dennis recovering in the shade:

The next control, only about five miles away at this point, closed at 2:55 PM. At about 2:30 he was still recovering/resting on the ground, and I figured we needed to get him to the control before too long. Riding there wasn't really an option for him, so I flagged down the first pickup I saw. I don't think I've ever stuck my thumb out for a ride before this!

The guy in the pickup couldn't have been nicer; he practically slammed on his brakes, skidded into the gravel shoulder, backed up, and offered his assistance. Who'd have thought an angel could be scruffy, shirtless, and bearded? Turns out the guy worked at the gas station we were headed for, so he knew where to go.

With Dennis in the truck and on the way to food/water/shade/recovery, I set off with about 10 minutes to go spare to make it. The guy in the truck made it sound like it was "just at the bottom of the hill," which it was I suppose - but the headwinds came out of nowhere, and the time kept ticking while the road kept going.

Eventually I hit the T-intersection, and took my left for the control. But it was 3 PM! Control-time missed by ~10 minutes, brevet over. I got my card signed anyway, with brief thoughts of finishing with a DNQ (Did Not Qualify), which seems only marginally better than a DNF.

The Control Back To Bremerton

Dennis was resting in the shade, looking a bit beat up, but still alive! On the way there I had images of bad movies flashing through my head, thinking, "Do I even know what the truck looked like?!" "What if they guy just steals Dennis?" Luckily the guy was totally legit, my worries were for not. He was indeed a scruffy angel.

I called Eric (the organizer) to let him know what had happened, and that we were abandoning the ride. His directions to the ferry were the exact opposite of an older gent we'd asked earlier (they older guy said take a bunch of lefts, Eric said take a bunch of rights). So we triple-checked and asked the clerk inside, and indeed Eric was correct.

After an hour or so of enjoying the shade, food, and water, we set off for Bremerton. The roads were pretty tame, and we made it just in time for the 5:30 ferry. Dennis had recovered and was fine at this point - funny how the body can do that, recover from the brink of disaster! It takes a strong human, both physicall and metally, to be able to recover like that.

In the end, it was a great ride, and I got to see some familiar faces: Narayan, Joe P, Mark T. Mark got a kick out of my tiny Carrdice saddlebag. Even met a blog reader, Jack I think was his name.

I ended up with about 170km for the day, just over 100 miles. Which was plenty for me on this hot, hellish day. While the ride had its ups and downs, overall it was fun! Big thanks to the organizers and volunteers; the controls were great! Although I don't think I'll be writing any poetry any time soon..

Anyway a few more photos from the ride can be found on flickr. Thanks for reading!

Seattle Rando's Four Pass 600k - My First DNF

Here I am in Enumclaw at the end of the ride - thanks to Kira for this shot! I love the accidental color-combination.

This was my first 600k and I was extremely excited about it. I got more sleep than before, and woke up at about 2 AM feeling as good (well as you can waking up that early). I was on the road by 3:15 and heading to Issaquah. No rain yet, so I was hopeful that it would stay that way.

On Mercer Island I was passed by Jan Heine & Ryan Hamilton(?), two riders also heading out to Issaquah for the Brevet! It was great to ride & chat with them, even if my fender was embarrassingly-sqeaky! Always nice to connect a name to a face. Thanks to you guys for showing me that new route to Newport Way, and for answering my many questions about riding food, etc. I learned a lot in those 30 minutes! For instance Jan said he was only going to spend 21 minutes at the overnight control at Rimrock Lake. Wow.

Issaquah to Skykomish (106km/66mi) - the ride got under way at 5 AM and I rode with Chris for all of this portion. We thought Robert was ahead of us, but he passed us in a peloton of 20+ riders when we stopped to put on rain gear. We got to Skykomish at 9:49 A.M. - at the Deli I had hot chilli & a latte - an interesting combination of food, but I kept it down at least.

Stevens Pass - we slogged up this, passing a few riders, fending off the light rain. It wasn't too cold, and the climb went surprisingly fast. At the top I wished for more gloves, as both paris I'd brought with me were wet (note to self: use one pair of gloves at a time, especially when a wet pass descent is coming up). The third pair I'd brought were waiting for me at the overnight control at the 400k mark.

The descent was cold, and my hands were freezing. I slowed down and let Chris go - the wind-chill was just too much. At the rest stop near the bottom of the pass it was sunny, and I spent way too long (~30 minutes) sunning myself and drying out all my gear. I eventually used some alligator clips and hung my wet gloves off my handlebars to dry them, it probably looked funny.

I enjoyed the rest of the ride all the way to Leavenworth, where the next control was.

Leavenworth - 188km/117mi 3:22 P.M. I pulled into the gas station that was serving as the control. Jennifer Chang was there, along with a few riders from Oregon Randonneurs. I rode with them out of the control, and turning on to Highway 97 there was an insane headwind - a taste of what was to come. It's about 32km/20mi from there to the top of Blewett Pass, and luckily it wasn't always a headwind.

Blewett Pass I rode with Dan Teeter for a while coming up the pass, and eventually slowed down to where I couldn't keep up anymore. Jennifer was climbing well, and I could only watch them disappear around the corners. Going this direction on Blewett seemed much harder than the other direction, and the climb seemed to go on forever. At the top we ducked behind a shed to get out of the wind, unaware that there was a food/water stop about 100 yards up the road! Brad (?) was there to offer smiles and water, both of which helped.

The descent was cold, and extremely windy. I could barely hold 20 mph going down the pass, and some gusts just made it feel like you were going backwards. Jennifer caught up to me and we rode together, trying to paceline our way through the wind.

After finally cresting on Highway 97 towards Ellensburg, we finally got a tailwind - going downhill I was crusing at 65 km/h (~41 mph), it felt great. Then on the flat section it was, as promised by the ride-organizers, indeed still a tailwind which we enjoyed. Finally, covering some ground to catch up on time.

Ellensburg (282 km/175 mi) - rolling in at 8:51 P.M. we found Dan at the Quiznos here, and sat down for a bit of real food. Probably spent too long here, which was the running theme of this brevet for me. By the time we left it was getting dark, time to start the night riding. Before the brevet I couldn't decide how much sleep I was going to get, e.g. do I ride straight through or sleep? Well with 75 miles to go to get to the overnight control, the only choice was to keep riding until we got there.

We rode through a Canyon (Canyon Road?) on the way to Yakima, it was very scenic even if it was pitch black out. Traffic was starting to die down, and the stars were very bright - I haven't seen the Milky Way in years, it seems. It never gets old though. But riding and looking up at the sky at the same time aren't a good idea, so I tried to keep my eyes on the road.

Narayan caught up to us somewhere along this road, and the three of us rode for quite a while together. I was thankful to have company at this point - riding by myself I probably would have just slowed to a crawl. I felt OK, energy-wise, but going uphill wasn't my strong-point on this ride.

We rode through Yakima (I kept thinking about how part of the "Echelon Network" was supposedly stationed here) & Selah, and when we finally turned on to Highway 12 we were greeted with a super-strong headwind. Narayan was having cramps in his legs, and was ready to call it a day. We tried to talk him out of it, and he rode with us for a little while but couldn't keep up. He eventually called in and gave up - a tough decision to make, but little did I know I'd be facing a similar decision in the near future.

Luckily it was about 2 AM by this point, so the traffic had died down from what was earlier a hellish road I'm sure. The shoulder is small in most spots here, and even goes away - and the rumble-strip blocks the rest. This 10-mile section seemed to last forever, and headwind didn't help. At the "secret control" we ate a sandwich and Jennifer took a 5-minute nap sitting in her chair. Dan was there, he had aparently given up somewhere along the way. He looked tired, but happy to be done with it all. We finally pulled out at about 3 AM, and I believe were officially the last two riders on the course!

The next control at Rimrock was part-way up White Pass, which we were on. We only had maybe 20 miles to go, but at this point that seemed like a lot. I took a few minutes of rest in a ditch on the side of the road on this stretch, and just looked at the stars (and I think Venus was up too) - we were so close to a warm bed, but I was just so tired. It felt good.

I slowly made my way up, and caught up to Jennifer again. My cyclo-computer had reset somewhere along the way, so without knowing exactly where we were we got slightly confused. It seemed like hours and we just kept going, but saying, "did we pass it? should we go back?" A dog was in the road, and trotted next to us for a good 5 miles! It was a pace car of sorts. Mark Thomas later said that other riders had the same experience - what a great dog! It must've been excited that there was something out at this hour besides cars.

Rimrock - "Overnight" Control (401km/270mi) - at 6:42 A.M. Sunday morning we finally made it in. Even though we were the last two there was no lack of support from Brad and the other volunteers. Many riders were leaving at this point (they probably got in at a reasonalbe 12-3 AM), and we were quite the spectacle for some of them - one guy even took pictures. Well I've always wanted to ride through a night and I guess I'd just done it.

The only bad part here was that we were losing time, and needed to leave by 8 AM. After a breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and muffins (thanks!!) I took a 30 minute nap. By 8:10 A.M. we were on the road again - not much rest, but some. We needed to get to the next control by 9:56 A.M. and were only 21 miles away - but there was White Pass in between us. (Eight miles up, ~12 miles down)

White Pass was not very steep, and in the interest of time I decided to stand up and "sprint" my way up it, or at least push 25 km/h or so. It was Jennifer was behind me but not by much. At the top I calculated that I needed to keep a 40 km/h (25 mph) pace coming down, which I somehow did.

At 9:55 I pulled into the control at the intersection of Highway 12 & 123 - one minute before the closing time of the control! A bunch of volunteers were there, offering food, mechanical services. They were awesome and really helped me keep going.

Cayuse Pass - "Only" 16 miles, and it started out easy enough. Once we entered the "Rainier Natl Park" the road started to steepen, and I really slowed down. Jennifer passed me at this point, she made it look easy! She was gone, up the "hill," and I was just chugging along.

Eventually I got a second wind, and started topick up speed. The most I could do was about 12 km/h, but it was usually closer to 8 km/h or so (5 mph). I felt the classic, "I've got 10 km to go, going 10km/h - one hour. At 8 km to go, now going 8 km/h. Damn, that's still an hour! 5 km to go, 5 km/h..."

Eventually I saw Jennifer again, way ahead of me. I eventually caught up to her when she stopped, and kept moving, slowly, towards the top. Near the top I felt good, and the 10-foot snow-wall on the side of the road looked very fresh. There was snow on the side of the road almost all the way up, but this was lots and lots of it. Cool, I love riding near snow (just not ice).

At the top I was excited to start the descent, but again time was pressed. I had to be in Greenwater by 2:08 P.M., and it was about 12:30 by this point. I forget the exact numbers but I was in another situation where I needed to keep a 40 km/h pace from there to the next stop. The downhill was very fast, and of course went by quick. On the flatter section heading to Greenwater I wasn't sure if I'd make it in time.

Greenwater (497 km/309 mi) - I made it here at 2 PM sharp - only eight minutes to spare! I saw the Oregon Randos again, and a few more riders that were heading out. I felt like I was finally making contact with the rest of the riders again, and could catch up on time.

After Greenwater I headed out alone, cursing the cold shade of the trees but enjoying the fact that the passes were over with, and the rest of the ride should be much easier. I was starting to feel the sleep-deprivation effets, and even had a few instances of "did I just dream on my bike?"

Then my problems started. Flat tire. No problem, although I had to chuckle since I was bragging to Chris the day before that I'd been flat-free for all of the brevets so far. This is on Highway 410, which has a foot-wide shoulder just small enough to ride on - but it's not a nice place to fix a flat. With a new tube installed, I go to use my pump. Hmm that's weird, it feels "sticky" and won't seem to work. After yanking on it a bit, all of a sudden I was holding two separate pieces in my hand - oh shit.

No cell phone, and I'm all alone. What to do? I tried my best to make the pump work again, but it was a lost cause. I knew Jennifer was behind me, and I figured she'd show up eventually. But there's wasn't anywhere to wait on this road so I just walked with the bike, heading towards Enumclaw. After 30+ minutes of just walking, a nice couple in a station wagon (w/ bike rack) pulled over and asked if I needed help. You bet I did!

Ironically, as we were pulling away I looked back to see Jennifer coming around the corner, so she probably could have saved my ride. But being in a warm car, off the bike, I'd given up in every way possible. My bike was already on the rack, and I decided I could do without finishing. A decision I regret, but oh well. Kyle & his wife, who's name I forget, were also riders and Kyle had done the RAMROD a few times, so he knew how crazy Cayuse Pass is. Thanks to them for stopping!

In Enumclaw I called Kira and asked for a ride - luckily she was home, and graciously came and got me. A while later we were packing the bike into her car and heading to Issaquah to get my drop-bag.

Even though I didn't complete the ride, it was still a great experience. I did a triple-century, something I never envisioned doing a year ago. I rested in a ditch, something I've wanted to try out. And a I learned that no matter how prepared you might think you are, something can still go wrong. Maybe I'll carry a backup pump from now on (I don't want to use Co2 cartridges, they seem wasteful to me personally). It's just ironic that I carry spare spokes, backup lights, a backup tire, spare cleat screws, a slew of tools, so I thought I had all the bases covered.

Physically I feel OK, although some finger-numbness is back. My legs are a bit sore, but not too bad. I might even go for a spin tonight just to see if I can. The only thing that's bothering me is the fact that I didn't finish the ride - but there will be many opportunities in the future to do something similar, and next time around I'll know more of what to expect, both from me (e.g. a tendency to sit around at controls) and my equipment.

Thanks to the ride organizers, and the volunteers too. I can't imagine doing these rides without their smiling faces!

Ride Stats:
Total Distance: 16 mi commute to start + 315 mi of brevet = 331 mi or 500+ km, my first triple-century!
Start time: 3 A.M. Saturday June 7th
End time: ~3 P.M. Sunday June 8th (36 hours overall, with 30 minutes of sleep)