Climbing Hurricane Ridge

I've been itching to do some more high-elevation riding, especially since the warm season is soon ending and I want to squeeze all I can out of the current nice weather. At first I was thinking of doing Snoqualmie Pass (starting from Seattle) for my "one last pass" ride of the season, but I've already done it a few times and though I was going to explore the backroads up it, I set my sights on something else, something new.

Hurricane Ridge - out on the Olympic Peninsula, this gem of a climb came on my radar last year when it was closed to cyclists due to washouts. 28km at about a 5% grade, what's not to love?


Though I've previously spoke of riding out to this climb - that was too much of an undertaking for what I had in mind, so Kira & I drove out to Port Angeles so I could start the climb fresh and we could meet up at the top. I'm really glad we did this, since from Kingston (or Bainbridge) I'd forgotten how hilly Highway 104 is! It had some serious climbs that looked painful on the way to a big climb. Huge thanks to Kira for taking me out here - we made a great day of it.


But on to the cycling. I started at the bottom visitors center, about 17 miles from the top. Didn't really warm-up, just hit the climb and made sure to stay in the little ring (39 tooth) at first - which was easy to do since it starts out at about a 6-7% grade for the first 8 km or so.




The road starts as worn chip-seal surrounded by greenery that would soon turn more sparse and more alpine.
While I was keeping the pace in the Tempo zone, I was also taking a little time to take in the scenery and capture a few shots like this. It was the perfect day for a climb in short sleeves - it might be a while before I get to do this again. (Snow is expected at the top on Monday!)

In the middle or so of the climb I felt that it was time to kick it into the big ring (53 teeth) and push it. The road wasn't as steep in the middle section of the climb, and I could feel it since the pedaling was getting easier. So I kicked it up a notch. Sometimes I can hit a "sweet spot" on climbs where a 53x23 gear feels just right, and keeps me going relatively fast. Towards the end I could see my heart rate start to rise and my legs start to get sore, but I kept on truckin' for the first hour at least to see if I could set a new personal record (see Data section below).

There are three small tunnels to go through, but they're short and traffic was light anyway.
I used a rear flashing light just in case.

After this the road gets pretty twisty and kicks up a bit (6% for the last few miles at least), and you start to see the views you've come to hope for. You can see the top of the road up to your left as you near the top, cars glistening in the sun light, but looking really high up too. I thought to myself, am I really going that high in this short of a distance? Ouch.

Right as I hit the one hour mark I let up, happy to have pushed hard for an hour, and took it easy the rest of the way. Enjoying the scenery, which is easy to forget to do sometimes if you zone out staring at your front wheel.

The scale of these views/climbs can be overwhelming sometimes but that's why I love it. I love the humbling feeling of looking over a mountain vista, up at a star-filled sky, or at an ocean view and thinking about how insignificant we are. Oh and it was a great workout too.

5,242 ft at the top Visitors Center at Hurricane Ridge. I bought a coffee mug as a souveneir.

A few more photos here, and Kira took some great shots of some wildlife there as well. (Thanks again for the ride!)

Data

Set a new peak one hour record. My previous best was back in April, 243 watts for one hour (was on a SiR winter training ride). The season of riding and racing has increased my capacity to turn the pedals harder for an hour, and this time I came out at 268 watts. Perhaps could have "scored" higher with more effort (HR average was just 156 bpm, max is 196). Anyway it's nice to see a noticeable increase in the data as a result in training.

Peak 60min (268 watts):
Duration: 1:00:00 (1:01:37)
Work: 966 kJ
TSS: 91.3 (intensity factor 0.955)
Norm Power: 272
Distance: 17.946 km
Elevation Gain: 991 m
Grade: 5.1 % (916 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 112 565 268 watts
Heart Rate: 93 175 156 bpm
Cadence: 16 87 64 rpm
Speed: 0.4 51.6 17.9 kph
Crank Torque: 0 169.9 40.8 N-m

Data for the full ride.

Entire workout (251 watts):
Duration: 1:40:34 (1:43:32)
Work: 1514 kJ
TSS: 137.8 (intensity factor 0.907)
Norm Power: 258
Distance: 27.624 km
Elevation Gain: 1659 m
Grade: 5.4 % (1477 m)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 565 251 watts
Heart Rate: 93 175 155 bpm
Cadence: 16 87 62 rpm
Speed: 0 51.6 16.5 kph
Crank Torque: 0 177.1 38.9 N-m

I definitely want to do this climb as part of a full ride next year! It'll be worth the slog out there.

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.

RAMROD 2008 - Starting in Seattle!

I did it! Rode to Enumclaw, then did the RAMROD. That would be the "Ride Around Mt. Rainier In One Day" annual event. Then pedaled back to Seattle. All in one day.

You can find many more photos from the ride on flickr.

Here are a few of the highlights, like 12th Ave at about 3:15 AM:

Mt. Rainier in the distance - about 20 miles away from Enumclaw, you can clearly see the mountain! It was great to be able to see the object of our obsession all through the day, I can't imagine doing this on a rainy day, when you'd get no perspective on where you are/going.


Lenticular cloud atop the mountain - I seriously shouted when I saw this, and just had to stop for a photo:


Now in Rainier Natl Park - lots of woods. But the air smelled seriously fresh. Like in those commercials for fake smells, but for real.

Unpaved section of Cayuse, looking down the incline - there were lots of these, but going uphill they weren't too bad, just a little bumpy.

The whip atop Cayuse Pass - its mostly downhill from here!

The Ride To The Ride (Capitol Hill to Enumclaw)

The plan all along was to turn down all generous offers of car pooling, and to pedal my way to Enumclaw, the start of the ride. Google maps said it was "only" about 38 miles to get there, via Renton & Highway 169.

So I rolled out from the apt at 3:15 AM, giving me enough time to make it there by 5:30 or 6, probably closer to six. In pitch dark, I rolled down Rainier Ave, with little traffic, and surprisingly there were people waiting for buses - as their night was most likely ending, a new day was beginning for me.

Once in Renton I followed a few turns that brought me to Highway 169/Renton-Mapple Valley Road, not sure what to expect. I'd heard that the first section was less than enjoyable, with no shoulder, but traffic was light. At rush hour this would be kind of crazy, but doable. At this point I'll ride on pretty much any road that isn't closed to cyclists!

Eventually I rode into thick fog, my dynohub'd Scmidt E6 lamp doing well to keep me going forward. A blinky light would have been useless. As the elevation seemed to rise, the temperature dropped. I stopped and put on my jacket & long-fingered gloves ("seal skinz"). Those gloves are wonderful; they block wind/cold, and supposedly water too. If I've learned anything from randonneurring its to be prepared for anything, because it might be a long day. THe forecasts were for the 70's, but 3 AM in the foothills of the Cascades can be a different story.

Enumclaw

At about 6 I rolled into the 'claw, glad to be there without any mechanical issues to hold me back. The starting area, Enumclaw High, was empty except for a few other late starters. I found the free breakfast of waffles, and though they were out of utensils I made a waffle/butter/syrup sandwich that really hit the spot.

I took a wrong turn in the first mile of the course, trying to follow the cue sheet in my hand. I followed a roadie on a left that just didn't seem right, and sure enough as I turned the next corner he was heading the other way. He didn't seem to have a cue, but I looked at mine and notice we'd only gone .4 miles instead of the 1.4 indicated on the cue. He turned around and went the other direction on the road, but actually the route was back on the main road - hope he found his way!

Back on the course, I saw a few riders in the distance that I eventually lost contact with. Cruising at 28-32 km/h, I was keeping the pace moderate. It was gonna be a long day, and this was just the beginning.

A few pacelines passed eventually, and I just let them go. Once we were off of 410, it was small country roads for the next 50 miles or so. Great views, low traffic, what else can you ask for?

Eatonville

33 miles or so into the Ramrod, and 71 miles on the legs so far. There was a rest stop here, where I overheard motivating terms like "sweep van" and "lanterne rouge" - sure signs I was near the back of the pack. Only problem with that is if you go too slow, they pick you up and cart you off! Gotta be tough to have that happen.. and I would have physically fought them off anyway, had they tried to pull me into the van.

And from looking at the photos from Eatonville (lower left corner) I was fourth from last in the pack of 800+! No wonder I saw so few riders in the beginning.

Eatonville to Longmire

Passed by a few resort/hotels, and noticed how sparse services are out there! Doing this route as a permanent seems kind of daunting. You'd have to do some looong stretches with no available food or water. I guess there were some restaurants along the way, but still. Not a ride for the easy going, to do it unsupported.

In Elbe I stopped for water, and in talking to the shop keepers and her friends, they seemed disappointed I was just from Seattle, as "everyone we've met so far are from the area, but we hear people come from all over the world for this ride." Hey, I do what I can. They were nice though, and probably happy to have the extra business.

At the food stop at mile 59, I upped the water & got a half-bagel, grapes, a few other random things. In talking to one of the volunteers, I mentioned how I rode to the ride - and I have to admit, though it may be obvious, that one of the reasons I rode to the ride was for bragging rights. Getting a response I could only hope for, she called over friends, announcing my brave achievement! Noticing my SIR jersey, one of them mentioned that he rides with SIR, and has done the PBP last year! I think Shane was his name, nice guy.

He also commented that I'd caught up with the pack more or less, which was good news. I spent probably 15 minutes or so here, and rolled out alone. Coming into the Rainier National Park, I was excited to have the climbing begin. The last time I was in this area, Cayuse Pass kicked my ass. This time I wanted to turn the table.

Rainier National Park

Entering the park you're asked for your number by a volunteer, as being on the ride is your ticket for entry. I wonder how they react to bandits (those that do the ride but don't pay) here? Or if someone was touring the world, and happened to pass through here at the same time, would they let them through?

The road tilted up more and more, but never got too steep, maybe 5-6%. Passing more and more riders, I felt better that I was at least somewhere closer to the middle of the pack by now. The views were getting better and better, with Rainier sticking out behind trees and getting what seemed closer with each turn of the road.

Longmire

This is where the harder climbing started, and was about 60 miles into Ramrod, 100 miles for me. Not much worse than 5-6%, but it surely went on for a while. A gigantic tour bus passed me, and somehow passed me again later on. I hoped that I was getting a better experience on the bike, than in an air-conditioned bus - well at least I felt like I was really "earning" it anyway.

Inspiration Point

After an hour or so of sustained climbing, I made it to the "top." I guess the Paradise climb adds six miles, but our route didn't take us there for some reason. (We went right at the fork) Next time through there, I'll do the extra trip too.

At the top I saw Dan T, another randonneur who I'd ridden with on the failed 600k in June. He was in good spirits as usual, and it was nice to see a familiar face. I only spent about five minutes here, got some water, and enjoyed the hell out of the screaming descent. 60 km/h (~40 mph) was fun, and there was no winds to mess with you. Little drainage grates that span the road made for some careful crossings, but at that speed you're barely touching them anyway.

The next climb, Backbone Ridge, seemed more like a hill than a pass. Well I guess it's not a pass, just something we had to cross to get to the next big climb, Cayuse. Caught up with lots more riders here.

Cayuse Pass?

I didn't even realize we were on it, and in a discussion with another rider, I said I didn't think it was it. For some reason it looked different, and seemed less steep. The difference was a relief from last time, when it seemed like a wall and that I was on a 100lb bike. I pictured getting there and just grinding to a stop.

But my new 12-27 cassette was the perfect gearing it seemed. Also the lower weight of the Ciocc, and the lighter load, made a huge difference. And on the Miyata I've got a low gear of 39x30 (which should be easier in theory)! Weight does matter, at least for me. Then again it was also about 300 miles and 30 hours into the ride last time. Anything can seem impossible at that point.

At about 3:30 or 4:00 PM I crested Cayuse, glad to be done with it. Some day I'll hit up Chinook Pass too - you can see it from Cayuse and it looks like a real exclamation point to an already-hard climb.

The Deli Stop

At the Deli Stop, 118 miles into Ramrod, 146 miles on my legs - free sandwiches, fruit, etc. Only there was no bread at first. That's one thing of being near the back of the pack, supplies run out. I had a few slices of cheese, some fruit, and a soda. Sat in the shade, and tried to soak in everything I'd seen up to this point. Eventually bread did show and I had a sandwich - thanks volunteers!

With lots of riders swarming around, I was looking for familiar faces - Jessie was somewhere on this ride, but probably way ahead of me. One guy stopped me and was asking if I rode to the ride - said he saw me on the road at 4:15 this morning and thought, "no way he's riding to the ride!" Once again I was glad to get to talk about the extra mileage I'd tacked on. He was impressed, but I reassured him that I could never hold the fast pace for ~40 miles that racers like him do.

Eventually I ran into Joe from SIR - it was nice to see another blue wool jersey out on the road! I spent probably 30-45 minutes here, but at this point (~4 PM) I was pretty safe from being "swept" up. Time to spare. We chatted for a while, probably both happy to see someone that understood what those funny-looking lights and bags were hanging from our bikes.

Now the only question was, how early do I want to get home? I told Kira I'd be home some time between 9 and 2 AM, quite the range - but you never know how a long ride is gonna go. Leaving the deli stop, I was on enjoying the slight downhill towards Greenwater, thinking about how I'd flatted/broke my pump not far from here and ended my 600k in June. This time I rolled through without a hitch.

Greenwater And Beyond

I was holding a good 30-40 km/h (19-25 mph) solo, just wanting to get to the ice cream waiting at the end. Held even faster speeds with one quick paceline, but ducked out after a mile or so, not really enjoying the tension that is a paceline. Are they gonna brake suddenly? Will I do something stupid and bring it all down? If I'm leading, am I going too fast or too slow? Pacelines are too complicated, plus they don't allow for much sight-seeing.

Also I knew I needed to save some energy for the commute back to Seattle, nobody wants to blow up on the road 30 miles from home without a cell phone.

After passing Greenwater without stopping, I continued on for what seemed like forever, before I hit the left on to Mud Mountain Road. Finally, a change of scenery. On the super-steep downhill, I hit a good 60-70 km/h, and pedaled through the turns, praying for no gravel to bring me down. It was a blast!

At the bottom I ran into Joe from SIR again, and we rode side by side in our matching SIR jerseys, chatting and enjoying the fact that we were almost done.

Finished, for now

And at 6:15 or so, we were done! We rolled in to the cheers & claps of volunteers and onlookers, and received our free patches. Ice cream was quickly acquired, and a cola was downed. The world rejoiced.

I went to get a free t-shirt, and as I walked up the volunteer asked, "are you the one who rode to the ride?" Guess news travels fast! It turns out her friend was injured on the ride, and they needed someone to drive the car back. I would have done it, but as it turns out I don't actually have a driver's license (mine expired a few years ago), so I couldn't do it. Hope her friend was OK though!

Enumclaw Back To Seattle

At about 7 PM I started the journey back to Seattle, feeling oddly fresh. Turning the cranks seemed like something I could do all day, as if I'd turned into a machine that's perfected perpetual motion. There were some steep sections of Highway 169 north of Enumclaw, posted at 8%. No problem for the 39x27, but I certainly wasn't doing those in the big ring.

Five or six cars carrying bikes gave a congratulatory "honk honk" as they passed, probably recognizing the neon sash and rear light from the ride. I waived and wondered what time I'd make it home.

About 10 minutes after rolling out a light rain started. No prob, this is why I threw on the "race blade" before I left the house! The ride to Renton was pretty much a breeze, with the light rain still falling. Passed through Black Diamond, Maple Valley, without even wanting to top, I just wanted a warm couch to sit on at that point.

The "scary" section of 169 was a little iffy coming into Renton, but most cares provided space - after all it's a four lane road.. one car did buzz me a bit, but I kept rolling so it's all good.

For the first time that day I was feeling very hungry, but I trudged on, my feet starting to get very cold from the thickening rain. I thought about how if this was a 400k, I could do the Mercer Island loop to top it off. Would make for an interesting brevet or permanent, who's with me?

It felt really, really good to be home, and dry my feet off. A warm shower at the end of a big ride is always a nice way to end it. And not at 2 AM like it could have been had I take more stopping time or had a mechanical.

It was a great ride, but next year I'll probably just do it as a permanent or even just for kicks. And now that I know a bunch of randonneurs, it shouldn't be too hard to talk someone else into doing the ride starting from Seattle. I think it was well worth it, and now every time I look at Mt Rainier I'll know exactly what it takes to get around it!

Ride Stats:
Distance: 38 + 154 + 38 = 230 mi (370 km)
Start Time: 3:15 AM
End Time: 9:55 PM

Ramrod Start: 6:15 AM

Ramrod End: 6:10 PM

Passes: Two real ones (Climb to inspiration Point, Cayuse Pass), one smaller hill (Backbone Ridge)

Edit: stumbled across the results from 1998 - times range from 7 hours 14 minutes (whoa), to 13 hours and some change! ~7 hours sounds ridiculous. Not surprisingly, looks like Jan Heine posted a time of 7 hours 18 minutes.

Edit #2: A note about age. Ramrod numbers are assigned based on age: the oldest rider is wearing "1" and highest number I saw was about 850. Mine was 805 - so most of the numbers I saw were of people that are older than me! And to think I've been feeling "old" having turned 30 lately.. We got to see #1 cross the finish line, only a half an hour behind me & Joe. I hope I'm that good on a bike 40 years from now!

Beyond Ramrod: The September 600k Brevet

There's been rumblings of a Jan Heine 600k brevet. If you don't know Jan or his riding, let's just say he's known to push the limits!

So the details have finally started coming in, and it looks like he's taken the RAMROD route and added a bunch of big climbs to it.

Below is a map (done by me) of what the route will be, more or less. Click here for the actual map.

The text of Jan's description from e-mail pasted below:

For the Fall 600 km brevet, we were asked to provide a fitting finale to a season that carried the motto "Return to the Mountains". SIR riders have come a long way in recent years - when the course of this year's Spring 600 was first used, the DNF rate was high. This year, almost everybody made it. With SIR riders (and visitors) riding so strong, we decided to provide a course that will challenge all riders.

The route combines a lot of favorite roads. It is very scenic - you get to visit Mount Rainier several times, and you'll ride into the blast zone of Mt. St. Helens. You could call it "Ramrod++", and there is no lottery to get in! Here is the preliminary route:

0. Start in Enumclaw.
1. Follow Ramrod route to Eatonville, Elbe, Mt. Rainier.
2. Climb to Paradise
3. Descend to Ohanapecosh (with Backbone Ridge as a "bonus" climb)
4. Ride to Packwood and on to Randle
5. Climb up to Windy Ridge (we may cut the last few miles past Independence Pass, which feature giant rollers)
6. Turn around, return to Randle, Packwood
7. Climb White Pass
8. Overnight at Rimrock Lake (as in Spring 600)
9. Descend toward Yakima
10. Climb Chinook Pass
11. Descend to Cayuse Pass
12. Descend toward Enumclaw
13. Climb up to Sunrise Point
14. Turn around, ride to Enumclaw

2, 5, 7, 10 and 13 are major climbs.

The final course will be determined after we have ridden the route. We may cut the Sunrise portion, even though riders riding through the night will reach Sunrise around sunrise, with a spectacular view of Mt. Rainier. This also would be the first time an SIR brevet goes over 6000 ft in elevation. (For out-of-towners, consider we start at sea level.) If we cut this portion, we may instead go all the way to Windy Ridge, and perhaps add a little jog in the apple orchards towards Yakima to make up the distance.

It will be a challenging ride, but we feel it's doable for experienced randonneurs. All the roads are paved and in decent shape. Even though there are quite a few climbs (and long ones at that), none are ultra-steep. Navigation will be easy, although we plan to use some sideroads between Packwood and Randle to get off the highway. It will be a lot of fun!

Jan and Ryan

In order to get my Super Randonneur award for this year, I'll need to do this, considering my DNF on the last 600.. well they're really gonna make me work for this SR thing I guess! But like Jan said, it will be a lot of fun. (That's fun in the randonneur sense of the word, not common-usage mind you).

Seattle To Barlow Pass And Back - A Day In The Saddle

(Sorry in advance for the horrible formatting going on here - the blogger interface really sucks sometimes!)

Yesterday I ventured out for a ~155 mi/260 km ride at 5 AM. The goal? To ride to a 70-mile ride from Granite Falls to Barlow Pass, near Monte Cristo, and back. The Cascade ride started at 9 AM in Granite Falls, and there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon at the top of the pass. Nothing like little deadlines to keep you on pace!

On the right you can see what it looked like when I rolled out at 5 AM - a mostly-sleeping town. I love it when the roads are empty like they are on Saturday morning.

So why not turn this into a big out-n-back adventure I figured?! I calculated out about 155 miles, or 260 km of fun in the sun. 150 km of that would be solo, the rest riding with people on and off. I figured I'd be back somewhere between 5 and 7 PM, depending on lots of obvious factors.

Elevation profile of the first/last part of the ride - Seattle to Granite Falls (45 mi/72 km) - I didn't realize it in the morning, but coming back (this profile from right to left) was way tougher than I thought it would be!

Elevation profile from Granite Falls to Barlow Pass - the first part had some tough grades you can't really see in this graph. After that I could hold 30-34 km/h (18-21 mph) just about the whole way!

I followed this route, out and back:

The ride to Granite Falls

Getting on Lake City Way at about 5:30 AM, I find the road more or less to myself! It seems mostly downhill heading north, and I can take the whole lane. The sun is just rising at this point, and I know it's gonna be a hot day, so I enjoy the shade while I can.

Turning off of Lake City onto 80th Ave, the hills start. Not "rolling" hills, just plain hills. I saw a few markings from the "Summits of Bothell" ride on this road, and noticed that they actually go around the hardest parts! (Where 80th meets 228th). Least it looked that way.

Then it was a right on 228th for a blasting downhill, followed by a steep climb of 200-300 feet or so. Before too long I took the left on Highway 9 and settled in for some light highway riding.

Some parts of Highway 9 are sketchy, but for the most part the shoulder is there and decent.

And this early in the morning, not much traffic either (~7 AM). Passed Snohomish feeling hungry, but pushed on for a warm breakfast in Granite Falls before the ride.

Eventually I hit highway 92 and took a right that would take me into Granite Falls. Still a little hungry, but my water and energy bar nibbles are enough to get me by. That and the clear views of the Cascades were enough to keep on truckin'.

The Mountain Loop Ride

I made it to Granite Falls at about 8 AM - an hour early! So I rode around the small streets and looked for the High School where the ride started. I knew the route anyway, but was supposed to meet up with friends. I went to McDonald's and had a monstrosity of a breakfast meal, and chatted a bit with the locals. They were genuinely enthused about the ride, and asked all about it!

At 9 AM I rolled out on Alder Dr/Mountain Loop Highway, latching on to a group of 4-5 riders who I thought were at the front of the group at the time. I never did find the start point of the ride, but since I knew the route it didn't really matter. Hadn't seen the peeps I was supposed to meet by this point, but I figured I'd run into them eventually.

I hung on with some RAMROD/racer types, and eventually dropped them on the first big/steep climb. Mind you I wasn't racing them per se, just pushing myself as hard as I could. I was passing, and passing, and passing people on this climb, and eventually there was nobody else to pass!

Not sure if that meant I was ahead of everyone or not, but in Verlot I decided to stop and wait for Racheal/John/Andy to show up. After 25 minutes of watching everyone that I'd just passed pass me, I set off again.

The route was just to follow Mountain Loop Highway for 30 miles up to Barlow Pass. From Granite Falls to Verlot there were some tough/steep hills to conquer, but after that it basically flattened out to a 2-3% grade. I held 32 km/h (20 mph) for almost an hour going up it! Needless to say, I felt strong.

Barlow Pass

I got to the top of the ride at the end of the paved road, Barlow Pass, at about 11:05 AM - 6 hours into the ride, half way. I waited around for John, Rachael, and Andy to show up, and eventually decided to take the Ciocc off-road and check out Monte Cristo! 4 miles of unpaved road on 23's - a challenge to say the least. The tire tracks were mostly packed dirt, so it was doable.

That is until I ran into this - a freshly-plowed path through an avalanche!

Yup, that's snow mixed with debris. A view from inside the wreckage:

It was tough walking my bike through the packed debris, and after 100 feet of walking I turned around, since I couldn't tell where the snow trail ended.. Oh well, I'll have to visit Monte Cristo another day. There were other people walking back there, but I didn't feel like slippin' and slidin' my way out there with the velo in tow.

So I turned around after getting some photos, and went back to the pass where the ribbon-cutting ceremony was. Rachael showed up eventually, and not too much later John & Andy did too. After resting for a while and chatting, when we were ready to go the ceremony had begun, and we were trapped behind it!

The 1/2-hour ceremony slogged on, and eventually we were free to enjoy the downhill. We rolled down at about 1 PM, and it took us ~2 hours to get down - about the same as it took me to get up! We took our time and enjoyed the sun and scenery.

We arrived back in Granite Falls at about 3 PM, and my trio of riding buddies split off to find the car to head home. Me? Time to ride back! Sure the offer of a ride back to Seattle sounded nice, but I wanted to take full advantage of the nice weather we finally have. And take advantage of the fact that all of my previous rides make doing long-distance like this much easier than it should be!

The Ride Home

The route back was tougher it seemed - the hills seemed steeper, the sun hotter, and my body much more tired than it was before. I wasn't anywhere close to bonking, just feeling the grind of a long day. And sun-burned!

Heading west on 92 back towards Highway 9, the sun was just beating down with no remorse. I applied sun-block 5 or 6 times throughout the day, and still got burned! Highway 9 was even worse, with one 5 km climb that was mostly in the sun - I have to admit that my wool SiR jersey was maybe a little bit thick for that weather, but all I could do was plow on!

Traffic was really heavy on Highway 9 heading south at ~4-5 PM, but the shoulders were accomodating. This was the part where having someone to ride with would have helped - keeping a decent pace (25 km/h average was the goal, which I met) by yourself hour after hour is hard!

Finally I reached the turn for 228th, but knew what was coming my way - two big climbs to get me over to 80th Ave. This section took way long, and I was heading directly into the sun it felt. No shade to be found.

228th St (Ave?) looking west - the uphill section in the distance was even tougher than it looks, especially in 90-degree heat! This was about 140 miles into the ride too:

The last little kick of 228th before 80th was brutal - I'm gonna throw out a number and say that it was an 18% grade, if only for one block. But damn, in the sun, and with the distance, it was a real tough one. Did I prevail? You bet. (Btw now I see why the Summits of Bothell ride skips that last little section!)

I skipped Lake City Way on the way back, as it was now 5 PM or so and not the time to take that road on a bicycle! I got on the Burke-Gilman trail and then got sick of it due to too many people on it. So I opted to take the "hilly" way home, e.g. Perkins/180th to 5th Ave back to Seattle. You can get off of the B-G trail and take this at the intersection with the Starbucks.

Finally I found some shade coming up through Lake Forest Park, and took the three-mile climb at an easy pace. Heading south on 5th Ave (parallel to I-5), there were three more hills to climb - but once I was over the last one (just after Northgate) I knew most of the climbing for the day was done.

Taking Harvard/10th Ave up Capitol Hill wasn't easy at the end of a 150+ mile ride, but I did it! And I even sprinted onto Broadway at the end, just to prove to myself that I could do it. And I did it, rolling back home at 7:30 PM.

Many more photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98486054@N00/sets/72157605902296002/

Total Distance: 260 km/161 mi

Overall Time: 14.5 hours (incidentally what the StP took last year!)

Rolling Average: 25 km/h (15 mph) - I was really happy with this

Seattle Rando's May 2008 400k - Three Pass Ride Report

Climbing Snoqualmie, Blewett, and Stevens, plus more in one day was a 249-mile (400km) adventure. The fastest riders did it in 14 or so hours. See previous entries for photos of this route, as well as a route profile & map.

5:03 A.M. Start control, North Bend - I was walking into the bathroom at the hotel when I saw the peloton outside roll out. Dammit! Chris & Robert waited for me, thanks guys.

5:15 A.M. My first time riding on the Interstate (I-90 in this case), and it's not so bad. The most jarring part is the noise, with large pickups towing cargo that were easily the loudest vehicles it seemed.

The other jarring thing about the Interstate is oversized trucks carrying large houses or in this case large cubes wrapped in black. Even with those things five or six feet away (if not more), when it passed you get pushed to the right by the large vehicle's air-displacement. But we only had a few of those go by.

6:00 A.M. Chris G., Robert and I caught up with the main pack of riders - easy to spot with 30 or so blinking lights and all the reflective gear. We passed a group of 10-15 riders, and then caught up with 20 or so more.

There seemed to be spots of cold followed by warm spots, and the temps were easily in the upper thirties! My short-sleeved wool jersey + arm warmers were plenty, even with just shorts on. Although my fingers & toes were freezing! But the up-close views of snow-covered peaks were worth it.

Then I wanted to see just how fast I could do the climb, so I stood, shifted up, and accelerated to 25-28 km/hr or so, after climbing at 20 km/h for the first few miles of the climb.

6:30 A.M. Snoqualmie Summit Reached the West Summit quicker than expected! It wasn't too steep, probably just 5% or so. I wouldn't say this climb is necessarily easy, but it was the easiest of the day. It was a great feeling to see the road finally turn down and offer not a chance to rest, but a chance to go faster!

I was actually surprised that the most I was hitting was 50-60 km/h (30-35 mph), but it was still fun to cover lots of ground at once.

7:00 A.M. The end of the big lake I raced at 40 km/h past the big lake at the summit, and finally caught up with what seemed to be the front group. (Actually Chris Ragsdale, Jan Heine, Urs Koenig, and others were probably doing 50 km/h on the flat sections of I-90.) I was happy to reach them, and just sat on Bob Brudvick(?)'s wheel for a while. I had burned a few matches catching up, after all!

Bob flatted and a guy with a mustache (thanks for pulling!) and I kept on truckin, pulling at 32-40 km/h on the flats around Easton (I think that's were we were). The bridge with no shoulder was fine, and a big-rig even pulled over to the left lane to give us room to pass. You just gotta watch your back going through there!

7:55 A.M. Control #2 in Cle Elum - enjoyed some chocolate milk and snacks at the gas station and got my brevet card signed, and headed on. Probably spent 10 minutes or so here. By the way, Payday candy bars of one of my new favorite riding foods (it's the one with caramel & peanuts).

The flat section before the Blewett climb (this is on Highway 97 heading north) was quickly over, and the climb began. I was keeping a 25 km/h (~15 mph) pace, so it wasn't too steep - just a lot of up. A rider passed me at maybe 28-30 km/h, and it was all I could do to hold his wheel.

After maybe 5 km of that I let go, watched him disappear into the forest of concrete & trees.

10:00 A.M. Blewett Pass Summit - I think this was about 100 km into the ride. It wasn't too bad, but it took quit a long time and a lot of energy. The last few km's of it were steeper than the rest, and made me glad that I'd switched from an 11-23 in the rear to an 11-25. Also glad I'd dropped the big Carradice bag in favor of stuffing my pockets with tools and everything else I needed.

Luckily two volunteers happily served snacks & water at the top, and said that the "leaders" had passed through there at 9:20 A.M., just 40 minutes earlier. Not that I think I could catch up to them, or that I could hold their wheel even if I did, but I was happy to be keeping good time.

I waited a little while to see if Chris & Robert were coming up any time soon, but after 10 or 15 minutes I bombed down the 30 km or so descent. Again nothing really over 50-60 km/h, but still fun. More great scenery, but now showing rock faces & desert-like plants in addition to snow-capped peaks.

11:20 A.M. Leavenworth Control - ate one of the two black bean, rice & cheese burritos Kira was nice enough to make for the ride. It really hit the spot, thanks baby! Bought more food, V-8 juice, and water. Having a third water bottle mounted on the handlebars was great, even if it took away some hand positions. I never ran out of water, even with 80 km in between some of the populated (e.g. at least having a convenience store) between some of the controls.

It's at least 95F degrees by the point, and I heard someone say "100" and I believe it. I didn't wear sun-screen, but even though I wanted to get a little sun I ended up getting doused by it all day and was more or less burnt by this point.

1:00 P.M. Heading up Stevens Pass - Chugging along up Highway 2 heading west, and caught up with the group that left the control a few minutes before me. We pacelined for 10 km or so, then stopped for water at a rest stop. At this point I'm really fucking hot, but at the same time I'm glad I'm not cold. Cold hurts, hot is just uncomfortable.

After too long at the rest stop (maybe 20-25 minutes), lots of water, and some time with the shoes off (ahh, that felt good!), I was off again. Saw a sign that said 19 miles (~30 km) to Stevens Pass, presumably to the top of it. Well, no choice but to continue! The great views await.

Periodic waterfalls let of cool air that felt great - I stopped in front of a few of them and enjoyed the "air conditioning."

2:00 P.M. Not there yet, but still turning those pedals. Snow lines the side of the road, and it's much cooler now at ~2k feet of elevation.

3:20 P.M. Summit at Stevens - 220km into the ride, just about halfway. The last 5 or 6 km were steeper than the rest, but my 39x25 tackled it fine. I didn't stop, just switching to the 53-tooth ring and got in the drops for a big descent.

I took the lane since those big drainage grates take up most of the shoulder, and kept a 60 km/h (40 mph) pace. I could sprint up to 67 km/h or so, but couldn't seem to even break 70! There must have been a headwind.

The views are epic, and the sky is clear, showing all of the snow-covered peaks surrounding you. I saw a guy walking a bicycle (w/ trailer, no less) up the last section of Stevens coming up the other way - ouch. I think going the other direction would be much harder, I felt bad for that guy but I had a descent to enjoy!

4:20 P.M. At the 3rd control in Skykomish - Skykomish is apparently made up of lots of trees, a road, and a gas station. But what a welcome sight! More water consumed, and some snacks to boot. Getting ready for a long stretch of Highway 2 that won't be fun.

This stretch features a few bridges sans shoulder, and shoulders that got as small as about 2 inches. Cars were giving me plenty of space though. This was a boring section, especially alone. But again, the views (of moss-covered trees) were amazing.

I ran over a snake somewhere in this section - I saw it, but thought it was already dead, so I didn't swerve around it. It was a little 1-foot black snake, coiled up. After bumping over it, I looked back and saw it slither back into the brush! Oops, sorry snake.

6:00 P.M. McDonald's in Sultan - actually I'm not sure what time I got there, but I made the mistake of getting a whole, super-sized, value meal here. Well I guess I just needed some real food - sure, this wasn't real food, but it would do for now! A coke with ice never tasted so good.

6:20 P.M. Sultan - Vincent & I rolled out from the Mc'd's, and (finally!) took the turn off of Highway 2 on to Old Owens Rd for some rolling hills. Sure enough, not long after that turn we encountered the first of many steep sections. At this point I'm pretty tired, and my hands are killing me.

(I used some new gloves on this ride, but they don't have good padding. My right pinkie & ring fingers are kind of numb! Hope that goes away. Also used some different shorts than the usual knickers, but these old shorts have next-to-no padding - mistake!)

~8:30 Secret Control just off Dubuque Road - Vincent and I were really tired at this point, but continued on. Some cheese & bread, water, really hit the spot here. Thanks to the volunteers for running this!

~9:00 P.M. Control in Paradise Lake - Mark Thomas happily gave us water and encouragement. At this point I thought I'd left my control card at the secret control, remembering I never got it back from the volunteer!

Mark made a call to the secret control, to see if it was there. It was not. A few minutes later, and Vincent pulls it out of his pocket! Guess he'd had it for the last hour or so, thanks Vince! That was really relieving. Even though this isn't a PBP year I still want credit for all this suffering.

10 P.M. almost in Carnation(?) - this section seemed to go on forever, and at this point I'm definitely ready for the ride to be over. But there's still more road to cover. The moon was almost full, but didn't seem to light up anything really. Or maybe I was just in that negative mode that happens when you run out of stamina and motivation.

12:20 P.M. Final control in North Bend - finally back where we started, 20 hours and about 20 minutes from when we'd started. That last section of road seemed like it went on forever!

Brian was at the finish line, along with a few rando's that had finished earlier - some of which is was ahead of for lots of the ride, but in the tradition of the tortoise and the hare, I went too fast out of the gate and paid for it at the end.

The pizza & drinks were great, although I for some reason had the hiccups and my stomach felt a little queezy. It was probably that #3 from McDonald's that was not helping me at this point.

Thanks to all the organizers & volunteers, and thanks a mil to Robert & family for the ride! This wouldn't have been possible without you. See you on the 600k!

Edit: Robert posted some great pics from the ride on his flickr account - thanks dude!

Three Pass Photo Preview - Part 2

Here are some more photos I snapped this weekend on our car trip our to Twisp/Winthrop.

Another view of the I-90 shoulder at Keechelus Lake - no line, but there's a rumble-strip at least:

On the way up Blewet there's this crazy little shack-looking thing - all rusty inside, looks like a large pipe inside actually. We stopped to get a close up of the thing, but you can see this from the road, it's on the left.

Close to the mine shaft thingy is this abandoned house in Liberty, an old mining town of 10 or so houses. We'll see Liberty Road on the way up Blewett, and this is what it has to offer:

Blewett actually has a great shoulder the whole way up and down, it seemed. And great views too!

There's another abandoned place just off 97 that you can see on the left - we stopped and checked it out - it even had bones in the yard! More great photos of abandoned stuff we found along the way (and the bones) on flickr.

Didn't realize it at the time, but this was probably a SiR rider doing the pre-ride! Heading up the big "hill":

More of 97, going up:

The summit at Blewett - 4102 ft/1250 m - wow. Just before this peak there's a ~1-mile stretch that looks much steeper than the rest. That'll be tough, but rewarding for sure.

Now the fun part - downhill! Get ready for 30 or so miles of this - perhaps I can finally hit 100km/h out here?

I believe this was SiR's very own Mark Thomas, enjoying the descent down Blewett.

More great views, still going down Blewett - this side of it seems much steeper - seems like this route in reverse would be even harder!

Coming down (or was it up?) Stevens Pass - lots of snow, but the roads were bare & wet:

This was coming down Stevens, close to the summit. The clouds/mist made it look like the end of the earth was just around the corner. There was a light snow/wintry mix coming down - would make the descent cold! Actually the air seemed much colder atop Stevens than the other two passes.

Now at the more-or-less bottom of Stevens, on Highway 2. This tunnel is short, but will still take a careful cyclist to make it through unscathed.

I took a bunch more photos, but these were the highlights. This weekend's forecase is sunny & warm (hot even!)

Preview of the Three-Pass Ride - Part 1

I got a chance to go to the Twisp/Winthrop area over the weekend, and we drove (actually Kira did the driving, thanks!) and in the process we got to see a preview of the upcoming three-pass 400k on Saturday 5/17.

Here are a few photos I snapped along the way, starting in about North Bend.

We're gonna pass through those mountains on bicycles! Can't wait.

Getting up there on Snoqualmie, starting to see snow on the ground - didn't feel all that cold though.

In the distance:

I don't see a line indication a shoulder, but I think/hope there are rumble-strips on this section: (close to the pass)

Top of Snoqualmie Pass, 3022 ft/921 m

I can't believe I'm gonna ride through this! This is a nasty (looking) section just after the summit.

That big lake (Hyak I think) at the top:

The "Snow Hut" or whatever it's called - that would just about ruin any West-bound trips on this road by bicycle I'd think (no shoulder!)

The Lake:

A scary bridge to cross just before Cle Elum I believe - there's a detour around this btw:

I took pics of Blewett & Stevens too, I'll post those up here before the big day.

I'll be at the 2007 High Pass Challenge

I just registered for the 2007 High Pass Challenge!! I thought the STP double-century was gonna be this season's peak ride, but this looks like it'll be the big one.

The HPC is a 114-mile ride with 7,500 feet of elevation gain, and features Independence Pass, just North of Mount St. Helens. The views are gonna be amazing, and my legs are gonna be killing me! I'll hopefully be on my new Ciocc frame by then, so I'll be luvin it either way.

The only thing that sucks about this ride is the logistics - the friggin ride starts in Packwood, WA, just south of Mt. Rainier. I wish they'd make it a tour that started closer to Seattle... but oh well. It's about a three-hour drive I hear, but I don't even have a driver's license, nor a car - but I've got friends with cars, and that comes in handy!

What I might do is get a ride out of Seattle the day before, and ride this route to get to Packwood, and then camp out. But I'd be so tired/dirty on the HPC day it might ruin it... we'll see what happens. I'll probably just get a ride down/back this year - but maybe I'll cycle down there and back for the 2008 edition.

Here's the HPC route on a Google Map, and here's an elevation profile of the route:

(ignore the huge trough about a quarter through the graph, that's just a glitch in the elevation data)

This is gonna be a great ride! From the Cascade page:

The ride begins along Highway 12, with the first 17 miles to Randle on a gradually downhill, smoothly paved road with a very wide shoulder. Expect light traffic, but be aware of the occasional logging truck. Randle is the low altitude point of the trip at 880 feet.

Heading south on the smooth blacktop of NF 25, there’s a “warm-up” climb at 19 miles into the ride. It’s only 1.2 miles long with 400 feet of climbing, but the first half mile or so has an average grade of 8.3%, so that should you in the mood for what follows.