Three-Pass 400k - More Preview Stuff

If you can't tell by now, I like to learn as much as possible about a route before tackling it. And the three-pass 400k coming up this Saturday is no exception!

Here's what the elevation profile looks like, as clicked out by SiR's very own Joby D:

And here is the map of the route - North Bend to Cle Elum, to Leavenworth, To Skykomish, Snohomish, and back to North Bend - 400km of pain!

Here's the interactive version of this route on veloroutes.org. (Btw it estimates 24k+ feet of climbing, which must be grossly overstated. On Mark's blog he mentions 13k feet of gain, and that sounds much more reasonable, but still no walk in the park.

Besides the climbing, I think the most challenging part of this ride will be food. Or rather, the lack of it. There just aren't that many corner-stores up in these mountains, so we'll have to plan ahead when we do get a chance to re-fuel.

To that end, Mark sent a mail to the SiR e-mail list with good info about rest-stops along the way, copy-pasted here:

North Bend - Cle Elum (mile 50)Mile 18. Snoqualmie Summit. Convenience store.
Take first exit (West Summit) and head to the right.Around mile 36. I think
there are services at Exit 70, but some backtracking is required, if I recall
correctly.

Cle Elum - Leavenworth (mile 103)Mile 64. Liberty Cafe on left.
Pie! Espresso stand. I didn't stop this year, but they are usually friendly.
Less so a the Mineral Springs resort a couple miles further on the right.Mile
85-90. Camp store on the right after most of the downhill

Leavenworth - Skykomish (mile 153) Mile 118. Coles Corner. Diner, convenience store, and coffee
stand on left.Mile 121. Nason Creek rest area. Last water for the long climb up
Stevens. Usually has a volunteer group with coffee, drinks, and cookies.
(Homemade banana bread last weekend).

Skykomish - Maltby (mile 213)Mile 160.
Baring Store on the left. Nice people, good sandwiches, soup, but too soon past
Skykomish.A few miles past Baring is the Mt. Index espresso stand. My favorite
place for coffee on US-2.Mile 173. Gold Bar - grocery store on right and other
servicesMile 178 or so. Multiple services in Sultan. McDonalds and Subway on
right before you get to town. Vinaccio Coffee and a mexican restaurant on the
right in town. Convenience store at turn to Old Owen Road.Mile 204. 24hour 7-11
in Snohomish.

Maltby - North Bend (mile 250)Mile 233. Carnation. Shell
station claims to be open 24/7 ("Unless somebody doesn't show up").Mile 238. The
route goes east on 202. If you go west instead, into Fall City, I think there is
a convenience store just on the other side of the river.

Also another pre-ride report is available here.

I can't wait!! See you on the pass...

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.

A Critical Mass of One?

Local news reports a cyclist on I-5, clogging up traffic and trying to get on the HOV lane! Meaning he had to cross 5+ lanes of 60+ mph traffic, wow.

From the report:

Witnesses told the State Patrol that they saw the man riding south in the
right lane about 2:10 p.m. The bicyclist then cut across all lanes of traffic
and into the car-pool lane, said Trooper Curt Boyle. Motorists pulled over,
stopped the man and held him for troopers.

When troopers arrived, they got into a scuffle with the man, Boyle
said. The man was being detained in handcuffs in the back of a squad car on
Interstate 5 near Northeast 130th Street but has since been taken to Harborview
Medical Center for a mental evaluation, Boyle said.

Photos From the 300k Brevet

5:30 A.M. - Downtown is looking dry. Sweet. Gotta catch a ferry somewhere behind that forest of buildings.

~6:01 A.M. - I came so close to missing the ferry it wasn't funny. And when I told the toll-booth lady what the ride was, and when I expected to finish (~10 PM), she looked at me like I was crazy! She might be right.. Here's what I rode, my fast-bike, the Ciocc:

Rando-bikes hitching a ride across the Sound to Bremerton, with Seattle in the background:

Seattle in the morning:

~12 P.M. - The first control in Brady - ~110 km down (~70 mi). Chocolate milk never tasted so good. This was our group of fast riders - just look at all the potential energy in those legs!

~8:55 P.M. - the glowing warmth of the ferry from Bainbridge to Seattle - after 189 miles under our reflective belts, nothing sounds better than a cushioned chair and warmth.

~9:30 P.M. An overexposed photo of downtown on the way back at nightfall. Home sweet home. I pedaled very slowy up to my apt on Capitol Hill, just a few kms from the ferry terminal.

As you can see I didn't get many shots, mostly due to the rain. So my camera was packed into my seat-bag & was not accessible most of the time. Things I wished I'd snapped a photo of:

• The countless abandoned/run-down shacks & old houses that dotted the scenery
• The funny fireworks shops on Highway 101 between Skokomish & Quilcene. One called "Miller Time" had 8-bit looking pictures of dogs, I thought of them as redneck hieroglyphics. Another winner was the "Ill Eagle" fireworks shop - get it?
• The lush scenery of steep slopes, green trees, and dense fog (or were those clouds?) covering the area
• My face covered in road-grime from a fenderless rider or two

All in all it was a great ride, and it felt good to get another 300k done. Thanks to the route organizers, the riders, and volunteers! See you on the 400k..

May 300k Brevet - Bremerton to Bainbridge Island, The Long Way

Did another 300k brevet today, and this one went much better than the last one! Thought we got rainied on a good bit, and I wasn't on my normal brevet bike, I chopped about 6 hours (yeah, six!) off of the last one's 19-hour finishing time.

There were five of us that led the pack of 16 or so, and as usual the first big climb split everyone up. The five of us stuck together for the first 240 km (150 miles) - pacelining at quick speeds all the way to Quilcene, although my speedometer wasn't working so I don't know how quick exactly.


We covered the first 100km in 3.5-4 hours, and got to Quilcene at about 5 PM. (150 miles in ~10 hours - not ground-breaking, but a decent time I think). Chris said we were averaging over 19 mph or so at some points, not bad for the hilly route. The elevation graph tells it like it was - hilly:



The Walker "Pass" climb (big spike at the end) was longer than I thought, I think it was three miles of climbing, but only about 800 feet of gain, so much tamer than Cougar Mountain. Great views for sure - cloud covered precipices amidst Northwest Green. I had a camera with me, but only got a few shots since it was raining so much - I'll post those here later.

My knees are hurting a bit, but besides that I feel good - no muscle aches, my butt feels normal (thanks Brooks!) and the hands are fine too. Two hours of sleep the night before made me feel sluggish at times, but I think I can handle the whole sleep-deprivation aspect of radonneuring.


Total Distance: 300 km (189 mi)
Start Time: 7:15 AM
Finish Time: 8:30 PM
Total Time: 13 hours, ~15 minutes


Official results will be posted here - I'll do another post with photos & more details - for now I'm gonna rest!

Seattle Randonneur's May 300k Brevet - Ride Preview

On Saturday I'll be joining what looks to be a small turnout (12 have pre-registered so far) of randonneurs on another 300km brevet. Gotta keep the legs fresh for that three-pass-crazy-400km-brevet on the 17th!

Until I saw the elevation graph for some reason I was thinking this brevet would be a little less hilly than the last one - what was I thinking?! This is the Big Pacific Northwest after all. We like our hills super-sized. Not to mention SiR seeks out the best of hills, and they sure know where to find 'em.

Here's the elevation graph, with elevation data from veloroutes.org [map] - units are in feet - max is only about 800 feet, but still. Looks like a lot of up and down!



Map of the route, from the SiR site:


The route will go something like: take Highway 3 south all the way to Shelton, head west to Brady, north to Highway 101, and follow that all the way up to Bainbridge. Interestingly, the last ferry from Bainbridge to Seattle leaves at 2-something in the morning (schedule) - so if we end up taking 19.x hours, like on the last 300k, we'll be cutting it close! That's a long swim..

Should be a nice day for a ride, weather outlook is much better than last time! Actually the weather report for Bremerton has changed a bit, 60% chance of rain! Well it'll be warmer than last time, at least I hope.

See you on the road!