Pre-Blog Ride Reports - April '09

Originally emailed on Monday, April 06, 2009 10:46 PM under the Subject: April CAM09 Ride Report

My pursuit of at least one century ride in every calendar month in '09 rolls on... Saturday's SIR 300k helped me get April's ride out of the way early in the month. Four days before the ride it was snowing in Western WA, but the velo gods smiled upon us by giving us a beautiful clear day for the 300k.

About 50 entrepid Randonneurs and Randonneuses set out from the Clinton ferry dock on the south end of Whidbey Island at 7:00am. One thing about ferry docks: they're always at the bottoms of hills... But I was actually happy to start out on a hill since it was still about 32 degrees. Time to get the blood pumping. About a mile or two into the ride I caught up to a group of six other riders who were moving along pretty well, and I ended up staying with that group for the next 315 kilometers.

Our course would take us the length of Whidbey Island, up Chuckanut drive to Bellingham, then east toward Mt. Baker as far as Deming. At Deming the course headed South and stayed on Hwy 9 for something just short of eternity--which it turns out is just south of Arlington. From there we would hop on the Centennial trail to Snohommish, then back over to lovely Everett, over a big hump and back down the Mukilteo speedway to the ferry.

Here's the course: http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=40288

One thing I've learned to do on rides like this is to avoid thinking about the entire ride. Starting off up that hill out of Clinton thinking, "two miles down, only 193 to go" is a BAD idea. Breaking it into nice bite-sized chunks is the only way to survive. So, I started thinking about the beautiful views from Deception Pass and got to work.

The group I was riding with was awesome. All strong riders, they knew how to handle a pace line, fun guys to chat with, supportive if anyone was starting to drag, I couldn't have picked a better group. We had a couple others join us or drop here and there along the way, but basically the core group of six stayed together to the end. I was the only one in the group who didn't have at least a couple of seasons of Randonneuring experience, so I really appreciated how welcoming they were.

So, here's something I learned about experienced hardcore Randonneurs: These guys do not mess around with rest stops. If we stopped at a minimart for water or food it was, jump off the bike, run in and grab some water and a candy bar, get back on the bike and go. If you needed to get water AND pee, then you were going to need to do some work to catch the group again. No waiting around until everyone's ready. As soon as you're ready to go just get on the bike and start riding. Ride slow for the first couple minutes to let the group reform, then back to business. We stopped about six times in 12 hours, and five of those were forced stops because we had to get our brevet cards signed at the check point (Randonneuring = bicycling with paperwork).

I have to admit that while I'm sure the scenery was beautiful the whole way, I didn't see a lot of it on this ride. The benefits of riding in a pace line are many (drafting, encouragement, conversation, help with navigation, etc.), but one of the drawbacks is that it requires concentration to stay 12" off the wheel of the guy in front of you without killing yourself and everyone behind you. It doesn't give you a lot of time to check out the world around you. I experienced a lot of pace line riding in last year's STP and mostly hated it. But I realize now that the problem with the STP was that most of the people there don't know how to ride in a pace line. With a group of six strong riders with tons of pace line experience, it's really a thing of beauty. For about 20 miles down Hwy 9, we even ran as a double pace line, acting like we owned the whole damn road. Needless to say, some of locals trying to get by us weren't too impressed by our blue angel-like precision.

The pictures here were taken by one of the other guys in the group. I had a camera with me, but again the pace line made picture taking seem like more challenge than I was willing to take on.

Here we are gathering for the start

Early on, Bob and Mark taking the lead...

Our group taking the lane, critical mass style, as we cross over the Deception Pass bridge (I was at the back of the pack at this point trying not to worry about that semi on my ass)

Somewhere around the 150 mile mark I started hurting everywhere all at once. Back, neck, shoulders, butt, feet. Nothing horrible, but it was definitely annoying. Luckily we had to stop for a control not long after that which gave me a chance to swallow a couple Advil. That totally did the trick and I felt great for the rest of the ride.

We rolled into the finish at the Mukilteo ferry dock a little before 6, plenty of time to hang out and watch the sun set over Whidbey Island while munching on the BEST PIZZA I'VE EVER, EVER HAD IN MY LIFE (probably from Dominos or something...).

The numbers:
Distance: 195.8 miles/315 kilometers
Time:10:53 in the saddle/11:52 total
Climbing: 7,659 ft.

Pre-Blog Ride Reports - March '09

Originally emailed on On Mar 22, 2009, at 9:20 AM, under the subject, CAM09 March Ride Report: In Like a Lion, Out like a Lamb

That pretty accurately describes how I rode the SIR 200km yesterday. But I finished, which means I'm now officially a Randonneur. In case you don't know, Randonneur is a French word that basically means "crazy person." I also rode a solo century a couple weeks ago, but I'm counting the SIR 200km as my official March entry in my Century a Month bid for 2009.

The 200k started in Kent at the organizer's house at 7:00am. It was pretty amazing to see 115 other cyclists, gathering in the dark with the temperature well below freezing. But the stars and the moon were out, so the weather looked promising. Here's what the start scene looked like:



As we rolled out the sky was starting to lighten up. About 1/2 mile into the ride I had to stop at the first gas station I saw to "offload some excess baggage." This pit stop put me a few minutes behind everyone else in the pack, which turned out to be kind of nice because as I worked my way back past the other riders I was able to get a good idea of who these Randonneur types are. Ages range from 20s to some maybe in their 70s, but most are probably between 35 and 50. This crowd wears wool, rides steel bikes and sits on leather saddles. No carbon fiber and lycra for them, thank you very much.

The ride headed out to Dash point, with beautiful views of the water with the Olympics in the distance. By the first control at 20 miles I had worked my way up to about first third of the pack. We then headed inland through Kent and Auburn on our way to the next control at the Black Diamond Bakery.



Black Diamond was about 50 miles in. By this point I had hooked up with a guy named Michael who seemed to be riding about my pace, so we worked together for most of the rest of the ride, trading pulls every mile or so. Here we are pulling out of the "secret control" somewhere between Black Diamond and Enumclaw (Michael is the one with tree trunk like thighs).

The ride went through some scenic but smelly farm land on it's way to Enumclaw where we got on Hwy 410 and continued on up to Greenwater. Greenwater is a turn around point, so we were able to see that we were only about 20 minutes behind the lead riders. After getting our Brevet card stamped at the Greenwater store and gulping down a Coke (shameless product placement), we started back down the hill into a headwind.

Somewhere around the 100 mile mark Michael and I missed a turn. Michael decided to take a short cut back to the start since he knew the way. I turned around and started retracing our path to find the missed turn since I wanted to be official about riding the course. After about six "bonus miles" I got back on track and caught up to a group of five other riders who looked like they knew where they were going. The rest of the ride was uneventful and was ridden more in the traditional randonneuring style, which is to say slow.

At the finish they had plenty of cold beer and hot chili, the perfect recovery meal.

Overall it was beautiful ride and I really enjoyed the Randonneuring thang. I ended up finishing in the top twenty, and without the bonus miles I most likely would have been in the top ten (although, I think polite Randonneurs aren't supposed to talk about their finishing times).

The SIR 300K is in two weeks. Stay tuned...

Ride Stats
Distance: 135 miles (217 km)
Time: 7:47 saddle time (8:35 total)
Climbing: 6,153 ft
Road Kill: 2

Pre-Blog Ride Reports - Feb '09

Originally emailed on Feb 7, 2009, at 9:46 PM, under the subject, Put a fork in February - Ride Report

Today the God of weather smiled upon me and allowed a fantastic February day for the second installment of my Century a Month in 2009 bid, aka CAM09. I decided to try a 200k this time to make sure I'm ready for the first SIR 200k brevet coming up in March. I mean, how much harder than a century can a 200k be, right? About 1/4 harder, it turns out.

Temp at the start was about 38 degrees and the sky was cloudy. The sun broke through just before noon and the second half of the ride was under sunny skies with the temp in the mid 40s. Perfect.

My route took me through the standard list of backwater, white trash, hick towns in King and Snohomish counties. I passed through Woodinville, Snohomish, Arlington, Granite Falls, Sultan, Monroe, Duvall, Woodinville again, and then back to my own backwater, white trash, hick town neighborhood of Ravenna.

Here are some highlights:

Fales Rd between Woodinville and Snohomish. Obviously I need more practice taking pictures while riding since the focus sucks.


The trusty steed in downtown Snohomish looking down at the Snohomish river, which incidentally seems to flood every year, and still people insist on living on it's shores. Kind of like those folks who choose to live in trailer parks in the midwest even though they know it's just a matter of time before a tornado gets them.


Ah, the fabulous Centennial trail. A little boring, but a great way to get in twenty easy miles.


A barn between Arlington and Granite Falls that didn't fare well in the big snow storm last December. Incidentally, there is still snow along side the road in the shady spots in this neck of the woods, presumably left over from December's big dump.


Old Pipeline Rd between Granite Falls and Sultan. This is my new favorite cycling road. I saw about four cars in ten miles on this road, but plenty of big rollers, some with 10% grades.


Once again, the velo striking a pose in front of the Sultan Red Apple Market. Stopped in here for a couple of those Starbucks super sweet espresso in a can drinks. Those drinks may quite possibly be the perfect cycling fuel. Caffeine + Sugar = Vroom!

Also note the hillybilly saddle bag. It's a repurposed military surplus bag that is actually quite useful on these long rides. It easily holds my rain coat, a few Clif Bars, my wallet, phone, spare tube, and tools.


The home stretch! The bumpy Burke G trail near Lake City.

A bit more than the 200k I'd planned but with such a beautiful day, why not?

Ride Stats:
Distance = 133.7 miles (215 kilometers)
Riding Time = 8h 10m
Elapsed Time = 9h 20m
Total Climbing = 5,602'
Ibuprophen Consumed = 400 mgs (50% decrease compared to Jan century!)

Pre-Blog Ride Reports - Jan '09

Originally emailed on January 10, 2009 5:57:36 PM under the subject, One down, eleven to go - Ride Report

I set myself a cycling goal this year to do a century ride in every calendar month of 2009. And as if doing a century in January isn't punishment enough, I decided to do my first century of the year on my single speed Bianchi. I'm running a 46t chainring with an 18t freewheel cog in the back. For perspective, this gearing is basically equivalent to putting your chain on the small ring in the front and smack-dab in the middle of the cluster in the back (assuming you have a standard 53/39 double crank with a 11-23 cluster), and then wrapping duct tape all around your shifters so you can't mess with them for the rest of the day. In the flats it's a decent gear for spinning along comfortably at about 16 mph. But as we've all known since Columbus failed to fall off the edge in 1492, the world is not flat. I spin out at about 24 mph on the downhills, and have to stand up and grunt a lot if the uphills exceed about a 3% grade.

My route was pretty convoluted, part loop and part out and back. Most of my favorite routes for long rides are currently under water due to all the flooding we've been having. So I got a little creative. I started at 6:30am so I could get home at a reasonable hour and still have time to hang out with the family. Of course that meant I was riding in the dark for about the first hour. Starting from home, I went around Lake Washington counter clockwise as far as Kenmore, about 3/4 of the way around. From Kenmore I headed east and then north and then east again and south and west and then north (did you follow that?). My route took me through Woodinville, Maltby (wherever the hell that is), Paradise Lake, Novelty Hill, Redmond, Issaquah, Renton again and finally home.

Temperature was in the low 40s and it rained on and off the whole way. But I was dressed right, so I was pretty comfortable. Overall it was a fun way to spend an ugly day. I definitely didn't set any speed records. As a matter of fact, it was by far the slowest century I've ever ridden. I mostly blame that on the single speed, though it's possible the engine was partly at fault. Choosing the gearing on a single speed or fixed gear bike is an exercise in compromise at best. You give up speed on the flats and downhills in order to have a low enough gear to survive the uphills. After today's ride, I'm thinking I compromised a little too much on the low side. The hills were all manageable, but I could never do any better than about 16 - 17mph on the flats.

Ok, so that's my story. Who wants to join me for the February century? ;)

Steve

Ride Stats
Miles = 108.5
Ride Time = 7:28
Elapsed Time = ~8 hours
Ibuprophen Consumed = 800mgs