Desert Bicycling Notes

Just Ride

2011-09-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

Well, I took a month off after the DRR 400km. The knee found a new way to complain. I've slowly been building back up. I've even managed a 100km and a 200km. So, in some sense, I'm back to where I was. I've been using flat pedals during the recovery. Cheap ones. They're great. Perhaps they are these, I'm not exactly sure, but it's close:

http://www.wellgo.com.tw/p-image/C136.jpg

This has allowed the foot to take whatever position is needed for me not to notice knees and ankles. It's working. I also have metal pedals; but, the plastic provides better traction with my shoes. As a nice side effect, I don't have to have an extra pair of shoes at work to change into after biking in.

I had been using speedplay frogs, and will probably continue to try to do so. But, will build up slowly on those as well.

2010 Statistics

2011-01-02T21:35:00.001-08:00

2010 is over. The year in training went well. Below are two views: one shows distance-per-year in kilometers, recorded since 2002. The other shows total recored hours exercised per year since 2002. Note that the stats for 2002 are incomplete - the statistics start when I acquired The Finest Technology that 2002 Had to Offer. Anyway, a pretty good year. I hope that 2011 allows me to set personal bests in distance, by a factor of 1.5.

Distance - fourth best year ever, in total distance.

Time - second best year ever, in total time. I record non-cycling time, and I am even slower than in 2003 - hence the discrepancy between the rankings in time and distance.

Jan 1, 2011 Ride - It was cold

2011-01-02T20:12:00.000-08:00

This post is mostly about the clothing worn to deal with the temperatures. A little background:

Marcello has organized two first-of-the-season rides in Oregon. The weather looked good for the first of these - clear and cold with no precipitation in sight. I 'needed' a ride for January to make progress on my R-12 attempt. The route was nice. An out-and-back from Hillsboro to Dallas, OR. So, I made the attempt. Finished the ride fine. But, the temperatures were colder than I normally ride.

So, here's what I wore. It worked. Starting at the top:

Helmet cover - water proof - but I wore if for the wind protection and an extra layer up top. Had to take it off once it got dark - so I could use the headlamp that attaches to the helmet.
Head-sweat - I wear this year-round for bicycling
Head band to cover the ears

REI brand base-layer t-shirt. Long sleeve. It comes up and covers most of my neck - and seems to do a good job of wicking and keeping me warm.
Oregon Randonneurs wool long sleeve jersey. It's the red one.
For 2/3 of the ride I wore a standard issue yellow cycling wind breaker. Took it off at the half-way point as I was breaking a sweat, it was the warmest part of the day, and I wanted to dry out before we lost the daylight.

Standard issue cycle shorts
Knee warmers
A very old, garish, pair of tights from Primal Wear. They do a good job of blocking wind, and the keep the knee warmers in place - but have limited insulation. The combination of these w/ the knee warmers is good starting at around 50F.

Liner socks (from hiking)
Wool socks - for cross country skiing. They came up to the bottom of the knee - adding some insulation below the knee warmers and perhaps adding some compression on the muscles below the knee.
Standard issue cycling shoes (mountain bike)
Gore shoe covers. These were pricey; but, they have been worth it - a significant upgrade in warmth and dryness over the previous.

Finally:

I used two sets of gloves during the ride. On the 'out' part of the ride, I used an old set of dense-fleece ski gloves (a nice gift about a decade ago from one of my brothers). They were a little soggy from sweat at the half-way mark, so I switched them out for a wool combination: smart-wool liner gloves inside REI's nubby-palmed wool gloves. These worked fine, and might have worked the entire ride.

The above kept me warm enough. If it had been raining, that wouldn't have worked. I would have switched to a water-proof outer layer and lightened up on the other clothing.

Now - for the ride part. It was good-to-great. Here are the heart-rate traces that go with the exertions:

Out: Hillsboro-Dayton-Dallas, with a stop in Dayton at a very nicely ran convenience store. Worked hard the whole way. We tended to have a tail-wind - my ride time for this leg was about 4:30.

Back: I stopped to have hot chocolate and chat with Marcello. Then another stop in Dayton. The tail-wind was now a head-wind. The exertion falls off at the end as I'm winding through the neighborhoods and focused on navigation, as opposed to just pedaling hard.

The complete set of pictures, such as they are, are available here.

Finally finally: for food I had some simple sandwiches made from Safeway's finest cheap French rolls. Some had cheese and some had salami. I also had a cashew/raisin mix from home, and 2 Lara bars. Two bottles of Heed - went with Coffee (from the excellent convenience store in Dayton), hot chocolate, and NUUN-in-water. Also - Marcello had supplies on the road. I had 6 cookies. No food issues. The cashews worked, again. Had them towards the end of the ride.

Bikenfest

2010-10-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

It's 2010, early October and the rando season is mostly winding down. But - there's one more ride on the schedule. I sign up for it. Nat signs up for it. Norm signs up for it. Bikenfest. We eventually figure out that we're carpooling from Richland to the outskirts of Bingen to start a ride at 7:30am. To do this we meet at the house at 4:00am to load the bikes and start. To do that I'm promptly in bed asleep by 1:00am the night before. With the usual preparations out of the way, we set off in the dark, driving. Stop at McDonalds for breakfast-analog (Biggs). The tollgate for the bridge over the Columbia at Hood river. Metal grids. Different patterns of metal in different places. Left turn into the park and ride. Bicyclists. We're there as well. 7-ish. We prep the bikes. Register. Greet the other cyclists. It's shaping up to be a great day.

We're off. I turn back to check that the van is locked. It is. I've lost 5 minutes but think I might be able to catch back on. I sort of do. Nat's pedal has de-constructed itself. He's walking up and down the shoulder of Hwy 14 along the Columbia, and trying to find pedal parts. Norm and I press on. The route takes us up and away from the 14. Some good views of the river. Many others have photographed the view as well; but, here are my contributions.

We gain and then lose on the order of 600feet of elevation. A nice road that ends back along 14.

We cross the Klickitat river, enter Lyle and then a left turn that goes UP. So Norm and I are cycling up. Glasses fogging. A cloud in the valley. It's steep. The altimeter shows rapid elevation gain to go with the slow accumulation of miles. I've been here before (a slow start on a timed ride) and know I'll be able to meet the time gates. We climb. Stop for pictures or clothing adjustments.

Somewhere in there I disappear one of the PB&Honey sandwiches (on marble rye) that I've prepped for this. I'm having trouble keeping up with Norm. He's a much stronger cyclist than he was back in March. No comparison. We start to see another rider. Ken. I didn't know that for awhile since we had trouble getting up to him, and only connected at the top of the ridge. He coasts away from us on the other side and I'm still trying to figure out how he did that. The other effect of the crest is the change in vegetation. We went from trees to grass, abruptly.

And we're up on a plateau. Open. We can see Centerville in the distance. The zig-zag road pretty much has that as the only option. We're there. The Kramer is there. Water. Conversation. He's disbursing snacks. I go with the Lara bar (I'm a sucker for those) and, on a whim, salted cashews (from Costco). The Kramer reminds us to carry lots of water from Goldendale to Glenwood. We're off. And eventually in Goldendale at the 76.Subway.DQ. Lotsa bicyclist cooling there jets there. I pick up water, a coke and some rollos (I still have those - must remember to eat them later. Can't go wrong with chocolate and caramel). We head out fairly quickly - didn't want to spend a lot of time at that control, especially when there's a prospect of a hamburger/fries/coffee at the next control.

Norm and another rider drop me on this leg. There pace wasn't in me - but mine's plenty fast enough. Look left: it's Mt Hood. Look right: it's Mt Adams. We're surrounded by agriculture.

Fields. Cows. Hood. Adams. I'm pedaling. The coke is going going gone. I can sometimes see Norm and the other ahead. I figure they're finishing the ride before me, and continue at a pace. My pace. I've ridden this rode before, and the cue sheet is complete w/ elevation profile. The Klicketat river valley is shielded by slight ridge. I get to the top of the ridge and adjust. The cashew packet is opened and placed in a side pocket of the front feedbag. I get a picture.

Drink some water. And then the bike and I dive into the canyon. First overlook there's some folks taking in the view. I wave. They wave. I'm checking the mirror. Nobody behind me. Taking the corners carefully. Life's good. And in a short number of minute it's the bottom of the canyon. Hello river.

Now comes the part where we climb out of the valley. It's a short climb. 1000 feet of elevation (that's about an hour of riding). I do two things on this climb. I have the music on (hard rock works well for me for climbing. The playlist starts with Karma to Burn, winds its way through some related music. I rarely climb something so long that I get to the Hallelujah chorus - didn't this time). I'm eating the cashews. I've ditched the outer layer of clothing for better heat dissipation. And I climb. The bike shorts are black and I can feel the burn from the sun. That's weird. I check: plenty of water. Departed Goldendale with the two water bottles on the bike, and a bonus bottle in the front bag. Also weird is I'm starting to catch up to people that had dropped me earlier. I'm feeling good. There's Ken. I'm caught by Bill Alsup - he's taking pictures of us as we monkey our way up the road. I catch Norm. Start pulling him along. Some yo-yo-ing. Another rider or two ahead and they were very catchable except that Norm and I have other agenda. We agree that the burger/coffee/fries in Glenwood is the way to go. We're an hour ahead of cuttoff times, and so stop. We eat. It's good. The waitress is so kind as to refill our water bottles with ice water. We thank her profusely. And head out.

The ride is straightforward from there. A modest climb. Some steep bits. There's Ken again (he'd stopped at the store instead of the diner). Good clean fun on the descent. Trout Lake. Out to the stop sign. It's still light; but, want to make this the last stop before we get in for the evening. We dork up: Reflective gear. Lights on. And, for the first time, I'm cycling from Trout Lake to Bingen in daylight. It's easier than in the dark (anybody surprised?). I see the place where, a couple of years back, Nat and I hung out with Peg waiting for her wheel to arrive. We're falling quickly: lots of 25mph, and ranging from 15-30mph. Our mass is finally working for us. It's getting warmer as we get lower. Some condensation on the handlebar - I move the phone from the mesh on the outside to inside the bag. Light traffic. We make the traditional laments about the climb at the end of the descent before the final descent. In the daylight you can see that you don't want to veer off the road to the right. It'd be a tumble. And next thing you know we're done. I'd figured it for a 12 hour adventure but only ~11:30. Should have dawdled better.

John often has mementos to commemorate the events he organizes. Not to mention the cue sheets; well thought out design. This time, he had these pins for the riders:

It was great. Now I have to figure out what's in cashews.

Brevet Prep and Flat-Yak 200km Ride

2010-05-31T11:55:00.001-07:00

After some extensive recovering from the DRR 400km - and just letting the ORR 600km go - began prepping for the SIR 600km. This ride goes over 4 passes, and then adds a gratuitous loop around Lake Sammamish - to get the length to add up to 600km. I'd attempted this route 2 years ago and failed-and-bailed at 400km. Rematches are rare - I have a good success rate in rematch-rides.

The recovery phase had to address knee issues and overall fitness. I made some progress on the knee:). Regular weights.

I also worked on the bike. Changed my position on the bike - setting the seat a bit further back. And put the mountain bike gearing on the brevet bike - in recognition of the climbing to be done. Also put on the 'west-side tires': currently Pasala's. I run more flat-proof (and heavy) tires regularly in the east.

I needed an appropriate test of the bike/rider assemblage. An available ride is the Flat-Yak 200km. It's a relatively easy 200km ride - out and back from Richland to Toppenish/Zillah, with some variations to make the ride more interesting. So I'm off on a Sunday. The ride-thought is to keep the heart rate around 120bpm - this level of exertion will be fairly easy on the joints. And I'll get to see what that effort-level translates into distance and time.

It's always hard to get out of bed early on a potentially lazy Sunday to ride a bike for a semi-absurd duration. But, I do this regularly. The night before is key - prep a lot so it's a quick exit. Get the bike into the den. Make a PBH sandwich. Fill the water bottles (and place in the fridge - under the sandwich). Pack the handlebar bag. Remember the frame pump. Etc. I'm down the hill at the Starbucks a little after 7:00am for my 'official' start time of 7:00am. A donut and part of a cup of coffee later (~7:15-20) I'm on the bike heading West. I finish the coffee while riding and press on. Distracted. I miss a turn on this route I've created and get a couple of bonus miles on Keene. But, otherwise no issues and arrive at Prosser.

It's water, receipt and out. I'd gotten a late enough start that this was a little close, in time. But, I get there w/ about 15 minutes to spare. And depart quickly. Right after Prosser I get to ride here:

And then it's the long stretch to Toppenish. Sometimes on this part of the ride there are views of Mt Adams, and sometimes it's enough to keep oneself entertained while passing the distance.

I get to Toppenish. The Safeway. The half-way point. Coffee and water. I'd finished the sandwich already. I'm sitting there, drinking coffee and taking in the news of the day, and a young man joins me in rando-vagrant-mode. He (reflexively?) asks me for change. I can't say no. Before I can hand it to him he's greeted by a local woman (my age?). He comes back and I offer him the coinage. I get to hear about his life. Relatives. Behaviors. Thinks of being a DJ. He offers to sell me some artifacts. I look; but, I'm not a collector. A friend/acquaintance of his shows up. Wasted. That's my cue to get going.

It's a short ride to the info control at Zillah. The information is on a sign at this cemetery. More flowers than I've ever seen here before. And people staring at the ground.

And on through Zillah. Granger. Then one of the nicest stretches of scenery, and quietest roads on the route. Emerald Rd. There's the Yakima river to the right. Orchards to the left. A few houses around. I get a couple of photos of a flock of pelicans. Also saw a Bald Eagle. Huge.

Eventually I return to the relative civilization of small towns. Sunnyside. Grandview then Prosser again. One more refueling - water, coffee, ice cream sandwich. Home by 6:40 (official ride end: 6:27).

Everything seemed to mostly work. Looking forward to a big ride this next weekend.

Getting Ready for Next - Update

2010-05-09T14:30:00.000-07:00

Ended up switching to the SIR 600km, June 5. Switch is motivated by work schedule giving the knee a little more time to recover, and additional training time. I attempted this ride a couple of years ago - had a great time but bailed at the 400km mark. Rematches are rare - so will make the most of it. Here's a sketch of the ride:

View Larger Map

Getting Ready for Next

2010-05-02T19:27:00.001-07:00

Next is the Oregon Randonneurs 600km Brevet. A week after finishing the 400km, the body is mostly recovered but with some issues remaining with the left knee. Other issues that emerged on the 400km were saddle related, and upper body/shoulder strength. Accordingly, I've been lifting weights, and listening to the knee. The essential physiological preparation is boring: clean living and exercise. So, it's weights/cardio/stretching every other day, along with (relatively) gradual re-entry on the bike. This next weekend is a local century: The Inland Empire Century. I'm planning to ride it with a couple of rando-riders. If that's ride-able, then will proceed with the 600. If not, probably not.

Bike prep is straightforward - changed out the saddle to a well-tested Brooks, and will add some lower gears to help with the steep climbs along the Oregon coast. The ride is unsupported - with an overnight about 360km in at Lincoln City. I intend to carry everything with, as opposed to using a drop bag.

DRR 400km - A Ride

2010-04-28T22:08:00.000-07:00

Everything happens in 400km, and it takes a day. So it's my favorite distance of all the standard brevets. This one saw 10 of us at the start of the ride - the first ever 400km brevet hosted at the Tri-Cities. I'd hoped for five riders and was pleasantly surprised by this turnout.

The ride took us out to Ellensburg and back, with a slight deviation in Yakima just to get the distance up to 400. We started at 6am from Nat's. I spoke briefly with Ken Bonner at the beginning of the event, and as we wound our way out to the main road. Then he and a few others were gone. In short order, John Kramer decided he'd head up the road as well. We eventually split into ~3 groups. I was part of a good group of five riders. We tended to ride together, as it turned out it was a very windy day.

The weather forecast leading up to the ride had a humorous quality: Friday - a great day. Sunday - a great day. Saturday - lotsa wind. The forecast was correct - but it started out as 'ordinary' wind before graduating to '*$&@#!' wind. As part of the pre-ride briefing - I'd told folks that there were two good indicators to stop riding in the wind: 1) a lot of dust in the atmosphere (who wants that in their lungs) and 2) inability to hold a straight line on the bike (who wants to be blown off the road or into traffic). I'd suggested that it's OK to not worry over intermediate control times - thinking that it'd be in our face all the way out to Ellensburg. And that it'd blow us back to Richland. That was half right.

I was riding with Peg W and Norm Carr to Prosser - closely followed by Roger and Ali Holt. For Norm and I - the first leg was a standard ride at this point: the same as the 200km we did earlier in the year. The Prosser control was welcome, and we showed up with something over 30 minutes 'in the bank'. Neither bad nor good for 50km into the event. Some food and liquids and then we headed out. I like the first part of the next leg - it's a nice road along the Yakima River. Then we turn out onto Hwy 22 and it gets less interesting - except for the clean and near uninterrupted exposure to the wind. We caught up with Roger and Ali and spent a good amount of this distance riding in groups of 2 or 3 or 5 together.

This photo shows three of is in echelon:

This photo shows Peg pulling - for awhile we fell into a decent paceline - effective even at slow speeds due to the headwind.

The wind bunched us up. Roger and I got into Toppenish first - then Norm. Peg and Ali accrued some bonus distance and then we were all at the Safeway - taking in a meal and the morning. Norm, sensibly, left us at this point. Another rider, Sam, had calculated and decided that the wind was going to cause the ride to take too much time. The rest of us would finish the ride. At the Toppenish Safeway: Coffee and a sandwich after a good chunk of a bike ride. Can't beat it.

So four of us head out from Toppenish towards Yakima. There is some wind-shielding on Track road that wasn't available on the Highway. And somewhat less traffic. It went well - but we ran out of road a little earlier than planned - arriving at some track-related road deconstruction. The gravel was rideable but this wasn't:

So, we rejoined the main road and headed into Yakima. The wind was diverted, briefly, by the hillside. We made up a little time.

The route took a cloverleaf to get us into the city of Union Gap. We negotiated that fine, and ended up riding through the town. And then took the left towards Wiley City. The road surface and traffic varied - but it was a nice enough route. A very steady and gradual uphill.

We get to Wiley City - fuel etc. And head out. Ali had mentioned a hill that we might have to climb. I was having nothing to do with that at this point - must have needed more fuel/food. She was correct. We climbed it. Short and steep. Then zigzagged up, down, generally down into Yakima. A pit stop at a local McDonalds and then we found the bike path from Yakima to Selah. Then the canyon. We separated into pairs in the canyon. Peg and I riding slightly ahead. Two main climbs in the canyon and Peg easily outclimbed me. I caught her on the first downhill - and then again on the second (since she'd stopped). It was heading towards sundown and the temperature was dropping. But a nice evening. We'd seen Ken Bonner shortly after we entered the canyon - then we saw the other three riders as we left the canyon heading into Ellensburg (somewhere around here John Kramer texted a concise ride report: "Uffdah"). Another town another Safeway. But its inner-starbucks had already closed for the evening. We got some food. And agreed w/ Ali and Roger (just a few minutes behind) that we could meet at a stand-alone Starbucks on the way out of town. Did so. I ate my safeway sandwich, drank half a latte. Then Peg urged us all outside before we "got too comfortable". We booked it out of town. Slightly gapped Roger and Ali and played control-tag with them all the way back to Richland. We approximately had the wind for this leg: Ellensburg to Yakima. It was a nice ride back through the canyon. Crossing back over into Yakima - we entered town at night (must have been pusing 11pm). No traffic issues. A nice ride on 1st street, then a left on Nob Hill and we found the 76. The person behind the desk knew the card-signing routine and we happy to sign ours - the folks preceding us (Ken, John, Mike and Karel) must have made a great impression with her, and all of the other folks at the service stations and stores. They were always smiling when they saw us. All of this despite Peg and I starting to go into full-on Rando-vagrant mode.

The 76 chow was cup-of-soups, ingested in the store while sitting on cases of motor oil. Zillah - there was one table in the Chevron. Prosser - we used the Shell truck-stop. Plenty of tables and local color. Benton City - who can ever forget the outside pond with the adjoining BBQ?

Anyway - there we are at the Yakima Nob Hill 76. Me, Peg and the proprietress. She's deeply amused and trusting us (no reason not to, as it turns out). Steps outside for smoke while Peg and I are swilling down a cup-o-noodles each. It's good but time is pressing. We head it towards Moxie. I've never been. And I guess I still haven't. The road skirts the town and then pushes us south towards Zillah. It's all getting bleary but we're biking on. We spend a lot of time on 'Konnowac Pass Rd'. I'm starting to put it together - the name, the curve of the road on the map. Means one thing: we have a climb somewhere in this. It's true. We climbed. But - the best part is that some of the local artists had adjusted the reflectivity of the road signs. So that some of the letters in the words 'Konnowac Pass Rd' are not visible. Taking out the 'P' was obvious - but the adjustments on 'Konnowac' took some thought. Anyway - we're climbing up. The road surface has some fractal dimension close to 2. Then we get to descend to the Yakima Valley Hwy. I'm feeling pretty good at this point, since this puts us a little over 100km away from the finish (doable) on roads I've bicycled before (very doable). Too bad the wind had died down - and was slightly in our face. We get to Zillah.

Roger and Ali pull in shortly after us. They're making the time limits, as are we - with never more than an hour to spare. Sometimes with just minutes. But we're slogging it through. Peg and I head out from the Chevron through the sleeping town of Zillah. She's not impressed by the teapot. It takes us forever to get to Sunnyside. We try the bike path briefly on the other side of Sunnyside - to stay out of traffic. At this point I'm having some issues staying awake while riding. Nothing unmanageable so much as annoying - sleepiness messing with my enjoyment of the moments. We look for caffeine tablets in Grandview. We strike out. But we get to Prosser. The truck stop. Food, tea (easier on the stomach than coffee) and vivarin. I haven't used this particular form of substance since undergraduate school. I still remember trying to write a paper, due the next day. That caffeine pill kept me up, but so wired and shaky that I couldn't start writing till 5am or so. But, I'm game to try one of these again - three+ decades later. Peg is kind enough to spot me a vivarin. I read the label. I accidently start reading the inert-ingredients. This is kind of a long list. I remember reading the titanium compound on the list - then realizing that 1) I am reading the inert ingredient list 2) titanium is very appropriate for a rando event (although I'm using the steel) and 3) the orange color it induced is hilarious as it is not a very food-like color. I eat it and hope for the best.

For actual food: I'd chosen the item with the most calories that I thought I could eat (and then retain while riding). We'd shown up at Prosser at a reasonable hour - some of the local folks were awake and having their morning coffee. They greeted Peg and I with a comment (I'm paraphrasing): "I see you're with your daughter: your youngest daughter". I thought this was a good shot/comment, but wasn't in good enough shape to visibly appreciate it. So they repeated it a few times:). Nice guys. One of them was the ex police-chief of Prosser. Peg chatted with them briefly. Peg and I took a 'head-down' brief nap. Somewhere along the way I started having issues with the functioning of my left knee. It hurt when I bent it. Not so good when one is trying to pedal. It hurt a lot when I pedaled standing-up - so I didn't do a lot of that. Ibuprofen helped somewhat. It hurt less as the day started warming up. Anyway, the food, vivarin, tea etc all helped. We headed out of Prosser, on fire, relatively speaking. I see on the speedometer, somewhat consistently, 13-14 mph.

An hour later - it's daylight (has been since Prosser) and we're a couple of short climbs from Benton City. But I'm starting to fade - limited power on the bike - can't get the heart-rate over 110 (a solid sign I'm out of fuel). I make some comment, Peg agrees: "yep, you're running on fumes again". We stop in Benton City. Can you believe they don't have donuts on Sunday's at the gas station? Donut-free - just on Sundays. I choke down a hostess cupcake (dryer than a fresh donut), another vivarin, half a cup of coffee (just to make sure I've had enough caffeine) and we're off. Peg had stayed outside so she wouldn't get "too comfortable". I'm starting to sense a pattern.

We're pretty much done. Just pedal. These are extremely familiar roads - I probably ride them in my sleep. We crest the hill outside of Benton City, coast down to Bombing range, some road-ridng, a bike path, up to the elementary school and just about coast down to Nat's.

Nat's there. Sally. Two cats. He signs cards. He's been up all night reading my gripping facebook posts (ok, probably not). Nat takes our picture. I've called Julie asking for a lift home. Sure - we can ride 250 miles. But not 252.

We'd timed our departure from Prosser so that we'd finish the ride w/ 30 minutes to spare - enough time in the bank to handle one mechanical incident. We finish w/ 30 minutes to spare. Roger and Ali show up right after us. Ali enjoys the cats. We all chat briefly. I hope to see them on a ride in Canada in 2012, and before. This was a great weekend.

Bike Maintenance

2010-01-31T17:22:00.000-08:00

One of the simple pleasures of riding is working on the bike. I had a couple of items to work on: the bottom-bracket/crankset area was clunking a little, and I had an new derailleur to install. Went ahead and replaced the chain while I was in the neighborhood. Started with the derailleur. The key difference between this one and the previous is the bearings on the pulleys - I'm hoping for better weather resistance. Got it installed and adjusted easily enough. Used a new cable.
The tricky bit was the clunking in the crankset area. Taking the bottom bracket out showed some thread-loss on the drive-train side - on the outer part of the bottom bracket. I'm not sure how the threads were lost - but, I'm now in the market for a replacement.

Information

2009-01-18T17:31:00.000-08:00

From the RUSA web-site:

"Where it is difficult to eliminate a potential shortcut from a route, an information control may be specified. In this case, the rider answers a question, posted on the brevet card, about the control location, e.g. name of a business or church, color of a house etc."

I needed an information control to complete a permanant route; but, the weather hadn't been cooperating. We've had, for the most part, too much snow and ice to drive to the route, much less ride it. Today was the day, however. Not a work day, and good enough weather. There was the freezing fog up high. It looked great. Down low, the h2o was liquid. RUSA member #5081 and I drove it - documenting a few very findable yet unique points of note in the canyon between Echo and Pendleton. We stopped for lunch in Pendleton - The Hut was closed (apparently closed on Sundays) but the restaurant across the street, The Mazatlan Mexican Restaurant had a fine Veggie burrito and a nice enough cup of coffee. Then home.

Year End Wrap-up

2008-11-26T19:49:00.001-08:00

Yep - it's not the end of the year; but, I'm calling it anyway. It's done. This bike-season is now complete. If necessary, one can think of it as like x-mas music and decorations at malls - earlier and earlier. As commercial-x-mas-season-start creeps forward so does the end-of-bike-season. It's called. This season of not-biking-enough is over. I reset the metaphorical odometer. It's finished. Moving on...Wait, a few rituals to ensure the finality of this season.

Tradition demands the usual end-of-season questions:

How many miles did you ride (5200km for me this year - should have been double that for optimal results)?

What are your goals for next year (ride more and enjoy it well)?

Any rando specific goals (yes - a super randonneur series, good progress towards an R-12 and a great kick-off of the Tri-Cities Area Randonneurs (TAR? - funniest option for a name yet. We could also get HAR - but, that's too obvious))?

Any new bikes on the horizon (yes - but not this year - whatever bike it is will come from the Northwest)?

High point of the previous year-in-cycling (Lots of candidates)?

It's enough. I think I'll ride tomorrow.

Around the Bend - A Monday's Ride

2008-11-24T20:41:00.000-08:00

Well, it's sort of vacation time. And it's not raining or snowing. So, the road-bike is in play. Nat and I set out from the local Starbucks around 6:30am, and head out around the bend of the Columbia river. Mostly because we haven't ever been there and it's an appropriate distance for our current lack of conditioning. It's dark, below freezing, and the fog from the river dominates for awhile.

The usual happens - ice in the beard. Cold toes. Nat's hydration pack hose collects ice. Mine doesn't - electrolytes. I'm toying with bailing; but, around Wallula I'm 'committed'.

As we get beyond Wallula the fog starts to break, and we're biking through the gap. It's spectacular. It's a truck route; but, the traffic is tolerable. The shoulder on the road (US 730) when entering Oregon get's too narrow for comfort. Light traffic though. Some folks are fishing in the Columbia as we ride by. The route is amazingly flat. We take it in and then we're in Umatilla. My favorite stop is the Tesoro. I have the coffee and chips; Nat goes with the subway. Here's a pic:

Finally, we're left with the climb over Clodfelter. We do it. It takes a good amount of time - we're working, but not so hard that we can't talk. Then we get the descent. Still cold; but, easy work. Next month is a 200km.

Brevets in the Tri-Cities, WA

2008-11-09T18:31:00.000-08:00

Randonneuring is an organized form of long distance bicycle riding. And it's a blast. There is the benefit of meeting our fellow bicyclists, the interesting routes that take us to parts of our regions we wouldn't otherwise see, and the challenges. The distances are challenging, and the challenges ratchet nicely with ones abilities. Slower riders (like me) have the challenge of finishing within the time limit, faster riders can try to best their previous marks, or take advantage of the time for photo explorations, diner diving, etc.

Good description of Randonneuring and the rides (Brevets) are available on the web-sites linked below (don't miss the RUSA web-site), and here: http://www.randonneurs.bc.ca/introduction/intr_txt.html.

The national organization for Randonneuring in the US, RUSA - http://www.rusa.org, breaks the country into (approximate) regions, and in my part of the world the closest regions are in Portland, OR - http://www.orrandonneurs.org and Seattle, WA - http://seattleinternationalrandonneurs.org. Each of these is a good 3-4 hour card drive from the Tri-Cities, so, we're going to run a couple of Brevets (the rides) from the Tri-Cities this next year (under the auspices of the Oregon group).

The two rides we currently have schedule are a 200km Brevet on April 18, 2009 and a 300km Brevet on May 2, 2009. If we have enough participants, we'll expand our ride offerings in the next year and perhaps form a region. Stay tuned!

Richland-Pendleton-Richland - RUSA Permanant 567

2008-11-09T17:14:00.000-08:00

This (proposed)permanent route starts in Richland, WA - and takes the 'natural' route to Umatilla, OR, and then to Pendleton. And then you reverse course and head back. The distance is a safe-and-sane 210km. The highlights of the route include a nice climb up Clodfelter, a bike path over the Columbia River, a ride along the Umatilla River from Umatilla to Hermiston, and, the canyon road from Echo to Pendleton. Some photos, for preview purposes, are here and here.

More details:
The precise start location is the intersection of Leslie and Gage roads in Richland, WA. There are numerous potential card-signing/receipt-offering mechanisms near this intersection. Albertsons (also has an ATM inside (and a Starbucks)), Albertsons Express minimart, a Shell minimart and a stand-alone Starbucks.

There are five controls: Richland, Umatilla, Pendleton, Umatilla and Richland. The control on Pendleton is open. There are a variety of options in Pendleton - ranging from minimarts to restaurants. A recommended option in Pendleton is the Hut, see a previous posting for a description and coordinates.

A bikely-based description of the route is here.

The route sheet is here.

The overall elevation gain is approximately 2000meters - the biggest climb is the ridge between Richland and the Columbia river (a Clodfelter climb on the way out and a Plymouth Road climb on the way back).

Biking North

2008-09-07T14:20:00.000-07:00

We set out to Grand Coulee Dam at 5:30am from the Starbucks in South Richland. The picture above is from North of Soap Lake - the best part of the ride. We ended up getting 190 of the 250 'available' kilometers, before being intercepted by our pick-up-person a few miles before Coulee City. The ride picked up nicely in scenery and traffic conditions (less!) From Moses Lake on, especially after the highway headed North towards Soap Lake.

The early start made for some interesting light-effects. The angle of the sun gets extreme and the smallest things cast shadows for the longest time. This picture captures it, somewhat. Between Pasco and Basin City. The yellow dot in the picture up ahead is one of us.

The bike ride North to Basin city has been great both times I've taken it - this ride is the second. There is light traffic, and a sense of direction and purpose (heading North, to get to Basin City. It works somehow). Basin City is small town, and seems to serve the local Ag community/industry. There are a couple of places to eat. I haven't stopped there yet but a restaurant-ride is a good option for the future. The place shown below - mini-mart/gas-station is abandoned.

After Basin City, we get to climb. The name of the town makes sense. We climb up out of the basin onto a Plataea. While biking up, I'm interested in the road-cuts on the way up (I swear it wasn't to catch my breath - there are interesting features to be seen in the cross-sections). There's a lot of loose stuff that was cut-through to get up to the top:

The ride North continues up on the top - some rolling, and then a ripping trip down into Othello. We take the traditional mini-mart stop before heading on North to Moses Lake. Pretty much the most direct way, by car or bike, from Othello to Moses Lake is Hwy 17. We take that highway. It's not a road I'd put cyclists on at all during the night. The rumble strip has eaten what little shoulder there is. I spend most of this part of the ride reflecting on that and swearing to find another way to bike between these two nice cities (still haven't found it).

We stop in Moses Lake for a sit-down meal at a sports bar. It's great. We take a lot of time here. Finally we head out. I'd asked the proprietor for how to head north from there to get to the next cities (Soap Lake, Coulee City,...) and apparently muff the translation of his directions. We get to see a lot of Moses Lake before I head into a local Real Estate agent office for relief from our route miscue. The receptionist listens, gets out a Moses Lake map, points us to the bike path along the lake, and on North out of town. She also gives us the map. Very kind.

So, we bike out of town along the lake for which the town is named:

And then we're out of town. The road's great North of Moses Lake - much better than from Othello to ML. Traffic's died out a lot, and the topography starts to have a different feel. Here's the all-important views of the shoulder-riding-conditions:

The sign in the north-facing picture is kind-of amusing. It says Grand Coulee Dam next right. Not really a lie, but, the dam-and-destination is still 60-some miles away. We make the right turn. And it really starts to get good. This view is a hint:

And I liked Soap Lake - we stopped at a drive-in on the way back. The malt was good. Just out of Soap Lake, the city, we're biking along Soap Lake - The Lake. I took my time:

And:

The traffic after Soap Lake was very light. I took a picture of the shoulder of the road, on-purpose, as a reminder and indicator. Weeds are growing on the shoulder:

I don't know what else to say. We may have stumbled on the perfect time of year for this particular ride. We didn't quite finish it, though. Our arrangement was to ride North, and when The Driver intersected us, get in and call it good. She found us around kilometer 190. We were close enough to the Dam, and none of us had ever been there yet, that we drove north to take a look before heading back home. Another great day on the bike.

Tri-Cities to Electric City

2008-09-03T21:22:00.000-07:00

This weekends adventure is a ride straight up the middle of the state. We hope we make it, and that we have a tailwind. Here's the proposed route - except for the shenanigans involving getting across the Columbia into Pasco. We'll start at Starbucks (sponsorship would be appreciated - we'd accept tubes and chain-lube).

View Larger Map

Here's a quick route sheet that starts in Pasco.

We'll have services at
0km The Start
50km Basin City
65km Othello
120km Moses Lake
155km Soap Lake
190km Coulee City
235km Electric City
249km Grand Coulee Damn - OK, I don't know if there are actually services at the Dam, but, figure there's a restaurant nearby

Here's hoping for winds from the South.

Ride to Washtucna

2008-08-31T11:32:00.001-07:00

So, it's Saturday and we set out on bikes for Washtucna. No actual reason but some bits of convenience - #5081 needed to train and couldn't run quite yet, and same for me (except for the running part). The plan was simple: bike to Washtucna, and pick up a car ride from there to Pullman. Retrieve daughter (visiting) and return home.

We set out at a leisurely time - 8-ish. Wound our way through Richland, along the Columbia River, across the Cable Bridge and through Pasco. All of this to get to the Pasco-Kahlotus Highway - a two-lane road primarily used for Ag purposes, and lightly traveled except for that purpose and by folks taking the 'interesting route' from the Tri-Cities to Pullman/WSU. An excellent 40 miles of biking. We mostly blasted along in good time and form. Stopping to eat. Take a few pictures. Fix a few flats.

The PK Highway comes down out of the high-plain with a ripping descent into Kahlotus. Then we follow an old river valley from there to Washtucna. Celebrated with Coffee, Sandwich and Frito's. Another good day on the bike. Photos here.

Oldie - Write-up of 2001 RAMROD

2008-07-22T19:26:00.000-07:00

Ran across this pre-randonneur ride report. What the heck, here it is...

Intro

The RAMROD is a bicycle ride; a 154-mile day long road ride around Mt Rainer with an estimated 10,000 feet of total elevation gain. It’s a loop, starting and ending in Enumclaw, so there is also 10,000 total feet of downhill riding.

Pre ride impressions

We drove into the park. The hills were long. In pieces, they were similar to many that I had done before. They were longer than anything I’d ever biked up before. In this ride the hills would start after 60 some miles of gradual uphill riding; I’d be starting to hit the passes tired. Psyched. I’d recently completed a 150-mile ride (day 1 of the STP) and a 105-mile ride (a week later, a reprise of the local century, plus some bonus miles). Both experiences were somewhat painful. Psyched again.

Dad and I drove the out to Enumclaw, the starting point of the ride, the night before; ostensible to pick up my packet; but basically I needed to see the route, and needed to start thinking about how to do the ride in some detail. The drive turns out to be much longer than estimated (2 hours each way from National Park Inn). We barely make the last call for dinner at Eatonville; grabbing a burger at Aarons just before close at 9pm. Got back to National Park Inn a little after 10pm. Did my final packing for the ride and went to sleep.

Started the morning getting up a little after 3am. Got dressed. Took some stuff out to the car. Put the rack on. Woke up Julie and we left. Arrived eventually at Enumclaw. Started riding around 6? Maybe sometime after; hit the restroom etc. before heading off. It was cold. I was wondering what the hell I was doing out there. As I was clearly and evidently apprehensive, Julie reminded me that it was my vacation; and that I needed to enjoy the ride. I remembered this during the ride; but still didn’t stop for coffee in Elbe.

Ride log

Pre-park

It was cold, 50 degrees and foggy. Didn’t get a good breakfast and missed my coffee. But, starting was the first thing to do. Found a paceline early; invited in. Pulled me out of a funk; all the way to Eatonville. Got to re-ride part of another organized ride, the Daffodil, with that line. Nice to see it again; I’d ridden that with my son David and daughter Rhea earlier this year. That paceline and the first hill out of Eatonville did a good job of reviving me. It was great to get to the park. Spoke with a few riders as they passed me. We were all glad to see the sun out; as we were cold at the start. It was good to start the long climb into the park, and eventually up to Paradise.

A bicyclist got pulled over in Eatonville. Maybe ran The Stop Sign? The hills up outside of Eatonville were significant; but, well within bounds. Weber canyon-like; although not as steady. Although when I hit the resistance of the first hill; I though something was wrong with the back (tire rubbing). Nope; just uphill. Kept riding.

The sun came out for me first near Aldar Lake; outside of Elbe. It felt good. Had good speed. Had a good view of the lake. Probably should have had the coffee in Elbe. No big lines.

The ride from Elbe into the park; up to Longmire, is similar to heading up Edison/Union from the river; but longer. From Longmire up to Paradise is like heading up Leslie, but a whole lot longer.

At this point I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. But, I’d felt that way on other rides and completed them.

In the Park

Enjoyed the park entrance to Kautz creek. The bike provided a great view of the undergrowth in the rain forest. Much moss and fern. Good riding.

Lunch at Kautz creek; A bagel, banana, fruit. Filled the water bottles with Gatorade. Someone made a crack about the sanitary conditions. Lunch was set up right by the can. I agreed and then dove into the bagel.

Saw Dad and Laura watching for me outside of National Park Inn. Stopped; talked; some pictures happened. Claimed I was on course for a 12 hour ride. And then took off as best I could. Did alright up Paradise. Up to Paradise

Got passed a lot by skinny people on good bikes, with a good cadence, in groups. Saw a lot of familiar sights. Even on a bike, going uphill, it seemed a little too fast to take it all in. The park is great. The road and traffic were favorable. The road grade varied, which is helpful. Built in rest.

Hit the top; tired. Saw a water stop. Rolled right by. Once I started downhill, I figured I would be finally committed to the completing the whole ride. I started downhill.

Descent 1

The descent from Paradise was good fun. I had to stop after ¼ mile to put the sunglasses back on and zip the vest up the rest of the way. Going down this road was a blast. Good speed. Good bike handling. Good views. Good concentration. We went down the scenic loop; no car traffic. A couple of other bicyclist there as well. We sort of rode together, as we’d spoken over the Nisqually glacier. Tended to get passed by other bicyclist; never exceeded 40mph (the computer recorded 35.something as the max). Easily avoided road hazards. The turns were good. Went by the lakes. Pushed up a small rise and then on down. The descent down to box canyon was done in a group. Some of the folks in the group could hop the gratings. Would have been a very useful skill if it were wet at all (and the gratings were slick). I rumble over them; beat the crap out of the wheels and tires. Tires and wheels took it fine.

Up Backbone ridge

Did well on the climb up backbone ridge. Kept folks in sight and didn’t get passed. Pushed it well; another checkpoint near the top. Stopped just before beginning the descent to refuel; thinking of the final climb to come.

Descent 2
Lots of bumps in the rode to watch for; got by them well enough. More fun on good switchbacks; can take them faster on a bike than in a car. A longer descent than the previous uphill, since we were going to a fairly low elevation (somewhere in the low 2000’s above sea level).

Up Cayuse pass
Up Cayuse pass is very steep. And long. During the ride up, the grade appeared flat but the inclometer indicated a steady 7-8% grade. That was almost comical given the contrast in appearance. I was working to go 5-6 mph. I knew that if I looked back it would look downhill. I didn’t look back. A little steeper than Weber canyon; but consistently steeper. I was in danger of overheating and so planned to stop about half way up. That turned out to be the Deer Creek watering stop. The watering down I got at the Deer Creek stop was a lifesaver; there for a good 15 minutes. Shade. Watered both inside and out. From there I was in trouble; still in danger of overheating. Had to stop one more time in the shade. More water and maybe downed my last gell there. My heart rate was in an easy enough place (around 140 BPM); but I had no push in the legs. It turns out I wasn’t eating enough (about half as much as a recommended .5g of carbo per pound of body weight per hour). I finished the pass at a paltry 4-5mph. Spoke with a woman on the way up. She was resting, so I could catch her. She rode with me a few hundred yards. Training for triathlons. Going to switch from endurance mountain events to track riding; thinking she’d enjoy sprinting hard more. Then she powered on up and away.

Cayuse pass was hard. I’d fueled up for it at the top of Backbone ridge. Had a gel; drank half a bottle. Clearly, I should have pounded down some more (note: used up all the gels I’d packed (5?), but left a couple of bars in the saddle bag. Gels win. No noticeable stomach problems (Clif brand)).

Got to the top. And there, even with 45 miles left, the ride was in hand. Downhill all the way; and I was conscious, reasonably coherent and could turn the cranks. The ride folk stationed at the top of the pass took a look at my number (keeping track of who still existed where) and down the other side I went.

Descent
The downhill from the pass is likely the steepest, longest descent on the ride. It’s straight, down a bumpy road. Fortunately, there were no cars to deal with; turns out that most of the cars were backed up behind a tandem. Lightly peddled down to keep the legs loose.

Ride back into Enumclaw
Nobody passed me for the longest time on the downhill. My goal at this point was to get to the next rest stop and have a sandwich. It took longer than I thought it would. Fortunately, there were folks pointing out the stop to weary cyclist. I pulled in, laid my bike down on the ground (I was tired, and mistakenly laid it drivetrain side down. No penalty apparent for that mistake though). And got in line for a sandwich (nobody ever uses the restroom in movies, so it’s the same in this narrative). Ham, white cheese, mustard, lettuce, tomato. Pounded it down. Had a few ounces of Coke. Refilled the water bottle. Overhead someone say: “Our next assignment is to find a tandem and follow it on home”. Tandems are fast on the flats. I headed out. Trying to make as good a speed as I could. Held 20 mph awhile (remember: it’s still downhill somewhat). The wind seemed against me somewhat, but it always does on a bike. Saw a cyclist ahead of me and tried to catch him. Couldn’t, but kept him in sight. Good for pacing. Rode and rode. I was passed by a somewhat faster rider; didn’t latch on to draft. Next I was passed by a much faster group of 4; didn’t try to latch on. The single rider ahead, that had recently passed me, did latch on. Then a paceline lead by a tandem passed. The recently formed group latched on, and I pedaled hard and grabbed on as well. We were going a safe-and-sane 25mph, my heart rate was up (for this stage of the ride) to 149 BPM. I wasn’t going to hang on with this group all the way for the rest of the ride. We passed the solitary rider that I’d been tracking, went through some town (Greenville?) and then I dropped off. But I’d spent some useful amount of time/distance at a high speed. Not really sure how long that lasted. After dropping off, had trouble keeping my speed up at first. A lot of 12-14 mph crud while I was recovering from trying to hold on to the paceline. The solitary rider passed me by. Managed to regain my cruising speed of 17mph (being in the drops helped, and could push it up to 19-20 mph for a few minutes).

My bike computer reset itself at some point during this stretch; not a good thing, as the total mileage, in conjunction with ride sheet, was how I was going to not get too lost. Fortunately, the final key turn I had to make was well marked by a sign and some people, apparently there to make sure bleary/weary riders didn’t just pedal on past. Made the turn. Reset the computer to zero, so I could wander on in the last 6.1 miles. Found the final curvy downhill. I was taking it easy down the switchbacks and got passed again by a fast group. One of them almost lost it. I wandered on in and was greeted by the family, and some food. A warm welcome. A good ride; barely in bounds for my ability.

Post ride impressions
A good ride. A good goal achieved. But, very difficult and nearly too difficult. About 12 hours and 20 minutes total duration. Maybe as short as 12 hrs 5 minutes with the time it took to get started.

There were lots of small groups on the ride; I needed one as well. Pacelines are good for almost 90 miles of the 154 mile ride, and could easily cut an hour off of the total ride.

Screwed up the logistics (although it’s hard to call staying in Mt Rainer park a screwup). Needed to be closer to the starting line the night before, so I could grab a good breakfast, maximize sleep etc.

Fuel
Still have to learn to eat and drink more. The Clif stuff and Gatoraid seem to work fine though. The salt tablets are good. I cramped up on the drive home, indicating I hadn’t eaten and drank enough. Lack of push up Cayuse could have also been fuel-related.

Equipment
The bike worked. The tires worked (Vittoria’s). No flats. The cheapo large water bottles were champs (Diamondback; purchased at GART. Nothing fancy). The sunglasses were poor; too scratched up. Ditched them except for the downhills. I’m replacing them. The bike computer failed AGAIN (Specialized pro model). Managed to reset itself around mile 135. On the STP it reset itself (back to zero) around mile 155. It’s out of here.

Clothing was fine. Minor saddle soreness. Still need to look into a leg length inequality. Might be worth trying another saddle. The bike shorts are starting to get a little baggy due to weight loss. Could use some knee warmers. Not sure how to carry enough food for 154 miles (with altitude gains).

Empty gell-packs are disgusting. How to contain them until a trash can appears is a problem.

Training and Conditioning
Lost ~15 pounds since Jan, and am back in some previous clothes, but still have 25 pounds to give.
Lungs/heart seem good, but need to work on leg strength.
Lower back soreness; the recommended cure is crunches. While I did some weight training, and crunched on the weight days, can always crunch more.

Do it again?
Yes; but, only if I’m in better shape and a better rider. Need to be in better condition to get the maximum enjoyment from the ride. See notes on training, fuel and pacelines. A good group of 3 or 4 would make a huge difference in the effort required.

Strategy
Didn’t stop long at rest stops; I think this was good. Never stopped at a rest stop at the top of a long climb, as there were food/drink stops shortly after down the hill, and I could always coast to food. Kept getting passed by the same folk throughout the ride who were better riders, but stopped longer. This efficiency was good to keep the total day’s duration in bounds.

Figure I’m a 5 to 10-th percentile RAMROD rider. They were a lot of young, skinny folks on really nice bikes. Only saw a couple of Mt bikes; although the gearing is clearly favorable. I could have used an even lower gear up Cayuse.

Oregon Randonneurs Summer 600km

2008-07-09T18:05:00.000-07:00

Note - changed start location to a cheaper hotel. Corrected end time. There will be baggage transport for the overnight in Richland. And a variation in the route. See here.

Ride: Desert River 600km
Organizer: Paul Whitney (509) 438-2934
Date: Start date: Saturday September 20, 2008.
Time: Start time - 6:00am, Registration - 5:00-5:45am
Start/End Location: The Dalles, OR; Motel 6; 2500 W 6th Street, The Dalles, OR - (541) 296-1191
Finish by: 10:00pm September 21
Entry fee: $40 (+$5 non-RUSA members) - with reduction for own accommodations at overnight. Checks should be payable to "Oregon Randonneurs", also, Oregon Randonneurs membership is required for this event. You can download a membership form and bring it with you. Register Now!
See here for a listing of registered riders.
Medals: Available directly from the RUSA online store.
Route Sheet: Here

Overnight accommodations will be in Richland at the Days Inn - there will be a vehicle to take a small bag for each rider from the start to Richland, and then back to The Dalles.

The Summer 600km for the Oregon Randonneurs will start and end in The Dalles, OR - at the Motel 6. The route will head out across the Columbia, use Washington State Hwy 14 to Plymouth, WA. Then cross over to Oregon for a loop featuring the valley from Echo to Pendleton. The ride then proceeds from Umatilla to an overnight stop in Richland, WA. The next day return to The Dalles is via Benton City, Prosser, Bickleton, Goldendale and Klickitat. Day 1 has about 6600 feet of climbing, Day 2 6000 feet.

Here are bikely links for the current estimated route - a more detailed description follows.

Day 1: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/ORR-600km-Sept-2008-Leg-1
Day 2: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/ORR-Sept-2008-600km-Leg-2

We start in The Dalles, at the Motel 6, and head across the river to Washington State Hwy 14. A quick refuel in Roosevelt and then continue on to Plymouth:

View Larger Map

We cross the Columbia on the bike path to arrive in Umatilla OR. The ride then takes a loop, following the Umatilla river towards Hermiston, and then ducking into a scenic canyon from Echo to Pendleton, and then back to Umatilla.

View Larger Map

We cross back over the Columbia into Washington, and head up Plymouth Rd, then dive down Clodfelter into the Tri-Cities. We overnight in Richland along the Columbia river. This map doesn't show the bike path that will be used in lieu of the interstate that the map follows.

View Larger Map

We head back to The Dalles along a traditional Tri-Cities training route - to Benton City and then the Old Inland Empire Hwy (the Yakima on the left, Basalt on the right) to Prosser. Bask in it. Then along the Yakima river for one last moment before heading up and over to Bickelton, Goldendale, Klickitat and The Dalles.

View Larger Map

Okie Ride

2008-07-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

We went to Oklahoma for the annual 4th of July family gathering. I also managed to get some bicycling in. It was hot, humid, and the bike has one water bottle holder - so, I tended to go from town to town, no more than an hour apart. The above is from the Choctaw-TripleX-Luther-Hogback-Choctaw ride. Light traffic. Decent enough roads (mostly asphalt, much of it smooth enough, and a couple of miles of gravel). Great scenery. The route is driven by the North Canadian River. I took every opportunity I could to cross it on new bridges and old. Once out of the flood plane, the ride went to hills. The hills seemed to be driven by water erosion, and there seemed to be about a stream per mile, so one up-down sequence per mile. Saw a heron, a large variety of hawks, a turkey buzzard (munching in the middle of the road) and a box turtle. One hawk got my attention by diving into a field about 10 yards from where I was riding. Another by flying about 5 yards up and across my ride-path. There were bicyclists out and about other than me. One with a back-pack heading towards Luther as I was riding out. And then a small pack of roadies taking it easy on the 4th.

We also had non-cycling recreation - fireworks and paintball.

Oregon Randonneurs Sneeze Grass 400km

2008-06-15T18:55:00.000-07:00

The Oregon Randonneurs Covered Bridges 400km route went as promised. Lots of covered bridges. My redundant photos are here. My primary reasons for riding though were that 400km is about my favorite distance - plenty long enough so that plenty (everything and anything) can happen - but, done in a day with time to get home and get ready for the work week. And, the previous week I DNF'd the SIR 600km at the 400km mark. This motivation is not unique.

It was a good brevet. Two points of uniqueness were the extreme allergy symptoms I managed to experience (I ended the ride with a good case of Jabba-the-Hut face. All swollen). There were fields upon fields of the grass/allergen shown at the top of this posting.

The other point of note was that I rode about the best brevet I could, given my condition (or lack thereof) and the ride conditions. A nearly even effort over the 400km with no bonking, excess effort or dead spots. Here's the breakdown:


Leg HR Speed
km bpm km/hr
74 116 22.4
29 123 21.9
67 118 21.6
50 116 20.1
38 121 22.5
77 116 20.6
15 104 20
50 104 20.9

Another high point - it was the first Brevet I'd had with Dan Fender in multiple years. Good to catch up with him again, and I ended up riding some with both Dan and Brian. Rode briefly with Lynn and Jason. Also had a good stretch of riding with Narayan, and managed to draft (slightly) off of Scott's excellent recumbent. Had some time to chat again with Bill. Finished the ride with John Vincent - he was riding well. I speculate it was a fast 400km time for him, as it was for me.

The cycling high point of the ride, for me, occurred while toiling on a 30 mile flat stretch against a head wind. I was passed by Dan and Brian, working together. Invited to join in the pace-lining, I did and we turned the chore of that stretch into good clean fun.

Another great day on the bike.

May 2008 400km

2008-05-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

Synopsis: Words escape me. It was a long ride. Had a great time with great people through great geography and towns. A rider was concerned that I'd take a photo of them barfing (I wouldn't). I'm a little beat up but recovering and training to go again. A nice picture of my bike is here.

Slightly Longer: We started early - and I was off the back much more quickly than usual. The sharp uphill made for a quick separation. Rode some alone, then with Peg and Leslie, and then ran across Jeff. Hadn't managed to ride with Jeff since July 2003. We had a nice chat up and over the top of Snoqualmie pass. For some reason, I fell faster than Jeff down the other side; then ran across Gary, a fellow Tri-Citian and one of the three Randonneurs from that part of the world. He was three tubes down at that point. Stopped to chat and offer what assistance I might. The eastward shoulder of I-90 continued to be my personal bike-reunion lane - found Naryan and we rode on into Cle Elum together.

Had a nice stop (grabbed a sandwich and ate a fair amount of it; more water) and headed on towards Blewett pass with Naryan. An amazing day for cycling - third ride in a row this way. We hit an uphill (the wind was amazingly neutral today) and wandered up. Traffic wasn't particularly an issue. A good number of cyclists on were on the road. I enjoyed the climb. Up at the top of Blewett was a water stop and a few other randos. I didn't spend a lot of time there - added some water to the mix and headed down, as quickly as gravity would go. No issues. More sun. Good scenery.

Here are some pictures:

Some more pictures from the event from another rider are here.

Just looked it up - beat my 2004 time on a near identical course by 2 minutes. Remarkably and bizarrely close to the same time. Weird enough.

The Youth of America On Bikes Doing Paperwork

2008-04-30T22:25:00.000-07:00

The ORR 300km was great. I've been to Balliston. A fine route. Great company. Near perfect cycling weather. From a technical perspective, the ride went more or less according to plan. The technical goal was to ride at about 120bpm and average about 22km/hr. Near hits at 125bpm and 21.8km/hr - close enough, especially given the (lack of) cycling so far this year and the fact that I'm working at my typical January weight in April. Other goals were to ride with people, take a few pictures and enjoy the day. These all happened.

The weather was as good as at gets. A little cold in the morning. A little warm in the afternoon. No rain. The wind was not a factor. Enjoyed the ride out of town, and the ride up the hill towards Timbers. I took a few pictures as we worked our way towards the coast:

We got to the coast, there were some nasty hills, and some great views of the ocean. Into Pacific City for a snack (I had coffee). And then back over Sawgrass from the coast - a simple enough climb.

Somewhere after Grande Ronde I realized I had a flat - dropped out of the group. First pass was just to inflate the tire (a mistake - but, it seemed like it might work at the time. Don't ask. It was a complicated rationalization that was shown to be clearly incorrect). This cost me about 4 minutes of non-riding time. I worked myself back within sight of the group (took about 30 minutes) when it became obvious that the tire wouldn't hold the rest of the way back. So, I stopped and replaced the tube completely. More than 4 minutes. Resuming I took it easy at first. Rummaged through the front bag for a snack. Ate a bar. Called home etc. Basically with 70-80km to go I felt great and was taking it easy. Took a picture across a field when I saw part of the group - two riders in the distance (Bill and Ray).

Eventually caught up with some of the people - the photo at the top was at the point of regrouping. In the group was a person who might know the origin of the phrase 'faffing around'. Enquiring minds wanted to know. I received a little more insight into the phrase (subsequently, at home and hitting the web, I found no satisfactory history of the phrase. The intent and meaning are clear from context though).

Eventually I ended up riding in with Bill - we'd finished another long ride together once. It turned out to be very good for me that we ended up riding in together. I started 'sugar cycling' after dark - and hit a sleepy patch. He was riding stronger; but, stopped at a few key corners to mark them so I didn't miss them in the dark. Thanks Bill. We got in a little after 10:00pm. Another great ride.

The OBM 1200 - Approaching from Richland

2008-04-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

Richland-Heppner

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John Kramer's mapped out an 'interesting' sequence of rides in Eastern Oregon - the OBM 1200.

Conveniently for residents of Hood River, White Salmon, or even Bingen, the OBM1200 ride sequence starts and ends in Bingen. The OBM1200 is a sequence of permanents put together to result in a tour of a great part of the world. Of course, they're permanents. One could start and end anywhere else convenient and join the festivities in progress. One could link other permanents into these permanents...

The map above shows a nice, direct, and interesting route from Richland (there's a Starbucks AND a mini-mart near this start location) to Heppner. And a finish from Condon to Richland looks like this:

Condon-Heppner-Richland

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This doesn't add up to a nice 1200; but, it certainly adds up to an interesting sequence of days on the bike. See you out there in the middle of nowhere.

Flexibility - A Non-Ride Report

2008-04-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

The short version of the non-ride report for the re-do of the spring SIR 300km: I left behind my front wheel. The longer version of the report is better. Pictures that capture aspects of the alternate activity for the ride are here.

It says something (interesting?) about how the brain works that I realized I'd left the wheel behind a few miles from the hotel, at about 10:45pm. The brain pieced together 1) that for some reason the garage door was still open when I sat down in the car to leave (I hit the remote control button and drove off) 2) I didn't have to move the wheel in the trunk when I went to get my dinner contribution and 3) I had no recollection of actually putting the wheel in the car. It would have been better to have had those thoughts juxtaposed all at once much earlier in the evening, much closer to home. But...

I ended up getting good sleep and having a rare day. Tomorrow - a nice 80-100km ride to maintain training and I'll have to work to get a re-re-do 300km on my schedule.

600km - One Detail Among Many

2008-03-20T21:06:00.000-07:00

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I'm organizing the Fall 600km for the Oregon Randonneurs. There are a couple of options - the most 'interesting' of which will put riders through Yakima, WA. So, that and a few other reasons makes it a good excuse for Dave and I to take an easy ride around Yakima (he's not running; but, his team is running in Yakima and he can take a look/cheer) . The above is the plan, except at no time will we be on the interstate. We'll take the bike path (I'll take notes and note distance on the odometer). Should be a good Saturday ride.

And it is! It's an hour+ drive to Yakima, and then we have to drive across town to West Valley HS - the track meet is in progress. We unload the bikes and head out, down a hill towards Summitview Avenue. This is a nice road. Good shoulder and friendly traffic. It's a gradual climb up Summitview and then a quick downhill towards Cowiche. We lose our wide shoulder for a few miles just before Cowiche, but, it's brief. Then we head up again outside Cowiche. And we get a very very fast downhill from Cowiche towards Naches. It's a good, fairly steep downhill with a straight shot part that lets us take our hands off the brake levers for part of it. Good fun. Then into Naches and a traditional Shell mini-mart stop. Fritos and water.

Our next segment is along the Old Naches Hwy. We have to hunt for it - the big clue - it's 2nd Street. We discover this after some minor bonus hillwork. And, the big clue was actually another cyclist heading towards Selah on 2nd street. This is a nice stretch of road. Not much car traffic and so great for bike traffic. A rough surface for the most part. Lots of orchards - each with its own unique design of smoke-heaters. We decide to get creative about our route to Selah - but, manage to get there eventually. We climb a nice ridge and then get a great ripping ride down Crusher Canyon into Selah. We find the bike path, get to Yakima and find and wind our way back to West Valley HS.

The bikes are put up and we go to watch part of the track meet. It's a great, sunny day. The track is scenicly situated so that one can see the surrounding hills. Dave's teammates are running well and having a good meet. Dave's job for the day was to ride easily. His mission accomplished. Mine too - the Old Naches Hwy and associated climb and plunge into Selah is a great stretch for cyclists.

Contrasting Options for ORR 600km

2008-03-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

I'm organizing the fall 600km ride for the Oregon Randonneurs. My initial thinking was that a challenging ride was in order. Cold, high and far - something to lift the spirits with a feeling of accomplishment at the end of the season. Then, I faced the wall that was the SIR 1000km in September of 2007. It was nasty up there. And wet. And very cold. 400km and change was plenty of that for me. And so I was inspired to sketch out a lowland option. Below are indicators of each option. Whichever it is - the details will vary. But, these are enough to give one an idea for each option.

Here's the high option:

View Larger Map

Or

One could stay low:

March 2008 200km

2008-03-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

I write these to help remember the rides. The picture above is a good case in point. It's what you see to the South of Hwy410 between Greenwater and Enumclaw - a deeply mossy forest. The first two times I went by this I didn't notice. It was back in 2001/2 on the Ramrod - towards the end of the ride and I was hunkered into a paceline, holding on as best I could while working right at my physical limits. We blew by this stretch. Now I try better to remember.

It also helps that a lot of folks document. Here and here are some good pictures, and there will be multiple ride reports - here's the first I've seen. Wait, another.

First organized ride for me this season - a big ouch and solid evidence that 'training' has been inadequate - but, another great ride. Overall impressions:

Set out too fast and finished slow - can't help it, fast is fun too but can only hold on with the quicker riders for awhile, and then I'm left recovering. Ran into more than just a food issue - some muscle soreness as well.
That was a cold cold rain. Really cold.
Having designated card-signers was a brilliant solution to having 100 or so riders locust in on a small convenience store or bakery. The obvious joke: Bob was going to be there to sign my card at every control - and that wouldn't look suspicious at all...
The chili event was great - got to meet a few more people, chat with some I already knew, and have some great recovery food.

We arrived too early at the start - and eventually started. The route was the same as last year, so I more less followed folks and/or remembered the way. It's a nice ride through town on a Saturday morning, and then up the hill that's between Kent and Puget Sound. Eventually you get some nice views of the Sound and then head back the other way. The highlight is the Green River Valley. Traffic's light and I fall in with a group - and play some more. There's a hill on the other side, and I know I'll go slowly up that. We get there eventually and I do. And then the bakery - another card signing outside - and then I look for water. I find it nearby.

I ride alone the next segment - mostly because I've neglected food. People whoosh by. So, I eat a little more for a hour and by the time I'm to the intersection of Mud Mountain Rd and Hwy410 I'm more or less back to normal, and keep riding up. The picture above is one of a few that I took at an impromptu stopping point. Across the road was clearcut. No photos. Finished the ride to Greenwater. I'm up for coffee and Fritos. Here's the store:

Peg rides up and I decide to wait - to finish this particular ride with. So, we do with a small group including Theresa. The sun was out for this last part. It took awhile to finish - a little over three hours. I was glad to be done.

So, I'm at Greg's house and get cleaned up, have a seat and eat veggie chili over rice. More people cycle through the food area, and I get to chat with them. Some discussion of photography and questions about whether a camera had died (I'm guessing yes), some of WSU and a ride from Richland to Pullman, discussions about the cold and clothing, and an actual statistics question. A little over an hour later, Nat arrives. We make a signing ceremony out of it. It was a challenging ride.

Equipment notes:

The camelback would have been useful - there are some good distances between convenience stores, and carrying more water means less stops.
The handlebar bag worked fine enough - better water resistance. Less size though.
I was cold and now about ready to break down and try a wool jersey.

January Training

2008-01-27T14:58:00.000-08:00

Well, you have to be flexible with respect to bicycling schedules in the winter - with the non-bike-friendly weather, travel and darkness. So, today the kid and I walked to the grocery store for 'essentials' (to support baked goods: ingredients include oatmeal and chocolate chips). The snow offered some nice resistance for the walk. And then there's the shoveling of the walk and driveway. We gathered another 1/2 inch of snow while shoveling. Hot chocolate is a recovery drink on par with chocolate milk (anybody buying that?). We've another 2 inches of snow since then, so I think I'll get another rep in before day's end.

While I've been 'iced out' more than once, there have been some breaks in the weather, and did this ride last weekend:

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Years in Review and in the Future

2007-12-30T15:26:00.001-08:00

Here's the annual summary updates for this year, both distance and exercise time. Cross-training added to the time, and probably supported an increase in distance over the past couple of years.

Here's the distance summary:

And here's a view of total exercise duration - mixing across cycling, hiking, weights and a few jogs:

This next year's objectives include completing another Brevet series, and accomplishing additional multi-day ride(s). Cross-training continues in the form of yoga-like activities and further investigating whether the body will support running.

Definitely on the Bench

2007-12-02T17:53:00.000-08:00

Even the gradual running program on the treadmill and trails was a bit much for the joints, so I've backed off of it. I won't be running the 5km on Dec 22nd. It'll be broken running or a 1 mile walk. I've kept walking and riding though. I plan to reboot the running program back at the beginning, skip the treadmill altogether and keep it on the trails. Outside's nicer than the gym anyway.

Yesterday as a great hike after dark up Badger Mountain with Rocky a.k.a Barky, Barktholomew, Barkimus Maximus, Sir Barksalot etc.

It was below freezing, dark and late enough that we wouldn't run into people on the trail. Perfect given Rocky's friendly-but-aggressive-looking behavior. We headed up. The trail was snow covered. I had my headlamp and the fist-full of light; but, needed neither. Plenty of light from the city reflected by the snow. The trail was compact snow, so fairly slick. Rocky had no problems and neither did I, unless I looked far-field while trying to walk at the same time. We walked up through a small cloud - a typical winter day has the local hills each capped with a cloud, so no surprise with the cloud. The city lights were evident. The new shopping areas were totally lit up, neighborhoods less so. There was a dark patch which is an orchard, undeveloped so far.

I never saw a coyote or rabbit, although a few times Rocky stood at attention and looked in a fix direction in the distance. I never was able to see what captured his focused attention. He had a blast - running off the trail in all the interesting directions I don't walk, since the guidelines for humans are to stay on the trail. I'm thinking he covered about 4 times the distance I did. He's social and does a good job of staying in contact while running all over the hill. So, we crested the hill more or less together and then headed back down. No physical issues. A great walk in a winter night.

Bench Racing

2007-11-03T13:34:00.000-07:00

One of my friends calls the part of the ride that happens before or after the ride, when you talk about the ride - 'Bench Racing'. It's bench-racing season. It's pleasant to consider goals for the upcoming season, ponder equipment alterations and swear (for the n-th year in a row) that some mass will be lost before the next season begins. For goals: I'm liking the thought of doing a Brevet series, a Fleche, organizing a Brevet, and other TBD. Maybe that's enough goal; maybe not.

As for what's immediately next - I'm executing a combination of this running/jogging training activity, with some weight-like training. Exercise ball and balance stuff. So far it's well verified that I have no upper body or core strength. Plenty of room for improvement. Then, add a weekly spin class to remind the cardio system about what's what. Very different than previous fall/winter approaches in that cycling is not featured. But, the previous 5+ fall/winters I managed to put on a comfortable 10+ pounds. It's past time to try something different.

The interim goal is a 5k run: The Cable Bridge Run organized by the City of Pasco. It's been a really loonnngggg time since I've even contemplated such an event. The goal is to complete the distance without hurting myself while mostly jogging before they close the course. I've seen the t-shirt - it will look good on a bicyclist.

That Was Fun - The Coffee Was Good - What Next?

2007-10-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

My rando-season ended with a nice ride through and above the Columbia River - The Oregon Randonneur's Bingen Bikenfest. Lots of fun. Pictures and other stories are linked from the ORRando web site. I did the ride with Nat - his first 200km adventure and personal longest ride ever. We started out from Bingen with a nice end-of-the-year crowd. Great to see the folks and hear about the various adventures. The pack eventually left - and I stopped as soon as possible to get a cup of coffee - actually a water bottle full of coffee to compliment the other water bottle full of water. Accomplishing this (after less than a mile of riding) I headed out to catch up with the folks, and joined Nat, and played leap-frog with Lynne, up-river along the Columbia. Nat and I generally stopped for some of the historical markers, and lolligagged along at the back taking in the day.

Then we got to Hwy 97 and headed up to Goldendale. It was comically unfortunate: steep uphill and against a cold cold wind. I'm still laughing. We suffered uphill at our respective paces - still taking time to read historical markers - and eventually cleared the hill and found our way into Goldendale, and the control stop. There were a few rando's there - we chatted briefly and decided how we might proceed. And by 'proceed' I mean figured out what to eat. I went with the Hostess Fruit Pie (I want Hostess to sponser my mid-pack, mid-weight, rando riding. I'm thinking a jersey that features various of their fine products. Sure, I'm partial to the Fruit Pie's on these rides - but not averse to sporting a snowball or dingdong or frosted Donnette (I like the chocolate), tastefully arranged, on a bike jersey and/or shorts). And more coffee. We spent enough time their that I got to see Lynne's thermos for Tea. Chat briefly with Ricky. Interact briefly with a woman doing a marathon drive back to a town South of Eugene Oregon - she still had a long way to go - especially from the point of view of staying awake. And the proprietress in charge of the gas-station part of this set-up seemed intrigued by the thought of her contemporaries out on some marathon bicycle slog along the Columbia, across the Klickitat, and back. She seemed to actually want to grab a Rando-bike and go for it. Maybe she will. So, anyway, Nat and I sit down to eat. He's in for the Sandwich (it's a combo shop - gas station/mini-mart/subway/DQ). We pound down our respective food and food-like substances and get ready to hit the road.

We head out towards Glenwood. It's still against the wind but, we have almost an hour in the bank, and the gas-station proprietress pointed out that we'd lose the wind once we got to the trees. I wasn't worried about it - mostly hoping for no rain. Goldendale was a nice town to leisurely bike through. I particularly liked the house on the left/south of the main street with scenery painted on - the entire front of the house had an outdoor scene painted on, to protect the wood from the weather. The town didn't last long and then we're out on the high plane/plateau, in the wind and pushing towards the Klickitat River valley. We briefly were three - but, our third dropped us eventually. We wound around, found our right turn and then eventually found the start of the plunge into the valley. Nat stopped to reconfigure, and I did my best impression of a bowling ball being dropped from a tower. I fell as fast as the bike would roll. Slowing for sharp corners and pondering led me to stop for a few moments at a scenic turnout. No traffic at all. I continued on and eventually found the river. A couple of groups of folks there recreating in the river. Lounge chairs. Sounds of children playing. Then a yellow jacket down the road and our third person appeared. He continued on. And then another yellow jacket that was Nat.

We chatted - plotting tactics for this part of the ride up the hill to Glenwood. Tactics might be a bit strong - it boiled down to ride uphill, and then eventually I'd ride ahead to the Inn at Glenwood and order food, so that it'd be ready for Nat when he arrived. At one point I was about to head up and off - but, the altimeter showed it was an illusion - it looked downhill because it was less uphill. Sensing a game, I circled back to Nat and spent awhile playing 'are we going downhill yet?' Except for one brief moment, the answer was 'No' - all the way to Glenwood. Eventually I took off, and arrived at the Inn. I settled in at the counter and was the happy recipient of attention - primarily in the form of coffee(!) and some conversation. My favorite was when a local fellow obtained the phone number of the kind waitress. Here's his move (it was pretty good): "Do you have a cell phone?" "Yes, I have a cell phone." He pauses after her answer. Then he asks "Does your cell phone have a number?". This worked. She gave him the number. After he left her comment: "I've never been asked for my number that way before". Maybe I shouldn't be writing this down - I hope it's not some sort of super-secret move. Anyway, I had the cheeseburger and fries with the coffee (my all time favorite meal). And I ordered a batch of fries for Nat. He shows up shortly, and we annihilate our respective orders of French Fries. The burgers arrived and suffered a similar fate. Rando fuel. Good stuff. Eventually when we're done with this fine meal, and head out, we have ~25 minutes in the bank. I let Nat know that this means we've pretty much nailed this particular ride, barring interesting events (see below for a candidate example of a ride altering interesting event). It's mostly downhill from here and there are no more timed controls until the end of the ride at Bingen.

We're actually making decent time from Glenwood - food can have this effect on a long-distance rider. We've got to wander up a little more to find the apex of this particular ride. We discover it, and then fall fast, losing ~200 meters of altitude in no time at all. We get to wander around a bit before heading up to Trout Lake. I'm concerned I've missed a turn, and stop to discuss with Nat. Eventually we decide that the turn about 10 feet behind and to the left is correct. We take it. It's correct. And then move on up towards Trout Lake. While not trying to set any sort of speed records, we remained in sufficient contact with other riders that we get to wave to them as the come down the hill fast. They're smiling. The uphill wasn't so bad, and we head up at our respective paces. I opt for the Coke Classic (no coffee in this store) and wait a few minutes for Nat. We put on our warmest and driest clothes for the downhill and head out.

Eventually, we get hailed by an oncoming motorist indicating one of our riders has a mechanical. I thank the motorist, and indicate to Nat that I'm heading down to mile marker 15 fast. It's Peg. Her bike doesn't work. The symptoms are that while pedaling forward, the rear cassette spins around; but, doesn't cause the rear wheel to rotate. The bike coasts in both directions - interesting, but useless for making forward progress (I can't find the web-reference; but, I think Paul Johnson's bike did something similar on a 1200km ride). Anyway, unless some sort of replacement rear wheel is found, Peg's ride is over. My cell phone gets reception (I'm surprised), and I call Johann. He arranges for a wheel. In the meantime, Nat arrives. We opt to hang out with Peg and chat. We do this for close to an hour, which is a good way to spend that hour; and then Cindy and Noel show up with a wheel. The replacement is quickly made and we're off. I plan to hang back with Nat while Peg rockets on - she's got a ton of miles this year and is a hard rider for me to keep up with uphill or down. She opts to hang back with, though, and we three roll on in. It's dark but the lights are working find. I really am pleased with the combo of a Cateye on the front fork, and a good headlamp (the Princeton Tech Eos) for dark downhills. Plenty of light for the speeds I seem to go. It's cold, and when we get lower it's warmer, and when we get to the few uphills it's welcome - the uphill exertion warms me up. And it's over. We finish in a group with ~25 minutes to spare. Another great day on the bike, and a great end to a great rando season.

Abandonded 1000km

2007-09-30T21:28:00.001-07:00

I left the 1000km ride after failing to make time cut at The Dalles - the first control after the overnight at Carson. The time was close, and I was aware that making it to Kelso on time was the benchmark to hit; however, the brief, actually easy (~60km, fairly flat and with the wind), ride from Carson to The Dalles went slowly enough for me that I was dead certain of heading down from Govt Camp well after dark, in the rain etc. I'd enough of exploring my boundaries for the weekend already. I think I found some, and called it enough.

Some highlights from the ride include:

We were riding against traffic heading south out of Issaquah on Friday morning, and got to observe some Seattle metro-area traffic - I was glad to not be in one of the cars stuck in traffic heading North
Skate Creek Rd - I like it. Didn't like the rain so much. We all ended up very cold in Packwood after that, and lost a lot of time and body heat as a result. A rational man would have called it enough then - 4 of us continued on anyway.
Enjoyed the climb up the shoulder of Mt St Helens from Randle. The temperature never read below freezing; but, we got close, and spent some time above a recent frost line. The headlamp showed the frost on the trees.
Late nights (and pre-dawn mornings), being cold and on about hour 20-21 of a bike ride induces sleep. Sleep is dangerous when riding a bike. Falling asleep on the bike, Kramer crashed into a ditch - which is bad; but, the good part is that since he was asleep he was very relaxed when he landed, and perhaps that minimized the damage. We both had sleep issues after a point. I never hit the ground (neither did John after that one time); but I came close a few miles out of Carson. My near fall started with a sharp swerve to the right, which woke me up enough to recover before getting to the side of the road. I had taken to riding towards the middle of the road to enhance the chance of recovering from a sleep-fall. Stopping wasn't an option, as it was cold, wet and hypothermia is an equal danger to a bike crash. I'm still pondering how to plan around situations like this in the future; caffeine comes to mind, as does not attempting high-pass parts of rides after 2:00am in poor weather. On warmer rides, I handle this easily with a 15 minute nap. Hmmm.
The following joke tested very badly between Randle and Carson: "A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says: 'Why the long face?'".
This alleged joke didn't test much better: "A Hamburger walks into a bar, sits down and orders a drink. The bartender sez 'Sorry, we don't serve food here'".
Maybe it wasn't the jokes, maybe it was the delivery.
The aid received at the controls was very helpful and I very much appreciate it. Thanks.
The chemical footwarmers work. Offered and accepted at Northwood, and no cold-toe-numbness issues afterwards. I plan to start using those.

The season's almost over. One more Brevet attempt to go this next weekend, and then it's on to disorganized rides and organized off-season training.

Tackweed Extravaganza!

2007-09-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

Todays ride was all around town, including a stop at the Pasco Farmers Market. Met up with the family and had coffee and fried catfish! It was a 10+ tackweed day. The Armadillo tire's won today. The evil weed stuck into the tires, but, didn't get to the tubes.

Postscript: a short ride today, and Julie's tires took 3 tacks. Removed with no issue - continental gatorskins on her bike.

Ride Report - Echo <-> Pendleton

2007-09-09T11:56:00.001-07:00

I ended up riding most of the route (Richland ->Pendleton and back) described in the previous post. I bicycled to Hermiston to meet the three others, and we headed off together from Victory Square Park. The navigation was simple - get on 395 in Hermiston, head South, and more or less follow your nose from there. We found our way to the canyon connecting Echo - Rieth - Pendleton. And, wow. An outstanding place for a bike ride. Hardly any traffic. Great views. The canyon cliffs on the South Side and the Umatilla river and Agriculture on the North. We could chat easily and ride w/o much concern for traffic. The majority of the traffic, by vehicle type, was motorcycle (touring, like us - but farther and louder), then a close tie between car and bicycle. We found our way into Pendleton, looking for a late lunch. Found it at the The Hut, right across from the location of the Pendleton Roundup. Friendly place. The secret ingredient used at the Hut: Bacon! After a great lunch (if you're ever there, check out the padded walls and the journey to the restroom) we wandered back through the canyon to Hermiston. Another great day on the bike.

Saturday's Proposed Outing

2007-09-06T21:35:00.000-07:00

View Larger Map

That's the map. The route from Hermiston to Pendleton is one my Dad and I scouted out by car a year or so ago. Looked interesting for biking. I'm joining a group of folks, meeting them at Hermiston, and biking out to Pendleton and back. I'll tack on the ride to Hermiston and back as well, to get a touch over 200km. Sort of an informal Brevet. Should be good.

I've prepped the bike to winter mode - fenders, rock-like tires (Armadillo's - near thorn proof), test-riding a Brooks Pro saddle (so far so good). Another sign of fall/winter is gradual weight gain. It's all coming together.

Yakima Camp 400km - An Awesomely Stupid Ride

2007-07-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

I signed up for this ride awhile back - more or less as something interesting to look forward to. On the "awesomely stupid" ride scale, this one had a lot going for it:

It had a night start of 10:00pm (similar to a start time for PBP, and perhaps great training for PBP. Of course, I'm not going to PBP, so that bit of training/prep is irrelevant)
The ride start was in Yakima - about an hour drive from where I live. I wouldn't have to get a hotel room, assuming I could find a driver (I did). Of course, Yakima and the surrounding area in July is HOT.
400km - a challenging distance over any terrain (I've already done one of these this year - why do another? Or, why not do another)
Strong headwinds to start (similar to the camp of 2003 in Ellensburg over the 4th of July weekend - where Jeff Tilden and I did a 300km over some of these same roads, facing very similar weather conditions - hot and windy)
Half way point? The summit on Hwy 2 of Stevens pass. And to get there one has to negotiate Blewett Pass.

Yes indeed, this ride had plenty of potential intrigue. Eventually I also managed to shiver, burn, dehydrate and bonk. Well worth the $25 entry fee.

Here's the highlights of the packing list:
- fluorescent yellow windbreaker
- headband (didn't think I'd need it - I did!)
- windstopper gloves (never deployed)
- about 10-12 packages of those Cliff gel cubes (used most of these)
- 4 energy bars (luna, balance, power bar, and a cliff 'sweet and salty' bar - a random grab from the bar-food area at Target; used all except the power bar)
- space blanket (it was cursed)
- Camelback, 2 water bottles. One of the bottles had gatorade. One of the water bottles had a small amount of duct tape wrapped around it. Just in case (actually used it this time. First time ever).
- repair kit (2 tubes, some adhesive patches, allen-wrenches, small adjustable crescent wrench, swiss army knife (the one with scissors, 2 blades, a pokey thing, corkscrew, can-openr, bottle-opener/screw-driver), assorted zip ties in different colors (no reason for the color; but, they look good), tire levers.
- Cateye LED head-light (the 530)
- back-up headlamp (Aurora)
- one of those Princeton tech EOS lights, deployed in headlamp mode. I also carried the bike mount. So, the redundancy was if the EOS failed, the Aurora was available. If the Head-Light failed, the EOS gets mounted on the bike, and the Aurora goes to the head. If any two of them fail, I soldier on. If all three of them fail, I hope for a hotel - or maybe even daylight. Everything worked fine.
- Two tailights - always on the bike.
- Back-up batteries (4 AA, 5 AAA). I'm that paranoid, even with just having put fresh batteries in most of the lights.
- Cell phone
- One of those flimsy plastic grocery bags. I've used it as a raincover for the handlbar bag. This time I used it as something to sit on - to keep me off the ground by a micrometer or so.
- Back-up pair of 'dime-store' reading glasses (the 40's have been brutal on the near-vision)

So, we leave the Tri-Cities at around 8:00pm (I rested up until around 7:00pm - and then finished packing). We get to Yakima, to the hotel, park and see a cyclist. I'm pre-registered. I ask the cyclist (Ken) 'Where's Mark' and he points to him, about 5 feet away (I'm off to a real good start here). I'm registered. Then eventually all 5 of us are there, and off we go.

Five riders - we start out together, and get a little off course before getting into Selah. We're a paceline for the first mile or so, then a hill sorts it out. I'm off the back before we're out of Selah.

Went through the Yakima Valley Canyon in the dark. The wind gets bad in places, and straight into my face. Gusts of dust. At some point, I seemed to hit a particularly strong 'edge' of wind, maybe a front. During this the wind strong enough to induce a minor dirt/rock slide. Dust was thrown periodically, and then a dust/plant bit combo. Then (after what I think was a front passed), it settled into mostly a headwind, depending on the angle of the road in the canyon. And it was colder. Saw the bats. Heard the birds. A few cows off to the side. Not a lot of traffic. There are a couple of major hills, but nothing too bad in terms of climbing.

And it took awhile to get through the canyon. But I'm at the Conoco truck stop at the South Side of Ellensburg. There's no sign of the fast boys - those are some skinny fit cyclists; I'm inspired, but, not my lot in life this year to keep up with them. Chuck rolls in a minute or so after me. The very kind person working the register knew about the game, so she signed the control card w/o any hesitation. I picked up some water and food items. I realized I was thirsty, and, assuming I show up in Leavenworth before 6:00am, no water for awhile. I go back in and get one more bottle, and place it in the rack trunk (this bottle comes up again, later in the saga).

Through town and out. The headwind is ferocious, as remembered from 2003. It's dark, sometime after midnight. I've turned on the audible alarm for the heart rate monitor, and am trying to keep the exertion so that the hear rate is under 135bpm. I can't see the monitor; but, I hear it when I'm working too hard. I am (hearing it, and so working too hard). I drop back. Chuck goes on ahead.

It's uphill and against the wind as I leave Ellensburg. I'm familiar enough with this, and know that once we crest this hill on 97 heading north, we get a fast downhill, and will spend a lot of time outside of the wind. So it's a simple, slow ride to the top. It gets steeper for the last few kilometers, and somewhere in there I'm riding with Chuck and then ride uphill a little faster, and I'm not with Chuck. It's good to get to the top, and start blasting down to the bottom. The wind's more noticeable than last time heading downhill - I'm holding on tight and ready to touch the brakes. And I'm shivering! Makes it really hard to hold on to the bars - but you pretty much have to, so you do. Then I'm at the bottom of it and ready to go up Blewett. I stop for a few minutes to reconfigure a little and eat etc. No sign of Chuck, so I head on up Blewett. I'm taking my time, and mental arithmetic suggests that I won't be in Leavenworth at 5:00am, more like sometime after 6:00am.

It's something over 20km from the bottom of the hill where I stopped, to the top of Blewett pass. It's the time of the year where it's mostly light - so I'm gauging the sky for light (I think it was almost always light on one side of the sky or the other - maybe really dark for an hour). Then there's the Big Dipper - and I check out my eyes looking for the faint star off the handle. I see it. First one eye then the other. I'm killing time, pedaling. It's starting to get light when I get to the top. Ray's there - I didn't actually expect a control - but, there it was. With water and other food. Ray and I chat for awhile. He's taking Saturday off, and will ride again on Sunday. I say thanks (at least, I hope I did - Thanks!) and head down towards Leavenworth.

I don't exactly get to Leavenworth straight-away. I stop for a nap. The 10pm start is a bit much, so I find a spot just off a road that's just off the highway. Leaning against a tree to sleep has worked well for me in the past. It's cold, so I break out the space blanket. These things are neat-to-amazing, and work well for maintaining warmth. When the work. This one doesn't. It doesn't unfold, so much as tear into bits, as it gets stuck to itself. Delimanited space blanket - the foil layer tears away from the mylar layer. That kind of reads like a swear word: "Delaminated" - in this context, it is a total, strong, evil and offensive word. Eventually, I get a little of it to drape over the left leg (why the left and not the right? No reason), and tear a square of it off to place against my chest (more windblock and warmth for when I resume). And a 15 minute nap makes all the difference. I'm awake, feeling much better, and resume.

Then there's Leavenworth. I like breakfast burritos, even from McDonalds. So I go in to have a couple, and some coffee. It turns out that these are the worst breakfast burritoes I've ever had. Hard to diagnose at that point, harder now. So, I just rode on out of town and begin the climb up to Stevens Pass. The Wenatchee river is nice to ride along. It's still early so there's no traffic to worry over or look at for. I see Chuck up ahead (he must have ridden by me while I napped). I catch up eventually, chat a bit, and then head onwards. There's a rest area on the way up - I plan to stop and have another nap. I do. This one is vagrant style, sleeping head-down on a picnic table. Again, about 10-15 minutes makes all the difference. I take the nap about 5 minutes at a time (sleep, wake, check the time, decide to sleep or get going, repeat). This works - I don't know why. Then it's on up again. I pass Chuck again - confessing to the nap. And then up up up. Some cyclists are coming the other way. Three of them are the faster of the folks I started with - the rest of them are on the Seattle to Spokane ride. Another 'interesting' ride - might have to do that one sometime. I keep wondering when I'll get to the top. It's fairly certain I'll make it within the time limit (by 11:50AM), but, with not a lot of time to spare. The climb gets steeper near the top - but, I get there eventually, sometime shortly after 11:00am.

So, it's time for another break. Steve, his wife and their pet doggie are there. This is great. We chat about rides and such. I speculate that Chuck'll be there by noon (I was way off!). I get a sandwich, and then another for the road. I dump the coffee out of the water bottle and put a Dr Pepper in its place. I'm sitting and chatting with Steve and Co, and next thing you know, there's Chuck! 11:30 - plenty of time to spare. He gets some food, we chat more. We use some of the duct tape from the water bottle to do some repair work on his mudflap, say our thanks and then head down Stevens Pass - back to Leavenworth. Chuck falls like a stone down the pass, and I lose site of him. I think my bike's slow on the downhill, and I'm not a lightweight. I could ponder this darkly for awhile (grumbling about throwing away free speed). Eventually, I come out of it and \ride easily into Leavenworth. More good scenery along the river! Hey, a restroom! Etc. And there's Chuck at the first convenience store on the right. I pull up and begin the ritual (get the Brevet card for signing, find the wallet, go into the store, get some food/drink, pay, get the card signed, exit). Chuck's ready to go well before I am - he goes on, and we agree that we'll likely meet next on Old Blewett Pass - our next uphill.

Now it's time for the next phase of the ride: Burning! From Leavenworth to the starting point of Old Blewett pass. The heat's bad - it stops me from eating as much. And the sleepiness hits again. I spot a shady spot by a creek across the road, and go there. Lay down for a nap in the shade by the river. This helps a lot. I get up and press on to the store at Ingles creek. Along the way, I douse myself with the water from the bottle I've been carrying since Ellensburg. This also helps a lot - and I get to the store, and there's Chuck. He's getting ice and liquids. I get some liquids (more for the road - it's hot). And we head up to Old Blewett Pass. It's uphil, so before we get there I've (temporarily) left Chuck behind.

This heat thing is bicyclist death. I demo this nicely going up Old Blewett Pass. No energy - and no desire to eat (which would help with the energy thing, if one ate). I stop - I walk. I try to ride. A couple of the 300km folks pass me while I ride (Shane and Matt). We chat briefly and they wander on up and over. I'm walking when Dr K passes me, and then eventually Chuck. So I am the last man on the road, as far as I know. I'm thinking I'll never get up that hill. I'm still in possession of the delaminated space blanket. I don't have any matches despite my usual care in taking at least 6 of the 10 essentials out on any adventure. Muffed this one - no matches and inadequate clothing for warmth overnight. And I know it'll get cold. I don't want hypothermia. I don't want to coast back into Leavenworth (I think about it). I'm annoyed, maybe even pissed. I want to win this thing, playing against myself; I'm thinking Duncan would win; Nash would win. Why not me? So, I have a seat by the side of the road. I'm using a shard of that delaminated space blanket as a mat. I get to know a few ants, and flick them off, a few I let stay - I have other things to do. In particular, what I have to do is force down the Luna Bar that I had saved for such an emergency. 'Force' is the right word - I have to force it down past nausea. I look at my watch. I'll give myself 10 minutes to eat it, 5 minutes to digest, and then back on the bike. One bite at a time - and the 15 minutes are over. I'm back on the bike and moving now at a whopping 7km/hour, as opposed to a walking speed of 3-4km/hour. I start wandering up on the bike - for a moment I'm tempted and over-exert - but back off - don't want a repeat of the Luna Bar incident. I'm surprised to catch up to Chuck. More or less ride with him for awhile up the pass - then drop him and find myself at the summit. I stop and refill the camelback from the bottle of water in the back rack trunk. Chuck rolls up. Ever the ray of sunshine, I indicate that we're 10 minutes ahead of schedule - the peak is at 300km, and in 1o minutes we'll have been on the ride for 20 hours (the rando time limit for a 300km brevet). So, with our 10 minutes in the bank, we coast down. I take point, and appreciate the cue sheets instructions (4 switchbacks - be careful). We're careful and then back to Hwy 97. At this point, we have around 30 minutes in the bank - we're rolling in time. It's still more or less downhill-ish, and we get to that point where one has to go UP to get to Ellensburg (we have almost an hour in the bank - it really was downhill). We head up. I ride with Chuck - more or less trying to talk him up it. We chat about his bike. It's a nice one. Surly LHT frame built up to Chuck's (rando) specs. Every now and then he has to stop to barf - some pink drink that isn't digestable at this point. We get passed by some of our folks out on the 300km. One of them asks about Chuck (he happened to see one of the barf moments) and I indicate that I'll ride with him, so nobody's getting stuck out in the middle of anywhere. While wandering up this hill, I indicate to Chuck that if we get up there, and it's a headwind, I'm getting a room at the Comfort Inn in Ellensburg for the night. My ride would be done. He seems amused at the thought.

Then the Gods give us a sign: A leaf is blown straight up the road for about 50 yards, accompanying us. So, when we get to the top and start our wind-assisted descent into Ellensburg - we fly. It's like nothing I've ever had happen on a bike before. Monstrous tailwind (the same evil unprintably wrong headwind that we fought less than 24 hours earlier, and that Jeff and I worked through back in 2003). I'm coasting, coasting, at over 50kph, for miles. The bike has a whole different feel and sound at that speed when your not pedaling. I get to listen to the tires on the road. It's a solid and comforting sound. We were flying and we had earned it. And here's a technical puzzle: with the wind assist, I coasted faster than Chuck, while on every other downhill he dropped me by a huge margin. The usual explanation for the the downhill thing (big people coast downhill faster than smaller people) has to do with mass differences (and so more gravity force) and approximately the same wind resistance. For the wind-assist, how about the idea that a lighter rider and heavier rider get the same push; but, the lighter rider gets to go faster to equal out the applied force. Comments are welcome. Anyway, we're riding the big wind ship into town - I'm listening to the tires on the road, playing a game of 'dodge the pebble', looking at the scenery, looking at and around for funky gusts (none!), observing the plant-bits getting blown (as units) across or along the road etc. Eventually we get to town. Every turn we make realigns us with the wind (since we'd lose our alignment as the roads curve). That leaf being blown up the road was a good sign. And pow, we're at the Conoco on the Yakima side of Ellensburg. 3 bikes are parked outside, one for each of the 300km folks. I'd recommended the Alka Seltzer for the stomach - and it sounded so good I had some myself. Chocolate Milk. A Starbucks Shot. A large bottle of water. Chuck and I are doing that vagrant thing - sitting on the curb outside the store eating and drinking (he's not drinking though). He opted for Saltines and liquid. He allows as a DNF is possible. He hasn't kept any liquids down for awhile. Oh, I forgot to mention that we show up at the Conoco more than an hour before the control closes. We had a ton of time in the bank, given the tailwind that offered assistance through the Canyon. It's about 8:30pm, the last remaining control is 50km away, and closes at 1:00am. I head out; Chuck stays behind to recover and reflect some more.

I head out and into the canyon. A little into it I have most of the chocolate milk - it stays down, but I don't drink it all. I'm into the Canyon proper. Bugs in the canyon. Hitch-hikers. Sort of brown, half-inch long. If I'd been a car, I would have been covered in bug-goo; but, I'm a bicyclist, so I had passengers. Brushed them off. At the peak, it was a bug-hit or two every 5 seconds. Eventually I'm out of the bug-place/time.
There are almost as many people motor-cycling through the canyon as driving through it.
There's a giant Pac-Man on the rocks; this was an indication of this artistry on the web.

It was an epic ride, for me. I'm amazed and impressed with the trio that finished in front of me - probably not epic for them. And I'm very impressed that Chuck rode it on in, even though it was past the time limit - he must have found a way to get water in his body, and have it stay there.

So (almost done with the narrative now), I get through Selah, on this ride, that's about all that we learn of Selah. And onto the bike path. I'm done with the cue sheet, as I know this part of the path. I actually get chased by dogs through the hotel parking lot, I'd ride away from them but I think I see someone ahead, so, rather than take the dogs to whomever, I turn around to see what I might be dealing with. The dogs (just being territorial, so mostly harmless) turn around towards home. I check to see if Julie's in the parking lot. Not yet. It's about 11pm, which is the earliest I thought I might arrive, when I left Ellensburg ~2.5 hours earlier.

So I begin the Quest for Room 179. This takes awhile (I'm not sweating it, as I have about 2 hours till the control closes. Chances are excellent that I'll find the room before the control closes in two hours). I wheel the bike on in. I see a youngster who offers 'Nice bike' (the future of Randonneuring?? I should have given him some rando web sites. We all should carry $10 off on Brooks saddles (or some other rando-nerd paraphernalia) to hand out when appropriate. When is some one of us going to author a children's book titled "My First Carradice"?). So I ask him where room 179 might be. He offers some ideas where to look, and I thank him. I start towards looking some of those places, when I see a hotel employee who offers very specific and useful instructions. I head across the inner courtyard. More kids. Must be a reunion. I smile and wave to a couple of youngsters (probably about 8 and 10) seated by the door. They wave back, and when I start opening the door to wheel the bike on in, one of them holds it to help me. I say "Thanks" and head on in. There's kid #1 (the 'Nice Bike' kid) to point me right at the room. So I'm there. Dr K walks out as I'm walking in, indicating he doesn't know where anyone is. So I settle in. Paul Johnson walks in and signs the card. We discuss what the time should be - I'm happy, even ecstatic, with anything before 1:00am - so the current time it is. 11:15. I'm happy to be done. We chat - it's good. I get the 'PBP?' question. My answer is as usual (and this is the truth) that a good way to see France, at least from my perspective, involves a little more hedonism (good food! good wine!), museums, and less strenuous biking (there's nothing wrong with a nice string of 100km days, going from town to town. And regular sleep). But maybe some other year for PBP. Then Mark (ride organizer and keeper of all complete ride cards) shows up. We're chatting. I get a Sprite. Julie and Laura show up, and I get to introduce them to Paul J. And then we're out.

What I learned and other stuff:
- OK, a lot has been written about numbness induced by bike rides; so I won't. Instead, I'd like to bust open one of long distance cycling's dirtiest secrets. Post ride zits. Come on, it can't just be me. Think about it: you're out there riding for 10+ hours straight, with all kinds of substances being blown against the face. It takes me about a week for this to clear up. I still don't know what to do about this. Sure, I splash water on my face periodically along the ride; but, I still get the week-long reprise of adolescent skin. This doesn't happen to anyone else? Is there a proven solution?
- Does anyone take a toothbrush or mouthwash along on these? I was getting pretty tired of Starbucks Doubleshots and Cliff Gel Cubes. And all of that sugar-stuff over time does something funny to the chemistry/fauna in the mouth. I'm thinking a personal-sized Listerine would be a good addition for uber/stupid-long distance rides
- Delamination of space blankets. I always carry a space blanket, ever since one of them saved my bacon on the Lebowski ride (used it as insulation underneath the windbreaker). There I am, getting ready to take a 10-20 nap on the Leavenworth side of Blewett pass. I break out the Space Blanket - ready to get warm. But, the darn thing is all stuck to itself, and pieces of the shiny are sticking to other parts, and the whole thing ends up being a ripped mess. I gather part of it over me (and put on the headband). Oh, right, what I learned, this is the part of the blog where ideas are summarized, lessons learned and other bits of wisdom (like that zit thing) are reported. Here it is, the take home message: It's wise to unfold a space blanket before taking them out for an adventure. - just to make sure it really will deploy properly when called upon. I've read this somewhere before, and I should have done it. Such a device is my ace-in-the-hole against hypthermia. I didn't follow the advice, and was lucky that a blown nap is the only consequence. So, one more time:
It's wise to unfold a space blanket before taking them out for an adventure. - just to make sure it really will deploy properly when called upon.
- I can't leave numbness thing alone, unaddressed. I ended up with some numbness in 2 of 3 bike/body interface regions. My hands are fine.

Here are the ride stats, with a little annotation:

Course Preview - Mountain Biking the Yakima River Delta

2007-06-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

Dave's part of a team that's going to do the 'Righteous Richland Sprint Triathlon' - he's the biker - it's a mostly non-technical mountain bike course. The ride's in a week so we take the mountain bikes down to Howard Amon park, to pre-ride the course. Neither of us has been offroad in awhile (Dave starts the morning swapping the slicks for the knobbies on his bike). The course starts along bike paths, and then hits the gravel and fist-to-show size smooth river rocks (surrounded by dust/dirt) of the delta where the Yakima river empties into the Columbia river. It's fun - a great complement to road riding. We stop to adjust seat heights - determine which bike he's best off using (full gear, w/ suspension; or single speed, w/o suspension. No contest - gears and suspension). We're looking for good lines among the rocks and noting the branches and trees that lean into the course. Then you hit the new bike path tunnel underneath the highway, on the road by the gravel pit, and into the Chamna preserve - which has some nice paths used by hikers, dog walkers, horse riders and cyclists. We make our best guess of the path, find the turnaround and head back. Should be a good event.

Next next next?

2007-06-22T22:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple of weeks since the Last Big Ride, and so it's time to do another. The calendar doesn't lie - not enough riding. Shows plenty of recovery time, though - maybe even over-recovered. Maybe it's time for a treatise on being over-recovered? Plenty of writing and research on being over-trained - it's been done to death - any researchers out there interested in a new topic? Over-recovery! It's a ripe topic. Anyway - I'm looking forward to the SIR 400km that's part of the Yakima bike camp - Yakima to Stevens Pass and back. Maybe grab a burger at Miners afterwards. Should be a great day on the bike.

600km Monkey

2007-06-15T22:52:00.001-07:00

The bike is good. But, that's not enough to explain why one sets out on a 600km Brevet. It's a different distance than the precursor 200, 300 and 400km - it's typically done in two days. I'd attempted this distance twice before and failed. Each of those are some of my favorite rides.

The first attempt was back in '04. My oldest child graduates from High School, we go to the ceremony, and then I'm up at 1 or 2 in the morning, out the door and driving over to Arlington for the start of that ride. I'd worked out by trial and error a dosage rate of chocolate covered coffee beans - enough to stay awake and alert. Showed up and set off with the group. The ride start is fine, the morning is cool, a little damp. We traverse some nice country roads, heading over towards Stevens Pass. And, my ride is effectively over while climbing Stevens Pass. I get frustrated at the slow speed, stand up to STOMP to a faster speed and tear a back-of-the-leg muscle (I didn't know that then - learned it later when I managed to get a look at the extensive and interestingly structured bruising on the back of the leg). Sure, I could turn around; but, I'm interested in testing the leg, and work my way carefully over the Pass and down to Leavenworth. By then I've almost figured it out - that this ride is over. No actual power - and day two of this particular event features Washington and Rainey Passes. So, I go into total tourist mode. Can you believe that the manager of the Leavenworth McDonalds has a business card? And gave one to a hobbled Randonneur? I take it and, still in denial, head to Cashmere. Tooled into town. And by now I know it's over. Can't find a hotel. I do wind through some neighborhoods, and see the nice park from which the rafts are launched. I'm enjoying the day. Then towards Wenatchee - another great town. Before I get there Dennis S catches up to me - he'd gotten a late start. We chat briefly and he heads on to Winthrop. I wind into Wenatchee and find a hotel. I've called home and the cavalry agrees to rescue me. A good day on the bike, but a DNF for the 600km.

My next attempt was last year's Big Lebowski. Enough to say that this ride was too much for me, and it was over even before I was almost falling asleep on the bike while coasting down the hill into Fossil on day 2. I did get 400 of the 600km, a nice bowling trophy and some good memories, though. Amazing scenery. A space blanket saved me. Got to chat with Kent for awhile. Saw signs of Vigoren on the road (<- barf humor). The Dude Abides and I want a rematch with this route. Anyway...

So, it's close to now, and I've worked through a couple of 200's, a 300, a PR on a very nicely executed and organized 400km. It's time to finish the deal. I forego SIR's 600km of the previous week, as the day before was another of my children's HS graduation night (see the above stories); and I wanted to be very well rested (see the above stories). I take the Friday off, and drive to Newberg. Find the hotel, settle into a room and get to sleep at a decent hour. Up the next morning and ready to ride. My plan is to take it easy - and it starts like that. I get to meet Bill Bryant, and chat with him along the way. Got to meet some other fine folks from CA as well the night before at the hotel. Witnessed the Vanilla bike (the reports are correct - it's art). Met Clyde - with the Scott handlebars. Anyway, it's a Saturday morning, and we're on bikes heading out into the country. Taking it easy, and at some point I'm riding with Rickey Smith, and we end up working through this ride together. For him , it's the gateway to Paris. For me, well, I'm in it for the ambiance; at least that's how I'm articulating that it's a personal cycling objective.

And it is a beautiful, albeit rainy, day. The Detroit Lake area is astonishing. Nice lake, created by damming a narrow river valley. Folks are fishing; for some reason I resist the temptation to wander over and ask any of them if they've caught anything, and what. We get to do some more climbing. I kind of like climbing, at least at my rate. Exceptionally nice forest in the area. We coast down, and back to the store at Lyons. Standing there, one couldn't say it was sprinkling. Nor misting. Nor dripping. Not spitting. It was a hard, good, steady rain. I looked at that awhile and reflected. Pondered whether to add the rainpants to the body; but didn't. We get to chatting with a local gentleman, who was kind enough to appear be impressed with our foolishness of this day. Then we head towards the next uphill excursion. This is the one with the nice stretch of gravel. We got to that. Walked some of it, rode the rest, and wound our way up to the next control. There's a golf course off to the side partway up - Rickey had played it before. Then we're heading down - walked the gravel partially again. The walk felt good. Nothing too notable towards the end - we picked up a couple of more riders - Marcello and Nate. I flatted out, got it changed, reflatted (I am now the Mr Magoo of Randonneuring - I can't see a thing; especially a small piece of glass or gravel embedded in the outer side of a tire, in the night, even with porch light), changed it; and we're into the hotel at a decent hour - 11:15 or so. An opportunity for 4-5 hours of sleep before day 2's excursion to the coast. About 360km down. I'm drenched enough. There's standing water in my handlebar bag; and tomorrow's going to be rainy again. I'm thinking about this and stuff a plastic grocery bag into one of the side pockets.

I'm bleary enough; Michael Wolfe's there serving chow. I have the tortellinis with red sauce (decline the salad). Should have had about 4 times as much of the little pastas. At some point I'm sitting there (not eating) and Susan suggests sleep. Good idea. I go up to the room, and to sleep. The morning plan is to leave at first light and finish the ride - 240km to go by 10:00pm Sunday night. We do that.

A bagel and coffee and banana for breakfast (not enough, in retrospect). And we head out. Rickey, Marcello and I. I'm dragging. The body doesn't want to do this game this morning. Nausea. Headache - which always gives me something to think about: Caffeine withdrawl? Not enough blood sugar? Not enough salt? etc. I'm pondering this and taking in the day. Somewhere in here I pull the plastic grocery bag over the handlebar bag. Rain cover (works good). Eventually we stop for a break - Marcello finds some sort of biscuit sandwich thing in the store. He's onto something! I pound one down and am on the road to feeling pretty good (BTW: it's raining lightly at this point). The answer was blood sugar. Needed more food. I vowed to eat more greasy, salty food that day - and start looking for likely places to purchase potatoe wedges. Over to Grande Ronde. I can't look at casino's; so I don't. Then a right turn and we're working our way upwards. I'm resisting the urge to inquire if this might be the Coastal range pass. Also - today I'm last man up this hill instead of first in this micro-group. It's all about the (lack of) fuel. And then we're up. It was in fact the climb up the coastal range. Ricky and Marcello are kindly waiting and then we're heading down the other side. This side is shorter, steeper, and wetter. There's a moment where we're drenched. A nice sequence of one lane bridges (plenty for a bicyclist). We see the first group of fast folks heading back, once we're down. And, there is one steep pitch upwards! It's a noticeable ouch. We get it back with some downhill. Into Pacific City - the folks know a good place to stop. We do. I get a double order of fries; one for then, one for the road. We have to head out a few miles to the last checkpoint before heading back to Newberg. We turn around.

The way back promises to be pretty fast, once we've cleared the top of the coastal range. We'll have the wind. It's tending to be downhill. At some point, Marcello asks if there were any more checkpoints. We answer 'No' and he's off like a shot! Impossible to catch, at least for me. I discover an interesting collection of knee pains that are related to the muscles right around the joint. Limited power, and standing to peddle is a challenge in pain management. On the up side, at an easy, do-able pace, I'm moving at 20-23kph, plenty fast enough. Ricky's back is acting up. I'm speed limited. We get passed a lot. Nate. RB. Noel. I see Scott in the distance; we never catch him. At some point we see a cyclist waving people around a pothole. It's Marcello - he seems to have it in hand (we later learn that he did have it in hand; but he was wrestling with a big one. Bigger than a flat. Bigger than two flats. He'd nailed the pothole fast enough to take out the tires, and deform a wheel. He gets in an hour later than I do. Impressive finish on his part). Eventually we stop at a park; Rickey works on his back. I work on my knees. I think we're both better for the hiatus. And, we wrestle it on into the finish.

The post-ride was as nice as the ride. Folks are there and more come in. Scott and I get to exchange congrats on finishing the ride (we'd both DNF'd the Lebowski). We all do some post-ride 'bench racing'. Joel gives details on Marcello's bike situation (and then Marcello comes in). Susan encourages riders to take a shower (this is even funnier in retrospect). I ask Ron how many series he's up to now, it's 19 series accomplished now; I allow that I'm at 1, and that it'll take a dedicated youngster to break or equal his moving mark. It sure won't be me. (Is there a rando-statistician who knows what the extreme is for this? Ron's mark has gotta be close, if not the extreme). I get to enjoy Joel's humorous description of pain management at PBP - pains in motion (first this knee, then the other, wait, now it's the ankle and the knees feel fine...). And the remaining riders come in - looking good, strong and satisfied with their rides and weekend.

Lessons learned? 600km is a long way; I'll attempt it again, and maybe even worse (looking to do a 1000km ride this year, so maybe I didn't learn my lesson yet...). Multi-day rando rides are different than 1 day rando rides - they're a lot harder. The plastic grocery bag is a fine addition for the handlebar bag (and cheaper than a fancy new waterproof bag). Potatoes rule, as rando fuel. The bike, as is, functions good - I had no serious bike/body interface issues. Riding with people is good. I don't mind walking some during a ride. I should stop more - at 37hours finish time (amazingly enough, my target time going into this event), I had time to stop, take pictures etc.

Flat, Dry and Cool 400km

2007-05-14T21:18:00.000-07:00

A good route and great conditions. The day would start and end in Arlington, WA. Even though I had a room at the hotel, I managed to get going a few minutes late. So, I started out chasing taillights. Caught up with Narayan and chatted briefly. Then I pressed on and found a group. The riding was fast and easy (tailwind, flat). Hard to believe I've never been to Marblemount; now I have. Another nice looking town in Washington. Let's see: chatted briefly with Dan at the control before then. Played some with the camera (not much good to show for it; the 'best of' as available here). Observed Jon take down burrito in mid-ride. Eventually (ok, this stop wasn't long at all) I left Marblemount, heading West, and confirming that the wind was in fact from the West. Rode. Looked. Looked. Rode. Chatted. Rode. Rode. Looked. Looked. Chatted. Ate. Drank. Then we're at Sedro-Woolley. Refuel. Call home. Head out North. Eventually I'm porposing behind a tandem or two. This is fun; too bad the pictures didn't turn out (here are the ones that did). We hang together for awhile, and then ambiguity as we lose a rider. I stay back briefly on Chuckanut, and then rejoin the train. Big mistake. Too much energy expended and while I hold on to the group until Whitney, I'm near-bonked and rest there awhile to refuel and recover. I press on the last leg, riding with Allison. Gastronomical highlights are beef jerky and chocolate milk on top of a queasy stomach. Oddly enough, this works. Half way through the last bit on the Pioneer highway, I'm fine, energy-wise. My pace is picking back and the headlamp becomes a great toy. The thing is bright. We have a third rider and then we're done. Another great day on the bike. Personal fastest time at that distance, which seems to be a recurring theme among the riders.

Bike notes:
Lighter tires are good.
The Feed Bag (handlebar bag) is good. No rain, so no problem.
Something was squeaking in the drivetrain.
Should have taken the salt-tablets with, good thing it wasn't any warmer. Fritos and jerky were the back-up.

SIR 300km - Tahuya Hills

2007-04-11T23:55:00.000-07:00

Last year this was the ride that did in the knee, essentially derailing my season. So, the goal this year was to finish, having a good time all the while. I'd also made a commitment to not attempt to set a PR on this ride. In honor of the knee, I'd made some changes since last year. Shorter cranks. Pedals with more float. No stuff in the way of the knees (moved the map case from the rider side of the handlebars to the other side). Spent more time sitting while climbing, as opposed to standing. So, with those changes (who knows if they were effective), and a couple of 200km rides recently accomplished, the 300km Re-Knee-Match was on.

Spent the night before in the Motel 6 at Issaquah. Close enough to get downtown in 20 minutes, when driving in the middle of the night. Got there, parked on Alaska near the dock. Saw some folks I know. And, then we're on the ferry crossing over. It's a nice ride. A lot of folks are at the start for this ride. The most I've ever seen on a 300km. I let most of them head off first, as I don't like riding in a crowd. And, eventually I'm riding with Narayan. We end up riding most of the way together. This turned out to be a good, easy enough, speed for me for the distance. And he's a great riding companion.

The first leg was pleasant. Good. Up and down. Nice views of water and mossy forests. Ended up seeing a fair number of folks at the first stop, many of which I never saw again on the ride (they ended up way ahead or somewhat behind). It was raining for the third Brevet in a row. The climb up Walker pass was quickly over, and then downhill to coffee. We were trying to be efficient at controls, so I ended up tucking most of the coffee into one of the water bottles. Coffee to go.

The next phase was flat and fairly ugly, road-wise. Lots of bumps along the road. For a brief while, Narayan and I were with the 3 legged tandem, then they dropped us like a brown banana peel. Somewhere along here I paid the price for discussing my flat resistant tires. Stopped and fixed the flat. I asked Narayan and David to press on, I'd catch up after I dealt with the tire. My thinking here was that would give me a chance to work at a higher heart rate for awhile. Wrestled the tire into submission eventually (small embedded rock flake; good thing I had the swiss army knife with to dig out the flat inducing flake) and caught up just as Narayan was done fixing his flat. So, we continued on to Kays corner. Sometime together and sometime not. We ended up there more or less at the same time. I had the cup'o soup.

Narayan hit the hills first, then David and then me (I was working on the soup thing, and maybe too comfortable in the lawn chair). The 3-legged-tandem left about the same time. I'll admit I kind of like these hills and this stretch of road. Not so much for the hills but for the lack of traffic and lots of trees. So, we're climbing. Narayan has one flat too many for his mental comfort (raises the ever-popular question: what's stuck in my tire, still?). He gets a tire from our tandem companions, and we get it changed in a good impromptu tag-team (he, David and I). Then we head out. The tire looks good on his bike, and I make a mental note to get something like that next time. David has kindly taken on the old tire to be delivered to Narayan at the end of the ride. And, to my surprise, we eventually reconnect with the tandem folks. Which is great for us. We get to chat more. Eventually we lose the tandem awhile. And get to the river valley part of the hills. Very very nice, my very favorite piece of non-Hood-canal-scenery in the ride. More hills. Reconnection with the tandem. Darkness: so... Time to dork up! Reflective vests. Reflective ankle bands. Lights on. Then on to Seabeck. There's a really steep part of the hill that I ponder as we approach it. I might have set some kind of record for going up it slowly. Took my time. I'm liking the new headlight (the EL-530 - replacing the EL-500 that I accidentally (no, really) dropped on the concrete garage floor). Lots of light. In retrospect, a lot of interesting parts of the ride from Kays corner to Seabeck.

So, there we are at Seabeck. I planned to not be there too long, and still had a dream of making the 12:10AM ferry (second to last ferry of the night back across to Seattle). So, I accept the half tuna sandwich and pick up a couple of liquid items. The proprietress was pushing the sandwiches; she was right, they were good. The sandwich disappears fast enough (even though it was tuna, figured it was just a half and would burn fast enough in the stomach), and I'm off before Narayan or Dave or the 3-legged-tandem.

I'd never ridden this part of the Brevet before. At this point last year, my ride was over, I'm in a pick-up truck admiring the reflective tape on the back of some of the riders' bikes. So, when I get to Anderson hill. I take quick look up, and start walking. It was a good call, this walking concept. I get to repeat this twice. Even with that, I'm right on the edge of time for the ferry. I saw no lights behind me. And so I wander in. The cue sheet is accurate, and I have a compass in a pinch. And then it's over. I've missed the ferry (it's 12:00, not 12:10 for the ferry; and my official finish time is 12:01). This turns out to be great. I have a beer, a couple of pieces of pizza, and get to chat with folks over the next hour as they come in and with Mark as he signs cards and passes out pizza, drinks and information. Narayan, David and the 3-leggers come in. As do others. It's a fine end to a great ride.

Next up: the May 12th 400km. Can't wait.

Equipment and food notes:
- The handlebar bag (purchased back around 1992-3) saw its last Brevet. Not being water resistant is too much to deal with.
- Wool socks are good
- The new headlight was fine for fast descents in the dark (fast means about 20-25 mph in this case. Dark is really dark)
- The sack of French rolls, crammed into the previously mentioned handlebar bag, made for a nice food variation during the day. Mixed nicely with the Luna bars and Clif Gel Cubes.
- Should have used the camel-back; needed to be drinking more.

SIR 200k March 2007

2007-03-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

The Seattle International Randonneur’s March 200km is typically the first organized ride of any type that I get to do in year. This year is no different. I’ve been looking forward to this for a couple of months. This ride has already been multiply documented. Here's some verse, pictures and prose.

I drive to the Seattle and Oregon rides from the East side of the state. I either stay with someone or get a cheap hotel – this time it’s the Motel 6 on Military road near SeaTac. I’d never tried to get there before, but, I find it alright. It’s UP a steep hill as one comes from the East. It’s a nice Motel 6. $3 WiFi! 24 hour Coffee Stand! I can finish my evening’s work w/o having to track down a WiFi sight or suffer through a phone connection. I do the work and am in bed by 10:10. Five minutes later I get a call from my daughter and her husband; they’re stuck at the airport (all kinds of flight challenges around the country that day), and calling me. I get another room, and then go get them. The airport’s nearby, and I get to see my daughter and son-in-law. They look tired but rested, the sign of a good vacation. They figure out how to get back to their home fine; they’re heading back across the state East the next day. I’m in bed and asleep by midnight. Plenty good enough rest for a 200km ride.

Up the next day. Gas up the car, visit the mini-mart for breakfast (cinnamon role and coffee - the breakfast of mid-pack riders). I have a heck of a time finding the starting location; I’ve been there before, but, manage to get spun around good in Kent. Eventually the strategy is: Leave Kent. That works. I get oriented and to the ride start. There are a ton of vehicles parked with bikes and bicyclists putting them together. It’s dark. Chat with some folks I know while waiting for the 7:00am start, and then we’re off.

The bunch starts; a large number of riders. I almost hit a guy while heading down the big hill into Kent; he’d stopped to pick something up. It would have been very nasty. Good weather to start with (but a dark start, due to the vagaries of daylight savings time).

So I end up climbing up the same hill I drove up and down. Haven’t yet estimated how close I came to the Motel 6 where my daughter and her husband were staying (now I have: 3 miles). It’s still steep going up there; so of course we go up.

I was having some trouble remembering the ride details from last year (I must have been lost in discussion last year while riding this part, yeah, that's it) – even though it’s the exact same route as last year. Eventually it clicked in. There are some good downhills to go with that uphill; then we’re at the first control. I had the Starbucks coffee/sugar/fat in a bottle (this can be chugged, and is a good food mix for me on a long ride). The card is signed by the proprietor and then I’m off. There’s more hill-work, then down into the valley.

Managed to do some major wheel sucking through the green river valley; thanks to Don and Elaine on the tandem (I owe them for that and a couple of other times; what’s the proper response: Flowers? Chain lube? Some Ripping Yarns?). Then there’s my favorite ‘bridge to nowhere’ off to the side of the intersection of the Green River Valley Rd and 218^th Ave SE. We get a good view of the river and then it’s up a hill.

I’m with John Kramer and RB for most of the way to Hwy 410. Talking as best we can given the vagaries of traffic, shoulder width etc. I like the rear-view mirror a lot for seeing what’s coming up from behind.

During the rider a popular discussion topic is goals for the year. It’s a PBP year, so a lot of folks have that as a target. The other popular target seems to be the ORRando 1000km from Portland to Glacier Natl Park (my personal long-ride goal for the year).

Next up is 410 to Greenwater. I get dropped by John and a few others. It’s uphill. It happens. I keep going, and get there to see those who dropped me idling pleasantly outside a convenience store. Head inside for my Fritos and other items (Gatorade, water). And then back on the bike and down – this was a quick control for me, so I dropped my droppers by being quick in and out at this control. Oh yeah, I also put on the windbreaker here for the downhill. I’ve frozen before down a hill and prefer not to again. I’m toodling down the hill, taking it easy and munching Fritos. I figure that the folks will catch me from behind soon enough. It turns out they don’t; but, I jump for awhile into another group, until even drafting they’re going faster than I want to. I let them go. It’s starting to rain pretty good.

There are a lot of folks at the Circle K; the last stop before the end of the ride. I’m not efficient at this control, but, there’s no hurry. Call home and put on a bit more garb against the rain. I end up riding with John Muellner and John Kramer the rest of the way in. We’re more or less taking it easy and chatting. I regale them with stories of the first time I did this ride, and managed to get lost w/o ever actually getting off course. Clearly I need better stories… Anyway, it’s wetter and wetter; but, an easy and good finish for a good ride.

Ride stats are below; my total elapsed time of 9:51 turns out to be a PR for that distance. A lot of that is related to efficient behavior at controls.

What I learned about the rain:

Wind jacket and wind pants aren’t enough, not even close, in the rain; I should have taken the actual rain garb.
Some other kind of gloves are necessary (wool?)
My glasses aren’t rain worthy – I was riding blind with them, and w/o them I couldn’t go very fast
A pretty good case can be made for Mudflaps, especially for people following me in the rain (apologies to Muellner and Kramer); not to mention the bike. See the picture at the end.
I might look into different brake pads – stopping power was dicey down the steeper hills in the rain
My current front bag isn’t even close to water resistant

Here's the bike the next day; took an hour or so to clean it up:

And here are the ride stats:

SIR 400k 2004 - Another from the vault

2007-02-27T22:01:00.000-08:00

The SIR 400km ride looped from North Bend over Snoqualmie, Old Blewett and Stevens passes. The brown curve shows the altitude. I cleared the passes within 12 hours, and spent the next 11+ hours crawling in. It worked. This is one of my favorite rides to remember.

The night before, after checking into the hotel, I drove the back part of the route – kind of a combo time killer and mind soother. Not to mention good preparation. The most complicated navigating will come at the end of the ride. Essentially, we have 180 miles of highway riding, and then 70 miles of twisting and turning. This last bit will all be in the dark for me, in a part of the state I don’t know, when I’m tired, hungry and not at my swiftest. So, a little scouting can’t hurt. And the route is very nice. It goes by the Snoqualmie Falls area. I learn that Nestles has some land and buildings tucked back in there. Nice narrow roads through some agricultural land – it looks like parts of the areas they race through in Europe. And bonus: they also have a statue of a cow.

The summary stats are below. The ride line is the heart rate. Brown’s altitude. The passes are, in order, Snoqualmie, Old Blewett, and Stevens. This was my first trip ever (any mode of transportation) over Stevens Pass.

Started the morning with a flat. Pumping up the tires before heading outside the hotel. One of them deflated; the stem pulled away from the surrounding tube. I had two spare tubes. One new. I put the new one in, and started the ride with one spare tube. I also had a spare tire (no jokes, please) with me. My front tire had a small slit in it, and carrying a spare seemed prudent.

Started riding strong, feeling good, and in a group going up the first pass. I was following, led by a rider who never came off the front. He dropped a rear light. I fell back to pick it up and then rejoined. The effort coming back to the group felt good; got the engine turning. I ended up finishing at the top ahead of the group. There were cloud shards hanging across the mountain. No wind. Light sun. A great start to the day.

Then I got passed by the riders while going downhill and on the flats by lots of guys with aero bars. I found this very annoying and puzzling. OK, mostly annoying.

Stopped for coffee in Cle Elum at a local Espresso shop (I’ve stopped there a few times since). A couple of youngsters comment on the camelback. I work hard not to say things like “Borg” and “Feeding Tubes”. Managed to contain myself and engage in pleasant conversation. They must be all of 6 years old and are busily talking with me, and ordering coffee for one of their Moms and a Bagel for themselves. Good kids. Mention that they saw me from their car as they entered town. They sell me on the bagel; I also get a skinny latte with some sugary syrup. It’s quite good. I see some cyclists out the window go by. I know that they have the wind; I’ll have it too when I leave. I eat, drink and then leave.

Had an explosive flat outside of Cle Elum. Turns out that the tire had a sidewall hole and a corresponding blow-out for the tube; the hole may have been made by a stray piece of the wiry tire debris that was all over the road during the first 70 miles of the ride. I debated using the spare tire; instead I patched the sidewall with some adhesive patches… This holds up fine all the way to the end.

We went up Old Blewett pass. It was a nice climb. There was a control at the top, more or less a nice place to have some water and food. Then carefully down the other side, taking care for the washouts. There’s a group at a Convenience store in Leavenworth. Don’s bailing. Knee. I head out and up.

Sugar cycling up Stevens pass. Almost dead asleep, Gu, wake up, dead asleep. The cycle took 15 minutes. Eventually I bail on the Gu; stop for coffee as well. Then I find myself in a group of 4, heading the rest of the way up the pass. We chat. The air feels good; crisp mountain air. Then we’re at the top. It’s raining. Some of the folks put on additional clothing. I should have gotten a clue then. Down the other side – they all drop me. I fall, pedaling, for miles, until I see the Chevron and head straight for it. I’m very cold; shivering hard. At the Chevron, I put on the rest of my clothes. I’m feeling it in the knees at the end; also sore in the crotch. Get some food. Still shivering. And head out. Still cold and shivering. Eventually I dope it out: pedal hard holding the brakes. The big muscles generate the heat and I’m fine.

Did I mention this is one of my favorite rides to reflect on? Still is. It’s getting dark. I’m not cold so long as I ride. We head up a steep steep hill. One of the folks walks his bike up it. I ride at approximately the same speed. His knee was on the fritz, and he bails when we get to the next control. This leaves me with no riding companion, and I preferred to have one or two at this point. Anyway, I eat, grab a banana for the road. During this time a couple of folks have showed up, and I look them over to see if they’d ride with. One’s on a smoke break (I’m not kidding, and he doesn’t look to be in a hurry. This guy is one of my heroes now; but, not a riding companion. He’ll be there awhile with the Cigs. I’m getting colder). The other’s a real big guy. And he’s started eating and looks like he’ll be at it awhile. I head out and on.

The cycle odometer dies. Rain. I start guestimating distances based on time and assumed average speeds. This actually works (good thing, it’s the middle of the night and I don’t actually know where I am). And eventually I get to the part of the route that I’d driven the night before the start of the ride. I’m heading in fine.

The last two miles seem to take forever. In retrospect, I probably bonked. The inky hallucinations are a dead giveaway. Definitely bonked. But, the hallucinations are entertaining. One was a dog in the middle of the road. The other a human form. Silhouette. I’d been getting by on coffee and Gatorade; with a ration of corn nuts and a payday bar in the mix. Should have stuck with the coffee and Gatorade. I tried eating peanut M&M’s; just didn’t work at all in this setting as an energy source. I get in fine enough, get the card signed and go to sleep.

I mentioned this: the computer/odometer died. Wait, it turns out the display died and not the computer. Here are its last words: Ride time: 19:23, Distance: 245.8, Ave: 12.6 mph. It resumed functioning once I got it home. I’ll retire it to a desert bike.

Lessons learn:
• Rain gear – get some.
• A larger gear carrying device is in order.
• Need to get the front-end fixed on the new bike; no reason not to coast downhill at 40mph instead of a measly, lousy stinking, slow, energy wasting 30mph..
• Need to figure out how to eat/drink. While I have the theory in mind (the theory is 300 cal per hour of energy food. And about 16-32 oz of water) it does not work for me. Interestingly, the times I had “real” food (bananas, ordinary sandwiches) I felt fine. I’m going to run an experiment on the 600km (kids, don’t try this at home…) involving salt tablets and an energy drink with some protein added. Not to mention plenty of real food and dogging it. Will see how it goes.
• The LED light is an absolute champ. It works great. I might get another; for luck.

Ice Ride

2007-02-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

The schedule called for a 100km ride. Out to Prosser and back would work fine. Hadn't done that yet this year. The forecast suggested that it would get warmer around 1:00pm, but, with sunset around 4:45, leaving around 11:30 seemed right. I did. I'd multi-layered the shoes (wool socks, shoes, then wind cover, then thicker cover). I had some food, water, a few spare pieces of clothing: head band, 'ninja mask', fleece gloves, and, held in reserve in case it got bad, a space blanket. After a kilometer or so I decide to wear the the head band. After about 10 kilometers or so, I put on the fleece gloves over the bike gloves. I take them back off after 5 or so. I get to Benton City in a reasonable amount of time, feeling good. Get some food and head right out. Then a little sleet hits. It stops.

By the time I get to Prosser it's raining; a good steady drizzle. Eat and drink and I turn around. My light tail wind has turned into a head wind. Then there's some ice on the handlebar bag. I try to wipe the rain drops off my glasses; but, they're solid. Ice drops. There's also a nice crinkly sound when I raise the arms to wipe the glasses. I've iced up. The thermometer on the Heart Rate Monitor has it at -1degree Celsius. So, when the bike overshoes are all nice and shiny looking, I don't have to touch them to know it's ice. Some of the gears aren't available. The small chainring has enough ice on it that even when shifted to, the chain has no traction on the ring. Good spinning. A few miles out from Benton City I stop and make the call. So when I get to the Conoco in Benton City there's the van waiting. I admire the ice on the bike, try to shake some of it off (no doing though, it's too cold). Load the bike in the van and get home. Lots of ice on the bike. The fenders are holding a fair amount of ice. The bottom bracket is crusted over. I bounce the bike outside to shake most of it off.

Ended up with 80 km on the day. Data shown below. Out was much easier than back.

Garage Sessions

2007-02-03T19:04:00.000-08:00

It's cold outside, and dark more than light. So, I've taken to intervals in the
garage. Thankfully there's a TV out there, or I couldn't even last the 30 minutes I've been spending on each session. Last week, it was a simple set of cadence intervals. Warm up, spin fast-ish for 4 minutes, rest 2, spin 3, rest 2 etc. The picture below shows the data from one of the sessions. The green line is the cadence; it's a steady block down, up, down, etc. The red line is heart rate (HR). The HR climbs through this short simple session. I'm taking that as an indication of the potential for a training effect. I did this 3 days in a row; the image is from the 3rd of these sessions. Then I took a couple of days off.

I'll try another couple of weeks with these intervals in the garage. Hopefully the weather improves enough that in mid-to-late Feb I'll get to move most of the riding outside.

Years in Review and in the Future

2006-12-31T16:17:00.000-08:00

The plot below shows kilometers per year bicycled for the past 4 years. The exercise log software that came with the Polar HRM, along with the download of stats from the monitor, make this and other information fairly easy to keep track of, even when the HRM is in the shop for new batteries and other(?) periodic maintenance.

Mileage is down since the job change of two years ago; but, not fatally so. Exercise time is more stable over this period.

Cycling goals for next year include completing a Brevet series, and accomplishing and enjoying the long ride from Portland to Glacier National Park. Fitness goals include the ever popular and always elusive mass reduction, and generally increasing speed, flexibility etc.

Mystery Frogs

2006-12-30T19:49:00.000-08:00

I received these older Speedplay Frogs with a used Mountain bike from a local bike shop. The Speedplays were taken in trade for some low-end SPD's. It turns out that the configuration of these pedal attachments (to the cleats, which weren't included with the pedals) is different enough from current pedals, that my Speedplay Frog cleats don't fit. If anyone out there has cleats for these pedals, or a historical note on this version of the Frogs, please comment. Some differences between these and the current models include:

No injection point for grease -but, an O-ring on the thread side of the pedal to keep the elements out.
No ridge on the plastic body.
A different color (brownish) on the plastic body
The older pedals have a hole in the middle (in which you can see a tube containing the pedal spindle) - the newer ones don't have the hole.

Tangible Bike Related Goods

2006-11-21T21:38:00.000-08:00

Seven or so years of semi-serious biking have passed, and as I was riding in to work with Nat, talking about cooking and food, it occurred to me that I hadn't bought a bunch of bike-stuff this year. It had accumulated. The bike. The cold-weather gear. Lights. Stuff (panniers) to hold stuff (work clothes). It's configured and now I just ride it. Good simple fun. Here's a picture:

Lot's of accumulated lessons hanging on the bike. Here are some:

Reflective tape is good; learned that while riding (in a truck) behind multiple cyclists one night. Those with reflective tape were visible. Just lights was not nearly as effective.
Fenders keep it cleaner.
It's much much much better to carry stuff on the bike than on the body.
That Specialized saddle really does keep body-parts from going as numb compared to other saddles I've used. And it seems durable (maybe not Brooks durable; but, year 3 and still going strong).
The cheap, plastic, yellow water bottle holder does work to hold an insulated coffee cup (good on the morning commute). The bike-coffee guy didn't lead me wrong here.
Flat-proof tires are the way to go on a commute.
LED lights are pretty good; two of them pretty much do the job w/o a lot of battery changing.

The only down side to the accumulated and applied experience? Limited tinkering options other than routine, preventative maintenance. Must be time to build up a tourer, or maybe a speed bike.

Prosser -Grandview-Sunnyside Bike Path - Route Scout

2006-11-19T17:43:00.000-08:00

Well, you can see, from the vantage of I-84, a bike path as you drive between Sunnyside and Prosser. It's there, more or less parallel to the interstate. So, we put the bikes in the van and go see if we can find the Prosser end of the path to get a nice ride on a winter-ish day.

We find it. Park the van at the rest stop in Prosser, get out the bikes and start: head out (right turn) of the rest stop (so you're heading NW). Stop at the intersection, and straight across to Wine Country Road. You can see bike path off to the left of the road, and if you just keep pedaling, the path is available on the right in a few hundred yards. Lots of dogs in the yards near the start, all nicely corralled.

The path is a little rough at first. No glass. No visible tackweed. The occasional horse-apple. It's dripping rain and we wander on. We're biking through an agricultural area, but not the growing season. No one is on the path at all. No water in the irrigation ditch that we bridge over. We quickly get to Grandview; advertised population 8705. The bike-path puts you on what appears to be the main street through town. Nice looking town with plenty to offer a Randonneur. We keep riding, and see the path resuming off to the left. Cross over and head to Sunnyside. On this brief stretch the path is furnished with park benches, water fountains and ornamental trash recepticals. There are signposts that count down the mileage to Sunnyside, and we're there. We follow the path through town, looking for the end. Plenty of candidate food stops. The traffic lights respond quickly to our punch of the button for the pedestrian crossing. And then the path ends in a park and ride in Sunnyside, at the intersection of the Yakima Valley Highway and N 16th Street. About 21km from Prosser to Sunnyside. We turn around (into the wind) and ride back.

The path would work fairly well for part of a Brevet - and amounts to a touch over 21km from end-to-end.

SIR 300km 2003 - one from the vault

2006-11-11T20:50:00.000-08:00

The ride description is here: http://www.seattlerandonneur.org/rides/ride_archive/300km/300km_2a_2003Desc.html.

Assorted nuts: not sure why I was doing this ride; had done a ride sponsored by SIR in March, and had barely finished in the allotted time of 13 hours (something like 30 minutes to spare); due to this slow time, I abandoned the thought of completing the 200, 300, 400, 600km series in the spring. This ride in July served as part of a fallback option for completing the series later in the year. Such a series is a qualifier for some interesting rides: Paris-Brest-Paris (also see here), Boston-Montreal-Boston and the Rocky Mountain 1200.

The Rocky Mountain 1200 is an interesting stretch goal; fantastic scenery, a familiar-yet-foreign land, and a really long bike ride. Figured I’d investigate the series this year; and if I completed it, I’d qualify the RM1200. It seems that a typical time for a 200k is about 10hours, and 300k about 15hours. I was going for that time. That’d mean being finished by 9pm. I’d worked out that a 14mph average while riding, combined with about 5 minutes of rest per hour, would do the trick. This all goes under the heading "Best Laid Plans".

It’s less than a two hour drive to Ellensburg. Checked into the hotel; for some reason I felt compelled to schlep the bike in by the back way. Next I drove the first part of the route. The route out of town was very straightforward. It would be the same route back into town.Looking at the summaries of the times for the first 4 SIR rides this season; a 10 hour time for a 200k is “typical”, and a 15 hour time for a 300k is also typical. I’m impressed that the approximate relation of 5 hours=100k holds up at 400k also.

Leg 0:

Got up, applied sunscreen and went out for breakfast. Had breakfast at the truck stop by the interstate; extremely greasy (note: I've never gone back). I was the only customer. Back to the hotel to change into riding garb and bike the less-than 1 mile over to the Super 8. Met the ride organizers Terry and Erin (assumed spelling). Chatted briefly. They seemed kind of wiped; they’d ridden the 300k on July 4th. Terry described the wind, and that there was one other rider for today’s ride. Jeff. A couple of gentlemen working through the weekend 600k showed up and took off after some conversation. They’d had about 1.5 hours of sleep, and had 200k to go today. Jeff and I took off; he’d cased the route as well. We got out of town together quickly. Note: Jeff has a write-up of this ride as well. His write-up is a lot funnier than this one. Practice Practice Practice.

Leg 1: From the hotel w/ Jeff until part-way up Blewett pass.

Jeff stopped for water, I pressed on and up; the Camelback is great for long rides. A lot of wind; all the time. Altitude gain. Pilot error in the use of the HRM. Jeff and I traded pulls. The weather changed completely after the descent to the intersection of 97 and 970; cool (low 50s) and calm. Coincidence of the ride: Jeff and I were born in the same hospital in Tulsa. Didn’t see him again till near the end of the ride (around mile 170; as he was heading into Cle Elum and I was going the other way). Jeff’s going to ride the Paris Brest Paris ride this year; so for him, this ride served as a tune-up. Talked about the kids and where we’d lived.

Leg 2: Up Blewett pass.

Just pedaled. It was slow; but, very early in the game. Lots of sweating. The pass isn’t exceptionally steep; but, had to work pretty hard to get up it in a reasonable time. Near the top; Kline and Brenda drove up to drop off Kline. Brenda said some encouraging words. They were staying at a campground at Ingalls Creek. Kline went up the last mile or two; then we blasted down the other side. The spirit of the Randonneuring game is that I can’t use outside assistance. We took that as no drafting (that is, I couldn’t draft Kline). I confess to taking a piece of licorice (red). The company was very welcome.

Figure 1: First leg. The first part is not accurate due to significant “pilot error”. It’s missing about an hour and about 7 miles. It was windy. The second is reasonably accurate. The brown line (altitude) goes up to the top of Blewett pass. The altitude numbers are almost accurate. The pass is about 4100 feet high.

Leg 3: Blewett pass into Cashmere.

It was just plain fast. I felt I had a lot of time to make up from the crawling done against the wind and uphill (sometimes together). Started down fast, as there wasn’t a lot of shoulder at the top; and the less time spent on the road the safer. Pressed fairly hard. Talked some with Kline; but, basically was just pushing. Went by the campground that Kline, Brenda and the boys were staying at. We kept on. Hit highway 2 and turned right towards Cashmere. Went along the Wenatchee river; very nice. This was continuing downhill so our speed remained high. Had to find the Red Apple market at Cashmere and get someone there to sign my card. The card, always part of a Brevet, is used as a record that the ride was completed in the time-period. I
almost forgot about the card more than once, as I was more interested in the ride. It turns out that the Red Apple changed names. Went into the grocery store, I asked whether it used to be the Red Apple and the extremely young person behind the counter went back far into her memory to say “Yeah, I think so”. Good enough for me. Bought some water and a sandwich, then Kline and I went vagrant outside the store and ate our food while customers filed in and out. Filled the various water bottles and headed out toward Leavenworth. We saw Jeff as we headed out. I pointed him at the ex-Red Apple.

Figure 2: From the top of Blewett pass down into Cashmere. I had to work hard for the speed.

Figure 3: Cashmere to Plain. I’ve mentioned to Polar that another piece of data to capture is the wind. This whole @#$()*( leg was against the wind. The elevation gain is kind of like 1.5 Webber canyon rides.

Leg 4: Cashmere to Plain.

It was more uphill-and-against-the-wind. It wasn’t going to be pretty, scenery-wise, till we got towards Leavenworth. So, we went up and out. Backtracked for awhile and then got beyond US97. Ducked into Leavenworth and headed North up the Chumstick (<- not a pretty name) Hwy. More uphill-and-against-the-wind. #$(*()*. I was hoping that the trees would block the wind. They probably would in the forest, but not on the road. We eventually had to climb a minor pass. Kline pointed up where the road was going. I said something fatalistic and kept on pedaling. Eventually got a little further, looked up again and said “I guess I can do that”. Did it. Headed down. It was a rapid, curvy descent. The tar used to cover the cracks in the road was kind of slidy, so we both avoided it. Had to hit the brakes pretty hard around one bend and then into Plain. Got the traditional gallon-of-water and a Frappacino (one of those cold, bottled things). Kind of a gastro-intestinal gamble; but, I’m a coffaholic and went for it. It was good. Also had some peanuts; mostly for the salt. We sat; reloaded the water carrying devices, and continued.

Leg 5: Plain to Ingalls Creek.

Ran into Terry and Erin. Kline was kindly and properly paranoid about not even looking like he was assisting me, much less actually assisting me. They mistook him for Jeff. An easier run. Very pretty as we went down into Leavenworth. Had to blast over a couple of narrow bridges. Had a mishap; nearly a crash. I hit a rumble strip; didn’t even see it coming, and darted to the left. Kline had to hit the brakes fast to avoid me. Kline mentioned Prey’s fruit stand again. It’s a recommended place to stop for apples. We’d both each bought pumpkins there at various times. Back up hwy 97. Slowish. Went by a place where someone does the chainsaw carving of logs. I decided against picking one up as a souvenir. Stopped at the convenience store across from the campground. Kline had his left shoe’s cleat stuck in the pedal. I went into the store alone. Got a V-8. Some water bottles. Reloaded. Figured I needed the salt. I think it helped greatly. Said goodbye and headed on up.

Figure 4: Plain to Cle Elum. The big peak is Blewett pass. There was a lot of work in there. The scenery on the Cle Elum side of the pass seemed to agree with me even better than the fine scenery on the other side.

Leg 6: Ingalls Creek to the Summit of Blewett Pass.

Ouch Ouch Ouch. Gave myself permission to arrive there by 6 (would have preferred earlier). Tried to have a gel every 30 minutes, stay hydrated and keep pedaling. Stopped part-way up for a nature break. Good to get off the bike. Stuff was numb. Resumed. Had to ride on a gravely shoulder about the last mile up. Hit the top around 5:55. Stopped. Dug out the cell phone to call home. Probably didn’t sound too good. Chatted and signed off. So, I figured that I’d gone about 200k, and had done so in 12hours. That sucked; same time as the 200km. Months of training and no basic improvement measured; my body had learned nothing. And, at that speed, I’d be done in about 6 hours. Midnight. That also sucked. Ate a bar. Realized I was hungry, so I ate another. Drank some and headed off down the pass.

Leg 7: Blewett Pass to Cle-Elum.

It was good to finally have one of gravity and the wind on my side for a change. Made good time at a relaxing heart rate. Just pedaled. Sang some (still need to learn more songs). And arrived at the potential bail-out point. I’d been thinking of heading straight to Ellensburg, essentially taking a DNF (Did Not Finish), getting home in the light while still getting a good long ride in. One way to deice would be to spit in the palm of one hand, hit the spit with the other, and depending on which way the majority of the saliva went, I’d chose my direction. But, it was kind of windy so I figured that wouldn’t work. I didn’t want to toss a coin; since that would mean stopping, dredging one out etc. So, when I got to the juncture, I looked UP at the Ellensburg option and up at the Cle Elum option, and decided that less climbing was good. Even better, a little up the highway they claimed about 12 miles to Cle Elum. That clinched it. It was against the wind; but, again I pressed on. The climb was small. About 6 miles later I stopped to eat again. Still trying to pound the gels regularly. Continued on into town. A couple of miles later I saw where I’d eventually by going to Ellensburg and smiled. I’d have the wind all the way back. Encouraged, I drove hard to the Safeway at a whopping 10 mph (against the wind). Pushed on into Cle Elum, looking for the Safeway. At the end of town there was a small hill (kind of
like Carmichael hill). The Safeway was up there. So, up it is. Got there. I was looking to get the card signed, have a gel, get some end-of-the-ride power-aid (expensive, but, palatable. Figured I needed to drink) and another V-8 (salt is good). Grocery stores are big; I gave up on my detailed shopping list and settled for another Frapacinno. It was about 8pm, sunset was at 9pm. So, I dorked up: put on the reflective vest and ankle bands. Turned on the lights and
booked out of town at 8:10.

Leg 8: Cle Elum to Ellensburg.

It was fast. I had the wind. It tended to be downhill. It was fast and I felt good to be going fast. While I’d had the goal of a 9pm finish, and the then the dark thought of a midnight finish, I had enough speed and push to go for a 9-something finish. So I went back through town. Hit a red light and some green lights. And I was on out of town. Waved to Jeff as I turned off towards Ellensburg and he headed towards Cle Elum. Then the route moved onto a lightly trafficked highway along the river. It was great. Good views of the river. Great speed! The pounding-down-of-the-gels seems to have paid off. Saw another bicyclist heading the other way. Saw a semi-truck parked on one side of the road and an SUV on the other. And maybe saw a handful of cars. And there was plenty of river flowing by. Some birds. I had no actual power up the hills. It’s an odd feeling that I often get at the end of long rides; enough juice to keep going in the flats, but, nothing for the hills. Thankfully, the uphill stretches were never long. Got into town; had the route down thanks to the driving practice. Got to the Super-8, knocked on the door and turned in the card. The time was 9:35. Much better than I’d thought I’d achieve while at the top of Blewett.

Post ride: Got cleaned up. Watched the Tour de France prologue rerun. Gold Bless OLN. Lance looked un-skinny; not a good sign for the mountains. I had some numbness still; never had been that bad before. Showered. Went to dinner. Stomach was a little off. Had most of a chicken sandwich and, of course, all the fries. Ice tea and some tomato juice. Back to the room and to sleep. Awake at 3-something in the morning for no particular reason. Some weird move on HBO. A professional killer (ex-FBI). Lots of double-crosses. I sure hope I didn’t see the whole movie. The tour started at 6:00am. I started packing, loading the car during commercials. Snagged a continental breakfast; started home around 8:30. Not too far to home.

Pros: Good training. Good countryside. I live!

Cons: Not many people out there. Numbness. Some joint soreness.

Figure 5: The last leg. Tending downhill. Had the wind. Got the HR up to a pushing-level.

Figure 6: Overall ride summary. The big spikes are Blewett pass (both ways). That’s a pretty high average heart rate for me over that duration. Note: the time axis is not accurate, as it doesn’t incorporate stops and the missing hour.

Pasco to Pullman - altitude profile

2006-10-29T10:26:00.000-08:00

This is the altitude profile for the Pasco-Pullman permanent. The horizontal axis is the time I took for the ride. The text along the horizontal axis marks (in order) my house, the start of the ride on Court Street, the beginning of the Pasco-Kahlotus highway, the city of Kahlotus, Washtucna, Colfax, Pullman and then my overnight stop. You can't get around it, it's uphill. But, the longest semi-steep climbs are only 300-400 feet.

Pasco to Pullman - RUSA Permanent 184

2006-10-28T20:05:00.000-07:00

RUSA, the organization in the US that helps to coordinate and promote a type of long distance bicycle riding, has created a class of rides known as Permanents; see http://www.rusa.org/perminfo.html. Any RUSA member can submit a candidate route, and any RUSA member can ride them 'for credit'. I've started putting together candidate routes in Eastern Washington, and this is the first.

Route Description:
This Permanent route runs from Pasco (Washington) to Pullman. The route starts under the I-182 bridge on West Court Street in Pasco. There's a small number of parking spaces there; but, even more parking just across the river in Richland at Point Park (full name: Columbia Point Marina Park), and a bike path over the river to get to the start. Getting to the start, you head southwest on Court Street and bike on through Pasco. Tough tires are advised; there's a good bit of roadside glass and some tackweed.

Court Street ends, and bears right becoming 1st Street. Follow that till you do a left on Lewis Street. This part of the route can be seen here. Follow Lewis Street; this street becomes the Pasco-Kahlotus Highway, as seen here. The route to Pullman is simple enough from this point: The Pasco-Kahlotus highway takes you to Kahlotus. When this road ends, take the right turn to Washtucna. Enjoy the hospitality of the Java Bloom in Washtucna (on the right, just before Highway 260 runs into Highway 26). Open 7:00am to 7:00pm. Then a right (East) on Highway 26 to Colfax, and then South to Pullman. This adds up to about 211km.

Support notes: Between Pasco and Washtucna (about 100km) there are no services nor water. For me, this distance is about 5 hours, about 4-5 energy bars or equivalent, and two large water bottles plus a camelback of water. Pack for yourself accordingly. The services are somewhat better from Washtucna to Pullman, with a convenience store in Dusty (open 7am to 7pm Mon-Sat) and a fair number of options in Colfax.

Cell phone: No coverage between Pasco and Colfax.

Weather notes: often the wind is from the WSW, so going from Pasco to Pullman can be done mostly with a supporting tailwind; especially in the summer and fall. I don't think I'd attempt this route in July (or anytime the high is expected to be above 90F). I also don't think I'd recommend attempting this route in the dead of winter. It'd be cold up high. And, I don't think I'd attempt the route when the winds are expected to be above 20mph. It's dusty out there

Football notes: There's a lot of traffic from Washtucna to Colfax to Pullman on Thurs/Fridays before a football game, and before the start of semesters. I'd avoid this route then.

Ride Report:
I test-rode the route this Friday (a great weather day, and WSU is playing in California this weekend). My plan was to ride to Pullman and stay the night at my daughter and son-in-law's apartment. I packed accordingly, with two small pannier's on the back, adding probably 12-15 pounds of weight on the back of the bike. Some of it is overnight and non-bike clothes to wear in Pullman; and the rest is a few more pieces of bike garb (in case it gets cold (it will)).

Starting Friday morning at 8:00am put me going through Pasco after anything that it might have approaching rush hour traffic. The traffic did keep me on or near the shoulders (and the glass and tackweed); but, I'm running with 700x28 Specialized Armidillo tires, and just run through it. Brushed off a tackweed at one point and pressed on. I managed to miss the bear-left where Lewis Street crosses over the Highway; but, the dead end was a good clue and I went back and got the turn. Some agriculture traffic (and UPS trucks?!) on the highway early, and even when the shoulder disappeared into gravel. But, it didn't last long and soon I was mostly alone on the P-K highway. Except for the hawks. The sounds of hunting kept me out of the corn fields for a nature break. Managed to gain some elevation; before that saw an asparagus field going to seed; lots of fall colors. There's a nice, short, steep climb up some switchbacks. And then I'm up. The P-K highway is nice for biking. Then it ends, with a fast downhill to Kahlotus. I lost a pannier at the start of the downhill; must not have clipped it on completely. I heard it fall, stopped, turned around and saw it bouncing nicely on the highway. Went back, secured it to the bike and headed on down. Then to Washtucna. There's a nice view of a canyon for awhile, and then you're in it. The traffic's still light and the bike rolls into Washtucna. There's a public restroom in the park on the left. I head on to the Java Bloom. Coffee. A sandwich. Gatoraide and water. I had a couple of energy bars remaining; enough to get to Colfax.

There's water in the desert. A river along the highway from Washtucna (Cow Creek?). And some graffiti on the rocks, and signs suggesting which law might be broken in constructing such graffiti. The shoulder's good and I take in the terrain. More hawks. Crows. Cattle working in and around the water. Side roads that need to be considered for variations on this ride. And then to Dusty. The road narrows but, in exchange for that and the chip seal; you get very smooth asphalt and hills. An hour later I'm in Colfax. I leave a message on the home phone (I live again!) and then call my daughter (I'll be there in ~90 minutes). Backtrack into Colfax, looking for a convenience store. Found it. A Starbuck's magic can of caffeine and calories (pound it down), and some Donette's (never travel by bike, after 100 miles or more, w/o fuel). It's dusk. The reflective ankle bands and lights are all on. Full dorkage. I head out. A block later I stop and put the windbreaker on over everything (Camelback included). It's getting cold. South to Pullman. And uphill. It takes awhile longer than estimated. It's dark. Cold in the valleys. And then I'm there.

Almost a twelve hour adventure; eleven of them on the bike.

2005-12-11T19:58:00.000-08:00

It's cold and dark; but, bike commuting is still good. The standard route heads out through the neighborhood for about a mile, and then onto a bike path for another couple of miles. Nothing scenic; but, it's off the road. Then a block on shoulders and onto another bike path. Down a hill, over the Yakima river, by the Chamna Wilderness preserve, then the quarry, and finally into old Richland. For a mile. Then, the
rest of the ride to work is mostly along Columbia river, or through some of the older Richland neighborhoods. The total distance is 12-13 miles, depending on variations of the route taken. Even with the bike paths, there's a fair amount of stop and go biking. To keep from breaking a sweat in the mornings, the ride takes about an hour. Going home can be faster.

2005-11-27T20:28:00.000-08:00

The picture is from a family trip to British Columbia. We have even more cheesier pictures as well. The setting is some touristy park near Revelstoke. The contents of the park were a variety of Disney (and other?) inspired sculptures. We were pleasantly surprised to be entertained.

The trip had the dual purpose of scouting out part of the Cascade 1200 bike ride. Revelstoke was in a nice, scenic and friendly location. We camped; but, the mosquitoes chased us to a hotel earlier than planned.