Course Preview - Mountain Biking the Yakima River Delta

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.