Jane and I took a little ride up to Queen Anne on Friday night for a pot luck at a new house that our friends are in. I bought a bottle of La Fin Du Monde and drank it myself. It was not the best of choices for a night before a planned 8 am ride. We had a great time, but didn’t get to bed until 2.

I woke up in a haze on Saturday, Frankie pouncing my chest and NPR screaming in to my ear. The real draw for not kicking the cat off the bed and throwing the alarm across the room was the promise of nice weather. The reports were saying 70 and sunny. I haven’t worn a short sleeve jersey without arm warmers since September. I don’t think I’ve even gone outside with a short sleeve t-shirt but once this year. For once, the weather people were correct. It was astoundingly beautiful outside. One of these days, I’ll have my camera both charged and filled with a proper amount of memory. Until then, you’ll just have to deal with my writing about it.

The big plan for the day was to take a ride out to Tiger Mountain. We set out around 8 to meet up with some other friends at the I-90 overlook. We took the trail out to Issaquah. I had taken mental notes on how to get there thanks to an email from Matt. Chris was pretty sure he knew how to get there. Needless to say, we ended up a bit lost. We found an acceptable substitute in Cougar Mountain. It was a pretty brutal climb, and the first time in a year that I’ve had to stop my bike due to exhaustion. There were a series of switchbacks, including several 20% grade sections. As soon as we reached the “top”, there were a bunch of rollers with even more 15-20% grades. One in our group threw up his breakfast at some point. I am surprised it wasn’t me, actually. At that point I gave up on the idea of trying to find Tiger Mountain.

The great part about that area is seeing families out on cheap and heavy bikes scaling these monster grades. If that 10 year old can do it on his Magna, I sure as hell can do it on my IF.

I later learned that we were riding part of the infamous 100k Mountain (un)Populaire from last year. It was described as one of the hardest rides of the season with SIR despite being one of the shortest.

For as crappy as I felt, it was still a wonderful ride on an amazing day. I couldn’t ask for a nicer weekend.

I’ve often read about the desire for the “next big thing” once you finish an event. Now that the 300k is behind me, I’ve been really looking forward to the 400k. With an ominous title like “3 Passes”, you know it is going to be a pretty epic ride.

My friends and I agreed early on to make sure our April wasn’t stagnant. At the time, there were no major events scheduled for the month, and it would have been easy to slack off. Of course, the 300k got pushed in to the first weekend of April, but there is still a gap between the 300 and 400k. We settled on doing a couple of permanents to stay … uh… fresh.

Chris pitched two local 200k’s that we could basically start from our houses (give or take a few miles). So, as Dr. Codfish stated it might, the 200k is the training ride for the bigger rides. Then a 300k got added at the last minute for the 3rd of May. It basically covered some of the route in one of the permanents that we were planning on doing anyways. Since misery loves company, it makes more sense to do the 300k. Now my schedule looks something like this
5/3 – 300k RUSA Brevet
5/10 – 200k Permanent
5/17 – 400k ACP Brevet “3 Passes”

As if that weren’t scary enough, the SIR website added the 600k information for June 7th. Oh hey, guess what? They found another mountain pass we can ride over for that one. I was afraid they wouldn’t start to challenge us.

I’m not real good at math, but it is looking like I’m going to be spending close to a thousand miles on the bike in the next few months, in including training and commuting. Awesome.

J.P. Weigle

Photo above isn’t actual photo from conversation, just there for reference.
Me: Hey [name deleted to protect the innocent], take a look at these guys. Tell me what you think about them.
[some dude]: Looks like they are really into the game. You see guys like that at all football games.
Me: You don’t think that they are… I don’t know… kind of weird? Like when did that become socially acceptable?
[some dude]: It is just a ritual. I’m sure the 6 dollar beers help.
Me: So they are just big fans of the team?
[some dude]: Exactly.
Me: Let me give you a hypothetical situation.
[some dude]: Okay…
Me: Let’s say that I’m a huge fan of Batman. Every weekend I watch it on my big screen TV. While watching the movie, I like to dress up as one of the characters and root for them. Then I get really drunk and belligerent off of a rack of cheap American beer and yell profanities at the movie.
[some dude]: Dude, that’s just weird.
Me: That is exactly what these guys are doing.
[some dude]: *leaves room*

Right after this Saturday’s 300k, Jane and I dropped Matt off on the hill and got to bed at around 4:30am. Somehow we managed to sleep in on Sunday until 5pm. I’m not sure that I’ve ever slept that late in my life. It wasn’t a comforting sleep either. It was a really deep, impossible to wake up from, sleep. When I was finally able to pry my crusty eyes open, I realized that the cold that I’d been fighting in the previous week had returned.

It returned for Jane as well, except it was even harder on her. We took her in to the doctor on Wednesday and it turns out that she has pneumonia. I guess standing out in the cold all day to slap biker ass wasn’t a great idea after all. She has been mostly asleep since then.

This has given me a lot of time to think about my next bike. Well, the bike that I imagine will some day be my next bike.. if time and money weren’t a factor. I’ve been scouring the internet like some depraved pervert.

I’d like to build up a commuter bike. It is going to have mustache style handlebars, full fenders (of course), and a dyno hub up front. I’m not sure I can go without the dyno anymore. I love love love it.

I’m swaying between either a single speed or an internal hub in the rear, like a Nexus 8 speed. Either way, it will have racks and/or baskets. It must be able to carry groceries. I want to be able to get home from the market without feeling like stuff is going to fall out.

ANT bikes builds some beautiful examples of what I’d love to have. Here is a 3 speed custom with an amazing wooden front rack. This was on display at NAHBS this year and was quite a looker. He builds a kit for a bit under 2,000 called the Boston Roadster. It is really well built up including a Shimano dyno hub on the front and a Nexus on the rear. It isn’t exactly what I want, but pretty darn close.

A boy can dream, can’t he?

Jane and I managed to snag a couple of colds on Wednesday or so. We were both pounding vitamins and drinking tons of water in hope that we could shake the major effects. It worked for me, but not so well for her. Regardless, she was awesome enough to stand out in the cold with Emily to volunteer for the SIR 300k on Saturday.

We got up at 4am to eat and get prepared for about an hour drive to Lacey for the start. Matt rode down from Capitol Hill to catch a ride, and we all met Chris, Joby and Emily so they could follow. I kept my cruise control on since I’ve been paranoid about tickets lately. The ladies grabbed us some pre-ride coffee and we all felt pretty good. It wasn’t raining like was expected, and we were all excited about what was ahead of us.

The first part of the trip took us north up to Johnson Point for some pleasant rolling hills and some expensive looking houses. The sun peaked out for a while and it was looking like it was going to be a really nice day. We were chatty and kept a really brisk pace up to the first control.

The route took us through Olympia and past the capitol building. The SIR photographer got a really epic shot of our group here. That is me up front, Chris in the olive green, Matt just behind him and Joby following up on the rear. That picture brings a tear to my eye.

We were happily surprised around mile 35 by a secret control manned by the super sexy wife duo. They fed us cookies, water and support. We were towards the front of the group at that point. It isn’t a big concern of mine how fast we finish, but it is nice to know that you have it in you to do well. We fueled up and rolled out in to some beautiful back country roads that are apparently also popular with ATVs and dirt bikes. My favorite road of the whole ride was here. I can’t seem to remember if it was “D-Line” or the road before it, but it was smooth paved, had a river rolling along the whole length of it, and no traffic.

Shortly after the secret control was the start of my problems though. I heard a really bad squeal coming from my bike. I knew that it was fender related, but I couldn’t pinpoint the problem. Another rider pointed out that the bracket holding my rear fender snapped off. We spent what felt like an eternity trying to rig zip ties in a position that would a) hold up my fender and b) not rub on my tires for the remaining 150+ miles. We MacGyver‘d a solution that seem to work, but was probably shaky at best.

We passed a building that was on fire and almost burnt to the ground. Fire crews were standing around waiting for it to finish. It was pretty surreal.

Around the 60 mile mark we ended up at a control in a town called Porter. It was in a little “grocery and deli” store that had some awesome tater tots. The place had a very… country feel to it. There was lots of hunting memorabilia on the walls including children holding severed deer heads. On our way out of there, it started to rain. It was never a heavy rain, but it continued to rain for the rest of the ride almost non stop.

Somewhere after Porter, my rear fender decided to collapse beyond repair. Luckily Matt had some pliers on hand or else I would have been in real trouble. I took off the new taillight that I just recently mounted (:() and re-routed the wiring to flow up the top tube so we could (ahem) zip tie the tail light to my saddlebag rack. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked. I was forced to ditch the fender all together in a ditch somewhere. I feel bad, I’m not the type to litter like that… but it was a long day.

No rear fender + 120 miles of rain = filthy back and legs. I was skunk striped for the remainder of the ride. It was pretty brutal.

By this point we were towards the back of the pack and desperate for some real food. The kind that can’t be stuffed in to a packet that I open with my teeth. We figured that since the next control was a “grocery” store, they would have some food. It made sense right? We got there and it was like a wasteland. The seedy gas station in my neighborhood has a better food selection. I picked up an overpriced turkey Lunchables and seriously considered it for a minute or two. The other guys were kicking around soup that they wouldn’t be able to warm up. We all decided to stop at a restaurant nearby and get something substantial, regardless of how long it would take.

We commandeered the space heater and set up 2 chairs to dry off various pieces of clothing. I just did my best to not get mud on anything that couldn’t be wiped off. Everyone in the place was very chatty and were amazed at how stupid we must have looked ridding for so long in the rain. The food was pretty damn good and the waitress was sweet. Joby later said that he was going to send her a “thank you” card. We ended up there for well over an hour though, and I was getting antsy that we might not make the next few controls.

Most of us felt better once we hit the road again but I could tell that a few of us were having a rough time getting the food to settle properly, and all of the endless hills didn’t really help the situation. There was a turn missed in Vader and it ate up a little more time getting back on track. We were all pumping to make it to the mini mart in Chehalis that held the next time cut off. We managed to make it in with 30 minutes to spare. The woman at the counter claimed to have no idea what the deal was with the SIR control cards. We talked her in to signing them with the time anyways.

It was pretty dark by this point and our lights were guiding us through the unlit roads. We must have looked like a really slow motorcycle gang to oncoming cars. There were moments where I felt like I was on hallucinogens as deer ran along side of the road next to us and we dodged frogs crossing. Nothing quite seemed real but everything was beautiful. We were all exhausted buy excited by the possibility that we could really finish this thing… and on time.

There was a hill top control manned by the ladies and it was really damn good to see them. They had chairs ready and some heaters for the feet. We stuffed down as much food as possible but wanted to keep it short. I could have probably fallen asleep if given long enough there. Jane just kept saying how proud she was and it was nice to have them there. I kept thinking about a conversation we had with a guy manning a secret control on the 200k. He said that he called his wife and said, “Don’t ever let me do this again.” Two weeks later he was prepping for the 400k. I knew exactly how he was feeling.

We grinded the next 20 miles at a brisk pace. There were a few other riders that we caught up with and they grabbed our wheel for awhile. They kept a little distance from me though. I was forced on to the back of the pack since my wheel was spraying so much water all day.

The last 20 miles netted Chris 2 more flats, including one 2 1/2 miles from the finish. Still, I’ve never been so happy to see strip malls and chain hotels. There was pizza and chips and soda waiting for us. Oh, and coffee was there too. God I love coffee.

Thanks to everyone that helped and supported. You are all amazing.

Jane and I managed to snag a couple of colds on Wednesday or so. We were both pounding vitamins and drinking tons of water in hope that we could shake the major effects. It worked for me, but not so well for her. Regardless, she was awesome enough to stand out in the cold with Emily to volunteer for the SIR 300k on Saturday.

We got up at 4am to eat and get prepared for about an hour drive to Lacey for the start. Matt rode down from Capitol Hill to catch a ride, and we all met Chris, Joby and Emily so they could follow. I kept my cruise control on since I’ve been paranoid about tickets lately. The ladies grabbed us some pre-ride coffee and we all felt pretty good. It wasn’t raining like was expected, and we were all excited about what was ahead of us.

The first part of the trip took us north up to Johnson Point for some pleasant rolling hills and some expensive looking houses. The sun peaked out for a while and it was looking like it was going to be a really nice day. We were chatty and kept a really brisk pace up to the first control.

The route took us through Olympia and past the capitol building. The SIR photographer got a really epic shot of our group here. That is me up front, Chris in the olive green, Matt just behind him and Joby following up on the rear. That picture brings a tear to my eye.

We were happily surprised around mile 35 by a secret control manned by the super sexy wife duo. They fed us cookies, water and support. We were towards the front of the group at that point. It isn’t a big concern of mine how fast we finish, but it is nice to know that you have it in you to do well. We fueled up and rolled out in to some beautiful back country roads that are apparently also popular with ATVs and dirt bikes. My favorite road of the whole ride was here. I can’t seem to remember if it was “D-Line” or the road before it, but it was smooth paved, had a river rolling along the whole length of it, and no traffic.

Shortly after the secret control was the start of my problems though. I heard a really bad squeal coming from my bike. I knew that it was fender related, but I couldn’t pinpoint the problem. Another rider pointed out that the bracket holding my rear fender snapped off. We spent what felt like an eternity trying to rig zip ties in a position that would a) hold up my fender and b) not rub on my tires for the remaining 150+ miles. We MacGyver‘d a solution that seem to work, but was probably shaky at best.

We passed a building that was on fire and almost burnt to the ground. Fire crews were standing around waiting for it to finish. It was pretty surreal.

Around the 60 mile mark we ended up at a control in a town called Porter. It was in a little “grocery and deli” store that had some awesome tater tots. The place had a very… country feel to it. There was lots of hunting memorabilia on the walls including children holding severed deer heads. On our way out of there, it started to rain. It was never a heavy rain, but it continued to rain for the rest of the ride almost non stop.

Somewhere after Porter, my rear fender decided to collapse beyond repair. Luckily Matt had some pliers on hand or else I would have been in real trouble. I took off the new taillight that I just recently mounted (:() and re-routed the wiring to flow up the top tube so we could (ahem) zip tie the tail light to my saddlebag rack. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked. I was forced to ditch the fender all together in a ditch somewhere. I feel bad, I’m not the type to litter like that… but it was a long day.

No rear fender + 120 miles of rain = filthy back and legs. I was skunk striped for the remainder of the ride. It was pretty brutal.

By this point we were towards the back of the pack and desperate for some real food. The kind that can’t be stuffed in to a packet that I open with my teeth. We figured that since the next control was a “grocery” store, they would have some food. It made sense right? We got there and it was like a wasteland. The seedy gas station in my neighborhood has a better food selection. I picked up an overpriced turkey Lunchables and seriously considered it for a minute or two. The other guys were kicking around soup that they wouldn’t be able to warm up. We all decided to stop at a restaurant nearby and get something substantial, regardless of how long it would take.

We commandeered the space heater and set up 2 chairs to dry off various pieces of clothing. I just did my best to not get mud on anything that couldn’t be wiped off. Everyone in the place was very chatty and were amazed at how stupid we must have looked ridding for so long in the rain. The food was pretty damn good and the waitress was sweet. Joby later said that he was going to send her a “thank you” card. We ended up there for well over an hour though, and I was getting antsy that we might not make the next few controls.

Most of us felt better once we hit the road again but I could tell that a few of us were having a rough time getting the food to settle properly, and all of the endless hills didn’t really help the situation. There was a turn missed in Vader and it ate up a little more time getting back on track. We were all pumping to make it to the mini mart in Chehalis that held the next time cut off. We managed to make it in with 30 minutes to spare. The woman at the counter claimed to have no idea what the deal was with the SIR control cards. We talked her in to signing them with the time anyways.

It was pretty dark by this point and our lights were guiding us through the unlit roads. We must have looked like a really slow motorcycle gang to oncoming cars. There were moments where I felt like I was on hallucinogens as deer ran along side of the road next to us and we dodged frogs crossing. Nothing quite seemed real but everything was beautiful. We were all exhausted buy excited by the possibility that we could really finish this thing… and on time.

There was a hill top control manned by the ladies and it was really damn good to see them. They had chairs ready and some heaters for the feet. We stuffed down as much food as possible but wanted to keep it short. I could have probably fallen asleep if given long enough there. Jane just kept saying how proud she was and it was nice to have them there. I kept thinking about a conversation we had with a guy manning a secret control on the 200k. He said that he called his wife and said, “Don’t ever let me do this again.” Two weeks later he was prepping for the 400k. I knew exactly how he was feeling.

We grinded the next 20 miles at a brisk pace. There were a few other riders that we caught up with and they grabbed our wheel for awhile. They kept a little distance from me though. I was forced on to the back of the pack since my wheel was spraying so much water all day.

The last 20 miles netted Chris 2 more flats, including one 2 1/2 miles from the finish. Still, I’ve never been so happy to see strip malls and chain hotels. There was pizza and chips and soda waiting for us. Oh, and coffee was there too. God I love coffee.

Thanks to everyone that helped and supported. You are all amazing.

Jane and I managed to snag a couple of colds on Wednesday or so. We were both pounding vitamins and drinking tons of water in hope that we could shake the major effects. It worked for me, but not so well for her. Regardless, she was awesome enough to stand out in the cold with Emily to volunteer for the SIR 300k on Saturday.

We got up at 4am to eat and get prepared for about an hour drive to Lacey for the start. Matt rode down from Capitol Hill to catch a ride, and we all met Chris, Joby and Emily so they could follow. I kept my cruise control on since I’ve been paranoid about tickets lately. The ladies grabbed us some pre-ride coffee and we all felt pretty good. It wasn’t raining like was expected, and we were all excited about what was ahead of us.

The first part of the trip took us north up to Johnson Point for some pleasant rolling hills and some expensive looking houses. The sun peaked out for a while and it was looking like it was going to be a really nice day. We were chatty and kept a really brisk pace up to the first control.

The route took us through Olympia and past the capitol building. The SIR photographer got a really epic shot of our group here. That is me up front, Chris in the olive green, Matt just behind him and Joby following up on the rear. That picture brings a tear to my eye.

We were happily surprised around mile 35 by a secret control manned by the super sexy wife duo. They fed us cookies, water and support. We were towards the front of the group at that point. It isn’t a big concern of mine how fast we finish, but it is nice to know that you have it in you to do well. We fueled up and rolled out in to some beautiful back country roads that are apparently also popular with ATVs and dirt bikes. My favorite road of the whole ride was here. I can’t seem to remember if it was “D-Line” or the road before it, but it was smooth paved, had a river rolling along the whole length of it, and no traffic.

Shortly after the secret control was the start of my problems though. I heard a really bad squeal coming from my bike. I knew that it was fender related, but I couldn’t pinpoint the problem. Another rider pointed out that the bracket holding my rear fender snapped off. We spent what felt like an eternity trying to rig zip ties in a position that would a) hold up my fender and b) not rub on my tires for the remaining 150+ miles. We MacGyver‘d a solution that seem to work, but was probably shaky at best.

We passed a building that was on fire and almost burnt to the ground. Fire crews were standing around waiting for it to finish. It was pretty surreal.

Around the 60 mile mark we ended up at a control in a town called Porter. It was in a little “grocery and deli” store that had some awesome tater tots. The place had a very… country feel to it. There was lots of hunting memorabilia on the walls including children holding severed deer heads. On our way out of there, it started to rain. It was never a heavy rain, but it continued to rain for the rest of the ride almost non stop.

Somewhere after Porter, my rear fender decided to collapse beyond repair. Luckily Matt had some pliers on hand or else I would have been in real trouble. I took off the new taillight that I just recently mounted (:() and re-routed the wiring to flow up the top tube so we could (ahem) zip tie the tail light to my saddlebag rack. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked. I was forced to ditch the fender all together in a ditch somewhere. I feel bad, I’m not the type to litter like that… but it was a long day.

No rear fender + 120 miles of rain = filthy back and legs. I was skunk striped for the remainder of the ride. It was pretty brutal.

By this point we were towards the back of the pack and desperate for some real food. The kind that can’t be stuffed in to a packet that I open with my teeth. We figured that since the next control was a “grocery” store, they would have some food. It made sense right? We got there and it was like a wasteland. The seedy gas station in my neighborhood has a better food selection. I picked up an overpriced turkey Lunchables and seriously considered it for a minute or two. The other guys were kicking around soup that they wouldn’t be able to warm up. We all decided to stop at a restaurant nearby and get something substantial, regardless of how long it would take.

We commandeered the space heater and set up 2 chairs to dry off various pieces of clothing. I just did my best to not get mud on anything that couldn’t be wiped off. Everyone in the place was very chatty and were amazed at how stupid we must have looked ridding for so long in the rain. The food was pretty damn good and the waitress was sweet. Joby later said that he was going to send her a “thank you” card. We ended up there for well over an hour though, and I was getting antsy that we might not make the next few controls.

Most of us felt better once we hit the road again but I could tell that a few of us were having a rough time getting the food to settle properly, and all of the endless hills didn’t really help the situation. There was a turn missed in Vader and it ate up a little more time getting back on track. We were all pumping to make it to the mini mart in Chehalis that held the next time cut off. We managed to make it in with 30 minutes to spare. The woman at the counter claimed to have no idea what the deal was with the SIR control cards. We talked her in to signing them with the time anyways.

It was pretty dark by this point and our lights were guiding us through the unlit roads. We must have looked like a really slow motorcycle gang to oncoming cars. There were moments where I felt like I was on hallucinogens as deer ran along side of the road next to us and we dodged frogs crossing. Nothing quite seemed real but everything was beautiful. We were all exhausted buy excited by the possibility that we could really finish this thing… and on time.

There was a hill top control manned by the ladies and it was really damn good to see them. They had chairs ready and some heaters for the feet. We stuffed down as much food as possible but wanted to keep it short. I could have probably fallen asleep if given long enough there. Jane just kept saying how proud she was and it was nice to have them there. I kept thinking about a conversation we had with a guy manning a secret control on the 200k. He said that he called his wife and said, “Don’t ever let me do this again.” Two weeks later he was prepping for the 400k. I knew exactly how he was feeling.

We grinded the next 20 miles at a brisk pace. There were a few other riders that we caught up with and they grabbed our wheel for awhile. They kept a little distance from me though. I was forced on to the back of the pack since my wheel was spraying so much water all day.

The last 20 miles netted Chris 2 more flats, including one 2 1/2 miles from the finish. Still, I’ve never been so happy to see strip malls and chain hotels. There was pizza and chips and soda waiting for us. Oh, and coffee was there too. God I love coffee.

Thanks to everyone that helped and supported. You are all amazing.