Greg and Mary Cox have a wonderful toilet bowl for throwing up in. It has good height off the ground and easy access from the finish line. I wish I didn’t know that.

I’ve been completely ruined by a stomach flu for the past few days. I first noticed it on Saturday morning before my ride and chalked it up to nerves or maybe dinner the night before. Midway through the pre-ride though, my body was starting to shut down. Every time I’ve eaten since Saturday, I end up with a weird gaseous, pukey feeling that doesn’t stay too long, but makes it hard to get excited about food. Today is actually the first day that I haven’t felt it, so things are looking better already. Too much information?

Saturday morning Chris and I packed up his car and drove out to the start at the top of the tallest hill in Kent to pre-ride Greg’s wonderful Chili Feed 200K course. This was my third time on the route and I was happy to get back into the randonneuring season. The first time I rode it was my first 200K ever, and the second I set my fastest 200K pace so far. There are plenty of memories on this route, and it appears that I now have more to add to that.

Somehow I messed up navigation to the start so we were really close to being late, but just snuck in on time. I had to pull up my knee warmers on the road. There were an astonishing number of riders for a pre-ride (close to 20) and everyone was a pleasure to ride with.

Everyone stuck together for the most part leading in to Dash Point. A couple of the more serious climbs split us up, but the faster of the bunch couldn’t resist the siren call of coffee at the first control.

Most of the day seemed to work like this (from what I heard/saw). The super fast riders shot out front and towed a few of the relatively fast riders, maybe dumping a few here and there. They would converge on a control and bunch back up like a slinky, only to do it all over again to the next stop.

I got snapped off that slinky in Auburn at 5 or maybe 9 terrible back to back stop lights with a couple of other riders. I lost my rhythm pretty quick, but I knew I just had to keep my own pace for a bit. I didn’t want to cramp up like I had the Sunday prior, and I could feel some of the tenderness from that ride in the back of my legs still. That was fine, except I couldn’t quite keep up with the other two I was riding with, so I ended up in kind of a no man’s land (riding solo) for a while.

Going down Green River Valley, the route stuck me dead in the middle of an official time trial race. I had to slow down so I wouldn’t hit a woman turning around to finish her race. It was really surreal to ride down the road and have these super loud carbon bikes (disc wheels and all) whip by you like you were standing still. The really crazy part was actually crossing the finish line though. People were in folding chairs, waiting for loved ones and snapping photos. I’m sure they saw my bright orange, handle-bagged bike and just shook their heads. What a waste of a digital photo.

I made it to Black Diamond Bakery with one thing on my mind – DONUTS. I bought two donuts and a chocolate milk for $2.50. That place is a steal! Amazingly, everyone else was still there. They were wrapping things up, but it was good to know that I wasn’t that slow. I crammed a donut down and chugged my chocolate milk so I could get back on the road with the group.

Within 2 miles, the group had dropped me. I just really didn’t have it that day. It wasn’t a huge deal though. The sun was out and it was turning into an outstanding day. I found myself in between the lead (main) group and a bit slower group for a long, long time. I was actually really enjoying my solo ride at that point.

At one point I called Jane just to say hi. I think that I usually only contact her when I’m in some emergency situation, so I figured I should change that up a bit.

The climb from Enumclaw into Greenwater is always kind of a slog. It is a scenic one, but I always expect to see the return riders on the decent, taunting me with the fact that I still have X amount of miles to the top. None of the pitches are very steep though. If  you are feeling good, you can climb the whole thing (17 miles) quite fast. I wasn’t feeling good though. My legs were just naturally sore from the lack of distance riding and the Sunday ride prior and my stomach was starting to rumble like it has in the past.

Right before I made it in to town, Geoff and Lynn caught me on the climb and seemed to shoot by me without too much effort. I saw the lead group starting to descend at around that point as well. I wanted to keep the stop short, but I didn’t have it in me. I took the time to rest, hopefully settling my stomach with a Sprite and some light food. 1 million K Vincent rolled up (surprisingly) around then and had a snack and talk with us.

We all rolled out together, and I was dropped again, this time on a downhill. That is extra embarrassing for me, because there is nothing this beer gut does better than whip downhill.

My stomach never settled down though. I fought with it all day to keep everything inside. Once again, I wasn’t able to eat very much. I had the best luck with gel packets though. That is something I’ll keep in mind for the future. They tasted awful, but seemed to really help get some needed calories in me. I spent the rest of the ride basically by myself. I saw Geoff and Lynn pulled over for a flat, and they quickly passed me again after it was fixed, but that was it. I was nursing myself in.

10 miles from the finish, I kept looking at soft grass spots in the sun. They all seemed so appealing. After maybe a mile, I pulled over and flopped my bike down. I sprawled out in the sun and just laid there. It was an amazing feeling. A random bicyclist pulled up and gave me a “Dude, are you okay?”. I gave Chris a call and let him know that I was coming… just very slowly. I spent maybe 5 minutes or so there, it is hard to say really.

I figured that would be enough, but literally 2 miles from the finish, I stopped again. This time it was in front of a fire station. I flopped out again onto the lawn. My stomach felt great until I had to get back up again. I pretty much limped in to the finish. I was a pretty pathetic sight. Bob Brudvick grabbed my card for me and I bee lined to the bathroom.

Doesn’t that make you want to do this ride? It should.

We are starting to piece together our flèche team for the year. The plan is to travel light, long and fast. Chris and I are joining up with Joshua Bryant in Portland to hook out to the Oregon coast up into Olympia.

Chris made this amazing drawing and I added some fonts and what not. We are thinking it would look pretty kick ass on some jean jackets. I’m not sure how that is going to work exactly…

If you really like it, I’m sure Chris would be willing to tattoo it on you permanently for a small fee.

The Friday of the ride, we are taking the train down with our bikes for a 2pm start with Joshua in Portland. We should have a couple of hours to impress the locals with our charm. I’ve heard they don’t see many bikes down there, so those will be a hit, I’m sure.

Last year I rode with a bunch of flatulent, chatty randonneurs that were sure that breakfast was in “the next town”. It wasn’t. It never was!

I have no idea how this year will shake out, but I guarantee it will be an experience. Expect all of the gruesome details (hopefully no vomit involved) sometime in April. I have a bad history with night starts, so I’m looking to correct that. Still, it wouldn’t be a rando ride if I wasn’t questioning my sanity at least one time along the way.

Special thanks to Jane and Norman for once again helping drive us back home. I’m sure they will have a crazy weekend harassing the local hippies. I expect nothing less.

I know one thing is fact, I will be eating nachos at least once when I hit the finish. Olympia Hot Dog Company, here I come!

We’ve been in the process of getting a wonderful new roommate (who also enjoys cooking) and things have been kind of a whirlwind around the house lately. The sheer amount of stuff in our kitchen alone has pretty much doubled. Almost none of it is unnecessary, so we are taking on the task of sorting and dividing as needed. Eventually we are going to install some extra shelves on the wall to help pick up some of the slack. For now, there are boxes stacked and tucked away underneath chairs and the dining room table.

I went through a kind of personal funk over the last few weeks on top of that. Stress of work and life sometimes adds up like that. I think I’m back on track though. Sorry to anyone that had to deal with it.

I’ve been working on a pretty major overhaul of a website, and taking on no fewer than 5 major projects at my full time job. Nothing has a strict deadline, but I don’t enjoy having everything weigh in on me at once. I’m getting close to the end of a few of those goals though, so I feel the slack ease a little.

Every day I seem to get distracted by some “what’s next” possibility. This is almost always related to bicycling (huge surprise). Paris-Brest-Paris’s official announcement was released last week and it has been on everyone’s mind and lips lately. They also put up an official time countdown on their website, in case you were wondering how many ‘jours’ were left until the ride.

On that note, Jane and I have taken up learning French finally. We’ve been talking about it for a while now. It probably isn’t totally necessary, but it will be nice to know some basics for when I’m lost and delirious in some small French village in the middle of the night. I’m guessing a new language will be about as easy as trying to do math in my head at 1am on these rides. I get pretty excited whenever I learn a new food reference. Regardless of how far I get on the course, you had better believe I’m going to know how to ask for food and beer.

I took on the training ride last week and snapped a picture or two, but it was pretty much pissing rain the entire day up until the last 5 minutes before I got home. Somehow I forgot to bring my shoe covers, so I was spinning in tiny puddles all day. Still, it was good to get out for a legitimate ride with other people again. I felt pretty solid all day. There may be hope for me yet.

Summer has rolled on by and I feel like I didn’t get enough riding in while it lasted. This isn’t entirely true, but I can’t help but feel like some of the better riding weather slipped underneath my nose. Still, not all is bad. I rather enjoy slipping back in to my full tights and thicker jerseys. What the heck, bring on the cold and rain.

The riding I did do produced some interesting tan lines this year. Aside from the usual glove tan’s, I have really defined marks across the top of my leg and above my ankles. All the sun screen in the world doesn’t stop the onslaught of sun from a full day or two at a time on the bike.

On our bike ride last Thursday, Chris mentioned the “what’s next” letdown he felt after completion of the 600K. I admit that it didn’t hit me as strong, but I definitely feel the siren call of the “next big thing”.

The obvious choice for me is the Cascade 1200. I was really hoping they would put it on this last season, but I am glad to know that it will be on the schedule for 2010. The website is pretty sparse on info so far (and needs a redesign…) but it already has me excited. The PBP I plan on riding in 2011 is also a 1200K, so this would be more than adequate training for the overseas ride.

From what I hear, the Cascade ride is one of the hardest 1200K’s around, and it doesn’t surprise me a bit. The course tends to ride over all of the favorite mountain passes in the area with different days rolling through varied terrains, hot and cold. It should be quite an adventure.

Before next season, I am really going to try and drop a few pounds too. I’ve been stuck in this rut at around 200 pounds for well over a year now. I am fitter than I have ever been, but no lighter. That doesn’t help me get up the mountains any quicker. It is obviously easier to say this than actually do it, but I’m hoping that I’ll be a little more accountable to the goal by putting it out there. Time will tell.

Mark Thomas put out a call for volunteers a few weeks back. I saw an open 200K and figured it would be a good next step after putting on the 100K this last season. Somehow I got suckered in to both the 200 and the 600K. Apparently they are going to be run on the same weekend and should finish at the same location. I have no clue where it will be yet. I think maybe a vampire themed ride through Forks is appropriate though. Everyone has to wear fangs and pancake white makeup through the whole ride. And body glitter.

Thoughts?