Rise and Shine

Chris and I have had this ride on our brains for just about the whole year. I can’t promise that you’ll have “fun” and I certainly can’t promise tailwinds the entire ride, but I can promise that you won’t soon forget these roads. Chris and I scouted the roads this weekend, catching a few errors and snapping a few photos just to get you all pumped up for the real deal.

Highlights:
Old Cascade Highway – I’ve done Stevens Pass a number of times, but taking the old highway is easily the coolest way to do it. The final section mixes in some hard packed gravel and encroaching wildlife (the roads aren’t really maintained anymore). Expect a foot bridge midway up the final section that we advise that you walk over. It is short though, and as a bonus, it cuts off car traffic completely. It will just be you, the trees, and the endless sky.

Alt Highway 97 – This road reminds me of just how varied the terrain in Washington really can be. You will follow the Wenatchee river all the way in to Pateros.

I’ve done a lot of mountain pass climbing since I joined SIR, but nothing quite compares to Washington Pass. You will just have to experience it to understand.

Come on out for the ride, food, and beer. We have the entire Mt. Gardener Inn hotel rented out and will be cooking dinner and breakfast for all of you hungry riders. Jane just picked up a massive batch of blueberries at the farmer’s market for pancakes. Nothing helps you tackle a mountain pass like some pancakes.

Seriously though, go sign up. Let me know if you are unable to ride, but can volunteer.

More pictures can be found here.

Sally with the winner's underwear from last week

"Meatball" loves beer and french kissing

Start of the "B" group

In a haze

Special thanks to Emily for snapping a good number of these pictures for me. More can be found here (some are from a few weeks back).

I am shocked to say that the course is perfect and beautiful. If you can’t make it to the 600K on the 11th of September, please do your best to attend the 200K on the 12th. Chris and I had a wonderful time riding it.

We left on Saturday morning around 6 to drive up to the 7am start at the Arlington Motor Inn off of Highway 530. The parking at the start is plentiful… if you are staying at the hotel. There seem to be towing signs everywhere, so you might have to get creative if you are just up for the day. I parked across the street near an abandoned building (that still had towing signs) and didn’t have any issues with the locals. Next weekend we are doing the 600K pre-ride and I plan on driving a little further down to Smokey Point Blvd for some legal street parking. It might add 2-3K to your ride if that means anything to you.

WA-530 was a breeze as usual. There is always plenty to look at and almost no real climbing. It throws in some gentle rollers just to keep you awake until you get to Darrington (50K).

I was on the lookout for some warm food once we got into town. The Shell station had some questionable looking breakfast sandwiches still. I ate and enjoyed mine, for what that is worth. Make sure you stock up in Darrington though. There is a 70K stretch after that with no services at all. You might get lucky to find a camper that has some extra water if you are desperate, but it is best to just be prepared.

The Mountain Loop Highway starts with pristine road following a great little river and almost no traffic. It is one of those moments that makes you realize why it is you even do this stuff. Eventually, the great road gives away to hard packed dirt and the occasional loose gravel section. If you stay loose, the gravel sections shouldn’t give you any problems. Still, there is 14 miles of this, so it is best to keep alert. We purposely routed this section so you will be going uphill on the gravel instead of downhill at speed. 28+ tires are recommended, but probably not required if you are a decent bike handler. Despite the direction, there are still a few downhill gravel sections; just use caution. It is actually a lot of fun to get a little dirty. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did.

Our stop at the Green Gables General Store was welcome after the long run without services. The selection isn’t amazing, but you should be able to find something to fill your belly. There is only 30K left until the next control in Lake Roesiger.

We ran into a detour in Granite Falls that should be cleared by the time the actual ride starts. If not, it was pretty easy to navigate with just the detour signs. The rollers start to kick back in around here just to keep you honest.

After Lake Roesiger, there is a surprising amount of descending until you get to the Centennial Trail. You will follow the trail all the way back to Arlington for celebratory high fives (and maybe a beer or two) all around.

Please take a chance to pre-register for either the 600 or the 200K if you plan on riding either. We would really like to get an idea on what kind of head count we will need to buy beer…er… snacks for. No, I meant beer.

More pictures can be found here.

I met up with Dylan downtown last night as he got off of work. We rode down to the secret spot somewhere near a body of water. There were a couple of riders there already and a cooler full of free beer (I think I’m going to like this sport). Some markers were still being laid down for turns, so we had time to converse I got to meet some new people as the others arrived, mostly on time.

We took a couple of practice laps and I realized pretty quickly that I was going to have to just do my best to hang on. I tapped the wound on my leg (from Sunday) with my rear wheel and it started bleeding down my sock. It was a pretty rough start considering we hadn’t even actually got racing yet.

It was a fast course with no real running, just a couple of barriers (which was really helpful for practice/confidence) and a mix of road, gravel and grass.

Sunday’s ride helped my dirt/gravel confidence, but I still had to find my rhythm. The only thing that saved my ride was my endurance, because I wasn’t nearly fast enough overall. I started to catch and pass a few people towards the end of my ride as they started to fatigue.

I lasted 4 laps (they were pulling after a couple) when my I over torqued my wheel on an uphill right after the line. My chain dropped and I called it a ride. I might have caught one more person, but the rest of the group was way ahead of me and looking strong. It was fun while it lasted.

Apparently, none of the “fast” guys were actually there, so it should be interesting to see how quickly I get lapped next week.

I had better get my ass in shape too, Starcrossed and SSCXWC are coming up quickly. I’m hoping to end up in a wonderful mid-pack filler form by the end of the year.

The truth is though, I just really want that free beer.

Photo by John Leach

This weekend was all kinds of rad.

I was mentally prepared for a while to do the SIR 300K – Three Volcanos ride. Everyone who has done it swears that it is an amazing ride and it always ends up being kind of a sleeper hit. Perhaps because of the start all the way in Packwood (an hour and a half from the city), it tends to have a lower turnout than most.

Chris mentioned that he planned on racing the Dead Baby Downhill this year. There was free beer and games with registration. That, the fact that it wouldn’t kill a whole weekend, and the fact that Jane would actually want to join me, all cemented my plans to ride the DBDH instead of the 300K.

Somehow I’ve missed out on the thirteen (!!!) other DBDH rides, but this one was completely glorious. I met up with some friends at All City Coffee right after work on Friday. We all rode up to Capitol Hill for the start at the Canterbury. We were some of the first to arrive so we grabbed a table and started in on the beer. I hadn’t eaten since… oh… 11am, so the warm buzz hit me pretty fast. I’m not sure if I even paid for any of it. I think I owe someone a beer or two. I’m pretty sure that I went in to the ride with the idea that I was definitely going to race. After a couple of beers I had a firm “we’ll see what happens” idea in my head.

Jane met up with us after her haircut appointment. She was a little disappointed that I wanted to go fast, but she had a couple hundred other people to keep her company. We corked most of 15th ave at the start and somehow got a fire truck to pace us out. I started a bit further back than I was hoping to. Everyone seemed to have a pretty gentle pace and I was itching to go. I started to make my way up towards the front of the group I was in. A guy on a BMX stood up to accelerate around the fire truck and took a huge spill right next to it. I was a bit surprised that he didn’t just fall right under it.

I took a turn down Madison and followed the flow of bikes that were stopping traffic. I’ve never been able to completely ignore traffic lights at quite a pace like this before. Even at the time, I knew it was pretty stupid, but it was thrilling.

We bombed down 12th towards the International District and I made my way through some streets that I thought might be more kind on me, traffic wise. It seemed to work because I found myself up towards the front along with Chris and our friend Chuck. Everyone was pace-lining down Airport towards the finish in Georgetown.

A semi pulled out in front of us slowing our momentum for a minute and confusing a few long enough for the group to breakup a bit. We made a little jump in behind the truck and pushed hard on the bump that rises over the train tracks.

At the line, there was a guy ticking off the places (apparently not for long?) and he said “8th” to me. Our buddy Hahn was at the line cheering us on. Apparently, he and a friend had been there for a few minutes already (on a 7 mile course). Way to humble some kids, guys.

The water bottles that we got at the start were fill-able with unlimited beer for the night, so we got to work.

There were 3 stages set up with bands playing all through the night, multiple bike related carnival rides setup by Cyclecide from San Fransisco, and (of course) tall bike jousting. It was a pretty glorious event that truly filled the cockles of my heart.

Saturday morning, we slept in. Then we ate.

On Sunday, I took the Salsa Casseroll out with some knobby tires for my first ever (real) dirt ride. Chuck and his friend Julie shepherded me to the new Duthie Hill Park in Issaquah and I gave my best attempt at riding around in the mud. A single speed cross bike probably wasn’t the most appropriate setup for my first time ever riding singletrack, but it was crazy fun anyways.

I actually fell hard three times (twice in the exact same spot) and almost fell pretty much all day. The last fall was on the side of a log and it knocked me around enough to where I gave up on the day. Further attempts to accelerate up hills just started to really hurt. Still, I had a wonderful time and a couple of scars and bruises to remember it by. You can’t knock that.