600k - DNF and a decision

The final PBP qualifier was held on Saturday, May 30. This is a 600k ride - 371 km on day 1 and 233k on day2. Day 2 has 100km of serious, steep, unrelenting hills at the end.

Up at 4:20 AM, breakfast, and then I drove over to the old Paper Zone on 1st and Holgate, arriving around 5:30 AM for a 6:00 AM start.  Parked next to the fence by the tracks.  That's my big white van, and you can see Starbucks HQ in the background:

The weather was a bit overcast but promised to burn off to a nice day.

As soon as we took off up Holgate, we found a train blocking the road.  A dozen riders (including myself) too a U turn, went up 1st Ave, over the tracks at Edgar Martinez way by the new stadium, and then back down 4th to continue on Holgate.  This had one consequence of adding two "bonus" kilometers to the ride on the GPS, so that none of my numbers were matching the cue sheet any more.

At any rate, up steep Holgate, onto the Mountains to Sound greenway, over I-90, across Mercer Island, and down the Coal Creek rollers.

I was still hanging with a faster group, and when we hit a huge descent I took off, meaning to put my new "momentum preservation skills" to use on the uphill side.  As I started to head up I heard yelling behind me, and realized that I had missed the turn to May Valley Road.  By the time I reversed direction and made the turn, the group was about 500 meters ahead.  I stood on the pedals and managed to catch up.

At this point, I'm feeling good.  Feeling frisky.  Maintaining a good pace, and not worrying too much about it one way or the other.

Riding on, and then south to Enumclaw, views of Mount Rainier started to dominate the landscape.
Here's the first peek-a-boo view - see if you can pick out the snowy peak (might need to click on the picture to enlarge).

After hitting 410 west of Enumclaw, we had our first control at Buckley.  I was still feeling pretty good.  I had such a negative experience with food on the 400 I decided to switch to "regular food" and brought some cookies, boiled eggs, and boiled potatoes in a bag with some ice in a tub.  Here I found my tub had leaked into the bag holding everything but the water was contained, and eggs and potatoes are waterproof.  No harm done.  I ate one of the potatoes and it went down nicely.

Back on the road to Eatonville.  Still pretty flat, with moderate rollers.  50k later, we are in Eatonville.  Mt. Rainier still dominating the landscape.

From Eatonville, the road tilts up - there's a long climb out of town - the start of it is visible in the picture above.  10 miles later, I was in Ashford, the last services before Mt. Rainier National park.  I stopped for some water and a Starbucks Bottled Frappuccino.   While I drank it, I had a nice visit with the store owner, who was examining my bike and all the things on it - he said he was working on a "Rail trail" bike.  I told him about the front light, back light, pump, tires - and why I thought they were good to have.  He wrote down all the model names on his hand, and later on a piece of paper. We talked while I downed the Starbucks.

Then off to Skate Creek road.  This is a moderate pitch climb about 10 miles long.

The road is alternately straight and curving.  Here's one of the straight parts:


 On one side of the road is a deep dark forest and on the other side are great views of Mt. Rainier:

After climbing for what felt like forever, we were treated to a speed descent over pavement of varied quality.  Occasional bumps and holes as well as pure gravel repairs needed a high degree of alertness.  The road finally ended at Packwood, our next control.

In Packwood, I met up with a few riders, had a 6" turkey sub that was really good, and then got back on the road. Now we were heading east, right into a rather stiff headwind.  Yeah, we're going in the other direction that flag is blowing.

I was riding alone at this point, and stopped here and there for a picture.  I want to eat at this place sometime:

As I swung around later to get a picture of a flower bed in the middle of nowhere, a group of 8 cyclists came up the road - our riders in a paceline.  I forgot about the picture and joined up.  Each person was taking a 2-3 minute "pull" at the front and then rotating to the back.  This way, only one of 8 riders had to cut the wind, and we could roll faster and/or with less effort than if we were riding individually.

I took this a few places back from the front:

The sun was getting lower in the sky, and we rolled into Morton at the end of "The big valley" laid in by the Chehalis River. The valley is 3 miles wide in places.

I partnered up with a couple different people and groups out of Morton, but for various reasons broke off until I was riding alone.  One thing they do down here is grow Christmas Trees

Shortly after this, I connected with Jason, and we rode together up the ever popular Centralia-Alpha road, which has a number of steep pitches up followed by descents that are longer than the climb.  Jason and I have ridden together before, and we had a pleasant no-stress ride for about a half hour, at at relaxed pace, chatting about this and that.  This is one of the fun parts of Randonneuring, if you're not too pressed for time, and the road is suitable for side-by-side riding with little or no traffic.  And that's exactly what we had going.   Narayan caught up with us and the three of us rode into Centralia together, arriving around 11:00 PM.

Stopped at a Gas station/mini mart and now my stomach was starting to act up again, just like it had on the 400k 4 weeks ago.  Little burps, and no desire to eat anything.  That is NOT good for a long distance ride, you HAVE to keep eating or you'll stop.  Also, my shorts had been moving about and I had some serious chafing issues that were quite painful - and nothing to be done about it.

We all kind of felt like this: (this is Narayan)

But what can you do, you gotta keep going.  So we rolled out of town.  I spotted a Safeway, and hoping to find some Desitin to calm my posterior, I said I needed 5 minutes.  Jason and Narayan continued on, rolling slowly.  I could catch up if I wanted to.  No worries, go on ahead.

No Desitin at the Safeway (!?) but I did get something that didn't do much good.

Now I'm rolling along, it's late, I'm really tired, and what I want now is a nap.  I have a space blanket for just this purpose, and apparently it's a popular thing to do on the PBP, so I found a spot, rolled it out, and took a 20 minute power nap.  Well, I never fell asleep, so I took another one.   Now all I have do to is ride 50 km to Elma for the overnight.  I'm hoping to get an hour or two sleep and then have some time in the bank (leaving ahead of the deadline) to attack the brutal Tahuya hills later in the day.  But I'm not rolling to fast, barely 20km/hr (just over 12 mph). While this is acceptable brevet speed late in the day, it's not going to get me to Elma very soon.  The road is flat, the night is dark, I'm tired, my butt hurts, and there are hours of this to go.

And then it hits me: I don't really like this part of it.  I don't like my upset tummy, feeling tired, feeling sleepy, and in pain.  And despite my 4 layers on my body, I'm also cold.  And I think "If I don't even like doing this for one night, why would I subject myself to three nights of this in France?"

I've heard it said that you learn different things about yourself as rides get longer, from 200 to 300 to 400 to 600k, and what I learned on this ride was that I don't care for all-night riding.  And especially when your shorts are digging a hole deeper and deeper in your skin with every pedal stroke.

I got to Elma at 4:20 AM, wanting to leave by 6:00 AM.  I ate a bit, went up to the the assigned room, scheduled my phone timer for a 45 minute nap, and then extended it twice.  Finally I came down to the meeting room and asked "If I wanted to  quit right here, would there be a way to get me back to Seattle?"  Of course nobody likes to see anyone quit, but it's an individual decision.  One fellow said he could take me.

I briefly considered going anyway, packed up my bike, and as I got out the door - it started raining!  Not hard, not much, but who knows?  So I brought the bike back in, with my tired legs, fatigue, and sore bottom and declared myself DNF.  I wasn't about to subject myself to more pain and suffering if I didn't have to.

What does this mean for PBP? It means unless I change my mind now and try for the make-up 600k, I'm not going.  And right now, I'm fine with that.  I've achieved a lot, and there are still rides to ride and RUSA awards to collect - I'm just 2 100k rides short of my P-12 - so I'll continue to ride, but the landscape for the future will be different.

I'm not even too disappointed - I admire those who will go and do the ride, but I'm glad now I know how I feel about night riding, how my body reacts to long rides, and really glad to not have found this out too late.

Postscript:  Wednesday, 6/3
It's now 4 days later (3 from Sunday) and I've been mulling all this over and over.  Lots of things to consider, including a change of direction for the summer schedule big time, what my riding goals are now going to look like, and if I should keep trying for and do PBP or not.  One thing I do know: the chafing on my leg is still healing up, it was actually pretty bad and if I had kept riding, I don't want to think what I'd be facing now.  So although I wish I had finished, I don't regret quitting when I did.

Bike to work day 2015 - best ever!

Bike to Work Day in Seattle is awesome.  F5 network gear and Cascade Bicycle club team up to put "Commute Stations" all over the trails and routes.  Stations have a variety of food, drink and swag items.

Yes, this isn't directly related to PBP but it's a big part of the Seattle bicycling scene, and I managed to get 40 miles in round trip today.

My goal is to hit as many stations as I can on the way to work, and today I stopped at 9 and passed by 10.

Left the house at 6:30 AM and just 5 minutes later, I'm at the first stop at the beginning of the I-90 trail.

Put on by T-Mobile, I scored a banana and a tube-fabric thing that can be a buff, a towel, a beanie, or a head covering.  Very nice.

The clouds were parting and promising a decent day:

5 minutes later I'm at the U-turn by the east channel bridge on the I-90 trail at the second station of the day:

From here it's uphill as I head north on 108th toward downtown.  10 minutes later, I'm at the third station at the Marriott.  Yes, when I got there nobody was at the table, they were busy putting out their sign.  I got some more food and a luggage tag.

A mile more, up steep 2nd Street, and then we are at the 4th stop at the Bellevue Transit Center:

This was the best one of ALL of them, with lots of good food (got me an old fashioned donut), a wheel to spin for a prize, and generally a great vibe.  

I had to get going, and wound my way to the 5th stop, a "DIY" station put on by a salon.  Businesses can put on their own stops to spread the bike love and also advertise their services.  This was put on by two engaging women:

I had some hot chocolate here, and picked up a little food pack with a juice box and some brownie bites.

Now a bit of a longer haul up to the 520 trail including some steepish hills, and after a bit of a ride, we are at a stop near Microsoft:

I got a nice assortment of energy bars here.  As you can see, we have some serious cyclists participating today.

I didn't expect to see another stop on the 520 bike trail but there WAS another one "Kick Kids Cancer".  I took a picture but didn't stop:

Now we are cruising down at 50 kph toward Redmond and the Sammamish River trail.  A few miles down the trail, and we come upon another station by the soccer fields:

I met Cyndi Geislink (our transportation coordinator) here, and had a nice discussion about the Tour De Redmond T-shirts (which are the softest T-shirts ever).

Further up the SRT and we get to Wilmot Gateway Park where Woodinville Bicycle has sponsored a station:

Pushing on, take a right turn after the bridge and head north to the Cascadia Community college/UW Bothell campus where we hit the final station of the day:

 Had a half cup of coffee here and picked up a danish for later.

And then another 15 minutes and we arrive at work, 2 1/4 hrs after leaving home. Normally I can do it in just over 1 1/4 hrs, so all the stops and 4 bonus miles added an hour to the trip.  Here's all the stuff I picked up:

But wait, bike fun is not over!  On the way home, we have the Redmond Bike Bash!  Lots of bikes and food booths where you can get Zeeks Pizza, bacon wrapped jalapeno, Thai fried rice, and lots more, all for free.  Beer and wine, $5.00.

Bike Parking:

The bash:

The food:

And then a regular ride home on the 520 trail / 140th.  A great Bike to Work day!  

Sunny 100k on a perfect day

Eat to ride, or ride to eat.  Yeah, you gotta keep stoking the fires to keep riding but how you do it is up to you.  You can drink powdered energy food hour after hour, or you can indulge in some things that would normally be off the menu, or very occasional treats.  Today was both: eat to ride, and enjoy every bite.

I started the day off at Tulley's on Mercer Island with Narayan.  I had a fritter, and he had a maple bar:

Sorry, I ate the fritter before I took a picture of it.  But hey, who doesn't like maple bars?

We rode in the cool of the day up to the hills of Kirkland, and then on the bike trails to Woodinville and Redmond, crossing to East Lake Sammamish boulevard through Marymoor park where the temperature had hit a very comfortable 70 degrees just after noon:

Then it was short work on some light duty rollers to Issaquah, where we stopped for frosty drinks at Starbucks.  I had a Mocha Chip Frappacino:

Finally, up Newport way and down the other side, around the bottom of Mercer Island, to finish up at the Roanoke Tavern for some well earned IPA and nachos in just a touch over 5 and a half hours.

Glorious weather, sun, a touch of wind here and there, and lots and lots of people out on bikes, scooters, parents pushing kids in strollers, people walking, jogging.  It was the kind of day that makes you really glad you live in Seattle.

This was my P-10 ride - 10th consecutive month of a 100k ride.  Two more and I earn the coveted P-12 award.

Next up, if the weather and schedule holds: 200k Southworth-Tahuya Hills for some hill training next week.

Zen and the art of Bicycle Maintenance - on a chilly 400k

If you've ever read "Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance" you have to recall the part about shims.  Two guys talking about a bike one of them owns that has a loose part.   The other says "you need a thin shim to firm that up.  A piece of a beer can would be perfect."  The other one refuses, saying "I will not have a beer can as part of my bike, I want the factory shim installed."  Never mind there may not even BE a factory shim, the cost in time and money is ridiculous.

Any way, that will come up later in this ride report.

So, we are riding the Baker Lake 400k brevet on May 2, 2015, the third of the 4 qualifying rides for PBP.  This is a challenging route, with hills at the beginning, middle, and end of the ride, and longer flat sections in between.

We start from Mark Thomas's house up high in the hills of Woodinville:

Over 90 people were registered - some had pre-ridden the course, and there were some no-shows and late-comers, so it was closer to 80 people that actually attempted the ride.
Fearing nowhere to park, I chose a wide gravel patch at the bottom of the hill and rode up, arriving about 15 minutes prior to the 6:00 start.  A bit of socializing, pick up the brevet card, a bite to eat, and time for a pre-ride selfie with my loaded bike:

6:00 AM sharp and we are rolling!  And there are hills right off the bat.  The pack stays together in groups of 4-5 until we get to a spot where a road ends, connecting to the road on the other side only for bikes and people via a gap in the barrier - one bike wide.  This really stretches out the group.

I'm not riding "with" anyone at this point, just keeping up a pace I think I can tolerate.  My heart-rate monitor is in the 150 range, which I was able to do for a 100k last week (about 5 hours).  We'll see how long that can keep up.

82 km and about 4 hours later, I hit the first real control, the Shell station in Granite falls.  I'm on a pace for a 5 hour 100k, which is pretty good for ME.   I ran into a number of people filling up water bottles including Narayan Krishnamoorthy, who I rode a 300k and Fleche ride last year:

He knows everyone who rides, and practically every turn of every course, and also who rode what courses when.  A rando encyclopedia!

In fact, riding on the highway after Arlington, we met up and rode together for a while.  Sadly, there was too much traffic to ride side-by-side and talk much.  But at one point, all of a sudden some bug (a bee?) flew into my lip at high speed, and at first I was worried I had been stung, because although that isn't life threatening, the area around the sting WILL swell and look bad.  It felt sore but not horrible and I think whatever part of a bee is "sharp" had just scratched me.  Aggh!  So many little unforseen things can derail a good plan, right?

There was plenty see on the way to Concrete, including a bucolic farm with a great view:

Also, some roadside geology.  Look at all the layers of loose rock and sandstone on this exposed hillside:

And finally, they pulled some really big timber out of here years ago, including this chunk of wood:

I finally made it to Concrete, just shy of halfway.  This wasn't a control but there was a convenience store, and I needed water.  Fortunately I found the jug left by randos who had been there before me:

Water by the gallon is only a little over a dollar, vs. single bottles 1/4 the size for the same price.  I took advantage of a number of these along the route and had the ability to buy and leave one as well.

Oh, and also in Concrete, something rando's know how to look for:

When you gotta go, you gotta go, and these are a welcome sight!

I had been having dreams of a 10 hour 200k but what I didn't realize that Burpee Hill road came around kilometer 193.  This is a 2 mile long hill that is so steep sometimes you're inclined to just get off and walk, or zig zag back and forth to cut the grade a bit.  And speed that might have been 20-25 kph slows to 6-7 kph (24 kph = 15 mph and 5 kph = 3 mph).  The 10 hour 200k is not happening.

See if you can spot Burpee Hill Road on this elevation profile (hint: the scale is in miles):

Also, note that even once you get up to the "top" there are a LOT of lumps before you get down again. These aren't even what you could call "rollers" where your momentum from one hill gets you over the next.  No, these are climbs 1/2 to 1 km long at 5-8% (obnoxious to challenging).

About half way, I noticed a pull out and figured there was a scenic view.  A short walk down a trail did not disappoint:

And to make it even worse, the route is an "out and back" and there's a food stop along the way - but the control is down the road another 6 miles (with hills) and you need to ride down there, count the number of zip ties on the message board, report back at the food stop to get your card signed and get some food.  Here are a couple of the guys I rode with for a while, enjoying their food:

I was getting tired, hungry and had a feeling like I wanted to cry. No particular reason why, just feeling really challenged by all the hills.  But I slugged it out, missed the campground, rode an extra 2km to the end of the road, and then turned around, still could not find the zip ties, so took a selfie in front of the campground sign as proof and made it back to the food stop.
The ride was not without its rewards, including some great views: (photo credit: William B Willaford)

Most everyone else had already eaten and departed, I was at the end of the pack, but that didn't stop me from having a ham and cheese wrap, some chips, a Starbucks frappacino and a few peanut M&Ms.  I also took advantage of the restroom, and put on all my cold weather gear: tights, arm warmers, and fuzzy gloves, as it was nearly 8 PM and it had been getting colder and would be dark soon.  Little did I know how under-prepared I was.

I got over the hills on the way out and finally, FINALLY hit the 7 mile descent to Highway 20.  The moon was rising over the hills to the east, Venus was shining in the western sky, and I could NOT get a decent picture.  Sorry, it was really sublime.

The route flattened out a bit going through farmlands to get to the Haggen's market in Mount Vernon. Mt. Vernon itself is not farmland, and after a pleasurable ride, we started getting into more hills again.  I had to be at Haggens by 1:48 AM, and arrived about 11:15.  As I was getting organized, two riders, Fatima and Dick showed up.  We decided to ride together, and time was spent using the bathroom ("Could you please unlock the bathrooms?", buying food, getting cards signed and then I proposed a 20 minute "Power nap".  Research has shown the best nap times are either 20 or 90 minutes.  Everyone else agreed, so we gathered in the now-deserted Cafe in the store and laid down on the floor by the fireplace for a 20 min nap.  And that worked pretty well, too.

After that, a few more housekeeping tasks, another bathroom visit, and we rolled out of the Haggens and on our way to the flat Centennial trail, 15 miles away.  These 15 miles had some hills but we finally got some rollers as we went past Big Lake and Lake McMurray.  The fact is, roads adjacent to lakes are hardly ever flat and most alway "rolling".  They can't go too high because this is the road people who live at lake-level use, but they have to adapt to the terrain, too.

It was getting colder as we rode, and when we hit the Centennial trail, it was really chilly - around 40 degrees, and then we had the wind chill of riding, too.  What I wish I had had was my fleece vest and ear warmers, and even my balaclava (read: ski mask commonly used by people robbing banks).  My face was freezing.  My Garmin later reported it had gotten down to 35 degrees, and that's without the wind chill.

Halfway down the trail we stopped at a 7-11 for some coffee, tea and hot-water.  My stomach was not a happy camper.  I had been drinking my Perpetuem long-distance drink mix, but somehow I was feeling like I was going to toss my cookies if I ate anything else.  I had heard of this phenomenon on long rides and this was the first time it had happened to me - just can't eat or keep anything down.  It can be a ride ender, depending on when it hits.  I think the Perpetuem was keeping me going but I wondered if I'd have any other symptoms,  Every time I drank some (or even water) I'd get a burp, my stomach would shrink.   I chewed up a Tums as we left.  We were about half way down the trail to Snohomish.

Now the ride was getting really hard for me.  I was very cold, and started desiring to take a break but there was no way that was happening. If I broke off from my co-riders, I took a big risk of not finishing, and that wasn't acceptable.  I'd have to do ANOTHER 400k to get to Paris, and I couldn't imagine that.  Plus here is where "A never say die" attitude comes into play.  So I kept going.

We were going through one set of bollards after another, and at one point, a couple of times I "hallucinated" them into something else and at the last second realized what they were.  I needed a break  We saw a trailside restroom but the doors were locked.  We were not far from Snohomish, so we powered ahead, hoping to find a coffee shop to sit down in.

Sadly, nothing in Snohomish is open at 5:45 AM on a Sunday!  No restaurants, bakeries or coffee shops.  We round block after block (including one 8% climb) and finally find what is open: 7-11! I say "OK, I want a 10 minute nap and then we gotta get going."  And my ride buddies agreed, so that's what we did, rolling out of there just after 6 AM.  It's still nearly 20 miles to the end, we have just under 3 hours and there are lots of hills between here and there.  Refer back to the route profile above, or see this expanded view:

Yeah, hills after hills including a three stage climb with a dip that went right into another two stage climb.   I was feeling more normal by this point and we just kept plugging away, hill after hill.  We could smell the barn and there was no stopping us.

We rolled into the garage at the end point right at 8:00 AM, a full hour to spare!  I declined to eat, and needed to get home, so I turned in my card and rode down - DOWN!! to the van, loaded up and got going.

And when I got home, my stomach finally decided to get rid of what ever was bothering it.  And a few "sessions" later, I got rid of some small amounts of sweet-ish fluid -- all I could think of was the tums!  And then I felt better, more normal.

I showered, and then climbed into bed, still freezing and shivering, a full hour after getting off the bike.  I didn't take my temperature, but I suspect some degree of hypothermia.

But hey, it's all about persevering and solving problems, right?  And I did manage to finish, thanks to the support and help of the people of SIR and the various people I rode with along the way.  The three of us finished in 26 hrs, and were in fact "lantern rouge" or the last ones to finish.  I had finished the 300k a month before with 3 hrs to spare, so in my planning for this ride, I thought 22 hrs was a great time, 23 hrs a good time, 24 hrs an OK time, 25 hrs an acceptable time, 26 hrs was unthinkable.  (27 hrs was the max time allowed).  Actually finishing in 26 hrs was fine with me, especially after all we had dealt with through the night.  And reviewing the results a week later showed that although we were the last that finished, there were 7 riders "DNF" (did not finish) for any variety of reasons: health, fitness, mechanical, weather.  Compared to that, finishing in 26 hrs is wonderful!

Next ride: Tahuya Hills, in 4 weeks - 600km with an overnight in Elma.  Over 15,000 feet of climbing, compared with 10,000 feet on this ride, so about the same level of torture.  I have 4 weeks to train for it.  And train I must, if I expect to get any sleep at all on the P-B-P.

Oh, wait: What about the Maintenance part?  Well, my bike has fenders and the front fenders have a "quick release" mechanism so that anything that gets sucked up by the wheel will knock the fender supports out of their holders, so the front tire won't lock up.  They are bent wire that fits into a little plastic support - snap in, in fact, and they have been rattling a lot, especially on chip-seal roads.  Well, I had had enough of this, so I pulled off, found an empty aluminum Dr. Pepper can (that didn't take long, there are cans everywhere) and cut two small strips to fit around the supports to fill the gaps.  Shoved them back in and presto!  No more rattles.  I probably should have thought a little more about using my valuable brevet time this way, but it was very satisfying to get that rattle fixed, and it took less than 10 minutes.  Aluminum can shims rock!