At the end of day 1, we (Gary and I) rolled into Issaquah after over 400k of riding (lots of bonus km) at 5:00 AM. I was greeted Keith Moore and his wife Kasia who offered me any and all assistance and food they had. I ate most of a piece of pizza and grabbed a Sprite and headed off for the room. My roommate had decided to DNF his 600 and was just leaving, so I had the room to myself. It was about 5:11 when I hit the sack, setting my alarm for 6:30, figuring to get as much sleep as I could and still leave with a few minutes in the bank, or not too far out. The control "exit time" to stay on pace was 6:44 AM.
I was awakened by Kasia knocking on my door at 6:30. I had failed to set my alarm properly. I woke up, got up, showered, dressed and as I was brushing my teeth, I heard a knock at the door. Kasia again. I think Susan sent her down there and said "You stand at that door and knock until he comes out!". I finished brushing and headed up for breakfast. Susan had set out oatmeal, watermelon, and coffee for me, and encouraged me to eat quickly. What did I need? They would do ANYTHING to get me out of there quickly.
Why? Because, she explained: You need to get to Carnation 13 miles away by 8:16 and it's too far to do that. But there is an unwritten rule that sometimes if you miss one control, you'll be OK if you can make it up by the next one, in Snohomish, 42 miles away. That's at 11:11. So you need to move it, don't stop for anything until you get your card signed in Snohomish.
OK, got it. I got outside, packed up and ready to roll, and found my front tire "soft". I was a bit concerned but I figured if it was going to go flat, it would have by now, and no time to replace the tube. I asked Keith to pump it up to 50 psi and I'll be off.
I rolled out of Issaquah around 7:15, about 30 minutes behind. And in a half mile, I hit a wall of a road going straight up. Susan had said "You will hate this hill, just walk it." And walk it I did, and even that wasn't fun.
Once at the top, I started riding - more hills, but manageable. I felt surprisingly good considering I had just ridden 240 miles over 24 hrs with just a little over an hour of sleep. However, when I tried to 'get out of the saddle' and stand on the pedals, I didn't have any power, all I could do was sit and spin. Fine, that'll get me up the hills too.
I am all alone today -- everyone else left long ago. The route goes up to the Issaquah Plateau, with it's steep rollers - and then down the other side on Issaquah Fall City road. My mantra was "No coasting". On every downhill, I put it in the big ring and found some gear I could keep pedaling in. I needed to make up some real time.
Once down into the flats, I was cruising, at 25 kph. I think I may well have had a tailwind from the south at that time of day, but whatever, I rolled into Carnation at 8:26, 10 minutes late but having made up about 20 already. I was actually thinking I wasn't doing so well because the time on the control card was 8:016 - a typo - so I was thinking it was 8:01. I was still pretty sure I could get to Snohomish in time.
From Carnation to Snohomish, there are more rollers, but nothing serious, just a short 5% here and there, with similar slopes on the downhills -- no coasting! -- keep moving, we are under the gun. My Garmin was working, and I knew the route, having ridden these roads many times on different rides. The sun was out, it was mild, and my power was coming back. I could stand on the pedals to get up some of the short hills.
And my work paid off. I rolled into Snohomish to the Snohomish Bakery at 10:37 - over 30 minutes ahead of the deadline! I had made up nearly an hour by riding like there was no tomorrow. There were lots of people out on Sunday morning for breakfast - and I stopped and celebrated with a breakfast croissant, chocolate croissant, and coffee. The food took forever to arrive, but I still managed to leave Snohomish at 11:11, the official time. Now I'm not ahead or behind, but confident in my ability to keep up with the clock.
From Snohomish, we head north on the Centennial Trail, 50 km (30 miles) north to Arlington. This is a "rails to trails" trail, an old railroad bed. It's not hilly, but it isn't flat, either. You go up long 2% grades for miles - and that affects speed. Also, there was a pretty constant headwind from the north. Hour after hour, the wind did not let up, and fighting the headwind was pretty demoralizing. I knew it would eventually not be an issue, but that long in a headwind is tough. I figured I had 3 hours to get to Arlington, where we had another "Info Control". They aren't timed, but I still needed to know how I was doing on the day. In fact it took me 2:44 to get there -- not fabulous, but it was good enough.
And now I head south - looking forward to a tailwind. And I get one - for a couple of miles. I'm hitting 30 kph, which is 50% faster than I was going north -- and then the wind shifts!! It starts coming from the west, as a crosswind. Really? Really??? Yep, really. Well, OK, fine. Mostly fine. My arms hurt. My hands hurt. My toes are hot. But the legs are turning the pedals, I'm making good time, I have 500 of 600k done, and I have 7 hours to ride the last 100k, 65 of which is pretty flat - plenty of time. I predict a finish of 8:30 or better.
I think about how I'll feel when I finish, and get almost emotional about it - and then remind myself I have to finish first, and then I'll celebrate.
I'm riding through towns, lots of little road crossings. People everywhere having a great Sunday. The route goes over a river, and you can look down on all the people on the rocky shore having fun on this beautiful day. Dogs romping in the shallows.
And then at a road crossing, I crashed. And the ride was over. You can read about the crash HERE .
So what next? I'm out for PBP 2015, it is not going to happen. I don't have the time to do another 600k. And I'm not that fast. Although I was able to make up time on day 2, it was pretty easy miles. I can finish brevets - usually - but have some DNF's on my record, and also some lantern rouge (Red Lantern, the last rider) or near LR on my record. For PBP you have to be fast enough to build up some hours in the bank for sleeping. I don't know that I'm that good at it -- yet. But no matter -- it was an idea that became a mission, but even without PBP I had fun along the way, and will continue to ride Rando. It's a disappointment, but I'm very happy with my performance on this last ride. I didn't quit after that last DNF, but gave it my all, and I think I really would have finished in time had I not crashed out. And I don't think I'll forget how good I felt the night before as Gary and I rolled up and down the hills of east King county. I've met lots of good people and we'll just have to see how things go. And I will mention that all the support I got from people who read the blog, Susan Otcenas who was a huge rooter and coach, and all my Facebook friends who were giving their encouragement -- that all helped keep me going when things got hard.
There's another PBP in 2019.
Monday, June 15, 2015
2nd and last chance 600k - Day 1
To get this out of the way right off, many people already know I crashed out of the 600k and didn't finish. I won't recap the details, but if you want you can read it HERE.
You may notice there are no pictures on this posting, or day 2. My focus was 100% on finishing the ride, and although there are lots of great pictures to be taken, each one takes from 1-3 minutes, and I didn't want any distractions on this ride. Plus, it would be all Mt. Rainier pics anyway, and we have plenty of those elsewhere.
Before I could roll out on this ride, I had some issues on the last 600k that I needed to fix. Shorts, food, sleepiness and "attitude". The shorts issue: I did some research and got some (expensive) Assos shorts with a little tighter fit so the pad wouldn't move about. I bought some recommended "butt cream" to help when things get damp.
For food, I made some savory sticky rice bars - using a bit too much water, but they turned out OK. Sushi rice, chopped bacon and scrambled eggs, soy sauce and brown sugar. Quite tasty, actually. I wrapped them in foil and brought them in a padded (e.g. insulated) bag with a skinny blue ice block.
Also I bought a 6 pack of Ensure. I'd heard good things about it, and each 8 oz. bottle has 260 calories, enough for an hour of cycling. Finally, I'd had people recommend ginger for stomach upset - either candied ginger, or ginger pills. I found both at Whole Foods and packed some in my bag.
For fatigue, I brought some GU with caffeine. This is a sugary paste in a small pouch, made for quick energy hit.
Mentally, I promised myself that no matter how the ride went, I wasn't riding it to "get" to PBP. Last time, as things got tough, I thought "This isn't any fun. If I'm doing this to go to PBP then forget it." But this time, my mantra was "Just finish this ride." No commitments going forward, just finish the ride. I knew my brain was going to try to trick me into quitting or napping when things got tough, and "Just finish THIS ride" would help.
I even got to bed early (for me) at 10:00 which would get me 5 hours of sleep before the 3:30 AM alarm. 3:30, up, eat, shower, dress, and out of the house by 4:15. Short drive to the start in Issaquah, load the bike, park the van, and get checked in. There's about 25 people here, some doing 600k and some "just" 400k. As we roll out through Issaquah at 05:00, the streets are deserted. Not a single car on Gilman boulevard or Front street.
Early on I rode a ways with Peg, one of the pillars of the Rando community in Seattle and Gary from Texas who is now in TriCities. Once the road tilted up and we hit hills, everyone went their own way, depending on their ability. I can go up hills but not very quickly and if riding with someone else, usually drop back. However, I can descend like a rock and occasionally even catch the person who got up the hill ahead of me.
It was a chilly morning, and I was glad to have three layers on: base layer, wool shirt, and wind vest, arm and leg warmers.
First control is in Enumclaw, and I linked up with Bill Gobie on his Baccetta Recumbent bike to find an open Starbucks, as the Chevron that was to be our control hadn't unlocked the doors yet. I took a bit of time there as carefully as I could to get some bathroom business done, remove leg warmers, refill water bottles and consume a breakfast sandwich. I was going to try to eat as much regular food as I could, avoiding loading up on simple sugars, to see if that would get me by. So far, so good.
Bill left before I did. After riding on 410 east for a while, I caught up with Jeff Tilden, with whom I had ridden a good spell on the 300k. Jeff is a very friendly guy and we had a nice ride for a while. We got to Greenwater where we filled up on water and I ate one of my rice bars. Pretty good!
Now the climb up Cayuse Pass. It tops out around 4200 feet. The first 10-15 miles are a shallow 2-3% grade, following the adjacent river, and then it tips up to 6-7% for the last 5 miles. That's just a grind-it-out and keep going grade. I was ahead of Jeff for the shallow part, and then he passed me on the steep part, and I summited alone.
Now for a screaming downhill ride! 5 miles of 6-7% grade had me hitting speeds of 60 kph (37 mph) which was feeling really fast - especially after 2 hours of grinding along at 10 kph (6 mph). Eventually it also flattened out but kept going downhill all the way to Route 12, which held a few more good descents before becoming more rolling for the entry to Packwood, our next control
Grabbed a corn dog and some water, got my card signed, and headed out as quickly as I could. Now we would ride to Randle, and then back to Packwood. The first few miles were into a headwind (just like 2 weeks ago) and were a bit of a struggle until we turned off on a side road that was gently rolling and much more scenic. After completing an info control ("What time is the mail picked up on Friday? See answer on the blue mailbox") I headed south to the return trip on a different side road, Crispus. This was a wonderful ride, full of gentle and short rollers and some flatness as well. Hugging the river and the south side of the Chehalis flood plane, it offered beautiful views to the north of the tree covered foothills and farmlands. When I finally got back on 12 for the 5 mile return to Packwood, I had the tailwind I expected and was flying along at 18 mph, 50% faster than the trip into the headwinds.
Back in Packwood, another corn dog (cheap and delicious) and water. Some saddle interface maintenance in the porta-potty and we are good to go up Skate Creek Road to start the return trip north. Skate Creek is a nice ride - not too steep most of the time, as it's following along a stream. It's got lots of trees shading you from direct sun most of the time, and it's winding keeps you from seeing too far ahead - which, when you're riding a long ways, for me, is a good thing. On a straight road, you don't see the end approaching as you ride along, so it feels like you're not getting anywhere. When the road is curvy, you can SEE your progress as you go, and it feels more like you're really getting somewhere for your effort.
The climb up Skate Creek went a little higher than I expected, but eventually I got up it and enjoyed the descent toward Ashford. Along the way, I ran into Gary from Texas again, and we wound up riding the rest of the way to Issaquah. This was about 7:00 PM or so.
We stopped briefly in Elbe to take care of some personal matters, I ate another rice cake, and then off again. We got into Eatonville just as a faster group was leaving the Mexican Restaurant. They encouraged us to go in "very fast service" -- but we were wanting even faster service, so we hit the Chevron next door. Lots to do here, including bathroom break, get all the cold weather gear back on, night reflectivity -- vests and leg bands, lights. I swapped my shaded eyewear for a clear pair. Gary had some trouble with his helmet light -- it uses a finger swipe to control it -- so I tried a few swipes and managed to get it going. No ready to eat hot food but they had a huge freezer full of food from hamburgers to tacos. I got a two pack of White Castle cheeseburgers, little tiny things on a dinner roll for a bun. One minute and they're done - and surprisingly tasty, too. The "savory food" thing was working for me.
We headed out of Eatonville, destination Enumclaw. Usually I load the route into my Garmin GPS and it prompts me where every turn is. I can see the next three turns, and how far away they are. This time, however, the route was so long and big that when I went to start it, it crashed my GPS so I had to rely on a printed cue sheet. This has all the info on streets to turn, how far from the last one, and so forth, so if you're following it and can tell how far you've gone, you can follow the route. Gary and I each had one. I was working with my 'lap counter' to get the distance from a point to the next point, then I'd say 'OK, 3.7 km from now we turn right'. For some reason, I didn't do this leaving Eatonville, and after going up a hill I said "hey, did we miss a turn?" and it turned out we had, 6 km back. Ugh. OK, we are off to the left on the main road, we were supposed to turn on Oroville road that hugs the shoreline of Lake Ohop. I check my phone to see where we are and where we should be and is there a shortcut to get there. It kind of looks like there IS a road that'll get us there. So we go down that way, and as we enter the housing development see a "No Outlet" sign. Hmm, that's not good. But the map shows a road, let's keep going. We ride down and down and where the turn should be is a gravel road with a chain across it. OK, there's our road, that's why it says 'No outlet'. Hop the chain and keep going - and it's rough rock, so we wind up walking. And then it just ends, into undeveloped land. Yeah, they really meant it. Crap, bad decision. So we turn around, walk up the gravel road, over the chain, and ride out back to the main road, and after quite a descent, get on the road we should have been on. We wasted nearly an hour doing this - but not to get discouraged, just keep going I had expected to arrive back in Issaquah with 2-3 hours in the bank to sleep, and would just have less time. Gary was riding 400k and had tons of time to get there, so he was fine.
We rode a number of miles in silence, along the flats and rollers toward Enumclaw. The night was dark and cool but not COLD like the last 600. As we passed a field, a huge owl silently swooped out, turned across the road in an arc ahead of us and then back into the field. It only took seconds but we both remarked about it. One of the benefits of night riding.
A little bit of confusion along the way. There are LOTS of turns through little towns, and for every one we have to stop, look at the cue sheet, "where do we turn, which way and how far it it from here". Many of the turns are just a mile or two apart, and it's time consuming to keep stopping, but that's al we can do. We miss one turn but it's not fatal and we make up for it quickly.
Into Enumclaw and we have to turn on Farmin road. Our mileage counts are now hosed because of our "bonus miles" so we don't really know where it is. I pull out my phone that has a map on it and we find Farmin road way down at the far end of town. The beauty of this turn is that it is the LAST turn - Issaquah is still 30 miles away but it's all on the same road, it just changes its name a few times.
I'm feeling surprisingly good. I'm keeping up my speed, riding out of the saddle up hills, and except for being a little sleepy earlier (and eating that caffeine GU) I feel on top of things.
At 4:15 the birds started singing, and we could see the sky in the east starting to brighten. We rolled into Issaquah almost 24 hours after we had left, and again there were almost no cars on the roads. Pulled into the Motel 6, got my card signed, and bid Gary goodbye. I was glad to have him along and he helped me out a great deal by waiting for me at the tops of the hills. He's about 50 lbs lighter than me and gets up them a lot faster. A good ride buddy to have along.
Sorry to be so chatty but there's a lot to write about when you're on the road for 24 hours. Read on to day 2 HERE
You may notice there are no pictures on this posting, or day 2. My focus was 100% on finishing the ride, and although there are lots of great pictures to be taken, each one takes from 1-3 minutes, and I didn't want any distractions on this ride. Plus, it would be all Mt. Rainier pics anyway, and we have plenty of those elsewhere.
Before I could roll out on this ride, I had some issues on the last 600k that I needed to fix. Shorts, food, sleepiness and "attitude". The shorts issue: I did some research and got some (expensive) Assos shorts with a little tighter fit so the pad wouldn't move about. I bought some recommended "butt cream" to help when things get damp.
For food, I made some savory sticky rice bars - using a bit too much water, but they turned out OK. Sushi rice, chopped bacon and scrambled eggs, soy sauce and brown sugar. Quite tasty, actually. I wrapped them in foil and brought them in a padded (e.g. insulated) bag with a skinny blue ice block.
Also I bought a 6 pack of Ensure. I'd heard good things about it, and each 8 oz. bottle has 260 calories, enough for an hour of cycling. Finally, I'd had people recommend ginger for stomach upset - either candied ginger, or ginger pills. I found both at Whole Foods and packed some in my bag.
For fatigue, I brought some GU with caffeine. This is a sugary paste in a small pouch, made for quick energy hit.
Mentally, I promised myself that no matter how the ride went, I wasn't riding it to "get" to PBP. Last time, as things got tough, I thought "This isn't any fun. If I'm doing this to go to PBP then forget it." But this time, my mantra was "Just finish this ride." No commitments going forward, just finish the ride. I knew my brain was going to try to trick me into quitting or napping when things got tough, and "Just finish THIS ride" would help.
I even got to bed early (for me) at 10:00 which would get me 5 hours of sleep before the 3:30 AM alarm. 3:30, up, eat, shower, dress, and out of the house by 4:15. Short drive to the start in Issaquah, load the bike, park the van, and get checked in. There's about 25 people here, some doing 600k and some "just" 400k. As we roll out through Issaquah at 05:00, the streets are deserted. Not a single car on Gilman boulevard or Front street.
Early on I rode a ways with Peg, one of the pillars of the Rando community in Seattle and Gary from Texas who is now in TriCities. Once the road tilted up and we hit hills, everyone went their own way, depending on their ability. I can go up hills but not very quickly and if riding with someone else, usually drop back. However, I can descend like a rock and occasionally even catch the person who got up the hill ahead of me.
It was a chilly morning, and I was glad to have three layers on: base layer, wool shirt, and wind vest, arm and leg warmers.
First control is in Enumclaw, and I linked up with Bill Gobie on his Baccetta Recumbent bike to find an open Starbucks, as the Chevron that was to be our control hadn't unlocked the doors yet. I took a bit of time there as carefully as I could to get some bathroom business done, remove leg warmers, refill water bottles and consume a breakfast sandwich. I was going to try to eat as much regular food as I could, avoiding loading up on simple sugars, to see if that would get me by. So far, so good.
Bill left before I did. After riding on 410 east for a while, I caught up with Jeff Tilden, with whom I had ridden a good spell on the 300k. Jeff is a very friendly guy and we had a nice ride for a while. We got to Greenwater where we filled up on water and I ate one of my rice bars. Pretty good!
Now the climb up Cayuse Pass. It tops out around 4200 feet. The first 10-15 miles are a shallow 2-3% grade, following the adjacent river, and then it tips up to 6-7% for the last 5 miles. That's just a grind-it-out and keep going grade. I was ahead of Jeff for the shallow part, and then he passed me on the steep part, and I summited alone.
Now for a screaming downhill ride! 5 miles of 6-7% grade had me hitting speeds of 60 kph (37 mph) which was feeling really fast - especially after 2 hours of grinding along at 10 kph (6 mph). Eventually it also flattened out but kept going downhill all the way to Route 12, which held a few more good descents before becoming more rolling for the entry to Packwood, our next control
Grabbed a corn dog and some water, got my card signed, and headed out as quickly as I could. Now we would ride to Randle, and then back to Packwood. The first few miles were into a headwind (just like 2 weeks ago) and were a bit of a struggle until we turned off on a side road that was gently rolling and much more scenic. After completing an info control ("What time is the mail picked up on Friday? See answer on the blue mailbox") I headed south to the return trip on a different side road, Crispus. This was a wonderful ride, full of gentle and short rollers and some flatness as well. Hugging the river and the south side of the Chehalis flood plane, it offered beautiful views to the north of the tree covered foothills and farmlands. When I finally got back on 12 for the 5 mile return to Packwood, I had the tailwind I expected and was flying along at 18 mph, 50% faster than the trip into the headwinds.
Back in Packwood, another corn dog (cheap and delicious) and water. Some saddle interface maintenance in the porta-potty and we are good to go up Skate Creek Road to start the return trip north. Skate Creek is a nice ride - not too steep most of the time, as it's following along a stream. It's got lots of trees shading you from direct sun most of the time, and it's winding keeps you from seeing too far ahead - which, when you're riding a long ways, for me, is a good thing. On a straight road, you don't see the end approaching as you ride along, so it feels like you're not getting anywhere. When the road is curvy, you can SEE your progress as you go, and it feels more like you're really getting somewhere for your effort.
The climb up Skate Creek went a little higher than I expected, but eventually I got up it and enjoyed the descent toward Ashford. Along the way, I ran into Gary from Texas again, and we wound up riding the rest of the way to Issaquah. This was about 7:00 PM or so.
We stopped briefly in Elbe to take care of some personal matters, I ate another rice cake, and then off again. We got into Eatonville just as a faster group was leaving the Mexican Restaurant. They encouraged us to go in "very fast service" -- but we were wanting even faster service, so we hit the Chevron next door. Lots to do here, including bathroom break, get all the cold weather gear back on, night reflectivity -- vests and leg bands, lights. I swapped my shaded eyewear for a clear pair. Gary had some trouble with his helmet light -- it uses a finger swipe to control it -- so I tried a few swipes and managed to get it going. No ready to eat hot food but they had a huge freezer full of food from hamburgers to tacos. I got a two pack of White Castle cheeseburgers, little tiny things on a dinner roll for a bun. One minute and they're done - and surprisingly tasty, too. The "savory food" thing was working for me.
We headed out of Eatonville, destination Enumclaw. Usually I load the route into my Garmin GPS and it prompts me where every turn is. I can see the next three turns, and how far away they are. This time, however, the route was so long and big that when I went to start it, it crashed my GPS so I had to rely on a printed cue sheet. This has all the info on streets to turn, how far from the last one, and so forth, so if you're following it and can tell how far you've gone, you can follow the route. Gary and I each had one. I was working with my 'lap counter' to get the distance from a point to the next point, then I'd say 'OK, 3.7 km from now we turn right'. For some reason, I didn't do this leaving Eatonville, and after going up a hill I said "hey, did we miss a turn?" and it turned out we had, 6 km back. Ugh. OK, we are off to the left on the main road, we were supposed to turn on Oroville road that hugs the shoreline of Lake Ohop. I check my phone to see where we are and where we should be and is there a shortcut to get there. It kind of looks like there IS a road that'll get us there. So we go down that way, and as we enter the housing development see a "No Outlet" sign. Hmm, that's not good. But the map shows a road, let's keep going. We ride down and down and where the turn should be is a gravel road with a chain across it. OK, there's our road, that's why it says 'No outlet'. Hop the chain and keep going - and it's rough rock, so we wind up walking. And then it just ends, into undeveloped land. Yeah, they really meant it. Crap, bad decision. So we turn around, walk up the gravel road, over the chain, and ride out back to the main road, and after quite a descent, get on the road we should have been on. We wasted nearly an hour doing this - but not to get discouraged, just keep going I had expected to arrive back in Issaquah with 2-3 hours in the bank to sleep, and would just have less time. Gary was riding 400k and had tons of time to get there, so he was fine.
We rode a number of miles in silence, along the flats and rollers toward Enumclaw. The night was dark and cool but not COLD like the last 600. As we passed a field, a huge owl silently swooped out, turned across the road in an arc ahead of us and then back into the field. It only took seconds but we both remarked about it. One of the benefits of night riding.
A little bit of confusion along the way. There are LOTS of turns through little towns, and for every one we have to stop, look at the cue sheet, "where do we turn, which way and how far it it from here". Many of the turns are just a mile or two apart, and it's time consuming to keep stopping, but that's al we can do. We miss one turn but it's not fatal and we make up for it quickly.
Into Enumclaw and we have to turn on Farmin road. Our mileage counts are now hosed because of our "bonus miles" so we don't really know where it is. I pull out my phone that has a map on it and we find Farmin road way down at the far end of town. The beauty of this turn is that it is the LAST turn - Issaquah is still 30 miles away but it's all on the same road, it just changes its name a few times.
I'm feeling surprisingly good. I'm keeping up my speed, riding out of the saddle up hills, and except for being a little sleepy earlier (and eating that caffeine GU) I feel on top of things.
At 4:15 the birds started singing, and we could see the sky in the east starting to brighten. We rolled into Issaquah almost 24 hours after we had left, and again there were almost no cars on the roads. Pulled into the Motel 6, got my card signed, and bid Gary goodbye. I was glad to have him along and he helped me out a great deal by waiting for me at the tops of the hills. He's about 50 lbs lighter than me and gets up them a lot faster. A good ride buddy to have along.
Sorry to be so chatty but there's a lot to write about when you're on the road for 24 hours. Read on to day 2 HERE
Sunday, June 14, 2015
The PBP 2015 ending crash
I want to write up the 2nd 600K qualifying ride I did this weekend but it's going to be a long story. Some people know I ended the ride with a crash and I wanted to get the details down while they're fresh.
I was riding south on the Centennial trail just past Arlington, and came up on this trail road crossing. I'm riding from the top to the bottom of the picture with the red line. This is at the intersecion 168th Street NE and 67th Ave NE in Arlington:
As you can see, the two trail ends are not aligned so that a user can just ride across the road - they have to perform a sinuous S or U turn ON the road to get lined up with the other trail end.
This road has loose gravel on the edges that get kicked up onto the road and this is a pretty tight turn. As I attempted the last part of the curve, something happened that caused the tires to lose grip and the bike slid out from under me and I went down hard on my right side.
So what was the cause? Loose gravel? Soft tire? too much speed? Too tight a turn? Some or all of those, whatever - the bike went out from me and I went down hard on my right side. Head bounced off the pavement IN the helmet, but I wasn't wearing body armor and my ribs on the right side took a hard blow. After recovering from the shock of what happened, I pushed around and nothing felt broken, and I was breathing without any coughing up anything, so it almost seemed like I could finish the ride. I started down the trail but it was getting hard to take anything besides a very shallow breath. Any expansion of the chest was very painful, and it was getting worse. I looked up "bruised lung" on my phone and it said it could be fatal and usually got worse during the first 24 hours. I decided trying to finish was foolish, and to get checked out, so I called 911.
It didn't take long for the Fire Department EMT to arrive and they asked a bunch of questions that make sense when you're examining a stranger, did a pulse Ox test (95) and Blood Pressure (normal) and asked if I wanted to be transported to the ER. I said yes. I was taken to the ER where they asked the same questions (any medications? Blood thinners). Doctor listened to my lungs and ordered X rays. In the end, the doctor said I probably bruised the ribs and it should resolve in a week or two.
On the first day, it hurt to breathe deeply, cough, or bend down like to tie shoes. Sitting still and breathing normally is not painful at all. On day 2, it still hurt but started to get a little better through the day. I took a sick day and just sat around all day, and that helped.
I don't have any room in my schedule for another 600, so this is the end of PBP 2015 for me. The ride reports both days are posted. Thanks to everyone for your support - I was killing it -- until I wasn't.
I was riding south on the Centennial trail just past Arlington, and came up on this trail road crossing. I'm riding from the top to the bottom of the picture with the red line. This is at the intersecion 168th Street NE and 67th Ave NE in Arlington:
This road has loose gravel on the edges that get kicked up onto the road and this is a pretty tight turn. As I attempted the last part of the curve, something happened that caused the tires to lose grip and the bike slid out from under me and I went down hard on my right side.
So what was the cause? Loose gravel? Soft tire? too much speed? Too tight a turn? Some or all of those, whatever - the bike went out from me and I went down hard on my right side. Head bounced off the pavement IN the helmet, but I wasn't wearing body armor and my ribs on the right side took a hard blow. After recovering from the shock of what happened, I pushed around and nothing felt broken, and I was breathing without any coughing up anything, so it almost seemed like I could finish the ride. I started down the trail but it was getting hard to take anything besides a very shallow breath. Any expansion of the chest was very painful, and it was getting worse. I looked up "bruised lung" on my phone and it said it could be fatal and usually got worse during the first 24 hours. I decided trying to finish was foolish, and to get checked out, so I called 911.
It didn't take long for the Fire Department EMT to arrive and they asked a bunch of questions that make sense when you're examining a stranger, did a pulse Ox test (95) and Blood Pressure (normal) and asked if I wanted to be transported to the ER. I said yes. I was taken to the ER where they asked the same questions (any medications? Blood thinners). Doctor listened to my lungs and ordered X rays. In the end, the doctor said I probably bruised the ribs and it should resolve in a week or two.
On the first day, it hurt to breathe deeply, cough, or bend down like to tie shoes. Sitting still and breathing normally is not painful at all. On day 2, it still hurt but started to get a little better through the day. I took a sick day and just sat around all day, and that helped.
I don't have any room in my schedule for another 600, so this is the end of PBP 2015 for me. The ride reports both days are posted. Thanks to everyone for your support - I was killing it -- until I wasn't.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
2nd Chance 600k: Game on
Last post I said I was not likely going to Paris this year, 2015. "I didn't finish the 600k qualifier," I said, and "it's not likely I will get a 600k done in time. There are too many other things in my schedule."
Well, what a difference a week makes.
Further consideration of all the factors involved, as well as some discussions with experienced riders had initially led me to be pretty comfortable with the idea that the ride I've been working toward for 15 months wouldn't be happening this August as expected.
Yet, I kept getting people encouraging me to give it another think. And one thought I had was that I needed to remove all external factors from my decision. No blaming it on "the schedule" if it could be re-arranged. If I was going to decide not to go, then it was going to be MY decision and I'd take full responsibility for it. My head was swimming with pro and con lists, reflections on my late night decision and visualizations of how I'd feel if I went -- or if I didn't go.
I had a great conversation with another experienced rider, Susan Otcenas. She pointed out that I needed to be a better manager of my time and my energy. Not start too fast, and keep the controls short. And speaking of short, get some new shorts. There are always new things to do and try.
There were a couple of other things that influenced my decision to move forward. One was that I had been thinking "Well, if I don't go to Paris in 2015, there's always 2019." Then yesterday, we heard the sad news that one of our friends in Eugene had unexpectedly passed away on the operating table. This reminded me of my own mortality and that the future is uncertain.
Second, my 1st grade Sunday School kids had been asking for Spongebob Squarepants (we watch short Bible Story videos every week). Well, I got a Spongebob DVD and found one cartoon that was suitable for Sunday School. The topice was awards and trophies. And the verse I found for it was James 1:12: Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. Perseverance is the watchword of Rando riding and I will need to keep that word in front of me, especially at 2:00 AM Sunday morning when I'm tempted to stop for whatever reason my body and mind can tempt me with.
I worked out the details of my schedule, and I am now free next weekend. There's no reason not to ride, so it's GAME ON for the 2nd chance 600 next week. I must finish this to go to Paris, there really is no third chance. Will I finish? If I finish, then what? I guess we'll all have to wait and see.
Ride starts from Issaquah at 0500 on June 13.
Well, what a difference a week makes.
Further consideration of all the factors involved, as well as some discussions with experienced riders had initially led me to be pretty comfortable with the idea that the ride I've been working toward for 15 months wouldn't be happening this August as expected.
Yet, I kept getting people encouraging me to give it another think. And one thought I had was that I needed to remove all external factors from my decision. No blaming it on "the schedule" if it could be re-arranged. If I was going to decide not to go, then it was going to be MY decision and I'd take full responsibility for it. My head was swimming with pro and con lists, reflections on my late night decision and visualizations of how I'd feel if I went -- or if I didn't go.
I had a great conversation with another experienced rider, Susan Otcenas. She pointed out that I needed to be a better manager of my time and my energy. Not start too fast, and keep the controls short. And speaking of short, get some new shorts. There are always new things to do and try.
There were a couple of other things that influenced my decision to move forward. One was that I had been thinking "Well, if I don't go to Paris in 2015, there's always 2019." Then yesterday, we heard the sad news that one of our friends in Eugene had unexpectedly passed away on the operating table. This reminded me of my own mortality and that the future is uncertain.
Second, my 1st grade Sunday School kids had been asking for Spongebob Squarepants (we watch short Bible Story videos every week). Well, I got a Spongebob DVD and found one cartoon that was suitable for Sunday School. The topice was awards and trophies. And the verse I found for it was James 1:12: Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. Perseverance is the watchword of Rando riding and I will need to keep that word in front of me, especially at 2:00 AM Sunday morning when I'm tempted to stop for whatever reason my body and mind can tempt me with.
I worked out the details of my schedule, and I am now free next weekend. There's no reason not to ride, so it's GAME ON for the 2nd chance 600 next week. I must finish this to go to Paris, there really is no third chance. Will I finish? If I finish, then what? I guess we'll all have to wait and see.
Ride starts from Issaquah at 0500 on June 13.
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