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
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