Last Chance (Dec 2013) 200k

As in, if I didn't ride a 200k before the end of December, I'd be starting that fourth R-12 over AGAIN.  Which I did not want to do.



Jason K from Montana was apparently in a similar state, he was in Portland over the holiday, and did anyone want to ride a 200k?  Jeff A thought he'd join us.  Not that he needed a Dec 200k, he'd just finished the local Solstice 200k.

"The flatter the better" was the request.  Nothing is really flat here, unless one rides the Mill City 200k, but I wasn't thinking I wanted to get up so early and drive to Wilsonville.  Better to coast the 1+ mile down the hill to the start of my Beaverton-Hagg Lake-Carlton 200k.  Jason and Jeff were up for that, so 6:30-ish on Sunday morning found us in the Starbucks', dozing over coffee drinks in an attempt to wake up.

It was to start out foggy, and clear off in the afternoon, maybe making it up to 45 deg F!

Dark and foggy when we started; the first 9-ish miles heading west and slightly north to escape the Urban Growth Boundary, getting out into the country.  No traffic early on a Sunday.  Pointed out the local celebrity farm to Jason.  His wife is a fan of the show, so he was delighted to be able to share that with her later.

Many info controls for the first third of the ride, some with interesting historic significance.  We finally ended up in Forest Grove around 11am, looking for something to eat.  I knew Maggie's was closed on Sunday, but figured we could get a slice of pizza.  No, not until noon.  Not anything else obviously open either on Main Street.  I knew there was a burger place "somewhere", so we continued along the route, hoping we'd find it.  As it turned out, we didn't go quite far enough, but we did find the Little Monkey Deli.  No one in there but us, and we were promptly served tasty sandwiches, Coke, and in my case, a pickle.  Jeff bought some killer nut brittle ("the owner's dad makes it") to take along.

(for the record, Scotties Drive In is open at 10:30am on Sundays, and is across the street from the Knitting Store)

Off to conquer Hagg Lake, the most challenging climbing of the route.  It was still foggy.  And cold.  The sandwich did a nice job of powering me around the lake.  For the park being closed, it seemed like the most concentrated traffic of the whole ride, except for Yamhill and Carlton, was at the lake.



After Hagg Lake, we all stopped to get pictures of the herd of elk we saw on the way in.



Then into Gaston.  Not a control, but we stopped for supplies, it being a ways to Carlton.  I filled up my thermal jug with a combination of coffee and hot cocoa powder - the checker helpfully pointed me at the tub of cocoa powder and also said we were welcome to fill up out water bottles.  They sell really really good chocolate bars there as well.  A store patron admired the bikes and asked where we were headed.  Weren't we worried about it getting dark?  Not so much.  I have always found the Gaston general store and locals to be a really nice group of human beings.

South on Spring Hill/North Valley, over Laughlin to 240, into Yamhill, then the 3 miles south on Hwy 47 to Carlton.  The guys were a bit ahead (story of the day) and waited for me so we could pick a destination.  We tried the convenience store on Main St, rather than the grocery where I usually stop.  They have remodeled their bathroom - really nice!  Bought some grapefruit juice - tasty liquid sugar.  Off again, still grey and foggy.  I like getting to Carlton (82mi), because it is all headed homeward from there.

Found the three rude drivers on Kuehne Rd, but that was it.  Finally, the drop onto Ribbon Ridge and we were headed north on North Valley.  Over the three big rollers, and that was the last of any real climbing.  It didn't get really dark until we turned onto Geiger, where we admired each other's headlights.  I could clearly see the light pattern of the Luxos in the mist - wide rays and a shaft of bright light out front.  Nice.

My bike computer had long ago given up telling me anything - the display shuts off in the cold although it is still recording.  So no stressing about how fast I was or was not riding.  Occasional time checks on my phone made it clear that we wouldn't have to do any time trials for the finish.  Stopped at the golf course a few minutes too late to go inside (snack bar/plumbing), so any stops would have to wait until the last on-course control.  I did stop long enough to suck down my first-ever-consumed-on-a-ride Ensure.

I was awfully achy.  And I was not alone in this feeling.  Wanted to be DONE.

No traffic on Hwy 219 when we arrived to cross (a gift), and when we rode past the last info control I quizzed them on the details, but we didn't stop.  We'd remember the answer :-)

As we skirted the edge of the Urban Growth boundary, Jason (a city planner in real life) was asking about the mechanics of how it worked.  Actually we had that conversation earlier in the ride as well.

A few miles further and we were back in Hillsboro and civilization, and, a few miles further, the last on-course control.  We paused, ate a little (peanut butter GU, not a flavor I like, but it works), made phone calls, and set out for the final 6 miles.

Finished at the YoPop.  Just to clarify, there are places to get beer close by.  Not sure what quality of beer, but there is beer availability.  But we went to the YoPop, and mixed up bowls of yogurt and non-healthy toppings.  Cards were finalized.  Then Fitz showed up, and got himself some yogurt.

Jason thought the after dark parts of the ride were the most fun.  They were, kind of.  It didn't seem as cold, and, again, almost done and no need to stress about not finishing in time.

And because I was so very tired, I stuffed my bike in the back of the Element (me to Fitz: "so, which car did you drive over in?" Fitz: "yours") and accepted a ride home.  Jeff: "it IS uphill to your house".  Yeah, that's the ticket.

Aftermath: hot shower.  Spaghetti and meatballs.  Bed.  Rode into Portland to meet up with a friend.  Message from Fitz indicated that Rebecca and Asher had stopped by, so took the light rail back (with cupcakes from St. Cupcake).

Reviewing the bike computer data, the temperature never made it to 40 degrees.  It was foggy or grey the entire day.

So, while this year did not go as I had wanted it to go, Rando-wise, I did finish up with over 5000 RUSA km, and kept the R-12 streak going.

Mill City Coffee Run 200k, again

Susan O claims it is the flattest, easiest 200k around, and she's in lower cycling effort mode at the moment.  Knowing that we are entering into the Holiday Juggernaut, I wanted to get my November 200k in sooner, rather than later.



She and Asta were planning to ride it, and Kevin L and I joined in.  Sunday was going to be the less bad weather day, although the south winds looked to be a little daunting.  The planned 6am start (ow!) was almost even more so.  Susan was also planning on a 4:30-ish finish.  Double ow.  Located all the rain gear for the highly possible rain, and rounded up a sufficiency of food (a couple of buttered rye-molasses muffins, a pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, some gels, water bottle, and Gatorade-Tea fixings for the thermal bottle)

Then I went and played with the grandson (he's 5.5 month old, 18 lbs and very delightful.  You even get a picture after all my hints)



The replacement for my drowned Luxos U appeared this week, and was duly installed.  And there I was at 5:30am, in the parking lot, unloading my bike and chatting with Kevin, when Susan and Asta arrived.  Too early for the Starbucks, so we went over to the convenience store for a starting receipt, and, right at the dot of 6:00am, pushed off.  Not raining.  Kevin's take on the Luxos U... "show off!"



The headwind was certainly present as we headed south to Gervais, watching the sky slowly lighten.  We didn't stop there, but passed through at about 1:10 elapsed.    And then we turned full south onto Howell Prairie Road, right into the wind.  It is more than a bit discouraging when the HR is in the 160's (not unheard of for me; don't freak out.  I don't get pukey until the mid to high 170's) and I am only managing 10mph TOPS.  Often less.  Asta, Susan and Kevin pulled ahead, but we all eventually regrouped at the gas station with the portapotty.  I removed the jacket and dug up the short finger gloves - my warmer gloves got TOO warm and I ended up riding with no gloves for quite a few miles.



Pushed off again, still heading south.  We ride on Howell Prairie fairly often.  It is 16.9 miles, and I am now pretty familiar with every part of it.  It still wasn't raining.  Every now and then, a bit of drizzle, but not enough to want to stop and apply raingear.

Kevin had dropped back.  Every so often I'd catch a glimpse of his headlight, but I think a lot of that was wishful thinking.  I was trying to draft Susan and Asta, which helped a bit, but we were all feeling that headwind.  Asta told me to quit worrying about speed and just concentrate on steady effort.

Finally, through the hilly bits and vineyard at the southern terminus, and over to the Shaw Highway (two lanes, narrow, but still no traffic), into Aumsville, then east-ish to our first control in Stayton, at 43 miles.

Susan was in "SHORT STOPS!" mode, so I bought a banana, refilled the water bottle, took care of business, and came back outside.  Kevin appeared, but he decided to DNF.  He was coming off a cold, and the wind was, I think, the final straw.  He planned to ride back to the start, with what would be an amazing tailwind.

The next 20+ miles were imperceptibly uphill, and pretty quiet.  Farm animals, bucolia...  When we started the stretch from Lyons to Mill City, Asta allowed as how this stretch goes on rather longer than she thinks it should.

Ah, Rosie's Mountain Coffee.  I ordered the biggest Pumpkin Latte they offered, and dumped it in my thermal jug, and a bagel sandwich. Ate the whole thing.  I don't think we were there longer than 20-30 minutes.  Susan: "hey, we had a SIT DOWN lunch!".

From here, downhill back to Stayton, and a crosswind.  And another quick stop - bought another banana, a Red Bull for later, and refilled my water bottle.



Then we hoisted our jibs,  topsails,  and spinnakers and proceeded to THOROUGHLY enjoy that tailwind.  Moving average pace from Stayton to Wilsonville - 15.6mph, with an average HR of 138.  That's loafing. :-)



We did pause in Gervais so I could pour the Red Bull into a drink-accessible container, and were subsequently briefly detained by a southbound Amtrak.  Another pause in Donald to turn on lights - it was not yet sunset, but the shadows were starting to lengthen.

And, at 4:36pm, we rolled up to the Starbucks in Wilsonville, rolled our bikes inside (there is a good space between the grocery and the coffee shop), ordered up, and finished our paperwork.  And puzzled over a timeline posting, which became clear when I got home and managed to see all my email.

It relates to this: http://www.rusa.org/announce.html#2013_board_election_results

Stats:

10:36 elapsed time. Quickest ever on this route, which I can attribute to really short stops.  And the tailwind on the return.
Total miles 126.2, moving average 13.3mph
Bike computer claims 4200 vf, but I think it is exaggerating.

Wilsonville to Stayton avg 11.5mph (surprised it is that high.)
Stayton to Mill City avg 12.87
Mill City to Stayton 14.22
Stayton to Wilsonville 15.6

Total time not riding: 1:11
stops in Stayton: 9 and 7 min
stop in Mill City (sit down lunch!) half hour?

Kings Valley 400k. Better. Sort of.

Ah, the 400k.  My most challenging distance.  And this year, a more challenging route as well.  More vertical feet, and a possible 100km stretch with no services whatsoever.  On the plus side, a new route with new places.

After a long lecture conversation with my coach on how I did not eat anywhere near enough on the fleche ("You had so little calories I am really surprised you could ride this long."), I rummaged around and found my old running watch, which had a working countdown timer, and set it to go off every 15 minutes.  Made up 5 packets of Skratch electrolyte drink (140 calories) and 5 packets of Carbo-Pro/EFS mix (350 calories).  Packed a lot of food, mostly Allen Lim's yummy rice cakes, Clif Builder Bars (protein!), and Shot Bloks.

Planned my "big" eating locations, and added those to the cue sheet, along with all the summits.  I like to know these things.

Received my new headlight, so had an evening soldering session in the garage.  It is mounted the same place as the previous light, but I am getting a new rack so as to mount it ahead of the handlebar bag.

After obsessing over the weather, also tossed in my lightest SP rain jacket, helmet cover, and booties.  Otherwise I was planning to wear pretty much what I wore on the fleche, and it was supposed to be warmer.

To make it more fun, an NPR reporter was going to be following us around :-)

Arrived at the LaQuinta Friday evening, just as the other 3/4 of our hotel room showed up.  Checking in, unloading, faffing...  and in bed by 9:00.  3am was going to arrive awfully early.

Up we got.  I made the sad discovery that I had forgotten to bring my knee warmers.  Michal offered up his tights, but they'd be really long, and too hot.  I figured I'd be ok.  I didn't need them at the moment.

Food swaps, and Cyndi had a nice breakfast for us all.   My contribution was single serving Egg/Swiss Cheese/Mushroom/Onion fritatta (protein!).

Signed in, chatted with other riders, and it was 4am and off we went.  Lesli and I were the only women in the crowd, and I didn't see her or Michal after about 5 miles - they were going for time.  We did have a bit of a ride together at the start, so Michal got to see the wonderfulness that is my new headlight (more on that later).

Bit of a puzzlement when I realized we didn't actually go THROUGH Dayton, but it was fine, and probably shorter getting to Amity.  There is a new market on the corner, so I went in to get some more water.  Lonnie was leaving just as I arrived.

My timer was going off every 15 minutes, and I was taking a big bite of something and drinking every 15 minutes.  For the whole ride.

The shoulder on Hwy 18 has not improved.  That stupid rumble strip goes right down the middle of it, leaving precious little space to ride.

Made nice time to Grand Ronde, which was a planned meetup with Angela from NPR, as well as a Real Food stop.  I am instructed to learn to eat "gas station sandwiches".  Grand Ronde offered made to order sandwiches, so I got my sandwich order underway, and walked around the store getting a Mocha Doubleshot and more water and getting the card signed, with Angela in tow.  Collected water bottles and sunscreen, and settled on the bench to eat, talk, prepare bottles and apply sunscreen.





While I was engaged in all those things, Jeff A rolled up, and we joined forces.  Bidding farewell to Angela, we headed up to Sourgrass Summit.  It didn't seem to take long... "wait, what, this is the summit?"  Zipped down to Hwy 101, where we turned left, and it was all new roads from here until Independence.







Then we turned onto Slab Creek Rd.  After hearing for years how awful the pavement was, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually pretty darn good.  Less good heading up, but new pavement heading down.  A very pretty climb, and since it wasn't killing me, perhaps I was not attacking it hard enough.  The downhill was way fun!



From there we ended up in Otis (more water; Jeff bought pepperoni sticks), then a bit more on 101 and off onto East Devil's Lake Rd, along the backside of Lincoln City.  It rolls a whole bunch there.  Lots of very, very nice houses, a summer camp where I have attended events, and some High Water.  I rode through it very slowly.  My soles touched the water, but never went under.

More wandering along, and we popped out by the Factory Outlet Stores.  Right after we turned onto 101, Jeff wondered if they had a Pearl Izumi outlet; I could get some knee warmers.  A bit of online research said no, but there was a Nike store, and a pair of running capris would do very nicely.  As I had worked at Nike for 22 months, I knew exactly what I wanted, and the store had it.  Most expedient trip ever in a Nike store.  First ever outlet shopping trip on a brevet, too.


Found Bill at Spanish Head, where pictures were taken.  Fabulous view of the ocean.

picture by Bill Alsup

Another 4.5 miles and we turned east on the Siletz Highway.  It is so very, very, very pretty back there.  What with all this newfangled eating and drinking, I also needed to do more stopping.  We found an RV park where the manager pointed us at the facilities and told us the combination to get in. My bike picked up a piece of gravel in the parking lot and the rear wheel would not budge.  I popped the wheel out to get it loose while Jeff finished up.  He just realized that he can Wash His Face on rides!  A wonderful feeling it is, too.  24+ miles on the highway, flat to gently rolling.  We saw pretty horses (white ones with gold manes and tails), llamas, cattle, alpaca, sheep, goats...

Eventually, we found Siletz.  Also Bill, who was finishing up.  We went into the market to stock up for the next possible services-free 100k.  I filled up my auxiliary water container (1 liter collapsible Platypus bottle), bought a sandwich and another Doubleshot, grabbed my sunscreen, and sat in the shade across the street to eat.  Lonnie joined us here - he'd gotten bonus miles by missing the Logsden turn and looking for it in all the wrong places.  He left before we did.  Hard to eat those sandwiches - the bread makes me choke.  Have to work on that.



I was doing my major cue sheet flip and pressing the air out of the big ziploc bag I keep it in, when a townsperson came by: "what are you doing?  what are you posting there?"  Umm.  Nothing.  Very weird.  Most of the folks in Siletz were really nice, stopping to chat, wishing us a good ride and so on.

Some more pretty and rolling miles to Logsden, and we got there long before the store closed.  There are great murals painted on the outside.  I got a gentleman inside to sign my card; there seemed to be random locals socializing in there.  Topped off the water again.  He insisted on taking my picture with the murals, too.







Now the "fun" started.  The stretch between Logsden and Blodgett is the really hilly part.  Rolled along for awhile, again, not getting overly stressed, except to wonder where the mythical gravel stretch was.  Oh.  There it was.  Hardpack with loose gravel all over it.  Kept a steady pace up until the road banked and I started sliding down.  Walking!  The grade was 8-10%, so I couldn't even think about starting up on that.  A motorcyclist came by and asked if this was the way to Blodgett.  We sure hoped so, and told him what our cue sheets said.

Walked up.  Then walked down, because it was no less steep and slanted.  Finally to a place where I thought I might be able to start up.  Headed down, it started to get a bit too exciting, but I could see the pavement, and headed right for it.  Whew!

Then the next climb, which went up to Summit (which wasn't, but I already knew that), and went up and down about 5 or 6 times.  And finally we dropped into Blodgett about 7:30.  And the store was still open!  More water and a Sobe.  I needed a break from electrolyte stuff.





In theory, we had three more summits.  The first one was over before we knew it, the second and third ones rolled along for awhile.  The stretch on Hwy 20 was not too bad - big shoulder.  It got dark along here, but with my wonderful new Luxos U headlight, I could see much better, and took the descents a bit faster.  It also helped that the pavement was absolutely wonderful.

Ok, so it is dark now.  Our intermediate goal was to make it to the control in Monmouth before the Burgerville closed at 11pm.  And we did, by 20 minutes.  I got a kiddie cheesburger and a Coke.  Jeff ordered a bigger one.  My kiddie meal prize was pea seeds and a plant marker - I gave them to Jeff for his daughter.  He ate my fries, too.  Pulled on the running capris and long sleeved jersey over the short sleeve jersey and arm warmers.

And then I started to yawn.  Oh no.  Kept it going until Salem and the convenience store.  Bought a V-8.  No use of the bathroom allowed.  Ok then.  Not stopping there anymore.  Jeff knew of a good gas station store in Keizer on the way out, so we stopped there.  Got a Coke and put it in one of my bottles, and mixed up the very last drink mix I had (that is 10 packets of electrolytes, half with extra calories consumed.  A new record).

Out of Salem/Keizer, north on River Rd, north until it turned into French Prairie (friend Don lives there), right on St Louis Rd.  I started wobbling.  Finally had to call a halt and get a short (bike computer says less than 5 minutes) nap.

Off again.  Tried to stay awake.  Kept smacking my face, eating caffeinated mints, drinking the Coke and so on.  It was just NOT working.  Finally, right after the turn onto Boones Ferry (10 miles out.  Sigh) I did stop.  Jeff said try for a longer nap, and I was out for 25 minutes.  I hope he was too.  Tweeting birds woke me up, and we headed out for the last bit.  I really felt much more alert, so maybe the pre-nap caffeine and the nap combined to perk me up.  Finished BEFORE sunrise, at 5:06am.  Only 1 sunrise on this ride.

Got to the hotel, found the control room, and gently woke up the control worker :-)  John Henry and I chatted for a bit, then I headed over to the elevator and my room.  Cyndi let me in, and I took a good long shower to scrub off all the rando crust.  Oh, that bed felt really nice.

Woke up around 9am, joined the others for breakfast in the hotel lobby.  Home just after 10am, Mother's Day Brunch, short nap, Timbers soccer match, home, in bed by 6pm, didn't get up until 7am the next morning...

Final Comments: Finished it up at 5:06am, which was about 2 hours longer than I personally wanted it to be.  But it was still 40 minutes better than last year's ride, and a more challenging route, with no bonks, or even the hint of a bonk.  Took rather longer to get sleepy as well.  My coach is delighted.

SPOT track is here (stopped tracking about 10 mi before the end, because I rolled over 24 hours.  I have learned something new)

Distance: 252.85mi (almost exactly matches RideWithGPS.  Finally got the computer calibrated!)
Pace: 12.57mph avg.  slower than last year, but more climbing on this one.
Total Time: 25:06; 40 min faster than last year.  Less faffing/sleeping
Vertical feet: 10031 according to RWGPS
All the pics here (lots of them)

Fiat Lux!
Ah yes, the new light.  The Luxos U is amazing.  Wonderful wide light throw and a good long distance down the road as well.  The previous light is a Supernova, backed up by an Ixon IQ, and this is much, much better.  I did not give the charging function a test, so I cannot report on that.  But the light on the road is very good; it doesn't wash out the surface.  Did I mention the wideness and length and brightness of the beam?