My primary randonneuring goal for this year is the Cascade 1200 (http://www.cascade1200.com).
It will be held from June 28th through July 2nd, doing a big loop around Washington state for 1240 km in a 93 hour time limit.
My registration is submitted so I’m committed (or should be, depending on who you talk to …)
Saturday was the final ride of the SIR Winter training series. It started in Conway (about an hour north of Seattle) and conditions were quite a contrast to last year. Last year it was overcast, raining and very windy and about 10 intrepid souls showed up to ride it. This year the sun was beaming down and about 60 people showed up at the start.
It was a great day for a ride and as usually happens different groups quickly formed of people riding at similar paces. I ended up riding with about 20 people going at a decent clip for the 83 mile ride. We averaged 17.6 mph over a fairly flat route (which is good going for me). I was pleased with how good I still felt at the end of it.
There were a couple moments that stuck in my mind, one when I had to stop to adjust my cadence monitor that was clicking on my wheel and then chased down the group to get back in a draft. Took a while hammering along at 25 mph to catch up (fun to see I could sustain that speed for a while by myself).
A first for me was taking part in both a double and circular pace line on one stretch of low traffic secondary roads. These areas are pretty exposed to the wind so we set up a dual pace line initially and then a circular one that was constantly revolving so you were either going up one side for a brief stint at the front or else falling back along the other side. Pretty cool and made the miles fly by.
(http://www.sceniccityvelo.com/content.php?id=Training_paceline_riding&format=1111)
Brevet season starts next weekend with the 100K Populaire. This year it’s going to be around the Seattle urban area on a route very similar to the PROS ride I did at the end of last year.