Another early morning 5 am start from Redmond meant an even earlier alarm to get over to the start in time. Got there with time to spare and chatted with the usual suspects before the off. We rolled out on time and settled into a brisk pace up the initial climbs to get over to the Snoqualmie valley roads. I’m just not light enough to keep up with Yonnel once the road pitches up so I had some work to do to stay attached. I was just off the back of the front group cresting Old Woodinville – Duvall road but chased back on down the hill in time to take adavantage of the draft for another hour until Wood Creek road coming out of Monroe when I said goodbye to Yonell as he launched up the road with a handful of others.
Yonnel, Travis and one other ended up finishing together and I was essentially in the second group for the rest of the day with some other riders playing leapfrog with us in the last 100k once I faded big time.
Anyway, back to our story on Wood Creek road. I rode by myself for a while until Matt and Brian caught up and then chatted with them till Darrington. We had merged with a couple other riders, Matthew, Kolt and a single speeder when everyone scattered to refeult at different places, gas station and local park. I kept riding with Tom and we traded pulls for the next 60 miles or so to Baker Lake. Burpee Hill was as steep as ever but a steady pace got it done.
Baker Lake was the manned control on this ride at we spent a pleasant 30 minutes eating, restocking and waiting for others to join us before heading on for the remaining 150k.
I’d been off my bike with a head cold all week and that in conjunction with a pneumonia vaccine 2 days earlier meant I wasn’t feeling top notch. I fell way behind on my nutrition and hydration as it was hard to eat and drink on the move with a blocked up nose. I only had 1 bottle to drink in the first 7 hours which caught up with me as the ride continued and I tried to play catchup. Ended up stopping a lot more on the way back to try to get more food into me.
It was familiar roads and trails for the return and I rode with Brian and Matt for the rest of the day. They were good sports and willing to accomodate my extra stops for hotdogs and other food cravings.
We ended up finishing in about 16:45, moving time was 15:16 at 16.3mph (identical to the last time I rode this course 3 years ago with Mick so I’m pretty consistent).
For my next long ride I’m going to try to make sure that I follow my nutrition and hydration plan and not dig such a hole for myself.
Still all in all a good day out and a good test of my bike set up itself. The only thing I was missing were knee warmers for once the temperature dropped in the last hour riding back to Redmond. It was fine for an hour but I wouldn’t want to expose my knees like that on the moors in Scotland in August. My legs actually feel worked after this ride in contrast with the 300k.
