Crucibulum

Author: James

  • SIR 600k (Bellingham & Middle Fork)

    SIR 600k (Bellingham & Middle Fork)

    Pre-ride of the 600k for SIR this past weekend with 4 other intrepid souls started at the usual ungodly hour of 5am at the Redmond Inn. The purpose of the ride is for the volunteers assisting the actual ride in a couple weeks to vet the course and make sure any needed changes are made to keep the route safe and enjoyable. It also allows volunteers to get credit for the ride. This was an opportunity to ride with people I would generally not be riding with as our paces are quite different. Pre-rides are much more similar to a fleche as you generally stick together for the entire ride and the overall pace is dictated by the slowest person in the group. This resulted in a much longer ride than I was expecting but also meant that I had a lot less strain on my body as most of the ride was Zone 1 for me rather than Zone 2/3 endurance pace. I did climb at my own pace for most of the climbing but would then regroup at the top after having a chance to stretch my legs out a bit.

    We headed up north for a loop around most of Camano Island and then hitting Bellingham (after a nice pizza lunch in Edison) before a return back to Redmond via the Centennial Trail for a bit of sleep before the second day.

    I rode my Serotta on Day 1 as my current main bike’s DI2 shifting had died during the week. The Serotta was my primary bike for a good few years, through PBP 2011, but hasn’t seen much riding in recent years. It still held up well for the day and kept me pretty dry with the heavy rain we had for about 4 hours mid day. As we hit night riding it got progrssively colder and I ended up buying additional gloves and a hat to stay warm. Loads of real food during this ride and I kept my energy levels up pretty well. Main takeaways ahead of LEL are to work out some way to protect my shorts in the rain to avoid chaffing, a lightweight Goretex short seems a likely option. Also I should carry along some small chamois cream packets and a different backup light as the rando 5000 one I had failed (though wasn’t needed). My Garmin battery would have run out as well at this pace so I borrowed a battery pack from Andy and the inride charging worked well.

    We started discussing start times for Day 2 as we got closer to the overnight and settled on 8am rollout. This was earlier than I would have liked and just allowed for 5 hours sleep but later than the others might have gone with so compromises were made all around. Was in bed by 2am.

    The weather forecast was better for the second day so I shifted bikes to Christian’s old Trek Madone for the excursion out to Middle Fork.

    There were some hefty climbs to wake us up out of Redmond. I had to go back to retrieve my keys which I’d left in the car but it meant that riding at my own pace I could catch up to the others by the time they crested the final initial climbs. It was a nice sunny ride on trails out to North Bend and then on to Middle Fork aided by a nice tailwind.

    Beautiful views and I thought of Christian as I rode out along this stretch as he used to fish here a lot.The return was into that same wind but downhill so it balanced out.

    Then it was just a case of getting it done on familiar roads in a 60 mile loop out to Renton and back via my old office in Factoria.

    We finished at 7:30 in the evening, comfortably under the 40 hour time limit at 38:30 with around 28 hours of that actually on the bike.

  • SIR 400k (Baker Lake)

    SIR 400k (Baker Lake)

    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.

    At the finish, all done
  • SIR 300k (Camano Island)

    SIR 300k (Camano Island)

    I haven’t down a 300k in a couple years but know pretty well what to expect after 18 years of randonneuring. This was a familiar course which I’d ridden a couple times before, the last one being two years ago with Mick and Matt. It heads up north to Everett via the interurban trail before finally hitting country roads, a loop around Camano Island and then a familiar return via the Centenial trail.

    The 6am start necessitated an early morning alarm and time for a quick breakfast before biking over to the U-Village for the gathering of brightly colored randonneurs ready for their pre-ride briefing, bike checks and final toilet stops.

    It was mild enough for me just to have arm warmers and a wind vest. Strictly speaking I failed the pre-ride check as I had no reflective ankle bands but as I had no intention of finishing after dark a reasonable blind eye was taken. I hadn’t even thought of them ahead of the ride but will dig out some before the 400k in a couple weeks.

    There were about 50 riders at the start and we started out hot right out of the gate with some spicy short climbing on the Interurban trail. Yonnel and James Walsh were planning on going fast and I stayed up with them and a couple other riders until we came off the trail. They were climbing faster than Bob and I and I kept needing to chase them down after each climb. Bob fell off on one of the hills and I chased back on and stayed attached for a while but kept falling off on the hills. Eventually I got caught at a light turning onto Seattle Hill road when they ran it just ahead of me and that was that.

    I then was in no mans land for a while up to Everett just doing my own thing in my aero bars along the country roads. I took a minor wrong turn heading through Everett but quickly recovered and then carried on. I kept looking back to see if anyone was coming up behind me as I didn’t really want to do the rest of the day solo. These rides are much more fun with riding companions. It was a couple hours into the ride at this point and I was trancing out a bit when suddenly I heard the familiar sound of Greg behind me. He and Rose were riding a tandem today and had a good group latched behind them including Bob who they picked up earlier. Excellent, we ended up riding together for the rest of the ride.

    We got to Camano Island and then climbed at our own paces around the lumps until reaching the park were the food control was meant to be. No sign of any SIR control were the route had led us but we eventually tracked down Chris and Jan down a different hill at an old location and had a nice break by the water before carrying on for the rest of the ride.

    I felt pretty comfortable for the ride and the time passed quickly as we all chatted away. Greg and Rose spent most of the day on the front so there was always a great draft and my power and exertion levels were low Zone 2 for the ride. It was mainly about getting used to long days in the saddle again.

    I did hit it hard for one effort going up the Rocket Ride finish before Woodinville just to see what I could do deep in a ride. I ended up doing my best 15s power numbers for the season so far which is pretty good 165 miles into a ride.

    Coming out of Redmond we ended up going up the old Redmond Road and I stayed on Greg and Rose’s wheel as we went over the top into a fast descent. Ended up dropping everyone but as we were so close to the finish we just kept rolling and everyone just rolled in at their own paces for the last 5 miles. Ended up finishing in 12 hours 33 minutes which is a decent time, an hour faster than the last time I rode it and with over an hour off the bike.

    We all regrouped at the finish for a celebratory beer and then it was time to ride home and rest up for a couple days. TrainerRoad decided I should take Sunday off and I was happy to comply.

    All in all a great day’s riding and so nice to spend time with Greg, Rose and Bob again. Greg, Bob and myself are the last of the 2011 Charley Miller group still riding frequently. Next up is the 400k in 2 weeks.

  • Pacific Raceways (Masters 45+ and 35+)

    Pacific Raceways (Masters 45+ and 35+)

    This years Pacific Raceways race series started up last night. These races are held on a race track down south and are typically flat and fast affairs. I normally double up with two races (roughly an hour each with a 15 minute break between them).

    There were big fields down for the first race of the season in both races, 45+ Masters and 35+ Masters. I sat in for the whole race on each one and felt really comfortable. This is a nice contrast to last year when I would often have a tough time sticking with the field for both races. This time my Garmin was actually telling me at the end that the primary benefit of the race was as a recovery ride so I should be able to go a good bit harder and do more in future races. All this while averaging over 26mph for the races

    I actually set a personal best for the last 1K and 400m in my second race and seemed to be going at the same speed as the winners but had started towards the back so made no in roads on them in the sprint. It does give me some confidence to try moving up to the front coming up to the finish and see what I can do in future races.

    We had a great showing from the team and good squads in all the races.

  • Ravensdale (Masters B – 50+ Cat 3/4/5)

    Ravensdale (Masters B – 50+ Cat 3/4/5)

    Apex hosts this race in collaboration with the Tour de Bloom team and so I raced in the morning and then drove the follow car for the afternoon 35+ Masters A race

    The rain held off for the morning race and we had a decent size field as we were combined with both the 40+ and 60+ divisions, although scored separately. This helps with having a larger field but makes it difficult to know exactly who you are racing against.

    We’d come into this with a plan to get Frank into a break on the second lap and for Jeff to try to win the first lap wine prime. This race has a decent hill up to the finish line (about a 7 min rolling climb) which you hit each lap. I was ok the first couple times up it and Jeff managed to take the prime as planned after chasing down one rider who started his sprint very early at 1 k out. We celebrated that briefly once he fell back to the pack and then carried on with the rolling roads of the backside of the course. I felt fine on these sections but for some reason just couldn’t stay attached to the field the thrid time up the hill. I have a tough time adjusting and recovering after summiting a hill and need to work out how to train that transfer point better as it keeps getting me. Looking at my data I wasn’t maxed out in any real way, although it felt it at the time, and should have been able to hang on. I actually then averaged 20W more for the rest of the race after being dropped.

    I rode by myself for a little and then got joined by two riders from the 4/5 field and eventually reeled in a couple more riders up front who had been dropped from my field. It kept the last hour more enjoyable as I had people to ride with. I asked if anyone wanted to sprint coming up to the finish and got some takers so was able to see what kick I still had left. (40+ rider beat me but I beat the two 4/5 riders who I’d been riding with, Scott sat out the sprint and just spun in).

    Due to some confusion we got shorted a lap for our race but I just went off the lap board and final lap bell so everyone had a fair idea that it was the end. Frank had created a break with one rider from the 60+ field and took the win. Their lead car had to eventually stop and pull them off the road to tell them their race was over as they had just kept going thinking they had 1 more lap still. Jeff came 2nd in the pack sprint for 3rd overall so all in all a great result for the team.

    I wasn’t too far back at the end so rolled back to the car park with the others.

    Then it was time to shift into volunteer mode for the rest of the day and 3 hours in the car with the race official and Susan following the Masters A race. It was good fun, chatting and trying to keep track of how many people were up the road in a break and chase group. We had to neutralise our race briefly when the 1/2 field caught us which proved a good opportunity for a roadside pitstop to make the rest of the race more comfortable.

    All in all a good day out though a rather dissapointing race.