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.
