DONE! Flying Wheels Century / Official end of training for the 2012 Cascade Traverse By-Pedal Expedition to Save the Endangered Human Folly

Holy suffering slogger Batman, its all over but the Traverse!

Yesterday was the capstone of long, grueling training regime. Did the Flying Wheels Century! Not just did it - but killed it. Felt exceptionally strong and was able to do it in just slightly over six hours (6:03) and for me I was happy with this time. It has about 3800 feet of climbing and on the final set of hills (yes, placed diabolically near the end) I felt in good shape.

It's a large ride with 2000 -3000 folks hammering out the three different courses (25, 60 and 100 miles). So this brings with it some interesting things on the road.

1. Mile 8, on a steep downhill, a fellow rider went off the road when he hit a big pot hole. He was tossed into the deep grass along the road drainage and there were two guys attending to him. Paramedics had just arrived. This is a really steep hill and people tend to hum down the thing.

2. Lots of cars honking their horns as the ride went along. Its tough to get around so many cyclists - so I understand, but there were seemingly too many instances of horns blaring. Hose off you honkers!

3. I guy in a big diesel pickup, traveling IN THE OPPOSITE direction on a two lane road, holding his hand out the window, proudly displaying the middle finger at us. I could see him in my mirror and he just kept flipping us off as he went down the road. WTF?

4. Snohomish County vehicle parked off the road at a stop sign, jammed with cyclists and cars, and he was taking pictures of the cyclists running the stop sign. I saw this unfolding as I came up to the intersection and I did stop, but others blew by. This gentleman was yelling at cyclists to stop. He was pretty fired up.

5. Sheriff writing tickets to bikes running stop signs and red lights.

6. A guy at a rest stop and I noticed he road a Seven as well. Nice. I looked closer, chomping on my Power Bar and he has the exact same seat I have. My seat nothing fancy and really no befitting of a Seven. Its about ten years old, off of a couple of my prior bikes and if fits me and is comfortable. The guy said the same thing.


As I mentioned, I felt strong and this means not only having endurance and strength, but I did not have some of the pesky issues that can plague me on longer rides such as tightening lower back, shoulders just kind of give away and left hip pain (likely illiotibial band issues). But I have been working hard in the gym on core, shoulders and chest strength. I think its working!

The day was overcast and rather cool - but no rain. I decided to put my fenders on the night before, showers were forcasted and I did not want to deal with a soggy ass for 100 miles.

Lastly- a tip to the not so wise... I do-not recommend attending a Texas Holdem party post century ride. Somehow this does not fit in very well in that crucial recovery phase of 6-8 hours after your ride. Too much booze, stayed out too late. Best to stay in and watch an old cycling movie, like Breaking Away!


So what does this all mean now you ask?

Time to look forward and get ready for my 2012 Cascade Traverse By-Pedal Expedition to Save the Endangered Human Folly. It is 8 days away. Time to assemble the gear, ready the bike, check the itinerary and TRY to keep the nerves at bay.

Time for some pics:

Flying Wheels Route

This photo depicts the chaos that can befall a person all hyped up on nerves and adrenalin as they unload the car and is getting ready for the ride at 7 a.m. Yep, those are my sunglasses. On the way over to the ride start, I was driving the Jeep and had a ball cap on with the sunglasses perched on top. I was a bit warm, so I whipped the hat off and placed it on the seat next to me. I heard a peculiar sound in the back of the jeep, where my bike and gear were and I thought what the heck was that? Oh... my glasses had flown off my head into the cargo area. No worries I thought. I'll find them when I unload. Well, I could not find them anywhere. I tore the Jeep apart, front and back. No glasses. I really started to get tweaked and its one of those moments, "I know they are here somewhere - they did not just fuckin' disapear" pissed off moments!! Well, I stepped back and thought, since I unloaded the bike right when I got here - could they somehow be tangled in the bike. I walked around the side of the Jeep, looked at bike and BINGO! There they were.

You really know you are starting to be an older, dorky rider when you bring special bungie cords with you to secure your extra gear to your waterpack!!

Proof!

Sealing the Deal - I need 100! from Scott McKibbin on Vimeo.



And Jen had a nice congratulatory surprise when I came home - flowers, a card and a special beer I love! Love her!

The Long Black Ribbon

Courtesy of Google street view, here are a few photos of what each day may look like for me on my tour. Miles and miles of 'black ribbon' for sure..

Day 1 Start: Newhalem, WA. 80 miles and 5,000 feet of climbing, great way to kick it off!Yes, that is an old steam engine on the right.

Day 1: On the road - about 50 miles east of Newhalem. This is going down hill, so the passes are behind me. Yah! 

Day 2: Between Winthrop, WA and Chelan. 60 miles and a nice easy ride with a very gradual down hill that follows the Methow River and then the mighty Columbia River.

Day 3: Chelan, WA to Wenatchee, WA. About a 50 mile day, again on a river course - but getting more barren than the past two days. Sometimes the wind books up the Columbia because it serves as a big funnel with the heated interior of the central Washington basin sucking air from the ocean with its cooler temps. I am a bit worried this day could be windy. Ack!

Day 4: Wenatchee, WA to Cle Elum, WA. This is the last day and comes in about 65 miles and I am back to serious hills and will go over Bluett Pass. But then its downhill to Cle Elum!

This is sort of the finish - downtown Cle Elum. I still have about 10 miles to go to Suncadia, but could not find any street level pics of the road by Suncadia. Once I arrive at Suncadia - it is time to party! I get to see my S.O. and the pup and will be chillin', happy of a job well done!

Preview for the weekend - Slogfest a la Flying Wheels

So this weekend will be the FINAL official training event of my long, long, slog to the Casacade Traverse. Saturday I will be riding the Flying Wheels Century. I have the Seven all tuned up and shiny. And I feel real strong, ready to abuse my body... which is sometimes what yah gotta do ... SUFFER!

So, as it turns out, the Seven needed a new cassette and chain. Actually, it only needed a chain but once a chain is replaced often the cassette needs to be done as well or else the new chain skips on the old teeth of the old cassette. She also needed new brake pads and there was a annoying creak coming from the bike when I cranked on it up hills that was fixed by lubing, adjusting and re-torquing the bottom bracket. But now she runs like a charm and is so clean. Nice to see her back in grand shape after the long winter. 

  See how clean that cassette is?

Ok, what the hell, why stop now - I'll just go on about the bike. A Seven has always been my dream bike. Seven was founded by...  nah why type... I'll just cut and paste the Wikipedia version:

Seven Cycles is an American bicycle designer and manufacturer based in Watertown, Massachusetts. Seven, America's number one custom bicycle brand, was founded by Robert Vandermark in early 1997. Vandermark was the former head of research and development at Merlin Metalworks. Although Seven Cycles was originally founded to build high-end titanium and steel frames, in 1998 Seven began also building titanium-carbon frames and in 2002 began also building full carbon frames. All Seven brand bikes are hand-made in their Watertown factory. Seven also manufactures custom titanium stems and mountain bike handlebars, carbon fiber road forks, aluminum handlebars, stems, and seat posts.


I have had the bike for almost three years and it just keeps getting better.

So- I will post more on Saturday... post my self flagellation ride!

The Burro does Bainbridge Island

Yesterday was the shake down ride for testing out the Salsa Fargo... aka 'The Burro'. Me, the burro, all racked out and 35 pounds of dumbell weights boarded the Washington State Ferries and headed over to Bainbridge Island for a test mini tour. I chose to do the infamous Chilly Hilly route. This is a 33 mile ride put on bike Cascade Cycling Club and is in February of each year (the chilly part) and has 2700 feet of climbing (um yep, the hilly part).

The intent of this was to see how the bike handles and more importantly, how does it feel to ride a bike with all that weight.

I'm not a weight weenie, but a touring bike, with all its gear can get heavy pretty quickly. The Fargo is not a very light bike to begin with (~28 lbs). Add racks, bags, gear, bottles cages, bottle of water, tools, lights, first aid kit, sun screen on and on and on... all of a sudden you are riding a behemoth. I would estimate that the bike was over 60 lbs and could be close to 70lbs! Holey Quad Busting, Bipedal Misery Machine Batman!

So how did it ride? In a word - awesome.

The Burro creeps up hills. The Chilly Hilly course has 2-3 sustained hills and a few shorter ones where I needed to use the 27x36 top gear on the bike. At those very slow speeds, the bike did well, but some times the front end gets a bit floppy. This was likely because of the front panniers with the added weights (5lbs each side). Lastly- standing off the saddle and climbing was rather different from a regular bike. The bike has so much more mass, the bike feels a bit whippy in the back and front and I believe this was due to the added weight of the panniers and load. 

What goes up must come down. Going down hill? Hold on to your hat. This thing screams down hills. All that weight and it really books. You have to be a bit careful however, since it does not corner like a normal bike - its slow to turn and wants to run wide in the corners. And, because of this propensity to pick up speed - brakes are equally important right? Well, the disk brakes on the bike performed excellent - even in the rain.

When you're not on hills - where are you? In the flats. The bike rode very well and once up to speed it does not feel like its much harder to pedal than a regular bike. All that mass give the bike a very solid feel and, well, felt kind of comforting.

The bike is spot on for this type of job. I give the Fargo 4 our of 5 stars.

Ok, now enough on the bike - how did my strength and endurance do with all that weight on a hilly course. I was a bit worried about this aspect of my ride. But, I did very well actually. I feel like I have reached a level of fitness that is ready to slog over the Cascades and back on a solo tour and not just survive - but even better, feel strong and have some fun doing the ride to boot. I have about two weeks left of training and it should be just all icing on the cake really. Well, this weekend is the Flying Wheels Century and this will not be anything remotely looking like cake.

Ok, on to the pics!

Here is the route of my ride on Bainbridge and the elevation profile:

Here are some general snapshots of the trip.

Yep, this was the test load. I also had blankets to fill out the bags and give the weights something to perch on.

The Burro Does Bainbridge - Sloggernauts Update

Vid update from the road on the shake down tour.

Something Different! // SPY ToC Busche/Montgomery Bike "Flip" - Behind the Scenes

Had enough of my training posts? Fine. Me too. Here's something different.

Today's Teaser for Tomorrow's Long Ride

Will be riding the Salsa tomorrow for my LONG day. My plan is to load her up with a simulated touring load and head over to Bainbridge and do the Chilly Hilly course. Hmmm...what should I use for my simulated loads in the panniers? A couple six packs? Some bricks? Lead fishing weights? I'll post up tomorrow and let you know as well as how the ride went.

Cheers!