Cascade Adventure - Day 3

How does it go - 'the best laid plans...'?

Today was one of those days. We headed out with plans to ride Devil's Gulch, Mission Ridge, and Tornsen Ridge over by Cle Elum. We headed up Tronsen Ridge trail and when I say UP, I mean UP. The switch-back single-track turned into steep hike-a-bike which lasted for 2 miles. 2 miles and 2000 feet later we were at the top and in for some great views (see Ranier in the background?).

Once on top of the ridge it wasn't too long before we were in for some true ridge riding - one moment you had a steep drop-off to the right and then we'd cross to the other side and have a steep drop to the left. The views were breath-taking and so was the riding. We were always on our toes - and no one more than me. I was totally out of my comfort zone - I really don't like off-camber riding ... and when it is accompanied by a steep drop to one side and some technical sections ... Lets just say I was very focused on the trail in front of me :)

We rode along the ridge for quite a while, did some crazy detours where we would eventually decide that it was insane to keep riding - er- pushing our bikes, and turn around to find the 'real' trail again. Here is a photo of one of the 'hike a bike' sections of the ridge line.

The ridge riding was a little more crazy then we had bargained for and our initial plan had us riding two more ridge lines. At the turn we had a quick conversation and agreed to head straight down and skip the two additional ridge rides. Turns out the ridge we rode was rated black diamond ... The other two are apparently better. Another day.

By the time we got back to the car (20 miles and 4000 feet of climbing later) it was right around 4 hours of riding and since Kate's break pads were toast and Fraser's headset was toast, we decided to call it a day. It's all about perspective - we were so prepared for an 8 hour day in the saddle that 4 hours seemed lame. Too funny. We finished off the weekend with an awesome BBQ and lots of chocolate chip cookies. Look out girls ... Kate's ready for TransRockies!! :)

Cascade Adventure - Day 2

No Cascade adventure (arranged by Fraser and I) would be complete without a day at Tiger. Today was that day .... we started the day with a climb up to Poo Poo point where we were offered a fantastic view of downtown Bellevue. Unfortunately Fraser didn't make it up the climb ... he broke (snapped!!) one of his egg-beater pedals on the way up the climb and turned back to get new pedals so he could join us the for the remainder of the ride. Good thing Tiger is close to home :)

Here is pic of Kate and I at the top of Poo Poo point.

On the way back down we took Iverson which offers loads of steep single-track climbing (up to 35% grade) and equally steep (and way more fun) single-track descending. 18 miles and 2500 feet of climbing later we were back in the parking lot and so was Frase ... we were good to go for a loop of Tiger.

Frase wanted to test his VooDoo (he's thinking of racing this bike at Cascade Cream Puff) so he flew up, down, and around Tiger. Kate and I ventured around the loop at more relaxed pace (ie: not mock 3). As per my usual form, I was starting to feel good around 3 hours and Kate was feeling pretty good too so we made good time back to the car.

All in all about 40 miles, 4400 feet of climbing, and 4 hours of riding! Tomorrow is our last and longest day with a planned 50 miles and 8800ft of climbing.

Cascade Adventure - Day 1

My friend Kate is visiting for the weekend - she's training for Trans Rockies and came for a long weekend so of course we had to plan some epic rides.

Today was Day 1 of what I am going to refer to as the Cascade Adventure. We started the day with a 45 min climb (1700ft of climbing up single-track) out of Roslyn (the filming site for the Northern Exposure TV show) up Ewalk to the Cle Elum ridge and over the other side into the Tenaway valley. We got lost for a while here, crossed several streams, and found some fun singletrack. We eventually found our way back up the ridge on some super steep sandy singletrack (yes, I was walking. Fraser, on the other hand, was a mountain goat today and was zooming up all of the steep climbs). We finished off the first part of our day with a super fun single-track descent called 'rat pack'. It was worth every foot of the 3350 feet of climbing and 22 miles.


The photo is atop of Cle Elum ridge. Not a bad view.

We then headed over to Kachess lake and climbed Thorp mountain. This is a 3500 ft climb with no breaks. It starts gently with 5 miles of 2% grade alongside the lake and then gets into switch-backs at 10-20% grade. The climb offers many great views and cool breazes. it was pretty hot today and I was excited to see the snow. At the top we admired the view before we turned our bikes around to the cool descent. This part of the ride was about 22 miles and 3500 feet of climbing.

We finished the day with some burgers at the 'Mountain High' burger joint and headed home. Ahhh, nothing quite like a long day in the saddle. All told we covered 44 miles and almost 7000 feet of climbing in under 6 hours. Not a bad day ... we've got 2 more days of riding bliss to come.

This second photo is on top of Mt Thorp ... another fantastic view!

Test of Endurance - Race report

By the numbers:

• Miles ridden: 50 -- that's 80 KM!
• Feet of climbing: 8000ft
• Mechanicals: 0.5 (more on that later)
• Finishing place: 4th
• Number of rain showers during the race: too many to count
• Pounds of mud on my bike post-race: 7.5 (ok, I didn't actually weigh it but it felt like 50)
• Records beaton: 1 (Adam Craig killed the men's record and Karen Dewolf was 4 minutes off of the women's record)

As noted in my last post, we had a last-minute change in plans. We were trading one test for another so that we could fit in both family and racing! We weren't too sad as we have some friends in the Corvallis area and I was excited to see them again.

Pre-race:
We headed down Saturday night and drove through the worst rain storm ever. I am serious, it was raining so hard that I could barely see. We were driving at about 35km/hr on the highway! We joked that this weather didn't bode well for the race ...we weren't far off ...

The race started early and as we parked our car i looked out the window and who did I see but Adam Craig. Turns out him and his friends decided to come do this race (they hang out in Bend when they are not racing around the world) - it fit well into their racing schedule. The competition of the race just got a lot stiffer! At the end we all race against the clock and my true race was against time - and I met my goal!

It was cold, wet, and early so warm up consisted of riding around in my handy water-proof clothes, remembering I hadn't made up my bottle yet, seeing old friends from my Portland racing days, drying off, and getting to the start line.

The race:
The race starts with a neutral lead-out but I knew from two years ago that being at the front was key - they say it's neutral but in reality you are racing right away. The race started with a 6 mile road climb which spread out the field pretty well ... but with over 300 racers there were still lots of riders around me. I was sitting on the wheel of a girl when we hit the first single-track and it quickly became apparent that I had to get by. I wanted to go faster - what fun is single-track when you have to go slow? Out of the single track we were climbing again and I put on the gas to ensure that I would be ahead of her the next time. I never saw her again.

The course consisted of two 25 mile loops. It took me up until the first checkpoint to warm up. I estimate this took me just over 1.5 hours ... my garmin finally bit the dust so I was going sans heart rate or even time - more on this later. After checkpoint 1 I was starting to feel good and speeding up. I was catching people and enjoying the ride. I will admit that the mud was a little disheartening ... it was peanut butter mud and just seemed to pile up on your tires, making it impossible to ride some of the muddy steep climbs. There was a fair amount of running in this race ...

After the first lap I caught some guy and asked him how long we'd been riding "just over 3 hours he said". Oh crap. I had to pick up the pace .. I had a goal to beat 6 hours (two years ago it took me 6.5 hours to do this same race). So off I went. I felt a lot better on my 2nd lap - it seemed to fly by. I was in my big ring, standing on some of the looonnng climbs, and enjoying the muddy mess of single-track (for the downhill bits). I caught about 4 women on the 2nd lap and flew by each of them. That was fun!

About 1/4 of my way through the 2nd lap my bike started to make a funny sound. i couldn't place it and everything seemed to be ok so I kept on riding. I did a lot more standing for some reason but didn't think much of it ... turns out that I lost a screw for my seat post/saddle! My saddle was coming off and I didn't even realize it (this is my 0.5 mechanical).

My shifting was shot by the end of the 2nd lap but I didn't care - I knew everyone was in the same boat - peanut butter mud. Need i say more? I was feeling good and really enjoyed the 2nd lap.

I finished the race feeling strong and beating my 6 hour goal by 12 minutes. I really felt that I could ride for another 18 hours which is a very good sign - especially considering Worlds is in 4 short weeks :)

It's taken a while but most of the mud is off of the clothes and bike, I've replaced the seat post screw, and am ready for the trails again. Most of this past week has been on the road so I am ready for the dirt!!

A change in plans

We had to make a last-minute change in plans this weekend due to some visitors staying longer than anticipated. Test of Metal was on a Saturday and due to this change in plans we just couldn't make it up for the race. We enjoyed the visit though and were able to 'swap' races - there was a race in Oregon on sunday - Test of Endurance.

So in the end, we swapped one test for another :) Test of Endurance was 50 miles and 8000 feet of climbing ... race report coming soon!

The human body is an amazing thing ...

The human body and it's ability to push beyond never ceases to amaze me. Take this past weekend ....

Saturday I did 16 (yes, sixteen) hill repeats - the hills were ~16% grade and were about 5min long each. The intervals were on the road so where was some standing involved :) It was tough. I was exhausted at the end of the ride ... my powertap ("the truth") was proof that it was a good workout - my watts were high but the last two intervals they dropped substantially. I was toast - good thing I only had 16 to do - I don't think I had any left in me!

Sunday we decided to venture out to Tiger. It's been a while since I've visited my old haunt and the schedule had me doing a hard 6 hour effort. What better place to beat myself up? I went into the ride with the goal of doing 4 laps as fast as possible. Last year my pacing laps were 1:20ish and my fastest lap time was 1:11, on a day when i only did 1 lap. So the goal for Sunday was to race the old me and see where I landed - and not to hold back.

I completely surprised myself! I did 4 laps at 1:12 exactly - no drop in the pace throughout the rides. To set the scene, tiger is an unrelenting 3 mile climb, followed by a 2 mile technical descent that is very unforgiving, a bit of a fireroad section and then another few miles of powerlines where the climbing gets up past 25% in several spots. It's 11 miles and 1900ft of climbing per lap.

Might not sound impressive to you but I was soo excited! I pulled off the fastest lap times for 4 laps in a row ever and I didn't show any signs of slowing down. Maybe this pacing thing is overrated?? My legs were screaming on every climb from the intervals on Saturday but they continued to turn the pedals over and over like clock work.

Like I said, the human body is an amazing thing ...

Bavarian Bike Festival - Race Report

The numbers:

Place finished: 3rd

Feet of climbing: 5400ft

Miles: ~26 (20 miles of single track, 6 of double-track)

Time to finish: 2:36

The lead up:

It's been a hectic week. Fraser's sister arrived late Wednesday night and left early Thursday AM (she was over-nighting on her way to the Seattle airport), reviews were due at work this week, and of course there was the usual life and work stuff going on.

There is no better way to get through a week like that than to look forward to a day of bike racing on Saturday. We had never been to Leavenworth but heard the riding was fantastic and the town was pretty cool. We were not disappointed.

We had to drive through a pass to get to the race venue and there was still snow on the ground! It was rainy when we left and pouring over the pass. We thought we might be in for a wet and cold race ... but in true Washington tradition, over the other side of the pass the sun was shining and it was hot and dry.

Race warm up consisted of riding up the hill to find a place to feed Fraser, sitting in the shade and pretending to stretch, feeding Fraser, and doing a 15min spin before my race start. I was almost to the start when I heard the loud speaker doing the count-down: 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - GO! My heart raced and i put down the hammer - I thought I was late for my start! But alas it was the men and i made it just in time. Phew. A few moments to calm my heart rate and it was our count-down for real.

The race:

There were 11 women in total in the open/expert category and the race got off to a good start. I took full advantage of the 2 minutes where my legs have no idea what is going on and I can go really fast. I put some distance on the other girls but was quickly caught when i settled into my pace. Two girls passed me fairly early in the climb.

This is a good time to talk about the course ... the course was 8.6 miles long and consisted of 1800feet of climbing per lap. It was straight up and straight down. Not having ridden the course previous to the race it felt like the climbing went on forever. It was 4.6 miles and 1800 feet, with no breaks. Once in a while I'd think it was flat, shift up a few gears, look down at my garmin and realize that it was 7%. Ha. Flat. It's all relative ... The climb started out on a road but after about a mile it went into the single-track and up and over the mountain. The decent was fast and furious. There were 3 creek crossings and many many 'whoop-de-doos' that you launched off of without even trying. It was sooo fun. the first descent was a little tentative but the 2nd and 3rd laps i was flying.

I kept the girls that passed me in sight until we hit the single track and then they dropped me. I kept on climbing but never saw them again. The race was pretty uneventful - I was on my own most of the time and having fun conversations in my head. They went something like this ... Brain: ok legs, its time to pick up the pace Legs: I just don't have it today Brain: too bad, do it anyway Legs: no Brain: ok, then i will just shift into a harder gear and you will have to work harder Legs: (about 1 minute later) that wasn't very nice

And on it went ... my legs felt empty, the just didn't have it today. I've been increasing my veggie intake lately and it seems that perhaps I need to bump my carb intake back up a little more. That or get more decent sleeps leading up to a race :)

The other fun part of the race was the 'Go Norco' cheers and the comments about my bike. I had at least 6 people yell 'Nice Bike' as I rode by.

All in all it was a great effort and I was happy with my 3rd place finish. Tomorrow will be another great day in the saddle with a 4-6 hour ride at Tiger!

Off to catch up on sleep .... oh, and eat more carbs! :)

Monilee

Our new place

We moved in the month of April and have been slowly but surely settling in to the new place. We have such a fantastic yard that we've been spending more time setting that up than we have unpacking. Of course the essentials (bike, bike clothes, and bike gear) has been unpacked for a while :) It's the non-essentials like pictures, etc that are lagging.


We still have several boxes to wade through but are getting settled. I have to hand it to Frase - he is doing most of the work!!

We have a cool yard with a holly tree, an apple tree, a huge pine tree, and several unknown trees. We have a little garden set up and the beans, tomatoes, lettuce, spinich, cucumbers and potatoes are starting to get big.

It definately feels like home :)

Heat wave in Seattle

I really didn't ever think I'd say 'heat wave' and 'Seattle' in the same sentence but it's true! Ever since the the NW championships it's been hot and humid here in Seattle. The government has actually issued a 'heat warning' for the next few days -it's supposed to reach 90F today and tomorrow! Bring out the fans, boys and girls, it is going to be HOT.

So with all this hot weather I have to admit that sleeping has been tough (no A/C in Seattle) but on the up side i am slowly becoming adjusted and dare I say it? Acclimitized!

It also means that my favorite haunt, Tiger, is nice and dry (read: fast)!! The commute has been nice - early in the moring and later in the evening (my commuting times) it is nice and cool so it's not that bad.

The other fun thing about all this heat and sun is that my garden is growing like crazy! I have one bean plant over a foot tall and multiple tomatoes plants that are flowering already ... I love fresh hand-picked veggies!!!

I won't complain - it's been a rainy cold spring. I welcome the sun!!