Sunday, September 8, 2013

RSS-All the Regular Routes Done in One Day

RSS, Ride South Sound. It's a fundraising ride for the Capitol Bike Club--our local club in Olympia. Jean and I set out to do the 100 mile course. We met at the ride start, both riding from home, at the Harbor House on Percival Landing. We got our wristbands and cue sheets and left at 8:00. It was cool and foggy.

Boston Harbor

Our first destination was Boston Harbor. We've done Team rides, night rides, and even raced this route. Needless to say, we've done this one many times. But, on none of those times have we been fed at a rest stop at Boston Harbor Marina just 12 miles into the ride! 
Jean and others getting some snacks.
The Marina in the morning.

Johnson Point

Continuing on our usual Boston Harbor route, we worked our way over to the Chehalis Western Trail at Woodard Bay. We took the trail to South Bay Rd., where we turned for our second previously-done route, Johnson Point. Rest Stop #2 was about another 12 miles from the first one, at a fire station on Johnson Point Rd. They even had chocolate milk on this one! We don't get that on the regular rides! The sun was out by this time, so the arm and leg warmers came off, and the clear lens was swapped out for the sunglass lens. We continued from the fire station out to the end of the point and did the loop before heading back. 

We retraced our route back to town, with a little detour over to Rest Stop #3 at San Francisco Street Bakery. We'd been given $2.00 off coupons to use at the bakery (the rest stop had fruit and stuff too). Jean and I each got a chocolate covered coconut macaroon. Now, that was delicious!

Steamboat Island

After coming almost back to the start, we rode through town and over the 4th Ave bridge. We stopped briefly on the bridge to see if we could see Jean's Ron out kayaking. We saw kayakers, but none were Ron.

We did a common route through the neighborhoods of the Westside to come out on Harrison at the top of Mud Bay Hill. We continued down the hill to Madrona Beach Rd, and out to Steamboat Island Rd. At the Griffin Fire Station was Rest Stop #4. Luke from Joy Ride Bikes was working as the mechanic at that stop. We ate some fruit, and then continued on our way out to Steamboat Island. We made the lovely little loop around the island and headed back.
Jean crossing the bridge from the island back to the mainland. That's Totten Inlet in the background.

Instead of coming back the same way we went out, we took Young's Rd and Gravelly Beach Rd. Both are very roller coaster hilly, with a couple of longer climbs. Most of the downhills were steep enough to allow for an easy ride up the next one.

Rest Stop #5 was back at the Griffin Fire Station. We didn't really eat anything, but I did fill my water bottle. 

Delphi and Waddell Creek

So, we did all the "Points". The only direction left to go was south. From Steamboat Island, we headed back to town. At Mud Bay we turned and rode over to Delphi on McKenzie Rd. We've done Delphi this direction several times (even once at night), but we much prefer the other direction, due to the steady uphill climbs going south. We took Delphi to Waddell Creek--also not the preferred direction, up to Capitol Forest. We were close to 90 miles into the ride. At least it would be the last major hill. We stopped prior to the climb and ate a gel and Shot Blocks (we were both feeling the not eating at the previous rest stop). Coming down Waddell on the other side, Jean had a flat. I had no qualms with taking a break to fix the flat. 

Having not seen another cyclist since the beginning of Waddell, we figured not too many were doing the 100 mile course. We got to the 6th and final rest stop in Littlerock and asked how many had come through before us. They said just a couple--as we suspected. 

The final 12 miles or so back to town weren't too bad, but we were definitely ready to get off the bikes!
We rolled back to the Harbor House at 3:45. Ron was waiting and took photos of us finishing. The finish dinner was soup. We thought it was a somewhat strange dinner to finish with, but it was pretty tasty anyway. We just would have liked something of more substance. There was also bread, and that was good. They had extra loaves of San Francisco Street Bakery bread that they were giving away. I picked up a loaf that fit into my jersey pocket just right (I'll post the photo Ron took on Facebook when he sends it to me)!
All done (except for the ride home)!


After a good break, I got back on the bike for the 8.8 mile ride back home. 

Total miles: 117.6
Average speed: 15.6
Elevation gain: 4183 ft.
Total roads I have never been on before: 0





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