Finally Finding the Paved Road

Last February I did a couple of blog posts about the road through Fort Lewis from Hwy 510 to Rainier Rd. (well, I didn't make it to Rainier Rd. on the first attempt, but I did on the second). At the time, I was looking for a road that was paved, but I never found it. A couple of days ago, I was talking to Brian (a fellow teammate who also works at Joy Ride Bikes), and somehow got onto the topic of this, supposedly, paved road. Brian tells me there IS a paved road that goes through from 510 to Rainier Rd. This time I get more information.

Of course, now I am itching to do this road. So, even though it's raining, I decide to head out and give it a shot. I needed to do an hour and a half of a lower threshold ride anyway. Slowing to dodge potholes should keep the heart rate down. I figured it would only be around 25 miles or so.

I went out Yelm Hwy to 510 as I did before. Not far after the casino, I took the right turn across from the left that does the JBLM route. As I reached the place where I previously went right, sure enough, although the road straight was narrower, it was, indeed, paved. I was still paralleling 510 just as Brian said I would. Soon, I came to the end of this road. As I got there, I realized I could have stayed on 510 to this point because there was a turn-off there also. 

I turned right again and started a gradual climb. This time I was confident I was on the correct road. The pavement was pretty decent. There were occasional potholes, but someone had done a nice job of spray painting arrows to avoid them. At one point, a section of pavement seemed to be fairly new--nice and smooth. 

Several minutes later I heard the unmistakable whup-whup of a big helicopter. At a brief moment of clearing through the trees, I could see one of the big Army (not a Chinook) helicopters hovering low on some kind of maneuvers. At first I was a little nervous, but it seemed far enough away. Earlier, a car had passed me, but it wasn't a military vehicle. I continued on.

I went up and down hills, and dodged the occasional pothole. At a point when I thought I should be getting close to Rainier Rd. (not quite), a military hum-vee passed me going the other direction. I waved. Oh, I forgot to mention, I was recording a video as I was riding this road. It occurred to me after passing the hum-vee that, since I was on military property, perhaps video was not a good idea. However, I kept it running. Either they didn't care, or didn't notice the Go Pro on my helmet, because they didn't turn around and come after me. 

As for why I have not uploaded the video with this blog post, well, I didn't quite position the camera far enough back on my helmet. It is a lovely video of the road in front of my wheel. I'm sure, even if the Army guys somehow tracked me down and demanded to see my "spy" video, they would look at it and say, "Oh, nevermind. You can keep it." Yeah, it's that bad. As I was watching it at home, I kept trying to tip my head back in some weird effort to make the camera tilt up too. It didn't work. Hmmm...lesson learned.

Anyway, I finally came out to the prairie section that Rainier Rd. goes through. I was met with a rather strong headwind. Fortunately, I didn't have too much farther to go. Before long, I could see the cars travelling along Rainier Rd. Woo Hoo! I made it, and all on pavement! No dirt or gravel this time!

From there it was about another 7 or so miles until I was back home. The total ride was just over 26 miles. The section from 510 to Rainier was about 9 miles--about a mile more than the gravel/dirt road (also came out farther south on Rainier than the gravel way). Ride time was 1:48. Pretty close to my 1:30 plan.

Gran Fondo Redo

Like I said in my previous post, I had another chance to complete the Gran Fondo today.

I started out with the Team (Jean and I being the only gals). Jean had afternoon plans, so she would turn back at Tenino. I stayed with the guys until the bottom of Tono Rd. Tono is a long climb, and I knew they would get to the top long before me. I was fine with letting them go. I had a long way to go on legs that were a wee bit tired from yesterday. I didn't want to use up all my matches on the first long climb.

It was frosty in the shade, so I was cautious coming down the other side of Tono. All went well, and I was soon back into the sun on Big Hanaford Rd. The team was going over Halliday, another lengthy climb. I opted to go on Tzietzel instead. It is a little longer, but no climbing involved. I was much more interested in the miles than the climbing.

I rolled into, and promptly out of Centralia via Reynolds Rd. I stopped briefly in Galvin to pull out a snack that I ate while continuing down Lincoln Creek Rd. The next climb was Michigan Hill. I was dreading it, but then I realized, I have raced up Michigan! Today, I can just spin up it! And, it wasn't that bad! 

At the top of Michigan I glanced to my right (I was going to the left) and got a eye-full of Mt. Rainier. I had to take a photo.

As an aside, the road in this photo is Prather. This is the hill I didn't think existed yesterday. As you can see, there is clearly a hill, and that is only a small part of it!

I came down the other side of Michigan, through Rochester, up Littlerock Rd to Littlerock, and over to Delphi. My original plan was to follow Delphi to Harrison, then back into downtown. But, as I came up to 62nd, I realized I could head home via Black Lake and Sapp (the same as yesterday), and still complete the Gran Fondo. Since I was more than ready to be home, I opted for the shorter route.

I pulled into my driveway. Before I got too comfortable, I double-checked the Strava App. According to the app, I had gone 83.6 miles, or 135km. Whew! I did it! 130km in one ride! I think I will take a rest day tomorrow!

As Maxwell Smart Used to Say...

...Missed it by that much!

I signed up for another Strava Challenge. This one is called the Gran Fondo 1. I have to do 130km in one ride between Jan. 1st and Jan. 31st.

Jeff had mapped out a 71 miler that, with the addition of the miles it takes me to get to and from the ride, would give me about 84 miles--enough to complete the challenge. Now, that doesn't mean I can do 84 miles at the pace of the guys! But, no problem! Gather the Chicks! Jean and I put it out there that we wanted to do the whole route, but at a Chick Ride pace. We had 6 of us that agreed to do, at least, most of it (Jean and I would still do the whole thing). 

So, we made our plan...

We would start with the guys at the park and stay with them until the intersection of Case and Maytown Rds. There, we would regroup with just the gals, and continue on. Maria was going to meet us at Case and 183rd (the next major intersection). As we were riding along, at a reasonable pace, with the guys, Jeff suggested we stay with them until 183rd. I was a little nervous because there are some hills after Maytown Rd, and I was afraid we would drop some of our gals. Jeff convinced us that they would not hammer that section, so we agreed to "try". Well, we did it! We managed to all stay together! As we neared 183rd, we could see Maria heading our way. She turned around, and joined the group.

At Case and 183rd, we bid goodbye to the guys. We continued on, doing a little rotating paceline (spending just 1 minute on the front before drifting to the back). In Grand Mound, we abandoned the rotating, and I took the lead on 99. There was just too much traffic, and I knew where we would turn.

We exited Old 99 at Oregon Trail Rd, then turned onto Prather. I was thinking that Prather would be pretty easy. I even mentioned to Geraldine that I thought it was strange that we wouldn't have to climb to get to the top of the ridge before going left down Michigan Hill Rd. The reason it was so strange was because I was wrong! We definately had to climb. However, it wasn't as bad as either side of Michigan Hill.

We did the thrilling descent down Michigan Hill to Lincoln Creek. As we were pedaling along Lincoln Creek Rd on our Way to Manners Rd (another hill to go back over the ridge), Maria noticed Debbie's wheel was quite wobbly. She had had a flat a couple of weeks earlier, so we thought maybe her wheel just wasn't completely in the dropouts. We stopped, released the QR, and tightened it again. Debbie thought that made it a little better, but the wheel was still wobbling. I told her if she brought to my house later, I would true it for her. 

Manners Hill wasn't too terrible, and the ride down the other side was fun. We cruised along Independence Valley with Jean, Maria, and Debbie trying to decide where the finish was for IVRR (a road race that I did not do last season). I think they might have finally decided where it was, but...who knows--memory is pretty fickle when it comes to races.

After a chow/Ibuprofen break on 188th, we rode over to Moon Rd. The route called for us to go left, then loop back to Moon Rd after US 12. But, Maria still had to ride all the way back to Rainier, so she wanted to head straight back on Moon without doing the extra loop of 3 or 4 miles. We decided we would all go that way to stay together. I was worried about getting in enough miles for the challenge, but did it anyway.

As we were doing the rollers on Gate Rd, Debbie called out that she had a flat. Upon closer inspection, we realized the reason for her wobbly wheel. She had a broken spoke (what's the deal with spokes breaking? I broke one on last Thursday's Night Ride!). She also had a flat...so did Cindy (well, I'm not absolutely convinced Cindy actually had a flat--she hadn't inflated her tires before the ride today, so it's possible that her tire was just low, but we didn't want to get a short distance down the road only to have to change another flat). Maria and I worked with Debbie to fix her flat, and Geraldine helped Cindy. Since the spoke was hitting the seat stay, I wrapped it around its neighbor. It was clear now that the spoke had been broken all along. The good news was that she could at least get to Littlerock where her husband could come get her. The wheel appeared to not be any more wobbly than it was. However, there is always the increased potential of breaking another spoke once one is gone.

Debbie, Cindy, and Maria turned off toward Littlerock. Geraldine, Jean, and I continued up Waddell Creek Rd (me still chasing that Strava Challenge, and Geraldine chasing a personal goal of a 70 miler--her longest ever). 

The climb up Waddell isn't too bad, but I was starting to feel the miles in my legs. Maybe it was because I was on my race bike (nice weather and dry roads means a good day to haul out Tessa--I did swap out the rear race tire for a Schwalbe Durano Plus--there's still a bunch of sharp stuff on the roads), and I wasn't used to the different gearing. Who knows?...

Jean and I said goodbye to Geraldine at Dephi and 62nd. She was just moments from home (and it looked like she would achieve her goal). Jean and I came down to Black Lake, around to the other side of the lake, and up and over Sapp. At Capitol Blvd, Jean headed right to home, and I went left.

As I neared my neighborhood, I was over 80 miles according to my computer but, just to be on the safe side, I took the long way around to my house. When I stopped, I double checked Strava to make sure I had gone at least 80 miles. It said 80.5 (my computer is off a little as it said 82 miles). Woo Hoo! I had done it! I went ahead and uploaded the ride. When I got into the house, I checked Strava to see the finisher's badge. Much to my surprise, it had me listed as 99% complete at 129.6km. WHAT??? I was .4km short? Ahhh, CRAP! I guess 130km is a little longer than 80 miles. It is, in fact, 80.7 miles. Had I known that, I could have done one loop around in my neighborhood and been good. I missed it by that much!

But...I have another chance tomorrow! The planned route is 81 miles (that's without the ride to and from the start). Legs willing, I will really complete it tomorrow!

Finishing the Festive 500 and 2013

A friend asked me how many miles I had ridden this past year. Truthfully, I don't know. I do know how many miles I toured (close to 3000). I could figure out how many miles I raced. However, total miles training (I didn't Strava every ride), and just riding around--I have no idea. I don't really care either. I just know that I rode a lot, and I am stronger at the end of this year than I was at the end of 2012.

As for the Rapha Festive 500 (a Strava Challenge to ride 500km in 8 days, from Dec. 24th-31st), it started out badly. I had a flat and had no air to inflate my tire. I had to call my husband to bring me some air. Then, the next day, I had two flats! At least this time I was prepared with two tubes and a pump. Still, I didn't complete my planned ride. At that point, I saw a pattern emerging, and it wasn't good. I came home and swapped out the rear Gatorskin tire for a Gatorskin Hardshell. That solved the flat problems. The third ride was a Team Night Ride. It wasn't as long as usual, but we did a route we have never done in the dark. It was great to do something different. I got up early the next morning to meet Jean for a ride before she had to be at work. That was another 49 miles for me.

Saturday, I was pleasantly surprised when three other gals showed up for the Team Ride. This gave us the opportunity to do a women-only ride. We told the guys not to wait for us, we would do the route, but at our pace. We had a great ride, and even altered it to give us a few more miles.

Sunday, I was thrilled when Jean asked if I would like to join her and Ron for a 75 or so miler. We headed south and west to Porter, then to Malone, and over to McCleary. From there we did the reverse of part of the route I had done the day before (I had even told the gals, the day before, that I prefer the route in the opposite direction--lucky me, I got to do it!). Ron did a great job keeping my heartrate in the targeted zone for this time of year. I do so much better when the leader rides nice and steady! Even the few hills were not lung-busters (yes, I mean lung--legs are not usually the issue). By the time I got home I had ridden 81.2 miles and was a mere 9km from finishing the Festive 500. I could even take Monday off!

Just getting to the park for the start of today's ride put me over the top. Chip scheduled a New Year's Eve Day ride. At first it seemed it would just be Chip and I, but then Mark showed up. Then, joy of joy, Lauren pulled up! Yay! I would not be the only gal! Even though Lauren is much better than I am, I knew I at least stood a chance at not getting too far behind. Plus, I like riding with Lauren, and I don't get to often enough.

We had a great ride joking around with the guys (they thought they should go faster because we were still able to talk while keeping up behind them--Lauren informed them that women can always talk!). 

I finished the Festive 500 at 567km. I finished 2013 with a lot of great rides and tours! I was able to both tour and race. Racing gave me the fitness for touring, and touring fulfilled my need to see new places! All in all, a good year! Now, onto 2014 with more racing, and a tour of Europe! 

Ice Ice Baby!

I say, "I don't like this! I don't like this!"  Chip says, "It'll give you something to write about!" I guess there's that...

We delayed today's ride until 11:00, but it was still only 25 degrees. Not such a big deal. I've been riding throughout this cold snap. I even rode Tessa, my race bike (I do a much better job keeping up). I've pretty much got the wardrobe down--starting from the feet: 2 pairs of socks, shoes, then two pairs of booties. Tights with bib shorts over (or bib tights with shorts over--depending on what is clean). Sleeveless wool base, long sleeve wool base, long sleeve jersey, and jacket. Buff around the neck, and one on the head. Finally, possum/Marino gloves, with lobster gloves over.

The plan was Case to Delphi (via 113th). Delphi up to Mima-Gate and down and across Hwy 12. The next left and over to Rochester. A few turns, and back over to Case. All was going just fine until we got a ways down Mima-Gate. The further south we got, the more snow there was still on the sides of the road. Then we saw a dreadful sign..."Caution--Icy Spots Ahead". Ah CRAP! NOT GOOD!

First there was just some white patches. Still, they made me nervous. I rolled through them ever so carefully. Then...as the road curved...well, it was covered in a sheet of ice! The ONLY thing that kept me from slipping was a strip of gravel. The whole time I was saying, under my breath, "I don't like this! I don't like this!" 

After that patch, there were more. Fortunately, nothing quite as bad, but still enough to keep me scared spitless. I fell behind (how did they go so fast???--which wasn't really fast, but faster than me!), but I didn't care! In fact, by myself, I could coast through the slippery parts without worrying about running into anyone.

We got to where we turn onto Moon Road and cross a set of railroad tracks. We usually stop for snack/pee breaks. I stopped, looked to my left and saw the whole area just before and over the tracks was ice. Even if we hadn't stopped, I would have. Since we were stopped, I got off my bike and walked it over the ice to the other side of the tracks.

The rest of Moon Rd wasn't too bad. Then we turned onto 183rd to more ice. Again, I took my time. By now I was singing a little "I don't like this!" song (to the tune of "Alouetta") everytime I had to ride through a patch. The group was waiting for me at the stop sign. Chip said, "Hey Colleen, look! More ice!" Yay...

At the stop light in Rochester, I said to Kyle, "Just so you know, I am NOT having a good time." But, after that, it was okay. We had no more patches of ice to ride through. I stayed with the group and made it back into town. I cut off at Tumwater Blvd. and rode the rest of the way home. 

I rode 55 miles. Most of the miles were not ice, but it seemed like they were, and I don't wish to repeat that ride anytime soon! NO MORE ICE ICE, BABY!!!

Finally, a Rest Day

Hi, my name is Colleen (group says, "Hi Colleen"). It's been 3 weeks since my last rest day.

Cycling can be an addiction. Especially when there is a Strava Challenge. If you aren't familiar with Strava, go to Strava.com and check it out.

The Strava Challenge that ended yesterday was the Pearl Izumi Fall Forty. The goal was to ride 40 hours in 3 weeks from Nov. 16th to Dec. 6th. Strava is worldwide, so, for some, this was maybe not such a big deal (it's summer Downunder). For many, it meant riding in less-than-ideal weather.

My goal was to ride 40 miles each day. That would give me some cushion if I had a day or two I couldn't ride. In the end, there were just two days where I was unable to ride at least 40 miles; the first day and the last day. I did ride every day. Most days were over 40 miles (a few even over 60). In fact, my average daily mileage was 49. I rode in glorious sunshine, but I also rode in the rain and freezing temps. I even rode in a bit of snow. In the end, I rode 67 hours 27 minutes. In the 21 days, I did 31 separate rides for a total of 1029.5 miles. 

So, how did I stack up to fellow participants? There were a total of 31,128 participants worldwide. Of those, 27,926 actually logged hours. Of those (men and women), I came in 57th. Among just the women (a paltry 1,815), I came in 3rd. I bow down to the 1st place woman who logged 73 hours 12 minutes and is from Longmont, CO (it's gotta be cold there!). I missed 2nd place by about 1 hour 45 minutes. The 2nd place woman was from Australia. An interesting fact: There was another Australian woman who was in 1st for more than half of the challenge. She rode 61+ hours in...4 back-to-back rides! I can see you are doing the math. Yes, that is 15+ hours for 4 days in a row! That's crazy! Remember, only actual moving time counts. The longest ride time I have ever done is 12+ hours. She must have worn herself out, because she never logged anymore hours, and therefore, lost her 1st place standing (kind of a Tortoise and Hare story). Finally, amongst the 9 teammates who signed up for the challenge, I came in 1st. One caveat: my standing could change as people have until Dec 9th to finish uploading their rides.

I am fully aware that a good part of why I was/am able to ride so much is due to not being gainfully employed. For that, I am very greatful. I am also more than happy to spend this day completely off the bike! Finally, a rest day!

The OOA Good Samaritan Night Ride

Baby, it's cold outside...really, really cold...mid 20s cold. But, freezing cold weather does not stop the intrepid night riders of the OOA Racing Team! Nope! 10 of us showed up to brave the cold. Last Tuesday it was also cold, and we went north. Normally, that would mean we would go south tonight, but I was on the trail south yesterday and it was not good. There were large patches of frosty white trail. I would rather do the hills of the north route than crash on the flat trail of the south. So, we went north again.

As we were hurtling along the trail between Martin Way and 26th, I was riding next to Henry. We were talking, when he says, "Was that a person laying on the side of the trail?" I hadn't seen anything, so I said I didn't know. Shortly after that, those behind us started shouting to hold up. We came to a stop, and the rest caught up and said there was a guy laying on the side of the trail, and shouldn't we go back and make sure he was okay. Of course we did.

As we came upon him, he was curled up on the side of the trail. He had a hat and coat on, but no gloves. It took awhile to wake him (for a second, I thought we were going to have to check for a pulse). Jean called 911. The guy sat up. He was clearly intoxicated (either that, or his favorite eau du toilette is alcohol). He wouldn't give us his name. The 911 operator said they would send someone out. Chip offered the guy his gloves, but the guy wouldn't take them. The operator said we could go (we offered to stay), so we wished the guy well, and continued on our ride. It was just way too cold to let someone sleep outside like that. There is a good chance he would have died of hypothermia by morning.

The rest of the ride was uneventful. We returned to the trail on the way back. The guy was gone--hopefully he is sleeping warm in a shelter. Us riders can sleep well tonight knowing we did a good thing. We choose to be out in the cold, but we are prepared. The guy might have made choices that put him out on the trail, but he was clearly not prepared.