To dispense with statistics: I rode 107 miles on Saturday, the first day of the ride, and 98 miles on Sunday. I averaged 10.2 mph on Saturday and 10.35 mph on Sunday. On both days I had enough energy at the end of the ride to speed up to 14 and 15 mph on flat sections.
It wasn't easy to tell (the ride had 10,000 bicyclists), but judging from the number of people at the various rest stops, and the number that would be coming in as I left each stop, I believe I was about the middle of the 2 day pack. (about 1200 riders do the distance in one day -- mostly they ride as teams) I was faster than I expected to be (dw said she thinks the other riders spurred me on -- she's probably right). Pre-ride I figured I would average about 9.5 mph. In all I was pleased, and while I don't think I will, I would even do it again.
dw drove my PSV (cycling-speak for Personal Support Vehicle) and acted as my facilitator. She made motel reservations in Seattle. I said: "Well, OK, if you want to, but Seattle is a big city and I don't think we'll have any trouble getting a room." Hah! When we got there Friday afternoon, everything remotely close to the U of Washington (the starting point) was full. She also made a reservation in Longview (Centralia -- the half-way point -- is booked up a full year in advance). Again I thought it wouldn't be necessary since Longview is 60 miles away from Centralia where everyone would be stopping. Hah, Hah! Everything -- motels, hotels and camping spots -- within 60 miles of Centralia was filled. Particularly regarding travel, lesson learned: listen to dw.
Each day I started riding before 6 a.m. -- which meant getting up at 4 to get ready, load the bike and stuff and get to the starting line. After seeing me off, dw would return to the motel and then do some sight-seeing. And during the day would meet me a couple of times to refill my water bottle, and bring some food (The ride organizers had both, of course, but there was generally a long line of riders at each station and it was much easier for me to be supplied by dw)
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(Sunday in Scappoose, at a dw supplied rest stop)
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( Starting off in Seattle. My mouth is open 'cause I'm thinking, "It's 5:30 in the morning - I'm not a morning person - what am I doing here?")
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( The first major stop at REI in Kent, Washington. This is less than half of the riders. REI had a good idea. They had people walking around with trays of food and drink, that eliminated the long lines of riders trying to grab some food. I scored a couple of bagels with cream cheese, and an Odwalla drink of some sort that was olive green and tasted like grass. Which says it all about that drink selection. But the water was excellent.)
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( Early Sunday morning. I tried several times to get a photo of a long string bicyclists, but by the time I would stop and get the camera out the view would change. Just before I took this pic, the road was full of riders. )
The pre-ride info sheet claims that only 30 miles out of the 200+ are up hill. -- An outright lie -- (contrary to popular belief, just because you're going from North to South doesn't mean it's all down hill) In any case there's one hill that the riders are warned of: Exiting Puyallup is the hill. It's a mile long at 7% grade which actually doesn't sound like much but everyone found it difficult. After all, that's only about a 400 foot climb in a mile. I'm pleased to say I managed to pedal the whole way up -- a bunch of people ended up walking before they made the top.
Near the top, I passed a 25 year old (I was going so slow I had plenty of time to hear his comment) -- he joined a couple of friends who had waited for him. He said, "Was that the hill you've been talking about? That wasn't so bad!" I thought, "Buddy, you've just been passed by a near 70 year old with a vaguely dubious heart, a steel knee, and a sore foot (my gout was reminding me "I'm still here." -- it cleared up) Don't tell me you thought it 'not so bad'. " But I kept my smirking to myself. There were several other hills that some walked or had to stop half-way up. Notably the hill leading to the St. John's Bridge which I thought was a totally unnecessary hill. In that 4 block stretch I passed perhaps 50 people walking or resting. I was in full sympathy with each one of them.
With 10,000 riders, I expected to meet a certain number of jerks, but I didn't experience any. There were a few events of carelessness (and perhaps inexperience with such a crowd) but nothing I thought was just rude. (Some riders I thought should have been more courteous to cars -- come on, people, move over! -- ) But all in all I felt the riders were very well behaved.
Regarding my recent experiences with flat tires (4 during one ride, and 9 in little over a week) I was fearful of that, so I carried two spare tubes and a patching kit. I was lucky and didn't have any flats, but I passed 40 or so others who had flats. A couple of really unfortunate people: one had a flat within 2 miles of the starting line, and another had a flat about 4 blocks from the finish. It would have been faster for the second guy to just walk the bike to the end, but I guess he wanted the finishing photo of him riding in.
Near Vader, Wa (Sunday) we passed a dead deer fully bloated with legs sticking straight out. It was ripe enough to announce it's presence for a 100 yards both coming and going. The expected comments: "Yummm, there's good eatin' ", "Breakfast!" and "Oh, the poor thing, it's injured!" But in all the ride was surprisingly uneventful. Sunday morning in particular was a pleasant ride with pretty farmland scenery, sunshine, cool air and only 3 cars in nearly three hours of riding -- a perfect way to start a cycling day.
And Hurray, Hurray, I finished (photo by dw)
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I was vastly satisfied! DJA
It wasn't easy to tell (the ride had 10,000 bicyclists), but judging from the number of people at the various rest stops, and the number that would be coming in as I left each stop, I believe I was about the middle of the 2 day pack. (about 1200 riders do the distance in one day -- mostly they ride as teams) I was faster than I expected to be (dw said she thinks the other riders spurred me on -- she's probably right). Pre-ride I figured I would average about 9.5 mph. In all I was pleased, and while I don't think I will, I would even do it again.
dw drove my PSV (cycling-speak for Personal Support Vehicle) and acted as my facilitator. She made motel reservations in Seattle. I said: "Well, OK, if you want to, but Seattle is a big city and I don't think we'll have any trouble getting a room." Hah! When we got there Friday afternoon, everything remotely close to the U of Washington (the starting point) was full. She also made a reservation in Longview (Centralia -- the half-way point -- is booked up a full year in advance). Again I thought it wouldn't be necessary since Longview is 60 miles away from Centralia where everyone would be stopping. Hah, Hah! Everything -- motels, hotels and camping spots -- within 60 miles of Centralia was filled. Particularly regarding travel, lesson learned: listen to dw.
Each day I started riding before 6 a.m. -- which meant getting up at 4 to get ready, load the bike and stuff and get to the starting line. After seeing me off, dw would return to the motel and then do some sight-seeing. And during the day would meet me a couple of times to refill my water bottle, and bring some food (The ride organizers had both, of course, but there was generally a long line of riders at each station and it was much easier for me to be supplied by dw)
+020.JPG)
(Sunday in Scappoose, at a dw supplied rest stop)+011.JPG)
( Starting off in Seattle. My mouth is open 'cause I'm thinking, "It's 5:30 in the morning - I'm not a morning person - what am I doing here?")+006.JPG)
( The first major stop at REI in Kent, Washington. This is less than half of the riders. REI had a good idea. They had people walking around with trays of food and drink, that eliminated the long lines of riders trying to grab some food. I scored a couple of bagels with cream cheese, and an Odwalla drink of some sort that was olive green and tasted like grass. Which says it all about that drink selection. But the water was excellent.)
For most of the ride I did little talking with other riders. I was comfortable with it, but it was somewhat odd. With nearly 9000 people spread out (they tended to clump up) it was unusual that I was frequently alone. I seemed to be in a space a bit slower than one half, and a bit faster than the other half. That, as it happened, was convenient since the cold air in the morning and the exercise really stimulated my sinuses so, while I always looked, I pretty much could clear my nose at will.
+016.JPG)
The pre-ride info sheet claims that only 30 miles out of the 200+ are up hill. -- An outright lie -- (contrary to popular belief, just because you're going from North to South doesn't mean it's all down hill) In any case there's one hill that the riders are warned of: Exiting Puyallup is the hill. It's a mile long at 7% grade which actually doesn't sound like much but everyone found it difficult. After all, that's only about a 400 foot climb in a mile. I'm pleased to say I managed to pedal the whole way up -- a bunch of people ended up walking before they made the top.
Near the top, I passed a 25 year old (I was going so slow I had plenty of time to hear his comment) -- he joined a couple of friends who had waited for him. He said, "Was that the hill you've been talking about? That wasn't so bad!" I thought, "Buddy, you've just been passed by a near 70 year old with a vaguely dubious heart, a steel knee, and a sore foot (my gout was reminding me "I'm still here." -- it cleared up) Don't tell me you thought it 'not so bad'. " But I kept my smirking to myself. There were several other hills that some walked or had to stop half-way up. Notably the hill leading to the St. John's Bridge which I thought was a totally unnecessary hill. In that 4 block stretch I passed perhaps 50 people walking or resting. I was in full sympathy with each one of them.
With 10,000 riders, I expected to meet a certain number of jerks, but I didn't experience any. There were a few events of carelessness (and perhaps inexperience with such a crowd) but nothing I thought was just rude. (Some riders I thought should have been more courteous to cars -- come on, people, move over! -- ) But all in all I felt the riders were very well behaved.
Regarding my recent experiences with flat tires (4 during one ride, and 9 in little over a week) I was fearful of that, so I carried two spare tubes and a patching kit. I was lucky and didn't have any flats, but I passed 40 or so others who had flats. A couple of really unfortunate people: one had a flat within 2 miles of the starting line, and another had a flat about 4 blocks from the finish. It would have been faster for the second guy to just walk the bike to the end, but I guess he wanted the finishing photo of him riding in.
Near Vader, Wa (Sunday) we passed a dead deer fully bloated with legs sticking straight out. It was ripe enough to announce it's presence for a 100 yards both coming and going. The expected comments: "Yummm, there's good eatin' ", "Breakfast!" and "Oh, the poor thing, it's injured!" But in all the ride was surprisingly uneventful. Sunday morning in particular was a pleasant ride with pretty farmland scenery, sunshine, cool air and only 3 cars in nearly three hours of riding -- a perfect way to start a cycling day.
And Hurray, Hurray, I finished (photo by dw)
+022.JPG)
I was vastly satisfied! DJA
