Chilly Rainy Windy Hilly

The much anticipated Sunday finally arrived. First organized ride this side of 2016.



I laid out my choice of clothes the night before, packed my handlebar bag with unnecessary things (per usual), put the bike in the car - yes, I decided against riding downtown because I didn't know how much steam I would have left post ride, and set the alarm to 6 am.

The morning arrived with spotty rain in Issaquah, however the weather forecast predicted showers throughout the day. My last ride with COGS was a slightly painful one. Man, oh man, how much difference padded pants make. There are times I am not happy about my lady parts. After the COGS ride I was so sore that I walked like a bowlegged cowboy for days after.

Not wanting to repeat that beaver slaughter, I chose the padded route. However, none of my padded pants have long legs, so I wore knee high socks with the choice of pants. I threw the rain pants in the car just in case, thinking I wouldn't need them. Boy, was I wrong.

As soon as I approached Seattle, the rain started dumping down in buckets. The wind picked up, causing the rain to come sideways. I lucked out with parking, finding a spot right across from the ferry dock. The first thing that happened was a homeless guy knocking on my window, wanting to wash my car - in the rain. He was carrying a bucket full of supplies. He told me he was a veteran  who had fallen on hard times and just needed money for breakfast.

Me, always the bleeding heart, gave him $5 and requested he not wash my car. I know the $5 probably didn't go towards a breakfast, but who am I to judge. One man's recreational fodder is another man's liquid breakfast. The homeless man advised me to put up my seats so my car looked less like it was going to be parked there all day, making it a target. I didn't take the advice, even though it cost me $5.

Bainbridge! A fresh load of spandex coming at ya!

I didn't know how many people would show up due to the weather, but pretty soon the entire ferry dock was as full of spandex as the pride parade.

Find the guy in yellow

Kevin being funny

Turns out Kevin didn't have to wave since he was easily spotted as the only guy texting on his phone.
Kevin and I were soon joined by other people from COGS and together we waited the longest 30 minutes ever for the ferry.

Some of you should NOT wear spandex

The ferry was full of strutting peacocks and, sorry guys, but some of you should really consider concealing your weapons. See, what happens when I'm in a seated position, your non-secured weapons are pointed right at face height. My face. And should your weapon discharge, I won't be very happy.

All the bitches in line at the bathroom

Funny observation: partaking in an organized bike ride is like being in a reverse club. During my party days, the lines of the women's bathroom were miles long, whereas the men's bathroom didn't have a line. On board SS Spandex, the roles were reversed - which just goes to prove that bike rides are male dominated. My guess on this ride is that the ratio was 1/30.

The rain was light when we spewed out of the ferry in Bainbridge and the "hill" from the ferry was not a hill. Slight incline at best. I tried slowing down, but couldn't. My legs just wanted to go, go, go. Pretty soon the rain increased, but I stayed dry in my rain jacket and pants. The only parts of me that suffered slightly were my feet. Didn't wear my goretex shoes. Oh, well, it could have been worse.

The weather was typical Washington. It changed from rain, sun, wind, and every combo in between. The worst part was the wind. There was one stretch of the ride where we biked close to the water in headwinds of 25-30 mph. It felt as if I was biking on a stationary bike. I was pedaling like crazy, but didn't seem to move anywhere.

No gold at the end of the rainbow, but plenty of spandex

As y'all know, I am no fan of stopping when I'm on my bike, but I decided to do a brief swing-by at Battle Point Park where they served the usual grub. I grabbed a few things for later, ate a banana, took a photo, then headed out on the road again.

I made another exception a bit later on.

I can see Russia, I mean, Seattle from my house!

I finished the ride in a little over two hours, which I think is respectable. The people were friendly, the hills were great! Oh, the hills really were alive with the sound of - if not music - huffing and puffing. The hills were my absolute favorite on this ride and I had plenty left in the tank when all was said and done at 33 miles.

Awesome hills!

As I thought, I'm not the fastest, nor the slowest. Mid-pack is my wheel house, but I climb well. The people that were passing me on the flat, I passed on the climbs.

A load of sweaty spandex headed off the island

I caught the 11:30 am ferry back to Seattle. As you can see, it was a real sausage fest. Not sure what's next since there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of rides in March, but if there is one, I will find it!

Oh, and the ride ended with a flat - which must have happened the last stretch from the ferry to my car. Pinch flat. Go figure. My changing time is down to 5 minutes. Yeay!

From Canada To Portland!

This year's looking good as far as biking plans go. As of today, I have signed up for or will sign up for the following rides:

Chilly Hilly:
Chilly Hilly has been kicking off the cycling season in the Northwest on the last Sunday in February for the past 44 years. The 33-mile route around Bainbridge Island starts with a scenic early morning ferry ride across Puget Sound from Seattle, or you can join the crowd directly on Bainbridge Island.

First time doing this ride and to say I'm excited is the understatement of the year. This ride is going to prove whether I'm a man or a mouse because I get to see how much progress I've made since I started out biking eight months ago.

Flying Wheels:
Flying Wheels weaves its way through Western Washington’s Snoqualmie Valley. This fertile valley is home to many organic farms producing some of the area’s highest quality produce, meats and cheeses. You will spend your day rolling from the valley floor to the ridges that define this beautiful place, a peaceful getaway not far from the city.

There are four different riding options for the event. Riders can choose the 23-, 46,-, 67-, or 100-mile routes. The 23-mile route heads from Marymoor Park around Lake Sammamish. Staying close to the shore it is mostly flat with just a few ups.

Never done this ride before and will probably do the 100 mile option. Oh, wait, who am I kidding - of course I'll do the 100 miles. Duh!

Red-Bell 100:
The Red-Bell 100 route features rolling hills, pastoral farmland and the stunning backdrop of the Olympic Mountain range. Enjoy organic fresh fruit, snacks and a fully catered lunch along the way. The rides ends in downtown Bellingham with a Finish Line party and BBQ at Boundary Bay Brewery.

As I've mentioned before, I'm considering doing my own version of this ride. I'll most likely turn around before Chuckanut Drive and bike back home again. That should make the ride close to 200 miles. Yeay!

Group Health STP:
This 200+ mile bicycle ride is the largest multi-day bicycle event in the Northwest, with up to 10,000 participants riding from Seattle to Portland in one or two days. The route takes you through the scenic valleys, forests, and farmlands of western Washington and Oregon.

Second time doing this ride. Think the first time was eight years ago or so. This time I'll be a little wiser and more prepared. Last time I had no idea what I was doing and the only reason I finished was stubbornness. I almost died that time. Of all the rides, this is the one I'm looking forward to the most. The one day option for sure.

RSVP 1:
This 175+ mile route of scenic backroads is one of the best the NW has to offer. You start at the north end of the University of Washington's E1 parking lot and finish in downtown Vancouver, BC over two days.

This year I will actually cross the border. Last year I didn't have my new passport yet so I couldn't do the real deal because the stoopid border guards wouldn't let me into Canada without a passport. Very unsportsmanlike. I mean, Canada should be so lucky as to have me grace them with my presence.

High Pass Challenge:
The 600 riders on HPC will embark on a challenging event, leading them through the beautiful Gifford Pinchot National Forest, including the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. Starting from Packwood, Washington, cyclists will climb over 7,500 feet in elevation gain over 114 miles. The halfway point is at scenic Windy Ridge, overlooking the Mount St. Helen's blast zone. this event will be timed to the top and results will be posted online post event.

I am back for more punishment. That is, if the temperatures don't rise above the mid seventies. I am physically unable to do that amount of climbing in high temps.

Kitsap Color Classic: (my second time)
On Sunday, Sept. 25, Cascade Bicycle Club presents the 23rd Annual Kitsap Color Classic, our season finale. Pedal along the gorgeous Kitsap Peninsula and through some of the best riding country in the state! Friendly communities and terrific fall scenery make this a fun, must-do event.

Bittersweet ending to the organized rides season. My second time.

In addition to these rides, I'll be doing a few select non-Cascade rides.

I'm In A Pooh Kind Of Mood

Friday!

I'm getting sick. Which sucks because I had planned on riding my first weekend ride of 2016 this weekend. But not feeling completely ok makes for great pondering and dreaming conditions, so right now I'm sitting here, staring at the list of Cascade rides this year. I'm wondering if I can do the Red-Bel in one day back AND forth. Technically the ride is only one way, but I was thinking that I could bike up to Bellingham, turn around, and bike back home again. This would make for an excellent test for the Seattle to Portland ride a month later.

The only argument against doing this ride is the Chuckanut Drive portion of it. Chuckanut Drive is the final stretch of the ride and it's awful. I've biked to Bellingham twice and both times I almost died on that stretch. From heart attacks. Not really, but I was terrified the entire time I biked on that road. There's no shoulder and no ditch, just mountain side, and the road is windy. I fucking hate that road.

Chuckanut Drive

The straightest part of the road

Other than this road, the ride up to Bellingham is beautiful, so maybe I'll just ride up to Chuckanut and turn around.

But I digress.. first step is to get over this whatever-it-is fast, then I can start planning longer weekend rides.

This sounds about right

I bought a new light yesterday, but it's too early to tell if it's good or not. It's the
Cygolite Dash 350, but it doesn't seem bright enough. I turned the angle of the Cygolite 500 down a bit and it seems to do a much better job at lighting up the road.

Happy Friday and all that.

A Recovering Pluviophile With New Brakes + Tom Hardy

I lied. I don't often lie, but I find that I have.

Let's back up a bit first to this post where I profess my love for rain. So maybe I don't love rain always. I think the rain I was referring to and love is the none-subfreezing-directly-in-my-face kind as of late. I realized that I might not love rain as much as previously claimed as I biked in this morning - completely dry; for the first time in a long while, and it felt glorous. My pants didn't go swish swish and I could actually see the road

Not only was I dry, but I shaved off 10 minutes on the commute. Not sure how that happened, but as +Anthony Pawley stated, "My Marathon rides like a wet mop" - and anyone who's ever ridden on a wet mop knows that it's way slower than riding on a dry one.

So yeah, I might not be the pluviophile I thought I was.

I got new brakes installed Friday and the bike already feels safer to ride. I think I've finally found the LBS I was searching for, where the people who work there also love biking. Granted, they are more mountain bike types, but they know what they are doing. Same reason I wouldn't take my car to the grocery store to ask for advice, I shouldn't ask the good people at REI about anything bike related.

Speaking of Friday. Man, was it nice to bike home in daylight, not to mention sunshine. I tried capturing every pedal stroke to my hard drive so I could fuel from it on drearier days.



The 164th hill



Huuuge shoulder

Deer!

I don't know what this sign is or why the people on it are deformed.

This neighborhood's got it all - even a bicyclist!

I know the sunshine won't last this time around, but it was good while it lasted. Until next time, I'll keep these two days in my motivational pocket.

Also, there is this:

Yummm - o!

So it's gonna be forever or it's gonna go down in flames

My coworker is celebrating her divorce. When I say celebrating, I mean that the more we learn about what the ex-asshat is doing, the better off without him she is.

After more than ten years of marriage, he took up and moved in with a news-to-her girlfriend he'd been seeing for a couple of years. He then texted my coworker saying he wanted a divorce. Who the fuck texts someone after ten years of marriage saying something like that?!?!?



Celebration cake

She then found out that he'd been taking out all the equity of their house - and opened up a credit card with the house as collateral. Her childhood home.

I'm sure their relationship wasn't perfect, but I think you owe the person you're married to a face to face conversation at the minimum. I believe it falls under common decency.

The above just goes to show that there are absolutely no guarantees when it comes to relationships - and it proves that the person you marry might not be the same person you divorce. People get nasty and do things one never thought them capable of. At least not that person. But true colors and all that.

On a commuting note, I am still suffering under the not-wanting-to-bike-in. This to shall pass, I'm sure, but it's getting harder and harder to get on that bike in the morning. I'm not saying I have to force myself to bike yet, but I feel it's getting there. Perhaps what I need is a group function of sorts - so here's hoping that Chilly Hilly will give me the boost I need.

Looking forward to this

I also am more than a little paranoid about flats, which doesn't help either with the wanting to bike. I thought myself immune towards flats for months so I'll admit it caught me completely off guard - which I know is silly since getting flats now and again is as par for the course as you can get. I admit that I'm slightly obsessed about flats, probably more so than I ought to be.

I am a creature of convenience, which seems an oxymoron, being that I love biking so much (well, usually I do). I am, though, and getting flats certainly doesn't fit the category. The furthest I will go to "roughing it" is spending a night at a motel instead of a tent. My body is just so not made for the outdoors and the outdoors feels the same way about me. I am deathly allergic to mosquito bites and if there's ten people in a tent and me (big tent), you can bet your ass I'm the only one ending up covered in bites.

Which is why I sadly won't do RAW, even though I would love to do the ride itself. Bike across America, you say? Well, there is indoor sleeping for that.

Every Damn Pebble - Tire Review Plus STP!

Specialized Armadillo Elite

No more flats yet (knock on wood and no more black cats crossing) - I have named the black cat in question Flat Cat - but holy shit I can feel every little pebble in the road on these tires.

Since I haven't really biked on the road with the Armadillos yet, I won't comment on that part of it, but as far as my commute goes, they are not exactly smooth. I can feel every little bump or rock and as far as handling goes I'll give them a B-. And we all know that they didn't exactly last long before I got a flat, but that wasn't really the tires fault. I think.

When I say I haven't biked on the road, I mean I haven't taken these tires out on longer rides. I'm thinking their road debut will be Chilly Hilly in a month.

But as the guy in the store said when I bought them; these are winter tires so maybe they aren't meant to be comfortable.



I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!

I have just registered for the STP - or as my coworker thought I said - my STD. She was wondering why I had to register that and perhaps thought that it was a little TMI. I don't know why she would think an STD would bring on that level of excitement, but then again being diagnosed with Herpes might have been my life long dream. There are stranger things.

Anywho, I am excited and can already picture sun and summer bike riding. I didn't buy any of their gear.

On a non-bike related note, I finally got around to see Hunger Games last night. Wasted time. Storyline was too rushed - especially after all that build-up of the three previous installments of the series.

While You Were Freezing

I registered for the first official bike ride yesterday. I say official because there was no end to my bike season.

I'm excited and a little worried. With Cascade rides, the number of asshats tend to rise drastically. All though I doubt anything will top the asshattery that took place when I did PROS with COGS. 

The Group Ride Asshat Scale

Apparently "asshattery" isn't a real word and I was too lazy to turn off the auto correct. Probably shouldn't quit my day job to pursue a career in graphic design.

My experience so far with Cascade rides has been that there are a lot of weekend warriors mixed with matching spandex subgroups. The "look at us, we are matching condoms".  As a sign of my distaste for the kind, I think I will wear mismatching socks. Maybe I can even start a movement. Our secret member sign will be mismatching socks. Then all we have to do is exchange knowing looks.

No matchy-matchy

Speaking of form - or the lack of, I am curious to see what the almost five months of commuting since Kitsap Color Classic has done for mine. And this is the exciting part - to find out what a difference a few months make. See, I can't really tell from commuting since I make a point of biking slow enough to not sweat.

I've missed seeing other bikers. All matching spandex hating aside, there's just something about biking with other people. Not with other people necessarily, because I'm really not a social cyclist - which is why organized rides are a great fit for me. In this setting I can choose to bike "alone" or I can interact with others.

This morning I actually saw two other bike commuters - the first ones I've seen since November. Apparently people have started thawing, but while you were freezing - I was still biking.

In Another Life

For as long as I can remember I knew I wanted to be something that had to do with law enforcement. As I grew older, my choice came down to either a lawyer or a police officer. I didn't become a lawyer. But law enforcement wasn't what I thought it would be. As much as I wanted to serve and do good, it ended up being soul sucking and nearly destroying my faith in humanity. I left before I wouldn't recognize myself anymore. I left, and never looked back - until now.

I suspect I might be going through an early midlife crisis of sorts as I've never been one for looking back. It's not that I question my choices per se, but it's like I'm taking stock of them and asking very quietly "what if". I'm not even going to talk about regrets because that's more of a death bed activity in my opinion, not to mention a pointless exercise. You get what you get and you don't throw a fit.

Hubby and I have a rule. If one of us suggests an activity the other person doesn't feel like doing, that person can't say no without coming up with at least two other suggestions. This is a rule I've applied in life as well - long before I met hubby. If I can't do something anymore, I have to come up with at least two realistic alternatives before I can throw in the towel. So when I realized law enforcement wasn't for me anymore, I had to come up with alternatives - and landed on health care.



Nice and warm but sad

As I went through some old stuff a while back, very early spring cleaning or whatever, I came across a box that contained old work attire. A couple of the jackets have come in handy lately. The one above and the dress jacket. Both extremely warm and windproof. The one above is even waterproof. I checked with the local branch and it's ok to wear both as long as I don't start directing traffic. Not bloody likely. However, looking through that box got me all nostalgic. Funny how the bad stuff seems to fade over time and the good memories linger. What I now remember is the camaraderie and strange encounters with the public and not the heart wrenching quagmire of people you wanted so badly to help but couldn't.

What I've also found is that my knowledge of traffic laws are lacking. Sure, some laws are universal but it's an entire different story being on a bike then walking the streets/driving a car. Perhaps I should have been a bike cop. I might have lasted longer had I chosen that (bike) path.

To end on a non navel contemplating note: My commute in this morning was cold but dry, just the way I like it. I feared slick roads but nada. The dry roads made for a pine needle less ride, meaning my bike wasn't covered in them post ride - which is when my good ol' tools come in handy.

Great tools for bike cleaning!

Yes, I still stand by my tools - and as a bonus I can test my bike for STDs.

I am contemplating participation in the Northwest Harvest Fundraiser Ride this year but haven't decided yet. My participation depends on how much prep work I have to do for the dinner we're hosting this year. We're doing the whole thing including a brined turkey, green beans, multiple pies, and whatever else I come up with. Probably something disgusting involving jello and marshmallows.

Busy Weekend - Volunteering And Kitsap Color Classic

WOW! I really didn't think anything could top WAVE, but Kitsap Color Classic was nothing short of spectacular. The weather was perfect, crisp, cool and sunny. I'll get back to this later in the post, but first: Volunteering for Cascade.

The event was a lunch for the big donors at their new office at Sandpoint. Gorgeous location with views of the marina and Lake Washington.




I biked to and from, being that it's a bicycle club and all. 60 miles. A good stretch in some rain. It wouldn't have been a true Cascade event without.

The view from the front

The band

Fancy bike rack

Lake Washington

I'm not entirely sure why I'm volunteering at this point because I have decided to buy a season pass come next year, which makes the "24 hours of volunteering will get you a free ride" redundant. Oh, and I just realized I haven't told you about the best part of this gig yet!

Obviously there was food at the lunch, but there was also ice cream in the form of a hired ice cream truck whose name I will leave out. I was hanging out in the kitchen during the lunch and speeches so I finished eating first. I decided to have an ice cream and went out to the truck. The first thing I noticed was the non existent skirt length of the girl in the truck. Her butt was at my eye level being that the truck was elevated. I figured this in combination with her skimpy skirt couldn't possibly be good and I was right. As she bent down in the freezer to scoop up ice cream, I found myself almost blind. The view left nothing to the imagination and I didn't know if I should tip her in singles or not.

Instead of just getting an ice cream, I got dessert and a show. I didn't tell anyone about this as I figured others would - which they did. The stripper/ice cream scooper got a talking to and had to scoop from the side.

Kitsap Color Classic

 

WOW! Wow wow wow. What can I say. The ride was spectacular. From start to finish.

 

Oddly enough, I wasn't sold on going - even the night before. But, knowing myself, I knew I would end up going anyway so I set my alarm for 6 am, giving me enough time to pack and get going. I hadn't even pre-registered, which was a first.

 

High spandex factor in Edmonds

The guy in blue is holding my bike

Bikes on a ferry - not snakes

Nice ferry staff

Helmets invading the ferry

Anxiously waiting the start of the ride at Kingston

 

Up, I got, packed my gear, and stuffed the bike in the back of the car and headed up to Edmonds. I paid my registration, fastened my bib, and headed down to the ferry dock, which was starting to fill up with riders. I have to give thanks to the ferry crew here for making the ride over flawless and enjoyable. I had planned on riding with a guy, Dave, I met at PROS a couple of weeks back, but didn't know if he was taking the ferry or driving up from Tacoma on the other side. I found him on the ferry. Or rather, he found me.

 

He was riding with another guy, named Eric, so the three of us rode together. Poor Eric was riding a mountain bike/hybrid and we were planning on riding a 14-16 miles pace. He decided to retire the hybrid after the ride was over. Dave was saying that a road bike would make it seem as if he was traveling 10 miles per hour while standing still compared to his current ride.

 

Cascade wasn't kidding when they said the ride starts as soon as you get off the ferry. I did the longest ride option (of course I did).

 

 Combination Hansville + Poulsbo Loop

57 miles

3,844 feet of climbing

Order is: Hansville to Poulsbo then Ferry   



If you love climbs as much as I do, this is the perfect ride. Incidentally, the only food stop we stopped at was the gazebo where I got married at. We took a group photo of our newly founded team.



 

Turns out the man downstairs did the ride as well.

Rider 666

I know I've said that I'm not the stop and smell the roses kind of gal, but this time I couldn't help but notice the breathtaking scenery along the route. I regret not taking more pictures, but I didn't want to get off my bike more than I had to. I wouldn't be me if I didn't make a couple of dietary mistakes. This time it was the repeat offender hydration, but also nourishment.

We were about 30 miles into the ride when my legs started not working well. We were at a slight incline, but not a very steep one. However, I just couldn't seem to get my legs to work properly, then it dawned on me that since we skipped the food stop at Kitsap Bank I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. Not good. I wolfed down three Cliff gels, which made it possible to make it to the Poulsbo food stop.

I'm such a moron when it comes to eating properly while riding. Need to work on that one.

I will definitely do this ride again. It's convenient - 30 minutes from my home, and the ferry ride is a definite bonus. We did the ride in a little under 4 hours, averaging 15 miles per hour. Yeay Team Wheels!

Bikes and Rain El Norte

I volunteered for Cascade this Sunday and Seattle proved to be true to form. While Saturday was beautiful and sunny, Sunday not so much so. I arrived a little late due to a combo of reading the start time wrong and being lame for doing so. First time volunteering and being late. Awesome.

When I told my coworker last week that I was volunteering for Cascade, she responded by staring at me. Eventually she asked me why. I told her it felt great giving back. She kept staring at me so I finally admitted that by putting in 24 hours of volunteering, I would get a free race next year. "There's the Bike Chick I know", she responded. What can I say, I might not be as convincingly altruistic as I think I am.

I figured I'd bike to the brewery I was to (wo)man the bike racks at. The weather forecast said 20% chance of rain. Just to be safer rather than sorry, I put on my goretex waterproof shoes and my wool socks so my feet wouldn't spend a day cold and wet. What I hadn't factored in was that without a front fender and being gaiter less, I was giving water plenty of opportunities to get into my shoes and zero chance of getting out.

Great invention - if only I had these

20% of rain, my ass. It was already misty as I rolled out from home. By the time I reached Lake Sammamish, it was pouring down buckets. My poor feet were soaking wet within minutes. I guess I can put "not a great planner" on my list of qualities. Well, I had no time to spend worrying about wet feet as I was already late. I biked as fast as I could, averaging 18 miles/hr. One hour into my 22 mile ride to my destination, I was already late so I pulled over and called my contact. She told me not to worry. I arrived 15 minutes late.

A couple of people were already putting together the bike racks, so I joined them. I got my volunteer shirt, which was extremely orange. If I ever want to volunteer as a traffic cone, I've got the shirt for it now.

Since the weather was pretty shitty by now, I didn't think turnout would be high. I was wrong. Not sure if it's people's craving for beer, or collective suffering, but showed up they did - in droves. I attempted to be the missing sunshine by thanking people for showing up and smiling. Both things I try to leave at work. Smiling makes my face hurt.

The people at Cascade offered up their van for us to sit in. And so we did. I spent most of my time doing my best hobo imitation and less like a child molester in the back of that van.

By 1:30, I was done volunteering. Hubby showed up and had a beer, then we headed back together in his car. I didn't feel like biking in my personal matching foot baths. Ah, Seattle, gotta love the rain.

High Pass Challenge

I did it - and I think that's very descriptive for most women who do this ride. As a fellow female rider said; "Most women who do this ride do it to see if they can do it, whereas most men do it to prove that they are - in fact, MEN".

I have never done anything close to these kinds of elevations before but being that I commute daily with a pretty solid hill towards the end, I figured it was worth a shot. I've also done a few long rides the past month, all well over 100 miles. I also googled the ride - A LOT. I even watched the full length youtube videos someone has posted. Not the entire eight hours or so, but enough so I thought myself prepared.

I also found this hilarious guide to climbing grades by Fat Cyclist.

However, no one really said anything about how one knows if one is prepared enough to pull this off. There were a lot of bragging blogs about having finished (another one added...), and how fast one was able to finish, but nothing very helpful for my purposes. I will get to that at the end of this.

I took off from home at 3:50 am. Having packed everything the nigh before, I could just get in my car and start driving. The weather forecast had predicted temperatures in the low 70s and 20% chance of rain - yeah, right...

I arrived at Packwood a little before 6 am and stopped at Cruisers Pizza for a very mediocre and expensive breakfast but I needed the fuel. I made my way over to the start line parking lot around 6:30. The parking lot was already pretty full. I got the bike out of my car and loaded it up with everything I had packed. Too much, as it turned out. I had packed a handlebar bag full of power bars and cliff gels. I only needed two bars and two packs of gels. The gels are awesome! I had filled two water bottles with Propel.

The start went off and I waited until the bulk of the riders had gone since I knew I wouldn't push it right off the gate. I was talking to a guy who said he did the ride last year and if "and old guy like he could do it, so could I". I still wasn't sold on the climbing. As much as I love hill climbing, much more so than downhill, I wasn't sure I could do 30+ miles of continuous climbing.

I think I was amongst the last 10 riders out the gate. I rode alone for the first mile or so, but caught up with a group of three other riders. Ok, so I sped up a bit to catch on as I figured I'd give the pace line thing a try. Good thing I did. The four of us picked up another female and rode all the way to Randle together. I pulled once, but wasn't fast enough. Haha. Well, I enjoyed being at the back of the pack.

When we came to Randle, the group dissolved. I tried biking as slow as I could, but needed to go a little faster, so I left my group and started climbing to the first food stop. I had to pee really bad at that point and hurried to the port-a-potties, then took off. I had a full bag of food and plenty of water.

The weather wasn't great with misty rain all the way to Randle. It was very foggy, which only got worse with the climb.

My "view"

The much anticipated climb was surprisingly "easy". The worst part of the ride turned out to be the rain and the cold and not the elevation. As we continued to climb, it got foggier, rainier, and much much colder. I was swearing a lot internally as I got more and more wet. But at least I wasn't cold due to the climbs. In fact, I was bored. Extremely so. When I go on long bike rides, I listen to music to keep the boredom at bay. I'm not the "stop and smell the roses" or enjoy-the-landscape kind of person. For me, it's about the act of biking and being able to get from A to B, so I need the music. On arranged rides, electronics aren't allowed, and being a law abiding citizen, obeying I did. Ergo, no music.

As we came up through the trees, having climbed 25 miles or so, it got colder and foggier. There were rolling hills all the way to the mid point at Windy Ridge. The downhills were brutal. Cold and wet and no sight line. Couldn't see shit. Not fun. Well, at some point it actually got ridiculous - almost to the point of ridiculous in a weirdly fun way.

What I didn't see

Due to the temperature up on the ridge, the road to Windy Ridge seemed much longer than the 10 miles it really was, but I made it. Missed the silver medal by 10 minutes, but it was ok since I had been shooting for simply making it at all. 11:40 am I crossed under the banner at Windy Ridge.

I didn't stay for long. Had half a banana, used the port-a-potty, put on my extra jersey, my rain jacket, blue disposable vinyl gloves over my soaking wet gloves. I felt like the Michelin man, but at least I was somewhat warm and windproof/waterproof. I really wished I had worn pants with legs.

You'd think I would be happy over the downhills, but I found myself longing for the climbs. I kept the speed super low as the wet conditions and the rough patches of road made the descent treacherous. I used up all my break pads that were brand new. Several times, my legs started shaking and my left leg was threatening to cramp up/develop frost bite, and I kept telling it "don't you dare give up on me". My leg listened.

A little after Iron Creek Picnic area, I was joined by another female rider. We ended up riding together the remaining miles to the finish line. All though I'm a bit of a lone wolf when it comes to biking, I enjoyed her company and it made the last bit go by much faster than had I been alone. At 4 pm we crossed the finish line - I had made it!

If you are wondering whether you can do the HPC (for us in the know.... hahahaha), this is my experience:

If you can say yes to the following, you are ready:

• Climb up to Issaquah Highlands three times in a row and still have plenty of fuel left in the tank?
• Ride 150 miles and feel like you could have gone longer x 4 in a month?

Those were my pre ride tests, and with that in the experience column I did the HPC and felt great after. Granted, I didn't bike super fast, I did it in a speed I felt comfortable in without seeing black dots or feel like the darkness was closing around me.

Next stop: Passport to Pain! Or Tour de Blast. Not sure yet. Same day. WTF?

Edit: Quote from the Cascade website.

"The weather conditions this year made the 2015 edition of the HPC the most challenging HPC we have ever had. Just getting to the top was a huge accomplishment!"

I heard 300 people had signed up initially, but only 200 or so showed up. Out of those 200, 180 made it to the top. Some rode in cars back down.