Good Morning Ride Fans,
Saturday morning found Greg and myself up at 6:45 am and driving towards Lakemont to the start of the ride. The hill climb up Lakemont is daunting because as you are driving up the steep hill, you realize the only way home at the end of the ride will involve you climbing it again to get to the car. The sprinkles while we were loading the car were making us wonder if this ride were a good idea, but by the time we got to the ride start everything is partly sunny and dry. The ride was a 100 mile loop south to Enumclaw via Ravensdale and back up to Lakemont via Black Diamond and Factoria. The ride leader was especially cruel in that he specifically chose side routes that had the steepest/ugliest/gnarliest hills I have ever seen on a ride. The majority of them were relatively short, but to end the ride on a 1200 foot climb is just not nice.
The only things of note were that for the first time this season my inner leg cramped while I was in the 95th mile and I realized I was just pushing to hard for too long. I was doing a paceline with a bunch of young’uns who were leading it out at 22-25MPH pacelines which was a little beyond my capacity (at least for 100 miles). Luckily some of my compatriot riders realized the same and we ended up taking the last hill at our own pace. Fortunately, the cramping disappeared after a mile of riding (slower) and standing up and stretching on my bike. It was intense enough I was worried it was going to lock up my right leg and cause me to fall off my bike.
I still want Lauren’s triple for RAMROD, but I was able to slog out some very steep hills on my double.
Greg was a trooper in that he did the entire ride using a very heavy bike, and large tires which put him completely out of drafting zone of the rest of the group. That said he soldiered through the entire ride and we were both able to get back in time to do kid duty and let Lauren and Elizabeth go out for a ride.
Obligatory trip stats:
104Miles, 7700 feet of elevation gain. 15.9mph base
5 _very_ steep multiple mile ascents.
I rode this morning with Elias on the Tandem - he did 8 miles! And I was able to navigate hills with him on there. I can definitely tell when he helps and when he just spins his legs (Anthony can vouch for this with Emma too)
The Garmin said 14.3 moving average for 42.3 miles, but I know we were really booking it in some places. Erik split off for dinner at the RedHook Brewery, Elizabeth and I continued until I split off at 100th (should have been 97th, I jumped the gun).
