Summer Epic- Suntop

Our good friend Jeremy came up to visit from Oakland in late July, and Jeremy likes to ride bikes.  He likes to ride bikes so much, in fact, that he rode his bike the entire way to our wedding in Winthrop, WA from Seattle (the rest of us rode from Newhalem, which was rather epic all by itself).   His plans for this trip included a solo 200 mile effort from Seattle up to Vancouver, BC, then a second one from Seattle down to Portland.  Slacker.  To toughen him up, we thought we'd add a 20+ mile, 5,000 ft climb on dirt to the mix.  

We had a great crew of 7 assemble to tackle this IMBA designated Epic Ride.  Present were myself and Chad, Jeremy, Tye H, and team mates Jilly B, Theresa H, and Brian T (Chase came too, although we left Lexi to take a nice snooze in the truck, which we parked in the shade).  We had bikes spanning four decades in age.  Jeremy rode the grandaddy, a mid '80's rigid steel Stumpjumper, Theresa rocked an early '90's aluminium bike of unknown branding, and I rode my trusty late '90's steel hardtail, Rocky.  Chad and Tye broght us to 21st century with Chad's mid-2000's steel Soma and Tye's full suspension Trek of the same age. Jill and Brian had the newest, shiniest steeds in the mix, Brian on his sweet Intense (4 or 5 years old) and Jill riding her gorgeous Indy Fab 29'er, custom built last season.  

We camped the night before at the Greenwater, WA airstrip (just a bit north of Crystal Mountain, these trails are off of highway 410).  

The ladies looking so fresh and so clean pre-ride!

Unicorn Redemption (Part IV of Spokane Round and Round)

After a deliriously high lap 3, I slept hard for nearly three hours.  Apparently going without caffeine had been a great decision.  I woke up, stretched a bit, had some food and yes, coffee, then got ready.  I then made my way to the start line, where I signed in for my lap, then chatted for a bit with some friends from Bike Works in Seattle.  In hardly any time, TBD crossed the finish line on his final lap, going strong and looking great!



I headed out, dressed in full unicorn regalia to mark this final lap.  The unicorn first came out to play at the Magnuson Cyclocross race last fall, and I'm sad to report that she had less than stellar results.

Spokane Round and Round, Part II

The Spokane 24 hour mountain bike started with a "Le Mans" style start, which you'll most definitely want to experience via the link below.  I was skeptical about this element of the race.  We're going to be racing for 24 hours- is it really necessary to tack on an additional 800 meter lap for one unlucky soul?  Isn't this just a footnote on the weekend's guaranteed agony?  Lucky for us, Dave actually does some running on purpose, and even enjoys it, so he agreed to be our start man. 

With a gun blast, the race commenced.  I must admit, I did get quite a kick out of watching a gaggle of lycra and helmet-clad athletes trotting awkwardly across the start line in cycling shoes.  

24 hours- Spokane Round and Round Part I

I spent Memorial Day weekend with four teammates at Riverside State Park in Spokane, doing our first ever 24 hour mountain bike relay race.  This particular race has been on my radar since I learned how to ride a mountain bike, and I was thrilled to finally have a critical mass of people in my life who are crazy enough to undertake this kind of madness.  The format was to ride as many 15-mile laps as possible in a 24 hour period, from noon on Saturday until noon on Sunday.  We were nutty enough doing it on a team of five riders, but there were 50+ other uber-nuts who signed up to do the race SOLO.

Approximately three fifths of our team, dubbed the Boadcious Booties and Bulging Beer Bellies, departed Seattle mid morning on Friday, packing Tyler's Volvo station wagon to the tippy top with gear. We even had a four-bike hitch rack on the back.  JillyB's fancy Indy Fab went on the outside slot, which made me a little nervous, being the nicest of all our bikes by a factor of at least 5, and considering how low the wagon was riding.  Luckily, all the bikes (and riders) arrived unscathed after a smooth, uneventful, sunny drive across eastern WA.  We rolled into camp around 3:30pm to find an expansive scene of RV's, tents, bike racks, camp chairs, and very fit, muscly people packed in tight like sardines. Like burning man, but with Gu and Nuun instead of acid and magical cookies (and spandex instead of fuzzy mini skirts and kilts). The race directors directed us to the back of the camping area, and because Tyler boldy wove the Volvo between the trees into the woods, we scored a huge wooded area with virtually no one else around (great for letting the dogs loose, and for tired racers trying to catch some quiet time between laps).

Lupines and Arrowleaf balsamroot were in full bloom.

JillyB getting ready for a pre-ride

Entiat Epic

Chad and I spent Labor Day Weekend exploring the  Entiat River area of the Wenatchee National Forest.  We camped along the North Fork of the Entiat River, then headed off early Sunday morning on a mountain bike / fly fishing/ hiking adventure.  We parked the car at the North Fork Entiat River trail and took off on our mountain bikes for about 6.5 miles, just to the edge of the Glacier Peak Wilderness.  We ditched our bikes and hiked up to Fern Lake (another steep 1.5 miles) where we spent the afternoon fishing, eating lunch, and lounging.  Below is a video of our adventures at the lake and our return trip to the car.  Apologies for the rookie video footage- this is my first attempt at a video, and also my camera broke part way through the day so I used some video footage from my cell phone video cam.

Bodega Dunes State Park to Samuel P Taylor State Park

This morning we were tricked by a Eucalyptus tree, under which we had placed our tent the night prior. We woke up early and heard rain on our tent, so we went back to bed and slept in-- although we could have reached San Francisco today, we decided to extend our trip one more day and take our time today. When we woke up 2 hours later, it was still raining! Or so we thought-- when Chad stuck his head out of the tent, the only place it was raining was under the Eucalyptus tree! It was misty out, and the tree was especially adept at gathering moisture with its long, pointed leaves, and watering its own roots. Pretty amazing adaptation!The pic above is of Chad looking tricked by that tree.


We rode into Point Reyes station-- but on the way in we came across this guy who had ridden 1000 miles so far, packed to the gills with stuff and RIDING WITH HIS DOG RUNNING NEXT TO HIM! He told us that the dog had 1000 miles on her, just like his bike. We felt sorry for the dog, but actually the dog seemed okay with the whole arrangement,so we opted to mind our own business rather than call animal control. Strange the things you see on a bike tour. This was the second dog we've seen on a tour-- the first was in southern Oregon, but that one was in a Burley-type trailer, watching the scenes go by.

When we got into Point Reyes, we stopped and chilled out for awhile, as we decided whether to stay there in Olema or head on to Samuel P Taylor. We soon saw Albrecht, who had stayed at Olema the night prior, at the price of $40! We decided very quickly that Samuel P Taylor would be a better choice. Albrecht decided the same thing. Not too much later, Jack came rolling into town, and his plan was also to stay at Samuel P Taylor! Not only that, but Frank and Rike, who stayed at the same campsite as Jack the night prior, were also planning on staying at Samuel P. Taylor, so we would have a reunion on our last night in town!

We got to camp and set up, in one of the most beautiful hiker biker camps to date. While the scenery was fantastic, it was the people whom we were more excited to see.
Albrecht arrived first, followed soon by Jack. Finally, Frank and Rike arrived, and we greeted them like old friends!

We stayed up very late talking, drinking a little wine, and enjoying each other's company in an amazingly beautiful backdrop, apparently one of the very first campsites in America to be promoted for recreational camping. The only down side to our last evening was that the raccoons scored a very smashing victory over us. Just after dark, they stole a bag of bagels off our table, then in the middle of the night they managed to steal most of our food supply out of the bear/ raccoon cupboard we put our food in. SNEAKY little buggers! Oh well. All in all, a great last night of this amazing tour. Today's stats: 41.91 miles, 9.6 mph avg, 2726 ft of climbing (my legs were again really tired today, due to yesterday's huge climbing).