SIR 200K ride report

Saturday was St. Pat's day as well as the SIR 200K brevet. This was the first brevet to count towards my qualifying for PBP. Gathered in the pre-dawn darkness were roughly 100 riders. Myself and a few others were in the mood for St. Pat's and dressed accordingly. The forecast called for 80% chance of rain so we were prepared for the worse.

The ride started out heading west up Reith Rdd a stiff hill with which to start the day. We hauled ourselves up over the ridge before heading down towards the water. After the first control we headed back up over the ride and descended into the valley. A group of nearly a dozen of us had gathered as we headed inland towards Auburn. At the base of the ridge I spotted a sign which I found grimly amusing: it was a sign marking a volcano evacuation route. The amusing part is that the arrow pointed across the street at a funeral home. If (when?) Rainier does blow that's probably a realistic outcome.

As we neared Auburn we'd already complete 50km. The ride was a quarter over and I was feeling great. Our group plowed through Auburn and began heading out into the country side. A yellow Davidson tandem spearheaded our train as we blasted our way past farms and ranches. An ugly hill quickly broke apart our group and well ascended at our own pace. In my case this meant very slowly. I've been plagues by knee problems and installed a 30 tooth granny ring on my cranks the night before. The 30x27 gearing allowed me to get up the hill without blowing out my knees and soon we found ourselves at the Black Diamond Bakery. A local Team In Training ride had also descended upon the bakery and I suspect the owners were making a killing from all these lycra clad eating machines. I grabbed some water and peanut butter cookies and headed back out on the course. At this point I was on my own. Occasionally I'd hook up with a group but would usually find myself drifting off the back whenever the road pitched upwards.

Just past the 100K point we began heading out on Highway 410 towards Greenway. The road had a couple of climbs and some false flats and my body began to protest. The last 10km into Greenway became a bitter deathmarch. I staggered into the general store and immediately pulled a Kent Peterson: 1 Starbuck's Double Shot, a pack of chocolate Zingers, a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, and a Twix bar. With only 60km left to go I knew I needed fast burning fuel. The temperature also dipped sharply and so I piled on my rain jacket for warmth. Not long after departing Greenway the rain began. Since it was St. Pat's day I began to channel my inner Sean Kelly and reached for the drops and began tapping out a steady tempo with a grim determination. The false flats that plagues me heading into Greenway were now propelling me out of it (that or it was the Double Shot!) We turned off 410 and headed down Mud Mountain Road. The descents were twisty, bumpy and wet. The sluggishness of the 650b tires had been bugging me at times during this ride but now I was happy I had them. I found another rider - Allison on a blue Romulus - and we began rolling our way through Enumclaw and farm country. We had one last major hill to climb and then found ourselves in Kent.

My odometer read 201km but the cue sheet said I still had 10km to go. Unfortunately, my legs had decided that since this was supposed to be a 200km ride they were only going to last 200km. The final 10km were a surprisingly hard slog. I finally arrived at the finish with my computer giving a ride time of 9:31:32 and a distance of 212.13km. My time for the 100k was 5:40 so I was quite happy to have done better despite doubling the distance. Of course the computer shows only riding time - not total time. Will need to wait for the official result to post. The ride finished at Greg Cox's house and he had several pots of homemade chili waiting for us. Overall, it was a good ride. I felt much stronger on all of the climbs. My right knee hurt at points but nothing like the pain I had on the 100k. My shoulders also fared better though they were also still sore. I'll raise the stem up a couple of cm and see if that helps. I tried rotating the bars up at the secret control but that quickly caused my hands to go numb - not a good trade off. Also my Sella Anatomica saddle was creaking like an old rocking chair comfortable as it might be I can't live with that kind of racket so it's getting replaced by my Fizik Rondine.

Thanks again to everyone who manned the controls, Kent Peterson for the photo, and Greg Cox for hosting the ride.