tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75413327386830029242024-03-13T04:03:23.602-06:00RANDO MONTANATales of randonneuring in Montana...and beyondbelgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.comBlogger104125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-69519551464139124802018-05-18T17:14:00.000-06:002018-05-18T17:18:53.366-06:00Castle Mountains 300K BrevetThe 200K out of Missoula and the 300K out of Livingston are history. Both tremendous successes. We had 11 riders start and finish the 200 and 6 riders start and finish the 300 (one outside the time limit, but who cares-he still finished!).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bitterroot 200K team photo</td></tr>
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Lane Coddington shot a short video our Castle Mountains 300K brevet. It was cool-temps in the 30's for some of the day, and there was a stiff east wind blowing. Lots of wide open spaces on this route.<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DYtdOXs8iUo" width="400"></iframe>belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-47201811898342846092018-04-08T18:13:00.000-06:002018-04-08T18:13:00.638-06:002018 Season kickoff-Bitterroot 200KClick <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/" target="_blank">HERE</a> for all the info on our 200K to start the season. The ride will start/finish at the Motel 6-University near downtown Missoula on Saturday, April 28. Check in is at 7:30 AM and the ride will depart at 8:00 AM. This route features a lot of paths through Missoula and the fabulous Bitterroot Bike Trail to Hamilton. We'll venture off the bike path in the Bitterroot Valley on some quiet roads before returning to Missoula on the path.<br />
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<iframe scrolling="no" src="https://rwgps-embeds.com/embeds?type=route&id=27004594&sampleGraph=true" style="border: none; height: 700px; min-width: 100%; width: 1px;"></iframe>belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-56429320129565836292017-08-08T21:10:00.000-06:002017-08-09T19:38:16.494-06:00My London-Edinburgh-London 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After my successful finish of Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) in 2015, I was feeling really good about myself. When the early sign-up of London-Edinburgh-London approached, it didn't take much convincing by my wife Brenda to sign up for a ride in yet another country. However, after the disaster that was my 2016 season, where I let my weight creep up and I DNF'd a 1000K and 600K attempt with stomach issues, I was worried about what I had gotten myself into. But with some dietary changes, my weight came back down. In 2017, among lots of other rides, I successfully completed our brevet series, which included some very wet and windy weather. Two weeks before departure I completed a solo 3-day tour with 2 days of about 140 miles each and one day of 74 miles-all with significant mountain pass climbs and in severe heat and some heavy thunderstorms. I was going in several pounds lighter than I was at the start of PBP 2015.<br />
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London-Edinburgh-London or LEL, as it is often referred, is a 1441 Km (895 miles) Grand Randonee in Great Britain. Like PBP it takes place every four years. It is different from PBP in that it is significantly longer (by over 200K), it has a time limit of 117 hours and 5 minutes as opposed to 90 hours for PBP, and not as large in ridership (1500 on LEL as opposed to almost 6,000 for PBP). Like PBP, LEL promised a hilly route with one significantly long climb called Yad Moss. The weather, as I would come to learn, is always a mixed bag in England and Scotland. It could be hot and dry, windy, or very cold and wet. The organizers advised bringing clothing for every type of weather.<br />
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My son Jackson, wife Brenda, and I arrived at Heathrow Airport in London on Thursday morning, July 27, 2017. We were shortly joined by Brenda's parents Billy and Mindy Horne who arrived via Las Vegas after visiting relatives there. We rented a house in Erith through Airbnb-about 20 miles from the start, but with good access via public transportation.<br />
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Really liking how a late afternoon start worked for me for PBP-2015, I signed up to start LEL at 3:30 PM on Sunday. I was assigned number KK2. The start agreed with my body clock which was still partially on Montana time. The plan, for fellow Montana randonneur Karel Stroethoff and me was to ride through the first night and the next day before taking our first sleep break. Our other Montanan, Ken Billingsley who is very much a morning person, was signed up for the 10 AM start.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and the family at the LEL start in Loughton</td></tr>
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On Sunday afternoon, after watching several groups go ahead, it was Karel's and my turn. The weather was partly cloudy with a good chance of rain. It was also windy, with a gust blowing over some barriers right before our start. It did look like we'd have a tailwind though. Starting groups had up to 50 riders, but our later start wasn't so popular as there were probably only about 20 people in our group. This was a bit of concern. Unlike most riders, I don't carry a GPS device to help in navigation. I was going to rely on the old fashioned cue sheet...and follow everybody else. With such a small group, it would be easy to get spread out and on these curvy roads with lots of trees there would be times where there would be no other riders in site. A possible recipe for disaster as I would later learn.<br />
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As per usual with these rides, lots of nervous energy had built up and we took off going way too fast on the hilly terrain. With my heart about to leap out of my chest, I was trying to stick with Karel (who has a GPS) when a bump sent my water bottle flying. I had to back track to retrieve it and lost the group. Fortunately, another group came along and I was able to follow and not worry about navigation for the time being. Not long after the rains came down quite heavily and I witnessed two crashes. One looked serious. After I finally caught back up to Karel, my front tire started going soft. A small sharp rock had gotten through. I got the tube changed and rejoined Karel at the first control in St. Ives-100K done.<br />
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Karel and I rode together through the night. Both of us were feeling good and with a pretty nice tailwind, we were flying. We passed many riders on that first night and found the controls at Spalding and Louth quite busy. Louth was almost out of food and we had to make do with croissants and coffee. As Monday broke, we approached the Humber Bridge, which is the 8th longest suspension bridge of its type in the world. Obligatory photos were taken on the windy bike path attached to the side of the bridge. My cue sheet somehow blew out of my front bag, but fortunately, I had packed a back-up, which I made more secure. Karel left the bridge ahead of me and I lost track of him. Now I was alone and trying to navigate on my own. My solution was to follow another rider, even though that rider was going quite a bit slower than I could go. Better to be slow than lost. After the Humber Bridge the route gets on a scary busy road for a while. Traffic was fast moving and some were probably annoyed by having to pass so many cyclists. The roads on most of the route were very narrow and required cars and trucks (or lorries as they say in the UK) to wait behind a cyclist until the on coming lane was clear to pass. If there was a blind hill or curve they just had to wait. When there was an opening, drivers would pass very quickly and sometimes very closely. Still, I found British drivers to be far more courteous than in the USA.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karel Stroethoff at Humber Bridge</td></tr>
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As I was standing alongside the road eating a gel, Karel came along much to my surprise. He had stopped for a nature break after the bridge and I just didn't see him. So united once again, we made good time to the next control in Pocklington.<br />
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The route gets seriously hilly between Pocklington and Thirsk, with a ride past The Castle Howard and a couple of large monuments. The route also goes along some very small roads, some no bigger than what a bike path would be in the USA. Fortunately, these tiny roads also had very little traffic. I'm a heavier rider and a slow climber with a heavy bike, so I started to lose touch with the groups Karel and I had been riding with. I could catch back up on the long downhills, but would lose touch again going up. There were however, a lot of riders out on this segment so navigation wasn't an issue until I got into the town of Thirsk. There I missed a turn and ended up riding through the town and missing the control. After some inquiries, I back tracked to the control and found Karel inside having a meal. At this point it was clear to me that Karel was going faster than me. I was also conscious of the fact that I was burning too many matches to keep up with him. I felt like I needed to take a sleep break at the next control at Barnard Castle, while Karel wanted to get the big climb up Yad Moss out of the way before stopping. I had a drop bag in Thirsk, so I cleaned up, changed clothes, and made my way out in the afternoon on my own.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A monument near the Castle Howard</td></tr>
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The route between Thirsk and Barnard Castle was quite pleasant for me. It was hilly but easier than before, and I was now going my own speed. Navigation by cue sheet slowed me down and now and then I just stopped and waited for other riders to come along to confirm I was going the right way. I got to the very nice control at the Barnard Castle school at about 7 PM. I thought the 1880's era school was the castle. Surely the building looked very castle-like to someone who comes from a place that is quite castle deficient. However, I saw on the return trip that there are real ancient castle ruins in town. There's a big museum next door. This looked a fun place to revisit someday.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barnard Castle school</td></tr>
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Barnard Castle is where I decided, after being awake for approximately 33 hours, that I should take a sleep break. Thanks to Karel and my earlier efforts, I had a huge amount of time in hand and felt like I could afford to be good to myself. So after a shower, I asked to be awoken in 5 hours, inserted some ear plugs, and settled down on an air mattress on a gym floor amongst a horde of snoring randonneurs. I was back riding again at 2AM after I got up, ate breakfast, and finished faffing about, still with a healthy time cushion, but much much less than I had before (in hindsight, I took way too much time here).<br />
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The sleep break did some good. I felt like I was riding strong as I passed several going up hill out of Barnard Castle, with more taillights on the horizon to show the way. This segment of the route contains the ride's biggest climb, called Yad Moss. The cue sheet said the climb was 14km long, but when did it start? We had been climbing most of the way from Barnard Castle. We passed through what looked like a forested area with a river flowing along the ride and a lot of camping and tourist sites. A light misty rain started to fall as the terrain opened up and I knew I was finally going up Yad Moss. The only sound other than my breathing were sheep bleating along the road-hundreds, if not thousands of sheep. For a long time I was alone, but as I got nearer to the top, I started to see several tail lights ahead and few bright headlights coming up behind. Even closer to the top, the light misty rain got harder, along with a gusty cross wind. Day was breaking as I finally reached the summit and I was also meeting many of the fast riders returning from Edinburgh.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sheep and a rock wall. Lots of both in the region</td></tr>
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The wet descent of Yad Moss was over quickly and I stopped for some coffee at the rest stop in Alston. After the coffee break it was a lumpy and very wet ride to the next control Brampton. The very hard rain let up just as I got into the control. Everybody was soaked.<br />
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We entered Scotland shortly after Brampton. It still rained off and on, but the weather warmed considerably even as the winds became much more variable and difficult. Scottish roads proved to be very rough. I was very glad to reach the control in Moffat which was very nice with good food-even though I didn't dare try the haggis.<br />
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After Moffat there was a very long climb up the Devil's Beef Tub-a big hill outside of Moffat. Don't ask me what Devil's Beef Tub means. Then a long downhill before a lumpy finish into Edinburgh. This would have been one of best stretches of the route, if the not for torrential rains and rush hour traffic. I'm not sure I could have been wetter riding in a full swimming pool. Fortunately, I was with a large group of riders so there was no worries about navigating. Stopping was another matter. My wet rims didn't adhere to the my brake pads all that well. I had to take it really easy going down hill for fear of shooting through an intersection. A bike path on an old railroad grade was a welcome respite from the traffic and the rain slowed as we rolled into the control in Edinburgh-the half-way point of the ride. Brenda and Jackson were there to greet me, having taken the train up from London that morning. It was a real boost seeing them.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brenda and Jackson met me at the Edinburgh control</td></tr>
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I had another drop bag in Edinburgh so I took a shower and changed clothes. I also decided to take an hour and half sleep-still feeling confident that I hand plenty of time in the bank. I slept well, but felt an oncoming cold in my chest that was giving me a cough and taking away my voice. The return route diverges from the incoming route for a while. Instead of going back to Moffat we had a control in Innerleithen a mere 43 km's away and then Eskdalemuir which was in another 49 km's. The short distances should have been a warning. This stretch would be very difficult.<br />
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It was dark going out of Edinburgh and navigation by cue sheet was nearly impossible. The roads are typically not marked with a road name or highway number sign. The cue sheet called out the directional signs to the next town, but often, I just couldn't find the signs, which were usually small and hard to read-especially in a sleep deprived state. Fortunately, I was caught by a group of four Brazilians, a couple of whom spoke English. We were joined by an Italian and a couple of Englishmen. This little group of United Nations made their way up some steep and tiny narrow roads above Edinburgh. As per usual, our little group broke up. Me and an English guy climbed faster than the rest of the group, but on the descent the same English fellow went very cautiously while the group from Brazil disappeared out of site. I should have gone with them but waited too long. The result was I was somewhere in between and alone on the dark descent to Innerleithen. I finally saw some tail lights going into the town and then picked up up the arrows the organizers set out to mark the last few turns. Inside the control I got to briefly meet the people I had been riding with.<br />
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The rider from Italy asked to go out with me on the leg to Eskdalemuir. He was having trouble with is GPS and he wanted to go with me and my cue sheet. Kind of a turn of the tables there. My Italian friend, (I can't recall his name) was very cold and took a long time get back to his bike, but I waited for him and we set off into the night. Fortunately, this leg was pretty easy to navigate. It included three long climbs so progress was slow. When my Italian friend fell behind, I waited after the first descent where he came in shivering despite being covered head to toe. The cold was having a harsh effect on riders from warmer climates. There were only a couple of cues the rest of the way so I gave him the directions and pressed on. He made it safely to Eskdalemuir and he thanked me for the help. I think he got his GPS working again.<br />
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I was really sleepy in the early morning hours so I took a half hour nap in Eskdalemuir and then headed back out into more hilly roads and off and on rain. I was beginning to question the wisdom of paying all this money to come to the UK to be miserable. I just wanted this thing to be over. But there was a long ways to go.<br />
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Now back in England, Brampton was a good stop for me both directions. I got something to eat and took a 15 minute nap in the rider lounge area. I was looking forward to the Yad Moss climb in full daylight. The sun was out and I was hoping to get some pictures. The ride to Alston and the foot of the climb was up and down, but trended up and very steep at times. On one hill I got off the bike and walked after another rider nearby had tipped over after stalling out. Much to my dismay, I could see the big hill in front of us shrouded in mist and knew we were going to get wet again.<br />
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The steepest part of the the Yad Moss climb is right in Alston on cobblestones. I didn't even try-I just walked it. The wind was blowing hard and a misty rain was hitting me sideways. As I started out, I noted several riders returning to Alston-either to wait out the rain or to abandon. I later learned that a lot of riders abandoned at this time as the conditions were really rough. Despite the misery, I was not alone. Several riders were heading up the big hill. The grade is not steep but the climb just goes on forever. It rained harder and harder and crosswinds picked so no pictures. Finally at the top, the descent was still a grind as the wind was blowing right in our faces. Not only was this hard, but my average speed was very slow and I was not replenishing the time lost resting in the controls.<br />
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For some reason the organizers had us take a slightly different route back to Barnard Castle. So instead of a long down hill like I was expecting it was more up and down, with a lot of steep punchy climbs. I was really starting to lose it mentally here. I was angry with the weather and the route designers who seemed to want to take us over every paved goat path in the area-the steeper the better.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Castle ruins at Barnard Castle</td></tr>
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I set out of Barnard Castle after another half hour nap with maybe an hour in the bank. I was worrying about my time, but many of the riders around me had started earlier and were running late. I followed a group of Italians out of Barnard Castle and found a familiar French guy (can't remember his name) without a GPS doing the same. We had met in Edinburgh with Brenda and Jackson. He was from Versailles where we had stayed for the last PBP. He was a good conversationalist. I also spoke some French to him which was fun for me. The Italians were obviously feeling the ride and were all over the road and going quite slow. It was a little scary at times as several crashes almost happened. I lost the group when my helmet cover blew off. I went back for it and they were gone. I saw enough tail lights to make the next turn, but it was raining heavily again and it was very dark. I passed one of the Italians and a couple of other riders and came up on a fellow with no working tail lights. After finding his speed to my liking I pulled up alongside and let him know about his lights. He said his batteries were dead. I said I'd be happy to ride behind him if it was okay to follow as he had a GPS. His name was Ton and he was from Thailand. He spoke English and we had a nice visit. I felt that Ton was faster than me, but he said he was really tired and going slow so I was able to hang on. Whenever a car came along I got right on his wheel and became his tail light. I was so thankful to meet up with Ton. I'm not sure I could have found Thirsk without him as riders were getting very scarce as more and more were calling it quits.<br />
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After a visit to my drop bag and a shower, I signed in for another half hour nap. The volunteers said I had an hour and half in hand coming into Thirsk and I was in good shape as the route gets flatter and faster later on. I took their word for it and indulged in the nap-which I probably couldn't have done without anyway. Thirsk to Poklington went pretty well. It had stopped raining for the moment so I could read my cue sheet and the roads seemed somewhat familiar. It was still hilly and one ascent in the dark caught me in the wrong gear forcing me to dismount and walk. Later I had to take a 10 minute road side nap against a utility box while also waiting for a few more riders to come along. Daylight was on as we went past The Castle Howard again and I followed another rider through a forested area with a tree canopy completely covering the road. It was beautiful and tranquil moment with the birds singing.<br />
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I took a 15 minute nap on the floor of the cafeteria in Pocklington where they were playing a drive time radio station over the loud speakers with some great 80's music. Drive time radio with an English accent was interesting to me for some reason.<br />
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Out of Pocklington a group of guys made up mostly of English guys caught me and offered to include me in their paceline. I had been seeing these guys off and on the whole way so we were starting to get to know each other. Unfortunately, I didn't get everyone's name but I believe there was a Peter, Gerrard, Mike and a couple more (sorry guys, but I'm terrible with names even when I'm not sleep deprived). My French friend was with us for a while as well, but then later disappeared. Everyone knew my name because it was on my RUSA tag on my carradice bag. We worked together as best we could, but it was hard to maintain a paceline with everyone being so tired and the terrain being so hilly. It was nice to have some help with the headwind, which was growing ever stronger.<br />
<br />
After getting rained on hard again a couple of times and peeling rain gear on and off, we crossed back over the Humber Bridge and bought some snacks at a small grocery store. A local came up to find out why he was seeing so many bikes coming though town. We were happy to present the gospel of LEL and he was impressed and gave us lots of encouragement.<br />
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After the Humber Bridge the route goes through a region called the Lincolnshire Wolds. It was an easy section going out with a tailwind and fresh legs, but going back it was a constant up hill head wind grind. It also rained hard some more before getting warmer and more humid. I had mistakenly thought this leg was 87 km, but when we came across a sign that said the next control in Louth was still 10 miles I almost cried. More wind, more hills, and then finally a very empty Louth-but this time with plenty of food.<br />
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Our group set off again after the Louth Control. It was warm for the first time on the whole ride. Bare arms and legs. Low on energy, I lost our group on the first big hill out of town and absentmindedly not paying attention to my cue sheet, found myself quite lost with no other riders in site in front or behind. I had some time in hand at this point, but it was all quickly evaporating as I started a mild panic. I pulled out my cell phone as I had downloaded the route into it, but in my weak mental state I could not make it work. I brought up my location on the screen and it didn't show any roads anywhere. I back tracked and found a woman walking her dog. I asked if she had seen any cyclists come by and she said no, but she saw a lot on the next road over. So I headed that way and asked a man out a walk how to go. I showed him my cue sheet and he immediately recognized Horncastle as the next town and sent me the right way (I love the name Horncastle-it sounds so medieval). Relief washed over me when I rolled up on my friend Ton. I told him I got lost again and asked to ride his wheel for a while. Ton was glad to help and off we went. It's amazing, with the fear of being lost, I had forgotten how tired and sore I was and found some new energy somewhere. Ton and I flew along, passing several riders. The headwinds were fierce and as Ton slowed I took over pulling for a short while. The effort took its toll. On a long flat stretch I lost Ton's wheel and was on my own, but only briefly. I came across the same guys I had left Louth with. They were just getting going after a break. It was such a relief that I had not lost any time, but I would pay for the extra stress.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0w7Te8eO2Jc/WYp5FLoTW-I/AAAAAAAAFSw/CS6jD28_JtIFL0JSJfJsW_RW95wBhSv0gCLcBGAs/s1600/LEL%2BTon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="206" data-original-width="274" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0w7Te8eO2Jc/WYp5FLoTW-I/AAAAAAAAFSw/CS6jD28_JtIFL0JSJfJsW_RW95wBhSv0gCLcBGAs/s1600/LEL%2BTon.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I presented Ton with my Bobcat jersey in gratitude for saving my ride </td></tr>
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After a meal and another half hour nap in Spalding, we were off to St. Ives as night fell. Now we were in the region known as the Fens. It's pancake flat, but we still had that headwind. Thankfully the wind had died down to a manageable 15-20 mph I would guess, much lighter than riders who passed through earlier in the day. We could only manage about 17-18 kph while sharing the work. Everyone was tired. Some of the guys were getting cranky and snapping at each other, and I was starting to fall asleep on the bike and creating a very dangerous situation. When we finally got to St. Ives, I didn't even bother to get food, I headed to the dorm and asked for a half hour wake up call.<br />
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I woke up on my own about 40 minutes later. The overworked volunteers were just as tired as the riders at this point. The extra 10 minutes was needed, but my group was gone and I was on my own again. I couldn't figure out how to get out of St. Ives. There were no street name signs and very few cyclists coming out the control. Finally I saw some tail lights and headed their direction. The first several miles out of St Ives were on a wonderful flat and straight path. I could follow tail lights the whole way. When the path ended we were coming into the big city of Cambridge. I came up on an English rider who said he lived in the area. I asked if it was okay to ride along for a while. I'm sorry I don't recall his name, but he was very nice, and he got me all the way through the City which would have been tough to do on my own. After Cambridge, the dozies took over again and I had to let my English friend go as I sought rest on a bench. I set my alarm for a 10 minute snooze. It worked. I felt better and I rode on. A few miles later-lost in my own mental fog-I missed a turn and climbed a big hill unnecessarily. I got back on track okay, but I was losing a lot time on these little lost excursions.<br />
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By some miracle, I found the penultimate control at Great Easton. I still had 25 minutes in hand and only 48 km or about 30 miles to go. If could average a little more than 12 km per hour (only 7.4 mph) and not get lost I'd make the finish easily. After a quick snack I was off. Great Easton is very near London's Stansted Airport. There were lots of airplanes flying overhead. The big jets offered a bit of a distraction as I grinded over the narrow, hilly roads. It was also confirmation that we were getting close to London. Navigation started off well. The turns would all supposedly be marked so I shouldn't have any problems, despite there not being very many riders left. But panic set in once again as the arrows seemed to stop showing up and nothing made sense on the cue sheet. After going down a big hill and coming out on a very busy highway that I knew we weren't riding on, I realized I was lost again. I really just about checked out mentally at this point. I knew I was only 10 or 15 miles from Loughton and I had well over an hour left on the clock, but I had no idea where I was. I called Brenda and told her in a blubbering diatribe that I was lost and probably wouldn't make it. She immediately set to work to figure out my location generated by my Spot Tracker and determined that I really wasn't too far off course. Talking to Brenda calmed me down enough to realize all I needed to do was turn around and go back to where I knew I was on route and try again. There was still time. As I climbed back up the hill I came across two men on a recreational ride. I asked them if they knew how to get to Loughton. They didn't know, but offered that there was an orange arrow on a sign just at the bottom of the hill on the road that I should have gone down. This was a huge relief and sure enough the arrow was there. I was back on route and shortly came across a German woman looking at her phone. I asked if she was lost too. Cool as you like, she said her GPS was working fine she was just returning an email as she had plenty of time to finish. I asked if it was okay to follow her-allowing that if she was faster to not worry about dropping me. Another British man came along and we stayed together all the way to Loughton with no more drama.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ch9yc9LMZAE/WYp5h9h6irI/AAAAAAAAFS0/8vWdsbb8NPAQakkQHd5xLPnv3RGRu_IHQCLcBGAs/s1600/LEL%2BMontanans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ch9yc9LMZAE/WYp5h9h6irI/AAAAAAAAFS0/8vWdsbb8NPAQakkQHd5xLPnv3RGRu_IHQCLcBGAs/s400/LEL%2BMontanans.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Montanans Karel Stroethoff, Jason Karp, and Ken Billingsley successfully finished LEL 2017</td></tr>
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As I approached the finish I heard and then saw my family cheering for me along with Ken Billingsley who had successfully finished early that morning, and Ken's wife Health. Tears started to fall as I fell into my family's arms with nearing the 117 hour mark but with a few minutes to spare. Ton happened to be right there too so in a spontaneous moment of gratitude I offered and he accepted the Montana State Bobcats cycling jersey I was wearing. I credit him with saving my ride by coming along at the right time before Thirsk and after Louth. It was a special moment. It took a few minutes after the hugs and high fives to remember to go in the building to get my card stamped, but I finally did and the staff confirmed that I was within the time limit and awarded me a finishers metal.<br />
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Never have I been so glad to finish a ride-a ride that I am sure will be the hardest I ever attempt. Many thanks to all the volunteers and staff for LEL. The people taking care of us and watching out for us were so wonderful. The controls were excellent, the food was just right, the drop bags system, the card system-everything worked so well. Thank you to everyone!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BI15_GmpdwI/WYp6EVaGe_I/AAAAAAAAFS8/1bjiVbKnj2YN2VTPAzxcsQSV1pk7-wV9wCLcBGAs/s1600/LEL%2Bsleeping.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BI15_GmpdwI/WYp6EVaGe_I/AAAAAAAAFS8/1bjiVbKnj2YN2VTPAzxcsQSV1pk7-wV9wCLcBGAs/s400/LEL%2Bsleeping.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Catching some z's at the finish-waiting for off peak hours to haul the bike home on the Tube</td></tr>
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<br />belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-7506683305570909122017-02-20T19:55:00.002-07:002017-02-20T19:57:30.844-07:002017 ScheduleI didn't do a very good job of keeping my blog in 2016. I'll try to do better in 2017.<br />
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We are again hosting a full brevet series, with the entire series being done before July. This is to help facilitate my own training for London-Edinburgh-London in late July. LEL is the British version of Paris-Brest-Paris, but 200K longer with a 116 hour and 40 seconds time limit. It's pretty ambitious of me to think I can pull this off, but I'm gonna give it a go.<br />
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The 6th annual Bert Karp Memorial Populaire will take place on the 4th of July as usual. We had about 35 riders last summer, and we had a great time. Hoping we can top it.<br />
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We will cap off the season with a 200K in Yellowstone Park-as long as the weather cooperates.<br />
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Here's the schedule for 2017. The dates are firm. The starting locations are somewhat tentative, but not likely to change. More info will be posted at my <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/" target="_blank">Montana Randonneuring website</a>. Please feel free to email me with any questions.<br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Date-Distance-Start/Finish</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>April 29-200K Belgrade</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>May 20-300K Helena</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>June 10-400K Missoula</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>June 30- 600K Belgrade</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>July 4-100K Bozeman</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Sept. 17-200K W. Yellowstone</b></span></span></div>
belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-37972231386808255572016-04-03T20:54:00.000-06:002016-04-06T21:58:09.486-06:00Glaciers to Geysers 1000K-2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IO9epGmFPyQ/VXoOdEb5EDI/AAAAAAAAFII/K7bUuIjT9ss47xS8JaIduyvTENeSa5aXg/s1600/glacier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IO9epGmFPyQ/VXoOdEb5EDI/AAAAAAAAFII/K7bUuIjT9ss47xS8JaIduyvTENeSa5aXg/s400/glacier.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
I'm teaming up with John Pearch of the Seattle International Randonneurs to organize the Glacier to Geysers 1000K brevet. We had this on the schedule for 2015, but the ride fell victim to the severe summer heat wave.<br />
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The 2016 edition is scheduled to start from the Amtrak Depot in Whitefish, Montana on July 20. The route goes through Glacier National Park over the Going-to-the-Sun Highway and then turns south through Great Falls, MT and Gardiner, MT before entering Yellowstone National Park. After riding by YNP's most famous attractions including the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Lake Yellowstone, and Old Faithful, the ride will finish in Big Sky, Montana.<br />
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Logistics: Riders are responsible for their own motel and travel arrangements. Whitefish is served by Amtrak and the <a href="http://www.iflyglacier.com/index.php" target="_blank">Glacier International Airport</a> is nearby. Whitefish has lots of motels, but the summer season is busy there so book as early as you can. Bike boxes and luggage can be transported from Whitefish to Bozeman. Just let us know ahead of time what you want us to carry so we can make sure we have room. Drop bags will be carried to Great Falls, Gardiner, and the finish-again let us know ahead of time. The finish is at Big Sky, Montana-but no need to make motel reservations there. My family will be available to shuttle riders from Big Sky to any Bozeman-Belgrade area motel and help riders in getting to the <a href="http://www.bozemanairport.com/" target="_blank">Bozeman-Yellowstone International Airport </a> and/or their rental car if necessary. There is no Amtrak service anywhere close to Bozeman.<br />
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The first overnight is in Great Falls, MT. The <a href="https://www.choicehotels.com/montana/great-falls/econo-lodge-hotels/mt058" target="_blank">Econo Lodge Ponderosa</a> is on the route and that's where the drop bags will be. The second overnight is in Gardiner, Montana. Drop bags are planned to be at the <a href="http://www.super8.com/hotels/montana/gardiner/super-8-gardiner-yellowstone-park-area/hotel-overview" target="_blank">Super 8 Motel</a>. Riders will need to make their own overnight arrangements.<br />
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Let us know if you have any questions. We will do everything we can to help riders make this work.<br />
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The following is the information for last year's ride. We'll be updating the information as we get closer to the ride date:<br />
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The preliminary cue sheet is <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_tqGCLVs-F1-yOxBkf4lFXk5WIz1RsUc7rXutWatfTE/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">HERE</a>-note that it is subject to change prior to the ride.<br />
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The entry form and waiver are <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/registration-and-waiver-of-liability" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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Profile info is <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3eQLpjYl9uEMllfQnZfdlVJVXM/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">HERE</a> The updated route map is <a href="https://ridewithgps.com/routes/8527119" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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There will no-doubt be minor tweaks to the cue sheet and route map before we get to the start, but this will give riders a good idea of what they're in for. For more information, or if you have any questions, feel free to join and post on our <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/montana-randonneurs" target="_blank">Montana Randonneurs</a> google group.<br />
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belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-11804109390327690372015-08-30T22:18:00.004-06:002015-08-31T13:06:11.297-06:00Paris-Brest-Paris 2015, Le Retour<span 12.6099996566772px="" 18.9149990081787px="" arial="" font-size:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" sans-serif="" verdana=""><i>I'm satisfied that I finished, but determined to get back in 2015 and do better. If nothing else, I acquired an immense amount of information that will help me next time-and God help me...there will be a next time! </i>(from my<a href="http://belgradebobcat.blogspot.com/2011_09_01_archive.html" target="_blank"> PBP 2011 ride report</a>).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WKIPXf-XYyI/Vd5Ri15rbPI/AAAAAAAAFLU/xJPeQNkVxxs/s1600/PBP%2Bstart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WKIPXf-XYyI/Vd5Ri15rbPI/AAAAAAAAFLU/xJPeQNkVxxs/s400/PBP%2Bstart.jpg" width="325" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><b>PBP-2015 start</b></span></i></td></tr>
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<span arial="" ms="" sans-serif="" trebuchet="" verdana=""><span style="line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">More Photos <a href="http://s244.photobucket.com/user/BelgradeBobcat/library/Paris-Brest-Paris%202015?sort=3&page=1" target="_blank">HERE</a></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">It's been four years since my fateful Paris-Brest-Paris 2011 ride. A ride that saw me finish in a respectable 86 hours and 6 minutes, except that I had signed up for the 84 hour start. Thus no finisher's medal and a listing that simply shows me as hors délai (outside the time). Though I'm sure no one else cared, this has bugged me greatly. I've probably thought about it every day since. As the statement above shows, I was determined to go back and do better...and by better I mean not necessarily faster, but being recognized as an on-time finisher. I also wanted a better experience. I wanted to be in the big group, talk to more people, see more of the crowds on the road, and sample more of the food made along the way. I didn't get much of that when I fell off the back of the 84 hour group.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span arial="" ms="" sans-serif="" trebuchet="" verdana=""><span style="line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">So I got myself qualified, signed up for the 90 hour start, and made the trip back to France in August of 2015. This time, instead of going over separately due to work schedules, Brenda and I were on the same plane and we were joined by our kids Stephanie and Jackson. Since both kids are grown, this was a rare opportunity for our little family to be together again.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span></span> </span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My start in Group M left at 18:45 (6:45 PM) on Sunday evening. Many groups had already left and more were gathered and getting ready to go. It was a festive atmosphere. The new start location at the National Velodrome in St. Quentin-en-Yvelines just outside of Paris added a little more big time to the event, but it was the cheering crowds as we rolled out that made it so special. I haven't been cheered like that since my high school basketball glory days almost 30 years ago. It was a goose bump producing moment. Its certainly something few amateur cyclists, even very accomplished ones, get to experience. </span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6099996566772px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1liDLAb3NdY/Vd_cAHoTRVI/AAAAAAAAFLk/E0-6myTHLx8/s1600/PBP%2BKarel%2Bselfie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1liDLAb3NdY/Vd_cAHoTRVI/AAAAAAAAFLk/E0-6myTHLx8/s320/PBP%2BKarel%2Bselfie.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Karel Stroethoff and me in the starting paddock</b></span></i></td></tr>
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</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">I don't go into these things with a rigid plan. I think it's better to see how things play out. Some rides feel good right at the start, others it takes a while to get warmed up. Then there's weather, terrain, </span></span><span 18.9149990081787px="" line-height:="">mechanicals and all that stuff. But what I had in mind for PBP was to find a big group that was going maybe just a little slower than I felt like going, and draft in their slipstream. 1230 kilometers, or 764 miles, is a long way. Best to save as much energy as possible. This plan worked to perfection for a long ways, though groups were dynamic. Some would slow down too much and I found myself chasing on to another up the road, other times I thought I was drafting off the back of the group only to find I was behind slower riders who were falling off the back requiring me to chase back on or wait for the next group to come along. Sometimes the leaders would suddenly decide to pull over for some reason leaving me and a handful of other wheel suckers to find someone else to attach to. I shamelessly drafted off groups made up of many nationalities and languages, including French, Brits, Germans, Norwegians, Italians, Filipinos, and many more.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">A cool night gave way to a beautiful day on Monday and I was feeling very good. Sleep before the ride made all the difference. In 2011 I got about 4 hours of tossing and turning before the 5 AM start. In 2015 I took a big nap on Saturday after my bike check, and slept off my jet lag for 11.5 hours on Saturday night and Sunday morning. I woke up a little before noon and noodled around until it was time to head for the Velodrome on Sunday afternoon. So when I got to Loudeac at 18:45 on Monday, exactly 24 hours after I started I was still not sleepy. After replenishing from my drop bag and getting a minor drive train adjustment from the mechanic, I set off for St. Nicolas du Pelem which I had in mind as my sleep break with the idea of potentially getting all the way to Carhaix if I was still feeling good. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0gOMl6XJu40/VePEbwUuOvI/AAAAAAAAFMU/4N8N0M0352o/s1600/PBP%2BLoudeac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0gOMl6XJu40/VePEbwUuOvI/AAAAAAAAFMU/4N8N0M0352o/s320/PBP%2BLoudeac.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The whole town of Loudeac was there to see us</b></span></i></td></tr>
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</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">The plan to get to Carhaix went out the window when I hit the first hills out of Loudeac. I don't remember much about this stretch from 2011, maybe I subconsciously deleted it from memory, but it was tough. The hills got steeper and quite long in places. As we passed through a village I asked some road side fans if the road ever goes down. A man shouted back in perfect English that it does down in just a little ways. He was right...only it went right back up again. So it took me a long time to cover the 27 or so miles to Saint Nicholas du Pelem, it had gotten dark, and I was ready for a break. The control was quite busy, but they had cots available so I checked in and asked to be woken up in 3 hours.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">I didn't sleep great, but I did sleep. In fact they woke me up 15 minutes late. That was okay I thought, I still had some time in the bank. As I sat down to the rather unappealing breakfast of pot roast that they were serving (I would have killed for some pancakes and bacon) I saw Sam Collins from Jackson, Wyoming wandering through. Sam rode his qualifying series with us here in Montana and he was staying with us in our Airbnb apartment in Versailles. It was nice to see a familiar and friendly, albeit tired looking, face. Sam had just woken from a shorter nap. He had started an hour later than me so he had even more time in the bank. We rode out of St. Nicholas together into a chilly, damp and foggy morning, but very happy to have those hills out of Loudeac already done. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0Csqt8RkW8w/VePGAAmKo5I/AAAAAAAAFMg/XETP9kAAFXw/s1600/PBP%2BSam%2Bawake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0Csqt8RkW8w/VePGAAmKo5I/AAAAAAAAFMg/XETP9kAAFXw/s320/PBP%2BSam%2Bawake.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">A not quite wide awake Sam Collins in St. Nicolas du Pelem</span></b></i></td></tr>
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</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">Seeing cyclists in reflective gear in the predawn fog is a pretty trippy experience, especially when they are standing or laying down on the side of the road. They looked like skeletons in the mist.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">Sam and I chatted away for a long time, scarcely noticing that we were attracting a bit of peloton behind us. That was okay, after all the wheel sucking I did yesterday it was my turn to do some pulling-as long as they were willing to go as slow as us. Some of the route signs to Brest started to turn up missing, but by this time we were constantly meeting 80 hour riders and fast 90 hour riders returning from Brest so when in doubt we just waited for someone to come along. I'm not sure, but I may have even saw Karel Stroethoff from Missoula go by. Karel and I started in the same group back at the Velodrome, but he was out of site right out of the gate and riding much faster than me, as his 76 hour finish time would attest. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qGBnXxxieRk/VePGf8dSJwI/AAAAAAAAFMo/ZsbwiZqKeo4/s1600/PBP%2BSam%2Briding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qGBnXxxieRk/VePGf8dSJwI/AAAAAAAAFMo/ZsbwiZqKeo4/s320/PBP%2BSam%2Briding.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">Sam Collins burning up the road on the way to Brest</span></b></i></td></tr>
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</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">The climb over Roc Trevezel, the highest point on the route was easy and the descent was fun. Throughout this ride I climbed slow, but descended like a stone, so I was always getting passed and then passing the same people. The only person on the ride that I found that went downhill faster than me was Sam, so I just tucked in behind him and we flew. The descents of PBP were always great fun. Nothing too technical with a few round-a-bouts thrown in to swerve through. That was the payoff for all the climbing we had to do.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">Crossing the bridge into Brest is quite a site. It was a beautiful day and the water below was a glorious blue. Lots of people posing for pictures, including me. Then to the control where we were cheered at the entrance by another big crowd. Halfway done. So far so good. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O6H97owOnNU/VePG2QPWlRI/AAAAAAAAFMw/OdCWvCaT_JY/s1600/PBP%2BBrest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O6H97owOnNU/VePG2QPWlRI/AAAAAAAAFMw/OdCWvCaT_JY/s320/PBP%2BBrest.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">On the bike/ped bridge entering Brest</span></b></i></td></tr>
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</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">We must have hit the Brest control at the peak of the bulge-that period when the bulk of the 90 hour riders go through. It was busy. The line for the cafeteria wrapped around the building. Sam wanted to get a nap on the grass and I wanted to get going so we parted ways for the time being. I found a little bakery/deli type place with a bunch of bikes around it on the way out of town where I got to use my French to order some lunch. Then it was up some big hills, including Roc Trevezel again on the way to Carhaix with one quick stop in Sizun to get some cafe au lait and make a slight saddle tilt adjustment. Sizun really rolls out the red carpet for PBP and there were randonneurs everywhere enjoying their hospitality. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6UBDopUN7Qg/VePHc_SpdRI/AAAAAAAAFNA/zkChmgSy7X0/s1600/PBP%2BSizun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6UBDopUN7Qg/VePHc_SpdRI/AAAAAAAAFNA/zkChmgSy7X0/s320/PBP%2BSizun.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">Sizun. A very popular town on the route</span></b></i></td></tr>
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</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">Carhaix was picked over like an old piece of road kill as it gets hit hard by riders coming and going-not a sandwich to be had in the place. No loss, a little bakery in the very next town had the best pain au chocolate I've ever had. I also got myself a sandwich and was good to go as the sun started setting. The plan was to get to Loudeac to access my drop bag, refresh and clean up and then press on to either Quedillac or Tinteniac for a sleep break. The only problem was, with all the hills in between, and me being a little too good to myself with bakery stops the time I had in the bank was evaporating. Sleepiness hadn't hit yet, but I was slowing way down.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">I got to Loudeac at midnight and after filling my tray in the cafeteria I saw Sam walking through. He couldn't sleep in Brest, but now was in bad need of a nap. While eating I looked over the tables and was very surprised to see fellow Montana randonneur Ken Billingsley just sitting down. Ken left the Velodrome at 5 AM Monday morning, about 10 hours and 15 minutes after me. I was glad to see him and that he was doing so well, but it was a concern that he was able to catch me so soon. I felt like I was riding well, but I was slower than I thought I was. I'm afraid I was pretty cranky, but I'm sure Sam and Ken forgave me and they gave me lots of encouragement. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">After cleaning up and changing my kit, I had a couple hours in the bank. A little nap on that bench won't hurt. It's chilly outside, there's lots of people around making noise, no need to set an alarm. With my drop bag as a pillow I laid down just to rest my eyes for 15 minutes or so. I woke up over an hour later. Oops. So much for a long sleep break in Tinteniac, I have less than a half hour in the bank. Time to get going. I was starting to worry. </span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">On one of the first round-a-bouts out of Loudeac I came across Corey, Andy, and Mike (I hope I got his name right) of the Seattle Randonneurs. This was a great comfort. They left the same time I did so their finishing control closed the same time as me. They didn't seem too worried about running out of time-we just needed to keep moving. We had a nice ride on this part of the route which isn't quite so hilly and in short order we were in Quedillac for a bol of cafe au lait. At this point the ride is pretty much fueled on cafe au lait. I just wish the French understood the concept of large because their servings of cafe au lait were just way, way too small.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">At daybreak on Wednesday morning we were almost to Tinteniac when sleepiness which I had avoided almost the entire ride, hit me like a two ton brick. I was starting to dream while on the bike in a pre-sleep state which is very dangerous. When I got to the control at Tinteniac I needed a nap, bad. I still didn't have much time and I didn't trust myself to wake up, so I paid 7 euros at the dormir for a bed and a wake up call in a half an hour. This turned out to be a pretty plush stop. They led me to a room all to myself and I was out like a light...and awoken in what seemed like an instant. I was really groggy and not 100% sure where I was. I had to remind myself that I was indeed in France and I needed to get back on my bike. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">I found Sam again at the control. He was feeling much better after a rough day the day before and he was very encouraging. He introduced me to Bob from New Jersey and the three of us set off for Fougeres. The nap must have did me some good because I had the energy to grab the wheels of a fast group of French riders and held on. They eventually dropped me on a steep hill, but in my defense, they must have had support at the controls because they weren't carrying any extra gear with them like I was. I wasn't alone for long as I heard an American voice ask me about my Montana State Bobcats jersey. It was David Weber from Minnesota. He snowboarded at Big Sky near my home in Montana. We chatted away and rode hard. He was trying to make up some time as well. We got to Fougeres in no time. </span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">I probably wasted too much time in Fougeres, but it was one of the few controls with decent rest rooms and that was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. On the way out I briefly met Eric Peterson from Illinois. We had ridden some of the Crater Lake 1000K together back in 2010 and kept in touch via Facebook. Then Sam and Bob came along and we stopped at a little bar/restaurant type place where I ordered a couple of crepes. 300K to go.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">More sleepiness on the way to Villaines la Juhel. I took a 15 minute sleep break under a tree, using my phone alarm to wake me up. A little farther down the road I heard sirens and pulled over to let an ambulance go by. After a while I came across a horrible scene as paramedics were giving CPR to a rider along side of the road. I said a prayer for him as I passed, but later heard there was a rider who died of a heart attack. It was a sobering reminder of just how fragile our existence is.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">Almost to Villaines la Juhel and Ken catches me again. We ride together into what in my opinion is the neatest control on the whole ride. Villaines la Juhel was clean, had plenty of bathrooms and port-a-johns, and a grocery store just outside the control selling sandwiches. I was in good shape again. I rode out of town with a new found determination. There was only 220K to go, a distance I can usually do in 9 or 10 hours. I thought I could be done with this thing by 8 AM tomorrow morning if I kept riding and didn't take any long breaks. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gJGpVJwV0vw/VePCXr-r22I/AAAAAAAAFMM/mWOAaSiBtYE/s1600/pbp%2Bvillaines%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gJGpVJwV0vw/VePCXr-r22I/AAAAAAAAFMM/mWOAaSiBtYE/s320/pbp%2Bvillaines%2B3.jpg" width="316" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><b>A woman saw me trying to take a selfie leaving Villaines. She offered to take my picture with her fancy camera and email it to me. The people of France are just the best when it comes to this ride!</b></span></i></td></tr>
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</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">The good energy lasted for about 30 miles. I raced to catch a big group and drafted along. I met Greg from Wisconsin who was just about the most chatty and friendly guy I had ever ridden with. He gave me some NoDoze since I forgot mine in the drop bag back in Loudeac. I also rode up on Eric Peterson again and we had a nice chat. But I was starting to really wear down and after a while just had to ride my own slow pace as the route started getting very hilly again. I was cussing the hills as I rode into Mortagne au Perche in bad need of a break, but with not too much time to get one.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">I found Ken again inside the control. He was going to take a sleep break. I didn't have the time for a proper sleep, but did put my head on the table for 15 minutes. Then it was time to get up and get going again. The dream of finishing early was out the window. Now I just wanted to get done within the time limit.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">The road out of Mortagne au Perch was the hardest of the trip. I wasn't thinking clearly and starting to dream on the bike again. I took a sleep on the side of the road and a little later on a sidewalk in a small town. A road side stand miraculously appeared where they were giving away coffee. I had two with lots of sugar. But I was still having trouble shaking sleep.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">Then it started to rain. Just a light drizzle at first but then a pretty healthy down pour. The weather had been so perfect the whole ride, why did it have to rain now! I was mad and getting worried. My progress since Mortagne au Perch had been slow due to the cat naps and coffee breaks. In working out the math it looked like I could be in danger of being late into the final control (note to self, stop trying to do math when you're sleep deprived. You screw it up every time). I went into emergency time trial mode as the morning came and the rains fell. I cursed it at the time, but I think the rain was a huge benefit. I was wet, but I wasn't at all cold and I got to the penultimate control at Dreux wide awake. I had about an hour in the bank, but didn't think there was time to get any food at the control. Fortunately I remembered I had a serving of soy protein powder in my bag, so I put that in a water bottle and took off. It actually didn't taste terrible-in fact it was kinda good.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">I really was worried. I thought back to the last 60 km stretch in 2011. There were some big hills that I had to walk up. So I shot out of Dreux as fast as I could. After a big climb out of town the route zigs and zags across some open countryside. It's pretty flat at first so I put the hammer down with two Germans on my wheel. After pulling for a long time I slowed down and the Germans took over. I grabbed their wheel and pedaled for all I was worth. We rolled up on the some familiar looking blue Seattle Randonneurs shirts. It was Andy, Corey, and Mike, again along with Jeff Loomis. And again they didn't seem at all worried. I calmed down considerably, looked at the time and the distance and realized I was fine. When the big climbs in the Forest of Rambouillet came I motored right up, no need for walking. We chatted along as the route seemed to wander in every direction. Finally we started getting in the outskirts of Paris and the the surroundings started to look familiar. A few stop lights and a few round-a-bouts and the big buildings in Montigny le Bretonneux came into view. We got on a path and the Velodrome appeared. A small crowd cheered as we followed the path to cross the chip reader. My family was running across the parking lot to greet me with a big hug. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_yP0fq7E9MY/VePJKoPD6UI/AAAAAAAAFNQ/Q658bJkEx2o/s1600/PBP%2Bfinish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_yP0fq7E9MY/VePJKoPD6UI/AAAAAAAAFNQ/Q658bJkEx2o/s320/PBP%2Bfinish.jpg" width="176" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">Big finish line hug from Brenda</span></b></i></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">I did it. I was in time. I was finally an official finisher of Paris-Brest-Paris!</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">I couldn't believe how good I felt. I wasn't sore or sleepy. Just happy and relieved. I even had the energy to ride my bike back to Versailles after enjoying some of the festivities in the Velodrome and grabbing a quick shower.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mdaI16dIk9Y/VePJkzEAAqI/AAAAAAAAFNY/JupWKxUU7dY/s1600/PBP%2Bfamily%2Bfinsih.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mdaI16dIk9Y/VePJkzEAAqI/AAAAAAAAFNY/JupWKxUU7dY/s320/PBP%2Bfamily%2Bfinsih.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">The Champagne was a nice touch. Thanks family!</span></b></i></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">I am so thankful for all those who encouraged me along the way. I was so motivated not to let them down. Finishing PBP is a moment I won't ever forget. Sharing that moment with my family-we'll you really can't ask for better than that!</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">Congrats to my guys-the guys who rode our Montana qualifying series. Karel, Ken, Sam and myself all had successful PBP's. A 100% record to help the American cause! <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YLyy5n-j_9w/VePIczt23DI/AAAAAAAAFNI/i_gqWCQ710s/s1600/PBP%2BKen%2Band%2BHeath%2Bfinish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YLyy5n-j_9w/VePIczt23DI/AAAAAAAAFNI/i_gqWCQ710s/s320/PBP%2BKen%2Band%2BHeath%2Bfinish.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">Ken Billingsley with his wife Heath at the finish. Ken got done in 80 hours for his 7th PBP.</span></b></i></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">A few random thoughts:</span><br />
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<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">My time of 87:59 was almost two hours slower than my time in 2011. However, I'm sure my riding time was faster in 2015. I don't know for sure because the wrong push of a button on my bike computer destroyed that data. The difference can be explained in the extra waiting I had to do at the controls. In 2011 I was so far behind that there were no crowds and no waiting, in 2015 there was a line for most everything-especially the restrooms. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">A fast time wasn't a big concern for me. I stated before the ride that I would be completely satisfied if my finish time was 89 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds. I wanted to enjoy the ride and everything about it. I definitely was successful in that.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">I got nervous toward the end, but I always had some time in the bank (meaning time before the control closed) to sit down eat something or stop at a bakery or coffee stand along the way. I probably should have tried to be more efficient earlier so I could have gotten one more multi-hour sleep break after Loudeac on the way back.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">I was always hungry. This is a very good sign. It means everything is working as it should. Whenever I've lost my appetite on these long rides my performance suffers and it can lead to a DNF. On PBP I'd eat a bunch of food and find myself starving 30 miles down the road. I always had an energy bar or gel to compensate for that.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">It took me 24 hours to get to Loudeac on the way out. It took me 8 hours longer to go from Loudeac to the finish. That is all thanks to fatigue...and the hills. Oh my gosh the hills!</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">I've read many reports that PBP is not a difficult route. I'm guessing most of those who say this are light. I weighed-in right at 200 pounds at the start. I don't carry as much as some, but my bike is heavier than most and I am heavier than most-so this very hilly route that is PBP is very difficult for me. That being said, there are plenty of guys my size that do this ride very, very quickly-so being big can't be an excuse. I need to work on my speed.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">I'm not a fan of a liquid diet, but on that last stretch from Dreux to the finish I was fueled by a serving of Hammer Nutrition's Vanilla Soy Protein power. I threw it in my bag almost as an afterthought-just in case I ran low on calories. I must say it really hit the spot. That might be one way to speed things up next time, maybe using a liquid diet on a few segments of the route to eliminate the need to stand in line for real food. Just a thought. I didn't need to go any faster-I was fast enough. But as I said, more sleep would have been nice.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">I can't believe how good I felt on the entire ride-other than the sleepiness. I felt better on the whole of PBP than I did on the second half of my 400K and 600K qualifiers. Our<a href="http://belgradebobcat.blogspot.com/2015/08/pbp-2015-here-we-go.html" target="_blank"> mountainous 300K</a> two weeks before the event, and the rest I got afterwards set me up well.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">The people of France-<a href="http://www.paris-brest-paris.org/index2.php?cat=accueil&lang=en&page=edito" target="_blank">who put this ride on</a>, and come out to cheer us on, feed us, encourage us, and make us feel so welcome-I just can't thank them enough. They are amazing. They make this ride so special.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.6099996566772px; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">Sam Weber, a reporter for my hometown newspaper the Belgrade News, did a <a href="http://www.belgrade-news.com/news/article_186a5f16-4d33-11e5-abcf-d7aa6681e27e.html" target="_blank">very nice article</a> about my ride.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w3j1K698jNI/VePKAENlzSI/AAAAAAAAFNg/U6LjKx-psa8/s1600/PBP%2Bsigns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w3j1K698jNI/VePKAENlzSI/AAAAAAAAFNg/U6LjKx-psa8/s320/PBP%2Bsigns.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">We even had signs! Thanks again family!</span></b></i></td></tr>
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</span></span></span>belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-4106314819145810612015-08-11T10:57:00.000-06:002015-08-11T11:04:50.330-06:00PBP-2015 Here We GoI don't know if I'm ready for <a href="http://www.paris-brest-paris.org/index2.php?cat=accueil&lang=en&page=edito" target="_blank">Paris-Brest-Paris</a>. I don't think any cyclist ever thinks they are perfectly trained for a big ride, but it's going to happen anyway.<br />
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We got in some solid training in July and early August, focusing on climbing. There are no mountain passes on PBP. I don't think we ever get much over 1000 feet above sea level. But the route is very, very lumpy so having some good climbing legs is helpful.<br />
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On July 18, Ken Billingsley, Ken Baker, and I rode the <a href="http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/419002" target="_blank">Shields Valley 200K</a> which has nice climbs over Battle Ridge Pass, Bozeman Pass, and Joe Gaab Pass on Jackson Creek Road. We rode it hard-much harder than comfortable.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k5KvxdUD8Ho/VconJ_1ctJI/AAAAAAAAFK0/1TWdsSF6O-g/s1600/sheilds%2Bvalley%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k5KvxdUD8Ho/VconJ_1ctJI/AAAAAAAAFK0/1TWdsSF6O-g/s320/sheilds%2Bvalley%2B1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We were so fast we beat our volunteers to the Paradise Valley control.</td></tr>
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Then on August 1st Ken, Ken, Karel Stroethoff, and Mark Liebig from North Dakota rode what was one of the hardest routes I've ever designed. <a href="http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/2944107" target="_blank">The Chief Joseph 300K</a> had six significant summits including Bear Creek Hill, the two summits on the Beartooth Highway at almost 11,000 feet, over and back on Colter Pass by Cooke City, and the horribly named Dead Indian Pass on the stunningly scenic Chief Joseph Highway. We had about 14,000 feet of climbing in 193 miles. The ride had the added benefit of being very hot around the Cooke City area-which I needed to make sure I knew how to regulate my salt intake (I need lots on hot rides).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DIvsIJNfOMo/VconjMsyjuI/AAAAAAAAFK8/NPmLeCNguQk/s1600/chief%2Bjoseph%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DIvsIJNfOMo/VconjMsyjuI/AAAAAAAAFK8/NPmLeCNguQk/s320/chief%2Bjoseph%2B1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the foot of the pass-Chief Joseph Highway</td></tr>
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<br />
I also rode with the <a href="http://www.ironcowboy.co/#home" target="_blank">Iron Cowboy</a>, did some climbing by the Lewis and Clark Caverns, got in a hard paced club ride and a 100K permanent on a Friday night after work, staring at the same time PBP will start. It was all good for me.<br />
<br />
I feel good. I'm excited, and ready to go. I will be looking forward to meeting up with Ken Billingsley, Karel Stroethoff, and Sam Collins in St. Quentin-en-Yvelines before the ride. I am proud that these guys used our brevet series to get themselves qualified.<br />
<br />
My only real worry now is that my bike makes it on the plane and survives the trip. That is probably the biggest worry of every randonneur who is traveling overseas to France this week. For those who might be interested, you can track my progress <a href="http://suivi.paris-brest-paris.org/M114.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>. I start riding at 6:45 PM (Paris time) on Sunday, August 16.belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-15608797946841312932015-07-20T20:36:00.000-06:002015-07-20T20:36:04.278-06:00Bert Karp Memorial Populaire<a href="https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMQVOUQK6hmD2b7EnjhjDH9jBcv8rcji9RvNqvZ94zurNZGLs7gG6B5rDYJH3YB4A?key=bmFZbHdPSWp0WGVFZVlXNHdIYUlsYzl1a0RzQzFR" target="_blank">All of Clay Karp and family's photos here</a> <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/results-ride-reports" target="_blank">Results here </a><br />
<br />
On July 4, 2015 my family organized the 4th annual Bert Karp Memorial Populaire. This little event continues to bring a lot of joy and great memories for all of us as we ride in honor of my mom who passed away from cancer in 2012.<br />
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We had 20 riders in 2015, our best turnout of riders not related to me. We were down a few family members riding this year, but all were on hand to provide incredible support at each of the checkpoints.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Tv5aGW7aHRA/Va2r9OzbJpI/AAAAAAAAFJ0/bbDKbT81Ojw/s1600/bkmp%2B2015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Tv5aGW7aHRA/Va2r9OzbJpI/AAAAAAAAFJ0/bbDKbT81Ojw/s400/bkmp%2B2015.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The peloton riding through Bozeman</td></tr>
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The weather was nearly perfect. Not much wind, no rain, and it didn't start getting hot until everyone was close to being finished.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xzODCzF11z0/Va2stJXHVAI/AAAAAAAAFJ8/2En7YUfJeq0/s1600/bkmp%2B2015%2Bfast%2Bgroup.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xzODCzF11z0/Va2stJXHVAI/AAAAAAAAFJ8/2En7YUfJeq0/s400/bkmp%2B2015%2Bfast%2Bgroup.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brother Travis leading the fast group up Springhill Road</td></tr>
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My brother Clay and his family were on hand to take lots of <a href="https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMQVOUQK6hmD2b7EnjhjDH9jBcv8rcji9RvNqvZ94zurNZGLs7gG6B5rDYJH3YB4A?key=bmFZbHdPSWp0WGVFZVlXNHdIYUlsYzl1a0RzQzFR" target="_blank">great pictures</a>. They were also on hand in case anyone had any trouble, which fortunately, no one did.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XT34eMRdWiw/Va2tUHCl1NI/AAAAAAAAFKE/10M9mdlhbxw/s1600/bkmp%2B2015%2Broberta.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XT34eMRdWiw/Va2tUHCl1NI/AAAAAAAAFKE/10M9mdlhbxw/s400/bkmp%2B2015%2Broberta.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roberta Ennis and Denise Muzynoski cruising along</td></tr>
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Fellow randonneur and Paris-Brest-Paris participant Karel Stroethoff rode to Bozeman from Missoula via the Pintler Highway and Pipestone Pass the day before. He then rode the populaire. After some lunch and a little nap, he headed back to Missoula on his bicycle. He got home safely the next afternoon. PBP will be no problem for Karel!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tSnfrSjpnDM/Va2udz0S4MI/AAAAAAAAFKQ/xOCtc9qRUZE/s1600/bkmp%2B2015%2BKarel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tSnfrSjpnDM/Va2udz0S4MI/AAAAAAAAFKQ/xOCtc9qRUZE/s400/bkmp%2B2015%2BKarel.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karel Stroethoff on Highline Road</td></tr>
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It was a wonderful day. Thanks to all of my family who helped out, and thanks to all the riders for riding. See you next year!belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-49285617292204653442015-06-26T22:23:00.003-06:002015-06-30T13:07:02.458-06:00Helena-Great Falls-Double Divide 600K: PBP QUALIFIED!More Photos <a href="http://s244.photobucket.com/user/BelgradeBobcat/library/HGDD%20600K%20June%2020-21%202015" target="_blank">Here</a> Results <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/results-ride-reports" target="_blank">Here</a><br />
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For our 600k brevet, the final ride in the series to qualify for PBP, I chose to use the Helena-Great Falls-Double Divide route that <a href="http://belgradebobcat.blogspot.com/2013/09/double-days-double-divides.html" target="_blank">we last rode in 2013</a>. It is a very hard route, with two Continental Divide crossings on the second day, but it is also very scenic and fairly convenient using Helena as the base of operations.<br />
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We had Ken Baker from Bozeman, Ken Billingsley from Molt, Karel Stroethoff from Missoula, Sam Collins from Jackson, WY, and myself at the start at 5 AM. It was a wonderfully pleasant morning as the sun rose as we climbed over the north hills past the Gates of the Mountains and the Sleeping Giant on the winding journey to Great Falls.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2VzD8RbdwV4/VY4czghgcyI/AAAAAAAAFIw/vlbJcYH_9DI/s1600/hgdd%2Bsquare%2Bbutte.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2VzD8RbdwV4/VY4czghgcyI/AAAAAAAAFIw/vlbJcYH_9DI/s400/hgdd%2Bsquare%2Bbutte.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Square Butte-taken between Fairfield and Simms</td></tr>
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I should call the first day segment the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072288/" target="_blank">Thunderbolt and Lightfoot</a> loop. The 1970's caper film starring Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges was filmed in many of the locations we were passing through. It's just that now there are few more paved roads than back then. Anyway it's always been one of my favorite movies and this is probably one reason why this route is so appealing to me.<br />
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Ken Billingsley, Karel, and I got to Great Falls in good order and got a sandwich at the Subway in the big new Town Pump off I-15. Ken Baker and Sam were a ways back. We later learned that Ken Baker had flat-tire-itis which really made his day tough.<br />
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Brenda met us in Wolf Creek as the sun was setting and temperatures started dropping. Ken, Karel and I were refueled and ready to make the final hump back over the hill to Helena for a short sleep break before continuing on the Double Divide loop the next day. I was a little slower than Ken and Karel and made an extra stop to put on my helmet light. I saw their taillights way in the distance, but made no effort to try to catch up. It was a wonderful evening and even the light, high speed traffic on I-15 posed no bother. I got to my sister and brother-in-law's house at 12:15 AM.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D2e4IZmxTlg/VY4dOki6lvI/AAAAAAAAFI4/7kRagopfQC8/s1600/hgdd%2Bcolby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="259" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D2e4IZmxTlg/VY4dOki6lvI/AAAAAAAAFI4/7kRagopfQC8/s320/hgdd%2Bcolby.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rest stop in Wolf Creek with nephew Colby Scott</td></tr>
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Brenda caught up to me on the downhill ride into Helena. She had Ken Baker with her as he had to call it a ride at Wolf Creek, which was about mile 200, because of knee issues-and all those pesky flats. Ken was in good spirits though and he should be-he rode wonderfully the entire series and still has all summer to find another 600K to finish off the series if he wants to. Brenda also reported that Sam was riding out of Wolf Creek, maybe 2 hours behind me and doing fine.<br />
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I left the house at 4AM, after a short 2 hour nap, and found Karel at the Town Pump on North Montana just getting ready to leave. I also texted Ken and let him know I was on my way, knowing he climbs much faster than me so we'd be seeing each other later on.<br />
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The ride out of Helena on US 12 starts at a pretty gentle uphill grade for several miles then hits the foot of MacDonald Pass. Grades get up to about 8% and it's pretty steady all the way. Unlike two years ago, I managed to ride the entire thing without walking and found Karel at the top getting ready for the descent. Karel climbed very well and passed me after fixing a flat tire near the base.<br />
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We dropped like a rock to Elliston and then cruised to Avon where there is a cafe. I was seriously starving and craving some bacon and eggs. Thankfully the restaurant was open, despite this being Sunday, and we happily went inside. Brenda joined a few minutes later. She was going to set up a secret control after Avon, but since we were already here she bought us all breakfast! Ken was also along before our food arrived so we had a grand 'ol time getting refueled. Only 100 miles to go!<br />
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Brenda reported that Sam was just starting the climb up MacDonald pass. She waited for him at the cafe and bought him breakfast too.<br />
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The ride from Avon to Lincoln was the least pleasant of the trip. Traffic was moving fast and unyielding, the wind was in our face or blowing us sideways, and my butt really started to hurt. We got to Lincoln in the early afternoon and cooled off in their nice Cenex C-store. 55 miles and one mountain pass to go.<br />
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The climb up Flesher Pass looks very intimidating. You can see the road cut going up into the sky in front of you, but it's one of those climbs that looks worse than it is and it was over sooner than I was expecting. Again I managed to ride up the whole thing instead of walking half of it like last time-though there's no shame in walking, which is almost as fast. But it was a goal of mine to ride all the way. Karel disappeared off the front out of Lincoln, obviously feeling good having a geared bike instead of his single speed fixed gear he used on the other brevets, but Ken sacrificed a faster time to ride slow with me. He encouraged me all the way and it really helped.<br />
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Over the top and it was 30 some mostly downhill miles back to Helena. My backside was absolutely killing me. Not sure why that is, I haven't any saddle issues all spring. But in any case, we rolled into the Town Pump parking lot to find Karel and Brenda cheering us in.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VqPWiNft4kQ/VY4dewEg3oI/AAAAAAAAFJA/WXMicAI1HJ4/s1600/hgdd%2Bbrenda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VqPWiNft4kQ/VY4dewEg3oI/AAAAAAAAFJA/WXMicAI1HJ4/s320/hgdd%2Bbrenda.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finish Line Greeting</td></tr>
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Sam was struggling with a broken hub and really feeling the ride, but once he got to the top of Flesher Pass he also found the going a lot easier and finished with plenty of time to spare.<br />
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So with that Ken, Sam, and I acheived PBP qualification. Karel, who already has a 600K under his belt this season was already qualified. Sam, now that he is qualified, is rethinking his decision to forgo PBP this time-sounds like he's going back. The lure is just too strong.<br />
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Congrats to all the guys. It was a hard route and finishing it is an accomplishment worthy of being proud. Brenda deserves a ton of credit for registering us at 0:dark 30 in the morning, meeting up with us late on Saturday night in Wolf Creek, and buying us breakfast in Avon along with being there to see all of us finish. I'm very lucky to have her helping us with these brevets.belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-43916442043334449442015-06-11T16:54:00.000-06:002015-06-12T10:10:47.511-06:00Glaciers to Geysers 1023K RUSA Brevet June 30-July 3, 2015<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IO9epGmFPyQ/VXoOdEb5EDI/AAAAAAAAFIE/F-_mtVNgZBI/s1600/glacier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IO9epGmFPyQ/VXoOdEb5EDI/AAAAAAAAFIE/F-_mtVNgZBI/s400/glacier.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the Going to the Sun Highway on a 300K brevet in 2012</td></tr>
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What started out as a permanent has morphed into a RUSA 1023K brevet.<br />
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The Glaciers to Geysers 1023K permanent was the brainchild of Seattle Randonneur John Pearch who wanted to continue riding after completing the Portland to Glacier 1000K Brevet. <a href="http://www.orrandonneurs.org/rba/2015/Glacier_15/Glacier_15_info.html" target="_blank">The Portland-Glacier 1000K</a> will be run from June 26-29 from Portland, Oregon to Whitefish, Montana.<br />
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The Glaciers to Geysers 1023K takes off from Whitefish, MT on June 30 at 5AM. The route takes the Going to the Sun Highway through Glacier National Park and then passes through Great Falls and Livingston, Montana on the way to the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park. The route through Yellowstone takes in all the major attractions including the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Yellowstone Lake and Old Faithful before exiting the park at West Yellowstone, Montana. The ride finishes in Big Sky, Montana with time running out at 9:44 AM on Friday, July 3.<br />
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If you are interested in this ride feel free to contact me and I will put you in touch with John.<br />
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The cue sheet is <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_ZoAtQjGh94JpB-Nv-_nLbfiFiKbgNMtEwwh5mgDc_g/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">HERE</a> The entry form and waiver are <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/registration-and-waiver-of-liability" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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Profile info is <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3eQLpjYl9uEMllfQnZfdlVJVXM/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">HERE</a><br />
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The Route Map-broken into three segments is here:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #500050; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.1760005950928px;">Day 1: </span><a href="http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7967398" style="background-color: white; color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 18.1760005950928px;" target="_blank">http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7967398</a><br />
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Day 2: <a href="http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7967513" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 18.1760005950928px;" target="_blank">http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7967513</a></div>
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Day 3: <a href="http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7967656" style="color: #0068cf; cursor: pointer; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 18.1760005950928px;" target="_blank">http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7967656</a></div>
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belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-51131409926235471372015-06-09T20:55:00.002-06:002015-06-09T22:43:25.406-06:00Gallatin-Jefferson 400K-Home Road Advantage<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dVfrW7E63sw/VXef4GnQYSI/AAAAAAAAFHg/bs_ZzLDtQa4/s1600/Gallatin-Jefferson%2B400K-starting%2Blineup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dVfrW7E63sw/VXef4GnQYSI/AAAAAAAAFHg/bs_ZzLDtQa4/s400/Gallatin-Jefferson%2B400K-starting%2Blineup.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ken Baker, Barb Kuhlemeier, Sam Collins, Ken Billingsley, Jason Karp, Karel Stroethoff</td></tr>
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More photos<a href="http://s244.photobucket.com/user/BelgradeBobcat/library/Gallatin-Jefferson%20400K-2015" target="_blank"> HERE</a><br />
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As the rides get longer, my ride reports get shorter, but that's more because I've got a lot of blogging to do and I'm way behind.<br />
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On Saturday, June 6, 2015 I got to host our third brevet of the season from my driveway in Belgrade as we rode the <a href="http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/2953470" target="_blank">Gallatin-Jefferson 400K</a>. We had the same cast of characters as the last two brevets with the exception of Layne Coddington, who had another commitment, but we were joined by Barb Kuhlemeier from Bozeman who wanted to get a first hand view of what randonneuring was all about on our first loop throught the Gallatin Valley.</div>
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We had perfect weather for the 86 mile loop that brought us back to my house where Brenda and Jackson had a huge lunch set out. Then it was a more flat as we headed due west to Whitehall and Silver Star as the day was heating up, relatively speaking. We said good bye to Barb near Manhattan as she headed back to Belgrade on Dry Creek Road completing about 100 miles for the day. A 400K is a pretty tough distance for a first brevet, but she is a very strong cyclist who would have no trouble excelling at our sport. She helped set a steady quick pace throughout the morning that helped us bank a ton of time.</div>
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We found Brenda at the junction of Hwy's 41 and 55 south of Whitehall with a "secret" control and a post card for each of us to mail at Silver Star four miles away. Brenda's rest stop would have been amazing, except the mosquitoes were so thick and ravenous that we had no choice but to choke back a few groceries and then get moving before being eaten alive. We saw Brenda again in Whitehall, but the mosquitoes were just as thick there so again, no long rest stop. Perhaps for the best.</div>
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Ken, Karel, and I got in in under 20 hours-only the second time I've done that on a 400K. Karel doing so on a one-gear bike. Sam Collins, and Ken Baker got in not much later so all finishers were done in under 21 hours! We can probably attribute that to nearly perfect weather with little wind, quick stops except for our much needed lunch at my house, and because we're all rounding into shape.</div>
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The fast pace did cook me pretty good though. I was pretty stiff and sore on Sunday. I have to remember to take it a bit easier on the first day of our <a href="http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/2970325" target="_blank">600K</a> in two weeks in Helena. Can't be burning those matches too quickly.</div>
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Many thanks to Brenda and Jackson for the awesome support, and many thanks to this great bunch of riders I've gotten to randonneur with this season. It's a lot of fun so far with much more to come.</div>
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belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-42731124132200379082015-05-16T21:58:00.000-06:002015-05-16T21:58:44.973-06:00Fishtail 300K...forecast, schmore-cast!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TB6dhZo2ML8/VVf_H7QjarI/AAAAAAAAFGA/W4nYK27EXZ0/s1600/Fishtail%2B300-weather.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TB6dhZo2ML8/VVf_H7QjarI/AAAAAAAAFGA/W4nYK27EXZ0/s640/Fishtail%2B300-weather.jpg" width="358" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The weather forecast in Fishtail-our first control of the day</td></tr>
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More Photos <a href="http://s244.photobucket.com/user/BelgradeBobcat/library/Fishtail%20300%202015?sort=6&page=1" target="_blank">Here</a> Results <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/results-ride-reports" target="_blank">Here</a><br />
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The countdown to the Fishtail 300K Brevet starting and finishing in Laurel on May 9, 2015 saw the weather forecast go from nice, to rainy, to rainy and snowy, to just plain awful rainy and snowy. What do you do here? Brevets are rarely rescheduled. We're randonnuers-we ride through anything, but there was the safety of myself, the other riders, and our volunteers to consider. Road bikes don't do well on snow and ice. Plus this is a PBP qualifier-and I only have one of each of the four required qualifiers scheduled. RUSA does allow for a brevet to be rescheduled for up to one week after the planned date, but with travel plans made, motel rooms secured, and no guaranty that the next day or next week would be any better, we just decided to go for it. The final forecast called for pretty much a 100% chance of rain in the lower elevations, and 1 to 3 inches of snow in the higher elevations. A snow detour was planned to get us around the ice and snow in the highest elevations, but we resigned ourselves to being wet and uncomfortable all day.<br />
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So I was completely shocked and elated when at the start we had all the same guys that started in Missoula two weeks ago. Lane Coddington drove over from Missoula for his second brevet, Sam Collins was there all the way from Jackson, Wyoming, Ken Baker drove over from Bozeman in the wee hours of the morning to get there for the 6AM start, and Ken Billingsley and Karel Stroethoff were there as well, with Karel coming from Missoula even though he already has a his 300K PBP qualifier done. We also had Sam's wife Karen again for support, and my wife Brenda was there too to relieve me from the paperwork duties and with a car load full of goodies for later down the road.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VHxXnQDUoEc/VVgDML0fYUI/AAAAAAAAFGM/Itjpu5pSYUc/s1600/Fishtail%2B300-team%2Bphoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="229" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VHxXnQDUoEc/VVgDML0fYUI/AAAAAAAAFGM/Itjpu5pSYUc/s320/Fishtail%2B300-team%2Bphoto.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karel, Ken, Sam, Lane, Jason, and Ken-ready to go!</td></tr>
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As we pulled onto the streets of Laurel-headed for Columbus the roads were soaking wet, but the rain had miraculously stopped and the wind was at our backs. I forgot my water bottles, but Brenda came along soon to remedy that (thanks hun), and I was already peeling off a layer even though temps were only in the high 30's. The ride to Fishtail was a piece of cake.<br />
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Karen met us at the Fishtail Store to sign our cards and we went inside and restocked. I wish I had this store on all my brevets. It's the perfect stop for randonneurs, with all the goodies we could ever want, including a killer breakfast burrito. After the store we had a five more miles on the road toward Nye to an info control. The rain started feeling solid and the vehicles we met were covered with snow. The turn around was right at the snow line, but it wasn't sticking on the highway so no problem for us.</div>
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We took our planned snow detour and headed over the road to Joliet instead of Red Lodge, which was looking to be pretty socked in. Temperatures were just into the 40's and now that lovely tailwind was a cross headwind. The road to Joliet is very rolling with three short 7% climbs mixed amongst the smaller hills. It was also very blustery on the bluffs we were crossing. We rolled into a "secret" control in Joliet that Brenda had set up for us, complete with hot chocolate and cup-o-noodles. It was perfect!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f5Ox60O4hzE/VVgJwA3nY2I/AAAAAAAAFGk/fGxxPKr0i_4/s1600/Fishtail%2B300-lunch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f5Ox60O4hzE/VVgJwA3nY2I/AAAAAAAAFGk/fGxxPKr0i_4/s320/Fishtail%2B300-lunch.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The perfect blend of calories!</td></tr>
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Road construction at Rockvale Junction gave us a muddy half mile or so, but everybody got through it. It was a tailwind from Rockvale to Bridger on a wide debris strewn shoulder. Karel and I got to Bridger first and were soon followed by Lane and Sam. Ken Billingsley came later after having to fix a flat. Ken has had terrible luck on this stretch of road as he flatted in almost the same location last year on our 600K. As I rode out of Bridger and back toward Joliet into a stiff headwind, I met Ken Baker walking his bike. He had just flatted and was walking to the control which was only a few hundred yards away. Later on Lane, Karel, and Sam would all flat (Lane twice), but for some unknown lucky reason I didn't. </div>
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So with no flat problems, I ended up pulling ahead. I was feeling good and really, really just wanted to be done so I didn't stop at the store in Joliet and only stopped at the Columbus McDonald's long enough to inhale two cheese burgers. I cruised into Laurel to find Ken's wife Heath and Brenda cheering for me. That was really, really cool. Most of these rides end rather unceremoniously it some parking lot, so to have someone there to give you a clap as you come in really feels amazing. Because of my lack of flats and aversion for stopping it ended up being my fastest 300K ever, despite wearing enough layers to look like the Stay Puft Marsh Mellow Man.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yPMOpZl7zI0/VVgJDR8XZpI/AAAAAAAAFGc/wI9QtPHPhLQ/s1600/Fishtail%2B300-Jason%2Band%2BHeath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yPMOpZl7zI0/VVgJDR8XZpI/AAAAAAAAFGc/wI9QtPHPhLQ/s320/Fishtail%2B300-Jason%2Band%2BHeath.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heath Billingsley with a congratulatory hug for me at the finish</td></tr>
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Ken Billingsly was next in, then Karel, Sam, and Lane. Ken Baker also made it in before 16 hours so we were all done with considerable time in the bank. Karel was on his fixed gear again and found the pedaling really hard after Bridger. He thought he was having bottom bracket issues. He later discovered his chain has almost come apart-a very close call indeed. Lane and Ken Baker struggled into Columbus with stomach issues, but after getting something to eat and taking a short break both found a second wind and finished very well. I was so happy for everyone, including myself for getting this one in.</div>
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A huge part of our success was the support of our volunteers, Brenda, Karen, and Heath. They did a great job of looking after us, but they also did a great job of staying far enough away late in the ride to not temp anyone to throw their bike in the car. Many thanks ladies!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7jDvbmC9mtw/VVgK1PFeoII/AAAAAAAAFGw/1v1byEzWU18/s1600/Fishtail%2B300%2BBrenda%2Band%2BKaren.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="277" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7jDvbmC9mtw/VVgK1PFeoII/AAAAAAAAFGw/1v1byEzWU18/s320/Fishtail%2B300%2BBrenda%2Band%2BKaren.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brenda and Karen at Joliet</td></tr>
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So next up is the <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/Home" target="_blank">400K</a>. That one is on June 6 and starts and finishes here at our house in Belgrade. Looking forward to it...if I can get some training in between all these rainy, stormy days we've been having.</div>
belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-74520708750502303622015-04-29T22:02:00.000-06:002015-04-29T22:33:24.062-06:00Missoula-Frenchtown-Hamilton 200K, Hitting the Weather Window Perfectly<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ken Baker, Lane Coddington, Karel Stroethoff, Sam Collins, Jason Karp, Ken Billingsley<br />
photo by Karen Ruckey<br />
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<a href="http://s244.photobucket.com/user/BelgradeBobcat/library/Missoula-Frenchtown-Hamilton%20April%2025%202015?sort=3&page=1" target="_blank">More photos here</a> <a href="http://rusa.org/cgi-bin/resultsearch_PF.pl?eid=6757&esortby=cert" target="_blank">Results here</a><br />
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As Ken Billingsley and I were driving to Missoula Friday night we encountered rain, wind, and fairly heavy snow over Homestake Pass. All week the weather forecast called for rain at some point during our 200K brevet on April, 25.<br />
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But one last check of the weather forecast on Friday night showed conditions improving and we awoke to a beautiful, chilly, blue sky morning. Ken and Karel Stroethoff were there as usual, and we were joined by experienced randonneurs, Ken Baker from Bozeman and Sam Collins from Jackson, Wyoming who were riding a brevet in Montana for the first time. We were also joined by Lane Coddington from Missoula who would be attempting his first randonneuring event of any kind.<br />
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Karel showed up on a fixed gear bike and was super strong right from the beginning dropping the rest of us as we headed out of Missoula. A little confusion with a missing sign at our first info control brought him back temporarily and we were all together at the first checkpoint in Frenchtown. After Frenchtown Karel was gone, though Lane and Sam saw him again briefly in Hamilton. Karel ended up finishing an hour and 10 minutes ahead of the rest of us. He's had a great start to the season which certainly bodes well for PBP in August.<br />
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Later on in the ride we came across Rick Dendinger who was doing some riding on the Bitterroot Bicycle Trail. Rick had ridden a 100K and 200K with us last season, but is nursing a knee injury so he didn't want to risk riding a whole 200K. Rick stuck with us to Hamilton and back to Missoula and we were glad to have his company along with dozens of other cyclists as the nice day was bringing them out of the woodwork.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the Bitterroot Bicycle Trail to Hamilton</td></tr>
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We got split up some on the path to Hamilton. Ken, Ken, Rick, and I made the Subway our checkpoint. Karel and Lane stopped at McDonalds, and Sam ended up getting the deepest into Hamilton thanks to my cue sheet which recommended the Safeway in the middle of town. US 93 in Hamilton is basically one long strip mall so with so many choices to get a receipt it was probably inevitable that we'd end up at different places.<br />
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The ride back to Missoula on the path was pretty easy with a slight downhill grade along the Bitterroot River, though the wind did change to be in our faces most of the way in both directions, it was always light and not much of a concern. A few rain clouds over the mountains to the west looked like they might find us, but they never did.<br />
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An extended stop at the Town Pump in Florence allowed Lane and Sam to catch back up and we were all back together for the last 22 miles except for Karel who was just killing it on the day. We talked and chatted the miles away and then put the hammer down as the path gave way to the US 93 shoulder for the last few miles into Missoula. Traffic was busy as usual, but not threatening and despite lots of debris-no flats for anybody!<br />
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We cruised across the pedestrian bridge by the University of Montana on to Broadway and the Motel 6 where Sam's wife Karen was deputized to sign our cards. Even with generous stops, this fun flat route allowed us to finish in under 10 hours. Not a bad day's work.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ken, Ken and Lane on the Pedestrian Bridge-almost done!</td></tr>
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Although the weather stayed cool throughout the day, it was also dry and breezes were light. We really couldn't have asked for better riding in Montana in April. It was the perfect day on the perfect route and a great time.<br />
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Post ride was at the Iron Horse Pub in Missoula where lots of randonneuring stories were shared. It was pouring rain on Sunday morning when we left the motel and most of the drive back to Belgrade was in a wet sloppy snow storm. It was a good day to not be on the bike.<br />
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Congrats to Ken Baker for finishing his first brevet in many years, and to Lane for finishing his first brevet ever. It was also nice to meet Sam and Karen who had recently relocated from New York to Jackson. It's nice to get another experience randonneur in our part of the world. It was a great start to my PBP 2015 qualifying campaign. The next one, <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/Home" target="_blank">the Fishtail 300K</a> out of Laurel and going to Columbus, Red Lodge, and Bridger is coming up fast on May 9. That one will be a little more challenging and even more scenic. Hopefully the weather keeps cooperating.belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-49905790871904223502015-04-15T12:52:00.000-06:002015-04-16T16:45:02.664-06:00Addicted to Flèche <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last year when doing some randonneuring in Oregon, I casually mentioned to Lynne Fitzsimmons that if she was leading a fleche team in 2015 and needed another member that I might be interested. So I was delighted when the invite came a couple of months ago to be a part of Team Type 2 Fun.</span><br />
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The fleche is a unique team event in the sport of randonneuring. It has a bunch of quirky rules that only randonneurs would understand or appreciate, but basically you have to cover the distance of the route in about 24 hours and you can't stop at any one location for more than 2 hours. So whether you're fast or slow, you're out there for one complete lap of the clock. For a more complete definition of what a fleche is, scroll down to the bottom of this post for Randonneurs USA's official definition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lynne designed a route that was exactly the minimum required distance of 360 km and what appeared to be a relatively flat profile. Perfect for me because I'm definitely still in the base miles phase of my training for the season after a long winter.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AAS6dCdEY6o/VS29ziDVQAI/AAAAAAAAFEI/OEo6koKxZkU/s1600/20150410_095935_resized%2B(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AAS6dCdEY6o/VS29ziDVQAI/AAAAAAAAFEI/OEo6koKxZkU/s1600/20150410_095935_resized%2B(1).jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Team Type 2 Fun: Jason Karp, Fatima Aviquivil, Keith Moore, Steve Bredthauer, and Lynne Fitzsimmons</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our team gathered at Jim and Patty's Coffee in Beaverton, Oregon and got acquainted with each other. I've found in cycling, that you can start a ride with total strangers, and by the end you're life-long friends. I met Fatima and Steve for the first time, and each person on the team was meeting someone else on the team for the first time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We set off at the incredibly sane hour of 10AM-a change from the typical brevet which usually starts at stupid early o'clock in the morning. Since the ride is 24 hours-it doesn't matter when you start, so why not start after a good, long night's sleep and a leisurely morning? In the first few miles through the streets of Beaverton and Hillsboro it was explained to me that there is type 1 fun, which we all know and love, and type 2 fun involves a lot of pain and suffering-which really is the essence of randonneuring.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Somewhere between Gaston and Wilsonville. Still nice and flat.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first part of the route was just a big loop through the Willamette Valley from Beaverton to Forest Grove, Newberg, Wilsonville, and back to Beaverton. The loop was mostly uneventful and we put some time in the bank. The only major excitement for me were the two crossings of the Willamette River. The first on a too narrow bridge with a school bus and the second on the infamous I-5 bridge by Wilsonville. We made it back to Beaverton and Lynne's house where we were treated to all the pea soup and corn bread we could eat-much better than the typical gas station cuisine randonneurs thrive on. Many thanks to Lynne and her husband Bob who were incredibly gracious hosts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With 83 miles under our belts and full bellies we made preparations to head north to Olympia. The graying sky and dropping temperatures were proof that the weather forecasters weren't going to be wrong. We were going to get wet...but when? A few sprinkles began to fall as we started climbing immediately out of Lynne and Bob's driveway. We slogged our way to the top of Skyline Drive and got plenty warmed up again. We were all together at the Skyline Tavern where Keith Moore demonstrated a wonderful technique for obtaining a card signature without buying anything. He slapped down a $5 bill on the bar and asked the bar tender to sign. Signatures were happily given and we were on our way down the twisty-turny Germantown descent just as darkness, and the rain, fell. My disc brakes, which perform wonderfully well on scary descents, also squawked and screamed like a rusty old tractor all the way down. Disc brakes work just fine when wet, but they can be noisy-a problem I had to apologize to my teammates for over and over again. But at least they knew I wasn't going to sneak up on them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next segment of the route, crossing over the St. Johns Bridge in Portland, and the I-5 Bridge crossing the Columbia River and connecting Oregon to Washington was urban and very cool. Unlike down in Wilsonville, this I-5 bridge has a separate pedestrian/bike path. After the bridges we dropped into Vancouver and our next control at a little taco stand where a willing patron signed our cards and marveled at what we were trying to do. I requested an additional stop at a c-store in Vancouver as I was dangerously low on food and tacos are hard to carry. It was 46 miles to our next control. So another stop was made and the required junk food was acquired, including a 6 pack of little donuts, two snickers bars, peanut m&m's, and a little savory from a combo cheese and pepper stick. Yummy!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Off we went, leaving the bright lights of Portland and Vancouver behind as we followed quiet back roads that wandered over the hills that the adjacent I-5 cut through. This is where the anticipated easy route became quite hard as these punchy little hills wore us out. No climb was very long, but on many occasions my front tire was lifting of the pavement, meaning the grades were quite steep. This segment was also punctuated by some navigation confusion in Woodland and a 4 mile stretch on I-5 in a down pour. The I-5 riding was easy in that it was flat, and the trucks must have gotten word to our presence via CB because almost all moved way over, but it was absolutely pouring buckets on us and bicycle tires are extremely flat prone on freeway shoulders from all the tire debris, broken glass, and other sharpe objects. So it was with great relief when the exit for Todd Road finally came into view.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By this point everyone was suffering. And thanks to my added stop in Vancouver, those endless little hills, constant rain, route navigation issues in Woodland, and just the need to warm up in some random gas station, we were falling way behind. Things started to come apart a bit when Keith and Lynne rolled into Shari's diner in Kelso on flat front tires, and we were about an hour and half behind schedule, but in desperate need of food and coffee...and more coffee. Lynne was battling stomach and fatigue issues, along with the flat, and implored us to leave her behind and press on. Of course, the rest of the team tried to encourage her to continue, but Lynne's mind was made up and the train station was only a mile and a half away. We got her tire changed and reluctantly set off into the wet night without her, but not until after the delicious Shari's breakfast sampler and a couple gallons of coffee were consumed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ride with GPS promised that the remaining 70 or so miles only had about 200 feet of climbing. Lies! We started going uphill and then uphill some more. We had about 7 hours until the clock struck 10 AM and we needed to be averaging about 12 miles per hour, but every glance at my computer showed that we were traveling at less than 10. What I couldn't understand is that Olympia was down at sea level, and yet we were still climbing. Only in Washington is this possible-I was convinced through this and my Cascade 1200 experience that the state only goes uphill.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thick fog made me miss the town of Vader all together, though Keith assured me that we did pass through it. Too bad-I was all poised to make some sort of smart ass Star Wars joke. Opportunity missed!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day broke to find us still climbing. Cloudy fatigued minds were trying to work out the complicated math of we have so many miles to go in so many hours and at such and such rate of speed. In all of that we missed a turn and added about a mile to the route. Thank goodness Keith was paying enough attention to the cue sheet to catch the error, I had completely ignored the cue sheet since Portland so I was absolutely no help at all. Despite that, we looked to be in okay shape when suddenly Keith's back tire went down. With the help of a few extra hands, Keith had the tube replaced in record time and we were back underway, but more time was lost. That's when we were introduced to Barry Road. A nasty steep little bugger of a road where my front tire was again coming off the ground with each pedal stroke. At 5 mph we weren't getting anywhere.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then something amazing happened. For the first time in all my riding in Washington it seemed, the road actually began to tilt downhill. We picked up speed and soon found ourselves in Centralia and on our way to our planned 22 hour control in Grand Mound. More math. We weren't going to make Grand Mound with 2 hours to go as planned, but we were sufficiently close enough to think we still had a chance. We marked the spot at 2 hours to go and pressed on. We got to the McDonalds at Grand Mound about 15 minutes later. No time to sit down, reflect on the ride, and then leisurely cruise to the finish line. No, we had just enough time to get our cards signed and that's about it. When the girl behind the counter promised that the sausage biscuits were ready to go, Fatima and I took advantage. But there was only one sausage biscuit made and I had to wait. But I needed some food. I was in pre-bonk mode and without food I probably wouldn't have the energy for the last 20 miles to Olympia. The girl behind the counter sensed my desperation and implored people in the back to get a move on and finally the sausage biscuit was provided sans wrapper to be applied directly to my face. It was gone before I was out the door-and boy did it make me feel better.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We screamed along the flat roads to Olympia with a light tailwind at the blistering speed of 15 or 16 miles per hour. When we got to a point about 10 miles away we still had 50 minutes. It would be doable if there were no hills and the stop lights were few and green.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The route did stay flat, the clock became less oppressive, and as we cruised through Tumwater we slowly realized we were actually going to make it. Go through a few lights, cross a bridge, and we're in Olympia. We even joked we could stop and get an ice cream. The Governor's Hotel came into view and we rolled up to the front door. I got a little emotional-it was a great save. Our cards were signed at 9:53 AM-seven whole minutes to spare!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vz1FAbFr6TA/VS6UOGZA8ZI/AAAAAAAAFEs/2PCG9MORUsU/s1600/fleche%2Btired.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vz1FAbFr6TA/VS6UOGZA8ZI/AAAAAAAAFEs/2PCG9MORUsU/s1600/fleche%2Btired.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the finish. I don't look it, but I'm very, very happy to be here.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then the real fun began. As we sat in the lobby, sending texts and Facebook posts, other teams started to arrive, all tired and happy and excited to be done. All with great war stories of their own to tell. After a quick shower, food and restorative beverages were obtained at a downtown Olympia brew pub with more stories. My mood had changed from being miserable to having a ball. After a 3 hour nap, and a chance to see more arriving teams, the lobby of the Governor's Hotel was the happiest place in all of Olympia.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next morning, the Seattle Randonneurs hosted a buffet brunch for all the teams and their families and each team got to stand up front and tell the story of their ride. The adventures were hilarious, inspiring, and awesome.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A huge thank you to Lynne for taking of all the logistics of route finding, mapping, preparing the long and complicated cue sheet, feeding us, and doing all the little and unseen things a team captain has to do. And many thanks for inviting me to the team. Congrats and thanks to my other teammates Fatima, Steve, and Keith for working so hard to get to the finish line on time. It was a memorable ride and the celebration at the end was fantastic. It was definitely one of the neater randonneuring experiences I've ever had.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the <a href="http://rusa.org/glossary.html" target="_blank">Randonneurs USA</a> website:</span><br />
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flèche vélocio(flesh veh low chi o)</b> - A team ride of 24-hours' duration, usually held over the Easter weekend. Very well attended in France, they are becoming increasingly popular among American randonneurs. A team may consist of three to five machines (a tandem counts as a single machine) and at least three machines must finish together to receive official credit. Each team must choose its own route and may not ride with any other cyclists. A minimum of 360 kilometers must be covered inside 24 hours, with no less than 25 kilometers to be ridden in the final two hours. Flèche routes are point-to-point or a large circuit since any particular stretch of road may be used only once during the event by the team. In French, flèche means "arrow", so the traditional method is to ride from one point to another, like an arrow flying into the bullseye. In France a multitude of flèche teams, having left from various cities and villages, will converge 24 hours later on the bullseye, which is the traditional Easter cycling rally in Provence. (Note there are other events in France with this name as well, eg. the Flèches de France, which are not the same sort of event.</i></span><br />
<br />belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-20350392283808012732015-03-22T09:32:00.001-06:002015-03-22T09:32:40.774-06:00Glacier-Yellowstone-Big Sky 1000K Permanent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w14JNkZc5fc/VQ7cr_JGjlI/AAAAAAAAFDw/Gu9uNmS1wEY/s1600/2014-09-19%2B16.04.13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w14JNkZc5fc/VQ7cr_JGjlI/AAAAAAAAFDw/Gu9uNmS1wEY/s1600/2014-09-19%2B16.04.13.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
John Pearch of the Seattle International Randonneurs approached me about the idea of submitting a permanent linking Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park. John did all the work in designing and organizing, but I will "own" the route as it passes through my region. The route is designed so riders can tack on another 1000K after the riding the Portland-Glacier 1000K or the Seattle-Glacier 1000K brevets that are run from time-to-time. <a href="http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5874103" target="_blank">The Portland-Glacier 1000K is scheduled for June 26-29, 2015</a>. If you're interested in riding with John, let me know and I will put you in touch with him.<br />
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This 1000K permanent is a point-to-point route that starts in Whitefish, Montana and finishes in Big Sky, Montana. In between the route takes the Going-to-the-Sun Highway through Glacier National Park, then heads south through Great Falls, on to Livingston and then through the Paradise Valley to Gardiner. After Gardiner the route enters Yellowstone National Park at the north entrance, crosses into Wyoming, and goes over Dunraven Pass before passing by the Park's main attractions, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Lake Yellowstone, and Old Faithful before reentering Montana and leaving the Park at West Yellowstone. The final leg follows the Gallatin River to Big Sky, Montana. From there, riders can shuttle to Bozeman/Belgrade and connect to the airlines at <a href="http://www.bozemanairport.com/" target="_blank">Bozeman-Yellowstone International Airport</a> or pack their bike and ship it home and catch the <a href="http://www.jeffersonlines.com/" target="_blank">Jefferson Lines Bus</a> at Belgrade which connects to the Greyhound system. I will happily help out on logistics for any randonneur who attempts this permanent, but be warned-this ride will be unsupported with long distances between services in some areas and high traffic in and around the national parks, so you must be well trained, stocked, and equipped.<br />
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<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/19Ovz8NCmpsApye1ZO2L-mErQHyL84vP4hoLOlh-wgW8/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">John Pearch's details about the route</a><br />
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<a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QpGLt1ECfrFq7cuHnwRQ5YpBb5AWnoFenF-vLWwifUY/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Cue Sheet</a><br />
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<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LTCRJUKdwrgQu84jm7hKwWkp7OGUH0f_FNcLNX-GTcE/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Registration and Waiver form</a>belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-26122149048441093732014-09-22T19:17:00.002-06:002015-03-22T23:07:57.322-06:002015 ScheduleI still owe this blog ride reports for this season's Beartooth 600K and Yellowstone National Park 200K. I'll eventually get those done. In the meantime we have to get next season's schedule posted. 2015 is a Paris-Brest-Paris year so we must get our brevet series done by the end of June. Here's what we've come up with:<br />
<br />
<b style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.7199993133545px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.7733325958252px;">April 25-200K (Missoula-Frenchtown-Hamilton)<br style="line-height: 21.7733325958252px;" />May 9-300K (Laurel-Columbus-Fishtail-Red Lodge)<br style="line-height: 21.7733325958252px;" />June 6-400K (Belgrade-Bozeman-Whitehall)<br style="line-height: 21.7733325958252px;" />June 20-600K (Helena-Great Falls-Double Divide)<br style="line-height: 21.7733325958252px;" />July 4-100K (Bozeman-Bert Karp Memorial Populaire)<br style="line-height: 21.7733325958252px;" />July 18-200K (Bozeman or Belgrade)*<br style="line-height: 21.7733325958252px;" />August 1-300K (Beartooth Pass)*</span></b><br />
<b style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.7199993133545px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.7733325958252px;"><br /></span></b>
<b style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.7199993133545px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 21.7733325958252px;">*I moved the ride over Beartooth Pass from the 200K to the 300K due to a conflict with the Beartooth motorcycle rally. We don't want to ride the pass with 10,000 Harleys.</span></b><br />
<br />
For a look at what other nearby regions are doing, checkout <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Auw9vX5ZpVQSdG5iSEV1UE9zU00td0RWQkpORHM2QVE&output=html" target="_blank">Norm Carr's spreadsheet </a>showing the combined schedules for the Oregon Randonneurs, Seattle International Randonneurs, Desert River Randonneurs (Tri-Cities, Washington), and our Montana schedule. There's lots of opportunities to get the brevet series done and qualify for PBP!belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-24433049527656607432014-08-24T13:52:00.000-06:002014-08-24T14:05:13.145-06:00Yellowstone Park Brevet Change in PlansComing up next is our <a href="http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/2727013" target="_blank">600K</a> on Labor Day weekend out of Columbus, MT. That ride will go over the Beartooth Highway on the first day, and takes a ride over the high plains north of Billings to Broadview on the second day. For more information check out our <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/" target="_blank">website</a>.<br />
<br />
Our final brevet of the season is scheduled for September 13, 2014. The plan was to ride the south loop in Yellowstone National Park. But we have to change our plans because they are <a href="http://www.nps.gov/yell/parknews/14057.htm" target="_blank">closing a portion of the road</a> between Old Faithful and West Thumb for bridge replacement.<br />
<br />
So instead, we are going to ride the <a href="http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/2756493" target="_blank">Yellowstone National Park North Loop</a>. We'll start from West Yellowstone at 8AM on the 13th of September, go to Mammoth, then over Dunraven Pass to Canyon, with a stop along north rim drive next to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon_of_the_Yellowstone" target="_blank">Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone</a>. Then we'll head back to West Yellowstone via Norris and Madison Junctions. It just so happens that this loop is also 200K so it works out well for us.belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-10065339140806244712014-07-25T22:10:00.000-06:002014-08-03T20:17:05.232-06:00A Smokey Roe River 400K<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yEfw0l18Ft4/U9MlksBB_rI/AAAAAAAAErI/eUTHhyvkMVI/s1600/Roe+River+start.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yEfw0l18Ft4/U9MlksBB_rI/AAAAAAAAErI/eUTHhyvkMVI/s1600/Roe+River+start.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pre-dawn pre-ride photo by Brenda</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://s244.photobucket.com/user/BelgradeBobcat/library/Roe%20River%20400K%20July%2019%202014" target="_blank">More Photos Here</a> <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/results-ride-reports" target="_blank"> Results Here</a> <a href="http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/2685389" target="_blank">This is the route we rode</a><br />
<br />
As we drove to Helena Friday night the winds kicked up and
smoke poured into Western Montana from wildfires in Canada, Washington, and
Oregon. Montana had a nice wet spring,
we were hoping for a smokeless summer for a change. But when big areas to the west and north are
in a drought we’re going to get it anyway.
Forest fire smoke is a fact of life in the summer in Montana.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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By early Saturday (July 19, 2014) morning the winds had
calmed a bit, but the smoke was hanging around as thick as ever. Air quality was poor. We knew we would all probably end up with
smokers cough by the end of the ride.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But despite the ugly conditions, 5 randonneurs were at the
start in Helena including myself, Ken Billingsley, Karel Stroethoff, Joshua Loveland, and
Mark Liebig-who drove all the way over from Bismarck, ND. Mark rode our <a href="http://belgradebobcat.blogspot.com/2014/06/a-beautiful-day-in-fishtail.html" target="_blank">300K</a> early in the season and
this was to be his first attempt at a 400K.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The story of the day would be wind. Primarily a southwest
wind. The same wind that was blowing in all the smoke and kicked up to 20+MPH
would blow us most of the way to Great Falls and fight us on the return to
Helena. It was a great blessing most of
the time, but also a curse whenever the route happened to turn south.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I started the ride off with a bang! Riding strong over the
big hill out of Helena with Mark I felt my back tire going down. I couldn't
hardly believe it. I was riding my bomb proof Gatorskins. I shouldn't be
getting a flat. Mark graciously stopped and helped me get the tube changed as
the other three riders came along and we all had a little impromptu gathering.
The cause of the flat was simply an old multi-patched tube. The leak was right at one of
my patches. My cheapness got me on that one, but that patched tube did make it
through most of the summer and my Cascade 1200 attempt. I actually forgot I was using it. Mark quietly rolled up the tube and stuffed
it in his bag saying he’d toss it at the first garbage can. It was a delicate
intervention-no doubt-to keep me from attempting to patch the tube again. Much
appreciation to Mark for the help in fixing the flat and saving me from myself.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The first half of the route is very lumpy with big, big
rollers between Wolf Creek and Augusta.
This would have been an incredible stretch except the heavy smoke ruined
the vast wide open scenic vistas we were anticipating. But it was staying cool and the wind, which
was sometimes an annoying cross-wind was helping more than hurting.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We got the full positive effect of the wind on the 20 mile
legs from Augusta to Fairfield and Simms to Vaughn. On these stretches we spent most of the time
well over 20 mph. It was incredible.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Mark, Ken and I rode the whole way together. They’re both a little faster than me-or at
least, they slow down less than me when we got tired. So I had to dig deep at times to keep
up. But it was really good for me.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Joshua was riding his first brevet of the season. A 400K is not the way to ease into a brevet
series. But we were riding out of his
hometown-so he decided to give it a go. We met Joshua coming into the controls
at Augusta and Simms as we were leaving, so he was only maybe 20-30 minutes
behind at that point and looking very good. Unfortunately, he had to break off
the ride at Great Falls and drive back to Helena for non-bike riding reasons.
But he got in a good solid 150 miles on the hilliest part of the route-so that
was a good days work for sure.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Karel just got back from a teaching trip in China. He hasn’t hardly turned a pedal since our <a href="http://belgradebobcat.blogspot.com/2014/06/a-traffic-less-400k-almost-with.html" target="_blank">400K in early June</a> except for a couple of permanents. So he was understandably going to ride this
400K at his own pace. I didn't see Karel again after my flat tire, but our
dutiful volunteers, Brenda, Jackson, and mother-in-law Mindy drove out to check on him. He was doing fine a couple of hours back if not just a bit sleepy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One of the more interesting features of the route is the
Riverfront Trail in Great Falls. It’s a
little tricky to navigate, but it gave us a needed respite from vehicle traffic
and offered some wonderful views of the Missouri River, including the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Eagle_Dam" target="_blank">BlackEagle dam and falls</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After the obligatory stop at Giant Springs State Park in
Great Falls, to see what was once known as the shortest river in the world, the
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_River" target="_blank">Roe River</a>, we turned south and headed to Helena, knowing full well that
headwinds were inevitable. <o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e7sgSO1yv3w/U9MmTPAbEgI/AAAAAAAAErQ/LXkN9zCndAU/s1600/Roe+River-Giant+Springs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e7sgSO1yv3w/U9MmTPAbEgI/AAAAAAAAErQ/LXkN9zCndAU/s1600/Roe+River-Giant+Springs.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Giant Springs dumping into the Roe River (Missouri in the background)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Getting out of Great Falls is no fun. There’s high traffic
roads, debris strewn shoulders, and about 1 mile of I-15-all going steeply uphill
and into that headwind. By the time we
got to the Town Pump by the Great Falls Airport we were pretty cooked and took
a long break. Town Pump is the biggest
c-store chain in Montana by far. The newest Town Pumps, like the one we used in
Great Falls, were seemingly designed for randonneurs. They even carry hard boiled eggs and pb&j sandwiches-along with all the other delicious gas station goodies randonneurs
have come to depend on.<br />
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The wind calmed down and the smoke seemed to thin out on the
way through Ulm and when we got to Cascade conditions were calm and quite pleasant. That didn't last though. As the route squeezed into the Missouri River
Canyon after Cascade the wind hit us hard off and on. Along with bugs…lots of bugs. Fortunately they weren't the biting kind,
just the annoying kind-unless you’re an angler or a trout.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There was lots of wildlife in the canyon besides the bugs including a huge
herd of mule deer, eagles, osprey, antelope and a rattlesnake coiled up on the
shoulder that an unsuspecting Mark almost rolled over (that was the only live
rattlesnake I saw, but there were plenty of dead ones).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Brenda and the rest of the volunteer crew met us in Wolf Creek.
They had cold cokes and other goodies. It was a real morale booster for me as
we rested up for the final big hump between us and our beds in Helena. It was a clear starry night sky. The smoke was all gone and temperatures were
quite pleasant. If I wasn't so tired I
would have been having the time of my life.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The last climb which is on I-15 turned out to be easier than
expect-despite my fatigue and increasing soreness. The wind miraculously calmed
and what there was actually helped push us along. Over the crest of the big hill,
the lights of Helena appeared-a truly beautiful site. The descent was even better as there was no
traffic I just rode in the travel lane of the freeway and let it go.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ken, Mark, and I were done at 1:58 AM (that’s right-2 minutes under 21 hours! I made sure to record that). I
was starting to feel nauseous like I did at the <a href="http://belgradebobcat.blogspot.com/2014/06/losing-my-cookies-in-bridgeport.html" target="_blank">Cascade 1200</a>, but kept it all in
this time. But it’s a good thing I
didn't have to ride at all on Sunday. I was totally cooked.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Karel took a couple of sleep breaks along the way and waited
to finish in daylight as it’s easier to stay awake when the sun is up. He
texted that he got done at 6:46. Another
gutsy performance by one of the toughest randonneurs I’ve ever known.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Many thanks to Ken and Mark for staying with me. We had a lot of fun and interesting
conversations along the way. And Mark
managed to get to see some scenery after the smoke started to clear and before
it got dark. Congrats to Mark for his
first 400K-the first of many, many more I’m sure.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YRteDQQznoI/U9MpuBJzI1I/AAAAAAAAErc/w1Ffea8RDgI/s1600/Mark+Liebig+Photo+of+the+Missouri.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YRteDQQznoI/U9MpuBJzI1I/AAAAAAAAErc/w1Ffea8RDgI/s1600/Mark+Liebig+Photo+of+the+Missouri.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of Mark Liebig. Great scenery after the smoke cleared</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And again many thanks to family for all the support. We couldn’t do this without them!<o:p></o:p><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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The <a href="http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/2727013" target="_blank">600K</a> is next on Labor Day weekend. Only one more brevet for a full series. It’s just the longest and steepest ride of
the year-no problem!<o:p></o:p></div>
belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-30646086783607901722014-07-11T20:53:00.001-06:002014-07-12T12:03:14.756-06:00Bert Karp Memorial Populaire-2014<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vceUrurDMsQ/U8Cfqy38d0I/AAAAAAAAEko/mK8coCG6ltQ/s1600/pop+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vceUrurDMsQ/U8Cfqy38d0I/AAAAAAAAEko/mK8coCG6ltQ/s1600/pop+5.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our little peloton leaving Bozeman</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="http://s244.photobucket.com/user/BelgradeBobcat/library/Bert%20Karp%20Memorial%20Populaire%202014" target="_blank">Select Photos Here</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/shannon.karp/media_set?set=a.10204157102478022.1073741863.1539974698&type=1" target="_blank">All of Clay's, Darren's, and Derek's photos on Facebook</a></div>
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<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/results-ride-reports" target="_blank">Results</a></div>
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My family and I pulled off the 3<sup>rd</sup> <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/bert-karp-memorial-populaire" target="_blank">BKMP</a> on the 4<sup>th</sup>
of July. We had 15 riders, some new, and
several who have ridden in either both or one of our previous populaires. What we lacked in the quantity of riders, we
more than made up for in quality!<o:p></o:p></div>
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We had a perfect weather day. Pleasantly warm temperatures, no
precipitation, and very little wind. We also had a<a href="http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/2643406" target="_blank"> new course</a> this year, 6
miles shorter for a true 100 kilometers (62 miles), with a little less climbing
and a lot less traffic-thanks primarily to Gallatin County paving more and more
back roads. I had nothing but positive
feedback on the route, so we’ll probably stick to it for next year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As for volunteer help-we who rode really hit the jackpot.
All our stops, even the information checkpoints, had volunteers, dutifully and
happily waiting for us with cool drinks and lots of munchies. If a rider went hungry or thirsty-and I don’t
think anyone did-it was their own fault!
Many, many thanks to my wife Brenda who coordinated the whole thing (on her birthday!)-with
lots of help from my sister-in-law Deborah who came all the way from Georgia to
help. Thanks goes out to all our ride
volunteers led by my son Jackson, nephews Austin and Jameson, Billy and Mindy
Horne, LaVerna Schmidt, Deb Korrison, and Danielle and Shannon Karp. All these
people got up earlier than they needed to on a holiday and drove all over the
valley from checkpoint to checkpoint to look after us. Also thanks to sister
Jody and many other family members for shopping for all the goodies, and for
brother Travis and his son Austin for marking all the turns-a service rarely
available for randonneuring rides.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qEdoJK7AOPk/U8CgNRWw8uI/AAAAAAAAEk4/QvuJusTRSdo/s1600/pop+18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qEdoJK7AOPk/U8CgNRWw8uI/AAAAAAAAEk4/QvuJusTRSdo/s1600/pop+18.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Springhill Church rest stop</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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My brother Clay and his boys Darren and Derek, who rode last
year, traded in their bikes for their cameras for this one and took hundreds of
photos. They were with the riders every
step of the way, snapping pictures and cheering us on-along with Danielle with
her cow bell.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Personally, I got in a group of six guys-all of whom were
happy to ride about the same speed-and take a generous amount of time at each
of the rest stops. So I absolutely had a ball. I seldom get into such a well
suited group for that long. It was just a lot of fun.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The MVP performance of the day has to go to my sister Jody
Schmidt who took on this ride despite a very limited amount of training miles.
Jody suffered plenty through the last 15 miles or so, but gutted it out and got
done with plenty of time to spare. A truly great accomplishment and a really
inspiring moment.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Thanks to all who came out to ride, volunteer, or just watch
and wish us well. I know mom was looking down with great pride and joy.</div>
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What a fun event!<o:p></o:p></div>
belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-45948220055491395952014-06-26T23:49:00.001-06:002014-07-02T08:45:10.627-06:00Losing My Cookies in Bridgeport-How I DNF'd the Cascade 1200<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kH37QaHb0E8/U6x6fF200SI/AAAAAAAAEbQ/lg8mQgxR12Y/s1600/Cascade+1200+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kH37QaHb0E8/U6x6fF200SI/AAAAAAAAEbQ/lg8mQgxR12Y/s1600/Cascade+1200+2.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Easy Pass wasn't on the Seattle Randonneurs program</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
More Photos <a href="http://s244.photobucket.com/user/BelgradeBobcat/library/Cascade%201200%202014" target="_blank">Here</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://seattlerando.org/C1200/" target="_blank">The Cascade 1200</a> has held my interest for many years. It's one of the closest Grand Randonees to my home. It's put on by the Seattle International Randonnuers (SIR) so I know it's going to have first class support, and I've read numerous ride reports and heard first hand experiences from many randonneurs about what a fantastic and hard ride it is. But I also had some major concerns. The ride is in the 3rd week of June. At that time of year I am far from peak fitness, and the route goes into Eastern Washington, where temperatures typically far exceed what I am acclimated to this time of year.<br />
<br />
Logistics and schedules worked out in 2014 for me to sign up for the ride. I set my own brevet schedule to help me train, but I was only able to get a 400K in 2 weeks before the Cascade 1200. I was taking quite a jump from a 400K to a 1200K. Normally, one would want at least a 600K under their belts in the same season as a 1200K. I just figured I have ridden many brevets in the past without maximum fitness and got through them. I'd just ride slow and grind it out.<br />
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As I would come to realize, my lack of preparation could not be overcome. The Cascade 1200 is not a ride you can fake your way through-especially a big rider like me that's bad at climbing even when I am fit. The Cascade 1200 does nothing but climb...and then climb some more...and then adds a dose of heat just to make things interesting. That being said, participating in this ride, even with the stench of failure sticking to me afterwards, was an amazing experience that will only make me a better cyclist and randonneur.<br />
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<b>DAY 1:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
One ride preparation that I did get right was to get plenty of sleep in the days leading up to the event. I went to bed early on Friday night as well and had no trouble getting up at 4 AM to get the final preparations done and head over the to start. It also didn't hurt that Washington is in the Pacific time zone, so I gained an hour coming west.<br />
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Riders gathered at the Guest House Inn in Monroe, Washington and after a few appropriate remarks from SIR RBA Mark Thomas, we were off though the rolling countryside of Western Washington. I held back, planning to ride slow and steady on the first day to hopefully save some energy for the demanding second day. After cruising in a big group for a while the field started to string out. I got reacquainted with Gary Smith from the Tri-Cities in Washington. I met Gary on<a href="http://belgradebobcat.blogspot.com/2009/05/desert-region-300km-brevet.html" target="_blank"> a 300K brevet</a> in 2009 out of Richland, Washington. We rode together most of the day until the climbs split us up (Gary is a much better climber than I am), and we hooked up with Peter Donnan from Australia as we rode through Morton and Randle to the foot of Elk Pass.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dx_0ZuQ7-r8/U6yStNSr47I/AAAAAAAAEbg/AvpRCxXMkqY/s1600/Cascade+1200+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dx_0ZuQ7-r8/U6yStNSr47I/AAAAAAAAEbg/AvpRCxXMkqY/s1600/Cascade+1200+4.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Mt. Ranier Scenic Railroad in Elbe-pretty cool old steam locomotive in operation.<br />
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After a nice food break at the Mount Adams Cafe in Randle, we entered the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The climb to Elk Pass was nice for me. I didn't go fast, but I was not in the red zone, and the grade undulated somewhat. At the top a small group of riders gathered, putting on their cool weather gear and getting their lights ready for a chilly, long, and darkening descent. A few twists and turns revealed a very close view of Mt. St. Helens. I was glad to see it before daylight completely disappeared.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7bnW6raREtg/U6yVYqQGsvI/AAAAAAAAEbs/mVbjhWaV-3w/s1600/Cascade+1200+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7bnW6raREtg/U6yVYqQGsvI/AAAAAAAAEbs/mVbjhWaV-3w/s1600/Cascade+1200+3.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mt. St. Helens</td></tr>
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It was very dark when we got to the Northwoods control. I was starving and ate just about anything I could get my hands on. SIR support was out in full force as we wandered around in the dark. After we left Northwoods, we started to climb to Old Man Pass. A shorter, but more unrelenting climb that was made tougher by just being in the dark. A small group of us gathered at the summit, including Peter Doonan, Ty Ngyuen, Shan Perera, Andy Speier, George Winkert, and Bill Watts, and perhaps one or two more (hope I have all these names correct-my memory for names is terrible and worse when softened by sleep deprivation and fatigue). We dropped like stones from Old Man Pass all the way to Carson where the first overnight control was waiting for us. 223 miles were done, and it was a little after 2 AM. The SIR and Oregon volunteers led by Susan Octenas manning this site had hot food, plenty to drink, and led me to a motel room. I tried to sneak quietly into my room, where three earlier randonneurs were already sacked out. It didn't work, I woke a couple of guys up briefly and felt bad about that. After a shower and organizing I was in bed at 3 AM with a 5:30 AM wake up call.<br />
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<b>DAY 2:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The other guys in the motel room began stirring about 4:30 AM or so. It didn't bother me, I had ear plugs and an eye shade. I was awake by 5 AM, so I decided not to wait for my wake up call. I was one of the last riders out of the control that morning, and those that were out later were faster than me. I was beginning to realize that I was going to be in trouble if I didn't have a really good day. Out of Carson we rode along the Columbia for a while. It was flat and really nice. As I rode, I actually saw a few riders, even though I was sure I was the absolute slowest rider in the field. I caught Peter again at a rest area where we both peeled off a layer as the day began to warm up. I saw even more riders at a little grocery store in Klickitat where the staff was really friendly. Seeing other people on the road who didn't seem to be worried about being at this point at this time was an encouragement. <br />
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And then the day's climbing started.<br />
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We hit a big climb cut into the side of a hill out Klickitat that went on forever as it got hotter and hotter. By the time I got to Goldendale I was alone on the road, but found some randonneurs at the grocery store. After some deep fat fried goodness from the deli and other refreshments, I set off toward Bickleton. The cue sheet said Bickleton's elevation was 3000 feet and Goldendale's was 1600 feet. These numbers did not sound intimidating. I live at 4450 feet for crying out loud! What I didn't realize and didn't recall from the route profile is that the 3000 foot elevation at Bickleton would be gained then completely lost, then have to be gained again. I was feeling really good as Keith Moore, Andy Speier, Norm Carr, a couple on a tandem, and a few others were in the vicinity. Then we hit this ridiculous descent where all our hard work for the day would be lost and then needed to be regained again on a twisty-curvy road going up into the sun filled sky with nary a shade tree anywhere. It was quite demoralizing. I climbed, then walked, then climbed again to what I thought was the top. The grade softened, but there was no top. We kept climbing and climbing as it got hotter and hotter all the way to Bickleton-which I was beginning to wonder if it even existed.<br />
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I did get to Bickleton, but I was starting lose my expectation of ever finishing this ride. In fact, a lot of riders did call it quits here-as the heat and climbing were so, so tough. But after a sandwich and some cool drinks I did get going again, but only with the promise that the road had to go down since the next control at Sunnyside was only at 600 feet of elevation. Keith Moore caught up to me and we rode and chatted as the terrain dropped. It was a welcome stretch for sure. We met up at the Burger King in Sunnyside with Ron Himshoot and Gary Smith and took a break. I was feeling really low, but glad that there were still some riders around. Gary and Ron were about as experienced at they come and they didn't seem too worried.<br />
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I was off the back again out of Sunnyside, but as the sun went down and the temperatures fell, I rallied. I "zipped" up a big hill and then dropped into Vernita on Ron's wheel with Gary and Keith's headlights behind me (I had overtaken them when they stopped to put on their night gear). I had put my cue sheet in my back pocket because it was flopping in the breeze and bugging me, and was just absentmindedly following Ron as we cruised down an excessively busy highway toward some big blinking power lines. After a while I noticed that Gary and Keith's lights were no longer behind me. Either they stopped...or we missed a turn. I asked Ron if he knew the route and admitted I hadn't been looking at my cue sheet for quite a while. He stopped and checked and sure enough-we were off route. It was a dumb mistake on my part, I should have been paying closer attention to my own navigation. Ron doesn't get rattled by these sort of things, he just took it in stride and soldiered on. But my mental state was beginning to crack and losing an hour going off route was a hard hurdle for me to overcome. All of the good feelings I had at Vernita had vanished and I began to feel terrible. Most concerning-I had a hard time eating anything at the control. My stomach just didn't want anything.<br />
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Ron and I set out on the final stretch of the day to the "overnight" control in Ephrata. We had 50 miles to go. Suddenly, I began to feel very sleepy and had to bid Ron a good ride as I had to stop for a nap. Ron gave me a caffeine pill and some good advice on resting and then set off into the night. I found a post office-I think it was in Beverly (but I'm not sure) and laid on the floor for a few minutes. I thought I heard a noise outside and investigated. It was another randonneur taking a rest next door. I'm not sure who it was, possibly George Winkert? I laid back down for 10 more minutes or so and then got rolling again. We were along the Columbia, so I figured I would be climbing again soon. I was right. We had to get over a big hill, then lose all the elevation gain, then climb back over another hill to get to the valley that held Ephrata. This stretch took forever. I could see Ron's tail lights, miles away on the hill on the other side of the valley. I was feeling weak and had to walk the bike up some of the steeper sections. I was looking for another place to take a nap, but none was available. I figured if I could get to I-90 I would be okay. But where the heck was I-90?! Well I finally did get there and went to a c-store in George where I pulled in for a coffee and to try and eat something. If there had been a motel here I probably would have checked in and called it quits. Instead I snoozed at the table in the store and tried to choke down a few bites of muffin-to no avail. My stomach still wasn't having it. There were 20 flat miles to go to Ephrata and a bed.<br />
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After an endless flat stretch that was pure torture because of my slowness and inability to not keep looking at my odometer, I finally did get to the Best Western in Ephrata-452 miles into the ride. It was 7 AM. I still had 2 hours or so until the control closed but I was sure the SIR staff would want me to bag it. I had to be the slowest cyclist on earth at this point. All the other riders would be hours-or days ahead of me. What's the point?<br />
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<b>DAY 3</b><br />
<b><br /></b>I was shocked to hear nothing but encouragement to continue when I arrived at the motel. Mark Thomas calmly told me to go get some sleep and make a decision about continuing after waking up. I was led to a room that I got all to myself, because the previous occupants had long since left. I stripped off my clothes and fell into bed-not even bothering to shower. I was awoken at 8:45 with a knock on the door. I told the staffer who knocked that I was quitting, called my wife and said I was quitting, and then sat on the bed and began to argue with myself. I knew I had finished the two toughest stages of the route and today's stage was "only" about 140 miles. I wasn't injured and I could still ride. So I ventured downstairs to get some advice. To my surprise, Gary Smith and Ron Himshoot were just getting ready to leave-they weren't hours and days ahead of me. Mark Thomas informed me I only had 30 miles to get to the next control in Farmer and almost 4 hours to get there as the control times stretch out in the second half of a 1200K. I sheepishly reversed my decision to abandon, tried to down some food and orange juice, took a quick shower, packed up my stuff and headed out of Ephrata into a bright sunny day.<br />
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I'm familiar with the route out of Ephrata. I had ridden these roads on a <a href="http://belgradebobcat.blogspot.com/2009/05/ephrata-washington-400k-brevet.html" target="_blank">400K</a> with the Seattle Randonneurs back in 2009. I knew there would be a big climb right out of town, but then some long downhill into the Moses Coulee. The one big difference between now and 2009 was the time of day. In the early mornings the Moses Coulee is quite chilly, but by 11 AM it was scorching. I didn't bring any extra water along other than the Hammer Heed in my Camelback-I "only" had 30 miles to go afterall. But I was gagging on the Heed and I could not swallow any Endurolytes capsules so now bonking was a big concern. I found a man mowing his lawn in the coulee and asked to fill a water bottle from his sprinkler hose. The water was nice and cold and tasted really good. With that I got out of the Coulee and to Highway 2 and yet another big climb. I still had time to get to Farmer, but it was going to be fairly close as I had to walk up part of the hill again. <br />
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As I approached the old grange hall at Farmer I saw a rider just leaving. It was Ty Nguyen. Joe Llona and his son Jesse, Eric Vigoren, and Steve Davis were there and they had ice, pop, and food. There was also another rider there (I missed his name) who had just abandoned because of the heat. They filled my bottles and Camelback with ice and water, gave me a variety of salty snacks to nibble on, and encouraged me to keep plugging away. I was now the last rider on the route, but that didn't seem to matter so much anymore. I really just wanted to take a nap. So after the volunteers left I laid down in the shade next to the building and snoozed for about 45 minutes. I figured I'd wake up refreshed to take the hills before descending to the Columbia again. I was wrong. I woke up feeling light headed and my stomach was as queasy as ever. The day was intensely hot-approaching 90 degrees, and there was nobody around. I began to worry that I was in serious trouble. I began thinking about heat stroke-what exactly was heat stroke? Was I in danger? <br />
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More walking up every hill. I began checking my phone for cell service. Will I have to call the paramedics? I couldn't drink anything at this point. Anytime something touched my lips I gagged. Thankfully, I finally got to where I could see the route would go downhill, so I held off calling for help or flagging someone down and kept riding/walking. Finally I dropped down a big hill to the town of Bridgeport and a well placed c-store. The air conditioning felt great at first, then I got the chills as I ate some potato chips and drank a huge fountain Pepsi. For some reason I could drink fizzy drinks at this point. I filled my water bottles and started to prepare to leave. For some reason I took a sip of water and that triggered a reaction that caused me to lose my cookies all over the back of the building. Fortunately, I was around the back and nobody saw. After one more spewing session my stomach felt a little better. But I had just lost all the calories I had just attempted to take on and I didn't want to try eating again. I knew the route got a little flatter for a while and it was starting to cool off some, so I started riding through town. A little grocery store advertised ice cream, so I thought I'd give that a try. It wasn't bad, and it stayed down. I had several hours to get to the next control in Malott 27 miles away with no significant climbs in the way. But again I had to walk up any incline. I was just getting slower and slower.<br />
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I crossed the Columbia again on the big bridge at Brewster, and thought I was almost to the control at Malott-I guess my brain wasn't working too well by then. I misunderstood the cue sheet, thought I had missed a turn and turned around. As I was doing this, Steve Davis pulled over in his car with a bike rack to see how I was doing. Malott was the other way and I still had 15 miles to go. With that I fell on my sword-time to load me up. Sitting in Steve's car was the best feeling I had experienced so far that day. It was impractical for me to continue. Even if I had made it to the control under my own power there was no way I was going to make it over Loup Loup Pass and to the overnight control-no way in the world! Steve hauled me to Malott where Bill Gobie and his wife (sorry I forget her name), and Millison Fambles got me a cup-o-noodles. I was able to down a small amount of noodles and some other goodies. I was cramping in my hands and thighs. The good news for the volunteers is my abandonment saved them from a lot of mosquito bites as the little buggers were out in full force. The wait for me at the control would have been long and excruciating. I ended with about 540 miles-including the bonus miles.<br />
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After eating, we packed up the control, and I rode with Steve to the overnight at Mazama. We passed several riders along the way, with the slowest still being at least two hours ahead of me. We found Mike Richeson leaning on a guard rail a ways up the Loup Loup climb. He indicated that he was sick as well and needed a ride. We loaded him and his bike up on Steve's two bike racks and headed to Mazama. I was relieved to be done riding and very tired. I dozed most of the drive. We finally got to Mazama, showered and went to bed about 1 AM.<br />
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<b>DAY 4</b><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9webOoikAfw/U6zMOdRU67I/AAAAAAAAEb8/EiMTFnucOnI/s1600/Cascade+1200+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9webOoikAfw/U6zMOdRU67I/AAAAAAAAEb8/EiMTFnucOnI/s1600/Cascade+1200+1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The west side of the Northern Cascades</td></tr>
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After four blessed hours of sleep and a great breakfast, which to my relief I was able to keep down, I almost started to feel human again. I learned that several riders had to DNF on Day 2-mainly because of the heat. A couple of others, like Spencer Klassen had mechanicals. Spencer broke his crank on the climb up Loup Loup. He was riding on a fixed gear bike! I can't even comprehend doing that-on this or any other route. It was a real shame for him, but his attitude was friendly as ever-as was everyone else's. The riders were heading out of the control knowing they had a couple of cool wet climbs and descents ahead, but also knowing that they were only about 174 miles to being done. I wasn't jealous in the least at this point. I did not have any desire to get on my bike and ride-none at all!<br />
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Instead I tried to make myself useful, picking up garbage and helping pack up the control. Steve and I headed up the road and I snapped a few pictures of the riders climbing Washington and Rainy passes. Then we parked at the rest stop set up by SIR at the other side of Rainy Pass to warm up the riders after a damp and chilly descent. It was an amazing perspective for me as I've never worked a rest stop on a ride before (I'm always the one riding). I think the one big difference between all these riders on their way to finishing and me was their attitude. They were smiling, joking about being half frozen, grateful for the service, and determined to get done even though many had trouble throwing their leg over the saddle to get off and on their bikes. It was a contrast to my attitude-especially at Ephrata, and it's clear I have a lot of mental aspects to work on as a randonneur. Everyone was also sympathetic to my plight as many had been there before.<br />
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After all riders passed through the rest stop, Steve and I headed back to civilization. We met up with my wife Brenda and my Aunt and Uncle at the penultimate control at the Big Rock Cafe outside of Mount Vernon. Brenda had fun signing brevet cards for the riders who came in and it was fun to see the excitement building as they were into the last 100K.<br />
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I think my DNF can be most attributed to my lack of miles this year. We've had a long winter and a cold spring. I haven't hardly ridden without arm and leg warmers. The Cascade was just too much of a ramp up from what I've been doing. And this is the first time I've ever gotten sick on a bike ride. I didn't really know how to handle it. I got a lot of good advice, but I didn't have the mental acuity to process that information and implement counter measures in time. I just ate one scoop of ice cream and kept trying to ride-which obviously didn't work. And finally, my mental toughness needs some work, especially for a ride this hard. I need to learn how to get out of my own head.<br />
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The effort wasn't all in vain. I learned a lot-skills that will help whenever I decide to try again. I enjoyed so much of this event, meeting so many neat people, both riders and volunteers, and the amazing scenery-especially the four volcanoes, Rainier, Hood, Adams, and St. Helens which we got to see at numerous points on the ride.<br />
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A huge thanks to SIR, the Oregon Randonneurs, and other volunteers who put on such a first class event. Thanks for getting my drop bag to Mazama, and my bike back to Monroe. And a huge thanks to Steve Davis for hauling my sorry carcass from Brewster all the way to Mount Vernon where he handed me over to my wife. It was so fun riding with him and watching our cyclists do their thing. Congrats to everyone who participated-finishers and those who had to bow out for whatever reason. Any person with the audacity to try and tackle the challenge of the Cascade 1200 deserves respect!<br />
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Maybe next time...we'll see.<br />
<br />belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-86303174246420229852014-06-13T11:09:00.000-06:002014-06-13T11:24:44.283-06:00A traffic-less 400K? Almost with the Koocanusa-Yaak 400K<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j238RPiERJQ/U5pszv9YurI/AAAAAAAAEE4/H0l3BJmRr9o/s1600/Dirty+Shame+Saloon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j238RPiERJQ/U5pszv9YurI/AAAAAAAAEE4/H0l3BJmRr9o/s1600/Dirty+Shame+Saloon.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karel and me at the Dirty Shame in Yaak. Great burgers!</td></tr>
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<a href="http://s244.photobucket.com/user/BelgradeBobcat/library/2014%20photos%20by%20Karel%20Stroethoff" target="_blank">Karel's 400K and 300K photos</a> <a href="http://s244.photobucket.com/user/BelgradeBobcat/library/Koocanusa%20Yaak%20400K%202014" target="_blank">My photos</a> <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/results-ride-reports" target="_blank">Results</a><br />
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I had some huge concerns when mapping out the Koocanusa-Yaak 400K Brevet. Chief among them was the potential heavy traffic on narrow shouldered roads on US Highway 93 near the start, and US 2 near the finish. Also, this was the most likely Montana route to produce a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigfoot" target="_blank">Bigfoot</a> sighting, or to be accosted by some mountain people <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068473/" target="_blank">Deliverance</a> style.<br />
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I needn't have worried. After the first 25 miles on the very pleasant Farm-to-Market road from Kalispell to north of Whitefish we got on US 93 and we were pretty much all by ourselves. There was an occasional car or truck, but all gave us plenty of room. Then we encountered some road construction and had the joy of riding on brand new pavement for almost 10 miles while the cars and trucks were slowed to 35 mph by a pilot car. It was wonderful. By the time we got to Dickey Lake, the road widened as the traffic finally started waking up. It was smooth sailing for the first 100K to Eureka. And not to be a spoiler or anything, but despite the squatchyness of the route we saw no bipedal critters other than humans, and those humans were nothing but nice-no banjos or pig squealing or anything-not that there's anything wrong with banjos.<br />
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Karel Stroethoff was the only other randonneur to join me on this day. Ken Billingsley was planning to join us, but his knee was acting up-and a 400K is not a ride to be messing with a sore knee if you can help it. Though Ken was missed, Karel and I have ridden thousands of miles of brevets and permanents together-and we have never run out of things to talk about as we chug along. Lucky for me, Karel did come out-unlucky for Karel-he probably shouldn't have...but more on that later.</div>
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After Eureka we would be on the most quiet paved roads I've ever ridden. For the next 100 miles we could have probably counted the number of motor vehicles that passed us on one hand. Why this place isn't an absolute cycling mecca-I'll never know. The local businesses seem to be more interested in motorcycle riders for customers. If they ever figured out how to market this area world-wide to cyclists they'd have a gold mine on their hands. It's not that some cyclists don't know this area. There's a popular spring 2-day ride called <a href="http://www.libbymt.com/events/stokr.htm" target="_blank">STOKR</a> that takes place on some of these roads, and there's a growing <a href="http://www.gfkootenai.com/" target="_blank">Gran Fondo</a> later in the summer as well. But with the scenery, challenge, and extreme lack of traffic on these paved roads-this place should be overrun with road cyclists.</div>
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We crossed the beautiful Lake Koocanusa on what I learned is the <a href="http://visitmt.com/listing/categories_NET/MoreInfo.aspx?IDRRecordID=6143" target="_blank">longest and highest bridge in Montana</a> (with no traffic in sight). Lake Koocanusa was created by the Libby Dam plugging up the Kootenai River. It was built in the early 1970's which seems incredibly recent for a major dam project. I thought we were done doing those by the 1950's. The lake goes all the way up into Canada. The name Koocanusa is broken down as Koo for Kootenai, can for Canada, and usa for USA! Neato!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ynj3Ni38qow/U5qIBCNw60I/AAAAAAAAEFQ/T_MgMBt4G74/s1600/Karel-Yaak+10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ynj3Ni38qow/U5qIBCNw60I/AAAAAAAAEFQ/T_MgMBt4G74/s1600/Karel-Yaak+10.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lake Koocanusa Bridge-photo by Karel</td></tr>
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After Koocanusa we entered one of the most remote areas in the lower 48 states-known locally as The Yaak. Yaak is an Indian word for arrow. The region is known for the Yaak River which is a pretty popular whitewater float. I always heard that the Yaak is a place where people go who don't want to be found. It's a little bit spooky.</div>
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We had a long, hard climb on the narrow, but nicely paved forest service road. It went on forever and the grades got really steep at times. This is no engineered highway grade-this is a logging road-though an extremely good logging road. Logging roads can get really steep. Karel and I both took a couple of short breaks, but the reward at the top was nice view of <a href="http://www.panoramio.com/user/7351164/tags/Mt.%20Henry" target="_blank">Mt. Henry</a>. Then it was a super fun and twisty descent to the Yaak River on the other side. We couldn't really let it go though-as the extreme lack of traffic meant tree branches were hanging across the road in places and at times the pavement was very rough.</div>
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It was about 100K from Eureka to the small village of Yaak with pretty much nothing but a few shacks and cabins in between. We were out of water and seriously in need of food. A sign in front of the <a href="http://www.dirtyshamesaloon.net/" target="_blank">World Famous Dirty Shame Saloon</a> said their food was better and cheaper-so Karel and I decided to give them a shot. The special for the day was a 2/3 pound double cheeseburger for the price of a 1/3 pound burger. That sounded just right-and Karel and I both took advantage. Along with the huge burgers we got a big plate of fries and all the coke we could drink. On top of all that the folks at the bar-both staff and customers were really friendly and normal-not scary at all like I sort of worried about. It was just a nice little place out in the middle of nowhere.</div>
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After Yaak we had to climb out of the valley...and climb we did. I kind of underestimated this climb-though I saw it in the car on the pre-drive a couple of days ago. I suppose being loaded down with a huge burger and greasy fries didn't help, but both Karel and I really struggled going up hill. It took forever and we were hurting. But over the top is was 24 miles of downhill all the way to Libby. Thank goodness!</div>
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Another food stop at Libby-at the McDonalds and then on more quiet roads-the Haul road along the railroad tracks, and the Fisher River Road back into the forest. It was getting dark so we stopped to gear up. The temperatures also dropped from the 70's to the 40's in a matter of minutes after the sun went down. </div>
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The Fisher River road goes against the Fisher River, but it was a pretty easy grade. That all changed when we switched to the McKillop Creek Road-which was all brand new pave. It was eight miles to US. 2 and 7 of them were up a what I would guess is a 6 to 7% grade. And again-not a car or truck to be found anywhere except those parked off the road at a few campsites along the way. I figured the only thing that could ruin our quiet riding bliss was if we came across a high school keggar-and this area would be perfect for a keggar-but none were to be found-thankfully...either that or Bigfoot!</div>
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At this point Karel was really starting to feel the ride. Now Karel normally eats 400K's for breakfast, but this season he's been working way too hard at his real job (Math Professor at the University of Montana) and not getting in enough riding, or enough sleep. He hadn't turned a pedal since our 300K two weeks ago. He was starting to get really sleepy.</div>
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I waited only a couple of minutes at the junction with US 2 for Karel to come along. It was dark and very cold-temps in the low 30's at times as there were lots of lakes in the area and lots of cold air pockets. After our penultimate control at Happy's Inn we had 50 miles to go all on US 2-one of the main highways in this region...except that it was midnight and the road was totally empty.</div>
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Shortly after Happy's Inn Karel and I were still riding together when I saw the eye shine of some critters crossing the road ahead of us. I assumed them to be deer-as they were all over the place on this route. Suddenly the side of the road became alive with critters moving around rapidly-but they were much bigger than deer and much faster than cows. All of sudden they crossed our headlight beams and revealed themselves to be 20 or 30 head of elk! The herd rumbled right across the road within a few feet of us. It was exciting and a little scary. If one or a few of them had run into us-it wouldn't have been pretty. And if a car or truck had happened along just then is would have been total carnage.</div>
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The elk scare must have woke me up because I started riding a little stronger on the big, big rollers through this stretch. As I crested a big hill I realized Karel's lights were nowhere in sight behind me. Just then a pickup passed me and pulled over. A very concerned woman said my buddy was a ways back there and he was stopped. I thanked them for their concern and said I would stop and wait for him. This was no big deal. On long brevets riders often get separated out-of-sight of each other, but a few minutes wait is usually all it takes to get back together. I figured Karel got a flat tire or something-nothing he wasn't equipped to handle.</div>
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After just a few minutes, our loyal neutral support volunteers, Brenda and Jackson came along in the car to check on us. There was absolutely no cell service on most of the route-except at Libby and Eureka so I couldn't check in. So for safety sake I asked Brenda to come out our way after mid-night to see how we were doing. I sent Brenda down the hill to check on Karel and I would wait for her to bring me a report. After a few minutes of shivering I decided to just start riding again-no use getting hypothermia waiting around when I couldn't really do anything anyway. After riding for several miles, Brenda finally came along and reported that Karel was engaging in that time honored randonneur tradition of a ditch nap. Brenda had a hard time finding him, but when she did Karel was getting underway again.</div>
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After Marion there's a great big 6% downhill. Normally this is very welcome, but with temps at or near freezing I didn't really need it. It was excruciatingly cold. But I was getting closer now. A few more drivers of questionable sobriety were coming out on the roads so I was happy to turn off US 2 at Kila and get to the <a href="http://www.traillink.com/trail/great-northern-historical-trail.aspx" target="_blank">Great Northern bike path</a> the rest of way to Kalispell...if I can find the dang trail. Even though I had driven to this location two days before I had to play my light around for a few minutes to find the entrance to the path-which isn't marked for night riders. </div>
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10 miles of path riding at the end of a brevet is my kind of finish. No worries about drunks and a relatively flat-downhill grade. I rolled into the finish at about the same time we arrived for check-in the previous morning. I had been up for almost 25 hours and on the ride for 23:25.</div>
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Karel got in a little after 6AM. He suffered mightily from the cold and lack of sleep and even had to walk on the Marion Hill descent because he was too tired and cold to keep the bike going straight. He was also very concerned about drunks and pulled over every time a car came by. He had trouble finding the path like I did, but eventually got on it and to finish line.</div>
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I am so grateful that Karel was along on this ride. Riding through The Yaak and on the very dark and spooky McKillop Creek Road alone would have probably led to me abandoning at some point. And this 400K was very important for me. It's my last big test before the <a href="http://seattlerando.org/C1200/" target="_blank">Cascade 1200</a> on June 21...Lord help me with that one. I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew. </div>
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I am also tremendously grateful to my wife Brenda and son Jackson for their support. Brenda was up with me a 3:30AM to get to the start and handle the paperwork, and they were both out there in the wee hours of the next day to check on us.</div>
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Finally many thanks to my brother-in-law Dan and sister-in-law Dori and their family for putting us up and for all the encouragement and sausage sticks that sustained me on much of this ride. It was also neat to have all the family and guests at their house who were visiting for my nephew Gavin's high school graduation to give me a round of applause when I staggered down the stairs much later that morning for breakfast.</div>
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belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-44879766138013685572014-06-04T18:19:00.001-06:002014-08-03T20:17:25.373-06:00A Beautiful Day in Fishtail!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6BHJ5bNHjNw/U4-rjaIY3rI/AAAAAAAAD8Q/dDbj48TYSMA/s1600/Fishtail+300K-group+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6BHJ5bNHjNw/U4-rjaIY3rI/AAAAAAAAD8Q/dDbj48TYSMA/s1600/Fishtail+300K-group+photo.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karel Stroethoff, Mark Liebig, Ken Billingsley, and Jason Karp</td></tr>
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<a href="http://s244.photobucket.com/user/BelgradeBobcat/library/Fishtail%20300K%20May%2024%202014" target="_blank">More Photos Here</a> <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/results-ride-reports" target="_blank">Results Here</a><br />
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There was the ominous sign: "Motorcycle Advisory Road Construction Ahead Consider Alternate Route" It's a sign that strikes fear into the hearts of brevet organizers everywhere-especially in sparsely populated places where there is usually only one paved route to anywhere. But a pre-ride pre-drive revealed that they hadn't quite got to tearing up the road north of Absarokee before the Memorial Day weekend so we were going to be okay.<br />
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Four randonneurs met at the Walmart in Laurel-including the usual suspects-Ken Billingsley, Karel Stroethoff, and myself. We were joined by Mark Liebig from Bismarck. Mark is currently the only registered randonneur from the State of North Dakota-so it was a great honor to have him along.<br />
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We set out into a beautiful morning on quiet roads to our first stop at the little country store in Fishtail. After the out-and-back on the Nye Road to Fishtail and an info control we were back on the highway to Red Lodge. After Absarokee the road gets quite narrow, but fortunately, the traffic thinned out considerably as well-so we could suffer in relative peace on the big, big hills after Roscoe. Mark was off the front riding well, Ken and I were riding more-or-less in site of each other, and Karel was back a ways-riding comfortably at his own pace. <br />
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Mark met up with his family in Red Lodge for lunch, Ken and I met our dutiful volunteers Brenda, Jackson, and Ernie at the Town Pump in Red Lodge for a break, and Karel showed up in Red Lodge right after we left and met up with Brenda at the Subway. Everyone was doing well and the weather was very good-though the skies were darkening.<br />
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After the short climb out of Red Lodge it's a wonderful 14 mile descent to Belfry-where hardly a pedal had to be turned. However, after Belfry the road gets wide, busy, and flat. It was heating up close to 80, the air smelled of road kill, and we had a headwind. Ken and I found Mark at a c-store in Bridger-where they had ice cream! Refreshed we made relatively short work out of the flat boring stretch to Joliet in a 3 man pace line. The headwind didn't stand a chance!<br />
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More ice cream in Joliet and then a wonderful ride on the hilly and quiet Joliet to Columbus road. Mark and Ken, who in my defense are probably both at least 30 pounds lighter than me, pulled away on the hills, but not completely out-of-sight. Despite being slower, I felt good and was thoroughly enjoying this stretch as the wind died completely, there was no traffic, and the green hills, and purple Beartooth Range beyond was like riding in a postcard.<br />
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I found Ken at the McDonalds in Columbus and Mark soon joined us as well after making his checkpoint the Town Pump across the street. As we rested a fully loaded touring cyclist came rolling off the I-90 exit. He was Dan Clinkinbeard of Missouri-a well known randonneur-who was pedaling to Missoula to meet up with an Adventure Cycling group that was riding to Alaska. Dan was so excited to see some fellow cyclists and talked our ear off. He had great stories and a 90 pound bike I could barely lift. It was a truly cool moment in my randonneuring life.<br />
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The last 28 miles to Laurel was flat and familiar-as we went out on the same route in the morning. Mark, Ken, and I rode together and chatted the miles away on the low traffic frontage road. In the last five miles the wind kicked up and as we pulled into the finishing parking lot the thunder started to rumble. It was still light and we were dry and happy.<br />
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Poor Karel didn't fair quite so well. The rain hit him in Columbus and he showed up at the finish dripping wet. But he finished well none-the-less and he had a nice motel room waiting for him in nearby Billings.<br />
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I think we all agreed that we really liked this route. The hills before Red Lodge were a good challenge, the descent of Bear Creek Hill to Belfry was great fun, and the route was well serviced and on pretty decent roads. After the road gets rebuilt after Absarokee I will definitely want to do this one again.<br />
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Two days later-on Memorial Day, I went for a recovery ride to Bozeman where I crossed paths with Dan Clinkinbeard again. I rode with him on the I-90 shoulder for 20 miles to Manhattan. I had the best time listening to his stories-what a treat to come across him again. Best of luck to Dan on his tour to Alaska!<br />
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Now it's on to the <a href="http://trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/2655052" target="_blank">400K</a>. I sit here typing this at our relative's house outside of Kalispell. I'll pre-drive the entire 400K tomorrow to make sure there are actually roads there-in what is one of the most isolated regions in in the lower 48. It will be beautiful-that I can guarantee!belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-6019464499436378382014-05-05T17:04:00.002-06:002014-05-05T21:19:02.803-06:00Pintler 200K-early season fun and sufferingMore Photos <a href="http://s244.photobucket.com/user/BelgradeBobcat/library/Mobile%20Uploads/Pintler%20200K%20Brevet-May%203%202014" target="_blank">HERE</a>. Results <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/results-ride-reports" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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Though other regions in the country are riding their 400K's and 600K's, we in Montana are just getting started with our 200K. And most of us don't have a lot of miles built up yet. So even though the first 200K has traditionally been on a fairly easy route, and the distance isn't too great, there's quite a bit of suffering as we build up our base miles. Such was the case for the Pintler 200K brevet on May 3, 2014. Ken Billingsley was present once again, and dealing with a sore knee, Karel Stroethoff was also there, of course, but dealing with a lack of miles and sleep deprivation. We were also joined by two guys new to the sport of randonneuring but certainly not new to cycling in Rick Dendinger of Helena and Stu Schopp of Bozeman. I've ridden with Rick and Stu many times on Gallatin Valley Bicycle Club rides-both are strong cyclists. I was really excited to have them along.<br />
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We started out from Fairmont Hot Springs a few minutes late. I was fumbling with the paperwork and trying to get myself ready. No big deal, as we waited to leave the weather got a little warmer. It was probably near 50 when we set off.<br />
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While riding through the gritty streets of Anaconda I felt the tell-tale bounce from my back tire. Dang! I was to have our first (and only) flat of the day-and on a new tire too! The culprit was a tiny arrowhead shaped shard of rock. Glad I found the definitive cause right away-so I didn't have to worry so much about reflatting. In the meantime, I was warming up even more so I also pealed off a layer.<br />
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The ride up MT-1 to Georgetown Lake was wonderful. The climb was a workout, but not overwhelmingly so, and traffic was almost non-existent. We were all surprised to get to Silver Lake and Georgetown Lake so soon-surely there had to be another incline before we made it to the top? Nope-soon were at the dam and following Flint Creek down a twisty curvy descent. It was great fun. We met Stu near the bottom. He had ridden away from us going up and he decided to ride a mile or two the other way just to see what the grade was like...strong guy-that Stu!.
We were all together at the first checkpoint in Philipsburg. A 6 pack of mini-donuts and a pepsi did the trick for me. The other guys all found their version of healthy goodness as well and we were on our way.
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It's all downhill from P-burg to Drummond and on brand-new pave to boot! But there was a north wind in our faces to make things not-so-easy. We were sure that same wind would be an asset after Drummond. I was feeling especially good, got myself in a nice rhythm, and chugged along-knowing I would pay for the effort later, but also knowing I needed the training. Rick, Stu, and I got to Fic's Conoco at Drummond and got ourselves some polish dogs-yummy! Ken and then Karel joined us a few minutes later.<br />
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The rest of the ride has a slight elevation gain as we go against the Clark Fork River, but for all intents and purposes, it's flat. Most of the route is on I-90 frontage roads, with two brief stretches on I-90.
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We had a cross tailwind out of Drummond for about 4 or 5 miles and then either wind changed or the course direction changed and we were fighting it. It wasn't a super strong wind, but it zapped us pretty good...all of us except Stu, who did his best to ride slow. I could tell he really needed to go faster. Sometimes it's really hard to ride slow-even to the point of uncomfortable. So I didn't blame him when Stu put the hammer down after Phosphate. He'd finish about an hour ahead of us.
Rick and I put our heads down into the wind. We were slowed down to 10 mph through Garrison Junction. But then something magical happened. The course turned into a southerly direction entering the Deer Lodge Valley and just when it almost stopped being fun-we had a blessed tailwind. A tailwind that would push us all the way to the finish line.<br />
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We were pretty spread out going into Deer Lodge, but pretty soon Ken and then Karel joined Rick and me at the downtown Town Pump for an extended break. All were feeling it by this time.
The final leg from Deer Lodge to Fairmont was physically easy, especially with the tailwind, but aching rear-ends, arms, and legs made it tough enough. We were all glad to be done for sure.<br />
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Congrats to Rick and Stu for finishing their first brevets and earning the lifelong title of randonneur. The route was wonderful-and just what we needed to build up our base miles. Our next ride, a <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/Home" target="_blank">300K brevet</a> will be on May 24 out of Laurel on the other side of the state. More climbing in that one...and hopefully we'll be in better shape for it.
belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-10859915506337823652014-01-21T21:43:00.001-07:002014-01-21T21:47:55.757-07:002014 Randonneuring ScheduleI have the details for my first brevet of 2014 up on my <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/montanarando/Home" target="_blank">Montana Populaire and Brevets Website</a> along with the dates and locations of the rest of our 2014 rides. Click on over and take a look.<br />
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I've still got a lot of work to do, as most of the routes need to be mapped and submitted by me, and approved by RUSA before I can post them. I'll be working on this in the next weeks and months. It's a lot of work to get these routes approved, but it's also fun.<br />
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I've also got some new permanents I need to post.<br />
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Finally, I've taken the plunge and signed up for the<a href="http://www.seattlerandonneur.org/" target="_blank"> Seattle International Randonneurs'</a> Cascade 1200. It starts on June 21, so that means I've got to do a lot of training in the not-so-nice weather months of year. It's going to be a real challenge to be in peak fitness that early.<br />
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Stay tuned, and let me know if you have any questions about the upcoming seasons rides, or randonneuring in general.belgradebobcathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02074016308811215801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7541332738683002924.post-36010883566588935412014-01-06T22:21:00.001-07:002014-01-08T20:43:20.893-07:00End of the year-Beginning of the year randonneuring in OregonSince daughter Stephanie moved to Portland, Oregon in 2009, I've been coming up with creative reasons why I need to go there.
Randonneuring is the perfect excuse. <br />
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<a href="http://www.rusa.org/">Randonneurs USA</a> offers awards for accomplishing various feats of randonneuring including the popular P-12 and R-12 awards. The P-12 award is for riding an approved 100-199 kilometer event in 12 consecutive months, and the R-12 award is for riding an approved 200 kilometer or longer event in 12 consecutive months. <br />
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Getting the December and January events done in Montana is very difficult given our wintery weather. Last year I went for the P-12 and got my December and January events done by riding two different 100+ kilometer rides out of Portland.
For this season, I've decided to go for both the P-12 and the R-12. I got my December P-12 ride done on the 1st of December here at home one day before a big blizzard hit that has left the local roads icy for the duration. So my son Jackson and I, (wife Brenda had to stay home for work) loaded up the bike again and headed for Portland. <br />
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The goal this time was to at least get my December 200K done.
I contacted fellow Randonneur extraordinaire Lynne Fitzsimmons about doing one of her rides on the last weekend of 2013. Lynne was available so we planned to meet up in Beaverton to ride the <a href="http://lynnerides.blogspot.com/2012/01/beaverton-hagg-lake-carlton-202km.html">Beaverton-Hagg Lake-Carlton</a> 200K Permanent. Lynne wrote a nice detailed report on her <a href="http://lynnerides.blogspot.com/2013/12/last-chance-dec-2013-200k.html">blog</a> so please go there and check it out. The following is a photo story of my Oregon riding:
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It was gray and gloomy at Hagg Lake. We did a lap around the lake on a hilly tree covered road. It was beautiful. The bad weather did have one advantage-we had the place almost all to ourselves which I understand wouldn't be the case when it's nice out.
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Lynne and I were joined by Jeff Arasmith of Portland. We stayed together the whole ride (more or less) and rode, chatted, and froze together in peace and harmony. It was an entirely satisfying day. I got my December R-12 out of the way, I felt pretty good on the bike despite not riding outdoors since the first day of December, and I got to see some absolutely beautiful Oregon countryside.
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The ride went right past the Roloff Farm, from the TV show <a href="http://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/little-people-big-world">Little People, Big World</a>. Jackson is a big fan of the show, so the next day we drove out to get this picture.
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New Year's Day afternoon turned bright and sunny in Portland. Stephanie and I took advantage by riding around downtown with very light traffic, crossing the river on the famous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Bridge">Steel Bridge</a> one of the most multi-modal bridges in the world. After Stephanie and I did a nice 11 miles, I was feeling so good I went and rode another 20 or so on the Springwater Corridor and I-205 bike path.
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Jackson and I planned to drive home on Saturday, January 4. It's a long ride and we thought we'd need Sunday to rest up and recover before going back to school and work. But the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/217861371586161/">Oregon Randonneurs facebook page</a> was alight with the organization of a 200K permanent on that day. I quickly calculated that I could survive the Monday work day after a travel day, and Jackson was up for getting his homework done and getting to spend an extra day with his sister-so I decided to go for it and ride the <a href="http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1150120">Mill City Coffee Run</a> 202K with 8 Oregon Randonneurs, including Lynne and Jeff. It was just too great an opportunity to pass up.<br />
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The ride started out a lot like the Hagg Lake ride-cold, dreary, foggy, damp. We shivered out of the first control at Stayton as frost covered the shady spots on the roads and decorated the adjacent fauna. But as we approached Mill City, which was our lunch stop, the clouds ran away and a brilliant sunny blue sky appeared. On the way back, we had a clear view of Mt. Hood, and even caught glimpses of Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens. When the Cascade volcanoes are out-you know it's a nice day! (you can see Mt Hood just above the little building in the above photo)
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I regret not taking more pictures on these rides, but my hands were constantly glove covered and handling a cell phone camera in that condition just isn't conducive to great photography. Despite the lack of photographic evidence, I loved both these 200K routes. Though they were very different, they were equally wonderful. Despite being a little chilly at times, I had an absolute ball. And the weather was really terrific compared to what it could have been. We had fog, but no rain! The first Monday back at work was tough, but it was so worth staying the extra day to get that January 200K done. I'm very grateful to the Oregon Randonnuers-especially Lynne Fitzsimmons and Ken Mattina, the ride organizers-for making this a truly special vacation.
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And riding around Portland with Stephanie on New Years Day...well that was just a whole 'nother level of special.
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