Flying Wheels

Meredith, I did the Flying Wheels last year. It's a scenic ride out East,
well-supported. Unfortunately, this year I'll be on vacation in Spain at
that time. I recommend it, though. Last year's route wasn't too hilly,
except at the end.

I think I'll try to do the Apple Century this year.
It's June 2.

Got this from a friend...

REI Bike Maintenance Classes:

May 2nd free demonstration at 7 pm on basic bike repair at the the Seattle REI.

May 10 class on advanced bike repair. $15 for two hour class at the Seattle REI. It focuses on assembling the headset and bottom bracket. Might need to register in advance?

Flying Wheels
Anybody doing this one?
http://www.cascade.org/flying_wheels/

Daffodil Classic

Rach and I rode the Daffy yesterday.

We set off from the small town of Orting. As soon as we arrived, I realized it
was going to be cold. I opened the door and immediately my ass froze.
Or, to put it another way, I was freezing my ass off.

The usual mob of bikes, cyclists, Honey Buckets at the starting line.
The click of cleats on cement. And then we were off. At the start, there
weren't that many riders on the road. Nothing at all like STP or Chilly
Hilly. Rachael and I set off under grey, overcast skies and a cool
breeze. No real view of Rainier, though you could just see bits of the
base.

A few moderate hills early on warmed me up. After the first long hill,
off came my rainjacket. I didn't feel like I was flying, but I didn't feel
cold and groggy anymore. Lots of cows and horses staring at us
as we rode by.

Weather cooperated for most of the first 50 miles. At the end it
started drizzling. Then we got back to the school and set off for the
last 20 miles. The rain started pouring a bit more, and in hindsight
I should have put my rain jacket back on. I thought the last 20 miles
would go quickly, but as soon as we set off, we faced a headwind and
a steady drizzle. My speed was down to 12 to 14 miles per hour,
and my legs hurt. I hadn't eaten enough, and my stomach started
growling. Munched half a Clif bar. Man, I'm sick of those things.

Miles 50 to 60 were miserable. I was drenched soon, but I didn't
feel like stopping to put on my rain jacket. I just wanted to get it
over with. Those were perhaps the longest 10 miles I've ever ridden.

Finally, we hit a rest stop. Refueled by gorging myself on bagels
and cataloupe and pretzels and pretty much anything else they
had out. The last 10 miles were much nicer. No more headwind.
On a long downhill, hit my all-time top speed of 24.8 miles per
hour. It was a long steady downhill for what seemed like 5 minutes.
Raced some old guy back to the finish line. Finished strong.

All in all, it took about 4 hours of ride time to cover the 70 miles.
At thte finish line, the town of Orting was holding a BBQ. Speakers
blasted old tunes like the Macarena while townsfolk danced
in the streets under a light Northwest mist.

I ate a hamburger. Damn, it tasted good.

Congrats to Eugene & Rachael for riding the Daffodil Classic yesterday. I expect my penance for missing that ride will include a fast chase across the Route 90 bridge.

Gosh, we're now about three months away from The Big Day.

Rachael's Road Ready

Rachael bought herself a fat road bike today. So now she's
RAMROD ready.

South Lake Washington Loop

Went out and did the Mercer/South Lake Washington Loop this
morning. 38 miles on the nose. Felt okay, but lots of headwind
which can be unpleasant.

Cycling weekend

Jesse, Todd, and I went out and did the North Lake Washington loop on Saturday.
We split at Mercer Island, but all in all it was probably around 45-50 miles of riding
for each of us. Ugh, those two energy fiends made me feel slow! Fun hill at the top
of the lake leading into Kirkland.

Today did a lap around Mercer with Rachael. My legs are officially sore, but
everything at this part of the season hurts.

I'm thinking this for a workout schedule:
Monday--lift weights in morning
Tuesday--play basketball in morning
Wednesday--ride in morning
Thursday--play basketball in morning
Friday--lift weights in morning (or optional day off)
Saturday--long ride in morning
Sunday--ride in morning

Gotcha, Tim. I think it's that "good strong legs" thing I'm lacking right
now.

One ride I'd love to have all of us go try sometime is the climb to
Hurricane Ridge in the Olympics. I've heard it's one of the top ten
climbs in the U.S. I remember seeing people on bikes trying to do
it several years ago. I wasn't cycling then, so I thought they were
all crazy.

The granny gear is not really necessary. You need good strong legs and a breathing/in and out saddle routine. I only have two rings as well and did the Mt Rainier park route from east to west (ramrod is the other way) which is 20+ miles of uphill without too much problem. Was in the saddle most of the time. I don't think the grade is any worse on the West side. I'm totally up for a trial run maybe sometime in June. Ride from Enumclaw to the sunrise campground (supported) and then do the rest the next day.

3 chainrings, or just 2?

What do you all think---3 chainrings for RAMROD, or just 2? What
are you all going to do? Do you use that third chainring on hills?

Right now I just have 2 up front (something conventional like 53/39)
and I can't really spin up the hills at any normal cadence. Even if I
get a lot stronger climbing, seems like it would be just as effective
and less taxing to spin a lower gear up a hill than to muscle a big
gear up the hill. My only problem is that it would be costly to swap
out for a 3 chainring system.

I guess we just need to plan a trip out to do the RAMROD course
sometime to see how bad the hills really are.

I lifted at the gym yesterday, and my legs feel like lead today.
I think I'll try riding tomorrow morning.

33 miles on Sat (Queen Anne-->Mercer Island loop). Pitiful Sunday of blunders...forgot my coat on the way to Rainier so came home (from Tacoma) and decided to go windsurfing instead. Got to the middle of the sound, fell in and thought I was going to die. Climbed out, sailed in and went home...decided that painting was the activity for the day. Should've gone for a ride.

Eug-- you never cease to amaze me.
Guys-- After CH, I came home and promptly fell ill with the flu. Home sick for two days. You guys wear me out!
I hope you all are calm, cool, and collected after this morning.
See you out on the road/trail soon!
Rachael
PS I rode out on the BG and up "my" hill this am. Gorgeous winter-spring morning.

Everyone still there?

Yo, hope we didn't lose any riders to the earthquake.

I just went for a counter-clockwise ride around Mercer Island. Beautiful day out.
I've measured. It's about 18.0 miles from West side of I-90 bridge down to the
island, around counter-clockwise, and back. If you go clockwise, it's about 14.8
miles. A bigger difference than I thought.

Tim, for your record, my avg. heart rate was 150, which is pretty high for me
for a ride around town. During the earthquake, it was probably a little higher
than that.

Peace.

Eugene rocks!

2/28/01: Jesse Maas and I (tlieber) road 15 miles-downtown->Jackson->Lake Washington Blvd-> Arboreteum->Burke Gilman->Queen Anne.

We are a well-connected team

Wow. We've got an official site, an official weblog, and an official email alias. Yeah!

-------------------------------------
Official site: Go to
http://www.eugenewei.com/cycling/ramrod/ramrod2001.html

Official weblog:
You're here already but for the record, "here" is
http://www.eugenewei.com/cycling/ramrod/ramrodblog.html

Official email alias: Send messages to
ramrod2001@yahoogroups.com
-------------------------------------

Folks can subscribe to the team alias by sending a message to
ramrod2001-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Welcome to the team weblog

The countdown to RAMROD begins today.