![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Jul. 16th, 2019 08:04 pmSome ride highlights and lowlights:
R lost her water bottle early on the ride... and I was directly behind her and having early morning grog and directly ran over it. Hooooowweever... I was on on the hardtail mountain bike. If not, that would have been the second Seattle originating Cascade Bike Club group ride in a row I started with an endo.
One thing we maybe don't talk about much on brevet riding is that siesta time riding, when the sun is high in the sky and it's hot, we slow down... a lot. And hide, if we can. It was hot but not devastating, but if the cut-off wasn't early evening, ride strategy for covering ground and getting sleep would be to have a solid nap during that. Then you'd be doubly less wiped out if you were still riding late -- not that that wouldn't warrant a second nap.
Basically the whole ride was a failure because I didn't pass off a cold beverage, like a bicycle blended smoothie, or a beer, or even a chocolate milk, to the unicycle or eliptacycle riders. Next time is going to involve dry ice.
R, S, and A rode hellastrong. Would be roadies take heed: commuting to work on even a modest even semi-regularly, and doing weekly errands by bicycle, are not to be underestimated as training. Your carbon bullshit is no substitute for actually doing your errands by bike. Aaaaand I haven't been doing that so much so I sat on the back and made whimpering noises.
Shout out to the volunteers from Montlake Bike Shop who ran a repair station at the halfway point in Centralia who fixed my broke spoke and also fixed my shitty attempt to get the wobble away from the brake pad. This was my second success of the ride -- I got lazy and didn't install the new rear brake pads that I got from Montlake Bike Shop before the ride. If I had, trying to get the wheel out of the pads would have been much more difficult.
Jumped in an awesome stream where kids were jumping from the bicycle bridge over it. In fact, crossing that wooden bridge, heard the tell-tale kur-splash and knew people were jumping in. Much gratitude to S (R2? IDK) for insisting on stopping there and cooling off. As our good compatriohort Wizard taught us, if you're going to ride when it's hot, ride wet. One overheating rider was less than a quarter mile from a place where you could safely and easily enter the cool mountain stream the trail was paralleling... was tempted to stop and try to coax him in but wasn't strong enough to catch the group confidently.
The potato council was apparently not warned that riders vacuum up carbs like they're souls covered in chocolate and on sale so shout out to Vader Rotary Club (I think? Sorry if not) who actually supplied potatoes since the potato council, who paid to be there, couldn't be arsed to... and to Wilcox Farms who supplied eggs which go wonderfully with potatoes on and off a ride. Dear Potato Council: When you're on a long ride, food tastes amazing, so feeding riders is incredible marketing. And right now, my legs are as useless as the Washington State Potato Council. But we were promised potatoes for next year.
Shout out to Kent who had delicious hummus wraps and cold brew coffee, and to Spanaway for the first day lunch stop, and to Winlock for the kiddie pool you can lay in while water pours in to your bottles, and to Riverside (I think) for the mister cubbies. Standing in those, the whole world was rainbows.
Got to see a lot of old friends and not manage any conversation more coherent than "you! you're you... and you're here... and I'm here too!". Had three little naps, two interrupted by people yelling across me. Be safe. Carry mace when napping. Third was interrupted by sliding down, head first (elevate feet! another important ride strategy... your heart works hard to push blood into those stupid bastards so give it and them a break and elevate!) an embankment.
Crossing the Columbia River Historic Expansion Crack Bridge with front suspension was a highlight. Nearly running over a roadie who decided to hook a sharp right right in front of me without looking because why are people slowing down I don't understand was another highlight.
If my new yellow shorts have any good grass and shit stains on them, I'll post pics later.
R lost her water bottle early on the ride... and I was directly behind her and having early morning grog and directly ran over it. Hooooowweever... I was on on the hardtail mountain bike. If not, that would have been the second Seattle originating Cascade Bike Club group ride in a row I started with an endo.
One thing we maybe don't talk about much on brevet riding is that siesta time riding, when the sun is high in the sky and it's hot, we slow down... a lot. And hide, if we can. It was hot but not devastating, but if the cut-off wasn't early evening, ride strategy for covering ground and getting sleep would be to have a solid nap during that. Then you'd be doubly less wiped out if you were still riding late -- not that that wouldn't warrant a second nap.
Basically the whole ride was a failure because I didn't pass off a cold beverage, like a bicycle blended smoothie, or a beer, or even a chocolate milk, to the unicycle or eliptacycle riders. Next time is going to involve dry ice.
R, S, and A rode hellastrong. Would be roadies take heed: commuting to work on even a modest even semi-regularly, and doing weekly errands by bicycle, are not to be underestimated as training. Your carbon bullshit is no substitute for actually doing your errands by bike. Aaaaand I haven't been doing that so much so I sat on the back and made whimpering noises.
Shout out to the volunteers from Montlake Bike Shop who ran a repair station at the halfway point in Centralia who fixed my broke spoke and also fixed my shitty attempt to get the wobble away from the brake pad. This was my second success of the ride -- I got lazy and didn't install the new rear brake pads that I got from Montlake Bike Shop before the ride. If I had, trying to get the wheel out of the pads would have been much more difficult.
Jumped in an awesome stream where kids were jumping from the bicycle bridge over it. In fact, crossing that wooden bridge, heard the tell-tale kur-splash and knew people were jumping in. Much gratitude to S (R2? IDK) for insisting on stopping there and cooling off. As our good compatriohort Wizard taught us, if you're going to ride when it's hot, ride wet. One overheating rider was less than a quarter mile from a place where you could safely and easily enter the cool mountain stream the trail was paralleling... was tempted to stop and try to coax him in but wasn't strong enough to catch the group confidently.
The potato council was apparently not warned that riders vacuum up carbs like they're souls covered in chocolate and on sale so shout out to Vader Rotary Club (I think? Sorry if not) who actually supplied potatoes since the potato council, who paid to be there, couldn't be arsed to... and to Wilcox Farms who supplied eggs which go wonderfully with potatoes on and off a ride. Dear Potato Council: When you're on a long ride, food tastes amazing, so feeding riders is incredible marketing. And right now, my legs are as useless as the Washington State Potato Council. But we were promised potatoes for next year.
Shout out to Kent who had delicious hummus wraps and cold brew coffee, and to Spanaway for the first day lunch stop, and to Winlock for the kiddie pool you can lay in while water pours in to your bottles, and to Riverside (I think) for the mister cubbies. Standing in those, the whole world was rainbows.
Got to see a lot of old friends and not manage any conversation more coherent than "you! you're you... and you're here... and I'm here too!". Had three little naps, two interrupted by people yelling across me. Be safe. Carry mace when napping. Third was interrupted by sliding down, head first (elevate feet! another important ride strategy... your heart works hard to push blood into those stupid bastards so give it and them a break and elevate!) an embankment.
Crossing the Columbia River Historic Expansion Crack Bridge with front suspension was a highlight. Nearly running over a roadie who decided to hook a sharp right right in front of me without looking because why are people slowing down I don't understand was another highlight.
If my new yellow shorts have any good grass and shit stains on them, I'll post pics later.
