Luwin1026
07-16-07, 08:35 AM
Here goes -
A Few Weeks Prior
I had heard about this ride awhile back, and thought it'd be fun especially as the PacNW has a place in my heart after being a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines. I signed up for it just after graduating in June when I was able to make sure I would have the time off before starting work in late July. My original intention was to do it in two days (roughly 100 miles each day) as most of the 9,000 riders that do it opt to do so. I figured that I'd had a few 50-60 mile rides under my belt, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to do a century (or two). I had no specific training program - just try to sneak time whenever I could and ride. Most days I would be be lucky if I squeezed in 20-25 miles or so.
As the event drew near, I started leaning towards trying for the one-day (204 miles). I figured that I'd be bored at the midpoint anyways after finishing the first day if I were to stay there as I didn't have any friends riding with me, and although it's probably illogical thinking, I figured that one day of suffering was better than two days of semi-suffering. Training-wise, I know that it would have been ideal to do a 100+mile ride, but there was a part of me that didn't want to break my century cherry on a solo training ride. I was hoping to do it all in one shot - complete my first century and double all at once. My goal was simple - finish. And not keel over and die along the way. ;)
Day Before / Day Of
Thanks to fellow SoCal member DanteB who so graciously loaned me his bike case, I was fortunate enough to have means to pack up my own bike and bring it up with me rather than scrambling around to try to rent/borrow one. I flew up the day before the event on a Friday. Or should I say, I attempted to fly up. People have always conveyed a sense of awe and jealousy when finding out about flying non-revenue (translation: free), but one thing that I always reiterate is the fact that I fly standby, and I have more than my fair share of stories of not getting on flights and having to wait for hours. Back to the story at hand. I arrived at the Burbank airport for a 2:40 flight, and waited for the agent to call my name to issue me a boarding pass. Long story short, I wasn't able to get on despite the plane having empty seats as they were weight-restricted because of the heat (Burbank-shorter runways). The next one out would be around 5, but there were no seats. So I called my dad to come pick me up and take me to LAX so I could try my chances there as there were more flights going out.
Sitting in traffic on a sweltering Friday afternoon in a car with no A/C (my dad's car was in the shop - he was borrowing my uncle's) with nary a bottle of water in sight is not my idea of hydrating myself the day prior to a long ride. Finally got to the airport around 6:15, and I was fortunate enough to grab a seat on a flight.
Got into Seattle at around 10:15. Waited at baggage claim for my bag/bike for a whopping 45 minutes. Got my bag. Went over to the oversized baggage area - guy pulls up in the baggage truck and unloads some stuff. No bike. I asked what flight it was for, and he informed me that it was indeed my flight number. Again, no bike. I talked to the baggage agent (I would hate to have her job!), and she told me there was a chance my bike would arrive on the next flight that was due in at 12:50am. Luckily, the friend I was staying with was very understanding and her and her husband picked me up and I was able to get a whole hour of sleep before heading back to the airport at 3am with the hopes that my bike was there, and then booking it to U of W where the start was so I can assemble my bike and get on my way. Bike was there (whew!), and it was off to the races.
The Ride
So here I am, in the parking lot of U of W as riders started arriving around me and got ready. I had a bike case open on the ground, parts and tools sprawled everywhere, and received more than a fair share of sympathetic looks from passerbys. It was more of a "Damn, I'm so glad my bike is ready to go and I'm not THAT guy" kinda look. At this point, embarassment was thrown out the window as I was focused on getting going. My original intention was to start at the earliest possible time (4:45am) to avoid the crowds, and I managed to get the bike assembled, myself dressed/geared up, and drop off my luggage on the truck bound for Portland to make it to the start line at 5am (they start the riders in waves).
http://luwin.smugmug.com/photos/173537206-M.jpg
http://luwin.smugmug.com/photos/173537216-M.jpg
So I start. The last 12 hours had seemed like a daze to me, as it was running around, with stress levels and emotions high. I was running on one hour of sleep and a donut that was hastily picked up from 7-Eleven. And here I was, a newbie from LA in unfamiliar territory with unfamiliar riders. Too late to turn back now.
I made it to the first rest stop (REI in Kent) uneventfully, and was feeling good. I sought out some help with a shifting issue (my rear derailleur was get caught up on one of the middle cogs and lag in shifting over that one gear), and it improved a little big but wasn't completely resolved after the mechanic did some cable adjustment/lubing/etc.
http://luwin.smugmug.com/photos/173537225-M.jpg
http://luwin.smugmug.com/photos/173537234-M.jpg
http://luwin.smugmug.com/photos/173537246-M.jpg
Moving on, up to 70 miles or so, I felt great and was easily averaging close to 18mph, and was able to catch a few long stretches with various pacelines which I totally appreciated. The infamous Puyallup hill wasn't too hard, and I reminded myself to stay hydrated and tried to eat on the bike whenever I could. Nutrition-wise, I made the mistake of packing my jersey pockets and top-tube bag with packets of drink mix (Heed) and left little room for food (Jelly Belly Sport Beans, PayDay bars). I was worried mostly about hydration, and if I would have better studied the route ahead of time, I would have discovered that 1) I could buy cold drinks at the ministops, and 2) we pass by a good number of convenience stores/gas stations ever so often. I ended up only using one drink mix, as an ice-cold Gatorade/Coke/Mountain Dew tasted a helluva lot better than warm water mixed with some powdered stuff.
http://luwin.smugmug.com/photos/173537254-M.jpg
http://luwin.smugmug.com/photos/173537262-M.jpg
http://luwin.smugmug.com/photos/173537270-M.jpg
The only incident I had the whole ride was a big group of us having to stop as there was a brief road closure, and as I signaled and came to a stop, a female rider rammed into my back wheel, and she went down. Luckily I was unclipped already, so there was no harm to me, but I felt bad for her. I stayed back while the group rolled and made sure she was with friends and that she was ok. Turns out she was signaling to stop and her hand slipped off the brake. Honest mistake, no harm (save for a scraped elbow on her), no foul.
A Few Weeks Prior
I had heard about this ride awhile back, and thought it'd be fun especially as the PacNW has a place in my heart after being a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines. I signed up for it just after graduating in June when I was able to make sure I would have the time off before starting work in late July. My original intention was to do it in two days (roughly 100 miles each day) as most of the 9,000 riders that do it opt to do so. I figured that I'd had a few 50-60 mile rides under my belt, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to do a century (or two). I had no specific training program - just try to sneak time whenever I could and ride. Most days I would be be lucky if I squeezed in 20-25 miles or so.
As the event drew near, I started leaning towards trying for the one-day (204 miles). I figured that I'd be bored at the midpoint anyways after finishing the first day if I were to stay there as I didn't have any friends riding with me, and although it's probably illogical thinking, I figured that one day of suffering was better than two days of semi-suffering. Training-wise, I know that it would have been ideal to do a 100+mile ride, but there was a part of me that didn't want to break my century cherry on a solo training ride. I was hoping to do it all in one shot - complete my first century and double all at once. My goal was simple - finish. And not keel over and die along the way. ;)
Day Before / Day Of
Thanks to fellow SoCal member DanteB who so graciously loaned me his bike case, I was fortunate enough to have means to pack up my own bike and bring it up with me rather than scrambling around to try to rent/borrow one. I flew up the day before the event on a Friday. Or should I say, I attempted to fly up. People have always conveyed a sense of awe and jealousy when finding out about flying non-revenue (translation: free), but one thing that I always reiterate is the fact that I fly standby, and I have more than my fair share of stories of not getting on flights and having to wait for hours. Back to the story at hand. I arrived at the Burbank airport for a 2:40 flight, and waited for the agent to call my name to issue me a boarding pass. Long story short, I wasn't able to get on despite the plane having empty seats as they were weight-restricted because of the heat (Burbank-shorter runways). The next one out would be around 5, but there were no seats. So I called my dad to come pick me up and take me to LAX so I could try my chances there as there were more flights going out.
Sitting in traffic on a sweltering Friday afternoon in a car with no A/C (my dad's car was in the shop - he was borrowing my uncle's) with nary a bottle of water in sight is not my idea of hydrating myself the day prior to a long ride. Finally got to the airport around 6:15, and I was fortunate enough to grab a seat on a flight.
Got into Seattle at around 10:15. Waited at baggage claim for my bag/bike for a whopping 45 minutes. Got my bag. Went over to the oversized baggage area - guy pulls up in the baggage truck and unloads some stuff. No bike. I asked what flight it was for, and he informed me that it was indeed my flight number. Again, no bike. I talked to the baggage agent (I would hate to have her job!), and she told me there was a chance my bike would arrive on the next flight that was due in at 12:50am. Luckily, the friend I was staying with was very understanding and her and her husband picked me up and I was able to get a whole hour of sleep before heading back to the airport at 3am with the hopes that my bike was there, and then booking it to U of W where the start was so I can assemble my bike and get on my way. Bike was there (whew!), and it was off to the races.
The Ride
So here I am, in the parking lot of U of W as riders started arriving around me and got ready. I had a bike case open on the ground, parts and tools sprawled everywhere, and received more than a fair share of sympathetic looks from passerbys. It was more of a "Damn, I'm so glad my bike is ready to go and I'm not THAT guy" kinda look. At this point, embarassment was thrown out the window as I was focused on getting going. My original intention was to start at the earliest possible time (4:45am) to avoid the crowds, and I managed to get the bike assembled, myself dressed/geared up, and drop off my luggage on the truck bound for Portland to make it to the start line at 5am (they start the riders in waves).
http://luwin.smugmug.com/photos/173537206-M.jpg
http://luwin.smugmug.com/photos/173537216-M.jpg
So I start. The last 12 hours had seemed like a daze to me, as it was running around, with stress levels and emotions high. I was running on one hour of sleep and a donut that was hastily picked up from 7-Eleven. And here I was, a newbie from LA in unfamiliar territory with unfamiliar riders. Too late to turn back now.
I made it to the first rest stop (REI in Kent) uneventfully, and was feeling good. I sought out some help with a shifting issue (my rear derailleur was get caught up on one of the middle cogs and lag in shifting over that one gear), and it improved a little big but wasn't completely resolved after the mechanic did some cable adjustment/lubing/etc.
http://luwin.smugmug.com/photos/173537225-M.jpg
http://luwin.smugmug.com/photos/173537234-M.jpg
http://luwin.smugmug.com/photos/173537246-M.jpg
Moving on, up to 70 miles or so, I felt great and was easily averaging close to 18mph, and was able to catch a few long stretches with various pacelines which I totally appreciated. The infamous Puyallup hill wasn't too hard, and I reminded myself to stay hydrated and tried to eat on the bike whenever I could. Nutrition-wise, I made the mistake of packing my jersey pockets and top-tube bag with packets of drink mix (Heed) and left little room for food (Jelly Belly Sport Beans, PayDay bars). I was worried mostly about hydration, and if I would have better studied the route ahead of time, I would have discovered that 1) I could buy cold drinks at the ministops, and 2) we pass by a good number of convenience stores/gas stations ever so often. I ended up only using one drink mix, as an ice-cold Gatorade/Coke/Mountain Dew tasted a helluva lot better than warm water mixed with some powdered stuff.
http://luwin.smugmug.com/photos/173537254-M.jpg
http://luwin.smugmug.com/photos/173537262-M.jpg
http://luwin.smugmug.com/photos/173537270-M.jpg
The only incident I had the whole ride was a big group of us having to stop as there was a brief road closure, and as I signaled and came to a stop, a female rider rammed into my back wheel, and she went down. Luckily I was unclipped already, so there was no harm to me, but I felt bad for her. I stayed back while the group rolled and made sure she was with friends and that she was ok. Turns out she was signaling to stop and her hand slipped off the brake. Honest mistake, no harm (save for a scraped elbow on her), no foul.