Racc

[Ticia]

Anyone doing this ride?

I'm trying to decide on 65 mile or century option....I'm feeling like the century will be a BIG HUGE challenge for me (read: I think it would seriously kick my butt). I know the first 1/2 of the route really good (it goes right through my little town of Hockinson, WA).

[dtrain]

I've heard there is a decent amount of climbing in those extra 35 miles.

[papawizo]

RACC is a good ride...Actually, I recall a really tough hill near the finish, that I described with unkind words in another language. The key is taking it easy and not killing yourself, than you can have a bit in the tank. You can do the 100. I start counting 10s. 60,70,80,...Think of the accomplishment. By the way, all good centuries crush you with some hills in the last miles. Have you got some baby gears?
PW/John

[Deanoldo]

I've ridden RACC the last 6 years. The century definitely adds some elevation over the metric. It's a beautiful ride, though, that sends you north up to the Lewis river and then down through La Center. The last two hills are Felida and Bernie. Coming at mile 90 and 95, they're a bear..... I think I've cramped going up Bernie 5 of the 6 years.......

Dean

[PedalMasher]

If the weather is sketchy, I'd stay away from the century option. It gets chilly as you go north. A few years ago during RACC we road in a 39 degree rain up by Yacolt (?) but it stopped raining nearer Vancouver and much, much warmer. That day was the coldest by far I've ever been on a bike.

[chrischross]

The Felida hill climb is about 10 blocks away from my house. I've only been riding for about a month and I've stayed away from that hill for the past two weeks or so -- since the only way I'm getting up that thing is by walking the bike up.

I should try that hill now that I'm in a little bit better shape. I've resolved to buy a custom wheelset once I can get my beer gut up that hill with relative ease.

I'll take a look at RACC again. I'm probably ready for a 50 mile ride, but the weather has been complete crap.

[Ticia]

The Felida hill climb is about 10 blocks away from my house. I've only been riding for about a month and I've stayed away from that hill for the past two weeks or so -- since the only way I'm getting up that thing is by walking the bike up.

I should try that hill now that I'm in a little bit better shape. I've resolved to buy a custom wheelset once I can get my beer gut up that hill with relative ease.

I'll take a look at RACC again. I'm probably ready for a 50 mile ride, but the weather has been complete crap.


I hope your ready for the 65 mile ride Chris cuz I don't think there is a 50 mile option unless you have some personal SAG :p....or should we have told you this half way into the ride like so many have tricked me in the past ;). Don't you all go dropping the F-bomb (Felida hill!!) eek. I'm askeered already.

[Ticia]

If the weather is sketchy, I'd stay away from the century option. It gets chilly as you go north. A few years ago during RACC we road in a 39 degree rain up by Yacolt (?) but it stopped raining nearer Vancouver and much, much warmer. That day was the coldest by far I've ever been on a bike.

:o Here is to crossing our fingers for great weather like last weekend. 39 degrees is pretty normal for my house up here in the "woods" and I don't love it so much on the bike:mad: I will sit here and think happy, warm, toasty thoughts for this year :D

[KRhea]

If anyone is interested there will be at least 5 of us from PortlandVelo riding RACC at 17-19mph. It would be great to have a large group of "support" riders for the late miles.

We're rolling at 8:30.

Anyone care to join us?

KRhea

[Ticia]

So I ended up doing the 65 mile option and that was just right for me and the fitness level I'm at right now. Being sick this week made the ride more challenging for me. I hadn't been on my bike all week (only went to a couple spin classes). It was nice to be able to ride the loop last weekend through Amboy, Yacolt, etc. to see what the century riders got to ride...that was so fun last weekend. I loved the route and I'm glad I got to experience the great company and see some really STRONG riders out there. There were some very fit women on this ride which was so motivating to see as they FLEW past me holding on conversations like they were exerting little effort.

On mile 50ish I started to slow down and feel my glutes and calves talking back to me. I got over that when some little hills came up to take my mind off of them and onto getting to the top! I made it up the dreaded Felida and Bernie hills that everyone talked about. I had a cramp in my right glute and hamstring up Bernie and if I hadn't gone into boomin' granny mode and scooted a bit forward on the saddle I would have tipped right over, but I was able to spin up the last 20 ft of that hill with some major quad burn lol.

I rode with great company which made the ride so much more enjoyable. The weather was perfect for riding, not too warm, not too cold, and most importantly dry for 90% of the ride. I only got some sprinkles through Ridgefield. I'm feeling good today not too sore. I'm hoping to go out on a family bike ride in a little bit :).

[Deanoldo]

Congrats on doing the 65! It was a great day for a hard ride. I met up with the team and some other friends and we took off about 8:15 or so. Once we got past the first rest stop, we had a nice double paceline of about 30 people cruising along. It was pretty cool and reminded me of a century ride I did a couple of years ago with a bunch of the BF folks... We dropped quite a few people going through the Hockinson rollers and only 13 of us made the split for the century. Once we hit the rollers between Amboy and Yacolt, we were surging and attacking one after the other. Those rollers were a blast!!! We eventually got whittled down to 7 of us when we hit Jenny creek (a nice 2 mile climb) where I started to hurt... Thankfully the other guys had decided to make a regroup at the top.. Otherwise I'd have been solo from there.... Once we regrouped, we headed off to the next rest stop where I proceded to eat anything that wasn't moving. Fortunately, the Fig Newtons weren't too agile, so I plowed though them like there was no tomorrow... :D From here on in, I was clearly out of my league and was just hanging on.. I got dropped on a long gradual uphill but I was able to get back with them when they got hung up by traffic at a stop sign. From there, I stayed on for another couple of miles and eventually was dropped for good at mile 85. A short steep uphill where my thighs said 'see ya'.... Nothing worse than watching the group slowly pull away when there's nothing you can do...... I eventually caught a couple of other guys who dropped and we worked together and made our way to the finish.... It was a great day and a great ride..... I talked to one of the organizers on Sunday and there were a little over 1200 riders this year, so about average...

Dean

[fishmel]

Congrats on doing the 65! It was a great day for a hard ride. I met up with the team and some other friends and we took off about 8:15 or so. Once we got past the first rest stop, we had a nice double paceline of about 30 people cruising along. It was pretty cool and reminded me of a century ride I did a couple of years ago with a bunch of the BF folks... We dropped quite a few people going through the Hockinson rollers and only 13 of us made the split for the century. Once we hit the rollers between Amboy and Yacolt, we were surging and attacking one after the other. Those rollers were a blast!!! We eventually got whittled down to 7 of us when we hit Jenny creek (a nice 2 mile climb) where I started to hurt... Thankfully the other guys had decided to make a regroup at the top.. Otherwise I'd have been solo from there.... Once we regrouped, we headed off to the next rest stop where I proceded to eat anything that wasn't moving. Fortunately, the Fig Newtons weren't too agile, so I plowed though them like there was no tomorrow... :D From here on in, I was clearly out of my league and was just hanging on.. I got dropped on a long gradual uphill but I was able to get back with them when they got hung up by traffic at a stop sign. From there, I stayed on for another couple of miles and eventually was dropped for good at mile 85. A short steep uphill where my thighs said 'see ya'.... Nothing worse than watching the group slowly pull away when there's nothing you can do...... I eventually caught a couple of other guys who dropped and we worked together and made our way to the finish.... It was a great day and a great ride..... I talked to one of the organizers on Sunday and there were a little over 1200 riders this year, so about average...

Dean


Nice write up Dean, sounds like it would have been a fun group to ride with.

[Deanoldo]

Thanks Mitch, and ya it was fun. There were a couple of strong guys that just killed me. How come you ended up riding solo? I saw a quite a few PV folks out there.

Dean

[fishmel]

Just happened that way. Started off with some of the team, we turned into a hammer group of 4, then at the split for the 100, I wanted more, and they wanted less. So I kept on keeping on, ended the day with 121.6 miles @ 19.3mph. It made the 2hrs of Cross riding at Lacamas Lake on Sunday really tough.

[Deanoldo]

Just happened that way. Started off with some of the team, we turned into a hammer group of 4, then at the split for the 100, I wanted more, and they wanted less. So I kept on keeping on, ended the day with 121.6 miles @ 19.3mph. It made the 2hrs of Cross riding at Lacamas Lake on Sunday really tough.

All I can say to that is 'ouch'..... :) I was hanging out at Heritage park around 7:30 to 10am on Sunday with a table full of food.... My wife and I ran that first rest stop for the volunteer ride that the Saturday volunteers do the day after RACC. Sounds like you had a good ride though.

Dean

[Ticia]

:eek:That is fast!

Is there a group that is "training" at Lacamas? I started getting intrigued by cross a few months ago. It looks like so much fun...dirty, muddy, challenging fun! Lacamas is so close to us. What route do you ride over there? Is it around "Round Lake"? Curious minds must know. I bet my dh would like to go one of these weekends.

[fishmel]

Ticia, No group training, just me screwing around. I am finding it a nice change of pace to leave the road bikes at home and jump on the Cross bike to do some singletrack and get a little muddy every so often. I'm just getting to know the trails over @ Lacamas, so as far as knowledge of the area I am limited. I ride from my house that is @ 7 miles from the park. It is definiatly good training for the up coming Cross season, that I can't wait for, some techinical and some run-up areas.

[Ticia]

Ticia, No group training, just me screwing around. I am finding it a nice change of pace to leave the road bikes at home and jump on the Cross bike to do some singletrack and get a little muddy every so often. I'm just getting to know the trails over @ Lacamas, so as far as knowledge of the area I am limited. I ride from my house that is @ 7 miles from the park. It is definiatly good training for the up coming Cross season, that I can't wait for, some techinical and some run-up areas.

Thanks for the info. It sounds like fun :D What cross events are you going to do? I was thinking (loosely thinking) of trying the Alpenrose event...we'll see. I'll have to start running again soon.