Jon Muellner : Cycles

2007 SIR June 2-3 600 km - One Tough Ride

Another 600 km...but this one was hard.

It's not that I was terribly affected by the heat or hills...this was more from the previous nights where sleep was not enough to build up some zzzz's before the long haul. Slow and steady for the first kms, but man, the first day was not pleasant. Day two was wonderful. That's the real challenge of this sport, you never know when the lows or highs are going to come!

Seattle Waterfront to Boise Creek Grocery
Start 6AM. John Campell, Dan Austad and I took the ferry from Bainbridge Island and made it to the start just as everyone was heading out. Were there any important messages from the organizers, we'd have missed them! dan made it 200 yards from the start before his spare tire and rain jacket popped off his bike and hit the ground. I grabbed them and he duct taped them back on. Looked somewhat suspect to me, be he didn't seem worried!

The street lights and uphill as we made our way from the waterfront made it so that you could see the front riders a few lights up and in a short time we entered the bike path along I-90. I had a good chat with Thai who has this amazing ability to be in perfect form whether it's at the beginning of the ride or the end, he always has the same position on his bike (I tend to slump at certain points). He had ridden down earlier, so already had a two hour warm-up before the start. I drove...

It was good to be riding with some folks who knew these convoluted routes - but what an amazing collection of paths! With Seattle becoming one of the most traffic-choked places in the US, it was nice to have all these little chutes to squeeze around the masses. It was cool on the wooden boardwalks through the wetlands and after a time I had no idea which side of the water I was on, but with only one miss calculation, we made our way out of the city.

Arrived 9:15AM. These folks at the grocery were so nice! Their little daughter signed cards and they were comfortable with the flurry of riders coming in the door. I made this stop quick, grabbing some water and crushing some water bottles out of the trash so we didn't fill their garbage cans so fast.

Boise Creek Grocery to Eatonville (11:44AM)
These are all familiar roads from previous brevets...namely my first 200 km where I went off course for some 50km. That hasn't happened since, as I trust no one else to follow blindly after that experience!

Eatonville to Packwood (3:20PM)
Getting here was pure joy, riding Skate Creek Road is such a pleasure on a nice day, with lots of shade on the gradual climb and beautiful scenery. The rough pavement and gravel indicated on the cue sheet proved to be nothing and I enjoyed a nice fast descent into Packwood for some much needed burrito and Cool Ranch Doritos. Lots of motorcyclists out on this fine weekend. I figure when I'm old, fat and too weak to pedal a bike, that's what I'll be riding.

Eatonville to Morton (6:10PM)
A long stretch here, some headwinds and I came across Narayan for a spell as we made out way to Morton. A few climbs in the sun, but I didn't feel too bad at all, just tired. For some reason, at the control my body just decided it was done with this ride. I felt completely devoid of energy and anything else for that matter. I tried to head out with Bill, Narayan, Allison and Peg but less than 100 meters from the right turn onto US-12 I was off the back and fading away. The next 15 km were hell for no apparent reason. I slogged on and started rationalizing about how if I just stopped I still had two more 600 km brevets to qualify. Then I started thinking maybe I could just use my tickets to France to hang out in Paris in the cafe's, no need to do PBP...this went on for quite awhile in the nearly four and a half hours it took to get to Centralia. Just keep pedalling. Yeah, right.

Morton to Centralia (10:25PM)
When I finally arrived at the Chevron I was cooked. All wanted to do was stop. Bill was sleeping on the edge of the concrete curb in front of the station under the bright flourescent lights and constant store traffic. Peg and LAison were dining on the sidewalk, seemingly unaffected by the last few hours (damn you super-girls and your hidden powers of recuperation!) I ate some peaches and the rest of Allison's noodle soup. That felt better, but sleep was all I had in mind. Everyone else took off but I could not. I laid down on the fake grass between the parking lot and the I-5 off ramp and laid down, shivering terribly until I shivered myself to sleep. For a half hour I dreamed crazy things and finally awoke around 11PM. One of the BC riders came in and another fellow (Scott Davis). I felt better and drank most of a warm Coke to wake up. We all headed off together to make our way to the overnight in Elma.

Centralia to Elma (2:30AM leave at 5:30AM)
The staretch to Elma was flat and cool and fast (relatively) we lost our BC friend and Scott and I kept focused on getting to the control. It was actually a very nice night, not too cool or windy and I really enjoyed this stretch. We eased back from our initial pace and arrived at 2:30 a.m. feeling mighty sprite! I spent some time relaxing and eating some delicious salmon and potato stew over rice, then headed to a room for a shower and sleep. I had intended to ride dtraight through and might have done it, but realized my sleep bank was going to be drawn to empty by dawn if I did. No one else came into the room all night, so I slept until 4:45AM and then came down for some pizza and chips. Breakfast of champions. Headed out by 5:30AM toward Potlach.

Elma to Potlach (sometime)
Don't know when I arrived here, but as these are all familiar roads, I felt good cruising along and meeting up with Bill along the way. A fair number of riders had headed out around the same hour, so the group at Potlach was pretty large. We sat at the picnic tables in the sun and enjoyed a few treats before heading to the Tahuya Hills. I started after Bill and enjoyed the stretch along the south shore of the Great Hook to Belfair.

Potlach to Kay's Corner (11:13AM)
Made it to the uber-plush SIR control where you can get just about anything you want just by standing around long enough - Michael and Greg made a vigorous effort to feed, hydrate and care for you. There was a regular party going on! I ate a nice sandwich, filled my bottles and headed out. Carol and Ralph on their tandem were alternating between flying by me on the downhills or me passing them on the uphills. It was a lovely day and I do love this stretch of road. The mythic proportions of the climbs can get a tad out of hand, but on a bad day, this is a challenging stretch. I felt so good. Knowing the road helps, but whether it wa up or down I went thorugh there faster than I ever have. I wanted to catch Bill, but he was already in Seabeck when I got there!

Kay's Corner to Seabeck (2:30PM)
Ah, now I can feel the end coming near. I was so happy that today I felt 100% better than the nght before. I ate another burritto and the seagulls ate the other one. (Note to self: don't leave any open food near a waterfront area). Bill gave me the rest of his Coke and I fueled up for the fianl leg.

Seabeck to Port Gamble (5:07PM)
Heading out over Anderson Hill(s) I only encounter two instead of three this time, so something must be going my way. The cruise to Port Gamble was along Pioneer Way and it was just a straight shot to the control. Felt AOK on arriving amidst the the sword-weilding medivial gang and was hungering for a V8 and chocolate ice cream. This did disturb Narayan who has a fairly clean internal system, unencumbered by fats and animal products. I am an omnivore and therefore consume whatever comes to mind or available...

Port Gamble to Finish - Island Country Inn (6:56PM)
Narayan takes off, anxious to make it to the finish. I lounge for a bit, talking with Owen and Steve before getting on the road myself. I am convinced that 104 has no shoulders and tell Owen this (it actually does) but I think that all the times I've ridden it, the cars are so aggressive that it seems as if there's none at all. Sorry Owen, yes there is a shoulder, but psychically there isn't!

The turn off on Port Gamble Rd. proves to be one of the best parts of the whole ride! What a lovely little stretch of pavement on this very busy peninsula. Rolling up and down, I come upon Steve at one of the stop signs and we have that feeling that we're nearly at the end. Today has been such a better day than before, it's like two entirely different rides. I try to catch Narayan before the finish, but he has smelled the barn and I don't catch him.

Mark and Duane man the last control and feed us beer and three options for beer. Man, I love this sport.

Narayan's pictures are here >>

Huge thanks to the overnight control workers (Trent, Melinda, Max and I-should-know-your-name-but-I'm-stupid), Kay's Corner guys (Greg and Michael), and Duane and Mark at the finish in Bainbridge. You've helped make a great ride possible. Now onto Paris!!!!