RIDIN', RACIN' PLANS FOR 2011

Crummy January weather has me looking ahead to when it'll one day be warm and sunny. Or at least not so cold 'n' wet 'n' windy. First up, I've gotta finish my Classic Road Rides of Washington book, however the weather hasn't exactly been cooperative of late. Oh well, nothing I can do about that.

So I'll look forward to mountain bike races and road rides. I've already mentioned ad nauseum Oregon's High Cascades 100 and Olympia's Capitol Forest 50, both of which are beginning to fill and making me a little nervous that I won't get in. ('Course if I made a decision on which I want to do, that'd probably solve everything, wouldn't it? ) Another one that's caught my eye is the Test of Endurance 100-miler (and 50-miler), also a Mudslinger event in Oregon.

Certainly want to do a couple of the Indie Series races. Had a great time two years ago but missed all of last season with a broken collarbone. (2011 schedule doesn't seem to be out yet.) BuDu Racing also has their series which runs February through April so I may jump into one or two of those races. Last year I single-speeded (izzat a word?) Cookin' in the Kettles, on a great course through Whidbey Island's Fort Ebey State Park.

Probably do some local(ish) road events too--Skagit Spring Classic in May, the Tour de Whatcom in July. I've done Wenatchee's Apple Century a couple times, which usually heads north along the Columbia River to Chelan. I notice this year's course, however, heads inland toward Leavenworth and Lake Wenatchee. That could be kind of cool, especially if there's a tailwind from L-town east. One that intrigues me (and one that will definitely hurt) is the Chelan Century Challenge which heads up McNeil Canyon. The overall ride climbs 9,000 feet with 2,200 of it up the 5-mile McNeil Canyon Road. Not sure how they do it, but apparently you can ride McNeil Canyon as a timed hill climb. (See here for my McNeil Canyon write-up.)   

Speaking of hill climbs, after a couple years off, I think I'd like to give the Mount Baker Hill Climb (Ride 542) another shot. (Click here for my write-up on the last time I raced it.) Which means of course I'll be starving myself throughout July and August to somehow get my weight below 160. My best time was 2008: 1:38:10. This year I'll be in a new age group (as opposed to say, a New Age group), 50-59. Damn, that sounds frickin' ancient!

HIGH CASCADES 100; COLLARBONE UPDATE



Saturday, I enjoyed a three-hour mountain bike ride in the Chuckanuts with chiroprator Steve Noble who raced last August's High Cascades 100-mile mountain bike race near Bend, Ore. He gave the race mucho thumbs-up ('cept for the two flats he suffered) and so I've been ogling the race website ever since. And since the Capitol Forest 50 was so much fun, I'm putting High Cascades on my short list of very possibles for 2011.

And for those interested in broken collarbone recovery, I'm pretty much at the six-month mark. (This blog comes up a lot when people, most likely cyclists, are Googling info for when they can get back on the bike after breaking their collarbones.) Six months after surgery, I feel no ill effects. I think I started running/riding at six weeks, rode a road century at just under three months, did a 50-mile mountain bike race at four months--all with no soreness or discomfort. Strengthwise, for about a month now, I've been able to lift the same amount in the weight room that I was lifting before the break. And I can finally sleep on my right side (broken clavicle side) with no problem. 

Surgically implanted pin and prominent screw. (Please excuse my Sean Connery chest-hair wig.)

If I have any issue it's that one of the nine screws sticks out--a bump under my skin--fairly prominently. (See above photo.) Doesn't hurt, just looks weird. I know some people get their pins and screws removed--i.e. world champion Thor Hushovd among them--but I don't like the idea of more surgery. I guess I figure if I'm just going to have it taken out, then why did I have it put in in the first place? But who knows, there're so many pro take-it-out/pro leave-it-in stories on the Internet all I can do is what seems like a good idea to me. And right now, leaving it in seems fine.     

CAN'T QUITE BRING MYSELF TO RACE ... YET

Well, I had grand plans to race a few of the BuDu mountain bike races and though the weather's been really good, my grand plans so far have come to nothing. Already I've missed two races including one yesterday. 

Not that I've not been riding: Saturday, we did what I've come to call the Dictionary-Pine and Cedar-Long Around route. About 30 miles with 3,500 feet of climbing including the killer long steep one up the back side to Pine and Cedar--just an all around nasty and inappropriate climb followed almost immediately by my favorite descent around here, the Hemlock Trail. (It was Mellow Johnny Clark, the Titanium Cowboy Scott Young and Doctor Professor Steve Vanderstaay.) Then Sunday (single-speed Sunday) was Der Mullet, Der Three Pigs, Der etc., so I'm getting in the bike time, that's for sure.

I guess it's just hard to justify a two-hour drive for a 50-minute race that starts at noon followed by a two-hour drive home, which is what most of the BuDu races would require of us Bellinghamsters. So much easier and more pleasant to roll out of bed at 7:30 a.m., be riding at 8 with the Team Unattacked squad, and back home with the family by 11-11:30-ish. (Though it looks like the March 28 race in Coupeville starts at 10 a.m. so that's a possibility.) More likely I'll wait for the Indie Series races starting in May; I think their Sport/Single-Speed races start at 10:30 a.m., not quite the all-day killer that a noon start is.

Also on my radar, sorta kinda, is the High Cascades 100 mountain bike race in August down in Bend, Ore. Though I have no aptitude for the ultra-long stuff, I do feel the need to do at least one 100-mile race in my life. And I've always wanted to see Bend.