SINGLE-SPEED SATURDAY

San Juan Islands, including Mount Constitution on Orcas Island, from the Wonderland Trail on Galbraith Mountain.

Saturday, I headed up to the Galby Towers on the Redline Monocog. That's my single-speed 29er mit der rigid fork and Elixer brakes which I added and which I love. Three hours, 2,500 feet of climbing including the Wall (stupid steep) and that last pitch to the top (only slightly less stupid steep). Down via Wonderland, Mullet, Three Pigs, across the road and down Padden back trails which were clogged by various and sundry ABDP's (Annoying Bellingham Dog People). A route I ride often; a route I love.  

Looking east toward Mount Baker from just past the Galby Towers.

But enough about me. Looks like Roger Michel and company have a date for the 2011 Capitol Forest 50- and 100-mile mountain bike races. (See here.) August 27, about two weeks earlier than this year's race, thus offering more daylight and better chance of good weather. (Though this year's raceday weather was great.) I highly recommend this race and plan on being there myself depending on how things do or don't go with the High Cascades 100 which is just three weeks earlier. Registration for Capitol Forest opens Jan. 11.

I like my Ed Grimley grimace in the above photo from this year's Capitol Forest 50.

CAPITOL FOREST 50-MILE MOUNTAIN BIKE RACE STORY 'N' PHOTOS

Titanium Cancellara shares his story with race director Roger Michel. Check out his smaller back wheel.

First up, let me state that there is epic--as in say, the 165-odd miles incredible flowy, fun and (at times) fast singletrack trails at Capitol State Forest near Olympia. And then there is EPIC--as in Scott "Titanium Cancellara" Young's performance at the first-ever Capitol Forest 50-mile mtb race that took place at said forest. Let's cut to the chase.

About five miles into the race--a terrific event that featured a LeMans start--I see Scott pulled up by the side of the trail, a forlorn look on his face. His bottom bracket is toast, he says. Damn, I say and think, but there's really nothing I can do. So on I go, shaking my head at his bad luck and all that money he spent ($130 for the race, motel, food, etc.) only to get to race for about a half-hour.

Vast 90,000-acre Capitol State Forest

As for myself, I spend the next 5-and-a-half hours having a challenging-as-hell, but crazy-fun time, keeping the leg cramps, the bonks, the start-out-too-fast monsters at bay, all the while climbing some 5,500 feet. (My GPS registered some pitches at 24 percent.) After my finish in just under 6 hours, I look for Scott figuring the poor guy's been hanging around the Mima Falls Campground, where the race started and finished, bored out of his mind. No sign of him. The race director has no record of him as a DNF so I grab a burger, find a tree to sit under (not easy, as my lower back was not being cooperative) and call the wife to tell her that everything--including my collarbone, surgically repaired four months ago--is fine. I'm in mid sentence when who do I see cross the finish line but Scott, oddly--very oddly, I might add--with a third wheel affixed to his back. It looked like it was his halo, like he was the subject from some Byzantine religious painting.

Here's what happened: At mile 5 (actually 4.87, according to my GPS), his free hub on his back wheel turned to toast, not his bottom bracket. No matter, the result was the same; he couldn't ride his bike. So he runs with it (yes, runs with it) for 7 miles to the first aid station where there's a bike mechanic. At times, he's able to jump on his bike and coast downhill, at others kinda scooter it along and was even able to keep with packs of riders if the terrain allowed, but mostly he just ran. And ran. (It should be pointed out that Scott is an extremely strong runner; he's finished top 15 in the Chuckanut 50K so if this had to happen to someone, it happened to the right guy.) 

At the aid station, they determined that his back wheel couldn't be fixed but volunteer Glen Campbell had a rear wheel he could borrow. Thing is, it was a 26-inch wheel and Scott rides a 29er. No matter, a few adjustments here and there and he's off. Turns out he likes the way the bike handles better than his straight 29er. Scott's a big dude 6-3, I believe, and he rides an extra-large 29er and sometimes has trouble powering through tight, technical turns; the 26 in the back, 29 in the front made his bike just a little more maneuverable.    

Riders awaiting the pre-race meeting

OK, so he rides the next 25 miles or so, passing people left and right, and gets to the last aid station which, it turns out on the sorta loopish out-and-back course, was also the first aid station. This time they ziptie Scott's broken wheel to his backpack (his halo) so he'll be able to take it home with him at the end of the race; he'll just leave the borrowed back wheel with the race director. Scott said that on the climbs it was fine, but on the bumpy flats and downhills, it kept knocking him on the back of his head. But he finished. And pretty well too. (Results aren't up yet.) An incredible performance and a true testament to not quitting, and of making the best of a tough situation.

Scott and I after the race.

I'm fairly new to mountain bike racing but as I found at the Indie Series races I did last year, as well as Boggs 8-Hour in Sonoma County, there's a really cool vibe among the fat-tire crowd. Certainly everyone wants to do their best, but there seems to be less of a cutthroat, judgemental, I'm-better-than-you-'cause-you-don't-know-what-the-hell-you're-doing feel than I've experienced in other sports. It seems more like just a bunch of folks who like to have fun getting dirty in the woods. (Trail running seems to be the same way.)  

Scott and I both met a bunch of great people. Among them, the below single-speeders whom we talked to before the race. (And neither of whose name I remember.) The one in the red was especially inspiring. This was his first mountain bike race ever and this course--which climbed 5,500 feet, most of that on snaking single-track not relatively wide-open fire road--was not an easy one for a single-speeder. But he finished pretty well and with a huge, I'm-on-Cloud-9 grin on his face. He told me that three years ago he weighed 390 pounds and this summer he had two goals: climb Mount Adams and finish this race. He accomplished them both. 

 

Lots of inspiring stories at Capitol Forest this weekend! 

EVERSON-REESE HILL-ARTIST POINT-EVERSON; 100 MILES OF FUN

Hooked up with Tom Meloy, David Longdon, Carol Noble-Potts and Mark Clausen, all from Cascade Bicycle Club's High Performance Cycling Team, for an epic Everson-to-Artist Point-with-a-detour-up-Reese Hill-and-back ride on Thursday. Why start in Everson instead of somewhere on the Mount Baker Highway? Well, the Mount Baker Highway, from B'ham to about Maple Falls, is actually pretty cruddy to ride--high-speed mega-trucks and the like, pickups with sideview mirrors that extend out on either side like airplane wings, etc. Plus, from Everson and back it's about 95 miles unless ... you add the short but nevertheless, painfully evil Reese Hill (350 feet in 0.8 miles) on the way out which makes it exactly a hunnert.

We skipped Reese Hill on the way back, basically following the Ski to Sea bike course from the D.O.T. sheds to Everson. My right leg cramped badly at mile 89 but after a few sips of Mark's mystery liquid (EPO, methamphetamine, cocaine and salt), I felt fine. Sixty-eight hundred feet of climbing in all. Super (hard) day!

Just above, that's me on the left (obsessed as I am with the Belgian national champion's jersey), Tom Meloy in the center and Mark Clausen on the right. In the top photo, Meloy leads Clausen through the first switchback on the descent from Artist Point.

On the way back to Everson, we stopped at Graham's in Glacier for Coke, maple bars (me), salty chips--anything to help power us through the last 25 miles. Above, Tom pours the nectar of the gods into Carol's water bottle. Below, Carol, Mark, Tom and David. A group of nice folks and truly great to ride with.

As for the MTB side of things, Scott "Titanium Cowboy" and I are watching the weather forcast before we pull the trigger on registering for next weekend's Capitol Forest 50-Mile mountain bike race. Looks pretty good so far, a little rain but not multi days of drenching downpours which would make it sehr unpleasant. 

COLLARBONE AND ROAD BOOK UPDATE

So, here're a few updates about one thing and/or another.

Collarbone: (I update this from time to time because when I first broke mine, I was eager for info on what to expect from my recovery; I'm hoping that this is of interest/help to someone.)

I'm four months out from the break and surgery and I'd estimate that I'm probably 95 percent back. Been road riding and running for two-and-a-half months now. Along with a century I've ridden numerous epic climbs including Hurricane Ridge; Sunrise, Paradise and Cayuse-Chinook (Mount Rainier); Washington Pass (Highway 20); Artist Point (Mount Baker) and McNeil Canyon (near Chelan). My running is pretty low-key these days but only because I'm riding so much; it's not at all a collarbone-related issue.

Mountain biking-wise I've been riding for about a month and this is where I'm still inching my way back. The distance and climbing are no problem but yesterday, when the Titanium Cowboy (Scott Young) and I did the epic Samish Loop, I got off and walked part of the steep rocky descent on So Easy which I can usually ride. And there's one challenging bridge in Arroyo Park that's still in my head a bit.

I don't feel any pain in my collarbone, it's more a confidence thing. In fact the only pain I feel is when someone comes up and squeezes my shoulder as part of a friendly greeting which, oddly enough, happened twice on Saturday. (Ouch! and various curse words.)  

The Classic Road Rides of Washington book: I've been road riding lots this summer, gathering routes for my book--the aforementioned mountain spots along with various flat and rolling routes in places throughout Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, King counties and the San Juan Islands, with rides in ever-expanding geographic circles throughout the state once my son is back in school. My Seattle Times story of last week generated a few e-mails and suggestions for routes include a couple epics up near Chelan and one killer climb (Lion's Rock) near Ellensburg. The elevation profile looks McNeil Canyon-esque. Weather permitting, I'm hoping to head down and try it this week. 

Other rides and routes on the agenda before the rain and mountain snow starts include Mount St. Helens, Paradise from the east (Stevens Canyon approach), and hopefully another foray to the Methow Valley. I'm always looking for suggestions so please feel free to send them my way.

Also possibly on my agenda is the Capitol Forest 50-Miler , a mountain bike race down near Olympia. I've ridden here a couple times (once with Gary Klein: see here) and always wanted to go back. Looks like a fun killer race. Or, as I wrote in my Times story about mountain road routes, a painfully evil, rollicking good time.