CHELAN CENTURY CHALLENGE REPORT AND PHOTOS

That's David Longdon, who does the cool Seattle-area cycling blog for the Seattle P-I, nearing the top of McNeil Canyon, the featured spot of bother on the spectacular Chelan Century Challenge ride. He's a little less than a mile from the top, a stretch that's consistently 11-percent with a bit of 14-percent thrown in for fun. He, like many riders I saw yesterday, was rocking a SRAM Apex cassette and taking full advantage of its pie-plate sized 32-tooth gear. But of course, there's more to the Chelan Century Challenge than McNeil Canyon so enough about that for now.

The ride's slightly more than 100 miles are split up into three loops--a Manson loop on the north side of Lake Chelan, a McNeil Canyon loop that makes its way down to the Columbia River and then heads up toward the Waterville Plateau and finally, a Navarre Coulee loop which does an up-down to the Columbia, then an up-down which spits you out on the south shore of Lake Chelan about 10 miles west of town.


Longdon dancing on the pedals up McNeil Canyon.



With two epic bodies of water--Lake Chelan and the mighty-as-hell Columbia--as well as those wonderful Eastern Washington dry-side pine forests and craggy canyons, the route can't help but be incredibly scenic. Loop 1 was perhaps my favorite, yanking you up, up, and up on the north side of Lake Chelan before delivering you lakeside via a series of winding, no-traffic roads through orchards and vineyards. These were some fun descents. (I'd never been to this Manson side of the lake before and was just wowed by it; one suggestion though for the town fathers: change the town's name. And don't change it to something like 'Bundy' either.)   

After 30 miles and about 2,400 feet of ups, we headed for McNeil and loop 2, which was 40-miles long. I'd ridden most of the loop 1 on my own and figured I'd hook up with a group for the 20-mile jaunt to the base of the canyon. Sit in the back, get a free ride as it were, save my energy for the big beastie. Which pretty much didn't happen. For whatever reason, except for about 5 miles just before the McNeil climb when I hooked up with Longdon and three (or four?) members of Seattle's High Performance Cycling club, I rode the entire route by myself. Kinda surprised me. Wonder if it's because I have that disease that makes me leave as early as I can on rides like this. Most people probably prefer a later start but I want to get at it, and get 'er done, as it were. (And stop as little as possible along the way; thus my lack of photos on Loop 1 and 3.)  

Your Titanium Cowboy at mile 6 of the 7-mile McNeil Canyon climb. Photo: David Longdon.

At McNeil, we all went our separate paces and headed for the top. Mile markers have it at a 7-mile climb but it's really the last 5 miles that make one question one's sanity. Though to be honest, I love to climb so I dig this hill. There's something about finding that deliberate, methodical rhythm within me that I find ... I don't know what the word is, maybe it's what other people get from meditation or yoga or prayer or whatever, all I know is that it's a head/mind/soul (?) space that I love.

Weather-wise we were blessed--sunny, not too warm, and though sweat was dripping in my eyes while I climbed and I could feel my arms getting sunburned, because we've had such a dreary wet spring in Bellingham, it felt glorious. Aid stations and volunteers were great throughout the day too, and located in key spots--at top, bottom and middle of McNeil Canyon, for instance.  

I'd had much agita about the descent but it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd remembered it from my previous ride. Then, I was by myself, just three months after collarbone surgery and the landscape, while beautiful seemed a tad tumbleweed 'n' rattlesnake scary. Today though (yesterday), I was one of hundreds and felt more comfortable letting the Tarmac Pro hit speeds of 40-plus mph. (Saw Steve Noble heading up while I was heading down; only time I saw him all day.)

Upon returning to Chelan we embarked on Loop 3, up Highway 97 Alt., then after blazing through a tunnel, find ourselves once again beside the Columbia River. Upon which, we immediately headed back up toward (or through?) Navarre Coulee. This was a gradual hill, which sorta climbed, sorta didn't, and with sorta a headwind and sorta not, I found myself at about the 81-mile mark wondering if I was going to bonk. But eventually, after some salty potatoes, a turkey-ham wrap thang from the aid station (as well as Gatorade fortified with Enduralyes Fizz--I kinda like 'em), I made it up the last hill and after another fast descent found myself on the shores of Lake Chelan with about 10 miles left.

Chelan Century Challenge elevation profile.

Found myself aided by a generous tailwind too, which, after some quick calculations in my head, made me realize if I brought it home in strong fashion I could average 15 mph for this thang. Not that that's particularly fast but given the hills (it'd end up gaining 7,800 feet), given that I rode just about all of it by myself (and thus had no draft to benefit from), given that I'm not a time-trial guy, given that I don't have a big endurance engine like a lot of the people I ride with, given that I'm on the cusp of 50, given that I'm from N.J., given that I can't hit lefties very well, given that ... I was psyched. So I hammered, as it were, my Garmin GPS reading 22-, 24-, 21-miles per hour and I brought her home in 6:38 (ride time) for 101 miles. (15.2 mph.)   

Here's a caveat (think that's the word I want): the course calls for a ridiculously steep 1.5-mile hill that climbs 600 feet at about the 98-mile mark, but I skipped it. It just seemed dumb and too painful and unnecessary at that point. My sense is that a lot of people skipped it. (Or perhaps I'm rationalizing it to myself.)

Anyway, an amazing event. I highly recommend it. As I was riding the first loop, I was thinking that the Chelan area might just be the most beautiful place to ride in the state. And that the Chelan Century Challenge might just be my favorite organized ride. This or RAMROD. Close call.  

CHELAN CENTURY CHALLENGE

All spur-of-the-moment like, the McQuaide family decided to hightail it out of B'ham and head over to Chelan for tomorrow's crazy-tuff Chelan Century Challenge: 103 miles with 8,600 feet of elevation gain including dread McNeil Canyon.



As I wrote about last year (go here), this beast climbs 2,200 feet in 5 miles, but it's probably the descent that gives me more spots of bother than the ascent. I've a bit of anxiety when my Tarmac insists on going 40-plus m.p.h. whether I want it to or not.
Obviously, with 8,600 feet of climbing, McNeil Canyon isn't the only hill. Looks like the Manson loop on the north side of Lake Chelan has some upward tilters, as does the final loop toward Navarre Coulee. Check out the course here.

Spur-of-the-moment means dealing with the challenge of all rooms in Chelan, Wenatchee and Leavenworth being sold out. But there's always Pateros. So instead of Highway 2 and over, we're approaching from the north--Highway 20 through Winthrop and Twisp,  and then 153 along the Methow River to our room at the Pateros Motor Lodge. Or something like that. Hope it's safe. (Actually, it's only 20 miles from Chelan; lots closer than L'worth or W'chee.)
Lookin' forward to it; I'm the only Titanium Cowboy heading over but several other B'ham folks will be there as well as a bunch of High Performance Cycling folks. I'll let you know how it goes! 

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.