RAINY RAIN RIDE IN THE RAIN ON A RAINY DAY

But oh, it was most excellent to be riding Chuckanut Mountain today with Titanium Cowboys Johnny Boy Clark and Grandmaster Glenn Gervais!

 

 

 

MORE 2012 YEAR-END PHOTOS

Besides having my sixth book come out ("75 Classic Rides: Washington") and wrapping my head around our family's upcoming move to Luxembourg (more on that in the coming days), I'll remember 2012 for several things: 1) the new folks I added to my ever-widening circle of cycling friends, 2) the trio of amazing fall gravel grinders we rode, and 3) my foray into the Bellingham cyclocross scene. Here're some pics:

I rode to Artist Point a bunch this summer. This is early August when I rode from Kendall with Reg Norbert, the Legendary Tom Meloy and John Pottle; ...

... and this is two weeks before that with Pat Skaggs and Steve George (himself, also of the Legendary persuasion); ...

... and two weeks before that with Titanium Cancellara. As you can see, the Artist Point parking lot had yet to be plowed clear. (We couldn't wait.)  

Also in July, I had the honor of hooking up for about 20 miles with the Chain Gang, some Atlanta-based riders in their 60s and 70s who were finishing up an 800-mile multi-day bike trip with a ride through Whatcom County to Lynden. Inspiring folks! 

Oh yeah, almost forgot about the super-early (6 a.m.) weekday rides throughout the summer with Grandmaster Glenn Gervais and his crew. Here we are mountain biking on Galby but we also rode Chuckanut Mountain and got in a few road rides too.  

And of course, there was Johnny Boy Clark and late July's Tour de Whatcom.

August brought the gravel grinders. On the hottest day in recorded human history, Brian Ecker, Scott Young (both too legendary to even begin to get into) and I rode an amazing 82-mile Winthrop-Conconully loop that reached heights of almost 7,000 feet. (We gained more than 10,000 feet in all.) 

It was seriously the bomb and probably one of the top-5 most strenuous things I've ever done. 

A couple weeks later, Brian and I ground our way to the top of Slate Peak, above Harts Pass, on the highest road in the state. 

After a 5,500-foot climb fom Mazama, we reached Slate's 7,488-foot summit where we were treated to amazing views.

Speaking of views, check these out from a September gravel grinder to Twin Lakes/Winchester Mountain with Glenn and Steve VanderStaay. 

After pedaling the steep, rugged, chopped-up road to Twin Lakes (passing the Yellow Aster Butte trailhead along the way), we ran-slash-hiked the 1.5-mile trail to the Winchester Lookout. A highly recommended duathlon of sorts.

September was also the Mount Baker Hill Climb. 

The best Northwest summer weather I can remember lasted into October and gifted us with this early fall day on which the Titanium Cowboys headed for Blanchard Mountain above Samish Bay.

When fall finally did hit, I filled it with the dirt and grass and ... 

... sand and ... 

... mud and pain and ... 

... falling of cyclocross.  

December brought more cyclocross, the Deception Pass 25K and more adventures with the Titanium Cowboys. Happy New Year! Looking forward to an amazing 2013!

2012 DECEPTION PASS 25K

Love this photo of a super-happy number 191 finishing the Deception Pass 25K. I don't know who it is or if there's any story to it, but her enthusiasm and excitement are quite inspiring.  

Like the top photo, I shot this as we were heading out. I believe it's Gary Robbins, who's about win the 50K in a smokin' fast 3:57--wow! Which means it took him less than an hour more to run twice as far as I ran--I finished the 25K in 2:58. Still, I'm pretty happy; I took 11 minutes off last year's time and my run training for this year's race was fairly sporadic. 

The Deception Pass 25K is incredibly beautiful. You're forever running cliffside trails with epic bridge- and water-views or through deep, dark forest--not to mention you run across the 180-foot-high bridge twice--and I heard many folks saying that it's the most beautiful race they've ever done. (I assume ditto goes for those who ran the 50K.) It ain't easy either. You climb 2,800-plus feet, and in places the skinny, rocky trail is sehr technical and in several stretches can feel a bit crowded with racers running in both directions.

James Varner and Rainshadow Running  doing a great job and host races that have a really cool vibe, as well a bountiful post-race spread. (Those chocolate chip cookies were friggin' amazing!) But, hmm--and I don't put on races myself so I don't have a clue as to how difficult an undertaking (I'm sure it's hard as hell)--an awful lot of people seemed to have gotten lost or off-course yesterday. I personally didn't, probably only because I ran it last year (when I did get off course) and was extra vigilant to keep it from happening again. Late in the race at the top of Goose Rock, lots of folks had no idea where to go. I remembered that last year  a photographer (Glenn T.?) was set up here, so this year I knew to run straight across and back into the woods. But I heard tales of 10 or so racers up there, turning 'round and 'round trying to figure out where to go. Again, I know it's difficult as heck to come up with volunteers who'd be willing to stand around all day in the cold and wind, but just something to keep in mind for next year. 

All that said, the Titanium Cowboys (below) had a great time yesterday--another super fun adventure! Lookin' forward to Orcas Island 25K in the New Year!

TITANIUM COWBOYS WELCOME DECEMBER

I've been doing mostly cyclocross and running this fall and thus haven't been out on the MTB in a while. So it was great to hit the Galby on Saturday for three hours with the Titanium Cowboys. We even got lost (sorta) a couple times which added a bit of variety to the experience.

Check out Scott's sleek and sexy Niner carbon fork which makes his already feather-light titanium rig even lighter. Oh goodie!

Mellow Johnny whooping and woodling.

Deception Pass 25K is this Saturday. (Yikes!) 

DECEPTION PASS 25K APPROACHETH

No race this weekend and as the above pic attests, I had no idea what to do with myself. Actually, that's not true. I knew I had to run (literally) because I'm signed up for the Deception Pass 25K on December 8. So that gives me two weeks to get some run training in. (That should be enough time, right?) Fingers crossed that all the CX riding and racing I've been doing has some carryover. If not, that's fine. It'll be great fun to hang out with the Titanium Cowboys (both of whom are real runners) and as I found out last year when I did the race, the DP 25 is a really cool event. (Except that it's hard. And really far. And you're not allowed to use your bike.)

Speaking of the Ti Cowboys (Scott Young and John Clark), we got out on a 2-1/2-hour run in the Chuckanuts yesterday. Great fun, cool to check out the new section of the Two-Dollar Trail and to meet a young feller named Tai (or Ty?) who joined us. Only bummer was my Garmin 500 which, for whatever reason, seems to lose satellite signals whenever I trail run in the woods. Is it because I'm going so much slower when I run than ride? (It never loses the signal during mountain bike rides up there.) Am I such a slow runner that the damn thing just loses interest? (Glenn G., if you read this, I'd appreciate your two cents.)   

Lastly, I wanna give a shoutout of thanks to all the terrific folks at the Tacoma Wheelmen's Bicycle Club (below) who came out for last week's slideshow. Had a great time!.

PADDEN MOUNTAIN BIKE DUATHLON

Area Man, Mike McQuaide, models the official Titanium Cowboys duathlon kit.

With Cascade Cross's Thriller Cross moved to December, I'll instead throw down, as it were, at Sunday's Klick's Mountain Bike Duathlon at Lake Padden. It's a race I've done many times and yet am always surprised at how absolutely painfully hard it is. You get done with the first 2.6-mile run lap and right away you're climbing up, up, up and more up the Expert MTB loop. And of course the race finishes with another 2.6-mile run lap. 

The above shot is at the finish of the 2009 race, during which I rode my single-speed and shot a helmet cam video with my old, grainy-ish GoPro camera. See the video below: 

Adding to this year's fun is the weather forecast: rain and wind for the first time in months! Glenn G., Bryan S. and I pre-rode the course a couple days ago when it was Eastern Washington-dry-as-a-bone; we surely won't have them conditions on Sunday. Lookin' forward to it, nonetheless. First race with the new carbon 29er fork!

A tie-dyed Johnny Boy Clark during the 2009 race.

Lastly, thanks to everyone who came to last night's REI Redmond slideshow--it was a fun time! Next up: Slideshow presentation at the Skagit Bicycle Club's Annual Meeting on Oct. 17. Looking forward to it! 

BLANCHARD MOUNTAIN RIDE

View from the Samish Overlook Hang Glider Launch: Samish Bay, Samish Island and Mount Erie in the distance.

With Galbraith, Chuckanut and Lookout mountains so close to Bellingham, we don't ride Blanchard Mountain nearly as often as we should. It's just that little bit farther from town and to really explore its charms--of which there are many--it'd end up being a six-hour day, which we can't always do. 

John checks out some of our road-riding routes: Chuckanut Drive, Colony Road, Bow Hill, Samish Island and more. 

So early on Saturday, we loaded up John's truck with bikes and gear (including Darrell Sofield's way-useful Amazing Map of the area), drove to Lake Samish (where we parked) and pedaled toward the Summerland Road entrance of the Pacific Northwest Trail. (C-c-c-c-o-l-d too, like 30s.) From there it was following white blazes on trees and rocks up, up, up, up, up via mix of dirt road and singletrack, eventually hitting the way-steep-in-spots British Army Trail which delivered us to Lizard Lake.  

A lovely bench on the Lily Lake trail offers  the opportunity to swim a few laps.

 From there we traversed the mountain, picked up way-fun Max's Shortcut and Larry Reed trails and made our ways to the Overlook. The view was absolutely breathtaking (a huge plus of leaving really early--7 a.m.--is that morning sun is perfect for photos): islands, water, fingers of land poking this way and that and it seemed we could see the curvature of the earth. Wowzer!

Tight squeeze in John's truck.

 Return was gravel road B-2000 to the Lily and Lizard Lakes Trail which has got to be one of the longest sustained singletrack climbs around here. We got off the mountain via Alternate Incline, one of my all-time favorite descents and one on which I put my new carbon 29er  fork to the test. (It'll be interesting to see how my upper body feels in the upcoming days.)

 A super-amazing day!

Here's our route: 

4th OF JULY MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE

True summer finally arrived on the 4th and so we hit the trails--out to Chuckanut (2-Dollar above) and up to Lake Padden where we took one run at the Expert Mountain Bike course. (Next Saturday, by the way, is the 20th annual Padden MTN Pedal.) 

He we are finishing up on Taylor Dock. I rode the single-speed and thus today, I hurt appropriately. Here's our route:

MORE 2012 CHELAN CENTURY CHALLENGE PHOTOS

Just a reminder that Thursday I'll be doing a slideshow for "75 Classic Rides: Washington: at REI Issaquah. The event is free, but registration is required. Click here to register. Hope to see you there!
Now, more Chelan Century Challenge pics:

The sun comes out near the end of Loop 1. Sorta. Tried to.

Johnny Boy Clark on the crazy-fun Winesap Avenue descent.

The final rest stop at about mile 94. Pretty much nothing tastes good by this point.

John looks a tad ill at ease ease posing with Miss Lake Chelan and her two runners up. Mark Clausen, on the other hand, appears quite comfortable.

One of several gulch climbs on Loop 1 ...

... one of which--Ivan Morse Road--just sorta petered out into dirt ...

... joined now by another Scott from Bellingham, we broke out the map and tried to figure out where we'd gone wrong. No biggie; it all worked out fine.

Mr. Pungent, a painting that caught my eye at Chelan's very cool Local Myth Pizza.

The last aid station. (Again.)

Somewhere on Loop 1.

Titanium Cowboys let loose on the streets of Chelan. (Sidewalk, actually.)