Crater Lake Century

[Veronica]

Who else is riding?

Thom and I are bibs 14 and 15. I'll be wearing my Amici Veloci jersey. Thom will be wearing... who knows... whatever jersey I pack for him. Probably red, white and blue flamey.

Veronica

[jobob]

Lee & I are 10 and 9. Yes, I'm a single digit, woo-woo. :cool:

I'll be wearing my AV jersey as well, and Lee will be wearing something subdued as always.

We'll be up there Thursday through Monday, inhabiting the cabin at Jo's Motel. And occasionally wandering across the road to the Deliverance Store for ice cream bars. :D

I'm really looking forward to this.

[aka_kim]

I see a trend here ... I'm #18 and I too will be wearing my AV jersey.

[Grog]

I wish.

:(

[Tater]

#16 and also in AV colors. We'll be there Thursday through Sunday.

[jobob]

It'll be great to see you again Tater, it's been ages!

[Veronica]

We'll be driving up on Friday and going home on Sunday. We're staying with SK and Bubba who have rented a house, hopefully near to where the Bobs are. :)

Veronica

[jobob]

Ft. Klamath is pretty small, so yes, you'll be very near us. :)

[SadieKate]

Bibs 5 and 6.

Grog, you had a whole 'nother year to plan this. Too much for you? :p

[SadieKate]

Ft. Klamath is pretty small, so yes, you'll be very near us. :)Ha! Don't blink.

[melissam]

I'm lucky #7! I'll bring my AV jersey so I can fit in with the cool crowd. :)

Dachshund and I are staying at Jo's Motel in a room conveniently located by JoBob's Party Cabin and down the road from SadieKate's clubhouse. I'm very much looking forward to this! :D

- Melissa

[Veronica]

This is going to be quite the gathering. Does the rental house have a BBQ?

Veronica

[GLC1968]

I knew I shouldn't have opened this thread! Damn - but I love to torture myself.

You all must have such a great time that you'll all be back next year. We WILL be riding this next year come hell or high water!

[Veronica]

I think you should come pay us a visit Friday afternoon. And bring some zucchini! :p

Veronica

[GLC1968]

If it weren't a 6 hour drive, I'd be very tempted!

[Veronica]

Bummer! Oregon is always bigger than I think.

Veronica

[Tater]

It'll be great to see you again Tater, it's been ages!

No doubt! What was it, Little Red '06??? Sheesh!

Oh, and if we work things right, the Yellows will be camped out next to us at the Crater Lake Resort.

[SadieKate]

Bummer! Oregon is always bigger than I think.

VeronicaIt's not the size so much as the big honkin' mountain range right in the middle of the state if you're not staying on "your side." You have to go round and round and round sometimes to get from here to there and back again.

[txred9876]

Have lots of fun! Maybe I will have to come visit family and do a centry one of these years!
Parents just outside Portland (where I was born), brother and sister and their spouse in Vancouver and my daughters in Grants Pass!

You guys sound like your going to have a blast!
Tina

[GLC1968]

Bummer! Oregon is always bigger than I think.

Veronica

No kidding. I'm recently from the east coast, for pete's sake. Oregon feels like TEXAS to me!

[txred9876]

No kidding. I'm recently from the east coast, for pete's sake. Oregon feels like TEXAS to me!

I live in Austin and it takes at least 8-9 hours to get out from where I am at (and thats going north.....don't even think about going to el paso! thats more like 11-12!)

[crazycanuck]

I'm giggling at the distances...you have no idea...

Try driving from Perth to the South Australian border-see how long it takes you..

Have a great ride kids & take lots of piccies!

[SadieKate]

I'm giggling at the distances...you have no idea...

Try driving from Perth to the South Australian border-see how long it takes you..

Have a great ride kids & take lots of piccies!I think what most of us are reacting to is that the state doesn't look that big on a map, and you can get fooled easily about how long it takes to get somewhere.

[jobob]

It's all relative.

When I lived in Massachusetts it was a Very Big Deal to drive across the state from my hometown in western MA (Pittsfield) to Boston. A whopping 140 mile drive!! :eek:

Even driving to Springfield was considered a haul. And that's only 60 miles. :rolleyes:

Now that I live in CA, those distances are nothing.

(Heck I can even bike them, or used to anyhow)

[GLC1968]

Exactly, Jobob!

I remember when I first got to school (in Maine) and I met people who's hometowns were 9 and 10 hours away...but still in Maine. That was a bit mind-boggling for a New England state. People (including me) just don't realize how big it is...

I think Oregon is the same way. It's surrounded by bigger states, so it looks smaller than it actually is.

And CC - my parents are in Florida - that's a 48 hour drive from me (if it were possible to drive it non-stop). We do know SIZE over here, we just don't often have to drive it! ;)

[SadieKate]

We do know SIZE over here, we just don't often have to drive it! ;)We used to make a 16 hr drive to Idaho in one day every year -- until I put a stop to it. 16 hours at one stretch is too brutal for my brain. Now, we've shortened it to 12 hours max per day.:rolleyes:

I still can't believe that as child every August we'd do a 6,000 mile road trip to see family. Here's to Route 66.

[GLC1968]

SK - moving to Oregon saved me from the 14 hour drive to visit my parents twice a year and we always did it in one trip. Ugh!

When we drove out here we didn't have a strict arrival deadline, so I planned 9 hour days alternating with 4-5 hour days so that we weren't in the car for too long (and if winter weather screwed with us, we'd have room for changes). It was a really nice trip that way!

[maillotpois]

I think what most of us are reacting to is that the state doesn't look that big on a map, and you can get fooled easily about how long it takes to get somewhere.

especially when part of the state between where you are and where you want to be is ON FIRE. :rolleyes:

as for crater lake, I wish I could be there, but just finishing up one vacation an cant take more time now.

[yellow]

Yellow fambly will be camping at Crater Lake Resort, hopefully somewhere near the Taters. However, I expect that we'll be making the trek to Party Central. We arrive Fri night and leave Sunday (for other points in Oregon).

We could drive there in one day but I'm too old and cranky for that.

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

[maillotpois]

So how was it???

[Tater]

Okay, I am a dork! We are continuing our vacation after the ride, but the only reason we picked this RV site is because it had Wi-Fi and I could log a ride report. :rolleyes:

The ride was wonderful! We had beautiful weather, although some of us (ahem, me!) forgot her long fingered gloves and were waving numb digits at Sadie Kate and Bubba as they drove into the start area. It was a chilly start, low 40's I think, but turned out to be a beautiful day. It is late though and I am tired, been driving all day, so I am not going to go into all the gory details. The ride was well organized, had great support, but the scenery was just so-so. KIDDING! The views were amazing! Crater Lake was breath taking, especially for someone like me, who was seeing it for the first time.

Tater at the 52 mile mark, overlooking Wizard Island
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee203/Jenzin88/crater2.jpg

It was also great meeting up with the Amici Veloci gang as well. Veronica can bake a mean chocolate chip cookie! Oh, MelissaM, we have to continue our conversation at a future ride! That was cool. Sadie Kate, Veronica, Yellow, Jobob, Dachshund, MelissaM, (I know I am missing someone, grrr, brain fart!) anywho, thanks for the fun. I still think we ought to send GW-12 back for that turn around sign!

Tater and Yellow on the last miles of the ride. (Thanks to GW-12 for the photo!)
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee203/Jenzin88/clc182.jpg

[malaholic]

Tater, gorgeous pics, thank you for posting them! Next year I'm definitely going to do Crater Lake. This year DH & I had already signed up for RSVP but now that I see your pics I kind of wish we'd cancelled and done Crater Lake instead. Good job on the ride!

[LilBolt]

Looks like you had a gorgeous day. I've been very tempted to do Crater Lake, but we also rode RSVP, per our annual tradition...well, at least to Chuckanut Drive where DH crashed. Next year, perhaps Crater Lake instead of the race to the lemonade stand for us.

Fantastic photos, and would love to read more (not so gory) details!

[jobob]

Just got back this evening and I'm supposedly still unpacking and doing laundry (hah!) so I'll add more later, but, this was one of the best weekends EVER.

First of all, like Tater said (hi Jen, great to see you again!), the weather was fabulous. Not too hot, not too cold (errr...the freeze-your-azz-off start notwithstanding ... ;)) and it was clear as a bell out.

And it was so great to see everyone.

My plan was to do only as much of the ride as I felt capable of, and not to push it too hard. I was hoping to make it up to the Crater Lake Rim, which would be about 25 miles from the start, and then turn around and head back. If I couldn't make it that far, no biggie. The great part of riding to the rim was that wherever I did decide to stop, it was essentially all downhill heading back. :)

Lee and I started out with Mel, dachshund and aka_kim. Like last year, we gave the first flat & boring 20 miles of the century route, meandering around Ft. Klamath, a pass, and headed directly up towards the Rim. The first 10 miles to the boundary of Crater Lake National Park were essentially pancake flat, after which the climb increased very gradually. By the time it reached a whopping 4% at around 15 miles, I had already gone into my small chainring, oy. I started to peter out around then, and Lee and I told the others to go on ahead.

I did the rest of the climb in very small increments. I was familiar with the route from last year and I knew the stops and pullouts and other destinations coming up, so I set my mind on making it to the next destination along the route.

So once I reached the first rest stop, I knew that the turnoff for Mazama Village and the park toll gate was only a couple of miles ahead. Yeah, I could do a couple of miles more. Once we reached Mazama Village we stopped and I rested for a bit.

Then I talked myself into going on for another four miles to the Visitor Center near the turnoff for the 100K route. I had to stop at a pullout before that, but I finally made it to the Visitor Center. When I rolled into that I wasn't sure if I'd be able to go on, but we had a long break and I felt much better after a while.

Past the Visitors Center the road was steeper, around 6-8%, with many switchbacks. I got into a zone and trudged on up. There were a lot of cars passing at that point, it was close to noontime by then, but there was a decent shoulder and the cars didn't really faze me. After about five or six switchbacks we reached a large pullout where I stopped to rest again. I was about to wave the White Flag of Surrender, but Lee piped up "hey great job, you're over the steep part and we can take pictures at the sign just up ahead."

Oh yeah, the sign. There's this sign just before the rim that's a hoot. I had forgotten about it, and I realized at that point that the climb to the rim was essentially over. Well heck, I've gotten this far, may as well just do it! :)

And another very short climb after that, we reached the Rim. I did it! :D

We celebrated with hot chocolate & cookies from the Rim Café, and we sat around and chatted with other visitors. Many people were curious about all the cyclists riding about with numbers on their bikes and wanted to know more about the "race" we were in. ;)

After hanging about and enjoying the beautiful lake view, Lee & I headed back down. And yes, for once it really was “all downhill from here”. I took the part with the switchbacks a bit more tentatively than I might have in the past, but I still did OK. Farther down the road straightened out, but it was very recently chipsealed so the descent wasn’t as fast as it could have been. But it was fast enough, I still got up around 35 mph for extended periods. And I was fine with the descending. :)

I think I had a silly grin on my face for most of the descent, I was so happy to have actually made it all the way up to the Rim.

We reached our cabin at Jo’s Motel (I kid you not, that’s the name of the place we stayed) and decided not to ride the last couple of miles to the finish, but to head over later when everyone else finished. So I showered (and used up all the hot water in the cabin, I’m such an ingrate :o) and then relaxed on the screened porch of the cabin with a celebratory beer.

And I was ever so content. :)

[salsabike]

Hey, Jo, congrats! How nice to read this.

[maillotpois]

Jo that's a great report - yay! I'm so glad it went well for you (especially the descending parts).

[SadieKate]

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=117441641641&h=8DeKb&u=lMyQI&ref=nf

My two favorites:

http://www.digitalillusions.us/gallery/9245079_sBMZ3#624132977_viDny
http://www.digitalillusions.us/gallery/9245079_sBMZ3#624202854_PofSz

[SadieKate]

And a smashing one of aka_kim

http://www.digitalillusions.us/gallery/9245079_sBMZ3#624212305_h3y4R

In real life size. :p

http://www.digitalillusions.us/gallery/9245079_sBMZ3#624212305_h3y4R-XL-LB

[Veronica]

That's a great shot of Kim.

Veronica

[jobob]

:eek: Worst picture of me EVER :eek:

[aka_kim]

I think we need a Caption Contest for the pix of jobob and yellow!

[jobob]

I'll get you for that, Kim ... :p

[yellow]

Jo, I tried to hack the site but couldn't remove those flattering pictures of us.

ANYHOO, here are some shots that I took. Not many, but they still give you the idea of (1) how purty it was and (2) most of the folks that were there.

Purty.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/IMG_0046.jpg

The group. Lesee...from left on the wall melissam, SadieKate, JoBob; kneeling in front is yellow; standing in back are Cyndi, aka_kim, Mr. Cyndi (in gray), and Mr. yellow (in white); and on the wall on the right from the back are Bubba (aka Mr. SadieKate) and Daschund. Missing are LeeBob (taking the picture), Tater, Veronica and Thom, and some others that know the group from Bikejournal.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/CL_Lodge_group.jpg

It was a great day and a fun time. I'd do that ride again in a heartbeat!

[Veronica]

Our write up and pictures are on our website now.

Veronica

[GLC1968]

Wow...it looks like you all had a great time!

Thanks for sharing all the photos and the write ups! I'm even more stoked for next year.... :)

[dachshund]

Yellow, thanks for the fabulous pictures! What a great weekend!

I found a couple more,
melissam
http://www.digitalillusions.us/gallery/9245079_sBMZ3#624203354_8PEpG

I do believe this is me. Another one begging for a caption. Sigh.
http://www.digitalillusions.us/gallery/9245079_sBMZ3#624211502_fSNXF

Is this Cyndi?
http://www.digitalillusions.us/gallery/9245079_sBMZ3#P-15-15
http://www.digitalillusions.us/gallery/9245079_sBMZ3#624230863_xZ6Sy

[jobob]

Whoops, after all this time I finally remembered to post the picture of me at The Sign:

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/jobob22/Crater%20Lake%20Aug%202009/IMG_1439.jpg

I get such a kick out of it, what can I say ...

[Susan126]

Wow, wow, and wow! Definitely a ride I must do!!!! Thanks for all the beautiful pictures! Love the stay back from cliff edges pictures Jobob!

[jobob]

It's tenatively scheduled next year for August 14th, pending approval from the National Park Service.

Just sayin'. :cool:

[Susan126]

Good to know Jobob! Thanks! Tentatively August 14th! Pencilling it in right now! :D I just have to persuade hubby!