RAPSody

I rode the RAPSody (Ride Around Puget Sound) ride this past weekend and it was awesome! It was 166 miles with 9500 ft of elevation gain spread over two days. We started out from the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma and rode through the Nisqually Valley and up and around various peninsulas. We overnighted at a high school in Shelton, WA and then rode around (I'm not from the area so I'm not sure exactly where we were) then took a ferry over to Vashon Island. We rode the length of Vashon Island and then took a ferry back to Point Defiance and then headed back to the Tacoma Dome. The weather was fantastic! It started out overcast and misty both mornings then cleared off later in the day. It stayed in the 70's and 80's the whole time. We had wonderful food and even some lively community bands at the rest stops.

I had to add this to the epic rides because for me, and my hubby, this was the farthest we've ever ridden. Up until two weeks ago, the farthest we had gone was 55 miles. We did a 79 miler two weeks again and then did the two 83 mile days this past weekend. They're planning to hold it next year and I highly recommend it to anyone in the northwest (or anyone that wants to come visit us).

Gretchen (the other over 40 Gretchen)

Sounds like a gorgeous ride. Ben and I plan on doing a ride a month and when we retire drive around the country in an RV and attend all these fabulous rides people rave about.

Congratulations on ride distance!

For the inaugural event - RAPsody was good. My friend and I decided to do it in a day and had fun however - we did learn that you HAVE to watch your time and plan accordingly because the ferry schedule is pretty sporadic. (We missed a ferry by minutes and the next ferry sailed 1.6 hours from then!)

Despite having climbed over 9500 feet in elevation gain - the climbs were not long at all. It looped through the Mason Lake area - home to many Northwest road races. There were a couple of lame sections - specifically when we traveled on I-5! and then on Highway 18.

The ride caps itself off at 1500 riders - however there were only 400 signed up total, with 80 being one day riders. Needless to say there were multiple sections where my friend and I were the only cyclists on the road. The road stops were wonderful - a HUGE thank you to the road stop crew near Vashon.

I'm envious of you gals, as I've visited the Seattle area a couple of times and have some really nice photos of Point Defiance Park. You had some great scenery, that's for sure!