Flying Wheels

[ttaylor508]

Thanks TTaylor. I'm getting excited for the ride - picked up my packet from REI today. I think I will be good from a conditioning perspective, but really concerned about the hours in the saddle as well as the mental challenge. The good news is that the weather is looking favorable! Thanks again for the pep talk!!!

How did your ride go Dog? I can tell you this year was much tougher than years past because of the heat, although the tail wind was a blessing. Lots of really bad crashes, more than I have ever seen on a ride before and all seemed to happen right in front of us. There were four of us riding in our group and two of us went down in one of the crashes on the West Valley Hwy when a rider right in front of DH touched a tire. I think he may have broken his nose...lots of blood and nothing to give him to stop bleeding. We luckily came out unscathed. The other crash happened on the trail in Tenino, we were doing around 27 miles an hour and a rider clipped one of those big orange posts. It was a pretty bad crash. Hope the rider is okay!

We finished in 10 hours 45 minutes of ride time, but we got to Portland later than usual because we had to take more stops due to the heat. The Longview bridge was a torture chamber...I don't know why the heat was so bad there, but it was awful. DH started suffering from heat exhaustion at mile maker 170. We had been keeping a pretty fast pace all day and I think he just didn't get enough fluids. Pretty scary though and he was feeling so poorly at the end he couldn't even finish his beer (that's when I knew he was really sick!) All in all, first hundred miles was fun....last hundred was not!!!!

Hope you made it to Portland okay!!!! Would love to hear how your ride went.

[Dog]

Hi Taylor,
I'm glad to report that I finished the ride. I don't know my ride time, because my bike computer reset somewhere between Chehalis and the Longview Bridge. The afternoon weather was brutal. The two people I was riding with did not finish due to complications from the heat. I checked my bike computer on the Longview Bridge and it showed 100 degrees - I decided not to look at it after that! Anyway - I'm glad to have done it and I heard it was probably one of the toughest STPs in quite a while. Also, hate to say it, but I was one of the crashes. I hit the ground crossing the RR tracks heading into Roy. I slowed down to ride across the carpet, and it slid from under my bike. Messed up my knee and my wrist, but not enough to stop me from completing the ride.
I just found out tonight that I might get a spot in RAMROD due to a LOT of cancellations (I was around 126 on the waiting list). I'm hoping my knee will be better and allow me to give it a go.
Congrats on the great finish! I know that I wasn't close to 10 hours ride time, but I was happy to finish before the cut off at 9pm.

Take care,

Dog

[ttaylor508]

CONGRATULATIONS DOG!!!! It was one of the toughest STP's in the six years I have ridden it due to the heat. The tailwind really was a saving grace. I am sorry to hear you crashed too! They really try to make those tracks safer with the carpet, but sometimes I think it makes it worse. I think they worry that with so many people of many different riding levels some don't know how to cross tracks. The Cascade message boards said there were several crashes on the tracks this year. They also said many one day riders were still coming in at midnight. The support vehicles were out tracking people until 2 am.

I hope you are able to do RAMROD. DH did it several years back before they had to change the route due to the road conditions. He said it is a beautiful ride.

[Susan126]

The original route is back this year. Last year's RAMROD, 2007's, was changed because of the winter's damage to the roads. But this year the old route is back.

2008 RAMROD course

I did the RAMROD in 2004 and I got drawn for this year's RAMROD but I gave my spot up because I did not get enough training in this spring and summer. I am really sad about it too. I will try again next year. If I make the lottery next year I will definitely train.

I hope you make it too Dog! It's a ride and then some! I loved it! When I did it in 2004 I had a blast!

I thought the hardest part of the RAMROD was the climb up Cayuse Pass. Maybe because it was the last climb and because it was like 8 hours into my day. But once you reach the summit of Cayuse it's all downhill back into Enumclaw.

[Dog]

Thanks TTaylor and Susan,
I skipped out of work early today and was able to get in a quick 30 mile ride with some friends and my knee felt much better. So, I'm going to give RAMROD a go. I think I'm more worried about the fast downhills then the climbs (although I am worried about getting up Cayouse) I'll report in some time next weekend!