Saturday 6/20 rides!!

[Biciclista]

today was the tour de blast, a ride up to the top (or halfway to the top) of Mount St Helens! It has 3 rides, the hard core, which includes 8000 feet of climb in about 80 miles, the medium ride, which i did, with almost 4000 feet of climb and 55.5 miles and an even shorter ride.
Thanks to modern technology, what we were mostly climbing after the first 12 miles of rolling hills were ramps at 5-6% for MILES. Halfway through the hardest climb, we came upon a smiling face on a recumbent bike. She was wearing a brand new jersey! It was Evangundy!


She was the first one to get the flourishes jersey. It was really beautiful!

The plan was that Raleighdon henceforth known as DH, was going to do the long ride, and leave me behind at 3000 feet of altitude, which was about 2 or 3 miles from the place I was going to stop and turn around. He had a notion that he'd be able to get back about as fast as I was, even though I was riding only 55 miles and he was riding over 80.
I rode up to Elk Rock Lookout, which wasn't much of a lookout, since it was in the clouds. In this picture you can see what I saw from the lookout, which is at the top there.
When you stop, you turn around and go back down. That means putting on extra layers of clothing. I was wearing a wool jersey, wool longsleeved undershirt, wool knickers, wool kneesocks, two pairs of wool gloves, a little wool hat, my showers pass raincoat and rain pants!
i was dressed properly for the descent, believe me. it was COLD. of course when you get down closer to sea level, you have to take all that stuff off.
Fortunately DH was able to see the mountain when he got back to the look out about 2 hours later.



I finished the ride with an avg speed of 12.3 mph, pretty amazing.
I can't tell you how much fun it was sailing down that mountain at speeds above 20mph! Tour De Blast is about the most fun organized ride i've ever been on.
And the food was good too. All the stops had bananas, oranges, potatoes, sandwiches and 3 kinds of VERY GOOD BROWNIES.
And smurf juice.
Here are DH & I newly reunited with our smurf juice.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Oh my gosh Mimi- what GREAT PHOTOS!! I'm in awe.
You and D are truly amazing!!

[jobob]

Sounds like you had, well, a blast!

Excellent report. Gotta admit, the sight of RD (aka your DH) wearing a cap with the word Silence along the brim made me chuckle.

And very nice jersey, Ms. Gundy.

[Biciclista]

Gotta admit, the sight of RD (aka your DH) wearing a cap with the word Silence along the brim made me chuckle.

yes, me too. I have no idea where he got that hat.

[Trekhawk]

Wow Mimi sounds like you had a great ride and the pics are fabulous.

[Crankin]

Looks like a great ride, Mimi. But cold!
Slight hijack again.
Reesha, maybe we can ride when you come home in July? It might be a recovery ride for you! Where in Acton do your grandparents live? I lived in Boxborough before I moved to Concord... my kids went to AB.

[Reesha]

Well, I'd have to scrounge up a bike. I think my aunt in maynard has the exact same bike as me (size too!) and she said I could borrow it. My grandparents now live at Audubon Hill but they used to live in a beautiful, formerly white farmhouse on main st. in Acton. You might be familiar with the Powers Gallery across from Trader Joe's in Acton. That's a family venture started by my grandpa but now my uncle owns/runs it.

I'd definitely be down for a ride though! The other thing I often do when I'm home is drive to cambridge to climb the Harvard bleachers. I usually do half the stadium on the little steps.

[shootingstar]

Awesome ride! Congrats to you all, mimi. And Evagundy you look great as the numero uno in Flourishes jersey. It suits you. By the way, your white hair looks great on you also.

[hilldweller]

Great pics - thanks for sharing