Oregon Coast 600K Ride Report

[maillotpois]

Wow - a solo 600k. Impressive. When I did my last one I was solo during the day but hooked up with a group for the 9 pm to 5 am stretch and was SO relieved about that. My 600k is 5/21-22 and I have a group of 3 others lined up to ride together. That midnight to 4 am stretch would be pretty grim alone.

I can't wait to read your report - I have to get dressed for work right now, though!!

[Biciclista]

hhahahahaha i like where you say you're out of shape and then proceed to finish a 600 kilometer ride.
great ride and great reporting too.

[indysteel]

hhahahahaha i like where you say you're out of shape and then proceed to finish a 600 kilometer ride.
great ride and great reporting too.

Yeah; I LOLed at that, too. Great accomplishment (among your many), Susan. I'm always in awe. Great ride report, too. DH and I spent a bit of time--not enough--on the Oregon Coast last year; what a gorgeous place to ride 600k!

[Velocivixen]

From one Oregon chick to another - you ROCK! I want to grow up to be like you (newby here). Nice job all around.

[azfiddle]

Wow Susan- just wow. I think my longest ride to date is 73 miles.... not even close to 373! I enjoyed your blog post.

[Susan Otcenas]

Solo! Wow. Can't believe you had to do a 600 pre-ride on your own. I know it's happened before but still....sheesh. Glad you had the sun!

My husband Chris has qualified for PBP and tells me you post a lot on a rando thread, so I knew you were training for it too. Hope you guys meet when you're there! I'll be there too but just for the museum/cafe part.

It's my own fault that I rode it alone. I didn't look too hard for companions. I find it difficult to ride with other people for so many miles. I end up either feeling rushed or held back, sometimes both emotions in the space of a few minutes.

This 600K completes my SR, so I'm good to go too. I still plan to do at least one more 600K and may do the SIR 1000K in June. It's on my training plan. I see Chris is signed up for the 1000K as well.

Would be fun to meet up in France (We arrive on 8/17 and are staying at the Mercure). Jeff is coming along as well. His plan is to consume as many calories, preferably in the form of baked goods, as I burn off. :-) After PBP, we are going to Chamonix for a week. I will relax and ride my bike as my legs allow (and eat lots of baked goods! and drink lots of wine!), while he climbs Mont Blanc.

[Susan Otcenas]

That midnight to 4 am stretch would be pretty grim alone.

I've never been out that late on a 600K. 1:30 is the latest. I've been alone at night on all 3 of my 600Ks. But, when I did the Coast ride last year, I remember being able to see the wet tire tracks of riders who had gone up the road before me, and just that little thing made me feel like I wasn't alone.

On the 400K I did a few weeks ago, I was out 22:50, until 3:50am. I rode the last 100 miles with 2 friends, and it made a huge difference. (I had been having a low moment before we hooked up at mile 150. It had been raining the ENTIRE day and I was cold and not a little bit miserable.) We kept each others spirits up, paced each other, told stupid jokes at 3 am to stay awake etc. We also polished off an entire large pizza at 11pm at mile 200.

[salsabike]

It's my own fault that I rode it alone. I didn't look too hard for companions. I find it difficult to ride with other people for so many miles. I end up either feeling rushed or held back, sometimes both emotions in the space of a few minutes.

This 600K completes my SR, so I'm good to go too. I still plan to do at least one more 600K and may do the SIR 1000K in June. It's on my training plan. I see Chris is signed up for the 1000K as well.

Would be fun to meet up in France (We arrive on 8/17 and are staying at the Mercure). Jeff is coming along as well. His plan is to consume as many calories, preferably in the form of baked goods, as I burn off. :-) After PBP, we are going to Chamonix for a week. I will relax and ride my bike as my legs allow (and eat lots of baked goods! and drink lots of wine!), while he climbs Mont Blanc.

Oh, wonderful! I believe we're coming on the 15th, doing the package trip thing, staying at the Gril Campanile. So I'll be hanging about in Paris during the ride--have a friend who lives there, but happy to spend time with Jeff if he's interested, and won't be in the least offended if he isn't. We spend a few more days in Paris after the 25th, and then go visit my brother in law and his wife in Oslo for five or so days.

Chamonix is GORGEOUS. I spent a day there in the rain in 1992 and even in that weather it was beautiful. That all sounds fabulous!

Chris noticed you'd signed up for the 1000. Have you guys actually met yet, or just read each others' names a lot??

[maillotpois]

When is the 1000?

[Veronica]

Are you going to have more blog entries? Should I book mark your blog?

Nice write up. Almost made me think about doing long distance again.

Veronica

[Susan Otcenas]

So I'll be hanging about in Paris during the ride--have a friend who lives there, but happy to spend time with Jeff if he's interested, and won't be in the least offended if he isn't. ......

Chris noticed you'd signed up for the 1000. Have you guys actually met yet, or just read each others' names a lot??

Jeff is going to be on course. I reserved hotel rooms along the way (2 nights in Loudeac and one in Mortagne au Perche) so he will have my gear, check in to the hotels, and meet me at the controls to help me find my way to the hotels. I know that most people just crash in the facilities that PBP provides, but I will be so much happier with a real bed and a private shower.

Nope, I've never met Chris. I hope to meet him on the 1000K. I've signed upf ro it but am not yet 100% committed to actually doing it. I will see how my energy levels and training are at that point. I want to do it as a sort of dry run for PBP, but we'll see...

[Susan Otcenas]

When is the 1000?

June 17-19. It's the one the Seattle folks are putting on. 600K around the Olympic Peninsula, then 400K down to St Helens and up past Mt. Rainier. I've not ridden any of the roads on the 600, but many of the ones on the 400 are familiar to me.

[Susan Otcenas]

Are you going to have more blog entries?

That's the goal. I've done alot of write-up in the past year that are scattered around (some here on the forums, some on my personal FB page, etc.) I may start by putting up some of those to get them all in one place.

[maillotpois]

June 17-19. It's the one the Seattle folks are putting on. 600K around the Olympic Peninsula, then 400K down to St Helens and up past Mt. Rainier. I've not ridden any of the roads on the 600, but many of the ones on the 400 are familiar to me.

Drat! I was half considering this, but I have a target ride on June 18.

Sure sounds beautiful.