Rosyln Ramble - North Bend to Rosyln and back on cyclocross bikes

A couple of weeks ago I got a Facebook invite from Ben Spencer to attend the Rosyln Ramble. I kept thinking there was some sort of mistake as people were talking about the 'RR' and I kept saying, "Hey, I'm done with road racing!" Hahaha... I'm an idiot.

It was awesome! And the group was so big! I reconnected with some old friends (Rick Heckenlaible, Peter Stocker, Ben Spencer) and met some new ones and spent 10 hours outside away from cars. Happy 4th of July indeed.

What is the Roslyn Ramble? It's a ride from North Bend to the Brick Tavern in Roslyn and back almost entirely on the John Wayne Pioneer Trail. It's the closest I have ever come to riding a Gravel Grinder.

We met at a park in North Bend just off of the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, compared equipment and with an awesome absence of pre-ride excuses (unlike what you hear at road races) took off.

We took the valley trail all the way up to Rattlesnake Lake, something that I have never done. Usually I just drive up the road and then start from the lake. The gradient was very mellow going this way, perhaps 1-1.5% and we were able to ride at about 14-15 mph. Up at the lake we hit the restroom, regrouped and then started on the John Wayne Trail proper. The grade here is a touch less but we still just rode at about 15-16 mph to keep the group together.

It was fantastic! I kept pulling my camera out of my jersey pocket to take pictures and shoot video. Like these here.

The crew!

Going into the tunnel at the Snoqualmie Pass was the best, I didn't even get off and just flipped my light on and rode on in. I almost bit it because right inside the entrance is a pile of gravel that was deeper that I thought and I only had one hand on the bars... you can see the camera shake when I hit it.

Into the heart of darkness.

On the west side we had a bit of fog but as usual on the east it was glorious and sunny. We warmed up, topped off our bottles, used the awesome restroom facilities in the Hyak parking lot and carried on. Through more tunnels!

I love tunnels.

Just after shooting this particular video I had pinched my rear tube riding over a rock. It was a worst case scenario... my spare tube had a hole in it, the tube of glue in my first patch kit was totally evaporated (and the seal was unbroken!) but luckily I had another patch kit with peel-and-stick patches. Whew!

ASIDE - as I pulled my wheel out of my frame to fix the flat I heard someone say, "Don't worry about Martin, he'll just hammer back on." Nice. Thankfully two guys waited for me but I did have to go hard and just as thankfully everyone was waiting for us down the road a ways. Thanks guys.

In Rosalyn we all met up at the Brick. Hello burger, hello Bud Light, hello onion rings and hello heartburn. That's right, nothing quite like starting riding with that anchor in your stomach. Good times.

On the way home we took a detour right through the Suncadia resort and it was much nicer than the way we had come. I wonder if this development is making any money?

Then it was back on the gravel trail and into a headwind. Anyone that has driven west on I-90 knows what I mean. Slog, slog, slog... For some reason I kept ending up on the front and did a fair bit of pulling. I was actually in my drops most of the time! Doing 16 mph. :( That's what a headwind, a slight incline and a gravel surface will do.

But it was still beautiful.

We stopped at Hyak to fill bottles and regroup and then it was through the tunnel again.

And... then the pace picked up.

I suppose it was inevitable. At first we were cruising along at 20 mph but that didn't last long and then it was 23-25 mph sustained. It felt fine for a bit but my legs were cooked and at one point - perhaps it was after trying to take yet another picture - there was a gap in front of me and it really hurt to close that down. Ouch. I think this video was the culprit as you can see people passing me.

No one is waiting around any more.

Zoom, zoom, zoom! If you were not feeling tip top you had to draft. We were flying. We stopped one last time at Rattlesnake Lake and then we descended the valley trail. This one guy could obviously smell the barn and bang! Suddenly we were riding at 27-28 mph. Ah the testosterone... And there was more to come. The last mile or so of trail is flat and two guys 'attacked' the bunch to finish a few yards ahead of us. Winner.

Wow, what a day! Turns out most of this ride is shaded so we did not get cooked by the sun. We did however get a fantastic dirt tan from all the dust.

Our pace did burn off a couple of folks early on (which is hard not to do when the group is this big) and we separated a little on the way back as well but for the most part the bunch stuck together and we regrouped several times. My cyclocross bike was an excellent choice for today. Some slightly fatter, tubeless tires would have made it perfect (although one guy with tubeless tires flatted as well...). I started with about 48 psi in 35c tires and still pinched but otherwise that felt pretty good. With water at Hyak and the half way point you really only need to take two large bottles. Padded bar tape is nice or padded gloves. I didn't wear gloves but had to move my hands around the bars a lot to stay comfy.

If I get invited back next year I would love to do this again.

Here are all the pictures and video.

 

Sleep	6
Waking HR
Body Weight
Body Fat
Breakfast	5:00 AM - apple sauce, Udo's Oil, 1 scoop protein powder, 2 scoops Perpetuem, banana, tea
Lunch
Dinner
Workout Food	Hammer Bar, Hammer Recovery Bar, hamburger, onion rings, Bud Light, large bottle w/2 scoops Perpetuem, large bottle w/2 scoops HEED, 4 Endurolytes, 2 large bottles each w/1 tablet Nuun, water, 2 shots Hammer Gel, bottle w/some random electrolyte powder
Injuries
Therapy
Time of Day	7:45 AM
Workout Type	endurance
Weather	low 60s to upper 70s, sunny, light wind, dry
Course	North Bend to Roslyn and back on the John Wayne Pioneer Trail
Results
Time	moving - 6:42 total - 9:51
Distance	119 miles
Pace	moving - 17.8 mph total - 17 mph
Equipment	Redline Conquest Team, Garmin Edge 500
Clothing	bib shorts, sleeveless undershirt, short sleeve jersey, cap

Technorati Tags: Roslyn Ramble,John Wayne Pioneer Trail,Roslyn,North Bend,cyclocross

Fort Steilacoom Off-Road Duathlon

Three weeks ago I entered the second event in this three-race series and it was pretty fun so I thought I would come back and try the last one. This time it was quite a bit wetter than last time.

The weather kept some of the competitors away but it was obvious that all the fast guys who were in the hunt for the series win were still here. Go!

Right away I could tell that my run was not quite as quick as last time. The leaders pulled away pretty fast and all I could do was watch them recede into the distance. But this run had a substantial hill in it and I was able to pass about three people back on the climb. I pulled into the transition in 17th place.

It took me a looong time to change my shoes. Rats. At last two people passed me back in the transition. Once I got on my bike it was a different story; I felt pretty good and was really drilling it on the flats and was going up the hills in bigger gears than last time, I could tell because we rode many of the same trails today. Even though I was very cautious on the corners, the only thing holding me up today on the ride was traffic.

There was this one woman in front of me on the second lap and as I approached I shouted that I was coming up and she was like, "Okay…" But she didn't move. Then I said, "Passing on your left!" and again she said okay and didn't move. I saw an opportune corner coming up so I shouted, "Let me by on the right at the next corner please!" She said okay and then stuck right to the middle of the trail all the way through the turn. What the hell? I was getting a bit perturbed but wasn't going to shoulder her into the ravine or anything so this time I shouted, "Please let me by! You might need to stop or get off the trail!" This time she sorta kinda moved over to the left but I still had some significant contact as I rode past. Sheesh. For the most part everyone was VERY accommodating and some people even jumped off their bikes and pulled them off the trail - not necessary but very nice.

All the mountain bikes were putting seconds into me on the descents but I would more than make up for it on the flats and the climbs. Today I was able to really drill it on the flats and it felt good. I like that. I also started trusting the burms on the outside of corners and riding straight through puddles when it was the shortest line and passed plenty of people that way. Plus, off on the side of the trail the surface was frequently softer than in the middle so even though there was more water in the middle it felt faster to be on firm ground.

The first climb was straight up a section of grassy hill and it was just rideable. Each time my back tire was squirming all over the place as I churned away in my lowest gear. There was no way you could get out of the saddle so the proper gear and traction was key.

After some very bumpy flatish trail came the second climb. This was pretty steep and I had to run it every lap but I don't think that slowed me down any.

Then you came all the way back toward the start on a side hill and even rode under an arch that I had to duck (a lot!) for. That was the new bit and then we hit a gradual climb that was the course from last time.

At the bottom of the last descent were some people with RC boats by the 'lake' and these things were hauling ass! They were gas-powered and I saw some of them get launched and they took off like rockets. It was all hydrofoils and cigarette racing boats. The boats were about four feet long.

On the last flat section of the last lap I managed to pass one more person and tried to gun it to the finish so I would have a buffer because I knew that if he was this far ahead of me he obviously had a stellar run.

But my second transition was even longer than my first! :( Out of the corner of my eye I saw this guy pull in, seemingly change his shoes by magic and boom, he was off. I think he put 30 seconds on easy and I had almost that much on him going into the transition. At the end of the race he came up to me and gave me a tip, "Put toggles on your laces. That's how I made up so much time on you." Thanks Bro. Then he proceeded to compliment me on my bike leg. "You did really well for riding that cycle touring bike…" Thanks again.

As I headed out I could see him just ahead of me but there was no closing this gap. In fact, he put at least another 30 seconds into me on the last run leg and there was nothing I could do about it. On the hill I tried to go hard and kinda blew a gasket… At the top I had to stop for three seconds and catch my breath before I could run the descent. And then on the descent I was not really racing, more like resting.

Near the end I saw one guy chasing me down so I sped up and managed to finish strong. Whew.

I had put a clear rain jacket in the transition because of the wind but opted to not put it on for the bike leg and I was fine. And by the time I put my running shoes back on my gloves were soaking wet so after three seconds of fumbling with them I just left them behind and luckily my hands were plenty warm on that last run.

When I finished I was muddy! At the last minute I put a seatpost fender on and I'm so glad I did. Still, my shoes (both pair!) were a disaster as were my socks and my chest and face. I did a pretty good job of avoiding the spray from other riders as I did not spend a lot of time behind anyone but there was no stopping the mud from my own front wheel.

So my result was better but some of the competition from last time was not there. My average run speed was also slower but that hill takes the credit for that. My ride was faster but the bike course was also a little shorter (or so I was told?). All-in-all a really fun time.

It seems all the winners in these duathlons are wicked fast runners. I'll never be that. It was tough to decide what to wear today. It felt COLD but once I finished the first run I was fine and the ride was fairly sheltered. There was one long straight section on the run where you were battling a massive headwind. I don't recall that last time. Unfortunately there was no tailwind section. :) Once again it looks like my GPS shortened the course. Oh well.

Here are all the pictures.

Sleep	6
Waking HR
Body Weight
Body Fat
Breakfast	5:45 AM - banana, apple sauce protein powder, walnuts 6:00 AM - large bottle w/1 tablet Nuun and 1 scoop HEED 8:00 AM - large bottle w/3 scoops Perpetuem
Lunch
Dinner
Workout Food	1 sip of water
Injuries
Therapy
Time of Day	10:00 AM
Workout Type	race
Weather	40, rain, wind
Course	5 km run, 12 mile ride (3 x 4-mile loop), 5 km run
Results	Long Course Male - 4th Overall - 4th official results Turns out this result was enough to give me 2nd place in the series!
Time	1:36:21
Distance	5 km run, 12 mile ride, 5 km run
Pace
Equipment	Brooks Cascadia Cyclocross Bike
Clothing	Roubaix knickers, Craft long sleeve undershirt, short sleeve jersey, arm warmers, heavy vest, OR Gripper gloves, cap

Technorati Tags: Fort Steilacoom,Off-Road,Duathlon,4th Dimension Racing,FareStart Cycling Team,Thumbprint Racing

Fort Steilacoom Off-Road Duathlon

Another first (as in a new activity) for Martin. Yes.

Today I participated in the second event in the Fort Steilacoom Off-Road Duathlon series put on by 4th Dimension Racing (that also happens to promote the most excellent NW Epic Series in the summer). The long course (the short version included a 6 mile bike leg) consisted of 5 km run, 15 mile bike, 5 km run.

The atmosphere was pretty relaxed. I showed up plenty early, hit the head, checked in, got my number, got the low down on how the transition area worked, hit the head again and then went back to the van to change and warm up.

I hopped on my bike - which I had not ridden since that one time many months ago when I realized my mountain biking injuries would prevent me from riding any cyclocross - to make sure it still shifted and stopped and figured one more trip to the bathroom was in order. Then I dropped my stuff (bike, cycling shoes, helmet, water bottle, gel) off at the transition area and put on my running shoes.

ASIDE - I was worried that running in cycling shorts was going to suck but hey, everyone else was doing it so I guess I was going to survive.

I went for something like a 1-mile jog to warm up, did some minimal stretching and then at about 20 minutes before the start decided I better hit the head yet again (am I an old man or what…?!) and finally went to the van to ditch the jacket and walked over to the start for the athlete's meeting.

GO!

Right away there were people ahead of me on the run and right away I was sucking wind. I don't have a great sense of pace while running and so was totally guessing at how fast I should go. I knew I needed to run faster than I normally do but not so fast that I would blow before I even finished the first leg of the race. After about one mile I was breathing pretty hard but figured I could maintain what I was doing so decided to hang on. Luckily I did hang on. After things got sorted out on the run, about three people were still able to reel me in and run by me. Oh well.

I did okay at the transition except I forgot to hit the lap button my Garmin watch. I'm still not sure what the best way to record data for a duathlon is… maybe I should read the manual? :) I think this thing has a running mode and a cycling mode but not having researched that the last thing I wanted to do at the transition was figure it out so I just didn't touch it and carried on.

The bike leg was pretty fun. About half of it was exactly the same as the cyclocross course that is run here so lots of the climbs, turns and descents were familiar.

That first lap on the bike felt really long. Funny how your perspective changes when you are racing. As I started lap two I somehow threw my chain off on the very first climb shifting from the big ring to the small ring up front. Damn. I had some speed so tried in vain to shift it back on while still moving but then I had to stop, get off and put it on by hand. Just as I got it on Michael B passed me. Shoot.

I was pretty certain Michael was going to do better than me on the bike leg so I was thrilled to have a lead heading into it. To squander it so quickly was a bummer. :)

I was able to get moving quickly and caught up to him and managed to hang onto his rear wheel for one lap but then inevitably and inexorably Michael rode away from me and all I could do was watch until he was out of sight. At some point during that second lap one other guy passed me and I was able to cling to his rear wheel until the last lap when I faded and got hung up in traffic.

There is a real art to maneuvering through lapped riders. You need to anticipate spots on the course where you can pass and frequently you need to dig a little deeper than you might otherwise go to pass them before a descent or a tight corner so you don't get hung up. I learned this but perhaps not fast enough.

ANOTHER ASIDE - some people in this race were funny. There was a pretty big recreational contingent ('cuz you know, I am SO serious about sports…) and at times you simply could not predict how they would act. One time I was approaching a woman from behind and yelled out, "Passing on your left!" and she did the classic move to the left. Another time we were on a very narrow trail and I yelled the same thing and this woman did absolutely nothing. No one was going to prevent her from achieving a PR I guess. As you approach the start/finish/transition you have to ride down two steps. It was cake if you had speed, you could just lift the front wheel and air it out. The second-to-last time I was approaching the steps it looked like I was going to hit them at exactly the same time as this other guy who was going much slower than me and I yelled out, "Let me by on your left!" and he slowed down, moved left and yelled back, "Watch out for these steps, they're really tricky!" Thanks buddy, by making me slow to a crawl you did indeed make them really tricky for me. Oh well, he probably thought he was doing me a favor. But seriously, after four laps wouldn't he think that I had been down these steps at least once already? Whatever.

I hit the transition for the second time and tried to make sure I tied my running shoes nice and tight so they wouldn't come undone during my second run and expose my newb status. I had worn my cycling cap and gloves during the first run but this time ditched them both as I was plenty warm. I probably could have ditched my arm warmers too but only so many thing can go through your mind in the seconds you have. So off I went.

Ow… right away I could tell this was going to be a slower run. Still, I somehow managed a slightly faster transition than the guy who had ridden away from me in that last lap and so I tried to focus on being efficient and set out to see if I could bring him back.

About one mile into the run I heard footsteps behind me and in the matter of a very few seconds this guy glides by me. We exchanged pleasantries.

Me: "Nice work!"
Him: "You too. This run sure doesn't feel as fast as the first…"
Me: "You think?"

And then he pulled away easy as pie. And in short order he caught and passed the guy in front of me that I was trying to catch. At this point it became pretty evident that I was not toing to catch anybody so I shifted into cruise control and probably slowed just a bit. After a few furtive glances behind me it seemed like a safe option as there was nothing back there.

With maybe .3 miles to go I struggled some but then the I could smell the barn and was able to finish. Whew.

As I crossed the line Roger M (the promoter) congratulated me and joked that this kind of event was a far cry from the long MTB races I did last summer. He's right.

If my Garmin data is correct I ran sub 6:30 miles during the first running leg and still managed to run about 7:00 miles during the second. I'm really happy with that because it felt like I was going MUCH slower. If you look at my heart rate which does this steady decline throughout the entire race it's probably a sign of 1) I'm not so fit, 2) I did not pace myself so well and 3) I'm coming off of three hard days. Then again, it felt at times on the bike (NOT on the runs…) that I could perhaps go harder if I had more motivation/focus. This race was basically a TT with lots of obstacles that required strategy in dispensing your effort thrown in.

All in all pretty fun and I would do it again. Two activities in one day is a great workout of nothing else. Oh yeah, I guess Michael had three minutes on my going into the last run and beat me by one minute. That's more motivation to come back too. :)

Here are all the pictures.

Sleep	5
Waking HR
Body Weight
Body Fat
Breakfast	6:00 AM - applesauce, protein powder, walnuts, large bottle w/3 scoops Perpetuem 8:30 AM - half a large bottle w/1 tablet Nuun and 1.5 scoops HEED
Lunch
Dinner
Workout Food	9:30 AM - gel race - one sip of HEED
Injuries	My right foot was fantastic! My back not so much, it started to act up on the second bike lap. Manageable but it got sore for sure.
Therapy
Time of Day	10:00 AM
Workout Type	race
Weather	40, dry, calm
Course	Fort Steilacoom Off-Road Duathlon
Results	Men - 6th Overall - 8th official results
Time
Distance
Pace
Equipment	Brooks Cascadia Cyclocross Bike
Clothing	bib shorts, knee warmers, Craft long sleeve undershirt, short sleeve jersey, arm warmers, knit gloves, cap

Technorati Tags: 4th Dimension Racing,Off-Road,Duathlon,Thumbprint Racing,Fort Steilacoom

cyclocross practice | stairs

This morning I met Jeff W, Ryan D, Nelson J, Lane S and Dean J at Woodland Park for a bit of skills practice and then 20 minutes of riding a circuit. It sure was a wakeup call for me…

To fill you in on some history, the last two years my back has not tolerated cyclocross well at all. I think I was able to do two races each year and then had to throw in the towel as I was in too much pain.

Having been more diligent about my core work I am hoping that this fall will be the year I can participate in a semi-full cross season. Here's hoping anyway.
I got there a little early and good thing too! My mount has a stutter step in it that I HATE and it took me about six laps back and forth across the grass just to get rid of it. Then everyone showed up.

And my bike handling sucks! We did this tight figure eight and I was slowing down SO much for each corner… it was kind of disheartening to tell you the truth. But riding in the dirt was also a ton of fun! Hopefully the fun factor won't wear off when folks lap me on race day. :)

After work Shelley and I hit the stairs for a quickie and I managed to squeeze in a few flights. Boy, I felt pretty tired by that time. In fact, I felt pretty tired in the morning too now that I think about it. Time to rest up for the big mountain bike race this weekend.

Sleep
Waking HR
Body Weight
Body Fat
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Workout Food
Injuries
Therapy
Time of Day	cross - 7:00 AM stairs - 6:30 PM
Workout Type
Weather	low 70s, sunny, dry
Course	cross - Woodland Park stairs - Howe Street
Distance	stairs - 5 flights, 20 min
Equipment	Cyclocross Bike
Clothing

Technorati Tags: Woodland Park,cyclocross