RAMROD

Last Thursday I rode and somehow survived the most epic ride of my life: RAMROD. 154 miles around the base of Rainier. 10,000 ft of climbing. Lots of Gatorade. Tons of food. Destroyed knees. Double the distance of my longest ride ever. Quadruple the distance of my longest ride this year. This is a LONG post, but I have no idea how you sum up a 12-hr ride in one paragraph without just saying: F***.

I'll back up to the beginning for a second. Earlier this year my friend Ben challenged me to RAMROD. "Hey, I'm signing up. You should too." In a moment of weakness I figured what the hell, no way I'll get in. Thousands of riders apply for this thing, right? They only pick 800 so odds are against me. Of course the May lottery selected me and not Ben. Imagine that. No worries for him though, he did finally get in about a week before the ride.

I thought I'd be doing plenty of riding this year and had even planned to race the Elkhorn Stage Race, which is a few days of near 100 or over mile stages. Well, none of that happened due to my little Illiotibial band PT detour and the longest training ride I completed was a 40 mile jaunt around Magnolia. A few weeks ago I doubted my ability to pull this off and nearly bailed, but I still delight in doing things people tell me I can't do.

Realizing last minute I did not want to wake up at 3am to drive to the start, I booked a Yurt at Kanaskat-Palmer State Park for Wednesday night. It was the only thing I could find available in the area, but if you ever have a chance to stay in one, do it! The yurt rocked! It had a bunk bed, queen-sized comfy futon, lights, flooring, everything. I threw my sleeping bad on the futon, crashed early, and slept well. Good thing because my alarm was set for 4:30am so I could get a 5:30 start. That's way too early to do anything, much less ride your bike.

I drove 15 minutes to Enumclaw High School and enjoyed some pre-dawn views of Rainier. Wow it's gorgeous that early in the morning. For $10 some local organizations offered a breakfast feed and I took advantage of it, scarfing down waffles, eggs, and sausage before the ride. I hit the start line shortly after 5:30 very happy that I had packed my wind vest and some warmer clothes because the temps were frigid.

I knew I had a few keys to completing the ride: staying hydrated, keeping fueled, and NOT getting tricked into joining up with a fast moving paceline. With my lack of training, I needed to take it way beyond easy. Surprisingly, most of the morning pacelines moved way too fast for me. I could have hung for a 60-mile ride, but I did not want to work that hard so early in a 154-mi ride. I would hop in for a few minutes, then find myself going a bit too fast, so I'd hop out, take it easy, enjoy the views, then catch on to another paceline. I got to meet a lot of cool people and watch the lenticular cloud forming on Rainier.

I have to commend RAMROD for the ride support. The food stops were amazing! The first one in Eatonville 32 miles into the course provided awesome scones and coffee. I should have eaten more there, but it wasn't very long after the big breakfast, so I just couldn't get much down. The next food stop at mile 59 in Mounthaven was a ZOO. The chocolate croissants hit the spot though, so I grabbed a few, sat in the sun to warm up, and took a decently long stretching break.

Shortly after that stop I entered The National Park and started the fairly mellow 20-mile climb (4-5%) to Inspiration Point. The temps finally warmed up and I was able to maintain a fairly good pace up the climb. The amazing views of Rainier made it hard to keep going without taking a few photo breaks. What good is it to be out there and not stop to enjoy the scenery?

After Inspiration Point I bombed down Stevens Canyon at 40+mph. Man was that fun!! Being so aero definitely stressed the shoulders, neck, and back though. The Box Canyon food stop at mile 88 offered up cookies, fruit, bagels, and little baby boiled potatoes. Mmmm! I STUFFED myself because I kept getting a little hungry between food stops and had to break into my emergency food stash. Keeping up calories with my fast metabolism is always a challenge. The potatoes were so good that I grabbed a handful and stuffed them in my jersey for later. This guy next to me laughingly called me Napoleon Dynamite and shook his head. Ha.

I made the great decision to go Garminless for this ride. I had no idea of the time, mileage, or my heart rate, a refreshing change to being constantly fixated on the watch. I was very surprised to roll into the Box Canyon food stop and find out I had amassed 88 miles. Wow. 88 miles and still ticking!

After Box Canyon was a small climb to Backbone Ridge, then another awesomely fast downhill before starting the 11+ mile climb to Cayuse Pass, definitely the toughest part of the ride. I just set a pace and kept going, but near the top my stomach grumbled, I ran out of fuel, and had to pull off the road for a snack break. I took the picture at left somewhere around the century mark. Yay! My first century!

Cayuse continued....and continued...and continued. I nearly had a party when I finally saw the top of Cayuse Pass , 4720' and the 110 mile mark. A few spectators gathered to cheer on riders. Thanks for the support, it was much appreciated! Once at the top of Cayuse Pass, the remainder of the course turned downhill and I coasted all the way to the Crystal Mountain deli stop, the last food stop on the course.

Deli sandwiches, coke, and more resting in the sun hit the spot, but all I could think of were the remaining 36 miles back to Enumclaw. At this point I wanted to be done! I met some more awesome people who told me to get back to Enumclaw via a paceline. Despite the downhill, the strong headwind took it's toll, so I was lucky enough to hook up with one other rider for a while. Soon we had company and our paceline grew to about 8. About 10 miles from Enumclaw I bonked hard and it seemed the ride would never end.

When I finally hit the turn to Mud Mountain I knew we were close and the finish line came up quickly. I rolled across shortly before 6pm to make it a solid 12-hr day with about 10.5 hours on the bike. Damn. I hit the sack that night at 9pm and was out cold. Surprisingly, I felt pretty damn good the next day other than some neck and shoulder stiffness and unhappy knees. Damn that patellar tendinitis! Ah well, 150 miles with no training will do that I guess.

This ride was the experience of a lifetime for sure. Again, fantastic support and very well run! After chatting with most riders and finding that they had been training since January for this thing, I'm amazed I pulled it off. Score some points for me! Hmmm, what to try next?

More pictures here.