Flextro does the Peninsula

Flextro is back from the Washington Alps...(or Hurricane Ridge if you want to be accurate.) See new Flextroid Mark Nasutti's entry about the expedition below.

The Tour is a few days from the Pyrenees, but we warmed up for it Sunday morning. Can you say "hors categorie?" 20 miles from sea-level to 5,230 feet at an average grade of 6.5%. An intrepid foursome of Toby Weymiller, Eric Busse, Paulo Nunes-Ueno and yours truly, festooned in brand-new Flexcar team jerseys (see STP note below) took to the road at about 9:30 and straggled to the top around noon. Paulo got lucky and suffered a puncture a mile or so before the summit, getting a half-hour break while he executed -- with Toby's help -- what he claimed was a really tough tire change.

To be honest, my recollections of doing this climb twice before were filtered through rose-colored glasses. It was tougher, longer and hotter than I remembered it, but at least this time I didn't have to zig zag across the road to make it up the steeper pitches. It's about twice as long as RAMROD's climb to Paradise (and steeper) and more exposed (and therefore
hotter) than the climb to Cayuse (both of which, by the way, are rated as mere Cat 1 climbs). The good news is that for most of its length the grade to the Ridge is very steady; you can settle into a gear and just climb away.

Along the ride, the views just keep getting better as you emerge from dense forest and gain altitude. There are places as the road countours into and out of ravines where you can feel the heat reflecting off the south-facing rock wall to your right and cooking you alive, then you come around into a refreshing breeze before going back into the oven after the next turn.
There are also plenty of false summits to lift your spirits as you drop your RPMs due to thinner air and no more gears.

About five hundred yards from the summit I stood up on the pedals to get around a steep hairpin and over the guardrail I saw unfold the entire skyline of the Olympic Range. I almost steered into oncoming traffic.

After a wonderful picnic lunch brought to us by Elsa Nunes-Ueno and Gosia Bussey (who came up the easy way) we took the obligatory summit photos before mounting up for the bigger reward, the descent. Paulo was sidelined by a front wheel that had become so misaligned he'd had to disable his front brake to make the summit -- not a good setup for going 45 miles an hour downhill -- so it was Toby, Eric and me who pointed our wheels over the edge and took off.

Normally, I'm a pretty aggressive descender, but something made me hold back and just hang behind Toby at a relatively leisurely 35 mph. Sure enough, barely a mile into what should have been a 45-mph screamer, my back wheel punctured. A quarter-inch cut went all the way through the tire and while replacing the tube I noticed a serious scuff mark the size of my baby fingernail on the sidewall where the rubber was gone and tire fibers were coming apart. My ride was over. I wondered what would have happened if I'd been hanging it out on a tight curve at 45.

With Eric's encouragement, I decided to call Gosia for a lift down but we couldn't get cell phone reception. I put enough air in the tire to ride, and we worked our way down (at max 20 mph, getting hand cramps from riding the brakes) to a vista point where we got a good signal, there was plenty of room to pull over, and a bit of shade to wait in.

The previous day, we had indoctrinated Elsa into the pleasures of road riding, helping her break in a brand-new bike on the Olympic trail running from Sequim to Port Angeles. It was a pleasant and scenic rolling trail through farmland and lowland forest, with a two-mile stretch right along the beach coming into PA. Note to roadies: Several short sections of this trail are on hard-packed dirt and gravel, including a couple of very rough spots getting around the site of a former Rayonier pulp mill that is undergoing remediation. I figured if the pros can do 60 miles plus on the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix on a bike like mine, what did I have to complain about? But that's probably where I nicked up that sidewall.

Saturday evening was a feast prepared by Gocia on the deck of a nice rental house Toby had found for us in PA. Great food, good beer, and lots of laughs.

Next up: STP. Eric, Paulo, Toby and I will be wearing our Flexcar colors as part of a group of 10 or so affiliated with the company. We're doing it in two days, giving us time for more beer and tall tales camping in Vader, courtesy of the Vader Lions Club. They'll be serving all-you-can-eat lasagna Saturday night and all-you-can-eat pancakes Sunday morning.

After that, we are considering a couple of other group rides through the
summer:

* Orcas Island Special: One Day Trip to Mt. Constitution and back from Anacortes which will be about a 40-50 mile (depending on the route we want to take) RT ride from the ferry terminal with a big hill before Moran State Park and then the 2,400 ft climb in about 5 miles up Mt. Constitution (2200 feet of the climb in about 3 miles). Can you say hairpin corners? More information at:
Mt. Constitution (Toby will throw out some potential dates and more specifics soon)

* Long Weekend Trip to Mazama/Winthrop in N. Cascades.

* Long Weekend Trip to Walla Walla & The Blue Mountains. Days of wine and climbing.

* Un-organized version of Tour De Blast (Toutle ­ St. Helens Visitor Center and Back). 83 miles RT.

Oh yes, and RAMROD. Toby and I have tickets. Anyone else? Expect a lot of tickets to come available in the next couple of weeks. If you decide, what the heck, to pick one up, keep in mind that all transfers have to be received by the sponsoring club (Redmond Cycling) by July 20th (there's a form to fill out, available on line, that needs to be signed by you, the transferee, and the original holder of the ticket).

Lee, got that bike yet?

See you soon,

Mark