I was afraid BRSCI might not happen this year, scheduling
issues and whatnot, but Ocean and Dyno worked it out, and the new flagship
cycling event of BRS was on, like Donkey Kong!
I admit, had I
known I was about to ride a double century, ¾ of which would be on ass-crushing
gravel, I prolly would have bagged to work on the lecture slides
that are due tomorrow morning (I can still get up at 1am and start/finish them,
maybe…) I shoulda known after hearing about Dyno’s “Roslyn Ramble” and experiencing
that long trek on private property gravel at last year’s BRSCI that “adventure”
is a loaded word. But as usual, I completely ignored logic. Luckily for us
Ocean did not, and was to meet us in Easton.
One of the New Yurt’s selling points was being only a couple
blocks from the I-90 “Mt to Sound” bike trail. I noticed right off Dyno forgot
his helmet (Grrrr). But we were
already behind schedule, and apparently helmets are not required outside of King
County? Was that a load of crock or what.
We stopped periodically so Dyno could check directions. I
was only too happy to follow blindly and dilly dally as much as possible, it
was a beautiful sunny day and I had not been out riding much, being the Japanese
tourist and enjoying the orange flower sculptures randomly on the path.
There was the I-90 trail, then fairly soon we were “off
road”. So far so good…the Issaquah-Preston trail, the Preston-Snoqualmie Trail.
A couple brief detours, then onto the
first cyclo cross section, the “Lincoln Logs”.
An unexpected monster climb up Lake Alice Rd (felt almost like Zoo hill) I had to walk over half of it while Dyno rode it twice, the weight of Raul and lack of training too much for me.
A long paved downhill in Snoqualmie…. Awesome long/ fast
descent tainted only by the knowledge that we’d be going back up this hill
tomorrow….
We got to North Bend much later than anticipated, there was
a huge lunch crowd due to the Moby Duck truck filled with Seafair pirates and
toursists that landed at Scott’s Dairy Freeze at the exact same time.
And onto the JWPT. There were spectacular trees and mountain
views.
But I had never done it uphill, only
seen the pissed off cyclists while running down it in my favorite marathon, the
Tunnel marathon. 26 miles staight uphill, albeit only 2% grade is a long climb.
There were tons of tourists at the 2 mile long Tunnel. Spooky dark and cool. I gotta get some headlamps like Dyno.
Just after the Tunnel/ Hyak tailhead is what Ocean would call
the “white meat chicken” of the course. Spectacular lake views and flat
relatively light gravel, mirror-like reflections of the lake.
Then we hit an intersection with a road, and Dyno says we
should try this other road (which looks much smoother) that eventually meets up
with the trail. We swerve onto this road, and I learn first hand that there is
indeed something worse than riding on gravel…. It is riding on horizontal
washboard gravel.
I tried to text Ocean that we were running hopelessly late…
but the messages didn’t go through. Finally I called and learned he had failed
to find the trail and was already settled at the Aster Inn in Cle Elum. The
last 13 miles from Easton to Cle Elum were some of the roughest gravel …. I so
wanted to be done and drinking beer.
We arrived nearly 11 hours after we had started, I was
covered in dust but soooo happy to see the BRSCI sign in the window and a
freshly grilled burger, salt & vinegar chips, and beer waiting complements
of Ocean.
Too soon my iPhone alarm was ringing, the Boys were already
up but I still had dark circles under my eyes from a week of sleep deprivation
(and being old). We walked over to the local breakfast place for the best part
of cycling, which is eating a very large breakfast with a pot of coffee and
bacon.
I thought it would be good to hit the roughest gravel when I
was “fresh” in the morning, but it wouldn’t be a BRS event if I didn’t fall at
least once. Where was that HUGE rock I rode over? Everything hurt, hands, neck,
shoulder, thighs, ass.
I resolved to not dilly dally but it was another freakin beautiful
day full of freakin beautiful views. Dyno very patiently stopped so I could ooh
and ahh (Awww man, ANOTHER picture of the lake? Ok….)
We stopped to look at some Maidenhair ferns, eat fresh blackberries from the bush. The 26 mile downhill on JWPT was among the best descents in history. Gravel is less annoying when you are going fast.
Then the Snoqualmie paved climb...It was hot hot hot by then, and shade was welcome.
Riding down Lake Alice Rd was a little scary, but
unexpectedly after all that descending the late afternoon sun (87 degrees in
Issaquah) suddenly hit me hard. I looked over the highway overpass and saw a
sign for 405. What? We were only at 405??? I knew it was only 10 miles to home
but it suddenly seemed insurmountable. God bless Dyno, who kept stopping though he prolly
couldn’t understand why after 180 miles I couldn’t just do 10 more.
After yet another stop for hydration and sitting for no good
reason on a park bench, made it back to yurt. I actually had to fight back
tears. Not sure if I was just sad or glad the ride was over. The Fin du Monde
beer and splash of cool water on my sunburned face helped. I’d do it again,
(maybe minus the Easton to Cle Elum gravel) but there are so many other rides
waiting to be done…
I'm a little sad that Tour de Muk won't be happening this year (Ventoux, aren't you sad too?) but BRSCI lives on.
