Saturday, March 8, 2014

40-Mile Ride Today

I am not getting near the amount of saddle time I need to retain my sanity and my physique and in eight days I have this murderous ride I signed up for. I'm gonna die in some very remote, out of the way part of Central Washington. 
 The falls at Nine Mile Dam.

 Look real close. See him?

 The main Spokane Falls.

 Upriver from the main falls.

 And the other side of the island.

 I see the city extended the bike lane on Illinois from Crestline to Regal. This is great because Regal provides an excellent north-south route. It's mostly residential and has very little traffic. I use it all the time for my work commute.

If you're missing this bike it's on the Children of the Sun Trail just north of the Mead entrance.

3 comments:

Wileydog said...

don't worry, the ambulances are only a couple hours away. I've been seeing the commercials for NorthWest Medstar and think maybe I should sign up - $60 a year for helicopter ambulance.
At least the last part of the ride is all downhill.

Hank Greer said...

I like that we have most of the climbing in the first 20 miles and then plenty of time to recover for the 60-73 mile marker climb. Hope the weather isn't too intolerable.

John Speare said...

I did that Fondo in 2012 and had a fantastically brutally wonderful time. It was the most satisfying rides I've ever done. Weather that day was a bit of rain, then a ton of rain, then some sleet.

You'll have a great time. Are you riding your elephant? If so, what tires are you running?

Here's some unsolicited advice: If you are going for time, then I'd say resist the urge to run knobbies. That 40 mile flat chunk of paved section in the middle of the ride is where you can hammer it out -- optimize for that, not the few dirt descents. A lot of folks were way over-biked for that ride. You have the skill to ride out the dirt/gravel parts on supple slicks (ponder buying some "event" tires that you only use for these types of rides -- Compass, Grand Bois, Challenge all make excellent 700x28 tires that would rock this ride).