Edens' Gate/Covered Bridges 400k

Another one in the bag - a 400k with the Oregon Randonneurs. Nice ride, good people, great route. Cold and headwind-y. Again. I could get a complex over this.

I left the house at 2:45 AM. This is going to be a marathon day - drive almost 100 miles to the start, ride the ride, and turn around and drive straight home. (Hey, my dog needs me!). 

All I had for directionals when I headed out the door was "La Quinta, exit 286". I assumed that was enough to navigate to the start. It was. John Henry Maurice was there taking registrations. I tried to make a best guess at the weather...no way. Just bring it all...VERY glad that Robert had rigged up a "double century" sidecar bag for me. I had a spare tire, three tubes, a pump, tools, a Boost, a giant chocolate-covered macaroon, a fistful of string cheese and Honey Stinger gels, wallet, keys, cell phone...I brought the iPod along - just in case things got dreadful and I needed something to help keep me safe and awake - but since this is a rando ride I felt a little sheepish about using it, so I didn't. I also brought a jar of powdered espresso as insurance against bad times. I also brought a spare light and batteries, a pair of tights, extra socks, a jacket, and warm gloves. And believe it or not I had some room left over - but not a lot.

I'm really liking the new light mount - it seems to totally prevent the "foot flash" that I was getting before. For those who haven't thought about this, being foot-forward on a bike means that the light illuminates your bike shoes at every pedal stroke, so that you get this really annoying strobe effect. TerraCycle makes a recumbent-specific accessory mount that moves the light forward far enough that this isn't a problem. Pat modified their stock one on the fly to work on the Carbent - it has a bigger front derailleur post than some other bikes. When he heard that I was gearing up for this ride, and an even longer one next week, he pretty much dropped what he was doing and got me set up. Thanks, Pat!

At the start, I ran into a bunch of people I know just a little, like John Vincent, and a few old friends like Greg "Oregon Sasquatch" Olson. And I saw a Team Sandy RAAM hat, out in the wild, perched under Scott Peterson's helmet. Woo-hoo!!! I'm told there was also a hat sighting or two at Calvin's Challenge, which was going at about the same time, in similar (though wetter) conditions back in Ohio. That's a race that I've got to get back to, sometime soon...just ran out of time to handle the logistics this year. 

0500 and we're off - a large pack of riders, heading off into a cold, dark wind. We weren't going overfast, which was fine, and we were mainly staying together. Things didn't split up too much until we hit the bigger climbs heading toward Silverton and Stayton. That's when I figured out that I couldn't get the bike to shift into the smallest chainring. Cripes. I spent a couple of minutes fussing with it but I was too hung up on some vague notions of "cable stretch" or "slipped out of adjustment, somehow" that I failed to notice the obvious - that the derailleur stopped moving long before the shifter did. Oh, well, the worst of the hills are over, sort of. We'll get on down the road and fix it in slightly better light. 

First bridge...what year was it built? 1906 (don't take the time to write it down, just remember and do it at the control...otherwise you're going to totally lose contact with this group....). Through Stayton and into Linn County. I always consider it a good ride when I've been in four or more counties in a day. Linn is #4 and I've gotten that done before 9AM, which is when my usual group rides start. Cool. 

Up and over the Cole School Road rollers. I had SO been looking forward to this, and now I was all nervous because of the front derailleur issue. There are two giant rollers on Cole School Road. Perfectly parabolic, or close. When I worked for Linn County, we used them as a gauge of how well the county rigs were doing, and how badass we were feeling: could we bottom out the suspension at the bottom of the roller? I managed the first one fairly easily, but nerved out about a hundred yards short of the top on the second, which is taller and  steeper. I just figured I didn't need to pop a tendon or blow a spleen, so a short walk was in order. As soon as I got off the bike and looked at it from a new angle, it was clear what the problem was - the clamp on the light mount was in contact with the front derailleur spring, so it was stopped short. I figured I knew how to fix it if I needed to, but since I'd almost made Cole School without it, I might as well go on a bit and see if I really "needed" it, or not.  

I rewarded myself for my discovery by eating the macaroon, since I knew we'd be at the control soon and I could resupply. Getting that monster in was probably a 600-calorie event, but I needed it. The cold headwind was sucking energy like nobody's business. 

Second bridge - Shimanek. I'm off the back of the fasty-fast group, but that's okay. It's gonna be a long day. On to Scio - our first non-info control point. Everyone seems to be congregating at the grocery. I hit the restroom, grabbed a bar and a can of tea - the big cans of sweetened iced tea are just about one water bottle full - and had the cashier sign me in.

From Scio, out past the Gilkey Bridge, then took a quick loop through Crabtree, out to the Larwood Bridge, back through Lacomb and in to Sweet Home. There were a couple of riders there, a couple had already left, and a bunch arrived while I was in eyeing the hot case. I got another iced tea - really good, not too sweet, and enough caffeine to do the trick, and three chicken strips, which sounded pretty good about then. 

I dumped the tea into my water bottle, and took off...realizing that I still had the hot chicken strips in hand. Not wanting to admit that I hadn't...exactly...meant...to do that, I did what any sensible recumbent rando would do - I stuffed 'em down the front of my jersey.  And that, sports fans, is how Sandy invented the edible heating pad. The air temps were hovering just around 50, so the extra warmth was welcome...and since chicken strips are relatively dense (protein is dense stuff) and insulated in a nice layer of fat, they were holding the heat rather well. I managed to get almost all the way to Crawfordsville before they were all gone. At times it was a tough decision - heat or eat? - but I'll definitely keep that trick in my arsenal for next week! 

From Crawfordsville we headed up one of my favorite climbs - Brush Creek, which goes over Marcola Road. I was a little surprised that the large group that I knew was behind me hadn't caught me, yet. Of course, I hadn't given myself the option of the small chainring. If I had, I'd likely have climbed more slowly and been caught. 

Hit the next bridge, on to Mohawk, which is a regular on the circuit. There are a bunch of guys parked there, sucking down sandwiches. I took one look at that crowd and I didn't even have to consider; I knew that the meatloaf sandwiches were all out already. Bummer. But - corn dogs! And the ever-present iced tea. Bingle is taking off, solo. This is Sandy-land; I ride down here all the time, and it's going to be almost dead flat for the next, oh, 60 miles. I took off after him. I make a habit of "efficient" controls, but I still figure I outdid myself on this one. I left with a corndog literally hanging out of my mouth, lollypop-wise. 

Once I got onto Coburg Road, I kinda put the hammer down - though gently. I wasn't out to break any speed records, but this is, after all, my "bike commute" route to the MVBC weekly rides, and I'm used to going through here fairly efficiently. Not much to report. The sun actually shone through most of this part, but the wind had mysteriously shifted to give us a sharply crossing headwind. In a fair world, since we've turned the corner and are heading home, we should be enjoying a strong tailwind. Ah, well. Lots of raptors in the air, enjoying(?) the breeze while on the make for a meal. 

I got to Harrisburg at 3:45, making the turn off of LaSalle just in time to see three riders leave the DariMart. I'd really intended to find a bathroom in Mohawk, but got sidetracked, and I really, really wanted to head up to the bathroom in the park in Harrisburg, but on the other hand I was morbidly curious to see who I was apparently catching up with...so I grabbed the first comestible I could find, which was a 5 Hour Energy, had the clerk sign my card, and off we go up Peoria Road. 

I am quite plainly living on borrowed time, but I'm really enjoying the ride. I had idly considered hitting the Lake Creek Bakery, since I was fortunate enough to be going past it during its very limited operating hours, but that gave in to the thrill of the chase. Sour cream twists will have to wait for another day. There are three dots out there that don't have names, and I'm going to figure it out...I can't swear to it, but the "dots" may have known I was there, because they picked up the pace a bit...I upped the ante and was slowly reeling them in. It took probably 10 miles to gain 2-3 minutes, which was a little frustrating. By that time, the pace had blown Greg back a bit, and he encouraged me to "go find Del" (Scharffenberg, who was WAY off the front with Kole). It took me several more minutes to catch the other two riders - Vince and Dave - and we were all at it rather hard the rest of the way in to Albany. 

By the time we crossed into Benton County (sixth county of the day!!) I really had nothing else on my mind but "blue room-blue room-blue room". Found one at the school. Yay! By this time Dave and Vince were a distant memory, several minutes in front, and as I'd gotten my speedwork out of the way I decided to relax and enjoy the ride through Buena Vista and up to Independence. Polk County - #7. 

What the...? The soda fountain in Independence is closed. Crap. Next idea on where to control??? OK, the Mexican restaurant next door looks a little underutilized. Maybe they're new? They had guava nectar to go.  I took stock: One Ensure, three gels, three string cheeses, and two full bottles - and all I had to get through was 48 more miles. No worries. The cashier asked about my shoes..."that other guy" had had some, too. Do you really NEED those for biking? I explained as best I could, told her they are like ski bindings. 

I left Independence at 6:45, pretty happy with myself. Not a great double-century time, but given the conditions not a really bad one, either, and I was feeling really good, AND I was going to get through Salem before it got dark. I don't know the route past Salem, so since I was riding alone it was going to be a long night full of stopping and looking at the cue sheet in the headlights once night fell.

Across the bridge, up River Road, and into Salem. River Road was a bit nerve-wracking. Apparently it was prom night, and there were two types of teenagers on the road; happy little snots in limos, and surly, undateable ones in pickup trucks. Neither sort seemed to have a "share the road" mentality. But I know the road well enough, and I managed. 

Through Salem. The route through town is easy to follow, minimal turns. Thanks! The sun is getting pretty low, and the food establishments on River Road are looking good...nah, let's get this one in the books. I had hopes of getting done before 10:30, which would be a reasonable days' work. River Road...Keene...I'm trying to stay a few road names ahead on the cue sheet, so that I don't miss anything. I don't have an odometer, so I'm going on dead reckoning. Rando rides are about the only time I miss not having a cyclometer; the rest of the time the extra information is just distraction. 

Somewhere after Keene Road it was starting to get cold enough that I wanted my jacket, and my warmer gloves, so I pulled over. OK, jacket. Now gloves...where are they? Did they fall out of the sidecar bag? Crap! No - wait - I put 'em in the jacket pocket, figured that I'd want both at the same time...cool.

I had an inelegant moment where I realized that I'd left the last string cheese up my sleeve, and now that I was wearing the jacket it was going to be difficult to retrieve...so of course I was fishing around down the front of my own shirt when Vince came rocketing past again. He slowed down enough to make sure that I was okay. I'm sure I looked like I was having a heart attack or had stepped in a fire ant nest or something with all the squirming and contorting. I take solace in the knowledge that it was dark. 

The extra layer really did feel good. I'm glad I saved it for the end.  After that I just worked my way back in, catching street names as best I could and guessing when I had to, mainly correctly. I rolled into the parking lot, dumped my bike in the van, grabbed my sensible shoes, and struck out in search of the final control, which was being staffed by Lynn and Susan and Marcello. Armed with a truckload of Bell'Agio pizza, they were impeccable hosts/hostesses. I got my card signed at 10:22, which is a little better than I'd hoped for early in the day. Vince was hanging out, and Geoff, David, and Greg showed up a few minutes later. Kole and Dell had gotten in shortly after 9, which was the only "action" Lynn had had on her volunteer shift. She'd been waiting, with bells on, from 7PM on; on a better weather year she'd have had plenty of company at that hour. 

A couple of slices, a fair bit of water, and a long drive home....got back around 1AM.

So - in some ways it was "one RAAM day" - 250 miles, up for 22.5 hours, about 10k' of climb. And it felt pretty danged good. I could live without the 50 degrees and windy crap for RAAM, but I know that I'll take what I get. 

I fixed the front derailleur issue, everything is just fine. Sometimes you just hafta laugh. 

Next week - since it's National Bike Month I'm going to bike-commute...to a double century in California. This will be the peak training week mileage-wise. I'll continue to ride and do intensity work but there's not much further gain in stacking on the heavy miles. 

Connecting with the tribe

OK, let's face it. There's not much more that I can do to be ready for RAAM. I've ridden long, I've ridden hard, I've ridden long AND hard. I've got jerseys and team gear. I've got two GREAT bikes, complete with the worlds' pinkest, trickest, nicest idlers. I've got an amazing crew and my vans are secured. I've even got my crew organizing my vans. Last weekend Mandy's dad Chris put the first of the RAAM beds into Eggplant (my purple minivan; sorry Greg, but your white van has already been dubbed "Beluga"). Dang - that's some cabinetry!

So - although there are still about a million tiny details to work out, the hard logistics are done, and I can sit in just a bit. And after a lot of solo training, I've got an unspeakable urge to connect. It feels right - part of RAAM is "going home" in a very real way - and so I'm giving in to it.

Last weekend after a tough training week I kicked back a little bit - I was a clipboard holder/sign waver at the Deschutes River Valley TT Festival. Normally I'd be racing this event. It was cool to be watching, though, and I got to get some riding in as well as some social time with a bunch of local racers. After the last racer was off, I faced down Bakeoven Hill. It was hills like this - not just long, not just steep, but long and steep - that put me into the "recupright" division last year at RAO - I was too new to recumbent geometry and handling to be secure on the steep stuff. Sunday morning, I slithered right up. Doing it without a thought about "what if" was pretty cool. Once I was past the steep part of the climb, on the false flats, the "real" racers started pouring by, already heading back on the out-and-back course. I knew almost everyone by name - something that wouldn't have happened if I'd been racing - and I had a great time cheering. Pretty cool.

The trip down was a blast, too -I had the iPod going at full throttle. Here's what I got for the final descent:




which made me think that I should have a "designated descender" playlist! I'll take nominations for what (else) should be on it...

This weekend I'll get to do a 400k with the Oregon Randonneurs. Believe it or not this will be my first rando ride of the year! Wow. I've been busy doing other things. Randonneuring rides don't set any speed records, but that's okay. It will be good to hang out with that tribe, too, and enjoy the covered bridges of the Willamette Valley. I'll probably manage to sneak in a corn dog or two at the controls.

The following two weekends are going to be particularly special. First, I'm going to tackle the mother of all bike-commutes: I'm going to ride down to the Tour of the Unknown Coast. David Bradley is kindly hosting a double century option for this ride, which is enough of a beast in its own right (nearly 10k' of climbing in the century). The double century? Easy - just turn around and do it...again. Yikes.  I can't wait to connect with the Arcata folks again, and to be in the company of a bunch of happy riders and really big trees.

If a 500-mile training weekend is a good thing, the following weekend will only be half-good. We're going to ride the back half of the RAO course. Dennis Johnson - an amazing ultradistance 'bent rider from Texas - is spearheading this one, and I'm tagging along with a few friends. This will be our opportunity to troubleshoot, do a test run on the electronics, the comm system, etc. Rumor has it that George Thomas, RAO race director, and his RAW teammate Mick Walsh will be out there training on the course at the same time. I'm sure they'll rocket past us at a high rate of speed, just like they will as we're approaching Durango this June. Again, it'll be great seeing everyone, being part of something a little bigger than a solo ride, being immersed in the world of vans, coolers, and walkie-talkies, and growing all our stories just a little bit bigger with one more telling....

Times like this I'm reminded of my "parting gift" from Susan Notorangelo, after I DNF'd RAAM in 2002. She told me something that it took me a very long time to understand, and a bit longer still to get right - that I'd be ready for solo RAAM when I had the right people around me.

And here we go.

I am SO not wearing my RAO finisher's jersey on 4/26!

I don't feel like I have much to contribute to this effort, but - "all in" is "all in", after all.
The Shebeest halter is coming out of retirement....
http://www.blaghag.com/2010/04/in-name-of-science-i-offer-my-boobs.html

Hot Dog Heaven

Great training ride today! I was treated to a hillfest with Chris and Mark. Chris' stock training ride - which I last did to prep for Ring of Fire last fall - is a 1:10 scale RAO - 50 miles, 5000' of climbing. It was a good measure of progress for me - my low speed handling is definitely less panic-driven, and my climbing speed *might* be a little faster, especially on shallower grades.

We got most of the climbing out of the way in the first 30 miles or so, parting ways with Mark at the Helvetia Tavern - so that he could head off to the Portland Velo club ride(!). Mark is training for 2-man RAO and appears to be well on his way to a repeat performance. I was a little surprised to find that Chris had never been further west, so we decided to strike out for - get this - Kansas City. Yes! There's a Kansas City in Oregon.

So off we go - Team Pink - two recumbents on a mission to ride from Portland to Kansas City -and back - in a day. Along the way I showed Chris a few roads that are great fun - Pumpkin Ridge, Dairy Creek...We made a quick, but respectful, stop at the cemetery in Roy.

We rolled through Kansas City. I think. It's one of those places where you can't blink. And sometimes even if you don't, you're not quite sure...was that...it?

Rolling along toward Forest Grove, we decided to make a stop for refueling. Since I'd bragged on my corndog eating abilities last week, Chris was expecting great things. At first, I was thinking that we'd hit Maggie's Buns - probably not a corndog to be had, but still quite a nice place, with brownies that absolutely can't be beat....but I missed the turn. And we had this really nice tailwind, and I really didn't want to turn around, and...a Plaid Pantry was just around the corner. Saved! Surely they would have corndogs!

But - no. It was a dry hole. Not a corn dog to be had. Sadly, we started back toward our bikes. That's when we noticed Can Am Coffee - a small trailer-restaurant in the corner of the parking lot, nearly swallowed by an immense cedar. And - in smallish print, near the bottom of the menu - HOT DOGS. We're stoked!

Wayne, the proprietor, is stoked, too, especially when he sees my Race Across Oregon Finisher jersey (which, ironically, I had forgotten I was wearing). "Hey - I was just talking about Race Across Oregon this morning...and Race Across America, too!" OK, I thought, THIS is really strange...but Wayne goes on to say that Mike Olson had come over for coffee - so it makes perfect sense. I let slip that Mike had this crazy friend who's doing Race Across America, solo...Here's a photo of Wayne in his native environment:

And - the hot dogs were amazing. We went big - sprung for the Polish dogs, with (almost) everything. I skipped on the mayo, Chris on the kraut (but he got it anyway, and a good thing, too - we all need to eat our veggies!). Fully loaded with freshly minced onion, relish, Tillamook cheese, mustard, catsup, jalapenos (you KNEW I'd have the jalapenos this time!) and the requisite kraut, the dog was easily a 3/4 pound EXPERIENCE, heaped up on top with ingredients, and excess dog peeking out both ends of the bun. The cafe Americano was also above par, and Wayne was the consummate host - table service out to the picnic table under the cedar. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

As we sat down, I (finally) realized that the reason Mike Olson had been over for coffee was that.. Olsons' Bicycles was literally right across the street! I'm embarrassed to say that I'd never been in. So of course we had to stop in and say hi. It was great to see Mike, catch up a bit.

After that, a tailwind ride home, only slightly marred by traffic through the Hillsboro/Beaverton corridor. One road-rager, more amusing than menacing. We beat the rain home, and lived to ride again tomorrow.

Cycle and Style magazine - Racing in the World's Toughest Race

I don't get media requests terribly often. Let's face it - RAAM isn't picked up on very many channels. So when it  does happen - that odd email or phone call: "Hi - I hear you are doing the world's toughest race? That's so cool!  Can we write about it?" I'm happy to help out. I'm not terribly shy, and I'd like to think that I give a reasonably good interview - enough "meat" to write an interesting article, without bogging down in too many details.

Last week I was interviewed by Tara McKee of Cycle and Style magazine - an online cycling magazine for women. I thought this was really cool - a great opportunity to bring the wild, wacky world of RAAM to an audience who may never heard of such insanity before.

Here's a link to the article. Feel free to spend some time browsing around the rest of the magazine. You'll find product reviews, informative articles, the occasional recipe (I was salivating over the pumpkin bars!) and lots of warm, cool, entertaining content.

http://cycleandstyle.com/2010/04/racing-in-the-worlds-toughest-bike-race/

That's it for today, sports fans!

A Sense of Scale

 SCALE (N): 

• a proportion between two sets of dimensions (as between those of a drawing and its original) 
• a distinctive relative size, extent, or degree 
• a graded series of tests or of performances used in rating individual intelligence or achievement

I've scaled up. I think it happened at Davis, or possibly on the long drive home. Time was, a 24-hour race was a Major Event - I'd spend the week - sometimes longer - afterward being sore, famished, legarthic, and generally not able to do much. 


I've gotten past that. True - I didn't race Davis as hard as I normally race a 24, but it was still a 24, and I did put in a series of hard laps. After a nap at Lee's Bike Hostel, we got home around midnight Sunday night/Monday AM. I took Monday off, but I felt pretty danged good. Legs felt good-heavy, like I'd done a long run, but not painful.  I did some light spinning at the gym on Tuesday, and - since we got a rare weather break - a hilly century on Wednesday. Back to the gym to spin on Thursday, 60 miles on Friday, and a really wonderful 150-mile training ride today. 


In other words, business as usual. Except that the different part is, it doesn't seem long - or hard - any more. It just IS. Today, I rode up to the Mid Valley Bicycle Club ride in Corvallis. It's 42 miles to get there. If you remember some of my earlier posts, it used to be a struggle to get up early and ride all the way there. I didn't even really have to think about it this morning. I did hit the snooze button a couple of times, and I ended up leaving about a half an hour later than I had wanted to - but it never crossed my mind that I should drive partway, or that it was too far, or...that it was 32 degrees outside, with a nasty headwind which hadn't been figured into my speed calculations when I hit the second time, much less the third...Cripes!


OK. Just keep on top of the time, and keep pedalling. From the turn onto Coburg Road - a mile from my house - to the intersection of Hwy 34 and Peoria Road - about 38 miles total - I didn't put a foot down. I stopped pedalling and coasted precisely once - making a turn in Harrisburg. Other than that - crank city. I also spent much of the ride working on one-handed steering; I was needing to keep one hand in an armpit to stay warm. 


I got to the ride at 9:05. This is a 9AM ride with a 9:15 "procrastination special" start, so in reality I'm nowhere near late. I have time to hit the Beanery for two(!) seven layer bars, which I'm pretty sure will come in handy. They look like the most, um, energy-dense offering, and my legs are telling me that, even though they're good to ride, the previous weeks' activities have left them without much in the bank. (Good. Good RAAM simulation...add "Seven Layer Bars" to the food arsenal). Torched one of them immediately, stuffed the other in the race bag for later. 


The ride is one of my favorites - Alsea Falls. I had a pretty good run of early on, then hung back to ride with  Joe and Tim and Steve a bit. Tim and Steve talk beer. Tim rides faster when Tim and Steve talk beer, a fact I file away with some amusement. It's great to see Lindy, and also great to grab a fig bar or two for the journey ahead. 


We all reconvened at the Marys Peak Road turnoff; it's rolling downhill to the hamlet of Alsea. I started near the back of the pack. This meant that by the time I worked my way to the front, Steve had some warning. He wasn't able to catch my wheel, but was clearly ramping up. I had a nice game of cat-and-mouse the rest of the way in to town. He'd enlisted one helper and they were clearly riding like men possessed - tongues out, hammer and tongs. I'd pick up the pace when I could pick out two helmets by color in my rear view mirror, otherwise I was loafin' - the bike LOVES that kind of terrain. The guys were exhausted, but happy with their effort, when we got to Alsea. Reminded me of a couple of dogs chasing cars...no chance to catch one, just love having an excuse to run fast and pretend. 


Corn dog at the Alsea store. Stick Food ROCKS!! The lady asked me whether I wanted "regular or jalapeno". I figured that this was akin to asking me whether I was just plain crazy, or crazy with a side order of stupid. Went for the regular. "They're not that bad. Really", she replied...maybe next time. 


Slowed down a bit after that - did the climb to the Alsea summit in "tourist" mode, just barely aerobic. Still avoided visiting Granny, except for a couple of steep pitches. Pretty similar pace to my Davis 24 effort - kicked back and loving life. No snow on top; we thought there might be a bit, but - nope. 


After the descent into Alpine, we climbed back up Bellfountain Road to the Midge Cramer Coastdown site. With the still-stiff headwinds, it was clear that we weren't going to be setting any outright records, but relative fame and glory was there to be had. The Carbent carried the day, coasting past  the marks set by  faired recumbents and a tandem, in addition to the usual array of DFs. Considering that I'd never done a true coast-down test before, not a bad outing. At the very least, I was dressed for it: my Castelli jacket is extremely aero - nothing flapping. I could've battened down the front vents for another foot or two, I suppose. 


Rolled in, chatting a bit, then off toward Eugene. This time with a tailwind, at least most of the way. Another 42 miles just clicked away. In a way it was effortless, just keeping pedalling, doing what I love and loving what I do. Somewhere past Monroe it came to me that things have taken a turn - that I'm racking up big miles (good) without much effort (better) and that it's not mentally difficult and I'm recovering quickly (best). 


RAAM is a huge undertaking. It was time to scale up. I'm feeling good. 

Davis 24 Race Report

I went into Davis without a whole lot of preconceived notions or expectations. I'd had two weeks on Rosemary, one of which was spent with a sinus infection, antibiotics, an insane week at work, and - no riding. Does this sound familiar? Yep - A little like my runup to Race Across Oregon.
Well, sometimes getting there is half the battle. This was one of those times. Fortunately Elise and I got an early start as there was a snowstorm in the Siskiyous. We got to visit a Les Schwab for tire chains:

As a public service announcement, here's how to put them on! http://www.lesschwab.com/videos_chains.asp

Between the detour to get chains, the LONG inspection line - mandatory chain-up, and putting the chains on (OK, we wussed out on that part, got some help), we were about three hours later than we expected to be - but still in plenty of time for racer checkin at Winters. I can't verify this 100%  but I believe I collected a hug from everyone who was at registration (though a gingerly one from Patsy as her arm was in a sling). It's that kind of a race.

We stayed with Lee Mitchell - an annual tradition that just keeps getting better - lots of friends, lasagne, and laughing off what might have been pre-race jitters. We were rockin' the Team Sandy kit, which had arrived the past week from Champion Systems - thanks, guys! - and I'd like to report that I got ZERO lasagna on my tee, even though it was very tasty. Here's Lee in action:

Oh, yeah - the race. We took off at 6:30 into the barely-light. Up, down, flat, rolling along. Weather was cool - I conceded knickers to the weather gods and I think it was a good thing. I was on a mission to NOT push any climbs, just experience them at RAAM pace. I think I succeeded - at least judging from the number of people I passed on every downhill, and then saw again later. Elise was a champ feeder. We'd made sandwiches the night before - a medley of ham, cheese, cream cheese, cherry jam, and Nutella - and she'd pull random ones out to surprise me. They were ALL good, so it was a lot of fun. We'd also gotten a half flat of strawberries from a street vendor in Williams on the way down - you could SMELL them from the road. And they were HUGE. And TASTY. Oh - the first time she handed off a hand-sized strawberry to me halfway up a climb, it was heavenly. They were so good, and there were so many of them, that she started handing them off to all of the racers around us - Max,  Mike, and Joan I know for sure mentioned getting treats.

Mike Wilson and I got off-course in Lower Lake, missed the turn onto 175. No excuses, but I was following him - got mesmerized by the lycra, dunno? - and we both lost 5 minutes or so before we got turned around. I knew that we'd missed the turn fairly quickly, so it wasn't that big a deal - and the extra adrenaline surge might've come in handy on Cobb Mountain - so it might have been a net zero - can't say.

I "turtled" on one stupid little bit of Cobb Mtn. Just too much going on, riders coming around, traffic heading both directions, and me pushing dynamically unstable - so I decided to put a foot down. Couldn't hold the position - the bike slid back - and over we went. Rats. The bike landed fully on top of me. I was giggling and I swear she was, too. We dusted ourselves off and restarted. No harm, no foul - just amused Mike and Joan.

After that, I continued on at a good clip - over Resurrection, which is actually one of my favorite climbs - mainly shallow, you know where you're going, and you can push it a little. Down and into the wind...should have switched to the motorcycle goggles right away but we waited until night loops for that.
The motorcycle goggles completely solved the night blindness problem that I'd had at Sebring. For those who don't know, the padding blocks air entry, which I guess is important if you're whizzing around on a hawg at supersonic speeds. Here's a picture:

Not fashion forward, my friends - not at all. But they work, and for $15 you can get 'em in colors. You can see the foam padding behind the frame.

I got a couple of pretty fast night loops in before I settled into a night rhythm. I knew I was falling short of 400 miles - my original goal - but I also knew that I could easily go over 355, which was the womens' course record (upright bike, set in 2008 by...I'll let you look it up...). I felt a little sleepy right as the sun went down, and fought that for some time. Red Bull helped with that, as did tunes. I'd had to abandon the earbuds for my ipod - I'm pretty sure they were contributing to my earache/sinus problems, especially considering the way I abuse them at the gym - so I had to get creative. I rigged a very high-powered headphone speaker to my helmet, and it works great. I don't get true stereo, but it was more than adequate. Definitely rockin' the house.

I decided to let go with a little more juice on the last full lap. I finally lapped Michele S, who I'd been surfing a comfortable hour ahead of most of the night. I figured that my 1:04 final lap was a pretty emphatic finale, but she apparently begged to differ, logging an amazing self-reported 13 miles in her subsequent 27-minute partial lap.

Breakfast at the Putah Creek Cafe is a given after this event. I went for the biscuits and gravy, though their scrambles are also quite good.

Shower and a nap at Lee's, then a long drive home. After a really ragged trip over the Shasta summit, the Siskiyous were clear. We celebrated with dinner at a Thai restaurant in Ashland which is definitely worth a repeat.

Aftermath -  I was impressed with the speedy (almost immediate) recovery after this race. Possibly has to do with the slightly more relaxed pace, but also experience and training seem to be coming along quite nicely.