It reads like that training ride up Smoothing Iron and to the Top of Mt. Misery really paid off big!

Steve

Corrie Rosetti <crosetti@cableone.net> wrote:

>Msg URL: http://www.free-conversant.com/crustycassette/402
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>Lake Chelan: It's nice to bike new country.
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>First congratulations to all TRC members who participated in the Senior Games and a special thank you to Pete who made cycling possible as part of the games. Don't miss the results and Pete's photos at Twin Rivers Cyclists <http://twinriverscyclists.org>.
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>Fame is such a fleeting thing. Consider Lance's cruel fate: to win all the races under someone else's name. Ah to be Robert Abernathy. He's so fast!
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>While Lance, and Pete, and Helen, and Mike Warnock and others competed in the Senior Games or rode Whitebird, Cliff, Debbie, Linda, and I were off to Wenatchee to win our own small victories and perhaps less fame than Robert.
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>It was like this:
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>A toast to the ride.
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>We picked up our registration, had a beer, listened to live music and pondered the direction of the wind on ride day. Friday night saw winds gusting up to 32 mph. The conventional wisdom, calm in the morning; nasty headwinds for the return. But Friday evening the winds were out of the north promising a tailwind. Need I tell how the tale of the winds turned out? I think not.
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>We had agreed to each ride his or her own pace today. With support, we saw no need to worry about one another. The hills out of Wenatchee saw Linda drop back with a first time century rider from Wentachee named Dale. The three of us stayed together to the first food stop but pretty much without joining other riders. Cliff had wanted an early start and the ride didn't even sport a starting line. We just took off about 6:45. Linda and Dale joined us at the first stop and the five of us took off together.
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>Again a hill separated us. This time Cliff and I decided to give chase to a small group that looked like a potential pace line. By now Debbie had dropped off the pace a bit too. The pace line was running over 20 mph and we seemed to have a bit of a tailwind as well. Cliff and I each took a turn at the front and were doing 24 mph for a time. Great fun until a faster pace line ran us down. One of us jumped lines and our pace line began to flag. Finally it was Cliff and I and two others. That is until we hit Cliff's promised big hill about 45 miles out.
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>Cliff puts it this way: "It's fun passing people on the hills." He particularly relishes doing it on a recumbent. I must say I agree with Cliff. Though we won nothing, finding that the hills were neither as long nor as steep as those we ride regularly was like winning a race. The first hill wound up from the river and dropped down on Lake Chelan. The hill was no worse than the grade but everyone seemed to slow to a crawl.
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>The tandems especially looked miserable on the hills.
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>The tandems especially looked miserable on the hills.
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>I liked that because on the level or down hill tandems came at you at about 50 miles per hour usually in packs of two or three with a school of singletons in tow. Very intimidating and demoralizing.
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>So Cliff and I took pleasure in climbing by four or five tandems on this first hill. A small victory.
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>We had lunch by the lake.
>A fine Grapple (apple soaked in grape juice).
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>Peanut Butter on Bagles.
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>Cliff, in his relaxed, recumbent mode, took the easy way to flat just before the lunch stop, changing his tire in comfort.
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>Cliff does it the easy way.
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>Linda showed up late and wasn't ready to go when we left.
>"How many more miles did you say we had to go?" she asked.
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>I heard some mention something about a "cute" little hill coming up (Novarre Coulee). All along the lake, Cliff told us about the big hill coming up. "it's not so long but it is steep."
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>That's right, there's a hill out a here.
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>Cliff  warned me too soon. I started my climb on a rise rather than the hill. By the time I saw the right hill, where nearly everyone was stopping to prepare themselves mentally or physically, I had left Cliff and Debbie behind.
>Cliff was right. This was a real hill perhaps as steep as separator grade and about a mile long. Once again, though, I found my rhythm and a gear. Gradually I was overtaking everyone I saw. At the top I shifted up fro granny increasing my pace. The rider I passed called "good job." A group sitting on the tail gate of an SUV called out "You're making it look easy." It hadn't been easy but unacustomed to accolades, I wasn't about to stop and tell them so. Besides Cliff promised us a long fun downhill.
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>He was right again. The morning had been along the Columbia river with its apple orchards and rolling hills. We had just climbed out of the Alpine lake scenery of Lake Chelan. Now we were descending through pine forests. The ride was beautiful and about to become tough. The closer I came to the highway and the river, the stronger the head wind felt. By now we were all individuals. Slowly I would catch a pass a single rider. That Novarre Coulee had separated the packs and they wouldn't reform until Entiat, the third food stop.
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>That meant we had to fight a head wind as individuals. Entiat seemed endlessy far away. I expected the food stop at 75 miles. It was another 4. The good news. Only 20 or so miles back into this head wind.
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>Cliff explains to the ladies from Boise.
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>Debbie refills her water bottle.
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>Linda's riding partner showed up just as we were leaving Entiat. No Linda. He said he hadn't seen her and thought she was with us. That worried me a bit, but I knew that she'd be okay both with support and with finding riding partners. I was a lot concerned about what her frame of mind would be when she hit these headwinds.
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>Debbie and I made Cliff lead off into the wind but I soon decided we'd have to do better than 12 mph if we didn't want to be out all afternoon. I was feeling strong. My knees were refreshed from rest at the third stop and we only had 20 miles to go. What's the point of putting in all those road miles unless it's to be strong when the going gets tough. I can't say I enjoyed fighting the wind, but it wasn't too bad. We maintained 15 to 18 mph into town and passed a few cyclists too. 'Course this is when the worst of the tandem terrors descended upon us. I tried to latch on but Cliff and Debbie were having none of that and I dropped back.
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>Back at the finish line, Cliff took us directly to the beergarden.
>Beer wasn't free, but the meal was.
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>the finish line.
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>We had a beer then cycled back to the hotel for a shower. We missed Linda who arrived perhaps half an hour after the three of us. She showed up knocking on the motel door as we dressed. "How's your frame of mind?" I wanted to know. She was exhausted but plainly happy and somewhat exhilirated. "It was pretty crappy, until I ate." Linda had skipped the showering part and gone directly for food. She'd had a great ride and didn't even complain about the headwinds. "I just put my head down and went." Small Victory.
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>The three of us returned for taco dinners and Linda joined us later. The rewards of cycling are many. One of my favorite is that you can eat just about anything you want in any quantity you want. We found an old fashioned soda fountain.
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>Cliff was first to get his ice cream and very obnoxious about it.
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>A super brownie sundae for Linda.
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>So we had many small victories today. Linda finished her first century of the year and enjoyed it. Cliff and I humbeled a couple of tandems on the hills. And we all turned in our fastest centuries despite hills and 20 miles of headwinds.
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>That's at least as famous as Robert.
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>For the Ride of it.  (next century: Winchester on Sunday. 8 am at the Lewiston boat launch.
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