Crusty Cassette

Check out a video of the Southfork on Flickr.

"This isn't a century," Roy said as he mounted up in Kamiah.

Okay, Roy. Will 95 miles and 4800 feet of climbing do?

Actually Roy really wasn't looking for a century. Neither he nor Jim McCracken have been paying proper attention to their cycling fitness this spring so I was a bit surprised that these two were the only ones who accepted my invitation to ride the Southfork. Doug had accepted but got called into to do server maintenance keeping him off the bike until 11am where he made do with a ride up Hubbard Gulch.

For me this was a revisitation of the worst ride of last year. After Dean tried to freeze me to death on Memorial Day last year, Jim tried to boil my brains by taking us from Kamiah to Hoots on the hottest day of the year to date. I said then that we should have turned back at the top of the White Bird Summit, headed down Mt. Idaho and enjoyed the Southfork.

So that's what I called for this year. How could I have known that the cold, drizzly weather we've been having would clear up miraculously leaving us with a disturbingly pleasant day for cycling on the Southfork?

Green everywhere you looked

Green, Green everywhere. Everywhere that is except for the blue, cloudless sky. Shirt sleeve weather at start time, a light cool breeze for climbing Harpster, chilly in Grangeville for standing about but just perfect for cruising along on your two-wheeler.

Despite severe undertraining neither Jim nor Roy was willing to call it quits at Subway so we got to climb those switchbacks through the trees to the White Bird Summit just for the hill of it.

I like this climb despite the bad memories of Steve Largent's having dropped me here like a bad headache when we first began riding together. REally, Steve, I wasn't challenging you to race.

Roy has his own memories. Having lived in Grangeville and only recently moved to Lewiston, he regaled us with tales of having time trialed this route. He showed us what he meant on the descent. Deep shadows, the sound of grit beneathe my tires, lots of twists and banks--all this kept me slow while Roy sank like a stone down the slope. "I know which turns have the worst gravel," he apologized.

No need to apologize, Roy. This day made up for everything including the nasty cold I had this time last year.

Roy suggests we could make this ride more doable by riding from Kooskia to the bottom of Mt. Idaho and back. That's be about 50 miles with very little climbing beyond 2 percent. The Southfork is definitely worth the trip to Kamiah.

Corrie.

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I'm tired.

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

Rain kept mileage low this week and Saturday I rode with Ryan, my youngest son, on our first ride together. He's inherited my Bianchi and plans to commute to work.

So I came to a Sunday ride with relatively fresh legs. Nicki changed the route I had expected from Heller Bar to Down River Road. To earn the 58 miles to mark Mike's Birthday we ended up riding all the way to Wawawai landing from the parking lot at Red Lion.

15 riders showed up including a second tandem sporting John and Carla on their longest ride of the season. In addition Jerry and Claudine, Mike and Nicki's skiing buddies, joined us for the first time on new matching Lemonds. They are returning to cycling, not beginning and we were pleased their inaugural ride was so well attended.

Lance and Janet didn't start with us but rode out to meet us. And Dan Johnson skipped the ride but did his share of the eating at El Sombrero's afterward.

On the return trip, I expected Mike and Nicki to step up the pace but that never happened. When Rory had a flat, Linda, Helen, Bill and Tamra seized the opportunity to get a head start on the rest of us. Doug had already headed and I think Chris had gone with him.

Now I found myself at Nisquallly John's riding with a tailwind but at a pace that made me impatient. I picked up my pace until my heartratte said 169 before backing off and riding in at 145. I saw Lance riding out, Jan already turned around, Helen loading her bike in Bill's pickup at about the 2mile marker. Bill got his workout riding back to Red Lion to get the pickup to resuce Helen whose efforts on White Bird yesterday left her a bit tired.

I say Linda dn Tamra for the first time as the crested the hill up to Red Wolf Bridge. When I caught up all they could talk of was food and Serveza. It had been Claudine's glowing description of Corona and Lime that had initially piqued my impatience.

At El Sombrero the service was a bit sleepy so Linda filled pitchers of water and brought out glasses. The wait staff showed up shortly, were excellent, and took no umbrage at Linda's non-unionized labor. They even provided plates for the lop-sided cake with which we topped off our dinners.

It would have been an unmatched cycling afternoon until I discovered not only were John and Carla contributing to Linda's wanderlust but Tamra begun discussing home improvement tips, techniques, and tales of crawl space adventuring.

Some people just can't seem to enjoy a ride for itself.

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At Polar Bear we determined all three of us, Chris, Doug, and me, had turned in 6 hour centuries. Funny, though, Chris did his in something like 5:51, Doug in 5:56 and me--5:59:52 and I had to work to get that. Not bad for any route including the Spiral Highway. Since we rode together the rest of the day, Doug made up his time on me on the grade.

We made the loop through Moscow, took Driscoll Road off the Latah Trail and headed south to Kendrick and back on 12 Stopping at both Kendrick in the midst of Locus Blossom Festival and again at the Casino.

Chris, of course, doesn't count even though he was doing his first century of the year. He's always way out in front but Doug? Well, he pushed me up a hill two weeks in a row. I warned him I wasn't going to race up the Spiral Highway and I didn't. When my pulse hit 161 at the top of separator grade, I dialed it back and let Doug and Chris pull off.

Doug stopped at the last big bend to get a picture of me making that turn. That was all the pictures we got though. I'd forgotten my camera and Doug's developed a resistance to working so you'll just have to take my word for what happened. Trust me.

Cute is a relative term!

The day was warm enough to start off in short sleeves and cyclists took advantage of it everywhere on the Chipman trail. The warm temperatures and clear skies did not prevent the wind from blowing. But, sssh, it mostly blew in our favor. We had a nice tailwind all the way into Pullman where we crossed Bishop Blvd and stopped at the convenience for a break before riding the Chipman trail into Moscow for lunch at Quiznos. We had light tailwinds almost everywhere else today.

Chris won't ride in a pace line. Still he let me suck his wheel for almost a mile across the Chipman Trail into a head wind. We passed through the tunnel and turned directly into the wind when I heard a chain drop from bigger cog to smaller. I knew it would do me no good to try to hang on. Chris is cruel. He drops back to pace as soon as he has dropped you.

So I dropped back and rode in to Moscow with Doug. Crossing the campus I saw a cyclist standing off the bike in the shade of a tree and wanted to know if it was Chris. Turned out to be a co-ed about Chris's h eighth. Doug gave me a bad time. "She's much cuter than Chris," he said. Then thinking better of it, he added, "Not that Chris is cute." Being philosophical cyclists, we decided cute was relative. Doug pointed out that Chris, relative to a warthog, is cute. QED

Chris complained I hadn't brought my camera. He wanted to see video of himself riding. Doug suggested he looked bowlegged and Chris said it's hard to keep your knees in when you have big thighs unlike Doug's toothpick legs.

Chris is Cruel but cuter than a warthog.

Cruel is Kind

Somewhere out on the Latah trail we came to a dead stop. Would Chris stop for a riding companion dropped mercilessly? No. Chris apparently has a working relationship with a menagerie of animals. Today only one donkey and a goat were on display. Chris began waving and talking to the donkey like on old friend. The donkey trotted up to the fence and began making not quite braying noises. Trust me!This is when we discovered Doug's camera was on strike.

I guess when it comes to donkeys it takes one to know one.Draw your own conclusions.

Rain? No. Rayna!

Between Troy and the top of the Troy Grade the road ceases its long decline and throws in one more nasty climb. Chris had been puttering around behind us from Lamb Road. Turns out the little Sammies he'd eaten at Quiznos hadn't agreed with him. Worked out great for me, though. I actually got to see Chris in my mirror as I held him off on a climb. I knew something was wrong, though, when he didn't just disappear down the Troy grade. Well, I'll always have that memory of dropping Chris up a hill. Wowee.

In Kendrick the festivities seemed quiet and we headed for the grocery. Who should hail us but Dean Weyen who had a woman by the hand. "Who's this?" I asked.

"My fiance, Rayna!" So, you may have heard it here first. Nice woman. Turns out to be a teacher. I guess that's an acceptable profession though it may not speak well of her judgment but then she's holding Dean's hand!

Topping off Bike Month with a century and a Sundae!

It was Doug's idea to top of Bike Month with a century. Sort of like the cherry on top of the sundae, he said.

But it wasn't sundaes he was pushing at every opportunity today. With Doug, see, you have to go along for the ride. If he offers you pepper wine or pepper bear, you've got to drink some at least once. If he offers you a salted potato wedge, you eat one. And Chris learned that if he offers you a fig, you eat it even if it just tastes like a fig newton without the yummy cake surrounding it instead of like the cinnamon bun Doug compared its flavor to. Johnny Figseed pushed his unwanted fruit on Chris all day long. He left me alone 'cause I'd already eaten figs on the Death Valley Ride.

Finally, at Polar Bear, Chris, had to accept a fig before he could eat his yogurt. It wasn't quite a cherry, but it did top off our Bike Month.

"Don't forget to log your mileage for May. If you haven't logged at all yet, that's fine. Just total up your mileage for may and drop into the form. Find the link on the club webpage.

For the Ride of it! Corrie