Crusty Cassette

44 miles and I'm done for the day. On a Saturday?

Seems like more though. There's a difference between climbing the grade and racing the grade. Ask Bill Arnold.

He rode the grade three times this week getting ready for the race--I know, I know. Said he couldn't muster more than 15 coming in from Timothy on the highway against a headwind but found 21 mph easy in tghe paceline this morning.

I remember when this racd haad 500 riders and I didn't know any of the leaders. Now Bill McPherson, Matt Morra and son Brian,as well as our own youngster, mJake and Ben Jain. Seems like I know most of them. Even Lance lead on the highway coming in a couple of times.

Two of the top ten finishers.

Chris showed up holding back politely refusing, as usual, to accept anything but the least part of the draft on the front pack while I hung on desperately swearing at every surge by the leaders. Of course, Chris happily scooted on by when we came to Separator Grade. For me the race is pretty much over.

This year Lance has been training by racing so I did have to trade back and forth with him a couple fo times. And Bill Cone has been rumored to be doing lots of miles. The rumors are true. Somewhere on the flat before the Oasis he passed me back for the last time. Kathy says he's having a good year and he's got a new bike.

I'm having a good year. do I need a new bike. Easy Sean. No. I'm quite pleased with perhaps the fastest time I've ever done at 1:05.

Other TRCers: Tibbals on his recumbent. Lee Bauer, Bill Arnold, Marcia, Debbie with her wrist still wrapped. Doug reminds that he, too, rode the grade. He's been complaining about over-training and not being able to climb hills recently. Didn't keep him from shooting out in the first pack. I didn't catch him until half way up the grade. Must be something to his complaints, though. He let me pass him.

We dropped the barbecue but some of us met at Fazzari's at noon. Seems like this ride has diminished both in numbers and interest. I think it will continue to be the premier racing draw for our community. Still, we are planning our on little tour which also includes the Spiral Highway for September 2009.

A few more pictures

--Corrie

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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