Crusty Cassette

"Joseph is the Only Ride Rain Doesn't Cancel!"--Mike Riddle

"I wanted this to be the worst ever ride!"--Bill Arnold

I'm in my drops, riding hard. I've crested Bufford and though I'm still climbing that false summit, I'm making good time and feeling good. So what's the problem?

I can't see. The light rain that started as I crested made me flag down Leanne and ask for the rain gear I'd left with her at Bogan's. That rain grew worse and worse until my feet were soggy inside my shoes, the rain no longer danced on the pavement but left impact ripples destroyed immediately by half-a dozen new drops driving into us. Two things made this a puddle short of the rain we had three years ago: little or no wind and fairly warm temps.

I've dropped Dave 'cause its every cyclists for himself in the storm when you are running for shelter. My eyes, bad to begin with, are not penetrating sheets of rain not to mention the fog and mist. Ahead to my right I see dark shapes hovering off the road. It's on a slight rise. "Joseph Lookout," I think. But then I realize it must be the Rimrock Cafe. I look for a car with bikes on it. I know that Nicki and Mike planned lunch here. But I can barely see under the small porch at the entrance. And I'm spinning past when I do see someone step out and wave. I turn and negotiate gravel and puddles. "What are you guys doing hanging out under this porch?" I complain.

It's not just one or two. It's everyone. Well Linda's inside warm and dry having lunch with Mike and Nicki and Carol and Sean. Out ahead of us, Bill Arnold and Doug Goodenough are on their own having out run the SAG which has stopped here and shows no sign of moving on. Behind are Dave and Lee, further back, Lumin, An, Jim.

Linda's group had arrived just before the rain. Dave and I were among the first to start out from Bogan's but dead last by the time we had changed his tire four times and worked on the brake. Becky came back to check on us saying Chandler didn't want her to get ahead of him. He'd said he wouldn't ride Bufford but started out just the same. Got to finish it too.

We had already gotten wet on the prairie to Anatone. It hadn't been heavy but at Bogan's I pulled out the extra pair of dry socks thinking how smart I was to have brought them. The sun threatened to come out and we were going to climb so I left my gear in the SAG. How was I to know then that at Rim Rock I'd be ringing out that "dry" pair of socks and putting up with cracks about "how cute" I looked all bedraggled like a wet kitten. Linda's got a virtual kitten on her desktop so I guess that tells me who started that story.

We had four figs: Desginated SAG vehicles driven by Jan and Leanne and when Chandler showed up Becky came along acting as SAG as well. And Nikci had her car too. We had 21 people on the list but Scott Whitely hadn't come. We thought we'd missed Doug but he'd only missed us thinking we were starting in Asotin. He drove to the top of Anatone and rode the rest of the way. So with SAG drivers we had 20 people and nearly as many bikes. (Jan had a bike, but Neither Becky nor Leanne did.) Could we get everyone to Joseph?

Sure. Doug and Bill were already on their way. Turned out we didn't catch them until Enterprise and neither wanted a ride at that point. Mike and Sean had the full rain regalia including boots and hoods. They were ready to ride. Dave's recumbent had to go on his back rack and he could take one additinal bike on top. So how many bikes did Lance have in the back of his pick up this time? hard to tell. He was fully loaded with four I think. Then we added more bikes between the ones whose forks were anchored to bike mounts. And Linda's bike minus the front wheel fit nicely sideways between the tailgate and the bike mounts. At least seven.

We managed to get everyone to Joseph without making anyone wait for a second trip. In Joseph priority number one was to get dry. Newspaper stuffed into your shoes works really well especially if you dangle them over the heat fan in your room. I made a trip across the street to dry some things out at the Laundromat. This picture pretty much sums up the spinning for Saturday.

Sunday's forecast looked better but I had little faith in it since I'd expecgted chance of thunder showers on Saturday to mean little more than a dark cloud and a few drops rather than the down pour that didn't stop until sometime in the middle of the night. However, Dave's laptop forecast sunshine and tailwinds for Sunday. Well, at least it was mostly dry. We had a head wind from Enterprise almost to Joseph Lookout where we began to have a nice tailwind.

We've seen and felt colder mornings in Joseph. The ride in to Enterprise for breakfast might have been more comfortable if I used my heavier long fingered glvoes but we were fine. I even saw some bare legs. Brr.

I've taken some flack recently about pace but the head winds leaving Enterprise gave Sean and Doug and Dave and myself a bit of advantage. Doug powered out as usual. Jim went with him but faded back. I was hanging back behind Dave partly from my concern for pace and partly because I was feeling more sluggish than Saturday's 57 miles should have accounted for. Couldn't have been those three drafts could it?

We had some fun trying to catch Dave who hadn't stopped at the first big hill to remove a jacket. Sean punished Doug and me but now we were on the rollers and began to feel a tail wind.

It wasn't warm and at Joseph Lookout, we put our jackets back on. Doug flew by without stopping and Sean hurried off not wanting to get cold and not wanting that "bastard" to get ahead of him either I'll bet. Dave and I took it pretty easy. We had spent too much time at the lookout and I was shivering, transferring that to my frame making me even more uncomfortable.

Dave generally flies by on the down hill but today it wasn't safe. The rains made those rock banks calve like a glacier in global warming. The rocks didn't quite reach boulder status but some were big as your head while most were scattered like meteor fragments across the traffic lane.

Chris had ridden out to meet. He turned around just above the big switch back on Bufford. Mike and An, who had discovered what we all know that Mike's the best wheel to suck,arrived soon. Lumin with a tender achilles tendon rolled in later as did Carol and Bill. Bill had warmed up from his century Saturday and was now giving chase to the front runners.

Somewhere back of us was the peleton. They'll have to add there experiences to mine.

This is not a race, but sometimes it feels like it. For example, Chris headed off up Rattlesnake dropping Doug and Dave and me. I've never liked Rattle snake. It's too long and usually too hot. Not today but I meant to stay contained. Soon Sean came powering by. "Go push Chris around," I told him. He was diffident but later reported he'd held 12mph from Bogan's to Anatone and had caught Chris. Chris had kept going though so we couldn't get his side of the story. We just had to listen to Sean's--anyone believe what Sean says?

Too cold to wait at the top of Rattlesnake, Doug and I rode into Anatone and sat out of the rain with Sean waiting for Dave and then Bill to arrive. Rested and anticipating tailwinds, we headed off. Sean took off and Dave shot by and then Doug caught him too. It was all I could do to stay at the tail end. We were hitting a steady 30+ mph though I saw as low as 28 a couple of times. When we got to 33 or 35, I was out of gears. I had no more. Just as well, I was beginning to feel a bit unsafe on the bike.

Joseph isn't really a century unless you add about five miles. I usually get that by riding from home. Rained out on Saturday, I wanted that century on Sunday. That meant I didn't head home up Critchfield but rode to the boat launch--that's the one in Lewiston called Southway, Doug. I'd get my century by riding home going around the Blue Bridge first.

Bill Arnold rode in with us from Anatone and headed home with his luggage on his back. He might not have gotten exactly a 100 miles but he was pretty close to 200 for the weekend.

Mike reported 195 for his two days but said he didn't need five more.

And then Lee arrived by himself. "I've got 94 miles," he said. "I guess I should get going, then?" It was almost as if he were asking permission to ride to Hell's Gated and back to get his first century.

No permission needed, Lee. Congratulations on that first century. I'm sure you would have made it on Saturday but for the rain. Running, biking a century. Lee's on the move.

And for those who expect to ride in the rain (Steve, I'm talking about you), I'd like to note that there was not one fender onthe entire trip.

More Pictures

Pedal Around a Glacier, Eh!

The chip seal had driven me over to the shoulder where a narrow 6-inch swath of smooth pavement ran perilously close to a gravel shoulder sloping down into a thick undergrowth along a straight stretch of road 15 miles or so out of Nelson. The traffic was heavy and impatient and the day was approaching 80 degrees. Linda and I were swapping leads with another couple but riding easily.

Suddenly my tires went soft. No, not flat. I had slipped into the gravel. No time to think. Instinct takes over. I remember only struggling along the lip the asphalt made. I might have tried bunny hopping back onto the road. I might have sat back deep behind my saddle and tried to brake. I might have countersteared using my lean to give me balance enough to hit that lip and roll back onto pavement. I'm not sure any of that would have worked anyway. I remember struggling to unclip my right foot and stay balanced at the same time and I probably was standing and leaning slightly forward. Suddenly I was going over the handlebars, my bike rising up behind me.

My instinct here is not to fight the momentum but to fall with it. Mispent years as a boy gymnast perhaps. I hit a dog once with the same effect though that time I came down on an asphalt trail cushioning my bike with my body.

I picked a better spot this time--grassy, soft, slopped. I felt no impact at all finding myself a bit tangled in bike but unclipped and fine. A quick check of the wheels and brakes showed the bike was rideable though should probably be checked over. The whole thing was over in minutes and must have looked more dramatic than it actually was.

I told Linda "it sort of relieved the boredom." I mean, after a while you start seeing a calendar and stop paying attention.

Dave and Wendy used to do PAGE nearly every year. Since this ride around the Kootenay Glacier in British Columbia always takes place in September, I've always passed. Being retired, I had run out of excuses. Jim McCracken had us captive at Mt. Rainier and Linda, a sucker for any adventure, committed us to PAGE.

So while I was head over heals for PAGE, Linda expressed her enthusiam more conventionally. "I'm in cyclist's heaven," She expostualted after the first days 75 mile ride from nelson along Kootenay Lake to Kaslo and across a pass to New Denver. Later she did add somewhat ruefully, "Heaven has hills."

Picturesque doesn't do justice to this ride. If you are a desert fan, then never mind. If you like lakes, rivers, mini[-waterfalls everywhere, and a hill or two to climb, this is the ride for you. Fair warning, September in BC is problematic. Ride up into mountain valleys and you are likely to get a shower even on a nice sunny day. I managed to miss most of the rain fall but rode a good deal of pavement that was more than damp. Just depended upon where you happened to be when.

A storm brewed in New Denver bringing high winds and a drop in the temperature to just below comfortable. But it kept on blowing down Lake Slocan and settled into a calm, clear night. Should we have been rained on heavily for any period of time, we'd have risked hypothermia though. We saw 80 degrees only the last 15 miles or so on Sunday.

I'm a bit spoiled by the care OBR provides its customers. At PAGE The food was fine and plentiful but rest stops were on the economy--that is you used whatever the park service provided which wasn't always attractive. And this small time one man operation in its 14th iteration depended upon return riders to provide direction for new riders. Not a Dan Henry or an arrow sign anywhere. I spent a good deal of time wondering where I was and whether I had missed a turn. To be fair there weren't many turns. Still even the Canadian Road Department so no need to tell you more than once. You have to pay attention.

Most of the folks riding were Americans and repeat riders at that. Many came from Spokane and Sandpoint. The ride is a fund raiser for the First Baptist Church of Nelson which is fine. We had a nice opening prayer that encouraged us for being active. But it also meant that about every 3rd male cyclist under the age of 35 was probably a pastor of some kind. These kinds of groups are apt to break into song at any moment and we did get a couple ditties Saturday night.

So, why are you hanging around reading this when there's loads of pics over at Flickr?

I was reading Corrie's blog on the club meeting last Thurs. at Doug's and I realized I forgot to mention the best part of this year's bike month activities. We had a great time tracking bike miles all month towards our goal of 10,000 miles. We almost made the goal. I became a regular commuter during the challenge and I know many of us enjoyed watching the miles climb all month. This activity was fun... at least for me and I'm going to make sure we tackle the challenge again next year. Please take a look at the bike month plan for next year. I'll want help from anyone, but I think it will be a great opportunity to get more people on bikes.