Well, 10 Wheels North did it! We finished the Fleche 24 hour journey from Corvallis to Olympia right on target. Fleche meaning in french "arrow" was actually for 10 Wheels North more defined as "straight as an arrow" where we rode the most direct route ending in Olympia than all other 10 teams that started at a different location, that also ended up in Olympia. We were the closest to 360k than all other teams (I got about 388K...aka 238 miles). And we met all the target times including the 360k requirment in 24 hours, actually way under. Our total time was about 23:30 or something like that...but really who cares about time, what a great ride it was!! And we picked the best time to do it, where all other teams that rode it in the rain the day before! See the Fleche website for more details, since I might not make complete sense since I'm not all rando literate quite yet. This ride traced back good old times, since it was retracing my journey from Corvallis to Olympia back in 2000 that I took when I migrated after finishing graduate school at OSU and started working for the State of WA. It's been 9 years since I came to Olympia and so much has happened in my life since that time. But doing all these miles kinda helped reflect on all those years, especially the physical part of it all:) And the 10 Wheels North team that included Ian Shopland, Corey Thompson, Josh Morse, Alan Woods and myself all helped me have a great time in the process. It was fun to ride with 4 other great people, riding all night and all day long!
It was great of Alan to let us use his house as our 2 hour layover in Portland as well as his house in Corvallis as our starting point. My team and me included are in debted to my Dad for driving me and all the bikes down to Corvallis while everyone else commuted by train to Corvallis. Thank you Dad for all the help!
It was truely an learning experience in riding throughout the night and feeling like I should be rushed but really we made all of our targeted points along the way...right on, or even several minutes to spare. Nothing like eating McDonalds drivethrough at 3am or a nice French bakery in downtown Portland to recharge the batteries to head north towards Oly! I could go on about the trip blow by blow, but that would just be silly! More importantly, this experience was REAL as it has helped me gain a lot of strength and training in the upcoming Race Across Oregon.
I got NO miles in the following week after the Fleche due to some serious prep work for Capitol Peak 50! However, I did get some long rides in this past weekend. I rode up to the Lena Lake trail head, meeting up with Heidi who was running up the trail. It was raining most the way there up along Hood Canal, and had a good time finding all these side roads that avoided Hwy 101 and then finally getting up to Hoodsport and the Hamma Hamma and confronting some good hill climbage (>12% grade). That was a good way to end a 7 hour ride, despite some faulty rear derailleurs starting off on the ride. But at least the derailleur worked for most the way.
Anyways, here's what's next coming 4 weekends look like:
May 9 - Oregon Covered Bridges 400K (Tour of Central Willamette Valley)
May 16 - Seattle 600K (Ephrata-Twisp-Okanogan and East central Washington)
May 23-24- Lewis and Clark 24 hour bike race
May 30-31 Oregon XTR 600K (eastern Oregon)
Yes, May is a serious training month, more than ever!
Stay tuned for updates about each ride!
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