enduring beyond the limit

My photo albums of PBP and France!

2011-08-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

Here are photos from a 90 hr free starter's perspective. No crowds at the start or finish but a great time overall! Thanks Hugh Kimball, Susan Otcenas, Gary Prince, Andy Speier, Chris Heg, Rick Blacker, Mark Roberts, Mark Thomas, Joe Llona, Joe Platzner and many others for keeping me going! And great to start off and come into Brest together as "Free PBPers" Also, thanks to Barbara Blacker and many others for all the great food at the gite near Uzel.
90hr Free Starter perspective:
https://picasaweb.google.com/johnpearch/PBP201102?authkey=Gv1sRgCNGJht-XnIH-Ig

I also have photos of prePBP, postPBP and Heidi, Elena and my camping trip at the following links...

PBP registration and some 80 hr start:
https://picasaweb.google.com/johnpearch/PBPRegAnd80hrStart2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmU8Pe0hpHg4QE

80 hr PBP start:
https://picasaweb.google.com/johnpearch/PBPRegAnd80hrStart201102?authkey=Gv1sRgCLiayLmLs8LZCQ

Pre PBP in Paris:
https://picasaweb.google.com/johnpearch/ParisFrance2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ7SwZ7X2cHMbg

Post PBP in Paris: https://picasaweb.google.com/johnpearch/ParisPostPBP?authkey=Gv1sRgCO7b5I6f8oSMtAE

Our camping trip to Frejus, Castellines, Canyon du Verdon, Alp d'Heuz, Chamonix/Mt Blanc: https://picasaweb.google.com/johnpearch/FranceCampingTrip2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCKusgJeVl_iTuAE

Great to see all SIR and ORR out there supporting each other on a great PBP!

I hope to have a more detailed report soon!

à bientôt!

John

Bonjour de France!

2011-08-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

This is one of the best trips ever! Heidi, Elena and I are learning french language and culture and are seeing very fascinating landscapes and scenery in the Riviera, Provence and Rhone-Alps! Here is a few of photos of our journey so far! PBP starts this Sunday, so I might not get a chance to post until after...so see the blog link below for more about my PBP standings....
And use this new link for photos from now on...

Au revoir!

https://picasaweb.google.com/johnpearch/FrancePhotos?authkey=Gv1sRgCNX4_cXdlvGvJw

France nous voilà!

2011-08-05T15:39:00.000-07:00

Photo courtesy of Jon Carignan photos from his France biking trip in May, 2011

Here is a link to the Paris-Brest-Paris 1200k that I will start riding on August 21, 2011 9:00PM(Paris time)...at 12:00PM PST.

http://www.paris-brest-paris.org/pbp2011/index2.php?lang=en&cat=accueil&page=edito

You can track my progress at this website...my frame number (aka bib number: 6932)
http://www.paris-brest-paris.org/pbp2011/index2.php?lang=en&cat=randonnee&page=suivi_participants

I will also be posting some photos of our camping trip around France here as well prior to the ride here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/johnpearch/France2011Photos?authkey=Gv1sRgCLz3mv2l-uCutAE#

Á bientôt

Crater Lake 400k+600k=VeryTough1000k My first 600k finish, not for the faint of heart!

2010-10-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted something here. This summer flew by so fast that I didn't have much time to sit down and write. Last January, I set out for new challenges in the biking world, more than I really knew what I was getting into. The main goal for the year was to finish my first 1200k brevet, which was Cascade 1240k the last week in June. As a result of training for Cascade and the drama that occurred during Cascade, I became very intrigued with more and more rando events as the summer progressed. Last January, Geoff and Vincent told me about this 1000k they were organizing to Crater Lake that is the last weekend of September. I thought at first, if I am alive by then after Cascade, than maybe I'll keep in mind. After 2 years of really intense Achilles pain from racing Race Across Oregon, I completely took the remaining summer and fall off from any serious long riding (in 2008 and 2009). I thought I would just keep the Crater Lake 1000k on the back burner and see how I survive Cascade first.

This year, I found out more how riding long multi-day rando events are not like ultracycling race events, (e.g. not trying to ride all night for 48 hrs straight until you fall over and not competitive). But instead more reasonable cutoff times that allows you to sleep some hours at the overnight controls or wherever else that you might end up in the early morning. I really appreciate this transition to Randonneuring from ultracyling (and my earlier days of ultrarunning and running races).

Riding the pre-ride of the Oregon Blue Mountains 1000k I learned a great amount of rando techniques from Vincent Muoneke, Kole Kanter and Vincent Sikorski. These guys got me focused and helped gain great confidence to finish Cascade. I thank these guys for all their support along this ride that is a turning point in my biking career. OBM taught me that regardless of how your fitness and focus might be at the start, you gain strength each day during the ride. OBM got hillier and hillier each day (mileage decreased/day but still was 12,000 ft of climbing/day), so it was a must to gain strenghth after each day. And keeping that focus of gaining strength after each day, this was a huge mental breakthrough for finishing the entire 780 miles of Cascade and many other multi-day rando events!

During the tail end of the first day of Cascade, Vincent Muoneke and I were both suffering up White Pass in the heat. Vincent convinced me that by pushing on from Naches to Lodgepole would give us a chance to "beat the heat" into the 2nd day. This was not an easy task riding more tired and really wasn't planned. We are still indebted to those volunteers who provided us a sleeping bag at Lodgepole. The jumpstart up to Lodgepole seemed to be impromptu decision and we only got about 2 hours of sleep. But the next day, we managed to get most of the way to Quincy before it got too hot and arrived in Quincy with plenty of time to recover for the 3rd and 4th day. This Lodgepole jumpstart strategy kept with me for finishing other rides well ahead of the cutoff times. I gained so much from finishing Cascade and what this sport has to offer, most entirely self-supporting and a sense solitude in the backroads in the middle of the night.

Fast forwarding to the Crater Lake 1000k, after the summer series that included Olympia 200k, Volcano 300k and the Border to Border (Bellingham) 1000k, I found myself more interested in the Crater Lake 1000k and was still on the radar. No pain in the Achilles still and feeling stronger and stronger after each ride. Late August and early September was not a big month of riding but it was a chance to ease back on the miles and still mentally prepare for Crater Lake. This was my chance to support Heidi who had recently got accepted an entry into the Cascade Crest 100, which was her first 100 mile ultramarathon finish. I’m glad I could be there to support Heidi during this very special time in her life.

The Crater Lake 1000k was not something you could just jump back in the saddle without the help of all the multi-day rides and required a lot of pre-planning in order to ride. I went to sign up for Crater Lake 1000k and realized that I had not done a 600k yet this year. So the back-to-back 400k/600k option sounded intriguing since it would allow me to get a 600k credit and complete the Super Randonneur Series. But after looking at the time limits it would require some extra sleep deprivation in the last 200 miles of the ride. What really made this ride hard for everyone entering (including the 1000k riders) was the midnight start, which is something I figured would be good to get used to getting ready for Paris-Brest-Paris 1200k next year, which also has a late evening start. The 1st 400k was from Bremerton to Pacific City and most everyone would ride together. However, the 400k/600k option was different from the 1000k that required the 600k portion to start at 3:00am Saturday in Pacific City, which forced 600k riders to have to stick to the more stringent 40 hour (9.3 mph) time limit, where the other 1000k riders had an additional 8 hours to do the last 600k. Thus, I knew that I would have to determine my own pace and not get stuck riding too slow or stopping too much on the 2nd and 3rd days (600k portion).

The nature of this ride was to be as unsupported as possible, with the exception that Geoff and Vincent would give us drop bags at the 2 overnight locations (Pacific City and Roseburg). We were required to book our own hotels and transportation home (i.e. Amtrak) in advance. As I looked at the time I would need to arrive at the finish in Klamath Falls (Sunday 7:00pm) for the 40 hr 600k time limit, I began to wonder if Roseburg would be an appropriate place to sleep in order for me to make the cutoff the next day. I decided to take the chance and thought I'd actually plan ahead this time, for pushing on like the Lodgepole strategy as Vincent and I did at Cascade. I booked a cabin up at the Umpqua Last Resort (48 miles up Hwy 138 from Roseburg), memorized the map on where my cabin would be and the caretaker said they would leave the cabin door unlocked ready for me to come in at any time in the middle of the night. I thought by reserving this cabin would mentally give me a reason to push on from Roseburg, no matter what other people were trying to convince me by the time I got to Roseburg. Besides, the Umpqua Last Resort was perfectly situated at the base of the steep part of the climb up to Diamond Lake and Crater Lake. If all goes well, this would allow me "beat the heat" once again as the forecast had a high in the 80's with lows in the 30s for the weekend of the ride. This cabin could also serve as a warming hut if the weather would turn grim.

Fast forwarding to the hours before the ride… I had my Dad take me to my friend Karen and George Wiggins (some good ultrarunning friends of mine). Thank you Karen and George for feeding me the best salmon dinner ever!! With fruit and veges from their own garden, I couldn’t have gotten better fueled for this long ride. After dinner, I was thinking of sleeping a little, but after a while, I just couldn’t sleep. I just lay on the couch and watched a movie until it was time to head to the start. Thanks again to Karen for driving me down to the start as it was raining and my drop bag was really heavy!

Arriving at the start just after 11pm, it was raining and so I had all my warmer rainy weather gear on or packed. We started at 12:01am and what a thrill it was to finally start this ride. Leaving Bremerton is sometimes tricky, and I missed a light and the lead group split ahead. So just outside of Bremerton I rode hard to catch everyone so I wouldn’t fall behind too much. I caught most everyone at Gorst and it was good to ride in a group through Belfair and down along Hwy 106/Hood Canal. After turning south off of hwy 101 towards Matlock, I dropped my electrolytes and figured I better stop and pick them up. When I went to try and get caught back up, I found my legs cramping and so I didn’t try to push too hard to catch back up. I hydrated and took the electrolytes that I was lacking and figured that it’s a long ride ahead and sooner or later I’d run into someone. But in the mean time, the remoteness from Matlock to Montesano with no tail lights to follow made it hard to stay awake. Caffeine was the best prescription at this dark rainy hour! I arrived into Purdy and got some coffee and a gas station Danish. Only a couple people stopped at this store where most pushed on to Montesano. I rode onto Montesano and saw the Rando party all outside the main gas station in town. I decided to not stop here as I figured they would catch me somewhere down the road. And sure enough, everyone caught me south of where we joined onto Hwy 101 on the way to Raymond.

This section of Hwy 101 has some good 500 ft rollers and I did what I could to stay with the pack all the way to Raymond. Everyone stopped at McDonalds for breakfast but I left on my own. I caught back with Ian Shopland and Eric Ahlvin and we rode together until the Astoria bridge with a few others that joined us. It was good to ride with Eric as he and I were both agreed it was good to take a break from racing RAO this year. As we crossed the Astoria bridge, I hit a huge wall and couldn’t hang with either Ian or Eric. I stopped at the Dairy Queen in Astoria to refuel and Steve Davis and Chris Heg came in and joined me. I pushed on and eventually ran into Kevin Humphreys. We helped push each other over the Lewis and Clark Rd hill, into Seaside. Upon entering Seaside we ran into Gary Prince who convinced me and Kevin to stop and get a quick shake at McDonalds (I couldn’t get enough of this place no matter how bad I think this restaurant really is). We rode to Cannon Beach together and a there was a larger group was there having ice cream, sounds good to me!

From Cannon Beach, got some photos of the haystack and didn’t see anyone for a while. There were several 300-500 ft rollers to contend with…as many have said, just because your at sea level doesn’t mean it’s all flat! But with rollers makes great geology to observe along this stretch of the coast. It’s amazing that these rocks are apart of the 17 million year old Columbia River basalts which poured down the ancestral Columbia River and all along the Oregon Coast as far south as Pacific City. http://hugefloods.com/Basalt.html
Despite all the hills I kept my mind on the beautiful scenery how the Pacific Ocean carved pockets or coves into these Columbia River basalts.

As I rode into Nehalam, I ran into Kevin and we rode together to Tillamook. Geoff and Vincent did an awesome job in finding side routes that would take us off the main hwy 101…as the Miami Folley Road was a good break from all the traffic along Hwy 101. We road into Tillamook and stopped to get food at the Safeway. I thought it was good to get some food and not go into Pacific City starving. Here I got me some cold chicken soup that hit the spot. Heidi called at the perfect time and it was good to hear from her and kept me focused to keep pushing on.

Outside of Tillamook, there was construction but not too bad as was described on the cue sheet. The turnoff towards Pacific City was a relief, to know we were almost done with this first 400k. We arrived on the overlook on Sand Lake Road in time for a beautiful sunset over the Pacific and Cape Lookout. I arrived into Pacific City at about 7:46pm. This was just in time before the Mexican restaurant closed…chicken enchiladas hit the spot.

The Pacific City Inn wouldn’t let us keep our bikes in our room so I left it outside my room as the care takers watched over our bikes for us. I shared a room with Steve Barnes and Joey Korkames who eventually came in later that evening. I found out later that morning from Steve that he had to drop due to mechanical breakdown. Thanks to Vincent for going to pick up Steve! That’s always a drag to have that kind of mechanical that late in the ride. After eating some breakfast and coming out to pack my bike, the caretaker moved our bikes into the hotel office. At 3:00am about 7 of us started the 600k. I couldn’t keep up with Charlie White and Ken Carter or Robin Pieper and figured I wouldn’t see them until Klamath Falls. I was riding on my own here and it was a so cool to listen to the ocean pounding on the bluff below. Later that morning I ran into Eric Ahlvin, Doug Kirby and Bill Boggess and eventually David Strong. The Otter Creek loop section had awesome views of the moon glow on the huge waves on the Pacific.
We all stopped at a nice little bakery in Newport that we had to wait a few minutes before they opened…but it was worth the wait to get yogurt/granola and a huge cinnamon roll with coffee.

It was good to see Yaquina River Bridge at Newport as this is where I worked one summer for the EPA before starting my career in Olympia. It was good to think of all these times that I had in Oregon that got me where I am today. As we rode south of Newport, we realize we missed the turn off of Beaver Ck Road, but only missed it by a ¼ mile. Beaver Ck Road had some nice rollers but it was again good to get off the main drag of Hwy 101. We ate at another McDonalds in Florence. But I figured this would need to be my last long stop for the day, since I knew I needed to push on to get to my cabin in a reasonable time later that night. At Reedsport, there was a large number of 1000k riders we caught up to or who caught us. Eric and I left on our own to head inland and didn’t see anyone else until Roseburg. It was starting to warm up as we headed towards Roseburg. We kept a good pace along the Umpqua River as it is all nice flat terrain along Hwy 38. We stopped briefly in Elkton for a refill on water and ice cream. Upon leaving Elkton, Hwy 138 climbs up several rollers in between the sinuous Umpqua River. I once roamed these lands as where I started in my career in geology and hydrology, while working for BLM in Roseburg. But back then I was not into biking and never rode on any of these roads.

As we arrived in Roseburg about 8:15pm, the sun was already set and Eric offered the extra bed in his room. Even though it sounded intriguing at the time, I knew I had to push on. I knew there was something that drove me to get to the cabin I had already reserved. Geoff reminded me that it is only 48 more miles on gentle rolling terrain and that it was a good idea to get this jumpstart as I had already planned. Geoff also helped me to realize that I should leave Last Resort by 5am to give me 14 hours to do the last 200k. Geoff and Vincent did this last 200k in about 12 hours in the July pre-ride, so I knew giving myself 2 additional hours would be a good idea. Others that had already arrived in Roseburg were showered and hitting the sack for a few hours. I called Heidi and told her I was feeling good to push on and thought I might be able to convince someone to ride with me. Eric and I ate at the Denny’s across the street. Eric had the brilliant idea to buy breakfast to go, which I did the same. I ate a big meal (chicken sandwich) then also got me some hot cakes and bacon that I would take with me. By the time I restocked all my gear I left Roseburg at 9:53pm. The downtime in Roseburg was sufficient that gave me a chance to catch my breath, restock and gain the confidence to push on. Ian was the only other person that pushed on who was camping somewhere up the road but left about a half hour before me. Even though it had been nice to ride with everyone the 2 days prior to arriving in Roseburg, I was ecstatic about riding on my own into the night. I figured I would eventually meet up with other people after I slept for a couple hours at the cabin.

Anyways, Hwy 138 up the North Umpqua River brings back many memories of working stream surveys for the BLM, which was my first job here in the NW, that launched my career in geology and hydrology. I couldn’t help to think of all the good times I had, moving from Ohio straight out of college and seeking new places to explore, either backpacking, trail running or mtn climbing. The North Umpqua is a very scenic river that has been in several movies (Fire in the Sky, The River Wild and probably more) but the River kept me from feeling alone and brought me to appreciate the beauty of the solitude that lied before me. It brought to realize why I ride long distances… to capture solitary moments in the wilderness that enhances our understanding of our surroundings. A few times a grip of reality would come to light, when some animal would jump out in front of me but luckily it was just a smaller critter that was probably more scared of me.

I finally arrived up at the Umpqua Last Resort about 2am. It was relief to get to the cabin and find the light on, heater on and door unlocked waiting for me. I set my alarm for 4am and fell right to sleep. I easily woke up at 4am without hesitation of falling back asleep. I grabbed my pancakes and bacon and glad I had some real food to start me up the road. I left Umpqua Last Resort at 4:50am and headed up towards Diamond Lake. There was actually some good downhill to start off but soon enough the climb up to Diamond Lake would be evident. Riding 6 to 7 mph was common and just kept moving forward (as Geoff described in his pre-ride report…Relentless Forward Motion).

A "Blur" of what Relentless Forward Motion looks like, an ugly site INDEED!

I only ate caffeinated hammer gels on this steeper portion of the climb. I was getting nervous that I was only able to keep an 8.5 mph pace since the cabin, and knew that I would need to keep pushing in order to make the cutoff by 7pm later tonight.

I arrived at Stump Lake where the Clearwater River crosses the highway and saw a beautiful sunrise over Mt Theilsen that is over 9,000 ft in elevation, sticking as a lightning rod above the Diamond Lake area. But it was still a distance off and knew I still had a lot of climbing, since the road goes near the base Mt Theilsen about 5400 ft.

Another couple hours of climbing, Mt Theilsen finally appears above the trees, this time straight ahead! I had the urge to get some coffee at the Diamond Lake resort. But once I got to the turn off to Diamond Lake, I noticed it was a 0.7k down off the course. So I decided to push on and just eat and drink my own. I had my bladder bag still full of water and my bottles were still relatively full.

After entering Crater Lake National Park, I stopped and ate a clif bar and stripped down out of my leg and arm warmers. It was just after 9am and was feeling good that I would possibly make it to the rim before noon. But I still felt the need to keep pushing to stay ahead of the cutoff time. The climb from the Park entrance to Crater Lake Rim was just as beautiful as I remember. There is a slight downhill into the pumice desert which has an awesome panoramic view of the Rim. Climbing up to the Rim was slow as predicted and once you get to the Rim it still climbs several hundred feet until you get to the lodge. But the view looking into Crater Lake is worth the 7,000 ft of climbing in the last 100 miles and worth riding 600 miles just to get to see the most magnificent volcanic caldera feature on this Earth!! Crater Lake also brings back memories to me of either running the Crater Lake half or full marathons, cross-country skiing on the National Park ski patrol or just hiking endlessly around the area. And now I can add…riding to the top of Crater Lake Rim as one of the memorable moments in my life!

I arrived at the Rim Lodge about 11am and greeted by Geoff. I ate some food just at the cafeteria as I didn’t want to wait at the lodge diner. Vincent arrived in his car and he kept me from lingering around too long. Doug Kirby and Bill Boggess had to drop on the climb and I appreciated how supportive they were for me. I left the Rim Village lodge a little before noon and descended to Klamath Falls. The first 40k to Fort Klamath was nice and fast descent without too much effort. However, once we reached Fort Klamath, we were routed on the west side of Klamath Lake to avoid busy Hwy 97. It was really hot by the time I got to Hwy 140, but at least I stocked enough water to make most the way to Klamath Falls. There were a few climbs that felt really hot along Hwy 140, but not as bad as the 1000k riders experienced who hit the long Crater Lake climb in the heat of the day. There was a one stretch where there was no shoulder on a climb and a truck was not very forgiving and I rode off into the soft shoulder but luckily I didn’t fall over. Other riders also experienced this stretch to be not very pleasant with some locals hassling by not giving enough room. As I entered into Klamath Falls, I followed the tcx file on my Garmin and went up an extremely steep 25% hill. Got to the top and there was a gate. I looked at the cue sheet hard copy and realized that they had skipped this…oh well got some bonus climbing in!

I arrived into Klamath Falls Olympic Hotel at 4:55pm (37:55 for the 600k and 64:55 for the 1000k total time), with just over 2 hours before the cutoff for the 600k. I guess all that worrying about making the cutoff paid off. My Lodgepole cabin strategy also paid off and somehow beat the heat on most of the Crater Lake climb. And I am so thrilled to finish a tough 400k/600k back to back, on a course that provided so many awesome views from the Pacific to the Crater Lake! What a way to finish a 600k and the Super Randonneur Series. Thanks Geoff and Vincent for organizing a fabulous ride. Thanks also to Geoff, Vincent, Kole Kanter and Mark Thomas for pre-riding this course in the pouring rain and on some rugged road conditions that forced a reroute making it more pleasant for us during the brevet. Thanks also to Vincent for driving me home, with the help of Bill and Doug who carpooled to Albany. And thanks to Heidi, my family, friends and fellow Randonneurs for all their support for giving me confidence to finish this ride!

See you all next year on the road to PBP!

John Pearch

Cascade 1240k - Journey around the beautiful Washington Cascades in 4 long days

2010-07-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Here are my Garmin files with a breif description (with highlights) on each day of my journey on the Cascade 1240K. Thanks to all the volunteers, organizers for being out on the course at all the controls and especially to my girlfriend Heidi Perry for being there at Quincy. A great ride with so many great views and memories that will last a life time! And congratulations to all who finished or who gave it their best out there!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

John Pearch
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”
Albert Einstein

Alplet Plus with bonus miles! by jpearch at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-06-11T16:31:00.000-07:00

Alplet Plus with bonus miles! by jpearch at Garmin Connect - Details
This is what I did yesterday as my final training before the Cascade 1200k. 11,000 ft in 100 miles all around the Issaquah Alps in pouring rain and no time to spare, I made the cutoff time by 9 minutes! That was one tough ride with very little time in the saddle, with a whole lot of 15-20% grades.

Day 3 Oregon Blue Mountains 1000k by jpearch at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-06-09T00:28:00.001-07:00

Day 3 Oregon Blue Mountains 1000k by jpearch at Garmin Connect - Details

Day 2 - Oregon Blue Mtns 1000k by jpearch at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-06-09T00:28:00.000-07:00

Day 2 - Oregon Blue Mtns 1000k by jpearch at Garmin Connect - Details

Day 1 Oregon Blue Mtns 1000k by jpearch at Garmin Connect - Details

2010-06-09T00:23:00.000-07:00

Day 1 Oregon Blue Mtns 1000k by jpearch at Garmin Connect - Details

Oregon Blue Mtns 1000k -- Full of Surprises!

2010-06-01T22:52:00.000-07:00

The Oregon Blue Mtns 1000k has officially been "broken in" (if you will) and has many surprises that will keep you "out of the saddle" in many occasions. This was my first 1000k brevet, and even though I've done Race Across Oregon 500 the past two years, I still learned a great deal while riding this course that John Kramer did such a great job putting together and organizing. Thanks to my fellow pre-riders: Kole Kanter, Vincent Muoneke and Vincent Sikorski for pulling me through. And special thanks to John Kramer and Eric Ahlvin for supporting us at the controls!

Purchasing the Garmin Edge 705 was the best thing I could have done for this ride. On several occasions, it was difficult to look down and read the paper cue sheet while descending, which was good to let the GPS lead the way. Thanks to Kole for giving me an adaptor to plug my Garmin into my generator hub that allowed me to charge my Garmin and my Busch Muller Cyo light the entire ride!

After hearing about all the cold temps and rain predicted for the passes, I decided not to bring my carbon bike but I still managed ok with my Specialized TriCross. Just was hard to keep up with the 3 other guys on the descents since I also had my 28 mm tires and a seat post rack and pack. If you have a carbon fiber bike with thinner tires, I would definitely have it ready for this ride. Just make sure the tires are relatively new as there is a lot of gravel on some of these descents. Also, be prepared for cooler temps on the passes (especially at night) and warm or hot in the valleys/canyons during the day.

The ride covered a lot of new territory for me on the 1st and 2nd days and was delighted to finally get up in the heart of the Blue Mountains. Kramer did a great job in setting up a great course, with plenty of climbing and with great valley stretches to break up the climbs, at least in the 1st and 2nd days. The 3rd day was nothing but climbing or descending and had more familiar territory to me since it covered much of the 2009 Race Across Oregon course from Fossil to Dufur.

Here are some notes from my perspective:
Day 1 Saturday (Departed 07:00)
The Dalles to Umatilla
The 1st day we had a strong tailwind the entire stretch along the Columbia Gorge. I think we averaged about 19 mph to Umatilla. We met a guy riding across the country at Roosevelt. There was a bicycle journal at the Riverview Market to sign in. There was also a family with their kids, riding with a double and triple. We took advantage of this tail wind and didn’t stay long at the controls. We only hope that the actual ride will have similar tailwind conditions on this first day. When we got to Plymouth, there was glass in the I-82 bike tunnel.

Umatilla to Tollgate
Along with the gradual climbing to the base of Tollgate climb, we discovered some big rolling hills before you get to the base of Tollgate. I think there was 2,000 ft more elevation gain between Umatilla and Weston than originally predicted. This stretch before Athena is a really good place to eat and hydrate before the big Tollgate climb. Thanks to Kole for hanging back with me as I had to go a little slower to work out some minor stomach problems. But it was also great to work with Kole on the long climb up Tollgate.

Tollgate to North Powder
The Tamarack Inn (bed and breakfast) at Tollgate is quite the warm and cozy place. I will be there volunteering on the actual ride next week. It was quite cold at the Tollgate Pass with some snow patches, so expect cold conditions if you get there after 18:00. We had to bundle up in our rain gear as it rained on us most of the descent to Elgin. Descending down from Tollgate the road has a creek running along the side that is cutting into the shoulder so use extreme caution, especially if you are descending at night. In other words, don't ride the shoulder unless you absolutely have to or you are able to slow way down!
Between Elgin and LaGrande is mostly flat and typical wind patterns are out of the NE (Wallawa Mtns) so you might have a tailwind here.
If you are among the faster that is expected to get a room in North Powder, The Flying J truck stop in LaGrande is worth stocking up on some food, since the smaller 750’ climb actually seems to go on forever after Union. Kole and I arrived at North Powder at 0:15, just about 30 minutes behind Vinnie and Vince.

Day 2 Sunday (Departed 6:09 a.m.)
North Powder to Prairie City (I nickname "The Cardiac Needles" section), which includes the Austin House control.
The 1st 20 miles was a nice flat and easy spinning that helped get our breakfast digested. However, we encountered there was no stores or even gas stations open when we got to Baker City, at about 7:30 am, Sunday morning. So perhaps if you leave early out of North Powder, take some extra food with you so you have something to get ready for the big Cardiac Needles. After Baker City, you climb up to a plateau that approaches the Cardiac Needles (which are the three 1000 ft spikes that show up on the elevation profile). These are substantial climbs that all are above 5,000 feet in elevation and it was chilly at the top of each of these passes. The valleys between each needle had beautiful snow capped peaks rising above them. Austin House is perfectly located at the base of the 3rd needle (actual name is Dixie Pass). Austin House has great food...Vinnie, Vince and Kole got buffalo burgers while I got toast and cheese/ham sandwich that was great to get those calories for all the climbing that remained this day. The climb up to Dixie Pass seemed to be not as steep as the other two needles, but the descent into Prairie City has a great view of north face of Strawberry Mtn, which was a highlight view point of the ride.

Prairie City to Parish Cabin control
The climb up and around Strawberry Mtn was a thrill. We topped our bottles off with the good spring water at the campground about 2/3 up the 2500 ft climb. It was very cool to cross the John Day River that was just a small tributary, compared to the larger river we would eventually see downstream later in the ride. After you reach the top on this Logan Valley Road, the descent has a large amount of gravel. After the turn right onto Forest Road 16, there are a few smaller climbs along with the stellar Logan Valley that is above 5,000 feet in elevation, with the south face of Strawberry Mtn rising above.

Parish Cabin Control to Dayville
The descent off of Forest Road 15 is spectacular, although, this is one place I couldn’t keep up with the other three guys. But I managed to keep plugging away after the town of John Day and rode strong with a tail wind all the way into Dayville. I thought that they would be long gone by the time I got there, but they had only been waiting for 10 minutes. I was pretty worked over and so it was good of everyone to have patience with me despite the pouring down rain while standing around the Dayville city park.

Dayville to Mitchell (arrived at 23:55 )
The next section was important to get bundled back up since we would climb about 2500 ft up Keystone Pass at night and in some heavy rain to start off. This is a long steady climb that is about 26 miles long and has a couple small downhills that are a nice treat.
But once we got to the top, the descent into Mitchell was so cold, that I thought I was going to shiver right off the bike. Thanks to my Garmin for directing me towards the hotel in the pitch black and rain, otherwise I might have missed the turn. We all decided to sleep in an extra hour to let the it warm up a little before heading out in the morning. The bedrooms in the Oregon Motel in Mitchell was quite pleasant and the apartments that John rented out for dinner and breakfast was nice too. John and Eric did a marvelous job cooking us up hot pasta for dinner and then omelets for breakfast.

Day 3 Monday (Departed 7:17 a.m.)
As I mentioned before, the third day is full of climbing and descending with very little valley riding between the climbs. I think we discovered there was about 12,000 ft of climbing total for the day. The climb out of Mitchell is quite pleasant and once you descend there is a sharp left turn onto Girds Creek Road that eventually turns into Twickenham Rd. This road is full of gravel and full of surprises as Vince will attest to… Read Vince’s blog comment and find out all about his near miss deer incident! The climb up the Rowe Creek Road had big strips of gravel that weren’t bad on the climb but it was tricky in places descending down to Hwy 19. Once we arrived into Fossil, Kole was waiting there for us for 15 minutes who decided he wanted to ride ahead so he would get an additional 5 miles in, to get his personal goal of 13,000 miles for the year so far, by the end of May. The store in Fossil was a perfect place to stock up on ice cream and burritos.

Fossil to Antelope
The 1000 ft climb out of Fossil was on familiar ground for me, that covers the last section of the RAO course. But this time, the fields were greener than ever! The descent into the John Day River/Clarno is one of the nicest descents on the ride. Once you past the Clarno Fossil Bed park, there is a 200 ft warmup climb before you actually climb the big climb. Immediately after you cross the John Day River, the climb out of the John Day (Clarno Climb), is one of the biggest of the entire ride (about 2500 ft in 8 miles). Once you reach the top, there is another nice descent into Antelope. If you’re at Antelope while the store is open, make sure you get some pie or cobbler (a la mode). The ice cream actually helped relieved my gassy stomach!

Antelope to Maupin
There is another 1000 ft climb up to the town of Shaneko. After the first 4 miles you’ll top off out of the valley and you’ll be in headwinds for while, all the way down to Maupin, especially on the Bakeoven Road. The Bakeoven can be really bad with headwinds but for us, it wasn’t as bad as other times I’ve been on this road. And drafting made a huge difference. Once we arrived in Maupin it felt really hot, as it usually is one of the hottest places on the ride. The Deschutes Pizza Co. was a great place to stock up on food one last time before the final push to the finish. The service was great and the food was fantastic. I think Kole and Vinnie ate more ice cream on this trip than all the Randonneurs combined. By the time we left Maupin, it was already cooling off.

Maupin to the Dalles
The final push to the finish was not as bad as it could have been. Last year the XTR climbed up the Tygh Ridge in blazing heat. But we were fortunate we left an hour later on this day since we arrived at the toe of the Tygh Ridge climb in the shade. We reached the top of Tygh Ridge just in time for a beautiful sunset. Descending to Dufur and only 20 miles to our final destination was a relief to know we were almost there! The turn onto the 8 mile Road has a lot of gravel, so use extreme caution when turning!! And be glad you are not taking 197 since 8 mile Road mostly descends all the way back down into the Columbia River and the Dalles. The lights of the Dalles was a so great to finally see! It was a pleasure to ride with Vinnie, Vince and Kole on this fantastic 1000k journey around eastern Oregon. We made it in at 22:07, giving us a total time of 63 hours and 7 minutes, with about 13 hours layover in the overnight!

Good luck to everyone riding next week! See you all at Tollgate!

John Pearch

Trail Work and Trail Running Clinic

2010-03-11T23:01:00.000-08:00

Capitol Peak Ultras presents:

Give back to the trails and come join us for trail work on the Capitol Peak 50 mile/55km course.
Trail Work and Trail Running Clinic

Sunday March 21, 2010

and

Sunday April 11, 2010

8:30am meet at Starbucks/TopFoods in West Olympia on both dates. We will drive to designated trail work projects in Capitol Forest.

Bring clothes to work on trails, water and food.

Trail work tools and equipment will be provided.

Bring running clothes for after the trail work.

Run will be 8-10 miles.

Pizza following the trail work and run!

Trail Running Clinic includes:

* Update on new modified Capitol Peak 50mi/55k course.
* ·Even if you’re not running an ultramarathon or Capitol Peak 50/55k, come anyways and learn the latest and greatest on trail running gear, running efficiency on different terrain/surfaces and sufficient fueling and hydration while running long on trails.

See you on the trails soon!

John Pearch
RD-Capitol Peak Ultras
www.capitolpeakultras.com/cp50mile.htm

NEW START FINISH FOR 50 mile and 55Km

2010-02-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

To make it easier driving we changed the start/finish for Capitol Peak 50
mile and 55Km. I also modified the course map accordingly. However, stay
tuned for more updates on trail conditions or potential small changes
to the course.
See website: http://www.capitolpeakultras.com/CP50mile.htm

A Finish is all that matters, Race Across Oregon, 2009

2009-09-22T00:19:00.000-07:00

Huge Thanks to my Crew

I realize July and Race Across Oregon 2009 was several months ago. This is probably too long for you to read through every last detail,…so grab some coffee first;^). Here are my most important thoughts before you get the gory details. I am so thankful to my crew…crew means everything in a race like this. I couldn’t and wouldn’t have finished this race without all their support! Thank you Cris Matthews, Dave Sax, Lee Mitchell, Heidi Perry and Linda Huyck!! You all are so awesome!!

After finishing with my crew last year Cris Matthews was still enthusiastic about coming back to help crew again this year. Lee Mitchell and Dave Sax were also recruited to work with Cris the first day. Lee “Fuzzy” Mitchel, a veteran of all veterans in the sport of ultracycling was willing to come up to be my crew chief, even after finishing RAAM in the 75 year old team division! Dave Sax, a long time good friend and track buddy from Muskingum College days also came up from California. The second day, Heidi Perry and Linda Huyck joined the crew which turned out to be perfect timing for many MANY reasons. (As some of you know, Heidi and I became an item last year because of RAO.) This year it has been great to have Heidi behind me every step of the way, in training and race prep, and everything else! Heidi and Linda drove from Portland late Saturday to the far reaches of eastern Oregon in the middle of the night. Thank you Heidi, Linda and everyone in my crew for being there for me. You are all what got me to that finish!! And thanks to James Varner for working communicating to my crew where the hell I was based on the website. Also thanks to Jim Szumila for crewing me during a training ride out to Condon in June. And thanks to all my wonderful family and friends for cheering for me, it was so good to here from you all!

Another huge thanks goes to Dave Terry (a friend and ultrarunner) who just recently passed away. I rode with Dave last year from Hood River, to the Dalles and up the Dufur Valley Road hill to Cooper Spur and back down to Hood River. It was about a 100 mile ride, but it was the day after a long 140 mile ride I did elsewhere out on the course. It was great to have Dave show me this section of course, since this part of this loop ride had the final climb in the new RAO course (up Dufur Valley Road hill to Cooper Spur). I didn’t get the chance to ride this section of course this year, so thanks to Dave for showing me this and inspiring me to achieve the goal of finishing and not worry about a goal of a time! Dave will be missed dearly, and I will never forget how great it was to ride with a legendary ultrarunner!

Why RAO AGAIN?

This type of race comes in many forms, more I could ever experience during my adventures in ultrarunning. But I have found a niche in this sport and I’m happy to say that I still enjoy being out there, experiencing the elements on the pavement. I felt more than ready this year. I was feeling up to the challenge of the new course. There are many things that I experienced out there that a lot of other riders also went through. I also faced the close cutoff time, which was really difficult.

So I want to share my toughest times in this year’s race, to give you some idea how I got to that point and then what I did to get out of it…

When was the toughest time?

Have you ever been in a pinch in time? Last year at RAO when I was riding so slowly. I thought I wouldn’t make the cutoff. But at that time, I only had 40 miles to go and 7 hours on the clock. I managed to beat that time by a long shot with a couple hours to spare. However, time was NOT on my side this year. So let’s fast forward to the part in the race that was so desperate…

The time is 12 midnight Monday July 13, 2009 and I have ridden my bike for 460 miles since beginning Saturday at 5:00am. I had just crested the climb out of Maupin, AND faced the huge climb up to Mt Hood that stood in the darkness ahead of me. I am still 56 miles from the finish, but I have less than 5 hours to finish before the 48 hour cutoff. That means averaging almost 11 mph on a major climb to Mt Hood. I have endured many levels of pain by now, fighting 50 mph headwinds, blazing heated canyons, and aching Achilles tendinitis pain since about 130 miles into the ride. I am beyond exhausted and the will to keep trying. I am feeling there is no way in hell I am going to make the cutoff by 5:00am and I feel it's not worth fighting the pain anymore. I was leaning over my handlebars ready to quit. That is when other people kept me keep going, and what this story is really all about.

What drove me beyond this moment to finish this race! Many of you know that I finished Race Across Oregon in 48:06, just 6 minutes past the cutoff for an official finish. Why not just quit? What was the point of finishing when I knew the cutoff was practically gone? How did I get to beyond this point after all what I been through!

The Training

As you are aware, this year was a good year of training for me. Joining the Randonneurs was a huge benefit that got me mega mileage on the weekends. This year’s training was much much greater than last year ever was. In May, I completed two 250 mile Randonneur Brevets, that were 1 week apart, and the following weekend did the Lewis and Clark 24 hour race (getting in as many as 323 miles and placing 2nd). I decided after all those miles in May to get in shorter and heavy duty climbing miles in June, which would replicate the RAO course. Biking new parts of the course, I saw for myself the huge 2500 ft climbs that I would face in the race after 400 miles, that made last year’s course look like Kansas. I didn't have a chance to scope out the portion of the course which may have aggravated my problems. But regardless, no matter how much I studied the course, unpredictable things came down on race day that made the event so much harder, in spite of all my good training.

As you can see from the results only 10 solo riders (including upright, recupright and recumbent) finished officially, and 2 unofficially (one of them was me), and out of all of us, 10 dnf's. This makes a 54% finish rate, consistent with previous year’s results,. However, the course still proved to be extremely tough, in my opinion and in the estimation of others with much greater experience...

There was over 40,000 ft of elevation gain and major climbs after riding 400 miles. In particular, the climb that stood out for me was the Clarno climb (John Day Canyon), about 2200 feet in 8 miles. It was set to eat me alive on race day.

Anyways, feeling great and with all that training under my belt, I felt certain of a strong finish, perhaps sub 42 hours! But who knew what the new course would throw at its riders. I was so relieved to have finished the training and felt ready for the new course. The only thing that stood in my way now was just 40,000+ elevation gain in 516 miles and whatever else that would brew up on race day.

The Start to Moro (121 miles)

Us solo riders were fortunate to start at 5:00am, which allowed the first climb up Hwy 35 on the north flank of Mt Hood to be cooler ,.
We all started off in the usual parade for the first 9 miles. They even let us take a quick pee break before we broke off onto Hwy 35. As the leaders broke away up Hwy 35, I kept as calm as I could, keeping my heart rate reasonable, eating and drinking responsibly. I looked up and wondered to myself how many people in that lead pack would drop. My guess was that half of the field wouldn't finish, and just I thought; hopefully I'm not one of them!

Rooky, Mike Maughan and I were leapfrogging somewhat on this climb, but before I knew it, Mike sped ahead and I wouldn’t see him until later in the race. The descent down Forest Road 48 was not as fast as it could have been, with chipseal, potholes, a few 100+ feet rollers and a 10 mile stretch with frost heaves! Those frost heaves were couple inches wide/deep and spread out about every 200 feet for 10 miles. We were warned in the pre-race meeting not to hold your tongue between your teeth or you might accidentally bite it off. I finally got down to the bottom of the descent to Tygh Valley and Time Station 1. Lead woman Karen Armstrong caught up to me and I was glad she could show me the way, since my crew was somewhere behind me. I had arrived only 20 minutes behind my target time and was still feeling good. My crew finally caught up to me a few miles down the road and I stopped briefly to prepare for the very steep Sherar Falls climb out of the Deschutes River canyon. Crew could not support during this climb, so I had to get myself whatever I needed for the 4 mile climb. I felt pretty good even on the steeper 20% grade switchback, and got to the top without too much trouble. However, as I approached the summit, I faced severe headwinds, which felt like 40-50 mph! We would face headwind for the next 50+ miles with only a few breaks. And the Race Directors said this would be a tail wind stretch!

I fought hard, doing everything I could to stay on the bike, not waste too much energy and keep eating and drinking. This part of the course was off the beaten highway, which added maybe 10 miles or more. I was distracted by this since I'm used to riding with the Randonneurs who ride the shortest distance possible between each control station. And the ungodly headwinds were still with us. However at Lonerock Road the road turned slightly to the NW so a tailwind sailed us into Moro, time station 2. There I needed to fuel up and rest from battling the headwinds. Joan Grant was also there recovering , so I didn’t feel alone. I couldn’t find a restroom to take a dump and ended up going into the town tavern. It had “no public restroom” signs which I ignored; no one was in the bar and I left without being seen, but who knows, there might be “Wanted” signs now posted for my arrest!

Moro to Condon (121-164 miles)

Moving slowly out of Moro on Monkland Road, heading east, the course led towards the windfarms and the infamous John Day River canyon. As we approached the wind farms you could see that the winds were truly whipping from the east, compared to my mid-June training day when they had come from the west... Along Monkland Road, my left Achilles started to ache. I hoped it was a minor pain that would just go away. But on Hwy 206 approaching John Day canyon I opted for some ibuprofen, since the pain was getting worse. And it started to get really hot. The headwinds had masked the heat, but descending into John Day canyon, the heat really intensified... I heard from other people that their bike computers read 106 degrees.

I had only taken 400 mg of ibuprofen to see if that would diminish the pain, and it seemed to work. I felt strong on the climb out of John Day Canyon. I passed a couple solo riders and felt I was back in the game. I tried to take it easy on the steeper climbs to protect my Achilles. Then I noticed a huge salt ring on my shorts and jersey, so knew I must have had a shortfall in salt during the headwinds stretch. And, on the final steep climb up to Devils Butte, my hamstrings and quads completely cramped up badly. It was so bad I had to get off my bike and stretch out. Dave ran from the car down to me and stretched me out on the side of the road. Several teams passed at this point and checked if I needed help. But within minutes, I was back on the bike impressing several teams that I pulled it together as fast as I did.

Once you crest the summit Devils Butte, if you look west over your shoulder, you can see Mt Rainier and most of the Oregon Cascades, but I was too much in a daze by now to worry about the view It was still pretty windy leading down into Condon. I caught up with Mike and Joan and we played leapfrog into Condon together. Mike and Joan’s crew were so supportive of me out there! Mike’s crew chief, Glenn Johnson, was on the loud speaker with Mike, playing some rock ‘n roll. It gave me an extra lift, too.

It was so good to be back in the game again, but the pain in my Achilles kept reminding me that I should slow down. I maintained contact with Mike (that is eye contact of course, not drafting contact). Then, Mike let me pass him somewhere outside of Condon and I wouldn’t see him until later that evening. Now I entered a section of the course where I hadn’t trained. Since the descents and climbs were an unknown, I would have to consult with my crew.

Condon to Heppner (164-207 miles)

My memory is not good in this stretch, since I was more focused on eating, drinking or just pedaling. With some major climbs ahead, (“speed bumps” the race directors call them) and the day still quite warm, I slowed my pace slightly. Just a few miles before Heppner I put lights on. Descending into Heppner it concerned me that Lee was driving close on my tail, but I soon got used to it.…”Well,” I thought, “if he hits me, it will be over really quick!”

I arrived in Heppner feeling somewhat optimistic and in good spirits to continue. There were so many solo and team people hanging around, it felt like the race was finished, but we were only 207 miles into the race! Many people had dropped at this point, or at Moro, which and I didn’t know at the time….thank God for that because I might have decided to drop myself. A lot of carnage out there from the headwinds! I felt I should push on and then Heidi called in and gave me some positive motivation. I didn’t tell her about my Achilles pain, since I needed her to feel confident that I could get to Spray (mile 358)…but also my own motivation if times got rougher.…and let me tell you, times got more than rough out there!!

Heppner to Dale (207-285 miles)

Leaving Heppner, I could see several teams flying ahead of me and knew that there was no way to catch them. I was all on my own and riding into the dark. There were 3 climbs that gradually would steepen as we got towards Hwy 395. I could feel myself fading and a short nap was urgent. So only a mile or two on Hwy 395, I decided to get some rest. I knew there was a 12 mile climb ahead of me over Battle Mtn and then several more climbs before dawn. So we all stopped and got a good 20 minutes sleep. Then it was back on the bike, but I was having trouble getting enough calories in me. It was slow going to crest Battle Mtn, and for the first time I started to feel out of touch with the rest of the race. Despite stomach issues, the most appealing food throughout the night and previous day was yogurt smoothies, although Ensure Plus and mashed potatoes seemed to work later on. There were a bunch of other food items out there that worked but these were the most memorable.

The new course was supposed to travel the FS 53 road/Willow Creek Road, but due to major road damage, we were routed south on Hwy 395. I was very thankful that we avoided Willow Creek road, since it climbed over 5,000 feet in elevation would have been incredibly tough. Dawn arrived, and the descent into Camus Creek canyon. The race directors had said, “It’s too bad you won’t see Camus Creek canyon since it will be dark when you go down through it”…Well guess what, I did get to see how beautiful the canyon was. But despite the great view, my stomach really started took a nose dive and I couldn’t take down any food for a while. Sandy Earl passed me during this point as well looking really strong. I was feeling exhausted beyond belief, looked at the time and saw that we were 24 hours into the race and I had only gone 276 miles!. I had expected to cover at least 300 miles in 24 hours…where did all the time go? I became very disappointed, thinking how many miles I had to go (which is a big NO NO to do in any long distance event like this). Doing the math in my head, I knew I would need to keep about a 10 mph average pace for the remaining 24 hours, and how could I do that with my ongoing Achilles pain!

Arriving in Dale time station, I was ready for a break... I sat in my car, unwilling to go further. John Henry Maurice was there still working the time station, even though it was 6am and he was told he could stop working at 3 am. He’s a fellow Randonneur, and how great it was to see him out there. I was ready to drop, but I knew Heidi and Linda would be waiting for me in Spray. I tried to get my crew to call Heidi but the pay phones were out of service and there was no cell service down in the canyon. After maybe 30 minutes, I told Lee I wanted to drop, and he said “Dropping is not an option at this point.” So I immediately got on my bike to get to Spray and Heidi, and to try to get out of this “low” I was in.

Dale to Spray (285-358 miles)

I rode out of Dale very slowly. It started to rain and I stopped to get some rain gear on, which was kind of useless, since the storm quickly passed and the temperature warmed up just minutes later. I finally got in a groove on one of the climbs south of Dale. It was now warm but not hot yet.

As I crossed over the Middle Fork of the John Day River, I noticed a racer ahead. It was Mike and he didn’t look too good... I gave his crew some advice on what worked for my stomach issues. I felt bad I couldn’t hang out to encourage Mike but that might draw me under mentally, and I had already used up my 15 minute “social time”. Even though it might have been disappointing for Mike, it made me realize that I am still in this race, competing and willing to keep going the distance. I pushed on thinking that I might start catching other riders ahead.

As I crested the climb out of the Middle Fork, Dave yelled from the car that Heidi and Linda were on their way and only minutes from reaching us! I was thrilled to hear this! As I kept my strong pace going, the crew stopped for awhile to get familiar with each other and update Heidi and Linda on my status. I arrived in Long Creek and saw another RAO crew car, which provided more inspiration continue. As I climbed up out of Long Creek on Hwy 402, I passed Sandy and gave her encouragement... Just beyond Sandy, I saw Joan Grant on the road side not looking so good. There again, I really wished I could stop awhile and support her, but knew I had to keep pushing myself along.

I got to the top of the Hamilton climb feeling great. Ecstatic: that I was still in this race and that a finish was now within reach. Would I be able to make the 48 hour cutoff? I was beyond caring; I just wanted to keep pushing and not worry about time. I descended down into Monument and somewhere on the descent Mike’s crew car (Glenn) yelled at me on his loud speaker “way to get back into the game John!” Mike had dropped and they were heading home. Mike rode a great race and he should definitely come back and get his revenge.

As I arrived in Monument, the day began to heat up, so I briefly stopped and lathered up with sunscreen... While doing so, Sandy passed me. I tried to catch her, but never succeeded. I was gradually fading, even taking close to 400-500 calories per hour--mashed potatoes and Ensure Plus. When I arrived at the Hwy 19 turn and still hadn’t caught Sandy. I knew I was on my own again. I figured, no sense in trying to push too hard and get my Achilles aching again.

Linda and Cris were in the second car and they drove ahead to Spray to get some ice and other supplies. Just a mile before Spray I saw a pit toilet at a roadside stop. I figured I’d better stop and take a dump before getting to Spray. At this point it was approaching 100 degrees. Heidi and Dave both jumped into the river and Heidi gave me a nice wet hug to cool me down. I wished I could jump in the river myself. I arrived into Spray feeling very hot and there was my crew, waiting in the shade. I just ate one quick bite, feeling very sluggish, and slowly got going again.

Spray to Maupin (358-457 miles)

The headwinds were back as I left Spray and I was really fading. I approached the Butte Creek Pass climb and long this climb was. I had not climbed Butte Creek Pass, only descended it. Heidi fed me a cold milk shake and popsicle, which gave me a boost, but it seemed this climb just wouldn’t stop, nor would the wind! Butte Creek Pass climb was 2100 feet of gain in 10 miles. Finally, getting to the top, Heidi and Dave had some soup waiting for me. While stopped to eat briefly, Joan passed looking a lot better than when I saw her on the Hamilton climb.

Descending to Fossil, Dave played some music on the PA system. One song I will never forget was the “Cookie Monster” song. It put a smile on my face and a little humorous touch in the midst of all this madness. I arrived into Fossil feeling optimistic that a finish was still reachable, but I knew what was just ahead on the course. I had trained on it--it was a major climbing section.

Climbing from Fossil I could see a thunderhead looming above The closer I got to the pass, the worse it looked, and my crew still hadn’t caught up to me. But they caught me just before the summit and I stopped to put some rain gear on. It poured and hailed on the descent into John Day canyon. But at the bottom of the canyon the sun came out and warmed us up again. I shed my layers and kept them off as I prepared for the infamous Clarno climb, out of the canyon. I got to the John Day River feeling ready, and saw Joan just ahead. I had to make a quick pit stop, and then was able to catch her. Although there is no such thing as drafting in this race, it is good to work and leapfrog with. Passing Joan on the climb I said, “Let’s work together for the finish!” She was stronger on the descents than I was, so eventually, after this monster of a climb, passed me just before the town of Antelope. I stayed behind her on the climb out of Antelope and kept her in sight. It was still windy and warm on the climbs but the descents were brisk. So I had to change in and out of clothes.

As we crested the climb out of Antelope the winds really picked up. It was 30 miles to Maupin and I calculated how much time this descent into Maupin usually took. I thought it would be about one and a half hours, even with a headwind--but then I was practically fresh during a 140 mile training ride! When I arrived into the town of Shaniko, my crew told me to turn right onto Hwy 97. I said, NO WAY!…The course description must be WRONG!! I knew the course well enough to turn left, as I had in training. It paid to really know the course in this circumstance!

Leaving Shaniko, I raced to catch Joan, but now I could see a huge thunder storm just north of Bakeoven Road. This road is 25 mile, and a 3,000 feet descent, into Maupin (in the Deschutes River canyon). When I rode this section in training, it had been windy with major headwinds but I had not ridden at night with a major thunderstorm nearby. Bakeoven was deceptive, providing a nice tailwind at first, which felt like being launched into outer space. The lightning show was awesome too--something to keep my mind off the pain of my Achilles. But then the road turned ever so slightly west and right smack into an unbearable headwind! The first part of Bakeoven is steep, but all I could manage was 25 mph and a slower 12-15 mph on a gradual descent, all the time getting whipped around like a wind sock. I eventually caught Joan again and we passed quickly since there was very little shoulder. We would leapfrog back and forth on this stretch since I had to constantly stop to pee. Peeing off the bike was not an option, since it was just too windy! This was by far the toughest part of the course. I thought I would get to Maupin by 10pm, but instead the section took about 3 hours, which put Joan and I into Maupin at 11:25pm. This put both of us in a major time bind but I felt ready to continue on. It was going to be close to get to the finish in less than 6 hours. As I was about to leave I saw Joan laying down. She said she was dropping and I congratulated her for all her efforts and had been really glad to have her out there closeby. Her crew told her that it would have been really tough for her to finish by 5am. I find out later that she was saving herself for another 500 miler later on this summer. Joan just recently finished Hoodoo 500 and broke the womens course record! Way to go Joan!!

Maupin to the Finish! (457-516 miles)

I slowly moved forward across the Deschutes River bridge, slowly into the center of Maupin and extremely slow to the upper terrace of Maupin. I was convinced there was no way in hell I could go any faster, creeping only 3-4 mph out of the steep canyon. I kept thinking about Joan dropping; I kept thinking how my Achilles hurt; I kept thinking about the damn headwinds; I kept thinking that my time would put me in after the cutoff; I kept thinking about what my crew was willing to do to keep me going. I felt ridiculous in continuing on and kept focusing on all the reasons to drop.

I had reached the point I wrote about in the beginning. Leaning over my handlebars, I felt completely shattered, believing that dropping was my only option. But was I going to let the course get the best of me? Was I going to just drop because I didn’t want to be humiliated finishing “so close” to the cutoff? My crew huddled around me. They were all so supportive, feeding me positive thoughts. I remember saying to them that I’d never dropped before in a race. And they immediately responded, “Who said anything about dropping?” I told Heidi that I could ride until I got to the 48 hour time limit, judge my distance from the finish, and then just ride into the finish for the hell of it! Heidi told me that was a very noble goal and that I should go for it. The crew was all willing to stay with me all the way to the finish, even without much sleep. They would make sure they could see me finish no matter what the time was. I was inspired by this, but also kind of torn because the problems still had not gone away. Lee said, “Let’s just get down the road a little bit.”

It’s that simple. Just get going again and see how much further I can ride; like the game I was playing earlier in this race but lost along the way!! I was off again, and now way WAY faster than 4 mph, more like 18-20 mph on a flat. I found my second wind, and the headwinds died down. Ahead was the 1500 ft, 7 mile climb to Tygh Ridge summit and the final climb up Mt Hood. But with no winds, I could ride up Tygh Ridge at 10-12 mph and still feel very strong. Stronger than I had the entire ride! I stopped thinking about how far behind I was and focused on increasing the pace. I was so thrilled to have a crew willing to be there for me all the way to the finish. That really inspired me to dig in and move! Now having a second car really paid off (thanks to Cris and Linda)…as I could watch the tail lights and look ahead and move forward towards them.

I crested Tygh Ridge summit and it felt so good to know I had only one more climb, even if it was one of the biggest. There was a slight uphill off Hw

y 97 that I could coast up and over into the town of Dufur. I realized it was 34 miles to the finish and mostly all uphill (about 3500 feet of climbing) with 3 hours left on the clock. On the flats of Dufur Valley road I kept pushing at a respectable 17 mph pace. My crew gave me about 600 mg of ibuprofen that would hopefully endure the pain in my Achilles all the way to the finish.

The road towards Hood eventually steepens a great deal, slowing me to an 8-10 mph pace. I was going all out and still had about 30 miles to go. As I wondered how much longer I could keep this pace, my crew played music to keep me motivated. Lee’s PA s

ystem came in handy with Crystal Method and some Michael Jackson Heidi through in, for the fun of it. I was biking uphill like a machine. I finally reached the point where the road turns to Hwy 44. A few more climbs followed, just enough to keep me from coasting at a faster pace. And then I finally reached Hwy 35.

Now I had to drop down Hwy 35 for 3 miles and then climb 4 miles to the finish. I got to the Cooper Spur cutoff road turnoff around 4:30am and knew it was going to be tough to do 8 mph up to the finish. I just couldn’t go fast anymore. The birds were starting to chirp; not the most pleasant thing to hear as I tried to hold back dawn and the tick of the clock. I might be able to pull this off, but on this last climb I just could not push any faster. I finally got to the Cooper Spur resort with 1.8 miles left up the Cloudcap road to the finish and 10 minutes on the clock. I gave up; it was too tough to push anymore. I figured, what the hell, I’ve been out here to finish and that’s what I’m about to do!

I finished the race in 48:06, just 6 minutes past the cutoff. George, the RD, was there waiting and happy that I finished. I was so thrilled I told him that a finish was good enough for me today! George still gave me an official finishers medal even though I had missed the cutoff. My crew all came over and gave me a huge hug. We were all in tears and it felt so good to finally be done!

I realized that I wouldn’t have finished without my magnificent crew. They all worked together to keep me going and I am forever indebted to them.

And despite missing the cutoff by 6 minutes, had I kept the same slow pace when I left Maupin, it might have been 50 hours and 6 minutes. I actually feel pretty damn good that I was able to push the last 59 miles in the time that I did (in 5 hours, 41 minutes). I kno

w for certain that all the training I did out there really did pay off. I also know that it took a lot of courage to finish this race, no matter how much it hurt or no matter how close to the cutoff time I really was. I’ll take a finish any day! It was great to hear that Brian Martin finished as well, even after a tough night, way more courageous than me by finishing 5 hours and 45 minutes after the cutoff!!

I was later awarded, all for the fun of it, at he awards banquet 1.) a box of tissues, 2.) a calculator for my crew chief 3.) and a kids baseball playset that said "first base" on it, since I was caught kissing Heidi and they presented jokingly that even though I didn't make the cutoff, at least I made it to first base with Heidi. This is definitely the funnest awards banquet I've ever been to!!

Once again I learned many things along the way that will help me greatly in future ultracycling events. I'm already looking forward to next year Randonneurs Cascade 1200!

Thank you again, crew, and thanks to everyone else who has helped me realize that finishing is so much more!

Two weeks until the start!

2009-06-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

I must say, after 5 weeks of intense hill climbing, I feel much better prepared for Race Across Oregon. Way more prepared then I ever was last year at this time! How?
Well, after getting my long LONG miles under my belt in April and May, I began my June rides to focus more on climbing...as much vertical I could in the shorter distances. Here's what I did on rides in June:

May 30: Climb up Baker Hwy - with 3500 feet 22 miles (total of 44 miles w/ descent)
May 31: Tacoma to Lacey (via Rainier) - 95 miles (w/ smaller hills)

June 6: Maupin to Fossil out and back - 12,000 ft climbing in 136 miles! "Out was 7,000 ft in first 63 miles at Fossil Pass. "Back" was 5,000 ft in first 43 miles to Shaniko.
This ride is got to be the tougest ride that's out in Eastern Oregon!! Where else can you get that much climbing in the dryer part of the state! It's going to be tough when I hit the Clarno climb out of the John Day Canyon after 400+ miles into RAO...but I am NOT worried!!

June 7: Hood River to Forest Road 44 and Cooper Spur - 7,000 ft climb in 72 miles. Most elevation gain was in first 30 miles!! This was a relaxed ride after such a tough ride the day before. Easy long descent up Hwy 35 and then steeper climb on FS 44 road. Was a cold descent coming down FS44. Climbed up to the potential finish of RAO at Cooper Spur, and event went to the end of pavement on Cloudcap Rd but not sure if this is the finish or just at the Cooper Spur lodge. Who knows. The website is still vague on a lot of the course, but oh well, we'll know soon enough and it will be that much more of a surprise!!

June 13: Centralia- Winlock Vader area loop - about 2,100 ft climbing in 68 miles
Had to bail on riding up in the high country, due to thunderstorms. So I chose riding as many steep hills in Centralia area to get what I could in. Rode this with English Steve so he could get familiar with the hills for Twin County double metric. I rode a few of the side hills off the direct route course and found myself climbing some hills that were 20% or greater--Johnson Rd, just north of Vader to be specific. After the ride, Jim picked me up in Centralia and we drove down to Maupin later that eve.

June 14: Maupin to Condon, Oregon - about 7,000 ft of climbing in 91 miles- with climb up Deschute River and John Day canyons! This ride had a nice easy tune up along the Deschutes River. After passing the Sherar's Falls, you climb up the Sherar's Bridge Hwy and there's like 2,000 ft in only 4 miles!! Then there are all these turns on the RAO course to learn from Grass Valley to Moro and Monkland, that was good to identify. Jim accidentally missed Lone Rock Rd (which is EASY to miss) and he ended up driving to where the road turned to gravel and then ended because of the John Day Canyon wall! But he got my attention on the cell phone (yes very sparse cell phone coverage here in bforegon) early and I took the turn where I needed to and he caught back up to me. Moro to Monkland and 207 was also really neat with all the wind farms that you rode right by. Then the climb up out of the John Day canyon to the top of Devils Butte was one long climb 2500 ft in 10 miles - but on race day will be great to finally see the views of the entire Cascade Range. No view on this day. Felt good overall and ate lots of caleries without a problem. This was good to get this stretch figured out. Condon to Long Creek will have to wait to see on race day but this will be early enough in the race and a lot at night. Hopefully the late afternnon heat won't completely destroy me in the exposed dry section east of Heppner!!

June 20: Hurrican Ridge +Black Diamond +Olympic Hotsprings x 2 - total 9,700 ft of climbing in 72 miles. Hurricane Ridge was 5200 ft in 1st 17 miles!!
What a blast of a ride- where else in the state can you climb a vertical mile in just 17 miles!! Was a cold descent and had to where my winter gear. The climb up the Olympic Hot Springs road is also plagued with +20% switchbacks, and the descent on this road is rough with gravel and potholes to deal with. But overall a great ride and highly recommend for getting a whole lot of vertical in relatively short distance!

So long story short, a lot of good climbing training in the past several weekends. Now just working on heat training, spinning on my trainer in my living room with all my winter gear on:)
Fun Fun stuff!

If you're interested in following me on Race Across Oregon, check out their blog and twitter at the following website: http://www.raceacrossoregon.com/blog

Thanks for everone's support!

Sleepless in Hockinson at the Lewis and Clark 24 hour

2009-05-27T22:49:00.000-07:00

As you all might have heard, I battled out 323 miles at the Lewis and Clark 24 hour. It's not usual though that I would show up so unprepared but without a doubt I must say that things just kinda work themselves out over the course of 24 hours. What a great ride this was with so many fast ultracycling crowd and great camaraderie! I knew it was going to be tough but this was a certain new kind of tough that this race had. Well, for one thing, only 10 miles into the race, climbing up the steep Livingston Mtn Road, my front derailleur broke! From then on I found myself getting off the bike several times on the bigger 140 mile loop, changing the chain with my bare hands from the high gear to low gear or visa verse. Well, after awhile I just kept it in the low gear with the exception of the long descent down from Old Mans Pass. The climb up to Old Mans Pass, along the Wind River valley was beautiful! Then the big long descent down into the Lewis River was also a nice treat with a great view St Helens. But once I got to Cougar I just left the gear in low in the front and just used my rear derailleur from then on. Getting back to the start/finish staging area was also no slouch with good steep climbs in and around Yacolt. But once I got to Hockinson (at the start/finish) the race was not even half over!

Sandy Earl came up to me to tell me that if I needed any crew assistance that Adrienne Johnson was there crewing her and could help me if needed. Adrienne has also crewed at RAAM several years and we all would be in good hands with her around. Well, I guess at this point in the race I was very in need of someone just going and buying me a few extra sandwiches or whatever else that I didn't have a crew to get for me. So Adrienne approached me immediately as I arrived at the Pit in Hockingson Middle School and I gave her some cash and she was willing to help me out and get me some food. She asked me how much solid food had I had eaten and I hadn't eaten as much, instead was fixed on this Spiz sports drink. But I had eaten some pb&J and some bars, but not really enough to keep going all night. So Adrienne saved me from stopping me from "Spizzing" out and said she'd have me some food for me after the first 9 mile loop.

It was relatively warm out by then and knew I needed to keep drinking a lot too by then. I wasn't worried at all who my competition was. I knew about Chris Ragsdale and Hugh Gapay being way out in front of me but just didn't worry about them or anyone else and focused on the goal of finishing at least 300 miles or better. Once finishing the 140 mile, 9.6 mile loop was what we would then do continuously for the remaining hours...for me just over 15 hours remaining! Actually in hind sight, looking at the results, I see that I was in 6th place when I finished the 140 mile loop...but didn't know that at all since there were so many teams and 12 hour racers out there as well and just blended right into the fun of continuing on into the night. I actually was 2 hours behind Chris and about an hour behind Hugh, but like I said before, didn't know and didn't care about these details at that moment.

The lovely 9.6 mile loop was filled with flats, steep hills and rolling sections. One hill had nearly 18% grade but it wasn't more than a couple hundred yards. But each 9.6 mile loop consisted of about 420 feet of climbing so after awhile you can see how this would start to wear on you.

As I got back to Hockinson, Adrienne was there ready for me and gave me a ham and cheese sandwich and some water. I was so happy and hungry! I ate the entire sandwich on the next loop. She gave me some chicken the next loop and I ate that too. I began to think strategy for this. Eat on the flat first 3 miles of the loop, before the steep climb and stay steady on the hills. My front derailleur was not an issue anymore since I was in high spinning mode on flats anyways and was more about just staying steady and not trying to go too hard. Trying not to think too far ahead I wanted to go, I thought about just getting 4 loops done at a time. I'd shoot for the first 4 loops before the 12 hour time period, and I did that with 19 minutes to spair, which gave me about a 300k in 12 hours. So by getting about 180 miles in the first half, I felt well, 360 is probably out of the question, but that gives me some wiggle room when I slow down later on...and yes I would slow down but not as bad as I thought I would.

On with the next 4 loops (9-12) still eating strong I still felt good, but this time it was getting dark and the hours grew on me and the loops and scenery became more and more grim. But I still looked forward to the dreadful steep hill, believe it or not. I figured if I could keep at the pace like I did in the 1st 4 loops, I could definitely get in well over my 300 mile goal. I average about 45 min per loop and about 3 hours per 4 loops. Somewhere along this part I asked Adrienne if 320 miles was a realistic finishing goal. She said yes you did 180 miles in the 1st half, and so yes 320 is very realistic. So I then continued on and reached my 217 mile mark at just shy of 15 hours.

At this point I was still eating and feeling good. But the monotonous looping made me very overwhelming when trying to do simple math in my head. I had only done 8 friggin loops and I got how many more to go to get 300 miles? Yep, still 9 more loops to go to reach over 300 miles and 11 more loops to reach the 320 mile goal...ughhh!! Stop thinking long term...back to the 4 loop strategy me! So where was I, oh yeah, onto the next 4 loops (13-16) to hit 256 miles at the 18 hours...no faster, no slower, just right on 18 hours. And that's what I did, hit 18 hours right on at about 45 min per loop.

Somewhere in here is where I started to see more and more people hanging out in the Pit. Stopping to sit and eat, trying to get warm. But I did my best to not get sucked into the Pit and keep riding. Adrienne was very good about getting me back onto the bike within a matter of minutes. I admit there were a couple times I needed go to my car for a few things (warmer jacket) or go take a dump in the gym etc...but for the most part, no rest for the weary for me!

So 6 more hours of this, I know I can do this. I've done it before at RAO, just need to see what I can do without blowing up completely. But this next 4 loops (13-16) was tough since it was starting to really get cold. I new I had to keep eating to stay warm. Warm soup, warmed up frappacinos, and buttered graham crackers would do me just right. However, even though I was eating and drinking, my pace slowed up substantially to 53 minutes per loop. I was on survival mode just trying to keep alive and not even think of how tired I really was. So this 4 loops I was definitely slower by about 20 minutes but I just kept going and didn't care. I'd done 16 loops already and needed just 3 loops to do in 2 hrs and 40 mins to go. So I kept at the pace I had been going. However, after leaving the 304 mile mark, just couldn't really eat any more and almost puked, but luckily held it in and said ok, this is my last loop...I don't care. I just want to get through this without blowing up. I don't care what they say, I'm not going on.

Well, I got back in just in time for the RD Glenn and Adrienne to say, you can do this, you've got 40 minutes to go. Adrienne knew I just needed to go 7 more miles to get 320 miles. I wolfed a banana down and off I went. Glenn said I'll have Adrienne come out and pick you up so I didn't have to come backwards on the loop. I was so frickin cold and didn't want to do that godawful flat cold 3 mile stretch again. But I pushed through it and got to the steep hill. I got to the top of the hill and realized, well, you know I think I might be able to get to 7 miles after all. I pushed up the second hill and was like wow, I think I can do this. But then feeling even more excited I reached the 7 mile mark with 7 and a half minutes to go on the clock. Shoot, I might get this loop done within the time after all. I pushed onto 8 and then screamed down to the 9 mile mark. I coasted into the Pit just right under the 24 hour mark...getting me 323.1 miles with NO time to spare! And I never did lay down or sit down once! Somehow, I managed to slip in 2nd place, and so glad I was encouraged to continue on that last lap after all...Thanks Glenn, I needed that kick in the ass!

That is my fastest effort on a bike in that distance by a long shot! Thank you Adrienne for crewing me completely last minute. And to Sandy and everyone else out there for all the support. Thanks Glenn for putting on a fabulous race. And thanks to all the volunteers who stuck it out throughout the night! What a great trainer this was for RAO!

2009-05-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

Covered Bridge 400K
This past weekend was just awesome! 400k in 18 hours 50 minutes and was all in the beautiful sunny day. It was nice to have so many people to ride with and meet up new rando's from Oregon. It was nice to noodling all over areas that I had once explored during my grad school days, but it was a very twisty course that made you feel you were in a maze...but in a good way. We saw 5 or more covered bridges and the climbs just south of Sweet Home were a treat as well. We rode River Rd straight into Salem about 10-11pm . There's a bike lane, on this road, but unfortunately a guy riding his bike without a light towards us, came only centimetes from hitting me and my fellow rando riders behind me. Luckily I moved out of the way just in time. That expereience and riding all the way through Salem stopping at almost all the lights, made it less appealing but we got through it and finished off to Newberg without any problems.

Anyways, this weekend will be a another test, riding a 400k on Saturday and then a 200K on Sunday (w/ minimal sleep inbetween). I've updated my events on the right column for those interested. If you are interested in riding with me on the Race Across Oregon course, I plan to go pre-ride the RAO course the first 3 weekends in June!
Let me know if you want to go on any of these and I'll send you the course description...it's a pdf so I can't post it on this blog, or I don't think I can.

Fleche 24 hour - the start of a new training regime!

2009-05-04T23:09:00.000-07:00

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!

10 Wheels North - here we come!

2009-04-16T01:10:00.000-07:00

This Friday at 9pm we will depart on the Flesche 24 hour Randonneuring ride. Find out more about a Flesche here. I am riding with Team 10 Wheels North which is a variation on the book "2 Wheels North", a story about 2 teenagers who bike from the Sacramento valley to Seattle in 1909. Ian appropriately named our team since we are going to be following a portion of their route 100 years later.

Our Team: Ian Shopland, John Pearch, Corey Thompson, Josh Morse and Alan Woods
Our Route: Corvallis to Portland to Olympia (via STP backwards).
Est mileage: 239 miles in hopefully 24 hours!
Anyone that want to cheer us into the finish, our finish line is at the Red Lion near the County courthouse in Olympia (at 2300 Evergreen Park Dr). Our ETA is approximatly 9:00 pm this Saturday night!

I will update this epic journey when I return.

April is serious business!

2009-03-27T00:16:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I posted, but now have finally been inspired to write. So you all know that Capitol Peak 50 miler and 55K is coming up! April 25th is Capitol Peak and everyone is encouraged to come out for a good run on muddy trails or just coming out to volunteer! I've updated the website and with some major course changes:
http://www.capitolpeakultras.com/CP50mile.htm

The biking program for me is on a roll so far this year as well. Last weekend was a good brake in for what is yet to come. I rode about 130 miles with about 6,000 ft of climbing out to Hartstene Island, Arcadia Pt, Steamboat Is, and Hwy 8 climb. My good biking partner Brent Warner rode with me out to Hartstene and he did a good job, regardless of some bike troubles. We then diverted off in Shelton (second passing) and I rode out to Arcadia Pt and found out how many more hills climbing I've been missing all these years of riding! Then getting out to Steamboat, I had to stop and see my buddy Jim, who always offers me some good HOT soup! After leaving Jim's it was already 5pm and was hopeful to get up around Summit Lake. However, as I approached the Summit Lake turnoff on Hwy 8, I decided to just turnaround, since I figure I'd have about 12 hours for the day afterall. And I just witnessed an almost major T-bone accident that I might have been apart of. So it was good to head back to my house in the light. Here's the route for more details:
http://www.mapmyride.com/view_route?r=449123801420975421

This weekend (March 28) is planned to ride with the Oregon Randonneurs on one of their early season 200K rides from Forest Grove into the Coast Range. More info at:
http://www.orrandonneurs.org/rba/2009/BirkieBrevet/BirkieBrevet_Info.html

Next weekend (April 4) is planned for a 300K ride up near Whidbey Island with the Seattle Randenneurs. Here's moer details on that ride, it's gonna be a good one:
http://www.seattlerandonneur.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=273&Itemid=28

That will be a good ass kicker for the following week (April 17-18) which will be a 230 miler (376K) in about 24 hours, from Corvallis to Olympia (Randonneurs Flesche).
http://www.seattlerandonneur.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=270&Itemid=28

All these rides will be great training for my bigger quest for another Race Across Oregon this July 11-12!
Here's the website and map for that in case your interested:
http://www.raceacrossoregon.com /rao_main/dates

2008-08-25T22:15:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of fun as co-volunteer coordinator at CCC100 this past weekend, assisting Charlie where he needed me most. It was fun to get out on parts of the course I haven't been to in a while. What fantastic views there were, especially up at French Cabin and No Name! I apologize for some blurry photos but I guess it must have been all the caffeine to keep me going throughout the night:) The last 20 are what I took with my blackberry, while wondering around in the night, hanging glow sticks or delivering goods to aid stations.
Great job to everyone who finished or gave it their best shot out there! You all are an inspiration to me and I always am so pleased to be apart of this race! I am very pleased to see Kris and Herb finish strong in their first 100. They've been training so hard just like everyone else, and it was so great to see them having fun with everyone else out there, no matter how bad it might have been at times! Thanks to all the wonderful volunteers who we couldn't have done it with out all your support!

See ya all next year!

John Pearch

Here are all the photos I took of CCC this past weekend.
http://picasaweb.google.com/johnpearch/CCC1002008

Race Across Oregon...a true test of enduring beyond the limit!

2008-08-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

John’s Journal of his Race Across Oregon 536 miles Bike Race

Start at 5:00 am July 19, 2008 near Portland International Airport

Finish at 2:21 am July 21, 2008 at Timberline Ski lodge on Mt Hood

Race website: www.raceacrossoregon.com

The Aftermath
Well, as most of you know, I finished Race Across Oregon in the early morning of Monday July 21 riding my bike in 45 hours and 21 minutes…and it was truly the hardest thing I’ve ever accomplished in my life! Most important, I felt strong the entire way, no stomach problems and absolutely NO bike mechanical problems…not even one flat! There were some tiny little things that accumulated over time, and they almost made me drop with only 40 miles to go!

I have so much to say about this race but I thought I would start off this story by expressing my gratitude and thanks to my crew for everything they did to get me to the finish. It’s one thing to crew for an ultra, but my crew put up with me for literally 45 hours through the hot, hilly desert countryside of Eastern Oregon and were awesome and positive the entire way, 100% of the time!J I thank my crew members Brent Warner and Linda Huyck, who were driving my Honda Element following/leapfrogging the entire way (with almost no sleep) as well as Cris Matthews and Paula Ehlers in the secondary car who drove ahead and bought ice, water and other supplies. Everyone did a good job feeding me food and fluids, putting up with my whiney attitude in the later part of the race and pushing me. no matter the pain, to the finish. Also, thanks to Heidi Perry for giving some good pointers in my nutrition, and to Laurie Davies for lending supplies and other moral support. You were also a big part of my successful finish. No effort worth making belongs to a single individual, but involves the working together of the entire team. Thank you all for making my dream yours, and my goal your reality.

Crew “coach” Linda, called me just a couple days after I finished. Listening to her message sends chills up my spine and really makes me think deeply about what I really did. Recounting the race in this journal form might help you all understand just what feelings we had after riding and crewing a 536 mile bike race.…

Linda’s message
“Thanks for the messages and congratulations on your reward. Glad the banquet was fun! I have to tell you…this event, I mean, I know it wasn’t my physical achievement, but it’s one of those things, that I just can’t wrap my mind around it yet, even though I was there. What you did was so amazing …and God every time I think about it I’m moved…It would be great to get together and talk sometime and maybe see if I can find the words. Maybe …recounting that would help but... I just have to tell you…I don’t think anybody who wasn’t there is going to understand just what you went through and that’s part of what is so difficult to express. You accomplished so much that people took it for granted that you would finish. You know those hours that last night in the dark when things got so extreme, so desperate…there was a time where it looked like that this might not happen…there was a time there where the goal was going away seemingly, soundly so!! And then for you to come back and to find that inside and to accomplish what you did to pull this off…I just don’t know that people could possibly understand how great of an accomplishment this is. Sure you went 536 miles but the reason it happened during those miles is what I can’t express. I’m really glad I got to be apart of it. And I thank you for that! I have to recover myself <laughing> before I could go through something like that again. Wow…I’m just proud of you and thank you for letting me be there. Congratulations again John on everything, and we should get to together and chat…and I want my T-shirt <laughing>!! Kind of like a big marathon accomplishment, “I want the t-shirt for proof!” Anyway, Congratulations John!”

Hearing such kudos from a Marathon Olympic Trials qualifier makes me feel honored. I also realize that what I accomplished has positively influenced my crew and everyone else that has heard about my success. Thank you again, Linda and crew, for everything you did for me.

So where did I get this insane idea to go ride 536 miles?

How did I come to enter Race Across Oregon (RAO), which a lot of people claim as the toughest 536 mile organized bicycle race in the world. It’s been almost 5 years since I ran my last 100 mile endurance run at Angeles Crest and Western States. You know how I’ve tried to rehabilitate my knee to continue running. What made me want to even think of signing up for such an event? Well, to be honest, had I known what I was really up against, I might have thought twice about it. But what a challenging event to pursue. Where else could I push myself further then any ultramarathon endurance run event but in a 48 hour time trial bicycle race, climbing over 40,000 feet of elevation gain, across the vast high desert of Eastern Oregon to a last climb to Timberline lodge!!! What does Race Across Oregon compare to? Try 4 times of RAMROD (Ride Around Mount Rainier) with more elevation gain in less miles! In other words, if you do the simple math, there’s about 10,000 feet of elevation gain on average every 134 miles at RAO. In reality, there’s even more elevation gain crammed into 5 relentless mountainous sections that makes you realize how tough this really is!

In 2005 I started biking seriously when I did Seattle to Portland in one day (204 miles) for the first time. I ran into Brent during this ride and told him I had almost no training…and he and 2 other friends (Sean and Steve) from Olympia, were there to help push me to the finish (along with Linda to crew). In 2006, we all did STP again in one day in much better shape. We all rode together to a strong finish, taking about an hour off our time from the previous year…thanks to me actually not slowing up the pace like in 2005J. Brent and Linda were good to have on my crew since they both knew about my ultrarunning and biking experiences and also have experience crewing or riding STP and other longer endurance bicycle events. Both Brent and Linda are high school cross country and track coaches that I knew would be a positive contribution to the crew...and sure enough it showed on how supportive and strict they were when I really needed it! Linda was also a fellow training partner of mine during weekly track practices, back in 2001-2003, during my peak ultrarunning days and while she trained for the Olympic marathon trials! I knew I would be in good hands!

Only 1 week after I rode STP in 2006 I bought a last minute RAMROD ticket, and finished it strong, which provided the motivation for further mountainous cycling events. 2007 training became more serious, completing all 5 mountain passes of Sierra Nevada’s Death Ride as well as completing all 4 mountain passes in the Shasta Super Century that includes the a 4500 foot climb up part of Mt Shasta. Good friends and co-workers of the Department of Ecology, both Cris and Paula both gave me the inspiration to ride these tougher mountainous rides that later volunteered to crew me at RAO. It was so good to have Cris and Paula there as well, since they new about me and also had the experience after riding Death Ride and Shasta Super Century. Cris was also very familiar with bike mechanics so it was good to have him there to check on my bike throughout the race. The entire crew was a perfect bunch to have out there for me and it showed in many ways. After finishing Death Ride and Shasta, I felt the need to try something even more extreme…RAO! Now coming to realize…perhaps the most extreme event out there…next to Race Across America (RAAM). More on RAAM later…

From RAO Dream to Reality

I first found out about Race Across Oregon when pursuing entrance to the Furnace Creek 508 (The 508) in Death Valley. Monica Schultz inspired me by conquering both The 508 and Badwater 135 in the same year…In checking the 508 website Race Across Oregon was suggested as an ultracycling event. To make a long story short, I refocused myself on the RAO.

Fast forward 4 and one-half months and I was signed up for this major race, training up to 300 miles per week on the most extreme terrain in east Oregon and spending at least $10,000 on biking gear, a second bike and all kinds of other stuff for this race. Then, I was finally there…the week of race. It was quite nerve racking, yet a most exciting time in my life. The race directors Terri Gooch and George Thomas were both enthusiastic about my participation in the race and looking forward to seeing an ultrarunner give it a try. I must say, it was overwhelming learning all the rules for the race, but overall, they stuck in my head. My crew would say I was almost fanatic about not breaking any of thee rules and receiving a penalty.J But some of most important rules to know is there’s no drafting (well only 15 minutes), must obey all traffic laws, your crew must be equipped with a vehicle with all the proper safety lights and signage, the crew must also follow directly behind you during the night. I would say a lot more rules for the crew to follow then for the rider and my crew did an awesome job at doing that!

One month before the race I developed some intense back pain after so many long hard training rides. I decided to go to a chiropractor (thanks to Alison Hanks for recommending Russell Chiropractic where she used to work as a masseuse in Tumwater). I learned my previous back problems were related to things that had compounded over my entire life and were coming back to haunt me. I had 10 chiropractic adjustments in about 3 and half weeks and was that worth it…absolutely!! I never felt better!

I again entered the Seattle to Portland bike event supporting Team Parkinson’s, since my brother-in-law was recently diagnosed with this disease. I was able to raise $450 for Parkinson’s and appreciate your generous support for this cause. Even though I only rode halfway, to Centralia, I was still honored to be a part of this ride. I wore the race jersey on Race Across Oregon, which showed my continued support to Parkinson’s. And it was good to ride part of the way with my friend Ashley Birmingham and her mom and uncle. Thank you again all for your support!

Race Week Arrives

Fast forward to the start of the event at Portland Holiday Inn near the Portland International Airport. I was ready to go, and so were my crew, my bikes, and my car all stacked with supplies and safety equipment, and of course myself, filled with excitement, anxiety, and even fear in the final hours before the race.

Oh, What a Glorious Morning: Portland to Maupin (start to 122 miles)

We all toed the line at 5:00 am outside the Holiday Inn. There were 20 solo riders, and about 15 teams (both 2 and 4 person teams). I was feeling good and well rested regardless of a restless night.

The gun went off, but for the first 11 miles, everyone was required to follow the Race Director on his bike, as we left Portland and crossed the Sandy River. It was good to ride easy at the start of this epic journey and reflect on what I had done to get to this point, feeling incredibly good about what was ahead, (even though I had no idea what really was to come.) I had talked with Georg from Austria, who was using RAO as a training race for Race Across America (RAAM), which he’d already qualified for in a 400+ mile race in Switzerland.

As we got closer to that 11 mile mark, I could feel the competitiveness starting to settle in everyone’s faces and I could feel myself holding back, hanging on for dear life…for the ride of my life! And as we crossed over the Sandy River, the race began very suddenly from an easy going 15 mph pace to an intense 24 mph pace and faster. But once I reached the hill climbing up out of the Sandy River, I stopped to pee and let everyone go. And the leaders were gone and I never saw them EVER AGAIN (for very good reasonsJ). I tucked into a comfortable zone and knew to just hang at a 17-20 mph pace would be good enough for now on the flatter foothills.

Linda and Brent met up with me on Hwy 26, the point they began as crew. They handed my Ultimate Direction vest filled with food that I could wear temporarily and feed on the flatter sections until I reached the climb up to Government Camp. My crew were required to leapfrog (i.e., wait and hand me stuff along the roadside, then drive past me to next safe spot to pull over to crew). This continued the first 190 miles, until Fossil, after which they could crew me immediately from the car. I was in good spirits and focused on eating, drinking and not going to hard. It was actually raining lightly along this section and I hoped it wouldn’t be worse up at Government Pass. I had everything I could ever need, want or have, with a great crew, a great bike, a great positive mindset for this race. Cris and Paula joined in the leapfrog crewing and it was good to see them.

As I climbed up to Government Camp the clouds start to lift and the sun came out…for the rest of the day! My stomach was feeling strong, (always a concern in my ultrarunning days) but was probably a little over hydrated, as I was peeing 4-5 times an hour. As I crested Government Camp pass, I didn’t even look at the turn off to Timberline and the end of the race. I still had about 40 hours before I would come back to this dreadful climb to the finish. I descended down to Hwy 35 over the White River and climbed up to Barlow and Bennett Passes feeling strong. By now my peeing was a problem as it was starting to burn.…ouch! I told my crew at the top of Bennett Pass about my “issues” and they told me…ease off on the electrolytes, DUDE!!

I descended Hwy 35 to the Forest Road 44 (Dufur Valley Rd) turnoff, and then felt pretty good on the climb up to the pass on this road. I looked up at Hood and it seemed pleasant and I still had good feelings about everything yet to come. I focused on getting to Maupin in good time. Thinking in sections is key in a race like this, so one doesn’t try and do finish the race in their head, long before the reality of where you are riding. It's all about focusing on the present hill...The Power of Now! Just concentrate on getting to each time checkpoint! That’s what I continued to do, and it helped! I descended the 15 mile hill into Dufur, and then it started to warm up as I entered the dry high desert country. (Shades of things to come)

Shade, shade, my kingdom for some shade
My crew was there at the turn on Hwy 197 and knew where I needed to turn. I probably annoyed them with my reminders about the turns, but I gradually relaxed, put my trust in them and let them do their thing... It warmed into the upper 80’s by Dufur Gap Road and back onto Hwy 197. By the time I got into Maupin it was hot, probably lower 90’s but not too bad. My crew was at the time checkpoint waiting for me with all the food I could ever want. Cris cleaned off my chain and checked the bike. I was only in the checkpoint 17 minutes. This was my first real stop since the start, beside pee breaks. At this point, only a few people had passed me and I was in a good position, only about an hour and 10 minutes behind the leaders.

Maupin to Fossil (mile 122 to mile 193)
I was ready for the next section, one of the hardest sections on the RAO course. It would start with a long climb up the infamous Bakeoven Road that climbs about 3000 feet in 25 miles, followed by 2 other big 2,000+ mountain passes to climb before reaching Fossil. All of these passes are about 4,000 feet in elevation and typically in the open high desert, sparsely vegetated with the occasional sage brush or juniper. This section has over 8500 feet of climbing in about 68 miles and where I had focused a lot of my training.

As I climbed up Bakeoven Road it was pretty hot, but I was cooled by a sock filled with ice, that my crew graciously wrapped around my neck. The ice cold water dripped down my back and front and kept my core cool! I was delighted to see my crew at the top of the first pitch of Bakeoven climbing out of the Deschutes River canyon. I felt exposed and vulnerable in the open hot high desert, but strong, well fueled and hydrated. I backed off the electrolytes a little and took ice water and that eased the burning sensation, thank God!!

I arrived in the little town of Antelope (mile post 158) and got out of the saddle for a quick 4 minute stretch. Then it was up and over Antelope Pass and down into the John Day River canyon. The road drops some 2500 feet into the John Day River Canyon, and I think it’s one of the coolest descents on the entire course! In my out and back training, I had to climb this bitchin hill after 100 miles with major headwind and I was glad that didn’t happen in the race. But no worries, I still got my fair share while climbing to Fossil Pass on race day (I named these passes myself since they don’t have names to themJ).

It was in the mid 90’s by the time I got to the Fossil Pass climb and I knew I was in for a long climb before the summit, and I started to realize my goal of a 40 hour finishing time was probably unrealistic. Now there was a major headwind, and major heat and a climb just kept going. Even though I still felt strong, it was time to back off again and concentrate on getting to Fossil.

Reaching Fossil Pass, I could think of the next step. My body needed a break, so I stopped just outside of Fossil, letting my body and heart rate chill out, and eating some cold chicken soup. I weighed myself after taking a dump and weighed exactly the same I did at the start! I realized I should go easy on the electrolytes and food consumption. Maupin to Fossil took me 5 hours and 40 minutes; only about 1 hour slower than in training. So, I stopped a full 28 minutes for refueling and cooling.

End of the First Day: Fossil to Long Creek (Mile 193 to mile 272)
This section of the course starts off with a short 700 foot climb up to the Butte Creek Pass and then descends into the John Day River canyon, leveling off for 45 miles and then climbing about 2700 feet up and over to Long Creek This is where I would face the cold night.

Continuing on towards Butte Creek Pass, we put all the lights on my bike and the car. Cris and Paula ventured on to find a campsite (near Dayville) to be backup drivers later the next day. It was a sight to see with the bright yellow flashing lights on my car, like a UFO from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” After all, the salesman who sold me these lights said they were certified in the state of WyomingJ

Night of Day One Brings New Problems
This next section was not as bad as the previous one, but, it was night and just about anything could happen. I rode this entire section during a training ride, so I knew what kind of climbs lay ahead. I was still in the game and as I approached the summit of Butte Creek Pass, I felt ready to take on the night. The road descended to Service Creek and I decided to push on to Spray before stopping. The route returned to John Day River canyon, but this time it was cooler and quite beautiful as the sun set on the canyon walls above me. Darkness settled in and my body gradually faced fatigue as the night wore on.

A couple teams passed me in this stretch and one solo rider (Dru Dixon) passed me as well. I felt the urge to pee again but as I needed to make up more time I mastered the art of peeing off the bike while ridingJ Wow, that was pretty easy…and were Brent and Linda impressed when they saw this…or maybe they have a different description?? J

In Spray, I had a desire for a Coke or other caffeinated soda. I purposely didn’t have any soda in my car so I wouldn’t overload on the sugar. Everything in town was closed, so I asked someone sitting outside of their hotel room if they knew where a pop machine was. They generously offered a variety of different sodas, but nothing had caffeine. Deciding on Squirt, I realized something’s trying to tell me something…no Coke for John on this journey!!

Brent attached my secondary light to my bike during this hopeless quest for a Coke, so it wasn’t a stop for nothing. I actually never drank that Squirt, but I did drink some frappucinos throughout the night! In Kimberly, where we split off on Hwy 402, I told Brent and Linda, I needed an honest to God rest stop. This was a good stopping point before the major climb to Monument in 14 miles. I laid down and tried to close my eyes for about 15 minutes, but a million thoughts kept going through my head, like, “what the #$%& have I gotten myself into!” Linda and Brent were good about forcing me up and going in a reasonable time…like “John, get the “F” up and get going!!”

As I got started, the lead women passed by. Jill Damman was looking really good and fresh, as well as another 2 person team. I soon caught up to Jill and we leapfrogged for a while before I pushed ahead to catch the 2 person team. I leapfrogged with them to Monument, continuing to the top of the Pass. This climb was relentless, and I could see the other RAO crew car lights on the climb way above me. It was good to see more racers out there, but striking that I rode all day hardly seeing anyone and here were 5 or 6 to racers to meet up with and work with in the dark…very motivating indeed!

I still felt strong on the climb up Monument Pass, and caught another team. I noticed puke stains in the pavement right before I passed him. He looked pretty wasted asking me if I was on a team, and I responded I was solo. He was surprised that I passed him so fast, although I was only going 7 mph. I continued to the top of the false summit and down into Hamilton where I realized how cold it was. Continuing to the true summit I reached the top, feeling so good I started screaming! It was such a good feeling for me and I was able to make good time on the long downhill into Long Creek.

As it felt cold, I put my arm warmers on. Long Creek was the half way time station (mile mark 272 miles) and I was only about an hour and 15 minutes off my predicted pace, arriving there at 1:15 am. Dru was there resting and taking it easy, but by this time I really didn’t care about my time or the placement of the leaders. All I cared about was pushing on and getting over the next climb! I lubed up and was ready to go in short order. I was feeling regretful I didn’t lube up much, earlier in the day, as I could feel the saddle sore really kicking inL. I’m gonna really pay for this tomorrow!

The Long Dark COLD Night: Long Creek to Dayville (Mile 272 to mile 323)
This section started off on Hwy 395 with a 5 mile, 1500 climb up to Long Creek Mountain Pass that is about 5,000 feet in elevation…the highest part of the race, besides Timberline. A long steeper descent takes you down into Mt Vernon to a gentler descent along the upper John Day River valley into Dayville.

The climb up to Long Creek Mtn Pass on Hwy 395 felt long with no one else was around, except for one rider stopped by the side of the road who I never saw again. I wasn’t as energized on the Monument climb, but still felt strong enough to keep going. Reaching the summit of Long Creek Mtn Pass, I thought I could ride down into Fox without my jacket…bad idea!! The valley of Fox was freezing cold! Linda handed me my jacket and I tried to put it on while riding…which was a failure. I finally stopped, put on my jacket but was still freezing. I continued up the second pass, beyond Fox, without too much trouble, but as I descended down towards Mt Vernon, it started to really get cold. I stopped, put on my tights and winter bike gloves, and wished more clothes wouldn’t add so much bulk. While passing through the Valley of Fox, the moon came out and created an awesome night sky. With a full moon out, it kept my mind from wandering off into the stars! My mind was in awe…I think recounting about this section after the race, this made me realize why I do these endurance events…all at the same time I felt exhilarated, vulnerable, isolated…I felt closer to God!

I descended down into Mt Vernon without shivering off my bike and got off the bike for another quick rest and a cold can of chicken noodle soup. I stretched out a little but I couldn’t nap. Linda and Brent again pushed me on. Dru passed me again while I was in Mt Vernon. I think another team caught me, but just a few seconds "after" I pulled my pants up from taking a dump in the middle of town…oh the joy of ultracycling!

I continued on towards Dayville on Hwy 26, still cold, with all my cold riding clothes on. This was the first flat stretch since Monument and it felt good to do some easy spinning and not push too hard. No one was around me, but I continued to eat whatever Linda or Brent fed me. I also continued to pee off the bike while riding which seemed to save some time. As I approached Dayville, I pleaded with Brent and Linda for one more rest stop because I knew I needed to have something in the tank for the next full day.

In Dayville, I laid down in a nice grassy park, and this time, took an honest to God nap! There were sprinklers going already and it was just getting light (about 5:15 am). They let me sleep for 15 minutes, but I was so scared that Brent would pour ice cold water on me, and so I think I woke up abruptly in 14 minutes! But when I did wake up, it felt like I had slept for an hour and I was ready to push on for the next climb!

Sleep Deprived and Ready for Day 2: Dayville to Prineville (Mile 323 to mile 405)
This section was also another relentless mountainous section with one of the longest climbs on the course. I had traveled it in a training ride, but then I was well rested. Now, I had no idea how my body was going to react at Keys Creek Pass, or the steeper 2200 feet Ochoco Pass, 15 miles long, later in the day. The climb up Keys Creek Pass is 25 miles long and starts about 8 miles west of Dayville, in a very beautiful section of the John Day Fossil beds and John Day River canyon. The spectacular scenery and geology kept my mind focused and now that daylight was upon me, I was reenergized.

This section also is where one particular training ride paid off. Backtracking to one month before the race, I rode the Native Plant Classic bicycle tour that starts in Winthrop, WA and climbs up and over the North Cascades Highway, climbing over 10,000 feet in 128 miles. Perfect training ride for RAO! But what made this ride so much more? Well, thanks to my good friend James Varner, he inspired me to start this ride at 2:30am and work on sleep deprivation. James rode with me for the first part of this ride also practicing sleep deprivation for Hard Rock 100 miler. I rode about 48 miles prior to starting the actual ride up and over the North Cascades. I not only learned how it feels to ride all sleep deprived but also what nutrition is most appropriate for riding throughout the night. I realized that keeping about 400 calories/hour was adequate and taking in as little simple sugars as possible, would prevent me from feeling so tired. And because of this ride (and a few other pointers from many others), this really paid off to be ready for how I would feel after riding over 24 hours.

Back to the race…As we approached the area where Paula and Cris were supposed to camp, there was no sign of them. But just as we started to wonder where they were, they showed up. It was good to see them. Brent and Linda were also very glad to see them, as they drove behind me all night, taking care of me in so many ways. I’m sure they can tell you the gory details I can hardly rememberJ

As I approached the first climb, I shed my cold weather gear and started towards Keys Creek Pass. This 25 mile climb is actually gradual as it only climbs about 2000 feet…and kind of rolls up. The further I got into this climb, the faster I traveled and the more energetic I felt. I felt on top of my game! I was riding 18 mph on parts of the climb…just hauling ass and feeling fantastic! Reaching the summit, I encountered a recreation bicyclist not in the race. He said that the next racer was only about 30-45 minutes ahead of me. Maybe I’m still in this race after all, I thought. Little did I know what I was about to confront.

As I headed down into the town of Mitchell, I could feel the air starting to warm up and knew that I was in for some serious heat! In Mitchell my crew was getting breakfast, but I pushed on. They caught up to me a mile or two into the climb towards Ochoco Pass. Now this is where it finally got hot again. I was starting to feel the heat and even though my stomach was strong, it was rather picky what it digested. Linda gave me a half a slice of turkey and it tasted good, but I gagged on the second half. At least I didn’t puke…Thank God! I just needed to sip my nuun and water and have a few more gu to get me up this climb. When I did this climb in training, it was at the end of 3 long days of riding. I thought it was a good simulation of how I might feel on race day…NOT EVEN CLOSE!! I started to really fatigue, my back was sore and it was really hot! I pushed to the top of the pass, stopping only a couple times. But once I did reach the top, I felt spent and wasted. I may have pushed too hard over Keys Creek pass and was spent by Ochoco.

My crew tried to push me on, but I told them I needed at least 10 minutes to rest. I can’t remember what they fed me, but it tasted good and the look on my face was memorable one…just wasted. At the same time I arrived at the summit, a 4 person recumbent team caught up. Their crew was really supportive and cheered me on. As I left the car, I heard everyone cry out: “John, John he’s our man, if he can’t do it no one can!!” I was flattered, but also kind of grumpy, still wasted and trying to get myself motivated. Linda kept telling me, it’s all down hill, you earned this. I knew it wasn’t all down hill but had many flat sections on top of which ODOT was so kind as to chip seal the f’n road for us just in time for race day on the hardest descent on the entire course (about 20 miles of ungodly chip seal)! And to top that, a fierce headwind developed all the way into Prineville.

Spirit Comes in Many Forms
About a mile down the hill from Ochoco Pass, a beautiful women from the 4 person recumbent team came running towards me…and flashed her boobs at me! All these negative thoughts went away just like that.J I waved and said “Thank you very much…I needed that!!!” I continued down the hill and told my crew what I just witnessed, but they jokingly claimed that I was just hallucinating. Maybe I was hallucinating by now…well, was I…was I that desperate? More on her later…

And I Thought Yesterday Was Hot!
The heat of the day was upon me as I pushed down this long descent as hard as I could go. Brent and Linda sped ahead to Prineville with my car to fill up on gas, while Cris and Paula stayed back to crew me. They were so enthusiastic, yelling, “Dude, you’ve ridden 400 $%ing miles, you’re awesome!!” I arrived on the flat with 7 miles to go but with traffic picking up. I reached Prineville at 12:42 pm feeling a lot better but really hot! My crew had me change into another pair of shorts, lube up with chamois butter (oh, by now there was a whole lot of burning and chaffing going on L), put on sunscreen and wrap in an ice cold towel. I worried I missed a spot with sunscreen and would get a sunburn. The sun was so strong and powerful….I felt like I was going to melt! While resting in Prineville, Jill and Dru flew by with only a brief stop. I didn’t care. From here on out, it was all about finishing. By now half the solo field had dropped, but I was ready to push on, no matter my time, or my pace. And no one but me (with my crew’s unfailing support, of course) was going to get me to that finish line.

And The Day Wore On, And On: Prineville to Pine Grove (mile 408 to mile 495)
In this section I would experience the hottest and most exposed ride, across the high plain on Hwy 26 to Madras and Warm Springs Reservation. The course takes a turn off Hwy 26 on Agency Hot Springs Road and climbs 2 major steep 1200 foot climbs on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. Reaching Wapanitia, the course takes a left on Hwy 216 up to Pine Grove, at the base of the Cascades and the approach of Mt Hood.

I left feeling well stocked with the ice sock over my neck and Gu in my jersey. Linda was really good about stocking my jersey with Gu and Clif blocks and whatever else I tried to eat more solid food so my stomach wouldn’t blow up on me. Cold cantaloupe, cold bananas and salted potatoes were good, but I must have sounded desperate by this point. Linda was so good about keeping track of my calories, keeping me honest about what I needed to eat. Brent was good about urging me on and pushing me. He told me later their strategy was to stretch the umbilical cord out as far as it could go…by driving the support “mother” vehicle ahead, out of site, to get little Johnny to reach further for mommy! STRATEGY STRATEGY!! Brent and everyone on the crew agreed that “we gotta get John to decide what he wants to do, and make him work for that finish.” And they were right. It kept me going and prevented me from stopping in this ungodly stretch from hell. The thought went through my head what David Horton said while running the entire PCT. “If I did stop, I wouldn’t die, I’d just suffer more!”

Just When I Thought It Couldn’t Get Worse
Smoke from forest fires and a crap load of fertilizer that blew in my face (just gnarly!) increased the hellish feeling.… And to top that off, Hwy 26 was extremely busy with traffic making it hard for my crew to pull off and I had to focus on keeping my bike as straight as it could possibly go. I started to feel burned all over, like I was melting! Linda gave me some more sunscreen which I poured it on my arm while riding. I felt like I couldn’t get enough. I looked down on my bike and saw I kind of missed my arm and it was all over my bike frame! I didn’t care; I was desperate for sunscreen, like I was on drugs or something.J The inside of my mouth felt burnt now and though I tried to breathe with my mouth closed, that was hopeless. By the time I reached Madras it must have been in the upper 90’s. I stopped and peed in some bushes right in the middle of town. I didn’t try to pee while riding because the traffic was so bad.

Climbing the hill out of Madras and it got hotter and hotter. Reaching the descent into the Deschutes, Linda tried to put an ice sock around my neck but I knew it would just fall off while descending at high speeds. It was like descending into a furnace, approaching 100 degrees. They were waiting for me at the bottom and several people, not affiliated with the race, joined in cheering me on. I had gone about 452 miles and now it was the hardest and hottest part in the entire race! As I climbed up out of the Deschutes canyon and turned onto the Warms Spring Ka-Nee-Ta Hot Springs Road, I was relieved to find my crew waiting there for me to take a break. They got me in the air conditioned car for about 10 minutes and had me eat. It felt so good, but I couldn’t let myself get too comfortable. While I sat in my car, Cris worked desperately to clean my bike. He said he had to clean layers of sunscreen, Gu and chamois butter in order to clean the chain! I was completely out of it at the time, but after the 10-minute cold break was ready to go. I wanted to stay in the saddle and keeping riding…no matter what!!

If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Get Outta the Kitchen…
I got to the first climb and it actually didn’t feel bad at all…but it was only about a 700 foot rise. I guess my crew was glad I didn’t want to hang around since there was some women cat fighting along the roadside…and if I remember, I almost rode into the middle of it all! I descended the steep hill into the Kah-Nee-Ta Hot Springs, at least 10% grade or more. As hot as it was, I was glad my brake pads didn’t burn through…thanks to my new rims rebuilt by Derek Archbald at Joy Ride!! I got to the bottom and started the infamous Hellgate climb…appropriately named!! But now I had a new problem. My right Achilles started to ache, so I had to take it easy on the climb…a whole lot easier, as the pain intensified. But my crew kept me going and I reached the false summit in good spirits. I think I said something like “bring on the hills,” before the reality of Hellsgate climb sank in! By 6:30 pm I was up and over the top but there was the sun, still high on the horizon and hotter than ever. It was as if it was painted permanently on the horizon. Also, the northerly winds were stronger than ever and I found myself fighting through some of the toughest headwinds on the entire course.

I finally got to Shimnasho where Cris and Paula were waiting with a popsicle! I admire Cris and Paula for so graciously being there to support me, in ways that Brent and Linda couldn’t be. I have to say, it was so good to have a second car there as it made it a lot easier for Brent and Linda. Cris ran up the road for awhile and told me he and Paula had to go home since Paula had to work early the next day. I had known they had to leave early, so I told Cris not to worry. I knew I was in good hands with Brent and Linda. Cris didn’t want to leave but I promised him, I would finish no matter what! I know how hard it must have been to leave, after all what they had done for me. They were so good to me and Brent and Linda were glad they stayed as long as they could.

Continuing up the second big climb of the Warm Springs section, I felt strong and believed I was going to finish this race, no matter what. But the reality was an aching Achilles and I was going really slow…I mean 5 mph slow, and the Wapanitia climb, that I thought was easy going, turned into one hell of a climb. It kept going on FOREVER! I pointed out to Linda and Brent… “look there’s the top” and another set of hills appeared on the horizon…ughh! This happened about 4 or 5 times. My mind was overwhelmed. I never felt so completely vulnerable and useless. My stomach was strong and stamina high, but I had to go slow because of my Achilles. Linda and Brent tried to keep my mind off the climb. Linda told me some funny stories about some of the crazy high school kids she teaches…that was refreshing to hear and made me laugh! Finally reaching the summit, I was so relieved this climb was over. As I descended towards Wapanitia, there was a cattle guard crossing, and I just stopped and walked over it (just like all 4 or 5 other cattle guards previously in this Warm Spring section).

The sun was finally setting as I approached Wapanitia. But I happened to look up and there it was, the one thing I’d been riding to for 40 hours now…the one place that was so close but yet so far away. It was Mount Hood and it looked like Mount Everest, as it peeked above the haze of the forest fires where the sun was finally setting. I was still feeling strong but still going too slow, even on the flat section leading up to Pine Grove. I think it took me an hour to go from Wapanitia to Pine Grove, which is only 5 miles.

Night 2 and Hitting The Wall: Pine Grove to Timberline (mile 494 to mile 536…the FINISH)
This section of the course climbs about 1500 feet up on Hwy 216, takes a right on Hwy 26 for about 3 miles then twists on some gnarly forest service roads 43 and 48, descends about 500 feet into the White River valley and then climbs 1500 feet to Hwy 35. The course descends on Hwy 35 down to Hwy 26, where you climb 2300 feet in the last 8 miles, to the finish at Timberline, just under 6,000 feet in elevation, the highest on the course! I knew how hard this section would be, as I had done it a couple times in training.

Pushing Beyond the Limit
Several people had called during the day to see how I was doing. It was so good to hear that everyone cared about my race and wanted to know how I was doing. I remember hearing Linda talk to someone, saying how well I was doing and heard numbers like, “he’s got 40 miles to go.” Starting the climb out of Pine Grove I felt intense pain in my Achilles and became really concerned. I looked at my watch. It was now 10:00 pm, giving me 7 hours to the 48 hour time limit. I did the math in my head and yelled to Brent and Linda… “5MPH IS NOT FAST ENOUGH…I NEED TO GO FASTER AND I CAN’T!!”…I started to yell “5 times 7 = 35 won’t get me there in time!!” I knew about this section. I rode it several times in my training and knew though it wasn’t all uphill, it was mostly uphill and it was ALL HARD UPHILL! I started to panic, and to spiral down into a mental hole. I was desperate and the goal I had worked so hard for in the past 41 hours was slipping away.

Soon Brent pulled up beside me and said, “yes that’s great math John and 6 x 7 = 42 and 7 x 7 = 49”…He seemed to be hinting there was still hope, if I had something left still in the tank. I was in shock, felt I couldn’t push through this and if I pushed I might never bike, run or walk again. All kinds of bullshit thoughts went through my head that pulled me deeper into a mental abyss. Even though I was only a few hours from victory, I was seconds away from pulling out of the race!

Brent pulled up beside me again and asked me, “Are you concerned about injuring yourself more or do you still want to finish this race?” He made it my decision, though I hardly remember because I was in so much pain. All I really remember is pushing harder and harder up the hill yelling….I WANT TO FINIIIIIIIIIISSSSSHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I began to sprint at 10mph up the hill just making up as much ground up as I could, grunting and saying PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE over and over the whole way up the climb. Oh, I forgot to mention, Linda had already passed me the ibuprofen that was kicking in. But the pain was still there. Brent kept telling me, “you can do this, you just need to put some time in the bank and you’ll be fine.”

And Finding the Courage to Dig Deep
I got 6 miles into the climb out of Pine Grove in 45 minutes. On some descents I made even more time. I can’t remember everything; but Brent and Linda had what I needed to do down pat. I finally reached Hwy 26 with a huge 2 mile descent in pitch blackness (even with my bike lights and follow vehicle lights on me), and with trucks screaming by me. I finally turned off on Forest Road 43 and put on my head lamp for additional light. I knew I made up time, but still needed more in the bank. I took a small piece of uphill on 43 and then headed down into the White River valley. I am sooo glad I trained here during the day, because even with all the lights in the world, I knew how long this descent would last and to be alert for all the damn potholes. Just ride it out and hold on tight!!

Things Go Bump in the Night
When I got to the White River, some big animal was rustling in the trees beside me (probably an elk or deer)…but in my mind I thought it was Big Foot or perhaps even T-Rex or something worse... Brent shouted, “it’s more scared of you and there’s nothing to worry about!” Soon I was at Forest Road 48. Brent told me I needed to ride hard for about 15-20 more minutes which would get me all the time I would need for the final climb up to Timberline. I didn’t question them, I just pushed as hard as I possibly could and amazingly it paid off. Road 48 proved relentless, with chip seal that made it difficult to speed on any of the downhill portions. As I climbed Road 48 I kept seeing this bright light on the horizon of the night sky that kept appearing in and out of the trees. At first I thought I was hallucinating, thinking it was a UFO. But then the reality finally settled in and yelled to Brent and Linda, “I think that’s the chair lift at Timberline!!”

The Bank Pays Dividends
It felt good to see something that was physical evidence of the finish! Finally after pushing for about 3 hours, I finally reached Hwy 35. Now it was just a small climb, a long descent and then the final climb to Timberline! It was freezing going down Hwy 35 and extremely rough with potholes everywhere. I almost went down but thank God I rode right through those craters in front of me. I was so cold and shivered all the way to Hwy 26. Once again I had the urge to pee and just let it all out. I wasn’t tired, I wasn’t sore anymore I was just focused on that finish! I finally got to Hwy 26 and what a relief…the climb to the finish began! When I arrived at Timberline at 1:20 am we called to the finish on the cell phone. I paused to catch my breath. We were all so relieved that I had time to spare. Remember, I was at Pine Grove at 10 pm and completed that hard uphill 35 mile climb in 3 hours and 20 minutes!!

I pushed on, feeling good on the road to victory, up to Timberline. I would stop every ½ to ¾ of a mile to catch my breath. It was so steep that I just hung on at a 5-6 mph pace. One time I stopped to catch my breath, went to clip in and fell right over on the road. Linda felt bad she couldn’t get out of the car fast enough to catch me, but I was ok…I was just delirious and fatigued; it actually woke me up to fall over.J

And as I approached Timberline, Mt Hood rose over my head into the night sky. Nothing ever looked so beautiful before, nothing ever looked so calm and peaceful; nothing ever looked so good to see so close! I was there, the top of the world in my heart and in my soul. I had accomplished everything I came out here to do and I started to yell and scream louder and louder. I was finally there….I DID IT! I FINISHED!! It was 2:21am, 45 hours and 21 minutes, with over 2 and half hours to spare before the 48 hour cutoff…not bad for a rookie!

Immediately after I finished, I was in awe and couldn’t believe what I just did…I couldn’t even get off my bike, I was in shock. Brent and Linda came over and helped me get my bike unglued from my swollen and pain stricken body. I was so relieved. Everything let go; all our feelings poured out and they gave me a huge hug. We were all so relieved but also too tired to cry! After I calmed down, the race director, George, greeted me with a nice finisher’s medallion and also told me that I had qualified for RAAM, to which I responded… “OH NO!!” Then I made a mistake and told George how proud I to master peeing from the bike.…It was good ammunition for embarrassment at the awards banquet!!J

Coming Down From the High
Brent drove me and my car back to Portland and Linda followed in her car. Brent stopped a couple times to get out and try to wake up…and I immediately got out and puked clear fluid…It tasted like ibuprofen…uh oh. I drank water the whole way back and kept hydrating. We finally got to the Holiday Inn and crashed in our cars. We didn’t bother to get a room since Brent and Linda had to leave in a few hours for work. They were so dedicated to crew for 2 days straight and then drive back to Olympia to go to work…I couldn’t even think of doing something like that! I think Brent ended up showing up to work and then going back to sleep for a few hours.J But I slept in my car until I felt good enough to go drive to a friend’s house in Portland, where I rested up, took a long shower and returned to the awards banquet at the Holiday Inn at 6 pm. While recovering at my car in the parking lot, I also got to chat with Jill Damman who was so inspirational to talk to. It was great to hear about her experiences on what she did in training and what she experienced out there. I admire her efforts, especially the fact she helped a guy with a flat with only 8 miles to go! Now that is true sportsmanship in so many ways I can’t even come close to describe! A nice article tells Jill’s story of RAO: http://www.raceacrossoregon.com/file_download/44

At the awards banquet they presented me the award for the second rookie to finish and also qualify for RAAM, getting within 15% of the fastest Rookie, who was Jill Damman. I was also awarded the “little stinky award” for being so proud of peeing off the bike and wetting myself near the finish.J I was a little embarrassed, but really didn’t care, since I didn’t know anyone and was just glad to finish! I hung out afterwards and talked with Al Smudz, the winner of the race, to find out what he did to win …I think he said he was only 16 minutes and 50 seconds out of the saddle the entire race…now that’s awesome! I think I was 3 hours out of the saddle.

Later, after the banquet, I found out I wasn’t hallucinating on top of Ochoco Pass. The gal that flashed me came up after the awards banquet and apologized and hoped that I wasn’t married or something. I told her I was single and it didn’t matter; it was just what I needed at the time! She was also telling me how she was crew for RAAM and also inspired me to go crew at the 508!

And Now You Know the Rest of the Story

So there you have it! How I survived all 536 miles, 40,000 feet of climbing…the hardest bike race in the world (in my opinion and many others)!! It was an awesome adventure and I still can’t believe what I was able to do to get to that finish. It’s a relief to put it into words, and helps me to comprehend and you, as well, to see what really happened to me out there…Life is just too short not to try an epic adventure like this. So will I do this again? Absolutely! I think it’s great to hear that they have plans to change the course to avoid Portland starting in Hood River and going on roads in Eastern Oregon (and avoiding Hwy 26…thank God). But for now, I am letting my body heal. It’s been 4 weeks now and I finally did one 20 mile ride. It feels good to finally get back to my normal life, although the sense of accomplishment for this type of event is still upon me. I was nice of the Olympian Newspaper to also have a nice article on me. See article: http://www.theolympian.com/sports/highlight/story/532864.html

There are so many people who helped me finish this race. I am forever indebted to my crew, my family and all my trailrunning, cycling, co-workers and friends who gave so much to support me…it is truly the inspiration of a life time!! You are all so awesome and I will never forget this moment in my life. And now you can all see, it’s not about your time or your place…but just finishing this race is worth it all!!!

And finding out later from my crew how worth it was…Linda and Brent were both driving to Minnesota a week after the race and as they pulled up into some rest stop in Montana in the middle of the night, Brent woke up asking Linda, “Where’s John, is he still riding?” This story makes me laugh but also makes me realize how much not only Brent, but the rest of the crew worked so hard…that the race was still apart of them! Thank you crew for everything!!