By far my favorite group ride and rivals my all-time favorite ride. End of story... Ok, well I guess I could tell you a little bit about it.
This ride has become a legend within its own time for its brutally hard climbs and varied terrain. Created in honor of the Tour of Flanders (one of the Classics pro cycling races in Europe) this ride which has become a legend in its own time. Organized by none other than Brad Ross of the Cross Crusade series this ride started in 2007 (I think) and the numbers have swelled from a few dozen to 600-700 last year. I don't know what the official count was this year but I wouldn't be surprised if it exceeded last year's numbers. HERE is a link to the Bike Portland story about the ride last year and HERE is a link to the route. Don't use the elevation tool, it lies.
My teammate and I headed down to the course a little early so we could hang out and find some of the racers we knew. On the way down there we saw a huge group riding the other way, already started. I recognized the team and several of their riders so we turned around and joined them. Now I knew this course was supposed to be brutal, both with regard to hill and terrain. For some reason I just couldn't believe someone would set up a course where you would ride your nice road bike up an offroad path with gravel, rocks, root and all that other stuff. Yet up we went. Our first climb was on Saltzman road. This road winds through Forest Park and is not at all suited for riding a $6k bike on. We did it anyway. Everyone took it pretty easy up the climb but then again there was a huge range of riding experience and no one wanted to break away knowing what you lay ahead. The picture on the left is an idea of the kind of terrain we just rode up.
Once back on the road we effectively blocked all traffic with our 50+ rider group. Now, off to Brynwood. For those of you who don't know this is one of (if not the) nastiest climb in Portland. Granted it's only a quarter of a mile long but the average grade is 20-25% with a short 31% section at the top. Until the Ronde I had not gotten to the top without stopping. I did it today. It took a ton of energy and my calves were screaming by the time I got to the top but there was no way I was going to get off and push with fellow racers around. The picture on the right is my teammate just making it to the top. Look at the guys behind him. Keep in mind that all these guys race and none of them are "weak."
I'd like to say that the ride was uneventful but I'd be lying. My teammate and I got tired of riding the with the Hammer Velo guys. We wanted a little quicker pace so we took off and were soon joined by an HUP rider. We kept the pace high until a group of 6 riders blew past us. Then we really put the hammer down. I knew all the guys in that pack were Pro/Cat 1/2 riders and a hell of a lot stronger than me. Then again, when am I going to turn down a challenge on the bike.
For the entire rest of the ride we attacked on every single hill and ripped down every one as fast as we could. This really got interested when we hit some sketchy singletrack which had a ton of rocks and roots, plus several off-camber sections on it. Everyone made it through without crashing but it was definitely pushing my bike handling skills to the limit.
I don't really know how to describe this ride other than "lots of climbing." Seriously, if there was a fork in the road we turned uphill. A little note on this course: while it's not an "official" course and the ride never officially happened this year it was fairly well marked. I didn't get a picture of it but the Lion of Flanders guided the way. It was just a little symbol with an arrow marking the way. Early in the ride it was fun looking at every one but towards the end you began to hate those little lions with a passion not easily described. Your legs are screaming and all you want is a little flat road to spin your legs out, eat and drink a little and recover but no, those damn lions point you up yet another f***ing HUGE hill.
In all honesty, after catching up and sticking with that lead group I remember very few things but one memory that stuck in my mind is College Ave. At this point our group was still intact and still attacking on every hill we hit, until this one. We came around the corner, I took off and it seemed like everyone else was standing still. I tried to keep my eyes off my computer as the percent grade climbed into the 20s. Somehow, someway I made it to the top of the hill before the rest of the pack. This picture shows the group I was riding with. Again, these guys are sponsored riders, how I made it to the top before them: don't ask me.
After College Ave we dropped the s*** out of people. We blew up and down hills passing everyone we came across. During this our group dropped from 10 down to 4, leaving a my teammate, a sponsored Team Oregon rider, some old(er) guy who had the worst riding position in the world and myself. The rest of the ride was kind of a blur because I knew I was nearing the end of my endurance but I just had to stick it out a dew more miles. I think I told that myself for the last 8 miles.
Anyway, we made it. My teammate was about 2-3 miles from bonking and I think I only had 8-10 miles left in me of terrain like that. Then again, no one knows that because we made it and no one was the wiser. Here's a picture of some of the people at the finish, not that many. It supposedly was packed later in the afternoon.
I'd like to say that the ride was uneventful but I'd be lying. My teammate and I got tired of riding the with the Hammer Velo guys. We wanted a little quicker pace so we took off and were soon joined by an HUP rider. We kept the pace high until a group of 6 riders blew past us. Then we really put the hammer down. I knew all the guys in that pack were Pro/Cat 1/2 riders and a hell of a lot stronger than me. Then again, when am I going to turn down a challenge on the bike.
For the entire rest of the ride we attacked on every single hill and ripped down every one as fast as we could. This really got interested when we hit some sketchy singletrack which had a ton of rocks and roots, plus several off-camber sections on it. Everyone made it through without crashing but it was definitely pushing my bike handling skills to the limit.
After College Ave we dropped the s*** out of people. We blew up and down hills passing everyone we came across. During this our group dropped from 10 down to 4, leaving a my teammate, a sponsored Team Oregon rider, some old(er) guy who had the worst riding position in the world and myself. The rest of the ride was kind of a blur because I knew I was nearing the end of my endurance but I just had to stick it out a dew more miles. I think I told that myself for the last 8 miles.
Anyway, we made it. My teammate was about 2-3 miles from bonking and I think I only had 8-10 miles left in me of terrain like that. Then again, no one knows that because we made it and no one was the wiser. Here's a picture of some of the people at the finish, not that many. It supposedly was packed later in the afternoon.
By the end of the day we'd ridden 64 miles (that includes riding to and from the Ronde) and 7800 ft of climbing. It's easy to imagine 64 miles but that much climbing is a little more difficult. For those of you who are familiar with Oregon it's like riding from Sandy to the top of Mount Hood. Yeah, that's a long ways up. That night I went home, ate, drank recovery stuff and laid on my couch and watched the Tour of the Basque Country for 3 hours, drifting in and our of sleep. By 7pm I was somewhat recovered but my legs were lying to me. I woke up the next day and felt every single one of those hills. I'm at the point where it feels like my muscles are in a vise and being slowly squeezed. But, despite the soreness, destroying my legs, depriving my brain of oxygen and riding right at my aerobic threshold for over 3 hours it was awesome. I learned that I am incredibly strong, I just need the patience and team to make stuff happen. Easily one of my best rides and one of my most favorite. I'm looking forward to riding (and destroying) this ride again next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment