Gourmet Century

Today was the Gourmet Metric Century, a Chris King Precision Components event.  This is one ride we look forward to for a variety of reasons.  It starts in McMinnville, only about an hours drive from Portland, the route taking riders through gorgeous Oregon wine country. True to it's name, the food is another reason we love this ride.  We started with breakfast and ended with a great dinner, complete with wine, and this year, even oysters on the half shell with a mignonette.  The theme?  France, complete with chanson française provided by a talented ensemble both at lunch and again at dinner.

VA and I enjoying the dessert and 'wine tasting' at one of the last rest stops

After the ride you can even catch a glimpse of Chris King himself in the kitchen, helping prepare the dinner.  

Allan, VA and Chris King

RAMROD 2010

Top of Paradise

Yesterday we completed, or almost completed* the Ride Around Mt. Rainier in One Day.  We started at 6:30 am in a cool fog which quickly gave way to sunshine at about 9:30.  Much better temps than the 100-110 degrees last year.  This year Paradise was open again and the views were spectacular with the wild flowers at their peak.  The descent down from Paradise was comparable to the descent from Soulor to the tunnel leading to D'Aubisque - winding switchbacks with a steep drop off to the right and a crazy descent down Grove of the Patriarchs to Highway 140 and the start of Cayuse Pass.  Dotted along the road are many waterfalls and high mountain lakes, Reflection Lake being one I remember in particular.  Well worth the ride just to see the scenery.

*At the Crystal rest stop we received news that our daughter had been hit head-on by an impaired, uninsured driver who crossed over into her lane about 3 blocks from our home.  Police estimated he was going anywhere from 60-80 mph in a 30 mph zone in front of a small school.  He also had priors and was driving with a suspended license.  The front of our '02 Saab 9-3 hatch-back was sheared off to a 90 degree angle but the body was intact.  The only visible damage inside was the radio and air control buttons that had popped out.  Our daughter received only minor bruising from the airbags, steering wheel and seat belts.  The other guy? ICU with a severe head injury.  This all on a Thursday at 3 pm.  When we bought the Saab, their motto was safety, safety safety.

Back to the ride; 133 miles out of 154 (took a sag van back the rest of the way).  8900 feet of gain out of the possible 10,000 feet.

Getting ready to descend Stevens Canyon 

Damon and Pythias

I was riding through North Plains yesterday and stopped at the new market that opened recently.  I was drinking a Gatorade when a man stopped and said "beware of the python."  I've been through that town many times and never noticed the cool sign, indicating a lodge of the 'Fraternal Order Knights of Pythias'.  

I had to come home and google the Knights of Pythias.  Founded in 1864 it's principles are friendship, charity and benevolence.  There are also fraternal orders of Pythian Sisters.  The orders have nothing to do with a python.  The founder was inspired by a play about the Greek legend of Damon and Pythias which illustrated the ideals of loyalty, honor and friendship.

Larch Mountain

We last rode up to Larch Mountain June 13th.  Today we parked at the Edgefield Manor parking lot which is a better place to start than Lewis and Clark State Park.  This is one of our favorite summer time rides and we had a perfect day with clear skies and warm weather.  4500 feet of gain, 50 miles.  The best part is the fun descent.  90 degree weather without the wind chill factor 6 weeks ago.

Mark and Craig at the Women's Forum outlook off 

Larch Mountain Road.  

The Columbia River Gorge is in the background.

Mt. Hood as seen from the lookout point at Larch Mountain.  Today we could see Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helen's, Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson.  

Stage 17, Pau-Col d'Tourmalet

Today's stage of the Tour, 108.1 miles, went up the west side of the Tourmalet.   Today we saw the Tourmalet enshrouded in fog. I bet the riders appreciated the cooler weather. A nice ending for Schleck and Contador at the top.  Chris Horner from Bend, Oregon also had a very good showing and is in the top ten. I'm glad it wasn't foggy for us on our day up there as I appreciated seeing the scenery and looking backward onto the switchbacks we just came up, watching circling vultures and eagles riding the thermals. Today we couldn't recognize anything.

Tuesday's ride marked the 100th aniversary of the route of 'The Circle of Death', when Henri Desgrange added the high mountain stages into the Tour.  He said, "The Tour de France only became the Tour de France when we sent the riders into the mountains."  I recently heard that a rider in 1910 rode the Pyrenees with 12 veal cutlets in his bag. There is a great article in today's guardian.co.uk about that ride.  Apparently riders used candles in lanterns to help guide them up in the dark.

2010 Tour de France, Pyrenees stages!

The Tour has been exciting to watch these past two weeks.  Monday, stage 15, the Tour went from Pamiers, France to Bagnes-de-Luchon.  It was so fun to watch the teams fly into Luchon, where we stayed the night of our trip on Day 4, after crossing from Spain to France at Bossost.  The town was hardly recognizable with the crowds, flags, and roadblocks. We were able to get a glimpse of the main street of Luchon and the restaurant where we had dinner across from our hotel, Acta Luchon.  Yesterday, stage 16 was especially fun to watch as the teams left Luchon, taking the same route we did on Day 5; Col de Peyresourde through Arreau where we had a sag stop, up Col d'Aspin, down to Ste Marie de Campam (another sag stop for us), then the east approach up the Col de Tourmalet.  This was our shortest day.  We rode a total of 95 km, staying that night in Luz St. Sauveur at a charming small hotel, Hotel Montaigu, situated under a small knoll with the old ruins of Chateau Sainte-Marie perched on top.  The Tour continued on yesterday, down to Aucun, France, then up the Col de Soulor and Col d'Aubisque ending in Pau for a total of 199.5 km (124 miles).  I can't imagine adding those climbs and the extra miles! 

We recognized  some of the switchbacks going up the Tourmalet and Aubisque, the dark, slippery tunnel from Soulor to Aubisque, along with the epic descent and 400 meter drop to the right with just little concrete blocks that remind you to stay on course.  About 4 km from the top of Tourmalet there was a good view of  the somewhat unsightly 'resort' of la Mongie which you approach through a series of concrete overhangs, their only purpose I could think of at that time was that they provided some much needed shade. Actually they provide road access through the surrounding cliffs and up to the unaesthetic buildings of  la Mongie.  The day we rode, it was about 35 degrees C and construction crews were improving the roads going up both sides of the Tourmalet in preparation for the Tour.  Through la Mongie a heavy asphalt road roller 'paced' alongside of me, the driver wildly waving and cheering me on.   That made me laugh.  Now, having heard more about the Pyrenees and how they are often enshrouded in mist and clouds, I think we were lucky to have good, albeit hot, weather.

It was nice to see that Lance Armstrong had a good showing yesterday.  He looked quite strong leading the first group up the Col's. 

Yesterday I received an email from our friend and fellow rider, Wes, who lives in Australia. He too is watching the Tour and said, "that means for me sleeping on the couch each night as it rarely finishes for us until 2.30AM."  He wrote about the approach to the Tourmalet, reflecting,  "I have to admit to being right on the edge, at that point, of taking the van, but some fresh water and a handful of Mike's sultanas ["better than bloody bars"said Mike*] I managed to keep going." This guy is amazing. He is 66, very fit and well versed on athletic training. He wore a heart monitor and one time stopped momentarily to rest when his max rate was was above target. I passed him, only to have him speed by me, beating me by more than a few minutes to the top!  His 'real' job:  Cuckoo Clock Sales and Box Hill Clock Service, an Australian company based in Box Hill, in Eastern Melbourne.  His next ride?  Trans Alps from Geneva to Nice. 

Today is a rest day for the Tour.  Tomorrow, stage 17; Pau back to Col du Tourmalet, west approach.  174 km (108.1 miles)

*Mike was an extremely funny, entertaining man from England who drove a support van.  He was always encouraging us to skip the 'snickers bars' (Spanish version) and eat the sultanas (which Mike called white seedless raisins).

Chateau Sainte-Marie, built by the Counts of Bigorre in 1278 on a hill overlooking Luz St. Sauveur.  

Mt. Adams ride

We're back riding in the good old USA and our two friends, Allan and VA suggested riding the Forest Loop of the Mt. Adams Country Ride today.  Another friend, Tom, joined us.  We set out at 9 am from the Trout Lake Grill and headed up Forest Road 23, rode 14 miles to the top (3940 feet),  and continued on FR 23 past the turn off for FR 90 (see map below).  We turned left onto FR 88 (there are some spots of gravel that are well marked), and continued down via some really fun descents into Troutlake.  54 miles, 3800 feet of gain.  Beer and a sandwich at the grill afterwards completed a good day.  Perfect weather, a little headwind going up, but lots of fun descents mixed with two hills.  This is truly a beautiful place to ride!  When I'm senile I want a little cabin in Trout Lake and have told Craig to get me a little cat and a load of rocks.  Just sit me out in the yard and let me build some rock walls and I'll be content.

Tom, VA and Craig with Mt. Adams in the background

You can combine this loop with the valley loop for a total of 105 miles

Coastline of Hendaye, France

I was able to get a picture of the seawall of Hendaye from Belinda, the amazing rider from Australia:

Pyrenees revisited

We've now had a little time to mentally process this trip. Some of the climbs stand out among others. The Rat Penat of day one, with the short stretches of 19%, 20% and 23% grades, will be forever remembered.

Day 2, as mentioned in an earlier post, we found ourselves riding with the B group.  This is the day my right knee hurt, the ride was 150 km long and included a 2 km ascent up Santuari de Pinos, a 12% grade.  I think I mostly used the left leg the entire time up that hill.  Craig was getting pretty strong and beat me up.

Belinda, from Australia, a triathlete who was using this ride as prep for an event in August. 

We stopped at this little coffee shop for a short break.

Day 3 we went back to the C group and we had another long ride, about 135 km, ending in Cellers, Spain.  We completed two climbs, Coll de Jou and Coll de Boixols, along with a few shorter ones thrown in towards the end.

Coll de Boixols

Day 4 introduced us to our first long, hard climbs, the Port de la Bonaigua (23 km) and Col de Portillon (8.5 km), the latter with 5 km of 7.2-8.2% grades. According to Peter, the Col de Portillon is the most climbed in the Tour since it serves as a gateway to the Pyrenees.  Note, Col and Coll; we were now in the French Pyrenees.

Port de la Bonaigua

We ended in Bagneres-de-Luchon, France, staying at a hotel that Lance Armstrong had stayed in the night before.  I'm not above claiming fame by association, even remotely.  We were told he was going to be descending the east side of Tourmalet as we were going up.

A view from our balcony of Hotel Acta Luchon with a view of our bike & luggage vans,   We had a very good French dinner on the sidewalk across the street.  A parade celebrating the festival of St. Jean entertained us that evening.  

Day 5 found us on Col de Peyresourde, a 15 km climb with some pretty steep sections and Col d' Aspin with some 7 to 8.7% grades to climb.

Summit Col d'Aspin

The cows at the top of Col d'Aspin

Finally, we headed up the the east side of Col du Tourmalet, a 17.5 km climb with a long section of 7.9-10% graded climbs.

Craig and I with our new friend, Oleg, who happens to be from Portland

Craig, looking down at the last part of our east side ascent of Tourmalet

Looking down the western side of Tourmalet

As to the Lance sighting?  Supposedly, as I was 2 km from the top of Tourmalet, a guy ahead of me suddenly stopped, starting taking pictures and said Lance had just passed me going downhill.  I was too tired to even look and definitely didn't want to stop.  

We really thought day 4 and 5 would be the hardest, but Day 6 surprised us. We started with Col de Soulor and Col d'Aubisque, two climbs separated only by a short 2 km downhill section at 20 km. The total climb is about 30 km.

Top of Col de Soulor; Gavin from Australia, Jill and Judy from LA.  Judy was ill that day and didn't ride.

Directions to Col d'Aubisque and Pau (you'll see this on the Tour this year)

The tunnel to d'Aubisque.  This road is being worked on for the Tour and the tunnel is dark and slippery. 

This video of Craig coming up dAubisque I have labeled "Shut up and Ride" for obvious reasons.  

Of course, I meant to say "we pay the big bucks", not "we get paid the big bucks" to do this.    I must have been tired. 

Col d'Aubisque and the bike-eating donkeys

Peter Thomson and the Hotel d'Aubisque

Bike art at the top of Col d'Aubisque

Jill and Craig at a rest stop after Col d'Aubisque

We had lunch, then ascended Col de Marie Blanque, followed by a climb that I thought short but hard, Col d'Ishere.  It's only 4.5 km long but comes towards the end of the day with some short, tough stretches of 10-12% grades.

Col d'Ishere

To wrap it up, Day 7 was not only long (160 km) but we started out with a climb up Col de Bagargui.  The elevation is not too high, but the last 7 km of the climb has some 8.5-11.5% grades.  It was also very hot, 33-35 degrees C.  This video shows Craig coming up the last part accompanied by the cacophony of cow bells:

Three of the 'A' team on the top of Col de Bagargui.  We loved their jerseys.

We ended the ride with 4 more climbs before we hit the Atlantic Ocean; Col d'Ispeguy, Puerto de Otxondo, Collando de Lizuniaga and Col d'Ibardin.  These seemed slightly easy in comparison to the previous days climbs.  They were short with only one km on Lizuniaga that presented us with a short 7.5% grade.  Of course, we shouldn't have been surprised by the little 'surprise' bump going into Hendaye, a short 1 km 20% climb that nearly did us in.  One person dropped their chain and Oleg broke his.  Peter said he worked hard to get us to the Atlantic without going on highways and had to use roads that went in between hotels and houses, therefore the short, hard climb.  I'd learned by then not to complain!

A sweet sight indeed was our first glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean.  Sadly, I did not take time for any pictures at all, being in a hurry to get to our hotel, take off my bike shoes and get a beer.  I will say, it was a very emotional feeling to ride the last 2-3 km alongside the ocean in Hendaye, France, knowing we'd successfully biked over 550 miles from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic!