My Furnace Creek crew chief, John Henry, and I started off from the Imperial River Company in Maupin at 5:15 AM. Yup, it was dark!
I had registered for the ride late the day before, and just sort of threw things in the pickup after work on Friday and headed towards Maupin. After I was 80 miles down the road it dawned on me that it was fall and the mornings were likely to be cold.........and that I didn't have cold weather riding apparel along. Bummer.
Also, my bright HID light developed "issues" and won't light so I left it home intentionally. I figured that most of the riding before daylight would be uphill and my 1W LED would be adequate for the slow slog up the hill, and that I would be back to Maupin before dark so the descent down Bakeoven Rd wouldn't be an issue. Double bummer.
It was 39 as we left Maupin. Since I did not have leg warmers along I did the next best thing...at least given my options. I pulled on a pair of blue jeans over my biking shorts. I just figured I'd shed them and put them in my backpack when I started climbing up toward Grass Valley. I didn't warm up enough to get rid of the jeans on the climb, as a matter of fact, I kept getting colder.
It was just getting daylight as I climbed out of the Deschutes Canyon.
The temperature dropped as we climbed up toward Grass Valley. It was in the low 30's when we got there. I had fingerless gloves on, and had numb fingers by the time I arrived in Grass Valley. I spent about 40 minutes in Grass Valley talking with the volunteers manning the food table and sipping on hot chocolate.
Warmed up, I finally continued my journey. I had estimated that I might have arrived in Grass Valley in about 7 position or so. I thought I might have another 15 or 20 behind me.
The route followed the Race Across Oregon course for much of the time. I was familiar with the area because of RAO training and the actual race itself but the beauty of the area never ceases to amaze me.
I arrived at Moro where I stopped for another 45 minutes or so and visited with the volunteers. I was surprised to find that none of the volunteers I had met so far knew much about cycling. They were just volunteering because they thought it sounded fun and were wanting to show some hospitality to we "foreigners". Most of the support stops had a wide variety of home baked cookies and other items not often found on rides.......and they were all good!
Just as I was preparing to leave, RAAM veteran Sandy Earl pedaled up on her Carbent. I greeted her, then pedaled off. I figured she'd catch up soon enough. I did lollygag a bit figuring when she caught up with me we'd just ride together for a bit. I took in the sights and took many photo opportunities.
I was thinking I was about in the middle of the pack.
About this time a SAG vehicle comes up next to me and asks how I'm doing. I answer "fine". It's then that they inform me that I am the last rider on the course and that everyone else is quite far ahead of me! ARGH!
I asked about Sandy, remarking that she had to be behind me yet. To my amazement the driver tells me that she had been ferried ahead in a support car as had the rest of those who were behind me!
I was the official "lanterne rouge"!
I just did not have my head around riding this as a race, but here I was falling off the back of the pack and really needing to try to close the gap a bit. In a more social group that might be possible, but I was surrounded by RAAM, Race Across Oregon, Furnace Creek, Race Across the West, and Ring of Fire veterans. These were no easy marks.
...and I was riding in jeans with numb fingers!
I would warm up a bit (though not a lot!) on the climbs only to reach the summit and shiver on the descents. I was shivering through awfully pretty country though!
hmmmmmmmm....some glitch in blogger, unable to load photos. I'll come back and finish this entry a bit later when everything is working.
............BIKE............LIFECYCLE.....ROLLERS....TOTAL
Today.......134...............0...............0.........134
Jan........618...............0................0..........618
Feb........692...............0................0..........692
March......940...............0................5..........940
April......934...............0................0..........934
May........905...............0................0..........905
June......1152...............0................0.........1152
July......1020...............0................0.........1020
Aug.......1000...............0................0.........1000
Sept......1002...............0................0.........1002
Oct........668...............0................0..........668
_________________________________________
TOTAL.....8948...............0..............5.........8953
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