The sun shone through the trees dappling the road ahead of me with light. I was grinding the gears of my aluminum steed up a steep section of Gofford Pichot National Forest when a mule deer bounded effortlessly across the road. Lost in my thoughts I had drifted into a routine of pedaling and breathing as my brother and I climbed up Elk Pass. Three motor bikes roared passed me and for a moment I thought; hmm a motor bike would make this much easier. The sound of the classic Harley Davidson mufflers quickly muted and faded and I was back in my silence. I wonder if they saw the deer.
In June I was fortunate enough to ride a new 1200km Brevet in the state of Washington. With my brother and a few friends, we set out to see the sites of Washington from the comfort of a leather saddle.
The ride starts just outside of Seattle and heads south, along the front range of the Cascades, to the foot hills of Mount Rainier. As you would expect, the crowd (75 riders) were very jubilant for the first two hundred kilometers or so. But once we started climbing Elk Pass, the joy seemed to diminish. Twenty five miles of grueling up hill crushed the spirit out of some. My brother and I stayed together as we rode on and off that day with a group from Missouri. They were very strong cyclists and had a great attitude. The jokes, mostly about Canadians, were fast and furious and made long stretches of the ride pass quickly. After 355 km and over 16 hours of riding, we stopped for the night. The rest of our comrades from Canada came in over the next few hours.
The next day we then headed east out of the Columbia Valley over Status Pass to the Yakima Valley in Eastern Washington. The Missourians (as we now referred to them) left about half an hour ahead of us and my brother and I were determined to catch them. Remember those math questions in high school? If a train leaves at 5:34 am traveling at 32km per hour and another train leaves at 6:00am traveling at 34km per hour, how long will it take for the second train to catch the first train? Its a long time is all I know. We worked hard most of the morning to catch up. This was a long day for me and my brother. The temperature was in the 90s (us Canadians are not used to such heat) and the ride through the desert into the Rattlesnake Hills took a toll on me. My body was struggling with the heat and my nutrition had faltered. The last 20km or so had a huge head wind and was simply an effort in mental gymnastics. I just had to keep the pedals turning. We had ridden nearly 700km in two days and a real meal and a good rest was needed.
At 7:00 am the next morning we were heading west into the North Cascade Mountains. I was feeling better compared to the day before. We caught the Missourians and rode with them most of that day. I unfortunately forgot my water bottles at one of the check stops and had to ride back 10km to retrieve them. Catching back up to the group took a great deal of my energy as I had to ride at full speed for well over an hour. They had slowed their pace to let me catch up, but I had expended a great deal of energy by the time I caught them. We still had to climb over 2500 feet to Loup Loup Pass and down to the Methow River and my legs felt like lead. This is when I noticed something miraculous. When I was off the bike, I could barely walk. Really! I was wobbly and the sight of me walking down stairs was quite comical. But when I got back on the bike, the legs could still go. I cant quite explain this, but I was pleased that I could still hammer up Loop Loop Pass and easily ride into our rest stop for the night. We had ridden 975km in three days.
The last leg of our ride had us climb over Washington and Rainy Pass before we headed back to the start in Monroe. Although the shortest leg of the trip, the hill climb up Washington Pass is nothing to scoff at. The temperature at the top of Washington/ Rainy Pass was about 40 degrees F and as the name suggests, it was raining. By the time we reached the bottom of the pass most of us were very cold. The organizers were wise and put a tent check stop at the bottom complete with hot chocolate and soup. This area was by far the most spectacular scenery on the trip. Rugged mountains, water falls and lush forests were in complete contrast to the desert the day before. We finished the ride at about 6:30pm. We enjoyed a cold beer and pizza cheering the other riders as they passed the finish line.
To most people, riding 1200km on a bike is complete lunacy. Truth is; theyre right. In total we rode 1245km with over 40,000ft of elevation gain in under 84 hours. Its not something I would recommend without part of your frontal lobe removed, but it was truly an experience in mental and physical endurance.
Randonneuring is an ultra distance biking event. The French invented it to torture people. I think the translation is something like; (and say this with a French accent) "idiot who rides bicycle" But, like all things extreme, it has become a pass time for many people. Essentially Randonneuring is a series of long distance rides called brevets. They vary in distance with each distance having a prescribed time in which the rider must complete the ride. Most common are the 200km, 300km and 400km distances. The longest being the 1200km brevet. The most famous of these is the Paris Brest Paris (PBP) where every four years over 4000 riders attempt to ride from Paris to Brest back to Paris in under 90 hours. There is likely a Randonneuring club in your city if you are interested.
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