400K Pre-ride Notes

Brad and Jeff Tilden, Peter McKay, Mark Thomas and I did the 400K pre-ride last Saturday. Many randonneurs feel that the 400K is the most difficult brevet of the series, and the steady rain and low 40's temperature that greeted us at 5am wasn't going to make it any easier. But we persevered and ended up having a great ride. There are some very pretty sections on the ride. The road up Skate Creek from Packwood stand out in my mind. The scenery there offers a nice diversion for the 12 mile climb... We measured 11,000 ft of climbing on the ride. Since this is a new route, I wanted to add some notes to prepare people for the ride. Hope to see you there on Saturday!

Route Changes

The road construction on Orville Rd between Kapowsin and SR 161 that we encountered on the 200K is pretty much complete, but the temporary patches are very rough only on the southbound side of the road. To avoid this, we will continue straight at the blinking light in Kapowsin for 3 miles before making a left on SR 161 to Eatonville. The return leg will use the 200K route, and turn right onto Orville Rd E., 1.4 miles outside of Eatonville.

The road to Bear Meadow is still closed by snow, so the control was moved in by 4.4 miles to Wakepish, just past the junction of FR 25 and FR 99. We saw a fox, an elk, and probably only 5 cars on the ride up to Wakepish and back.

Support

We will have SIR – staffed controls at Wakepish and Longmire with some food and water. Riders will be able to stop at Randle both before and after the climb to the Wakepish control, which closes at 5pm.

The Texaco in Packwood (control closes at 9pm) is well stocked and has a Subway that is open until 8pm.

After Longmire, riders should consider stopping at the stores in Ashford (94 km from the finish) or Eatonville (50 km) to make sure they have enough supplies to finish. The Ashford General Store closes at 10pm, while the 76 station on the far side of town closes at 10:30. Brad and Jeff left Longmire at 9:45 and made it to the 76 station just before closing.

The market in Eatonville closes at 11pm. Peter, Mark and I left Longmire at 8:15, and with some strong pulls (or was it the downhill?) made it to Eatonville by 10:30. After 11pm, there will be an SIR volunteer in the market parking lot with some food and water.

Tracks

The railroad tracks on SR 7 just west of Elbe are treacherous, especially in the rain. We knew they were bad and still managed to crash going over them. We walked over them on the way back, and found it less painful. Also, there are 3 sets of tracks between Ashford and Elbe, but they cross the road a better angle.