NW Epic 50/100 Pre ride

I decide to take advantage of a free weekend before the NW Epic final race at Capital Forest to pre ride the 50 mile lap and see what I was getting myself into. I already signed up for the 100 and so far, only 6 others are in the men's under 45 open but lots of entries for the 50. 

With the gpx file loaded on my Garmin and a water filter in my camelback, I was ready for 5-6 hours of solo exploration. The rout is 50 miles and 5,500 vertical feet, basically all singletrack. Sounds hard! Turns out, it is. 

Most of the trails are in good shape and quite fast and about 70% of the rout is shaded deep forest; these trails are killer. 

My Garmin 510 proved far for reliable out there so I was constantly dropping and re-linking with the rout. I missed a turn and ended up nearly back at the start. Oops. I back tracked to the rout up the small intro climb. 

Back on rout I was having a lot of fun on the flowing singletrack. The course is well suited for my 29er hardtail. 

Finally the big climb started and the child's play came to an end. Due to poor trail conditions/maintenance, a lot of the climb was hike a bike. Man, this is getting real!

Up and up to the top of the highest hill around. The trail became very rough and unforgiving. Some parts rideable, some parts, not at all. I was pouring sweat, and that's not typical for me. 

Above is an exam of one of the semi-ridable sections. It's hard to keep a rhythm on a long steep climb with all this on and off but it does end about an hour after it starts and the payback begins. Put down some solid food such as a clif bar well ahead of this climb. It's very very hard!

 Some very fun descending on the way back. I was running out of daylight and therefore hauling ass to race the sun but still couldn't help but stop for a picture or two. 

Next week will be fun! I think 11 hours will be my time target. 14 hours is the cutoff! 

Back to Everett Washington

The biggest news since my last entry is that I have taken a 6 month contract job in Everett Washington, just in time for summer cycling. I came here with minimal posessions including my 29er hardtail, carbon cross bike, and my steel singlespeed commuter. 

I moved in with some cycling friends who understand my lifestyle and we can really help each other improve as cyclists and eat well or at the very least, provide company on weekend rides. It has been a busy and tiresome few weeks but things are beginning to settle down into a solid training routine of 30 mile work commutes 4 times a week plus 2-3 Social/competitive rides out of Snohomish Bicycle shop or with the Fischer Plumbing team. 

Last weekend I took part in a Fischer Plumbing group century my friend Joe but together. It ended up being 11 hours on the road on for me and my biggest ride of the year by a slim margin. It was a bit hot,  peaking at about 84 degrees. 150 ounces of fluids consumed. 

I was very pleased and pleasantly surprised by my performance last week. It was my longest week of cycling so far at about 280 miles with lots of personal records and 2 KOM's to show for it. Nice!

So far my mileage for the year is 3,500 at a little less than half way through the year.  I want to keep the momentum going to surpass my 7,000 mile goal. 

Lots of fun rides coming soon. I plan on some off road adventures and some road rides that with challenge me further. See you out there!