A Spot Of Bother
Last week I got invited to fill in on the Cars-R-Coffins team doing the Rapha Gentleman's Race. Each team has 6 riders, and the entire team has to finish.
The "race" is from Hood River to Portland, via Lolo Pass. 125 miles.
The concept of this event is cool. Basically a couple check points, and the entire team has to be present in order to continue. It's completely unsupported, and unsanctioned. You had to find your own route, carry all your own food and water, and make sure everyone on your team finishes. This was no standard road race.
I didn't wonder how a summer spent doing 2 hour MTB rides and buzzing around a skate park prepared me for this. Physically,I wasn't prepared at all.
I decided to do this because of the quality of my team-mates, the fact that this time last summer I was on crutches with a very badly broken leg, and hey...what an adventure!
What have I got myself into...?
Daniel from Rapha described the course as very "front loaded." 50 miles of climbing right off the bat. I rode the Tonic cross bike. Which, except for a lack of water bottle mounts, was excellent.
Slate, one of the organizers. Entry fee was $10 and a case of beer.
This was my view from 10am to 8pm.
James...a very strong rider with one hell of a recipe for Brownies.
Hurl. The guy behind Cars-R-Coffins and way ahead of me for most of Saturday. Flew in from Minnesota.
Daryn. Another Minnesotan who was way too fast in the hills.
Chris J..our team's downhill specialist. Couldn't keep him in sight on the way down.
Lots of gravel road climbing. Lots of climbing period. The course wasn't exactly all down hill after the pass. I don't know how I survived it all. I thought of Biz Markie (?), I drank a lot of water, I sang to myself, I ate a lot of Payday Candy Bars, a Special Brownie and some Ibuprofen.
Mostly, I just tried to stay positive. I thought of how much my leg hurt when I broke it, and how small the pain I felt compared to that. I didn't want my experience to be that of dropping out. I really wanted to finish. For myself, and for our team.
James said we hit 46 at one point. That's miles per hour.
A checkpoint after Lolo. We picked up another rider here who's team abandoned.
As we approached Portland, we rode by a lot of "Modern Americana." Not the best riding, but plenty of scenery, and...
...places to stop and get food and water.
And beer. We stopped at the Copper Rooster with about 40 miles to go.
The final climb. See that river in the photo? With over a 100 miles in our legs we made the final climb up a gravel road to one of the highest roads in the Portland area. Even though I hurt more than at any other time on this ride, stopping was out of the question.
Finally on top of the last climb. The checkpoint folks had packed up by the time we arrived. We blasted back into town down Cornell. A very fast decent, mixed with some bike messenger style get-through-traffic action to the finishing bar.
Done. And not in last place either. Amazingly. I'm very grateful for the team invite and to Rapha. Excellent stuff. I'll be back for more.
-L
The "race" is from Hood River to Portland, via Lolo Pass. 125 miles.
The concept of this event is cool. Basically a couple check points, and the entire team has to be present in order to continue. It's completely unsupported, and unsanctioned. You had to find your own route, carry all your own food and water, and make sure everyone on your team finishes. This was no standard road race.
I didn't wonder how a summer spent doing 2 hour MTB rides and buzzing around a skate park prepared me for this. Physically,I wasn't prepared at all.
I decided to do this because of the quality of my team-mates, the fact that this time last summer I was on crutches with a very badly broken leg, and hey...what an adventure!
What have I got myself into...?
Daniel from Rapha described the course as very "front loaded." 50 miles of climbing right off the bat. I rode the Tonic cross bike. Which, except for a lack of water bottle mounts, was excellent.
Slate, one of the organizers. Entry fee was $10 and a case of beer.
This was my view from 10am to 8pm.
James...a very strong rider with one hell of a recipe for Brownies.
Hurl. The guy behind Cars-R-Coffins and way ahead of me for most of Saturday. Flew in from Minnesota.
Daryn. Another Minnesotan who was way too fast in the hills.
Chris J..our team's downhill specialist. Couldn't keep him in sight on the way down.
Lots of gravel road climbing. Lots of climbing period. The course wasn't exactly all down hill after the pass. I don't know how I survived it all. I thought of Biz Markie (?), I drank a lot of water, I sang to myself, I ate a lot of Payday Candy Bars, a Special Brownie and some Ibuprofen.
Mostly, I just tried to stay positive. I thought of how much my leg hurt when I broke it, and how small the pain I felt compared to that. I didn't want my experience to be that of dropping out. I really wanted to finish. For myself, and for our team.
James said we hit 46 at one point. That's miles per hour.
A checkpoint after Lolo. We picked up another rider here who's team abandoned.
As we approached Portland, we rode by a lot of "Modern Americana." Not the best riding, but plenty of scenery, and...
...places to stop and get food and water.
And beer. We stopped at the Copper Rooster with about 40 miles to go.
The final climb. See that river in the photo? With over a 100 miles in our legs we made the final climb up a gravel road to one of the highest roads in the Portland area. Even though I hurt more than at any other time on this ride, stopping was out of the question.
Finally on top of the last climb. The checkpoint folks had packed up by the time we arrived. We blasted back into town down Cornell. A very fast decent, mixed with some bike messenger style get-through-traffic action to the finishing bar.
Done. And not in last place either. Amazingly. I'm very grateful for the team invite and to Rapha. Excellent stuff. I'll be back for more.
-L
posted by Tonic Fab at 8:47 AM
3 Comments:
Awesome event and post. Nobody beats the Biz!!
best team ever, fueled by beer and brownies
Nobody beats the Biz!!
A lot of talented and unique artists from that era for sure.
-L
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