Early Morning Cyclist Inspiration

Winter's icy grip is trying to hold on but spring's warm breath is slowly winning.

Morning Doves

Getting To Work

Perfect Morning

Did it land like that?

Not Alone

Thank You Lake

I Don't Think I Need To Do That Again...

That's what I said last year after finishing the Fatbike to the Clouds race.  Well, some people never learn.  This year I got my wife to sign up too.

Loaded up and ready to go

 We got to the mountain about 1 hour before the race and found that we had missed registration.  That seemed a little early to shut down the process since from 9:00 to 10:10 would be spent milling around or out in the cold.  But they found somebody to get us checked in so all was well.

Ready

 We did a quick preview of the bottom of the course, to check the tire pressure and all that.  You can't do a fatbike race without checking conditions for tire pressure.  We left all 4 tires as-was, although maybe 1/8 PSI lower in my rear tire might have got me 1st.  Nah, probably it wouldn't have changed a thing.

After reading what I said to my future self in my blog from last year I started closer to the front of the pack.  It was a good choice.  By the start of the climb I was just about in the position I would finish the race in.  This is a funny race.  It starts with trying to get your best time and finishing as close to the front of the pack as possible.  And it ends with hoping you can make it the rest of the way up the hill without walking.

When I got to the top there were 7 bikes there.

 I actually did really well at both.  I really don't think I could have got to the top any faster so I'm calling it a good race.  I also beat last years time by over 3 minutes even though the overall field was a few minutes slower because of the soft snow near the top.

Obligatory finish shot on Washington

I hung around the top long enough to get a drink and try to gnaw off a chunk of a frozen energy bar (which I failed at, friggin hard) and started back down to find Kelly.  I was happy to see that she was only about 1/2 mile from the finish when I found her and still smiling.  This race is a lot of suffering so the smile was a bonus.

Smiling and grinding uphill

She was really worried about crashing and burning before making it up the mountain.  It turns out that she was ahead of a lot of people!

Plenty of people still left behind her.

I headed off down the mountain trying not to freeze.  I hit 29MPH on a straight section on the way down which was a hair faster than my max speed on the way up.
 

2nd Place

I pulled off 8th place in the fatbike division overall with a time of 58 minutes & change.  Kelly managed a podium with a time of 1 hour & 18 minutes. 2018 Results The race was well run as usual, thanks to the organizers for pulling it all together. 

Relive 'Morning Ride'

Here's an unsatisfying video of the event.  Why unsatisfying?  Because the battery died before I reached the finish line.  Don't worry, it isn't 58 minutes long thanks to the magic of 16x playback.

So what is my advice to my future self? Am I going to do this miserable suffering ride again? That is a definite maybe. I think my advice would be lose 12lbs if you want to climb it faster because you aren't getting any younger!  You hear that future self? Lay off the cookies and before bed snacks.  Or maybe 8th is good enough.

Early Morning Cyclist Inspiration

Here are a few pictures of this weeks commute.  Better than gridlock I'd say.  Technically one of these was early evening but I've got to go with my naming convention. (Hint: it's the one with the moon)

The day God came to me I was on a fatbike.  "Ride here my son..."

Big Rock, Bright Moon, Brighter bike.

 

 

 

 

Early Morning Traffic

 

Early Morning Pedestrians

Lots of pedestrians.

I'd say there are close to 50 deer living in the area I ride.  There are lots of young ones and I think the mild winter is strengthening the herd.