RAMROD 2008

Don't bother googling RAMROD - you would be amazed at the hits you get by throwing that into a google search. Well probably you can imagine....
Anyway it is just about 1 week since I went off and rode RAMROD - despite my lack of training this year and certain knowledge that riding it would be a world of hurt I went on ahead and used the registration I had earned by working the ride as safety director last year. Last year the ride was a different ride - because of the flooding at Mt. Rainier and washed out roads we where not able to ride all the way around the park but instead did an elaborate out and back route that gave about the same mileage and I believe more climbing. From a personal note it worked out well for me as my recumbent and I caught a lift up to Crystal Mountain the night before and then I rode in to the ranger station at the base of the Sunrise climb to meet up with the ranger I would spend the day with. We drove up and back with the pack of riders and at the end of the day I got to hop on my recumbent and fly downhill to Enumclaw and the finish line without having to bother with all the little side climbing we sent the rest of the riders up.
This year though was different.... I started the year with good intentions - you know - loose weight ride regularly - I had my sights on a partial brevet series perhaps. All that got side tracked by a variety of work & personal issues and was brought to a screeching halt at the end of Feb. during a disastrous 100k "Populaire" where my tandem buddy and I DNFd with 4 flats and a broken pump. Less than a week later my understanding tandem partner and I decided that the 200k coming up was not going to happen. We have since then gotten back into the swing of things and in fact have done multiple century and metric centuries in preparation for RSVP coming up mid August. For that ride I am feeling fine. It is a nice 2 day ride a little over a century the first day and a relaxing second day. For RAMROD though well - One Day, 150 miles and 10000' no I was not ready.... My choices where simple - give up my registration or ride and hurt.... I decided that I would ride - take a small light and if need be finish in the dark!
Several of my ride buddies rode it this year but they where all actually trained up and in shape so I knew that I could only hope to hang with them during the dark morning hours and then party with them afterwards. As it happened I stayed with them very little. As the day wore on I found myself being passed by and s passing up many of the same riders over and over again. I had you see switched over to full Rando "get er done" mode where stops where as brief as possible... only long enough to allow a bit of food, refill the water bottles hit the head and leave. I would typically be in and out in minutes while the faster riders passing me would actually dawdle over their gatorade and chocolate croissant.... . By the Way: My thanks in this to Shane at the first major stop who got me my bagel and cream cheese while I filled my water bottles and hit the porta potty line thus bypassing a long food line. The important thing when one is off ones pace is to just not stop... keep on going - It is the typical turtle and the hare story. Although as a side note I recently heard a quote about climbing cyclists - Something about good climbers don't suffer less just suffer faster.
Anyway my tactics worked. I actually made decent time the first 100 miles and as usual slowed to a crawl on the long climb up Cayuse Pass. This year I lucked out in that I was late enough and the water was moderate enough that the climb was a little cooler than usual. I only had to stop once outside the deer creek water stop (which never comes soon enough!). At the top of cayuse I drank deep, filled my water bottles and then headed downhill with a light heart because now I was in my strong territory. I love that last 40 miles of mostly downhill and flat run back to the finish. This year I was quite happy to roll in just 14 hours after rolling out....