I like John Kramer’s Bikenfest 200k. He changes it up a bit every October. This year (on the 2nd), it started at the Heritage Park-and-Ride near White Salmon (on the Washington side of the Hood River Bridge).
Unfortunately, I was already running late when I missed the turn onto the bridge from Hwy 84. (Confusing signage due to construction.) So after driving a few extra miles to Mosier and back, I started the 200k about 20 minutes after everyone else.
The route headed East on Hwy 14, where, after a few miles, I found Nat Beagley walking along the side of the road looking for a pedal. Hmmm. The roadside was doing an excellent job of hiding this fallen-off bike part.
Onwards, the route headed up Old Hwy 8 and used Syncline Winery (one of my favorites!) as its first contrôle. (How cool was that?) Then back to Hwy 14, I missed the turn out of Lyle towards Centerville, and mistakenly rode Hwy 142 up the Klickitat River instead. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this until I was over 20 miles up the road. I was ready to abandon (and head straight to Glenwood) when I saw a sign that said 11 miles to Goldendale. “Hmmm,” I thought. “If I hustle, I can still make it before the contrôle closes.” And that's just what I did, arriving just as the last of the other riders were leaving. With three extra bonus miles cuz of my mistake, I called John to let him know where I was, then continued the journey towards Glenwood.
I passed half a dozen riders on the next segment, then met up with Ray Ogilvie, Lynne Fitzsimmons, Susan Otcenas, and Scott Peterson in Glenwood. ‘Twas the first time I’d seen Scott on a diamond-framed bike. I rode mostly with Lynne and Susan to Trout Lake, then after a few pictures of their beautiful Sweetpeas, I took advantage of momentum and continued onto White Salmon alone.
I rode some of the final leg with Alaskan Bill Estes and his son Theodore Eugenis (who lives here in Oregon), and reached the finish a little before Lynne and Susan. Lynne was particularly enthusiastic at the end, exclaiming, “it’s still light!”
Kramer said I may be the only one who’s ridden all four Bikenfest 200’s. A little research seems to have born that out.
Pictures are here on Flickr.
Showing posts with label 200k brevet randonneur oregon cycling bikenfesst. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 200k brevet randonneur oregon cycling bikenfesst. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Bikenfest 2009 200k
It took me forever to start chronicling the Bikenfest 2009 200km ride … but here it is:
I always look forward and enjoy John Kramer’s brevets, and this one was no different. New starting place. New (to me) roads. Good scenery. Challenging yet doable route. And now another notch on my 2nd R-12 belt.
Alan Woods graciously offered to drive me to the start in Hood River, and collected my bike and me in the wee pre-dawn hours of Saturday (October 3rd). My friend Amy had already offered to meet me at the finish that evening and take me back to Portland, so it was cool to get a ride to the start and not worry about Alan having to wait around at the finish. (His 200k time is almost 2 hours less than mine.)
Alan had also ridden the Mt. Adams SxSW 200k a few months earlier, where I volunteered at one of the secret contrôles. Interestingly, he remembered two things from that contrôle: 1) the funky old motorcycle I had ridden out there that day, and 2) Amy’s colorful flowing scarf. It’s funny the things that linger in our memories.
The Bikenfest brevet started eastwards from Hood River and took us on the scenic bikeway that heads towards Mosier. From there, we rode over Sevenmile Hill to The Dalles. From that summit, one could see a storm a’brewing in the vicinity to which we were heading.
For the first half of the ride, I felt sluggish, with none of the alacrity I had felt a week earlier on the 1st 2/3 of the Barlow Trail 300k. It felt like my tires were under-inflated. But in actuality, it probably had more to do with the strong ale I enjoyed at Madison’s Bar and Grill the night before. The end result, though, was that I didn’t see any other riders for most of the first half of the ride.
It took a while to grock how to get out of Hood River, because my mind’s eye was convinced that the Maryhill portion of the route (on the Washington side of the Columbia River) was gonna precede the rural farmlandy Oregon portion. (I tend not to do much research beforehand on these kinds of brevets.) But once I figured out that I needed to cross under the US 197 overpass, I was good to go … right into that nice little rain storm I had seen a’brewing about an hour earlier.
The “towns” in this area of Oregon amount to little more than intersections with a few signs and buildings scattered around. Such was the case at the info contrôle “in” Fairbanks. Between Fairbanks (OR, not AK) and the next contrôle (which was literally just a signpost at an intersection) I momentarily wished my booties had made the trip. But the rainstorm passed by the time I returned to The Dalles, as did the need for protective rain gear.
My sluggishness abated a bit during the second half of the brevet, which was basically an out-and-back on WA Hwy 14 to the Maryhill Museum. By this time, I caught up with John Hughart, as well as the trio of Lesli Larson, Peg Winczewski, and Tom Bonamici (who had all made a brief stop in The Dalles). We all leapfrogged to Maryhill, where Paul Whitney, John Kramer, and some colorful peacocks were “manning” the contrôle. [Thank you Paul for the double-bagged black tea!]
The route passed through The Dalles for a third time on the return portion of the ride. It was here that I made a caffeine stop at the Union 76 Mini Mart. The cashier there was quite a character, and was memorably impressed by Cecil’s Sweetpea. (She must have passed through about ½ hour earlier.) He couldn’t understand why none of our bike had kickstands! “You’ve got bags, lights, beautiful fenders … but no kickstand?!”
I ascended up to scenic Rowena Crest (overlooking the Columbia) alone, but shortly afterwards joined up with Peg, Tom, and Lesli for the final 14 miles. After Mosier, Peg’s and Tom’s headlights failed, so we rode as a quartet along the darkening scenic byway and on to Hood River.
‘Twas an enjoyable ride that featured a lot of Oregon territory I had never seen before. Thank you John!
I always look forward and enjoy John Kramer’s brevets, and this one was no different. New starting place. New (to me) roads. Good scenery. Challenging yet doable route. And now another notch on my 2nd R-12 belt.
Alan Woods graciously offered to drive me to the start in Hood River, and collected my bike and me in the wee pre-dawn hours of Saturday (October 3rd). My friend Amy had already offered to meet me at the finish that evening and take me back to Portland, so it was cool to get a ride to the start and not worry about Alan having to wait around at the finish. (His 200k time is almost 2 hours less than mine.)
Alan had also ridden the Mt. Adams SxSW 200k a few months earlier, where I volunteered at one of the secret contrôles. Interestingly, he remembered two things from that contrôle: 1) the funky old motorcycle I had ridden out there that day, and 2) Amy’s colorful flowing scarf. It’s funny the things that linger in our memories.
The Bikenfest brevet started eastwards from Hood River and took us on the scenic bikeway that heads towards Mosier. From there, we rode over Sevenmile Hill to The Dalles. From that summit, one could see a storm a’brewing in the vicinity to which we were heading.
For the first half of the ride, I felt sluggish, with none of the alacrity I had felt a week earlier on the 1st 2/3 of the Barlow Trail 300k. It felt like my tires were under-inflated. But in actuality, it probably had more to do with the strong ale I enjoyed at Madison’s Bar and Grill the night before. The end result, though, was that I didn’t see any other riders for most of the first half of the ride.
It took a while to grock how to get out of Hood River, because my mind’s eye was convinced that the Maryhill portion of the route (on the Washington side of the Columbia River) was gonna precede the rural farmlandy Oregon portion. (I tend not to do much research beforehand on these kinds of brevets.) But once I figured out that I needed to cross under the US 197 overpass, I was good to go … right into that nice little rain storm I had seen a’brewing about an hour earlier.
The “towns” in this area of Oregon amount to little more than intersections with a few signs and buildings scattered around. Such was the case at the info contrôle “in” Fairbanks. Between Fairbanks (OR, not AK) and the next contrôle (which was literally just a signpost at an intersection) I momentarily wished my booties had made the trip. But the rainstorm passed by the time I returned to The Dalles, as did the need for protective rain gear.
My sluggishness abated a bit during the second half of the brevet, which was basically an out-and-back on WA Hwy 14 to the Maryhill Museum. By this time, I caught up with John Hughart, as well as the trio of Lesli Larson, Peg Winczewski, and Tom Bonamici (who had all made a brief stop in The Dalles). We all leapfrogged to Maryhill, where Paul Whitney, John Kramer, and some colorful peacocks were “manning” the contrôle. [Thank you Paul for the double-bagged black tea!]
The route passed through The Dalles for a third time on the return portion of the ride. It was here that I made a caffeine stop at the Union 76 Mini Mart. The cashier there was quite a character, and was memorably impressed by Cecil’s Sweetpea. (She must have passed through about ½ hour earlier.) He couldn’t understand why none of our bike had kickstands! “You’ve got bags, lights, beautiful fenders … but no kickstand?!”
I ascended up to scenic Rowena Crest (overlooking the Columbia) alone, but shortly afterwards joined up with Peg, Tom, and Lesli for the final 14 miles. After Mosier, Peg’s and Tom’s headlights failed, so we rode as a quartet along the darkening scenic byway and on to Hood River.
‘Twas an enjoyable ride that featured a lot of Oregon territory I had never seen before. Thank you John!
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