John’s Ramblings

Monday (Memorial Day) was the third and final day of the Century Ride of the Centuries in Pendleton, Oregon. The ride started from Sunday’s ending point, the Bar M dude ranch 25+ miles east of town. The short ride was straight into town, the long route deviated right at the end for an out-and-back ride up Cabbage Hill, a climb of about 12 miles through the Blue Mountain foothills.

The day was cold to start, in the low 40′s if I’m not mistaken. I was quite glad for my removable arm- and leg-warmers for the first 15 miles as the cool temps, shaded road, and quick descent were raising goosebumps of Kevin’s arms roughly the size of the Blue Mountains. After the easy downhill section, you must ride through a section that they call “rollers”, but are hills by any other estimation. These bad-boys keep coming at you for miles and miles, and there never seems to be enough momentum to carry you up the next roller. They distinguish their rolling hills in these parts; the ones you can easily crest after a downhill are “downhill rollers”, vs. the ones where you slow to a crawl about 1/4th the way up, which would be your “uphill rollers”.

At mile 25 is the decision point (for the long or short route). Kevin and I were both game for the ride up Cabbage Hill, so I dropped off my extra clothes at the rest stop and we headed up the hill. Kevin is far stronger a climber than I, and he would have to drive back to Seattle after the ride (we were staying one more night to avoid the traffic). Therefore I sent Kevin off to do the hill solo, and I spun my way up the hill at my own pace. While I am stronger than I was last year, I don’t believe I was all that much faster when I rode this hill the year before. I did have a lot more prior mileage on the weekend, however, and it took a while for the legs to find their “zone” and for the thighs to stop burning.

It was a beautiful 12.43 mile climb, and my HRM measured the ascent from the last rest stop at 2,465 feet. That works out to an average grade of 3.76%, and the engineers who designed this road kept the grade almost perfectly constant the whole way up. For me, this means that I can find a comfortable pace and enjoy the ride even though it’s uphill, as I do not have to worry about what sort of vertical challenge may be waiting for me around the next bend. The hills were far greener than last year and wild Daisies, Lupine, and Blue Mountain Penstemon were in abundance.

The organizers took my suggestion of last year, and presented the riders with a “patch” to commemorate their successful climb of cabbage hill. They even had a photographer at the turn-around point to capture the patch-presentation. After the 12 mile climb, however, I felt I was far less photogenic than Jim, so all you get to see is the patch.

Totals for the weekend were:
202.40 miles
9,578′ of climbing
Smiles, too numerous to count.

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