John’s Ramblings

In gory detail, by request…

I set the alarm clock for 5 a.m. to give myself plenty of time to eat and get ready before my ride arrived at 6:25. My dog Molly had other ideas, waking me for an undetermined series of doggie needs that seemed to eventually get sated with a trip outside and a treat at 4 a.m. I managed a small power-nap of maybe 10 minutes in the next hour, but my mind was already on the task ahead and sleep was elusive.

I got up, and ate breakfast #1, two slices of whole wheat toast. I’d supplement that after shower and getting dressed with Nancy’s Nonfat Yogurt (Plain), with Kashi and Costco Dried Blueberries. Between breakfast #1 and the shower/dressing part, I have a cup of coffee and fill my water bottles, two activities that cause me to perform two other activities that are hard to perform once you have your bib shorts on (if you catch my drift).

Peed, packed, and polished, I stepped out the door at 6:25 to find that my ride (thanks, Donna) was there and she had already loaded my bike into her van. We pulled out, met another rider who was to follow us to the start, and headed out to the Crystal Mountain cutoff from Highway 410. We underestimated the drive-time by 10 minutes or so, but nobody was ready to roll by the time we got there, so all was well.

Shortly after the turnoff to Sunrise Road, the roadway descends, making you give back 200′ of elevation you just grunted your way up Highway 410 to gain. I’d heard of this stretch ahead of time, folks referring to the ride down from Sunrise not being 100% descent. We stopped at the booth to pay our $5 entry fee, then stopped again about 50 yards into the park for a bathroom break. Once done there, we all set off on our quest for the top.

The climb itself was very much like my recent climb up Cabbage Hill in Pendelton Oregon, but without the cattle grates and oxygen. I spent the entire climb riding solo. I had a nice day in the saddle, stopping once to strip off some of my layers as the sunshine was doing it’s work. Another time I stopped to kick a rock out of the downhill lane, thinking that I would not want to encounter it at 30+ mph on the way down. Two stops for pictures, but other than that I was steady-eddy once again, playing the ride by my heart rate monitor rather than speedometer. I kept the rate just below my estimated anaerobic threshold, and spun my largess up the slope. The grade is around 5 percent, and it goes on and on and on.

The scenery is great, surrounded by trees and streams filled with snow runoff. Wildflowers were blooming on the hillsides and along the side of the roadway, and these were frequented by hummingbirds and small butterflies. Your vantage stays amongst the trees until the last right-hand switchback, when you climb alongside a rather sheer dropoff which affords you a rather spectacular view to the south of Mount Adams, Chinook Pass, and to the right, Mt. Rainier. There is a small parking area at the last switchback at Sunrise Point. I stopped here to take a couple of pictures, then was able to greatly increase my pace for the last mile or so of shallow climb to the Visitors Center at Sunrise. Lee Spencer indulged me with this celebratory shot when I arrived:

I think I may have spent 30-40 minutes there, walking around and taking in the scenery and the achievement. We gathered most of the riders (we still hadn’t seen the two ladies that missed the turn, but they arrived shortly after) for one more picture at the top, gathered around the Sunrise sign.

You can see that we’ve all put back on all the clothes that we took off on the way up. The descent is the better part of 20 miles, downhill off a mountain. Those that didn’t pack jackets picked up Mt. Rainier brochures and stuffed them inside their jerseys to block the wind. I sat-up for most of the way down, which held me to around 30 miles per hour. I hit a max somewhere along there at 40.8, but I’m not sure what the context was of that moment. Once back at the park entrance, you do your +/- 1 mile climb back to Hwy 410, then zip the 5 miles back to the parking area, with campers and pickups zinging past your left ear. This is by far the worst part of the trip. The drivers were very resentful of my 6 inches of roadway, but it’s done pretty quickly and you’re back at the parking area.

It was a great day to ride, and the more I think about it the more I want to go back.

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