I will give you a recap of another stellar Memorial Day Weekend ride in Pendleton, Oregon, at the Century Ride of the Centuries:

• With only a couple of exceptions, roads that were well maintained, and virtually empty of cars,
• Stupendously wonderful weather in the high 70′s and low 80′s
• Fantastic support, comraderie, and themed rest stops.

After three days of this stuff, I’m completely spoiled and haven’t gotten back on the saddle since.  It is hard to imagine getting back on the local multi-use trails, or ducking truck mirrors while riding around Western Washington.  I will undoubtedly do it, but not quite yet.

I’m not going to give a complete blow-by-blow, otherwise this post won’t happen in my current state-of-mind.  Here’s your Cliff-notes version:

Day 1: 90 miles, and about 4,000 feet of climbing… mostly on “rollers” (they have a funny idea of roller vs. hill in Pendleton).  With the exception of a 10 mile stretch from Highway 82 to Echo, it was gorgeous:

Day 2: Deadman’s Pass / “Cabbage Hill”.  The weather was just about perfect, and I felt much stronger than in prior years making this 15 mile climb.  The only downer for the day was the pair of strange fellows that felt compelled to make the entire ascent singing Wierd Al Yankovic songs in perfect harmony.  I pulled over to let them pass.  No pictures, because Johnny left the memory chip from his camera in the hotel room.

Day 3: Thorn Hollow / Adams.  A beautiful 70 mile ride, and a great way to end a perfect weekend of cycling the rolling fields around Pendleton.

If possible, I’ll make the trip to Pendleton for this ride in future years.  Exceptional event ride, without peer.

New move learned today was the windmill, an insidious little trunk-twister that works the oblique abdominal muscles.  Between that and the kettlebell rows he had me do, the back was feeling quite fatigued!

I took today off, and just did some stretching to keep from getting too tight.  Saturday I’m scheduled for a thorough ass-kicking at Hocevar Performance.  9 a.m.

I have booked us to fly to Palm Springs for the bike ride over Valentine’s Day weekend.  I’m lighter (by a little, anyway) and starting to re-shape a bit, but I have almost no saddle time on the bike.  I’m planning on bringing the bike for the Tour de Palm Springs, but not so sure about the whole 100 miles.

A very good friend of mine is traveling that same weekend to Austin Texas for some kind of marathon/iron man/iron maiden whatever.  I love cycling, grew up swimming the beaches of Southern California, but running is my kryptonite.  No thanks.  She’s a hell of a competitor, though, and my hat is off to her.  Go Lee! Kick some ass in Texas, my friend!!!

For those not familiar, it is a three-day supported bicycle ride around Pendleton Oregon, held each year on Memorial Day weekend.  This will be my 4th year attending this ride.  It is by far the best supported club ride I’ve ever experienced.  The roads are in great condition, you almost see zero automobiles, and the food is great!

Registration will open on their website on February 23, 2009.

Orientation/packet pick-up is Friday the 22nd of May.  There are rides of varying lengths on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

Registration fee will be $150 for riders, $75 for guests (there’s food and entertainment that non-riders can partake in).

3 days of support for your cycling addiction.  Held in Pendleton, Oregon over Memorial Day Weekend.

This ride is very well organized and supported.  100′s of miles of empty roads, varied terrain, and sprawling vistas.

Cycle Pendleton

Several of the other Green River Riders also put this ride on their to-do list, and opted to camp/RV in White Salmon, Washington.  Terri was willing to do another 4 hour drive to one of my bike rides, but as compensation we would not rough it as far as accomodations go.  I’d call that a fair enough trade, with the bonus that I wouldn’t be camped on a small patch of grass nestled between Hwy 14 and the Burlington-Northern/Santa Fe Railroad.  We stayed across the Columbia in Hood River, Oregon.  I picked a Bed and Breakfast called Villa Columbia, solely from their website.  Great choice.  The house is beautiful, and the hosts are very nice.  After checking in to our room, we refueled at the Full Sail Brewery and Pub.  Hood River isn’t the cheapest city to eat and lodge in, but we loved the small-town feel with big-town amenities like 3 brewpubs, several wineries, and great dining options.  I would strongly consider a return trip to spend more time exploring the town, and the road cycling possibilities.

Saturday’s forecast for Trout Lake was for 98 degrees Farenheit, so I wanted to make an early start to the day.  Since we were staying 35 miles away, this meant leaving the B&B before 6:30 a.m.  Breakfast (the second “B” in “B&B”) isn’t until 8 a.m., Boba (the owner) made us a breakfast to go, and stashed it in the fridge for us.  We made it to Trout Lake shortly after 7.  We were told that the second of the two 50 mile loops, the “Forest Loop“, was closed due to heavy snow on the road.  You could still ride the route, but it would be 15 miles up, then back.  They were also recommending that riders do the “Valley Loop” first to avoid the heat at the lower elevations later in the day.  Not having heard from my Green River Rider compatriots, I opted to start the Valley Loop with Terri, thinking that they would eventually catch up to us.  Terri and I assumed that at some point we would split up due to our different pace and mileage goals, and that I would end the day riding with the faster group after a more leisurely pace in the morning.

The morning was beautiful, and we enjoyed our leisurely spin through farm and ranch land.  Temperature at the start was somewhere in the low 60′s and the sky was crystal-clear.  It was more than one occasion during this stretch where you would have a view of Mt. Adams on your left (like the one above), and a view of Mt. Hood on your right (like the one below).

After five miles or so, we turned left onto Hwy 141 for a long descent to BZ Corner. From there we turned left and began to pay for all that descent. The first climb was about 3 miles long, where it flattened out for a mile before kicking up again for 2 or so more miles. Terri completely bonked on the climb, and ended up walking to the rest stop at the top. Knowing that the situation would only get worse as the day heated up, we called her riding day complete. The problem was that the SAG support on the ride was practically non-existent. In order to get her from back to the start, I rode back down to BZ Corner, then back up that long descent to the car, for about 12 “bonus miles” for the day. I loaded my bike, drove to the rest stop, unloaded my bike, loaded Terri’s bike, and rejoined the route about 2 hours after I had left it.

The rest stop, by the way, had the following:

• 1 porta-pottie
• a plate of cookies
• mini bagels with peanut butter (smooth), no jam
• boiled potato hunks
• 2 thermos jugs of cold water

Hey John, didn’t your muscles tighten up during that whole driving the car thing? Why yes, they did.  And no, I didn’t stretch before or after my “rescue the damsel in distress” moment.  But John, wasn’t it getting pretty dang hot by now? Absolutely.  Hey genius, wouldn’t a rational person decide to just call it a day at this point, knowing it was going to get close to 100 degrees in a short period of time? Yes, a rational person would.  I was obviously already suffering from cloudy thinking at this point as I clicked back in to the pedals with just my two water bottles.  Didn’t you start the day with your bottles AND a Camelbak? Yes, but there would be plenty of water stops along the route, I thought, so I left the Camelbak in the car with Terri.  Bad move.  The next water stop was a mile or so after the top of the next climb, an unmanned stop.  As it turns out, the stop was not only unmanned, it was unwatered as well.

I consumed one entire bottle during that second climb, so I then had to make 1 bottle last for the next 16 or so miles until the next rest stop.  While the scenery was lovely, the temperature continued to climb past 100 degrees.  I saw some riders stopped alongside the road, sitting under a tree.  As it turns out, they were waiting for a SAG wagon to pick them up, which never arrived.  In fact, I only saw a SAG wagon (unmarked) once, and that was on the last hill of the day.  This couple ended up getting rescued by the personal support vehicle of my friends the Green River Riders!

The second staffed rest stop had water, cookies, bagels, and a hose which I used to spray my head and face with cold water.  They also had sample-sized Larabars which I no longer had the hand-strength to open, apparently.  Some old dude offered to help me by pulling a wire clipper out of his pocket and snipping the package.  As I put the morsel into my mouth, he announced that wire clippers were handy for everything, including clipping his fingernails.  Thanks for the additional info, and no, I don’t want to know what that crunchy-bit was that I just swallowed).

The last 10 miles were brutally hot.  The maximum air temp as measured by my Polar HRM was 107 degrees.  Due to the position of the sun vs. the direction of travel, “our” side of the rode had zero shade, but the opposite side had maybe 30% shade.  Most riders opted to ride on the wrong side of the road, only venturing to the proper side when you heard the occasional vehicle approach in the distance.  I knew that I was approaching my limits to deal with the heat and the hills, so I stopped at least once in the middle of each climb to stand in the shade and let my heart rate come down (which took longer and longer to come down with each hill).  Once again I made it to the finish line, but it was far from pretty.  I finished at 2:30 p.m., 66 miles and 3700′ of hot climbing later.

This is absolutely beautiful country, and the roads are in splendid condition.  There was only one stretch of a mile or so with chip-seal pavement.  If the weather had been a little less extreme, I would probably have come away from the ride with a more favorable view of the event.  I was disappointed that the organizers made no effort to at least post on their website that half the course would be closed due to snow, which sounded like it was going to be the most scenic half.  More disappointing was that the SAG and water support were inadequate.  They have no control over the weather, but they do have control over their communication, and the support that they provide (or not).  As we debriefed that evening over a beer, one of my astute colleagues made the observation that rides organized by bike clubs may have a distinct tactical advantage over bike rides organized by business groups (this ride is put on by the Trout Lake Business Owners Association), by virtue of having a better understanding of the needs of cyclists, especially under extreme conditions.

I’d love to ride this route again, but it would have to be with better support.

Day 0 – Friday

I left Auburn at 10 a.m. on Friday, having taken the day off from work. Terri had spent the week at a conference in Spokane. She rented a car, and drove a route to intersect my path in Tri-Cities. After we checked in the rental car and consolidated baggage, we proceeded to Pendleton. We stopped downtown at the Central Pacific Cafe’ to have a glass of wine with a friend from my banking days (20 years ago, yikes!) who now lives in Pendleton. Around 5:30 we headed over to the Convention Center for registration and orientation. Here I ran into Jim Carson (back for his second CROC), as well as part of my “posse”, Bruce and Dee (acquaintances from my spin-class-at-the-gym days). Not yet present were riding partner Kevin, his wife Nina, and Rodney and Lee from the Green River Riders. Work schedules dictated that they leave Seattle later in the day. The CROC folks were quite accommodating, and I was able to register my absent friends and pick up their packets. This would allow us the luxury of starting the day 1 ride from our downtown hotel, saving a drive to the “official” start line. We checked in to our hotel, met up with Kevin, Nina, Dee and Bruce, and headed for a sumptuous dinner at Raphael’s. Dinner was great, and Kevin took a dare from Nina and had the rabbit & rattlesnake sausage appetizer (tasted like chicken, if you ask me). Rod and Lee arrived at the hotel shortly after we returned, and I gave them their packets so that Rod could fulfill his desire to study the route maps. This would be a fortuitous move come Saturday.

Day 1 – Saturday

After a restful night’s sleep at the Rugged Country Lodge, we convened our little troupe in the “Rooster Room” for the complimentary continental breakfast at 6:30 a.m. The event actually provided a full breakfast at the host hotel (The Wildhorse Hotel/Casino), but that was 5 miles away and it seemed an unnecessary trip, especially since the day 1 route passed directly in front of the hotel. We reconvened in the parking lot at 7:30 a.m., and rode out as a group.

After a brief rolling tour of downtown Pendleton (not all that large), we headed out the old highway along the Umatilla River. The road meanders next to the river, with rocky cliffs along the right side and the valley to the left. They had swept the road clear of rocks the day before the ride, but there were still occasional rocks in the roadway that we had to steer around. Terri and I drove this same route on Tuesday in the car, and there were hundreds of rocks on the road, far more than was the case on Saturday.

The first formal rest stop was in the town of Echo, and featured Hawaiian decorations and was staffed by volunteers in grass skirts and coconut bras. In the prior two years this stop was at a wide spot in the road, about 5 miles earlier. The new location was a vast improvement, allowing for real plumbing and a lovely grassy park to stretch out in. Food is the usual assortment of bagels, peanut butter, cookies, etc., with the addition of baked potatoes. I opted for a third of a spud, and half a bagel. This stop also served as the turnaround point for the metric century. Lee and Dee decided that they would leave us guys to our own devices, and head back to Pendleton. We said our goodbyes, and headed west toward Hermiston.

The route was planned to lead us around the town of Hermiston itself, in favor of the empty backroads that are the signature of CROC. This plan was thwarted by a train stopped on the tracks, so long that we could see neither end of the thing. Rod was ready for this moment, pulling out his map and coming up with a re-route before I had even finished taking a picture! Note the multitude of cyclists milling around in the background. A few of these folks would opt to climb over the train, a decision worthy of a Darwin Award had the train suddenly moved while they were wrestling bike or body between cars.

We backtracked to the last turn, and headed through Hermiston (didn’t take long). We rejoined the CROC route without seeing any other riders, indicative that our decision to ride around the obstacle rather than wait was the correct one. We were now riding parallel to the Columbia River, along the same route I had ridden last August on the last day of the Ride Around Washington. Lunch was at Hat Rock State Park. The theme was “white trash”, and the decorations were very much in keeping with that theme. Susan Kelley’s famous cheesy grits were served, along with all the usual rest stop chow.

After Hat Rock, we do a long climb away from the Columbia, and head down Cold Springs Road through more rolling wheat fields and ranch land. As was the case last year, we passed a ranch where the owner has shot and hung three coyotes from the fence. I presume this to be a warning to other coyotes, but I’m not sure how well it works, given he still had coyotes to shoot.

The day was getting warmer, and the road was consistently gaining altitude over this 20 mile stretch. By the time we hit the last rest stop of the day (Susie’s Diner), I was too tired to even pull the camera out. Jim Carson appeared to be fresher than I because he took a few. I was completely focused on getting back to the hotel, but I managed to find the time to scarf down one of the cheeseburgers offered. I rolled out of the rest stop and immediately got a flat tire (riding through the gravel parking lot, bad idea). After a quick tube change, we were on our way back to town. Final mileage for the day was 90 (slightly shorter than advertised, since we rode from the hotel).

Day 2 – Sunday

I hear it was hard. I didn’t ride it, nor did any of my cohorts (with the exception of Jim Carson, who apparently likes to get wet even when on vacation). The hill was shrouded in rain clouds, and slogging our way up, to be followed by a dangerous descent, seemed unattractive somehow. We lounged instead, and capped the day off with a trip to Walla Walla for a pulled pork sandwich at Mr. Ed’s. The weather forecast for Monday was slightly better than Sunday, so we were hopeful that we’d get one more day of riding in before heading home on Tuesday.

Day 3 – Monday

Patches of blue sky! WooHoo!! We had a nice ride out to the Bar M Ranch, where rest stop #1 was a tribute to the USS Abraham Lincoln. A few of the sailors on this aircraft carrier were “virtually” riding with us on CROC, but doing so in the ship’s exercise room on spin bikes. After resting and snacking a bit, we headed back down the valley, then turned up the hill at Thorn Hollow, a lovely little stretch of valley with rolling hills and horses dotting the hillside.

At the top of the climb we had a few miles of slight downhill and beautiful fresh asphalt to the next rest stop, which featured chili and cornbread. Refueled (and burping onions), we rolled into the town of Adams. I was a bit disappointed that the local store was closed for Memorial Day, as I wanted to see if the inside was even half as cool as the outside was.

The group split in Adams, some going the full route and a few heading back to town via a “shortcut”. I opted for the shorter ride, as my legs were pretty well spent. We took the old Adams Road along Wildhorse Creek, a pothole-rich cycling environment that took a lot of concentration to navigate. I ended the day with just less than 65 miles.

Pendleton isn’t exactly in my back yard, and sitting in a car hour after hour is an activity that I lost my love for back in college. But to experience the “big sky” and open roads of eastern Oregon in such a well organized event is, in my opinion, and opportunity not to be missed. So unless I’ve moved to another part of the country, I’ll likely be back next year. Maybe even if I have moved.