Yesterday: Enjoyed slow getting ready to ride morning at logging road camp spot. A bit chilly. I like to wait until about 10:00 to ride as the morning chill will have burned off. I drove back to red Bridge park and proceeded to gear up. Just before I pushed off Jay and Jeff showed up ready to ride. I met Jay 2 nights before as he was heading up the Tie to clear brush. I picked a car in the parking lot that day that looked like it might have been his and wrote a note on my card and put it under the windshield wiper. Today jay said it was not his car. Opps.
Today their plan was to ride the Alpine and down the Tie to see if a fallen tree had benn cut out of the race course. The tree was really just a short distance up the trail but they were doing the big ride because they could. I was invited to go along. I planned to ride Tire mtn & Cloverpatch from the Alpine road climb. Their wheels started clicking and their ride plans changed and off we went. Another 8 mile logging road climb of about 2500′ to jump on the Alpine. Jay is 59 and I stayed with him which pleased me. We worked younger Jeff over. These other sections of trail receive fewer riders and were also more challenging. We stopped for rests along the day of a 7 hours for 5 plus hours of riding. 33 miles, 5648′ climbed, an amazing 4878 cals burned. We dropped off the single track onto a logging road for 4 miles of mostly screaming downhill. We executed a route choice of climbing up another road to jump onto Alpine and the Tie to see if the tree had been cut out. I ran out of h2o on last climb. Fortunately the road was shaded most of the way. The tree was still there.
Riding thru poison oak. I am listening to individuals methods of preventing poison oak or dealing w/ it once gotten. Runs the gamut from washing w/ special soap hours after exposure w/ hot h2o. My plant book states wash w/in 45 mins w/ cold h2o. After 45 mins the urishiol has bonded w/ skin and it won’t wash off. I know that I do not have blisters after riding thru lots of poison does not convince me that I am immune to it. I won’t purposefully roll in it to test.
Last night I used the handicap restroom stall again for my shower. The solar shower bag is leaking somewhere.
Drove to Oakridge Ray’s Grocery store for groceries, internet access and fix dinner. I drained my spaghetti h2o in the blackberry patch at edge of parking lot. Along came a black cat that ate the lost strands of pasta. Feral cat. After dinner cleanup I bought a can of cat food and emptied it where the pasta was. And the cat returned and ate the entire can’s worth in 1 setting. I tried approaching it and it ran away. Looking for a cat fix. No such fortune.
Drove to Brewers Pub and socialized. Cask conditioned is naturally fermented beer. Good beer. Saw guy & girl playing pool for 2 nights ago. We had a short conversation and I thought I short shrifted his question as to what i was up to. I made amends and I met Corey and Amber who are riders, surfers, climbers, snowboarders, and whatever. 2 older couples arrived @ bar and we all learned that they were here for their 45th HS reunion. One couple now lives in Gig Harbor, where I used to live back in the 80s. He said that the second bridge over the Narrows really reduces the traffic flow.
Enjoyable evening out was followed by a slow dark drive back to camp up on the logging road.
Today so far: Slept until 7:00. Just before I drove off down mtn it started raining. Nice dump and it wetted the gravel for no dust. A ride up the road now would be more pleasant. Hard to make that 8 mile big climb pleasant.
Today the effort for the race begins w/ more gusto. I will find a role to earn my race shirt.