It is Monday morning, things are drying out, and my head ache is dissipating. Quite an event this race and compliments to the promoter, Scott. Time moved on and chores occupied most of my days. Saturday started @ 7:00AM and finished @ 9:30PM. Just things to prepare for the race to support the racers. Racer count was limited to 200 plus a few.

Late Sat afternoon I did get a shuttle to top on Jedi part of Alpine trail along w/ 3 locals and a later pick up. The locals were younger and better riders than me I assumed. Young bucks dropping the hammer at the start of Jedi which swoops thru big old growth and regrowth, it is special deep forest. We stopped @ aide station 2 @ Windy Pass and help set up a tarp shelter and picked up last rider. As we started out I was sure that there were maybe 2 if not 1 rider ahead of me and I pedaled frantically thinking I was being dusted. I stopped to stretch @ 1 point and after awhile nobody caught up to me. What the hell. Only solution was to get back on my bike and pedal like heck to catch up w/ riders perhaps ahead of me. I flew. My right hand went to sleep which hampered the subtle rear braking. i switched to 2 fingers that gave more brute power but less control. The Turner really gets down the trail. At the bottom of trail there was no rider ahead of me. I needed to be ready to leave for my help @ aide station 3 by 7:00 and I needed a shower and dinner prior. I pedaled hard back to school. the dinner line was horrendous so i took a shower and rigged van for travel. And Ben, one of the riders, arrived and said there he is. I was first down and everybody was behind me and my hard pedaling just got me down first.

School parking lot was camper and mtn biker city.

Drove 35 miles to aide station back up in hills. Worked on setting up a few things by flashlight. Finally bed.

Up @ setting up @ 6:00AM. It started raining shortly on & off during race. Fortunately it was never very hard.

And the racers started arriving. This aide station saw the riders  2x. They were muddy, a bit of bloody bodies, bikes were a mess. We watered, fed, & cared for almost 400 racers. Second lap was even worse. Drive trains were gunked up from woods dirt which was was less than the mud Grace experienced in her GA race earlier this year. At least the bikes still pedaled. I brought my plant sprayer that I use to clean my bike out and washed off quite a few bikes. Cleaned many pedals also. The Eggbeaters were tops in cleanliness.

Late afternoon we tore the aide station apart, packed up and drove back to Westfir. Racers continued to cross finish line till just after dark w/ no lights. Riding down hill in rain darkened woods on slippery tread must have been a handful.

I looked @ the racer sign up and saw just 1 racer from Spokane, Tracy West. I didn’t place the name at that point. At the aide station this racer calls me by correctly pronounced full name and it was Tracy. i immediately recounted our history from back @ N Division bike shop from like ’91. We chatted again on his second stop. Wow.

Awards were scheduled @ 8:30 @ bridge and it started raining in earnest. No fun standing out in rain for a raffle. Got wet but scored a feedbag that was thrown to crowd. Drank 4 beers which is head ache cause today.

Spent almost entire day on my feet and I felt it. My back was stiff. My leg hamstring cramped in bed last night for the first time in a long time.

Today I am at the school to help clean up. I am sort of hoping for a ride shuttle to ride down the trails pulling out the signage but I would sure hope it could be down on drier trails. No plans. If Bend got rained on the trails would be super there. Umpqua trail up high has mosquitoes as does Waldo Lake. Hanging here eliminates moving.

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.

Last night I drank a cask conditioned dark beer @ The Brewers Union public house. Met the owner who believes that his business will survive. Great beer and fun place. Met Ben who works there and is a mtn bike advocate. I learned from him last night. I met him again today and learned some more. Last night I drove back to same camp spot up on logging road for XM reception. temps are in 40s @ night for good sleeping.

I was told that if I hung at the TrailHead cafe between 8:30 and  9;00 that I might be able to hook up with local riders. I hung and no one showed. I worked on my bike outside and discovered that I had smoked thru another set of brake pads. The downhill on Alpine was not the only culprit in the wear but it was a big part. Again the search for Formula pads begins.

I drove into Oakridge from downstream and saw more of the city including a laundromat. Oakridge was a resource extraction community and the economic engine died. the town is in both a dying and emerging state. The bike shop is a funky place in a small town way. Today McKenzie, the owner was on duty as well as Catrina. Wow. She was on a hotshot crew for 9 years. I told McKenzie that I was helping on the Cream Puff and waiting for Scott, the promoter to contact me. MC said he just talked to him and he would be at the shop soon. Soon came and went as I hung around. I missed a ride waiting to offer my help.

I met Scott @ a closed school which is the race headquarters and more learning occurred. We drove into Oakridge to Trail Head where about 30 watermelons were waiting our pick & delivery back to the school. 3 melons in a box is a heavy lift.

200 racers for the 104 miles event. yesterday i rode the road climb up to drop in of the Alpine trail: 8 miles of logging road gaining almost 3000′. And the grade touched 12% @ times. 1 hr 40 mins to ride 11 miles. The downhill was much swifter. the course requires this climb 2 times.

back in ’88, ’89, & 90 I raced The Boss, a 100  mile mtn bike race in Siletz, OR. That was when I was way younger. Could i complete this race as just a fast hard ride? I wonder. I have not been training for this kind of race, for that matter not training at all, just riding. It is a bruiser.

Tomorrow is a ride and helping if needed. Scott gave me a tank top for my current and promise of future help.

Leaving the school for logging road camp.