Friday, April 3, 2009

Boxers and Baggie Pants

I’m skipping the SIR 300K brevet this weekend. It looked like the weather was going to be a little too nice, and there were going to be a few too many friends along on the ride, and the course looked a little too inviting. Let's see, my bike was a little too well prepared, and gee, I'm breathing a little too well. Oh, and then there is that tender tissue issue I generated on last weekends Oregon 200K.

The truth is, as mention above almost all the stars are aligned to make this weekend a great ride. Sure it’s 300K and I’m not in my best shape, but everything else was ’system go’. The bike and all the assorted gear is up and ready. The weather is always the wild card but even a skeptic would assume that things are looking good for this one. My body is revved and ready. I am currently undergoing a course of prednisone: it’s an anti-inflammatory steroid. I seem to be immune to most of the negative side effects but do get great relief from my breathing issues and that, perhaps more than anything, is the source of my disappointment at missing this event: Breathing while riding, it's highly underrated!

My bags were so nasty after last weekend that I dutifully emptied them, brought them in the house to dry and sort of cleaned them. I went through the little patch kit boxes, the pill bottles, film canisters, and Ziploc baggies allowing the opportunity to make sure that what was in those containers was good, and if not replace or discard. It’s a good thing to do early in the season. Hey there are even unexpected surprises! Underneath the front bag stiffener I found this:
























It’s a post card from Fougeres control at PBP 07. I’m sure I stuck it in the bag thinking it would make a good souvenir. Well it’s pretty messed up, but actually, given how that ride went, that just makes it more the souvenir.

So the only thing that keeps me from riding Saturday is this darned saddle sore. It’s better, but it’s still got a ways to go. I thought about riding anyway but I’ve done that before and seen others in the same situation. Not always, but almost always that ends badly. And when it does it extends the recovery period almost exponentially. Mess this up and recovery can go from days to weeks before things ‘down there’ are once again ride ready.

So my fall back is the OrRando Three Capes 300K, a ride I have not ridden but would like to given all the good pub it has gotten. Only problem is, it falls on Easter weekend and that’s it‘s own special event around our place. It’s not completely impossible. The time allowed for a 300K brevet is 20 hours and this event starts at 5:00 AM. In years past I’ve finished a 300 in between 17 and 19 hours. Simple math: 5:00 am start, ride for just shy of 20 hours, finish at 1:00 am. Shower, coffee up, and hop in the truck for the run back to Rocky Acres, arriving home at say, 4:30 AM. A quick nap, another shower and then down to the guilt factory for some salvation. It’s definitely do-able.

I remember making similar runs from Concrete to the Kulshan Bar in Bellingham, Wednesdays right after work (dime night for a 16 oz schooner!) then the drive back down Chuckanut to the little cabin on the Skagit, a nap, a quick shower and then off to another day of work in the woods. But I was in my early 20’s then, and working through a beer hangover was just another day on the ranch. The jury is still out on this but I may register ‘just in case’. It would be nice to get a complete series in for the spring season.

3 comments:

  1. FYI - the OrRando 300k starts at 6:00am. Registration opens at 5:00am.

    Cheers, Lynne F Co-Organizer

    ReplyDelete
  2. How about the May 2 300k in Richland? For different reasons (tender tissue OK here) I'm going to try that one instead of the SIR and ORR.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Doc
    I'm a fan of scivolutions for those saddlesores - available at your local riteaid - just cut them to shape -

    ReplyDelete