After my 5 page report on Death ride, I’m working on doing a brief report on RAMROD.
In summary, Great route, Great Scenery, Great Volunteers and Awesome payment!
Started at about 5:40 am. Saw my friends Jon and Cathy in the parking lot. The first 50 miles of RAMROD are pretty flat and fast. The biggest deal this year was the fog, it was pretty thick and the condensation was dripping off my helmet. There were a number of pace lines that I passed or who passed me. At one point about 20 miles in I looked back and saw a full on Peloton coming, I felt like the lead out group on the tour about to be chewed up. They caught me and slowly passed, I ended up in the middle of about 50-60 people, huge double wide pace group that still felt pretty comfortable as there was so little traffic on the road that the whole lane was available. I rode back there for a while until the gal next to me needed to “rest” and wanted to go faster. We were about 12 miles out so I told her to let me out, grab my wheel and hang on. That was fun! Lead a breakaway of about 10 people went into TT mode, never saw the pack again.
First rest stop at mile 33 I saw my friend Cathy briefly and was able to buy a pair of gloves. Cathy got going a bit before me so I didn’t get a chance to ride with her. Got going again and had a quick trip to the 2nd rest stop at mile 54ish. Meet up with Cathy and we rode together well into Mt Rainer National park. It was really nice to ride with her. We passed a few people and I would call out on your left, then Cathy would say hi to them and mysteriously each person would say seemingly melt and say hi back sounding really friendly. I felt like I had a good will ambassador following me around. Somewhere on the first climb Cathy dropped off sticking to her climbing pace as I rode off up the hill. The first climb is not too bad, lots of curves and straight sections past waterfalls and open vistas of the park. I needed to find a place to rest and found a trail head with a restroom and stopped in there for a bit. I was thinking that there needed to be a water stop soon. Of course about another ½ mile down the road there was one and it was also the top of the first climb.
From there it was downhill through a nice section of the park, before starting up the second and smallest climb. More great scenery and smooth roads ahead!. Just as the climb was starting it passed through a control section where people recorder your number. Not sure why they do this. A guy at the control said we were at the top and I thought he was joking, but turns out we were. Following that was a great descent interrupted by a few sections of gravel. The gravel slowed you down some but it wasn’t an issue.
That took us down past a ranger station and I thought we were exiting the park. Most of the day I really didn’t know where I was relative to the cue sheet, as I didn’t have an odometer. We made a left turn and a veteran rider said we were starting the big climb and there were steep sections ahead for the next 7 miles or so. Heading north on WA 123 we did climb quite a bit but the grade was pretty easy. I stopped along the way to stretch my hamstrings / back. Stopping to stretch for a few minutes took care of my back issues and kept me ridding well compared to death ride. Really I would say I had no back issues. After a while a guy on a Lightspeed passed me and pointed out where we were going. I was heads down riding and didn’t notice off in the distance you could see the road winding upward. The climb looked really nice and my spirits picked up, I stayed with the lightspeed guy for a while. After a bit another water stop appeared and he people there said it was 2 miles to a tunnel and then 2 more to the top. This was uplifting and the last 4 miles of the climb went by quickly. At the top another rest stop from here to lunch was 9 mile descent on beautiful pavement with shallow curves. I zipped down and had a ton of fun. Had a quick hand prepared deli sandwich for lunch then off again for the final 40 some miles back. The final 40 miles trend downhill and were good road. I meet up with a guy on a Cervelo TT bike and we traded pulls, average speed was near my maximum all out speed and we zipped along. About 8 miles out I ran out of “Gu” inspired energy and had no more to eat so I slowed down and coasted in with a few other guys chatting as we went. At the finish line a guy announces your name over a loud speaker. Some friends and family awaiting the arrivals of their loved ones clapped for riders as they came in. Jon was alongside the road waiting for Cathy and cheered me on. What a great day.
