Susan and I did Tour De Blast with our neighbors Matt and Tina Farley. Tina's friend Chris and her Dad joined us. Little did we know that we would meet up with friends along the way as it was a popular ride with almost 1,700 people tackling the mountain. The ride goes from Toutle High School up State Route 504 (Spirit Lake Highway) towards the national monuments on Mt. St. Helens.The Tour De Blast website has a video summarizing the pats of the course, I think this picture of Susan is of the bridge that they highlight in the first minute.
Tina Farley and Susan at Mile 20, pounding on the pedals and taking it to the road. It was a chilly morning for the ride. We started about 8:30 AM after leaving Portland about 6:45 AM. It was a nice drive up to Toutle and the miles in the car flew back because of my excitement about the ride. This was the longest either of us had attempted to ride and while we had been training pretty regularly, it was a lot of elevation.Details on the event include:
- 87K (54-mile) round trip to Elk Rock. (we cruised by that!)
- 132K (82-mile) round trip to Johnston Ridge viewpoint.
Mile 0: 500 ft. (Toutle - Starting Line)
Mile 11: 1,000 feet (Sediment Dam)
Mile 16: 1,400 feet (Hoffstadt Bluffs - Pit Stop)
Mile 24: 3,000 feet
Mile 27: 3,800 feet (Elk Rock - Pit Stop)
Mile 34: 3,159 feet (Coldwater Ridge - Closed)
Mile 41: 4,314 feet (Johnston Ridge - Pit Stop
We encountered Jen Bachman, a cohort from DKS Associates and Lynn Petersen, a Clackamas County Commissioner and Current Chair and a few others.
It was a fun time, except for the last 10 miles.... I don't think the training prepared us for the downhill tucks that we did. We were trying to get back to the kids who were staying at Mike and Sara's.
They had a big sleep over at their house, which was a fun event for them. They didn't nap during the day on Saturday, so while we were exhausted, they were too, which made for a fun evening. It was for the best, we all went to bed about and hour earlier than usual.
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