Tony Licuanan rolling toward Greenwater. Photo by Mark Vande Kamp.
From our small perspective geography is
constant but weather can change from moment to moment. As the day warms
a river of air flows down from the mountain and across the Enumclaw
Plateau. It's a headwind for the climb up to Greenwater, but the trees
block the worst of the wind for much of the climb. In the small roadside
streams and pools a chorus of frogs pursue their own amphibian agenda
and provide a lovely audio backdrop for the day.
As I ride toward Greenwater, a white pickup truck with a topper slows
and pulls along side me. My friend Stephan is driving and his wife Junko
calls out words of encouragement. They ask me about our various mutual
friends and I fill them in on who I think is where relative to my
position on the road. They drive ahead a ways and then loop back to
check on other riders. As I get closer to Greenwater, I see more of the
faster riders heading back down Highway 410.
At 11:30 AM I pull into Greenwater and stop at the market to get my
control card signed. There are many other riders here at this time but
since I'd had the foresight to take a quick bathroom break shortly
before I got to Greenwater, that's one less line in which I have to
wait. I grab a quick lunch of cold chicken nuggets, a pint of milk and
four peanut butter cups. I also buy a bottle of green tea which I pour
into my waterbottle before I get back out on the road.
The return trip down Highway 410 is faster than the climb had been. I
see the rest of the riders and just before I turn onto Mud Mountain
Road, I see Michael Rasmussen. I do the math in my head and I'm thinking
that he must be running pretty close to the time cut off for the brevet,
but I shout out something encouraging. I know that Mike is new to this
kind of riding and a 200K is a new challenge for him.
On the flatter section of Mud Mountain Road I wind up chatting with a
couple of other riders. These fellows are on bikes sporting canvas bags,
Brooks saddles and shellacked handlebars: what I'd call the full
"Rivendell Package" The bikes themselves aren't Rivendells, they're
older Raleighs and when I ask about this one of the guys comments that
it's a lot cheaper to get an old Raleigh than a new Rivendell.
I ask if these fellows have ridden this course before and they tell me
it's new to them, so I fill them in on the upcoming descent. "You'll
love it," I say. "There's a turn up here and then it's a twisty descent
back toward Enumclaw." I point out that I'm riding fixed and can only
descend as fat as I can pedal so I add "you'll drop me in a heartbeat
on the descent." One of the riders asks if we're done with the hills
after Mud Mountain. "Mostly," I reply, "we'll head through Buckly and
South Prairie and well South Prairie is like it sounds. It's pretty
flat between South Prairie and Orting and then we head back to
Enumclaw. We'll go back into the Green River Valley and there's one
wicked climb to get out of the valley, but we've done most of the day's
climbing already." My two companions look relieved at this news and as
I predicted, they roll on ahead once we hit the descent.
After the descent, Mud Mountain Road turns of the the left and goes
over a series of small rolling hills. I catch and pass the two Raleigh
riders and then work my way to Orting. At 136 PM in Orting I buy
another pint of milk, a bottle of fruit punch Powerade, two peanut
butter cups and two granola bars. There are plenty of riders at the
control when I pull in and more show up in the ten minutes I'm off the
bike. I'd thought that Amy Pieper was ahead of me but as she pulls in
and explains that she'd missed the last Mud Mountain turn. She comments
that the reflex action to follow the RAMROD route was just too ingrained
and she had to double back once she'd realized her error. Ken Krichman
and Tom Brett are buying supplies as I'm leaving and I pantomime to Ken
that I'm leaving my leftover Powerade for him. As I pull out of town, I
see Joe Kochanowski and Tony Licuanan pulling in and I wave and shout
words of encouragement to them.
More wind and specatacular views of Mount Rainier are the main features
of the ride back to Buckley. On the edge of Enumclaw I stop at the the
Boise Creek grocery store control. Another rider jokes that the store is
out of PayDay bars but the store actually turns out to be quite well
stocked. I buy a pint of milk and a PayDay for the road while the fellow
ahead of me in line gets some real nutrition -- a Butterfinger ice cream
bar. Tom Brett comments that he really doesn't have much for legs today
but as near as I can tell he's been doing fine.
The ride across the farmland around Enumclaw is quite familiar to me
and I cruise in on autopilot. I'm very familiar with the descent into
the valley and the climb back out. Once I crest the hill and turn left,
it really is a gentle downhill run most of the way to Greg's place. I
ride through the twists and turns of Greg's neighborhood and 4:30 PM I'm
done.
As usual Greg and Mary have a big chili feed for all the riders. I stay
for an hour, scarfing down some food and chatting with my fellow
randonneurs. At 5:30, I hop back on my bike and ride back to Issaquah.
