[ORRando] Cascade Lakes 200 Pre Ride

[Michael Rasmussen]

This just in from Scott Peterson:

Cascade Lakes 200 preride report.

You’d think 5 am would be early enough to get up, when all I had to do was eat, get dressed and drive to the 7am start.

That’s what you get for thinking.  I ended up on “Peterson standard time”: late again.  Bought a cup of coffee at
Strictly Organic so I could get a receipt, unloaded the van, loaded the bike,   drank my coffee, and finally rolled out almost half an hour late for my slowest 200k ever.

But you’re not here to read about my trials and tribulations (of which there were plenty).  How was the course?
Anything to be aware of?  What about the weather?  In order: challenging (8400’ of climbing by my computer) but scenic as all get-out;  nope, everything was copasetic;  sunny and clear – Saturday may be a bit more interesting with a
forecast high of 88f and a slight chance of thunderstorms.  Oh, and be ready for a windy afternoon.  We been having
those lately around here.

That’s really about it.  No road construction, no “gotchas”, nuthin’.  The Vista Butte control will be staffed this
year, and there’ll be a new staffed control at Mt Bachelor.  And if you finish by 8pm (13 hours), you’ll be able to grab a bite at Strictly Organic.

And my adventure?  Most of the issues were due to no distance miles since early May (and no miles at all for about 4
weeks) thanks to an Achilles injury on the “Endless Headwinds” 400k, and riding my first brevet on an upright bike since summer of 2008.  Everything went pretty well until Cultus Lake.  After that, my digestive system went on strike, and my lack of miles caught up with me.  Things went downhill pretty quickly, even as the road went uphill.  I thought seriously about calling home for a rescue mission, but took a short rest at a turnout (on top of an ant nest, it turned out), and soldiered on.  Ended up walking the steepest half mile up to Bachelor, enjoyed the scary-fast downhill, and finished just as SO was closing, for a time of 11:37, according to my computer.

-- 
      Michael Rasmussen, Portland Oregon  
  Trading kilograms for kilometers since 2003
    Be appropriate && Follow your curiosity
          http://www.jamhome.us/
The Fortune Cookie Fortune today is:
It's not the bike.
	--  Misquoting Lance