BC Ultra Results

The conditions look pretty good in these pictures... but don't be so sure. Here are some notes from Ken (not intended as a newsletter sumission.):

Hi, Eric! I think you would have enjoyed the terrain! Here are a few notes I sent to Cheryl. ..... Ken
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Just got back from the Cascades 1200. 1st finisher in 74h 21m, including 3
short shower/sleeps at Goldendale; Pateros (start of a cold drizzle through
to the finish at Monroe); and Winthrop. Cloudy with a few light bits of
drizzle on the way to the Columbia Gorge, 3 major climbs (10,300 ft of
climbing in the 1st 300k). Rode thru the dark with a tailwind from Carson
to Goldendale --- temp. was about 70 F (I was dressed for 45 F --- arrived
at the motel drenched and freezing cold, as the temp. dropped to 50 F by the
time I got to Goldendale.

Cold morning start in Goldendale, but was hitting 80 F by 10:00am in
Toppanish, then it hovered between 85-90 F the rest of the day. Rode on
thru Quincy (the overnight control) with a goal of getting to my reserved
motel in Winthrop .... a slow trudge to a rough descent to Chelan, the
beginning of cold rain, and sleepy eyes brought on the conclusion that a hot
shower and a bed would be nice in Pateros at 4:30 am. Got a 1 1/2 hour
sleep and my clothes dried, but the wetness was still falling when I left,
so I visited a great little bakery restaurant before leaving Pateros.

50 F at the top of Loup Loup Pass ... so, a very cold descent. Felt like
the tropics when I got to Winthrop (temp was 63 F!) Booked into my room at
2:00 pm for another 1 1/2 hr. shower/sleep/dry the clothes routine. Made it
over Washington & Rainy Passes and about 1/2 way down the west side of the
Cascades before darkness fell. With about 40 miles to go in the wee, cold,
dark, wet hours of the morning, I really, really wanted to stay at the
Frontier Inn at Darrington. However, I guess the manager really, really
wanted their nighttime sleep! So, I continued onward toward Arlington ....
still wanting to sleep. Found a convenience store that was open, and the
lady informed me that it would be just about as far to the next motel as
getting to the finish in Monroe.

Daylight came and the backroads were pleasant until Granite Falls .... only
20 miles to go .... and then the rain started in earnest! ..... and the
route became very convoluted navigation-wise, including hills that looked
like downhills, but when I looked at my computer to figure out why I was
standing to go downhill, it read that I was going up an 8% grade!!! This
repeated itself several times!!

Being the odd-ball I am, I was the only one that did not do the "group
over-night controls". One other person, Jan Heine from SIR had planned to
ride straight thru, but he came down with a virus and quit in Carson. This
meant that from Carson onwards, I carried everything I needed for the rest
of the ride on my back or on my bike, as the Cascades 1200 organizers could
not guarantee that my bags would arrive in time for me at the later
overnight Controls. Melissa Friesen was kind enough to transport some of
my stuff from Carson to Goldendale.

Scott Gater finished the ride (I did not catch his time, as it was
irrelevant for the riders who chose the group overnight controls --- as long
as they finished within the control limits) Unfortunately, he had a lot of
broken spoke problems which meant he was not able to ride much with people
who rode his pace. Someone was keeping track of the times from one
overnight control to the next overnight control, but I'm not sure what the
purpose was. Everyone had a great time, except for a few dnf'ers.

I'll probably write up a different version for the Newsletter later.

Cheers .... Ken

p.s. You and Keith would have loved some of the downhills. ---- good
pavement and mostly 6 -7 % grades ... the stand-out for me was about 20
miles from Quincy as I dropped down off the plateau .... about a mile drop
at 8% (at least) good pavement, a slight curve but you could see the
"run-out" and NO traffic. I hit 50 mph, and then touched the brakes (I've
never gone over 45 mph!). Two other riders who came a few hours later were
excited to do this fast drop when just as their speed was increasing, FIVE
Combine tractors entered the road! Probably the only traffic on that
portion of road all day .... no room to get around so they had to slow down.

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