Author: Rich

preRA: Fountain Hills #7

Posted on May 16, 2011May 29, 2011 by Rich

Leaving the full ‘practice pack’ in place, I sluggishly rolled out this morning and down Bush Highway. At the river bottom, a beautiful buck deer strolled out onto the highway in front of me. I stopped a good 200 yards away, but he saw me before I could arm my camera and sprung off into the desert. Nearly to Saguaro Lake, I passed another loaded down touring cyclist going the opposite direction and waved. Another cyclist soon came along too, so I again waved, and he called out, “Hey!” Pretty soon, he’d turned around and caught up with me, and

preRA: Weighing and Waiting

Posted on May 15, 2011May 29, 2011 by Rich

Jack sent an email the other day describing a ‘practice pack’ he’d done. Jack’s bike, with filled water bottles, some extra water, and some rations, came out at 89 pounds. I wondered how much mine would be. Spent this afternoon gathering everything, doing some categorical weighing, and then a full load measurement. Unlike Jack, I did not add food or extra water, but did include 3 filled water bottles. Results below: The 12.2 lbs for racks and containers always sounds high. You’d think with aerospace materials and high strength modern fabrics, the container weight wouldn’t be such a high percentage

preRA: SR20 Update

Posted on May 13, 2011May 29, 2011 by Rich

SR20 in Washington continues to be cleared, but this past week of work (the crew’s fifth) shows considerably slower progress. I’m also now concerned about continuing small avalanches that re-cover the road, especially when it rains. Not that the odds of getting taken out by one seem very high, but I’m concerned that the state may not allow passage until the risks are, you know, so low that even the state will allow passage. They hope the road will be open by Memorial Day, only about 6 days before we plan to be there.

preRA: 20 Days and Counting

Posted on May 10, 2011May 29, 2011 by Rich

Snow clearing on SR20 in Washington is going faster than I figured – they’ve only got 7 or 8 miles left now. I’m encouraged that we’ll be able to take that route. The crews are keeping a dandy website to show the progress: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Traffic/Passes/NorthCascades/updates.htm Our start date approaches, only 20 days off now. As I’ve already said, “We are rapidly losing our opportunities to abandon this lunatic plan.” To which Jack has most recently replied, (Yes, but) “our chances to prove our lunacy abound.” To which Frank has replied, “I’ve had my lunatic days; however, this is my first

preRA: Fountain Hills #6

Posted on May 9, 2011May 29, 2011 by Rich

Yet another conditioning ride. A surprisingly cool day, probably between 70 and 80F the whole ride with overcast skies for much of it. Strong headwinds coming down the Beeline – much more work than I really wanted, but it is teaching me not to fret about winds too much – they can be overcome with patience. On Bush Highway by the river, a dead coyote caused me to stop and take a photo, and I then realized it was actually a fox. I later learned that it is a Urocyon cinereoargenteus, a common gray fox, or in Spanish a

preRA: Fountain Hills #5

Posted on May 2, 2011May 29, 2011 by Rich

This route is getting to be standard training route – Fountain Hills is a good central meeting place for Jesse and me with plenty of climbing and distance for each. This morning I was hoping to link up with friend Ed Dumas and make the ride with him, but, through a series of misfortunes initiated by tardiness on my part, we missed our connection. Took it easy out past the lake, for two reasons. #1 residual fatigue from the lunatic club pace last Saturday, #2 the healthy NE winds pushing against me all the way. But rolling SW down the

preRA: SR20 Snow Clearing

Posted on May 2, 2011May 29, 2011 by Rich

Finally into May and counting down. Everyone has been accepted to the Ragbrai ride through the lottery system. The Washington DOT crews continue to clear the snow from SR20, and it appears they now have only about 15 miles left to clear. The crews provide great daily updates and pictures at their website: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/northcascades

preRA: Snows in Washington

Posted on April 26, 2011May 29, 2011 by Rich

The group remains in a state of conditioning and planning. Gary, Frank, Jesse, Jack and I continue to ride around town loaded down with tent and sleeping bag, or in Jack’s case, blocks of wood. Frank has learned that our intended route on the North Cascades Highway SR20 is currently closed due to heavy snow this year. This affects about 35 miles of our planned passage between Newhalem and Mazama. Washington DOT crews started clearing the snow on April 11, but the projected opening date will be right around the time we’ll be there, i.e. early June. Possible contingency is

preRA: Fountain Hills #4

Posted on April 18, 2011November 25, 2011 by Rich

Off the bike for 5 days in a row this week, playing in a golf tournament. My partner and I didn’t do too badly, so I made a brief post about it here. [By the way, if you’re into exquisite dining and a way cool celebrity encounter, you should check out a couple other very recent posts on our travel site – start here.] The desert up by Saguaro Lake is always beautiful, and this morning the temperatures were a perfect 75F or so. Most of the penstemons have waned, but the desert marigolds are in full glory. The other

preRA: Fountain Hills #3

Posted on April 11, 2011May 29, 2011 by Rich

Another loaded spin up by Saguaro Lake, then down the Beeline to Fountain Hills. When the weather behaves we get NE winds in the mornings, and it makes the hills out by the lake interesting. At Beeline and Bush I spied this outrageous orange-red cactus in bloom in the desert and trudged out for a photo. Rolling down the Beeline is almost always fun, and this morning I did so for about 7 miles at 24 mph. Approaching Fountain Hills, I watched the end of the fountain’s cycle, realizing that it was actually the 9AM cycle I was watching, with