Author:
Mike Hassur
Well, it’s Father’s Day (5:30 AM), and my
family has said that I am to be "ready to go” at 7:00 AM – not sure what they
are planning. Anyway, this seems like a
good time to get a blog post started about yesterday’s ride (Puyallup Cyclopaths’
“Leon’s Ride”).
The ride is named after Leon Matz. Last year, because Leon didn’t get into
RAMROD, and I was less than enthusiastic about doing an altered course; we just
decided to do our own ride on the day of RAMROD. Leon proposed the following ride: Longmire (Mt. Rainier) à climb to Paradise à descend to Reflection
Lake à
descend Stevens’ Pass à
climb Backbone Ridge (west side) à
descend east side of Backbone Ridge à
exit Mt. Rainier National Park at east gate à
climb Cayuse Pass à
retrace our route back to our vehicle at Longmire. The ride covered about 85 miles and included
about 9500 feet of climbing. It was sort
of a “RAMROD lite” (i.e. all of the climbing in the mountains of RAMROD – and then
some, but none of the slog to the mountains and back out). The weather was great, and our ride was
wonderful.
Yesterday (Saturday, June 20th), we
repeated the ride; but we had a larger group this time. The plan was to meet at Longmire and be on our bikes by around 6:00 AM. That sounds pretty
good in the planning stage, but it required me getting up at 3:30 AM. Leon showed up at my house at 4:15 AM (we had
loaded up the bikes and gear the night before), and we headed over to Conor
Collins’ house to pick him up.
Everything went as planned, and we arrived at Longmire at 5:45 AM. Shortly after our arrival, Les Becker and Tom
Peterson arrived followed almost immediately by Mark Delrosario and Kurt Maute,
Scott Wagar and Kevin Vilhauer, John Winter, and James Kressler.
 |
| Our group at Longmire - ready to go... |
We were on our bikes and heading out of the
parking lot by 6:15 AM. It was sunny,
and the temperature was around 50 degrees (though it felt chillier in the shady
areas). The ride up to Paradise went
smoothly. On the way up, Kurt and Mark
decided to take the “cutoff road” over to Reflection Lake. This meant that they would not ride up to
Paradise, but it would give them a head start on us going up Backbone
Ridge. The plan was to meet them at the
top of Backbone Ridge.
 |
| Mt Rainier as seen on the final portion of the climb up to Paradise... |
After a short break at Paradise to take a
couple of photos, we descended on the Paradise Valley Road (it had just been
resurfaced which made the descent easier, faster, and more fun). We connected with the “cutoff road” that Mark
and Kurt had taken earlier and headed past Reflection Lake. From there, it was the Stevens Canyon
descent. I had the GoPro video camera
going and had hopes of getting video of the group on this wonderful descent. Unfortunately, Les had a mechanical at the
hairpin turn just above Stevens Canyon. I
stopped to make sure that he and his bike were okay; and, by the time we got
going again, the group was long gone.
 |
| Les at hairpin turn above Stevens Canyon... |
 |
| Mike - same place as Les... |
Les and I had a blast on the Stevens Canyon
descent (as usual). We passed Box Canyon
and headed toward Backbone Ridge. Before
long, we were at the top of Backbone Ridge and reunited with the rest of our
group.
 |
| Backbone Ridge summit... |
From there, it was the twisting
(and exciting) descent of the east side of Backbone Ridge. Our group stayed together for this descent,
and there were smiles all around as we exited the east gate of Mt. Rainier
National Park.
Next up, the climb of the south side of Cayuse
Pass. We were in the shade for most of
this climb which kept our temperature nice and cool. At the top, we regrouped and headed down. The speeds coming down the south side of
Cayuse Pass can be pretty high (my Garmin topped out at 46 mph), so there wasn’t
much sight-seeing on the way down – just concentrating on the road ahead and
checking to see if any cars were behind us.
The descent of Cayuse Pass went fine, and we
soon found ourselves in a line of cars waiting to get into the national park at
the east gate. We had never seen a line
this long before (it extended all the way back to highway 123). We just enjoyed visiting as we made our way
to the gate/Ranger Station. Once we made
it through the gate, we headed up the east side of Backbone Ridge. This is just a constant, moderate grade for
about 4-5 miles. We just rode a smooth
pace and visited; and, before we knew it, we were back on top of Backbone Ridge
– what a view!!
 |
| Second time over Backbone Ridge (this time heading west)... |
We descended the west side of Backbone Ridge
(high speed – quick descent) and were soon pedaling past Box Canyon and onto
the lower portion of the climb back up Stevens Canyon. By this time, the day had started to get
pretty warm and all vests, jackets, and arm warmers had been shed. The climb back up to Reflection Lake through
Stevens Canyon is a long, demanding effort – especially when you have already
done about 65 miles and about 8500 feet of climbing. We rode up at different speeds, depending on
each person’s level of fatigue; but everyone made it. We were soon hurtling down the descent back
to Longmire and our vehicles. This last
descent has lots of curves and could be enjoyable, but there was quite a bit of
traffic by this time and the road surface was rough; so just getting back to
Longmire without mishap was the main focus for most of us.
Everyone made it back safely. All done – except for the stop at the Subway
Sandwich Shop in Eatonville. That 12
inch sub and a Coke sure hit the spot.
Can’t wait for our next ride…
To see all of the photos associated with this
ride, click on the following link: Puyallup Cyclopaths: "Leon's Ride" Photos
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