Author: Mike Hassur
Our goal was to start this ride at 5:50
AM. Leon, Conor, and I arrived at the Crystal
Mountain turn off from Hwy 410 at about 5:45 AM to find John, Les, Brent, and
Scott W. already there. Our group of
seven was smaller than for some of our rides; but they were all strong riders,
so staying together for most of the ride would be relatively easy. Our plan was to ride up to do the Cayuse Pass
and Chinook Pass part of the ride first so as to avoid the heavier traffic
volume that would come later in the morning.
We would then ride back down to the turn off to Sunrise and do the
Sunrise climb. After that, we would head
back to the cars, restock, and head up to the Crystal Mountain Ski Area for the
final climb of the day.
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| 6:05 AM and ready to head out... |
By 6:05 AM we had our tires pumped up, the
Garmins turned on, the sunscreen applied, food in our back pockets, and water
bottle solutions mixed. It was a little
chilly, so most of us had on long sleeved t-shirts or arm warmers on in
addition to our jerseys. We headed out
and visited/cruised our way up Cayuse Pass and on up to Chinook Pass. We encountered very little traffic, and Leon
said later that he felt we were riding faster than usual (which was probably
the case considering the strong riders that comprised our group of seven).
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| Top of Chinook Pass... |
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| Conor Collins on foot bridge at top of Chinook Pass... |
At the top of Chinook Pass, we stopped for a
couple of minutes, enjoyed the scenery (I love the top of Chinook), ate, and
drank. Soon, we were headed back down
toward Cayuse Pass. It became evident on
this descent that the long sleeves, arm warmers, and/or vests had been a good
idea. We were on the chilly side on the
way down to Cayuse and on down to the Sunrise turn off; but, with just a jersey
on, it would have been miserable.
Soon, we were passing the gate that marked the
beginning of the 10 mile climb to the Sunrise Visitor Center. Conor and Brent had been riding ahead of the
rest of our group and were out of sight as we started the climb. I was riding pretty briskly in hopes of
catching a glimpse of them before they got too far up the road. John Winter was riding with me during this
early part of the climb. Before long, I
heard Connor Collins’ voice – coming up behind me!! He and Brent had stopped at the base of the
climb to take a leak in the trees. Okay,
so now I’ve been working hard to this point, John has stayed with me in a
seemingly effortless manner, and Connor has caught up with me – and he’s not even
breathing hard – it was evident that this was not going to end well for me
(i.e. I was not going to be able to stay with those two all the way to the
top). After a quick calculation, my goal
was to stick with them up to the second hairpin turn. Because of low oxygen levels (it was all
going to my legs), my brain wasn’t functioning very well; so I’m not exactly
sure where I lost contact with those two, but I’m pretty sure it was before the
second hairpin.
Not long after the second hairpin, I heard
Brent Moody’s voice behind me. Brent
rode with me for a bit. It was evident
that he was feeling good, so I encouraged him to catch up with John who was
still in sight ahead of us. Brent took
off and was riding with John by the third of this climb’s four hairpin
turns. I was still feeling good at this
point – I just couldn’t go as fast as Conor, John, and Brent (not a big deal as
this was more of an issue of them riding really well rather than me not riding
well). When I’m doing these long, tough
climbs, I will often find myself counting pedal strokes to sort of help me
maintain my pedaling rhythm as I begin to feel fatigued. I was doing this between the second and
fourth hairpin turns on this climb and counted 2400 pedal strokes
(revolutions). I lost count a couple of
times, so I may have been off by a couple hundred; but accuracy was not my goal,
and the counting really helped to maintain my cadence. When I finally got to the Sunrise Visitor
Center parking lot; John, Conor, and Brent were gathered together with John
pointing at Mt. Rainier and talking to Conor.
I suspect that they were discussing the hike that John and Conor are
planning to do to Camp Sherman on Mt. Rainier within the next week or two.
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| John pointing out Camp Sherman area of Mt. Rainier to Conor and Brent... |
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| Sunrise Visitor Center and Mt. Rainier in background... |
Once the rest of our group had joined us; we
headed down the fun, fast, and twisting descent as a group. I stayed at the back of the group taking
video and really enjoyed watching the rest of our group sweeping down the
mountain road.
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| Re-supplying at the vehicles before heading up to Crystal Mountain Ski Area... |
Once down, we left the national park and headed
back to our cars. At the cars, we shed
clothing (it was getting warm), refilled water bottles, restocked food
supplies, and headed up the six mile climb to the Crystal Mountain Ski
Area. We were riding fairly quickly on
this climb, but no one seemed phased by it as we were able to visit as we
climbed. Before long, we were at the ski
area. We had a group photo taken, took a
swig from our water bottles, and sped back down the descent to our cars.
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| Brent, John, Les, Scott W., Conor, Leon, and Mike at the Crystal Mountain Ski Area... |
Awesome weather, great group, and wonderful
memories – can’t wait for the next ride – Windy Ridge (Mt. St. Helens).
** CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO FROM THIS RIDE (THE BEST PART BEGINS ABOUT 2:50 INTO THE VIDEO) **
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Addendum by Brent Moody:
Thanks again for the ride. I'm still re-playing in my mind that I'm riding my bike up those passes. I was so looking forward to this ride and getting to hang out with some of the best guys around for 4 hours. The day played out just like I imagined, great weather, perfect temp, we all had fun, caught up on past and current life events, and we were all healthy and still smiling at the end. I keep these fun times in my mind while traveling along with some of those pics to look back on. Only thing I wish I could have seen is that bull elk that the rest of you saw as we were heading up the Sunrise climb. I was too busy sweating it out and wondering how much longer to the top, lol. This is what life is about, great memories and experiencing an event that most people would only dream about.. it's good to be a Cyclopath!
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** CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO FROM THIS RIDE (THE BEST PART BEGINS ABOUT 2:50 INTO THE VIDEO) **
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Addendum by Brent Moody:
Thanks again for the ride. I'm still re-playing in my mind that I'm riding my bike up those passes. I was so looking forward to this ride and getting to hang out with some of the best guys around for 4 hours. The day played out just like I imagined, great weather, perfect temp, we all had fun, caught up on past and current life events, and we were all healthy and still smiling at the end. I keep these fun times in my mind while traveling along with some of those pics to look back on. Only thing I wish I could have seen is that bull elk that the rest of you saw as we were heading up the Sunrise climb. I was too busy sweating it out and wondering how much longer to the top, lol. This is what life is about, great memories and experiencing an event that most people would only dream about.. it's good to be a Cyclopath!
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To see all of the photos associated with this ride, click on the following link:
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