Too Much Of A Good Thing: Snowmelt and Gear Inches.

Things look good down at 2000'.

All of the trepidation I have had about the snow pack, turned into a big case of "be careful what you wish for". Very little snow melt had occurred up until late last week when the temperatures shot 20 degrees above normal and started the snow melt in earnest. The 90 degree temps have resulted in flooding on just about every river in the area.
I rode up Mt. Spokane on Saturday and marveled at the raging Deadman Creek that runs along side the highway. The next morning when I was coming down, the road and the creek had become one. I was lucky to cross the washout when I did because during the next 12 hours the asphalt would start to break apart as the soil from underneath it washed downstream. It will be weeks before the road reopens.

At 3400' the snowmelt is causing problems.

From Mt. Spokane I rode out to Farragut again and then on Monday morning biked back to Spokane via The Palouse Highway.
Simon in NZ has been trying to simulate a 12,000 foot day of climbing and the same thing has been on my mind. With most of the big hills covered in snow I haven't really been spending that much time on long climbs. I have felt good when I go out and climb a couple of thousand feet up Mt. Spokane or Fernan Saddle but It hardly simulates the challenges ahead. My big concern is deciding what gearing to use. I thought I was pretty confident about my choice but I have been doubting of recent.
Too low of a gear and it just takes too long to cover the mileage. Too high of a gear and the climbing becomes overly punishing and the day after day leg fatigue piles up too high.
I have done the 12k climbing math but then I look at the photos and see miles and miles of terrain suitable for the higher gear. Can one tooth on the rear cog mean the difference between success and failure? Will one tooth make a difference when climbing the major passes? I still don't have the answer and I may have to flip a coin on this one if I can't get closer to a conclusion.

Click picture for the full grandeur of our camp.

I managed to get the first overnighter of the year in. My new training partner and I rode out to Farragut State Park. No real elevation gain but we kept the pace high (he is still on his road bike). We had hoped to press on to Sandpoint and come back through Newport but when I got to Athol I realized that my @#$%^&* Koobi saddle rail was broken. this was the saddle that I broke the rails after just 700 miles. When I contacted Koobi they assured me that breakage is rare and always due to improper set-up. They sent me new rails and I bought a setback seatpost in order to adhere strictly to the installation instruction which allow for basically no fore/aft adjustment. "The clamp must be centered on the rails." Enough about that stupid seat.
Farragut sits at about 3200 feet. Plenty of snow was visible in the peaks along the lake. The overnight low was about 36 degrees and I was more than comfortable. I am still not happy with the speed of my set-up and breakdown. Need more practice. In the morning I shoved my seat forward so that the break was held by the clamp. The 70 miles of headwind home was zippy despite being in an awkward position.

New Training Partner

A strange small world coincidence has brought a GDR racer to Spokane. Some people like a little more privacy than others and because I didn't ask I won't name him. The racer has raced before and is planning on returning to Roosville. He has family in Spokane and decided to come up for some training, of course that plan may have been better if the mountains weren't still covered in snow.
Yesterday we went out for a ride. His GDR bike won't be arriving until later this week so he was riding an unloaded road bike. This made for a good opportunity for me to get a real good ass-kicking training day in. I stayed with the fully loaded, single speed rolling on mtb tires. I did my best to keep up as we made the 45 mile flat approach to Fernan Saddle. Normally I wouldn't ride 45 miles to climb a hill (even one as nice and long as Fernan) but I was curious to see how much snow there was at the top (4600 feet). It was obvious that I won't be doing any training rides in the CDA NAt Forest in the next 6 weeks. There is that much snow.
On the way back to Spokane we headed out Saltese Flats and up Highway 27 to the Palouse Highway. After 7 hours I had enough of trying to keep my cadence high enough to keep up so we said our good byes and I rode home pretty well exhausted.The hardest kind of riding for me is high cadence flats. It empties out my legs like nothing else. The good news is that 8 hours of sleep later the legs feel good again.

The Public Interest Begins To Grow.

Pete Basinger gets interviewed in the latest Independant Fabrications newsletter. He gives a more detailed telling of the sprint finish at the first GDR. With multiple flats, wild pigs and middle of the night navigational issues, it seems that the GDR nevers stops providing challenges.

What Is The SPF of Dirt?

Things improve. The weather has reached normal levels for the first time this year. Normal right now is highs of 65 and lows of 42. Today was sunny and I enjoyed it as I climbed the 2600' up Mount Spokane (the vista house road is still snowed over so summiting not an option). Last thursday I did my first singletrack hundred miler as an indicator of where I am at. I felt good but it is definitely time to start doing more agressive riding. It just isn't possible for me to get much more riding time in each week so I need to make the time more focused. Speed and climbing, especially out of the saddle climbing. Singlespeeders have to channel there inner Pantani. Dancing on the pedals for mile after mile uses a lot of muscles that can remain dormant during long road rides on the flatland.
Today was actually the first time my legs have seen sunlight since October. I have my base miles, now I need to get going on my base tan. I don't want to look like George Hamilton but spending all day in the sun for several weeks requires some preperation. All the SPF 50 doesn't do much good if you look like Marilyn Manson and you plan on spending sunrise to sunset at altitude in the open.

Spring Has Been Cancelled in Spokane

Note: This is the forecast for 1885 feet of elevation. Normal Temperatures should be in the 60's.

Saturday: A 40 percent chance of snow showers. Cloudy, with a high near 44. Calm wind becoming northeast between 6 and 9 mph.

Saturday Night: Snow showers likely. Cloudy, with a low around 28. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Sunday: A 40 percent chance of snow showers. Cloudy, with a high near 41.

Sunday Night: A chance of snow showers. Cloudy, with a low around 28.

Monday: A chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 44.

Monday Night: A slight chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 28.

Whatever It Takes

Last week was positive. There was lots of high effort work which seems to be doing me some good. It is enjoyable to put the hammer down and have your body respond properly. Despite feeling good I have taken some preventive measures and gone to the acupuncturist. Years ago I lost a wrestling match with an eighty pound Halibut at work. The result was a muscle spasm in my back. That episode happened several weeks before the 24 hour solo world championships in Whistler. I was understandably nervous about the back injury popping up again in the middle of the race. I had a couple of trips to the pin pushers and I was good as new.
I have had recent days when the old injury gets aggravated by long days with a heavy backpack, so I knew I had to do something. I have an obligation to do whatever I can to ensure success with this GDR venture. I only want to do this event once and falling short of finishing because of some shortsightedness during the preparations would sit poorly with me for a long time. I recognize that there are quite a few people that are being inconvenienced by this selfish little excursion of mine. I am lucky that my family and the people I work with have been supportive. Out of respect for their sacrifices I cannot short change this final push of preparations.
Beside the acupuncture, this week I have made it through another map's worth of directions transcription and I have been rehearsing my packing and unpacking routine. A heavy rain storm blew through the night before last so I spent the night sleeping in my bivy. This was my first chance to check waterproofness and potential condensation issue. I was quite comfortable and slept in. Nothing beats sleeping to the sound of rain falling on a tent.