| Quick Stats Ride Distance: 100.18 miles Elevation Gain: 8,911 feet Average Moving Speed: 13.8 mph |
The name for this ride is a throwback to how I used to name rides: based on the climbs. It is otherwise known as Tour de Blast (we did the VBC supported version in 2009 and 2010) or Johnston Ridge (named thus because we did it unsupported that time). But since this year we threw in a third Elk Rock summit I thought it appropriate to highlight all the climbing in the title. Oh, and it was a full century.
Now you know.
"But did you see any actual elk?" you ask. "Funny you should ask!" I reply. This is the first time we've seen elk up there. We saw four of them grazing on the green grass just on the other side of Elk Rock. And let me tell you there is lots of green grass up there right now. It is a veritable Garden of Eden, particularly when compared to the Mt. St. Helens landscape we've witnessed on July rides of previous years, when it was much more... barren. Of course I'm sure a huge factor is all the rain this year. Regardless, it is beautiful up there!
The plan was to hit the pavement at 6 a.m. when the forecast called for about 50 degrees. Our actual start time was 6:05 a.m. Check.
The high for Toutle, WA was supposed to be in the upper 70s at around 4 p.m. Even though most of the ride is at a higher elevation and should therefore be cooler, we have generally found this ride to be very hot when the sun is out because there are no tall roadside trees. Remember that whole eruption thing back in 1980? Yeah, it wiped out all the trees. There are some trees early on the ride, but once you start climbing you are pretty much sun bathing. That is, if the sun is both up and out.
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Hence the planned early start. We figured we'd be back to the car sometime before 3 p.m. We actually got back at about 2:30 p.m. Check.
In years past we've done this ride both supported and unsupported. Supported is definitely the easiest since you don't have to worry about lugging a bunch of water and food. But the most recent time we rode it we did it unsupported, getting water both at Johnston Ridge (mile 42) and on the return leg at the Forest Learning Center while descending from Elk Rock (mile 61), and found it to be totally sufficient. Of course, we each used Camel Baks and two uninsulated water bottles last year. This year I used four insulated water bottles and Amy used three. Two of my water bottles started completely frozen. No Camel Baks.
We were so confident about getting water up at Johnston Ridge that I stashed my two frozen water bottles under some rocks at Elk Rock, figuring we would have some nice cold water waiting for us, and could use the Johnston Ridge water refills to climb back up to Elk Rock. Plus, we had started early enough that it wasn't too hot yet, otherwise we'd have needed more water getting up to Johnston Ridge.
Did we have enough water? In the end, yes. But there was a minor scare up at Johnston Ridge. The faucet in the parking lot simply didn't work! Oh no! We weren't completely out of water, so I'm sure we would have been fine, but it wouldn't have been any fun to ration water. We decided to go past the parking lot up to where the actual observatory is. Funny that we've been up there twice before but never even seen that building! Anyway, it turns out they opened about 10 minutes before we got there (10 a.m.) and have nice drinking fountains with cold water. Hip hip hooray!
On return trip we decided to leave the frozen water bottles at Elk Rock and use them as incentive to have to come back up and get them for that last 8-mile climb. Halfway down the descent we stopped at the Forest Learning Center to top off on water. Amy discovered her rear tire was almost flat. So I sat on the nice bench in the shade and changed her tube out for her. If you're gonna have a flat that is where to do it.
We finished descending down to the bridge and turned right back around to climb 2000 feet up to Elk Rock again. That extra 8-mile climb is what made today's ride an even 100 miles.
The frozen water bottles up at Elk Rock were no longer frozen. But there was still ice! They were cold! It was very rewarding and refreshing. Of course next time I won't even bother bringing them up, as we would have done just fine without them. Although if they hadn't been up at Elk Rock I'm not sure I would have gone back up there. We'll never know...
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