SIR Spring 600k Report

Todd Sahl

Jason Williams and I were on the 5:35 a.m. Edmonds ferry Saturday morning with about 40 other randos. We joined up with about 20 more on the Kingston side for the 6:15 a.m. start of the SIR Spring 600k brevet.

As is customary, we pushed the pace a bit right at the start to form a lead group. It had all the usual suspects, plus a tandem from B.C., and a kid Theo from Portland from the “Flesh Eating Zombies” Fleche team. Mick Walsh took a wrong turn about 5 miles in, immediately corrected and got back on course but he was gapped and couldn’t get back on.  A few miles later Jason, Dr. Bob Brudvik, James McKee, Theo and I decided to wait, while the tandem and Jan Heine (who waits for no one) went up the road. Jan eventually flatted and stayed behind us most of the day, while the tandem was usually pulling out of controls shortly after our group would pull in.

Usually right as Mick, Bob, and James were getting antsy to get rolling out of a control Jason would disappear into the bathroom. At Lake Quinalt you could tell Mick was thinking about taking off as Jason headed into a port-o-let for a growler. Mick was like “I guess we can’t leave him after all those giant pulls he’s taken today…”

The last couple hours from Kalaloch up to Forks, Jason and Mick were clearly strongest, with Bob and James hurting, and me sort of coming and going.  We spent some time trying to talk the guys into stopping for an overnight in Forks with us. Useless. Mick and Bob strategized at the back during one of Jason’s monster pulls – Mick: “We might as well use him up since he’s stopping in Forks”; Dr. Bob: “I’m about to go into the hurt locker…”

We pulled in to Forks at 7:00 p.m. (343k in 12:45 hours, our most optimistic schedule was 14 hours!), and those guys headed back out to keep riding about 30 minutes later. Jason and I got some dinner, showers, and a hotel room courtesy of SIR. Asleep at 9:00 pm, back up at 5:00 am, breakfast, back on the road at 6:00 am. That is some luxurious rest by rando standards.

We started day 2 just about last on the road, with maybe two other randos behind us.  First up was a 30 mile out-and-back to La Push beach. Lots of randos coming back up as we headed down, as most folks had taken minimal sleep and were back on the road hours before us in the morning, after getting in hours after us the night before!  We took it a little easier Sunday, especially in the beginning, but ended up really cruising a few sections, including the 101/104 home stretch from Sequim to Kingston. Finished Sunday’s 260k in 10 1/2 hours after reeling in a good portion of the folks ahead of us.

Overall a fantastic ride – amazing weather and views, great roads (including a 2.5 mile gravel section Saturday with a 15% climb),  superb control support by a bunch of SIR volunteers, and great camaraderie on the road just made the miles fly by.

Next up: Cascade 1200k Grand Randonee.

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