Adventures of the Northwest

RAPSody - Part 2 -

My mom and I went to the store to pick up a couple things and off we went to our Yelm rest stop - leaving Tacoma by 7:30. On our way I received a call from MarkR who was a bit lost in Yelm. We desparately tried to assist him with our Thomas Guide we had but were not successful. Once I got onto the course that the riders would take, just 2 miles from our rest stop, I tried to call him but he said he got directions and would be there momentarily. He was quite concerned that none of our volunteers would be able to make it to the rest stop. Ralph, from TWBC, was there with the trailer full of food. Mary, from SBC, was there already and did a great job setting up and unloading! Mark got there and then Mary and Mark worked on calling our volunteers to make sure they got there properly. We realized that most took Ralph's directions while Martha, whom came a bit later, took my directions and said they were perfect! LOL! That will teach them who to listen to! :)

We slowly started to get riders and started cutting up all the fruit, the "Thai" and "Taste of India" wraps that were purchased from Essential Foods. We had bagels, scones, cookies, twizzlers, chips and salsa and so forth. The "Julie's Java" hut was open as well and many riders came in and purchased their daily fix of lattes.

Because we were on Van’s Burgers property, we did not want to put a dan henry down on their property to show people to make a right hand turn. We did put a dan henry out right next to the road/driveway but some of our riders missed it. So we started taking turns to be human dan henry’s until my mom came back with the support vehicle to make some dan henry’s on tag board I already had in the car. All was pretty good on that – we taped one to the ground and one to the white picket fence. Still a few riders went in the wrong direction.  We will figure that out next year to be a bit better. So many volunteers came out and did such a wonderful job. I think we needed most of them as busy as we were late morning/early afternoon. They did such a great job and we wouldn’t have made it without them!

I spoke with Pete and Patricia, owners of Julie’s Java and Van’s Burgers, and they really liked us being there and thought it went really well and enjoyed us. They think next year they’ll get a couple more people to work during that rush and they will do good business. It was awesome! We did hear from riders that this year the sprinklers didn’t get turned off at the high school and came in at 2 am. Funny, the guy with the world’s smallest tent was telling Mom and I, the night before, that he was waiting for that to happen because inevitably it always happens. I told him I didn’t hear any complaints from the year before so I think we had them turned off and all under control. Ok, well someone didn’t get that memo this year. So we heard all kinds of stories, one woman had a puddle because it blew out her window and flooded her, one woman (Ralph’s sister) had hers over a sprinkler, a gentleman meticulously put his bike under a tarp to protect it in case of rain but unfortunately put it right over a sprinkler head! Oh NO! Can you picture that? Kind of funny but I feel horrible for him. I think everyone had fun socializing with the riders, the riders had fun relaxing and enjoying the ride. Everyone loved the wraps, the area and so on.

Towards the end it was a waiting game for the 1 day riders. Volunteers started to leave. We had 55 riders sign-up for a 1 day ride and only 30 showed up. We know a few did it Saturday (only half supported) and a few didn’t show up at all. My ex also called my cell, early Sunday morning, and I had my mom take the call. She called him the night before around 8:30, as we knew he was trying to ride it in one day without support past Shelton, to make sure he was ok. He called us and said he was out about 12 miles and was ok. When he called on Sunday he told my mom he finally got in around 9:30 and was completely exhausted. I was a bit concerned about the rest of our riders that were going to do it in one day - based on him being out 12 miles at dark time - and knowing he wasn't doing it leisurely. We had to keep tabs on where those riders were and whether they would make it to our rest stop by 6:30. As it approached 5:30 we started to clean-up and a couple riders started to get sagged off the course.

There were 2 guys that were relentless about giving up. One finally agreed to be sagged right before our rest stop and his friend kept going. There were about 3 riders that were last minute at our stop at 6:30 or no later than 6:45. One was the friend of the guy (#44) that was being sagged. We put #332's gear in our car and since we were all packed up my mom and I supported them up to I-5. Then we got on and supported them a bit and then whipped up to the top of Chambers Creek and dropped off #332 off so he could finish the last 5 miles of the ride. We then turned back to Steilacoom and saw the other 3 coming. They made it up the hill pretty much before dark. #44 was a strong rider and was jamming hard but was slowly winding down as we could see he was getting more tired and wanting to know how much farther. #332 told us, in the car, that his friend is a strong rider and would not have a problem as he was the one holding him back. Both have done STP and finished it - in 1 day - by 10 pm. I think this route was more challenging (and Ralph and I discussed maybe the last route should give out lights for those 'determined' so they at least are safe and then they can turn those lights in at the end. We will have that as a discussion for next year because we know many bicyclists will say - I don't need a light - I'll be in before dark - no problem).

Anyway... the last 5 miles I tried hard to follow the last three guys with my flashers on to let cars know something was up and so they could use my headlights - without getting in the way of cars. So really I should have sagged - especially the last guy - off the road but I communicated with him that I would be behind him the last few blocks, etc. protecting him a bit and then he got on the sidewalk right in front of TCC so he was good - very exhausted - but good. At 8:45 all riders were off the course.

This year had some new learning parameters based on the route being reversed but overall I think it went over well. There will be some things we can improve next year and I think the ride will still be a big hit!

posted by Seattlebiker @ 7:07 AM