The Prodigal Son Returns: a Cascade 1200 2008 ride report

[Charles Coldwell]

--
Charles M. Coldwell, W1CMC
"Turn on, log in, tune out"
Somerville, Massachusetts, New England

[DrCodfish]

Excellent write up. One minor point of correction though, mostly out
of defference to the Davis Bicycle club. This has to do with ice
socks.

I rode the Gold Rush Randonnee in 2005. That too was a very hot ride
and it was there that I was first introduce to ice socks, they were a
ride saver for me. As nice as the ice socks were, they were only
second best to the fruit smoothies that were made for riders at the
turnaround.

It's the volunteers that make the rides.

Yr Pal Dr Codfish

[Bill Bryant]

Yes, I noticed that too. Perhaps some of the SIR riders at the 2005 GRR took
the idea north for the Cascade? But in any case, ice-socks have been used
around here for some years when the weather gets too hot.

Bill Bryant

[trose...@rcn.com]

About those "ice socks" ... you'll have to go back to at least 2000, where I first learned about "ice socks" from the PAC Tour folks (Lon Haldeman & Susan Notorangelo) on their on their Eastern Mountains tour.

I suspect that the use of Ice Socks is at least as old as the Great American Bike Race (aka RAAM). I wouldn't be surprised if it goes back even further in time.

Regards,

-Tom Rosenbauer
Eastern PA RBA

[Susan France]

Ice socks came to Cascade 06 by way of RAAM 91. I used them (and ice
everything else) on my solo RAAM. At least that is the earliest I
remember using them. Since some of my RAAM crew were veteran, they had
a boatload of tricks. And we even came up with some new "tricks".
Anyways... the first thing I always look for when it's hot is ice,
lots of ice. It can save your ride.

Susan.

On Jul 14, 12:25 pm, <trosenba...@rcn.com> wrote:
> About those "ice socks" ... you'll have to go back to at least 2000, where I first learned about "ice socks" from the PAC Tour folks (Lon Haldeman & Susan Notorangelo) on their on their Eastern Mountains tour.
>
> I suspect that the use of Ice Socks is at least as old as the Great American Bike Race (aka RAAM). I wouldn't be surprised if it goes back even further in time.
>
> Regards,
>
> -Tom Rosenbauer
> Eastern PA RBA
>

[GJones]

I enjoyed your write up very much.

It provided me a level of understanding of what it was like to do the
ride beyond what is available from the dry statistics.

I have been toying with the idea of either repeating the Gold Rush
(where I fondly remember the ice socks) or trying something different
with the Cascades next year. (I have five kids and a wife that rides
with me, getting in one 1200 a year is pushing it.) I was hoping that
the Cascades would be a little cooler, but that did not seem to be the
case this year.

Bummer.

Still, it seems to be an extremely well supported picturesque ride –
that I have not ridden yet… My wife and tandem partner is not too
keen on high temperatures or massive amounts of climbing, however.
(Any all downhill, with tailwinds and perfect cycling temps 1200’s
next year that I have overlooked?)

We also had some crank arm problems on PBP last year, predominately
due to the fact that I did not have the wrench to tighten the 14 mm
bolt with me. We finished on time, but with much more gnashing of
teeth and tearing of clothes.

Congratulations on finishing with grace and style in the face of
adversity.

> > Bill Bryant- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[NickBull]

Great ride report!

I particularly liked the term "redundant grade", which I've always
called "gratuitous climbing." But of course, by either term, this is
the very essence of randonneuring, since we generally finish where we
started, a body at rest, with no change in potential energy. Four
days and 1240 km of overcoming frictional losses. Particularly in the
bottom bracket, apparently, in your case.

>  prodigal.txt
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