Chelan Challenge Century

Man when the race organizers say "challenge century" they ain't akiddin'. This ride was nothing but up and down hills for 102.6 miles. And Dave was just crazy enough to ride it. His brother, Mike, convinced him it would be a good training ride for RAMROD--ride around Mt. Rainier in a day.

The weather on Friday night was horrible--high winds, lightening, pouring down rain. And we slept in a tent with no sleeping bads or blow up mattress, but with a dog who just wanted "out" most of the night. It was a crazy pre-race night.

But prayers are answered and we woke up to good ride weather on Saturday morning. The winds had died down, the sky was overcast, and the temperature was in the mid-50's. The ride consisted of 3 different loops. I missed Dave and Mike on the first loop, but I was there about halfway up on the major climb of the 2nd loop.

This is the sign at the bottom of the climb...



It says 12% grade for 5 miles

And here Dave is climbing the hill...

And of course when you climb to the top, you are rewarded with coming back down. Dave loves going down and he maxed out at about 41 mph, although he said he could have gone faster. Blech, just thinking about going that fast makes me want to throw up!

A challenge ride wouldn't be a challenge if all of the climbing was done on loop two, so of course, loop 3 had several climbs. I made sure I was close to the top on the final climb of the day so I could cheer the riders on and take a few pictures.

Mike displays his mountain goat-like characteristics & crushed this final hill. And with a smile on his face, no less.



Dave is just glad that he can see the downhill road sign.



And they finished in about 6 hrs 40 minutes

Fist pump...boo ya, baby! 100 miles.

I asked Dave after he finished the McNeil Canyon climb if he would do this ride again. He said "Never!"

Yeah, well last night he was talking about how he would approach the hill differently & what he could do to climb it better.

OK, but let's stay in a hotel next year.