July already and we are in full summer mode

Late Spring and early Summer in 2016 has brought plenty of warm dry weather to south central Alaska. For me it has meant lots of riding and running and trying to get to bed at a sensible time with the seemingly everlasting light.

Anchorage Seward Anchorage

Once again I rode the Denali Randonneurs 400km event to Seward and back. This year the weather was not quite as nice as last years, it was sunny at times but we also had a fair amount of rain and headwinds in what felt like both directions.  Fortunately I was riding with a good buddy of mine Oscar, its always nice when you have someone to suffer with :)
We both would class the ride as type two fun, however the tail wind for the last 30 miles certainly made that part of the ride type one fun. Definition of types of fun

climbing to turnagain pass

kenai lake

The answer

soft peddling and 20mph I'll take it

almost home

Drinking like a hobo

24 hours of Kincaid

Returning for 2016 was the 24HOK. This year there was a pretty low turnout compared to last time it was run in 2014 however, the course was fantastic and a real credit to the ArcticMTB club who organised the event.

LeMans style start

This year I raced on a quad team for the 12hour event. Our team (Glenn and the bear pissers) came second in our class (aka last) however we did have a lot of fun.
The team I ride for, Revolution racing had a fantastic turnout and with the addition of margaritas (thanks Chuck) and some beer from our sponsor Anchorage Brewing Co we seemed to nail the ride and social side of the event IMHO.
We also tried camping as a family first time. It was really windy throughout the weekend and the tent barely stayed upright however, Fiona did manage to sleep eventually even with the tent flexing so much it was hitting her face.

Camping for one night only :-/

Finally asleep this was at 00:20 it didn't get much darker

Hiking flattop mountain

We have been in Anchorage a little over 3.5 years and have never hiked flattop mountain. This is partially because we are more cyclists than hikers and partially because when we tried we were turned around due to conditions.

Amanda's job had a complication which meant that we had the opportunity to have a bonus family day. We decided a short hike was in order and planned to do the blueberry loop and maybe up to the saddle. When we reached the saddle, we assessed the situation and threw caution to the wind and headed up to the top. From the saddle up to the top is where the hike becomes a little more strenuous however both Amanda and Fiona did great at the scramble section both up and down.  I believe part of this was due to the low visibility. Although we were not treated to the spectacular views for our hike equally for the scramble part we didn't have to deal with vertigo so swings and roundabouts really.
Not having grand vistas ensures you take notice of the littler things like the alpine flowers, the pretty rocks and of course the purple pinecones.

touching the clouds

at the top....

a brief view

tundra flower

heading back down

nearing the bottom of the scramble

one of the last switch backs

more flowers

and more 

and more

berries

looking back at the top which had now cleared

even more flowers

purple pine cones 

still more flowers

When will this hike be over? Where has the summit gone?

As summer rolls on

That is most of what we have been up to this early summer, well aside from work, the wedding we went to some midweek races and Fiona at football.... how is the rest of our summer looking? Busy would be the best way to describe it with more racing and events and being away. It's good to be busy right?

There is also something called independance day to look forward to, although no fireworks here in Anchorage where we will be as they are not allowed, not that you can see them anyway as it's still light until way into the night... 

I am a Super Randonneur

Super Randonneur   (rahn doe ner) - A special medal awarded to those randonneurs who successfully complete a challenging series of brevets (200, 300, 400, and 600-kilometers) in a year. A hard-earned honor unto itself and worthy of being any randonneur's goal for the cycling season, the Super Randonneur series of brevets is usually needed to enter a 1200-kilometer event.

Randonneuring USA site

To be perfectly honest this was never in my plans for 2015, I had planned to ride a 300km event and possibly even the 400km but never the full series.
Note this is a long post by my standards.... short version I did it with a great group of friends and lots of sunshine. 

200k event

My randonneuring season started with the 200k Palmer spring classic.  I didn't have the greatest of starts to that event, I over heated and was cramping up by mile 30.  Luckily I was riding with a great group of people and thanks to Oscar, Chuck, Chris and Ryan letting me wheel suck/draft I managed to complete the event well within the time frame.
Photo Album 

These guys let me draft a long way :D

Riding gravel, the guy on a cross bike gets a flat.... go figure

Almost there

300k event

Following on from the Spring Classic we were back riding again four weeks later for the Anchorage Palmer Anchorage event.  Last year this was the first time I rode an event with the Alaska Randonneurs (see here for the blog post) This year I upped the distance I was going to ride.  This time I was going to attempt the 300km event.  We couldn't have asked for a better day out, sunshine, great temperatures and again another fantastic group of people to ride with.   Photo album

The 300k was a lot of fun and surprising I felt really good after the event, I seem to be improving every event that I take part in.  I am managing to improve my hydration and fuelling for the events.

Sunshine riding

Fantastic views

Homeward bound

All done Tom, Tim and Narciso

400k event

Just two weeks later I was out on another event, this time it was a 400km event. In 2014 I did this event as a one way, ride to Seward and take the train back, (see blog here).  This time I was going to attempt my first 400k event.  The weather was significantly better this year.

First control Portage - 2014

Cold and wet climbing to Summit Lake - 2014

2014 pictures

First control Portage - 2015

Warm and sunny climbing to Summit Lake - 2015

2015 pictures

The ride went great.

The engines for our ride down to Seward

Brant and Oscar were (only)riding the 200k event and very kindly spent most of the way down to Seward on the front of the group pulling us along at a good pace.  

Almost caught back onto the peloton 

We were a big group riding out of Anchorage and aside from stopping to take off clothing early on and playing catch up for around 12miles down the Arm I was able to draft a fair amount when I needed.

First bit of sunshine on the ride

We arrived in Seward early in the day and after refuelling headed back to Anchorage.  It was really warm on the way back up to Summit lake and we had a head wind.

Turnagain Pass summit 

Almost there

Chasing the sunset

Stunning views

All finished no lights required

600k event

After the effects of the 400k had worn off  and I found out the 24 Hours of Kincaid was not going to be happening for 2015.  I started to seriously consider riding the 600k event.  I talked with Amanda and after calling in a lot of kitchen passes :-) I booked the time off work and committed to the event. 

The original plan for this event was to ride up to Talkeetna and back which was a change from the normal event they have previously ridden (ride report) normal route page here.  All this changed last week due to some serious wild fires closing the road we needed to ride.  

The Alaska Randonneurs managed to put two approved permanent routes together for the 600k event, this is very important for anyone using this as a qualifier for Paris Breast Paris (PBP).  For us this meant that we would be riding the 400k event we rode the 3 weeks ago then completing a 200k event afterwards, this is normally how the event is split but for us this would mean a lot of time on the Seward highway which although has a reasonable shoulder by Alaskan standards also has a lot of traffic. 

The route started at 6am, this is 2 hours later than we normally start to ride down to Seward and the traffic was noticeably higher.  The weather was definitely not as warm and sunny as three weeks ago which was actually a relief, firstly we wouldn't be so inclined to stop and take pictures and two it was a great riding temperature for the majority of the ride.

Photo album

Down to Girdwood we let Oscar do some of the pulling until he rode off the front and we didn't chase him down but we did appreciate the tow whilst it it lasted.  We also saw the bore tide.

Bore tide

After a quick stop at Tesoro in Girdwood we were down to four people (Jan, Tom, Narciso and I), we rode as a group all the way down to Seward and back to Tesoro, mostly together, I didn't take many photos on the way down, the light wasn't that great and I mostly forgot :D

Stocking up on the way out of Seward

Tail winds galore

I forgot my towel

Getting ready to roll again, we had some horrible headwinds after this.

A quite moment along the arm, didn't get much darker than this. 

Jan was taking part in the 400k event, I think he finished at 02:00 I finished got back home around 00:30 and was asleep by 01:30 to get up at 05:15 to complete the 600k event. 

6am and off we go again

Tom pulling along the arm towards the climb

Bottom of the climb

Top of the climb with Bernie resupplying 

Bake shop in Girdwood for lunch

Thanks Julie for the photo

Almost done

Buzz finishing the climb

Narciso finishing the climb

Narciso, Buzz and I finished the route at around 17:15.  Tom finished a little later and I know Andy finished at some point too.  Buzz, Andy, Bernie and Tom  are off to complete PBP this year and I wish them all the best of luck.

What have I learnt on these long rides. 

• It doesn't matter what you do, your arse will hurt.
• Chamois butter is fantastic I couldn't ride these distances without it. 
• Brooks saddles are comfortable but I still need cycling shorts and chamois cream.
• I don't really have any specific ideas of what to eat but I do know I eat lots when doing the rides, pretty much always eating and hydrating after getting it so wrong on the Palmer Classic.
• Am I mad? Possibly or maybe just crazy.
• I am lucky and haven't had any punctures in all the distance I rode.
• I am very thankful that Amanda is so supporting and looks after Fiona whilst I do these events.
• I mostly rode the events in sunshine :D
• I plan to do a 1200k event one day, not this year though.
• I want a cross bike.
• Yes my legs get tired though not as badly as you would think, I more feel like I have no power left in them.  Oh and going up stairs is hard work for a couple of days afterwards. 

Thanks for reading all