# Tour de Blast... registration ends today.



## MisterAngular (Feb 6, 2007)

Should be a pretty epic ride this coming Saturday, June 19th!

http://www.tourdeblast.com/

Just registered for it... about $60. Hope they have some decent snacks & drinks!

Anyone else going? I'll be driving down from Federal Way, possibly carpooling with a Tacoma guy.

Bradley


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## abarth (Aug 12, 2008)

Hey Bradley, I registered today too and I am leaving from Federal Way also. What a coincident. I am planing to leave 6 am and get to Toutle Lake High School by around 8 am. Don't know about carpooling though, I am a slow rider on hills (7-9mph up Jovita Blvd), so may be a long wait at the parking lot. This is my first Blast ride, but from what I heard, the foods and drinks are great.


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## MisterAngular (Feb 6, 2007)

I'm not a featherweight or that fast up hills either. Looking at Jovita Blvd E on MapMyRide.com... seems pretty steep in places.. up to 9% grade! The big climb on Saturday isn't all that steep, just LONG. I think it's between 5 and 7% most of the time. So 7 to 9 MPH sounds about right on an extended climb like that. 

I'm meeting a guy in Tacoma at 6 AM so we will probably get there about the same time. If you want, give me a ring when you get there. (two five three) 951-4712. I'll be on a white Cervelo R3. Always cool to meet new people.


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## Gnarly 928 (Nov 19, 2005)

Rode that a few years ago. A nice route with good pavement. The descent was fun and the last part of the climb was pretty interesting. Big crowd and busy food/water stops. Have fun.


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## abarth (Aug 12, 2008)

MisterAngular said:


> I'm not a featherweight or that fast up hills either. Looking at Jovita Blvd E on MapMyRide.com... seems pretty steep in places.. up to 9% grade! The big climb on Saturday isn't all that steep, just LONG. I think it's between 5 and 7% most of the time. So 7 to 9 MPH sounds about right on an extended climb like that.


I doubt Jovita Blvd E get up to 9%, probably more like 5-6%. Lakeland Hills Way is only about 10% and Jovita is flat compare to Lakeland Hills Way. I found MapMyRide is not very accurate when it comes to grade %. I think it will be great to drive down to the Blast and ride together, or at least until you guys drop me at the start of the climb.  I will give you a call later tonight then.

Albert


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## MisterAngular (Feb 6, 2007)

Yeah, the elevation profile feature of MapMyRide is horribly inaccurate. But usually it grossly underestimates the grade. I suspect that's because the sample size is so large, so it's over-averaging. If you create a new route and select a very small segment (a fraction of a mile), you'll get far more accurate data for the elevation/grade.

I really don't know how fast I'll be chugging up those hills. It may depend on my left knee which has been pretty fussy lately. Looking at data from a ride I did up to Sunrise (Rainier) last fall... I averaged 7.7 MPH and 208 watts on a 5.7% (average) grade for more than 45 minutes. That segment was 6 miles and climbed 1987 feet. So hopefully I'll be able to do as good or better on Saturday!


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## danielc (Oct 24, 2002)

I've done the ride 2 yrs in a row and was signed up for this year but something came up and I deferred my registration to next year. Just be warned that with the weather we've had in the last few weeks, the mountain is going to be cold...especially on the descents. I won't be surprised if there's still a lot of snow up at Johnson Ridge or if most of road up will be covered in a mist or fog. 

A really fun ride though!


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## abarth (Aug 12, 2008)

The weather forecast looks worst by the minute. The latest one called for lighting and rain by noon on Saturday and mid 40's all day. It is going to be fun!


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## MisterAngular (Feb 6, 2007)

I didn't notice any lightning, but the weather most certainly SUCKED. Cold and wet... rain, fog, wind. Froze my ass off, couldn't see worth a damn on the descents.


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## abarth (Aug 12, 2008)

No lighting but it was nasty! How far did you get? I went up to Elk Rock and rode back. I didn't see a point to keep going. At least you didn't take the shuttle back like majority of the riders.


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## abarth (Aug 12, 2008)

Did you stop and grab a free beer?


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## MisterAngular (Feb 6, 2007)

I made it all the way to the top, Johnston Ridge... out of sheer determination. 84 miles round trip. SLOW. I think averaged about 14.8 MPH. 6 hours 16 minutes elapsed, 5 hours 40 minutes saddle time.

Yeah, I saw that "beer station" on the way out but by the time I got back down I just wanted to get to the finish line and get off the damn bike. Didn't realize it was FREE beer! The spaghetti at the finish line really hit the spot, though.


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## danielc (Oct 24, 2002)

Dang, seems like it was an epic ride. Weather was great further south in Silverton for the petal pedal. I would have frozen my butt off if I did the Tour de blast this year.


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## RRRoubaix (Aug 27, 2008)

Kudos to all you guys who rode!!:thumbsup: 
I pussed out when I saw the forecast for rain and cold temps (my club prez recommended sitting out if the weather was less than optimum).


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