Tour of Unknown Coast 2011

Another successful Tour of the Unknown Coast has came and went with hundreds of riders from all over the nation. An unfortunate hectic semester had tremendous impacts on my ability to train/ride so I opted out of a shorter ride for photographing the hammerheads on the century. At first I was feeling a touch sentimental when all the riders started lining up before 7am last Saturday, but by the time I hit "The Wall" and watched those who had been training suffer, I knew I was having just as much fun enjoying the beautiful day and documenting the masochism in front of me. It was much easier chasing them on the KLR.

It was a sea of green Adventure's Edge jerseys at the starting line for the 2001 TUC.

It was mostly tight packs of riders for the first 10 miles or so coming out of the start and heading into Rio Dell.

The Avenue of the Giants was still dark (as usual) at 8:26 am. I had to bust out the strobe to catch the quickly moving front pack. Unfortunately the flash mount I had on the KLR came off somewhere on the endless hills scaring a rider coming around a blind corner. Luckily Bruce of Ferndale was nice enough to find its owner (me), and my sincere apologies to the rider getting a scare. A free photo for you two if you hunt me down.

#326 from Bellingham, Washington was the speed demon for the day. He broke away from the lead group early on. Here he was starting the climb up Panther Gap solo.

This threesome road strong and consistent all day. Although they never caught the solo lead guy, they would all finish very strong at the end of the day.

Matt Deshazo was also riding strong all day. An unfortunate chain issue at the top of the endless hills determined his higher place finish. "It's unfortunate, but I know how I would have finished," was Matt's response. Very true.

Trying to change up the typical TUC photos (many people hang out all day at The Wall), I headed over the windy, twisting roads of the infamous Endless Hills. I was reminded of how it almost drove me to hysteria last year as it really did seem to be endless.

The sinuous roads climb endlessly away from the still visible coast.

A rider pedals along a ridge where a section of the route can be seen in the background.

Beyond the endless hills the fog rolled in thick as a rider squeezes out his last reserves of energy for the last 5 miles.

Select photographs of the event can be seen here at jmbarnesphoto.com. To purchase photos please visit my events gallery at jmbarnesphoto.com/events.

Google Bike Routes

Well it's been a long time coming but Google is finally adding bike routes to their mapping. Here is an article from Wired that talks a bit more about it.

Although this is a very good improvement from their auto-centric mapping system, I personally think it will be slow going at first. This type of routing is dependent on quality GIS files integrated with good planning and existing bike routes/lanes. Large cities such as Portland or Seattle, that have well established bike lanes or avenues, tend to have the resources that Google needs. Smaller towns that may or may not have bike lanes, but are without quality GIS capabilities will not be implemented for some time. This will take major effects on the local communities to get trails/lanes established and into a GIS.

This is exciting news regardless, but for now I'd keep that internal route map handy.

And a little something to motivate you...

Butler Valley Solo

Everyone seems to have left, has a real job, or is hiding out in their bat cave. The forecast called for completely sunny skies for today and the next couple days; I was skeptical. When I awoke today, got some oatmeal and coffee in my veins I realized there were sun rays and not rain drops falling from the sky. Motivating for a long solo ride is hard without dragging my feet, but once I got started I was stoked at my decision.

The Britt Ranch is always an exciting arrival. The steep 2 mile Korbel climb is over, and then you are surrounded by amazing idyllic overlooks. Today was no exception.


I've ridden the Butler Valley loop a half dozen times or so. Either I completely overlooked this every time, or someone recently had an experience that trumps anything I've had. This minivan seems to have been there for sometime though - cloaked in dated rust, bullet holes, and excessive signs of vandalism I can't imagine it showed up within the last month since I last rode butler valley.


I know I've already thrown in the typical self-camera-phone shot, but the mad river bridge is an amazing place. During the summer on this ride this is where we would hike down to the river and take a quick, cool splash. It's a good point to rest, take in some calories, and ponder the 8 mile climb ahead. At this point my legs were still feeling pretty good, but I still had a long way to go and I knew it. The best part about going solo is I have only myself to be competitive with rather than redlining while I watch the fast guys rapidly fade away.

Playing with Liquid Nitrogen

In an attempt to break Chris' seat post free from seizure, we drove down to the local welding/gas supply shop for a liter or so of LN2, or liquid nitrogen. The idea is this: aluminum (the seat post) contracts quicker than steal (the bike frame) under cold temperatures. According to the sales man at the LN2 shop, we were playing with about -362 degrees Fahrenheit, which to me seems cold enough. Note: I researched and found that LN2 freezes at -346 degrees, so maybe he meant -342 degrees. Either way, the seat post is still stuck and Chris went with the last resort of cutting the post off attempting to cut a slit in the post with a long hack saw blade. This is obviously a to be continued post.

Prepping involved taping the holes to the downtube and stays in an attempt to funnel the nitrogen down the seat tube, thus freezing the seat post mercilessly stuck in the frame.

A look inside the bottom bracket reveals the cave of confusion, wondering what the heck we were about to pour into it.

LN2, the smoking gun, awaits patiently as we prep allez. Little did he know it was like frosty waiting in a greenhouse, only moments longer and you'll be dead.

After a couple seat tubes full, vice grips, vices, monkey wrenches and a lot of brute force we concluded defeat. That wouldn't stop us from using the LN2 to freeze burn anything we could find in sight.

Stomach Churn 2009

This weekend I got a break in from studying to participate in the 11th annual Stomach Churn bike race. The race has moved around throughout the years eventually landing at the current location for the last 8 or so. I have no idea what the previous race conditions were, but I do know what they are now. If the creators had foreseen into the future than they adequately named this event Stomach Churn. This was probably one of the hardest races I've ever done. Steep climbs nope. Crazy technical rock sections, nada. This race meandered through rolling cow pastures and cut through a small evergreen stand with pure intentions of making each rider work for each pedal stroke. In the end I finished pretty lousy from my norm, but probably had the most fun I've had at a race event. Typical with a lot of cyclocross races in the cross competition. Luckily for me my outfit more than made up for my inadequacies on the race track. I left with a couple sets of tires, a big bag of hammer gel, and some sore legs to remember it by. Thanks to all who participated and especially all those putting hard work into making the event a success! Click on the above pic for photos.

RESULTS

Wet ride

It was a wet and muddy one out there today.

Bogstomp '09

Yesterday was the second annual Bogstomp race put on by the guys at Revolution. There was a pretty good turn out for all the races: kids, 30 minute, and 50 minute. From what I've been told and from what videos I've seen of last year, it was a lot less muddy out there too. I partook in the 30 minute quick death portion, and with seven years since I've raced that was about all I could handle. Luckily I've been getting on my bike a few times a week, so recovery wasn't that awful. I was, however, only 1 of maybe 4 dudes without glistening legs. There was some heavy hitters out there for the 50 minute race. Luckily I took my camera to capture some grins, and grimaces. Click on the link to check the gallery. For all of you at the race that want a high res print hit me up, and help out a poor college student.

Times are now up on the revolution website.

So... where is that bike made?

Ever wonder where the heck your bike was made? Me too. The problem is, it isn't that easy. This is a great article that emphasizes the abstract process a bike travels through before getting that "Made In..." sticker. This article by Kerry Roberts, past president of the National Bicycle Dealers Association, demystifies the profiling of bicycle origin. Check it out.

Paradise Royale round II

Got a chance to head down to the King's Range again with a great crew. There had been some recent rain so the trail was perfectly tacky, making a lot of the steep uphill sections easier to bite. The weather was great, a bit chilly when we first got there, but with the climbing we warmed right up. Chris took a spill this time, pasting his blood on some trail stones. Click on the pic to see a sideshow, although I didn't get a chance to take many photos. Enjoy.

Let's go for a bike ride - TDF 17

Overview of TDF stage 17 - Bourg-Saint-Maurice -> Le Grand-Bornand

First climb of stage 17 - Cormet de Roselend

Ascent up Col des Saisi

The last Cat 1 climb - Col de la Colombiere