The first C1200 ride report I’ve seen is from Geoff Swarts here.

Please let us know of others by adding a comment to this post. We will also make a login to this site available to riders so you can add your report or other comments.

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Bell, Carol    14:00
Dougherty, Pat    17:10
Drake, Isabelle    14:00
Hanson, Chris    14:00
Houck, Timothy    13:02
Huffman, Sam    10:40
Kassen, Jake    14:00
Koen, Bob    16:35
Muoneke, Vincent    14:02
Neel, Maile    16:36
Stroethoff, Karel    17:03

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Adler, Audrey    90:56
Aoyama, Eiji    88:50
Applewhaite, John    DNF
Barill, Tracy    83:55
Beebe, Ward    87:00
Berube, Thomas    DNF
Blauer, Anthony    88:50
Bonner, Ken    64:41
Boxer, Daniel    87:44
Butt, Clyde    DNF
Chang, Jennifer    DNF
Chase, Barry    86:24
Coldwell, Charles    84:09
Devereux, Drew    DNF
Dulieu, Michelle    92:20
Ellis, John Lee    85:16
Fingert, John    DNF
Fleck, Chester    79:15
Fox, Mike    89:18
Fritzinger, Micah    82:27
Gilbert, Anthony    91:40
Goursolle, Kitty    91:14
Grabiak, Larry    89:22
Grant, Peter    90:05
Hamilton, Ryan    82:31
Haynes, Martin    90:04
Hennighausen, Lothar    90:04
Hofstede, Jeffery    DNF
Honda, Nicole    91:40
Huffman, Sam    DNF
Knoblauch, Tom    85:16
Koen, Bob    DNF
Koenig, Urs    81:11
Larson, Lesli    91:14
McHale, Mike    DNF
Mikkelsen, Ole    85:40
Moore, Barry    DNF
Moore, Peter    DNF
Morse, Josh    92:20
Olsen, Mark    89:18
Olsen, William    89:18
Phelps, Robin    86:41
Phelps, Val    86:41
Read, Dave    88:20
Rice, Steve    90:04
Roehrig, Mark    88:20
Ryan, Jim    83:08
Scharffenberg, Del    82:46
Shopland, Ian    DNF
Simmons, Eric    DNF
Smith, James    DNF
Stroethoff, Karel    DNF
Stum, Richard    DNF
Swarts, Geoff    85:33
Tanner, Brad    81:51
White, Charles    83:55
Wolfe, Michael    81:51

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The last riders just arrived (7/2 2:20AM). Congratulations to all the 2008 Cascade participants. Thanks for coming to ride with us.

Mark Thomas

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Tom Knoblauch, Ole Mikkelson, Ken Bonner

Originally uploaded by Seattle Randonneur

Activity is starting to pick up here at the C1200 finish. Riders were treated to a cooler day and got most of the serious climbing out of the way early. It was windy through Lake Diablo, but there was plenty of shade most of the way in after Rockport.

Our data entry volunteers have caught up on their sleep and we expect they will keep the results up to date from here on in. More pictures from the finish are posted on Flickr, and we’ll be adding more as the night goes on.

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Spencer Frink and Mike McHale were involved in a 2- bicycle crash on Day 2 outside of Quincy. I’m going to include parts of the emails that we were exchanging with some of the volunteers involved with helping them.

To start with the latest news, Spencer had surgery today to stabilize a fractured pelvis he sustained in the crash. The surgeon said that the operation went well and the repair is tight. Hopefully that means that he can sit up at 90 degrees and be able to fly home within 4-5 days to begin a long course of recovery and physical therapy. Before surgery, they told Spencer that it would be at least 6-12 mo before he would be able to ride his bike outdoors but he may be able to ride a stationary bike within months.

Mike also had surgery today to pin a fractured clavicle. Mark spoke with him and he is in good spirits. He will also be out of action for a while.

[email from volunteer Tom Martin]
Mike said that they were riding in a group but not really a pace line. Spencer said that he needed to stop to check or fix his bike and yelled something to that effect several times before slowing. Mike said that he never heard any warnings from Spencer. It was rather windy and they were on a road (281?) with plenty of traffic noise. Spencer slowed and Mike clipped his wheel sending them both to the ground.

When the Quincy Control was notified by Mark Thomas of an accident with injuries outside of Quincy, both Mark Roehrig and I left to see if we could be of assistance. I got there just before the ambulance. Mike was ambulatory but Spencer was lying on his side, unable to roll onto his back without significant pain. Both were awake and talking fine. Shortly after the EMT’s arrived, both Marks arrived. We sent the riders who had stopped to help on their way to that Quincy control 10 miles away and we loaded the injured riders’ bikes onto our vehicles. Both riders were taken by the ambulance to the Quincy Emergency Clinic.

Mike had relatively minor injuries with a fractured clavicle and probable fractured rib(s) and bruised kidney. He wasn’t discharged until 4 AM. I stayed with him and drove him home to Seattle.

Spencer was less fortunate and sustained a fractured pelvis and moderately severe soft tissue injury of his shoulder. Spencer is being held in the ED at Harborview in Seattle until a bed becomes available in the hospital and is also awaiting surgery when time is available in the busy HMC OR. JoAnn came in last night to be with Spencer

They are hoping that one of the rider(s) who rode up in his car with him will be able to drive his car back to California with their gear and bikes.

We hope Mike and Spencer have a quick recovery and are back on their bikes soon

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Bell, Carol    63:52
Dougherty, Patricia    71:25
Drake, Isabelle    63:28
Frink, Spencer    DNF
Hanson, Chris    63:52
Houck, Timothy    63:20
Kassen, Johnathan    63:58
Neel, Maile    68:02
Sturgill, Michael    DNF

Maile gets an honorable mention for finding a mistake on the route sheet for the 1000km riders, riding back to Malott to inform ride officials, and then riding back on the route. Thanks (and sorry), Maile.

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are posted.

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A BIG thank you to wonderful SIR volunteers at Cascade 1200!

I hate to mention names sometimes, because I fear I will leave out someone crucial, but I would really like to acknowledge volunteers at Cascade 1200, whose help and support meant a lot to a late night straggler, like me.  I ended up DNF’ing last night, but the experience of Cascade 1200 was just one of those grand life experiences, and it could not have been possible without other randonneurs and their family volunteers, who knew exactly what you were going through and was willing to do everything they could to provide that needed support.

One thing about DNF’ing, by the way, makes the “choice” part easier.  I really meant to re-evaluate at the end of this season, if this type of hard, hard riding is for me.  I still need to do that, as I might not have what it takes to be a good randonneur.  But, now, having done part of Cascade 1200, I really want to experience the whole thing, so I might just have to put off that decision-making until next year.  So, maybe another year of mandatory randonneuring for me.

Without much further ado, here are some great volunteers of Cascade 1200.  If a name, that should have been included here, isn’t mentioned here,please chalk it up to a new randonneur, who’s still learning names and faces.

Don Boothby, one of the event organizers, was just wonderful with the perfect words of encouragement and right type of support all the way.  He lent me his beautiful orange wool sweater, on the climb up howling White Pass at night.  He gave me Advil and cooling gel pillow to hang around neck in deadly heat, (a gift from Don’s wife, Mimi, to me!  Thank you, Mimi!), through the canyons of Eastern Washington.  He checked up on me, again and again, throughout the night.  He got one hour of sleep during this period, less than most of the cyclists themselves!

Then there is Albert Meerscheidt, Joe Llona and Erik Anderson, who patrolled the course all night, back and forth, back and forth, making sure we had water and that all were accounted for.  These people don’t sleep at all!

Albert’s advice for me, to eat before climbing White Pass at night and to take caffeinated gel to get through the last 40 mile stretch into the second overnight control, were critical advices that came at the end of a very long day.  Taking them, from an experienced randonneur, allowed me to make it to the first two overnight controls.

Then there were kids, too, who came along with their dads to man the late night support stations, making sandwiches, filling our water bottles and handing us warm cup-o-noodles.  Joe Llona’s son, Jesse, passed out ice socks at Randle secret control and those socks were just wonderful.  He is so young and charming, and it touched my heart to see him asleep inthe truck while his dad, Joe, patrolled the route all night long.  And Mike’s son and his son’s friend (pardon, I forgot your names) were so helpful and engaging at late night Mattawa station.  I didn’t think teenagers were supposed to act that way!  (I forgot Mike’s last name.) [Mike Norman - ed.]

I know that Albert and Mike also took two days of their own vacation time, in addition to their weekend days, to volunteer at this four-day event!  And I bet there are more volunteers, who did that, that I don’t know about.  What an amazing dedication!

Then there is Dave and Cathi Read, who manned the secret control at Clear Lake.  I couldn’t believe, by the forested road in the middle of nowhere, literally, that a couple would be setting up a late night picnic for famished and weak cyclists.  They lent me a pair of warm, long-fingered, fleece gloves to wear, when I lost one of mine in the middle of White Pass at night, changing.

Then there is the volunteer mechanic, Eamon Stanley, who made my bike whistle and chime, after the brand new chain got stretched and wouldn’t shift to lower gears.  His fine mechanical craftsmanship on the third morning allowed the climb up Dry Falls and the unending climb up US-2 that followed, almost fun.  What a great difference a well-tuned bike makes!

And Carol and Ralph Nussbaum, who were in charge of the impossible task of feeding all of us famished randonneurs!  How does Carol do it?  Also, I know Amy Harmon is helping out at the Mazama control, the control I didn’t make it to, and has prepped some of the food items.  Two amazing women with great organizational skills!

Mark Roehrig and Mark Thomas, the Cascade 1200 Director and the RUSA and SIR President, respectively, were quick and efficient in coming up with a plan, to get me back on track, when I went off course the first day, while following the GPS directions, instead of my cue sheets.  I am making every mistake in the book, and more, while randonneuring, but I will try not to make the same ones again!

Mark Roehrig is the Director of Cascade 1200 and I can’t imagine all the fine details that need to be pulled together, to make an event like this, that stretches over the course of 770 miles, possible!  This year, due to inclement weather, there were multiple changes to the route even till the last minute, and Mark pulled it all together beautifully.  The cue sheets for C1200 were impeccable, with all the right mileages and all the right cues, to aid finding that right turns in the middle of night, and I thank all the volunteers, who fine-tuned them to perfection.  And this was a GREAT, GREAT route!  It highlights all the best, and the hardest, that Washington state has to offer!

Mark Thomas drove me to the emergency room in Wenatchee, when I developed heat exhaustion, plus some incoherent cognitive functioning, (due to one hour of sleep over a 60 hour period, and only 3-1/2 hours of sleep, the night before the event, due to nervous excitement), and was acting more-than-a-bit weird, now that I think about it, though at the moment, I made perfect sense to me!  Mark, as the RUSA and SIR president, made some sound judgment calls, on my behalf, when I could not think clearly, and took care of me all the way to the ER and at ER.  What a fine man, who earned and deserves his title in every way.

And Kristie Salinger and another wonderful woman volunteer [Sue Matthews - ed.], whose name I forgot (not due to lack of gratitude, but I wasn’t fully cognizant then), nursed me and took care of me, while I was barfing and…uhm, let’s leave out the details, here.  They could do it, only as females can.  They were nurturing and made me feel so home at that Farmer station, where I DNF’ed.  The ice water drip all over my overheated body was just absolutely heavenly.  Kristie also passed on to me with some savvy randonneuring tips at Northwest Crank earlier this year, that I quickly followed up on (like when to wear a sports bra–not a sexist comment, but an absolute necessity in deadly heat) and found it to be very useful at this ride and during this randonneuring season.

And there were riders-turned-volunteers, who were gracious and helpful, because they’ve just experienced first hand, what we are going through now.  There was one gentleman, in particular, whose path I crossed back-and-forth, on the way to Lodgepole Control on the second day, (I think it was John?), who filled my Camelbak with icy water on the third day, when I ran out of water on the final stretch up US-2 and was beginning to feel the heat exhaustion.  He again brought me Camelbak to sip while I was lying down and wasn’t feeling well at the Farmer control.

And there was the volunteer medical support (again the name is gone from my memory!), who diagnosed me with heat exhaustion and was gentle but firm, in directing me in what I needed to do.  He moved me out of the sun, when I kept insisting it felt nice to be lying there, and brought me to the cool sheltering shade of the Farmer control house.

And Chris Ragsdale, yes, the “record holder,” who held “my” bike and asked me for what “I” needed when I arrived at Naches control the first night, (the second morning, to be exact).  Wow.  I was humbled.

And John Vincent, Mike Johnson (?), Mark Roberts and Bob Brudvik are all familiar volunteer faces, who seem to be always lending a helping hand, or saying just the right thing in just the right way, at this and other brevets.  And a fast woman cyclist from Wenatchee, who volunteered at Northwest Crank, whose name I once again forget, [Adria Gunderson -ed.] was once again volunteering at C1200, too, and was patient and lovely throughout, when I was at my bitchy-worst on the third morning, feeling completely discouraged after riding through my second night.  Thank you all!

Bob Brudvik’s simple comment at Naches control, after I rode my first night through, “I like riding at night,” made me wonder if I am missing out on some peak experience.  I feel like, if I can learn to enjoy riding at night, instead of dreading it, then I might actually begin to enjoy the whole of randonneuring experience, hard as they are.  I mulled over that statement all night, as I was riding through my second night at Cascade 1200.

(I think I’m going to try a trick.  I love my super-bright, super-new, E-something, Supernova light, but such brightness, that allows me to see the road up ahead clearly and navigate, does not allow me to enjoy the subtle shades of the night, that surround me on quieter roads.  Before my next brevet, I’m going to buy an alternate lighting system, with a dimmer setting, that I will turn on, on the quiet roads at night, so I can drink in the fresh air and soak in the sounds of croaking frogs and howling coyote packs, that come from the surrounding grassy fields.  I want to see the Milky Way and the orange sliver of moon in the night sky, while I’m pedalling, not just when I’m stopped.  Does anyone know of such a light?)

Cascade 1200 is in full swing today, its final day, and I wanted to acknowledge the critical support I received from each of these wonderful volunteers.  There are more, who I haven’t yet met because I didn’t make it to the final controls, who were out there last night and are still there today.  I am so honored to be a part of this awesome cycling community.  Randonneuring is hard, simply hard, and all of these volunteer randonneurs and their families, who dedicate their time and energy, make these Cascade 1200 experiences possible, for a novice randonneur like me, and for the randonneurs from all over the US and the world.  Thank you once again!

Jennifer

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The ride has gone off to tour cellphone and internet free parts of Washington. Beautiful views, great roads, and no contact! Updates will come infrequently, if at all, until this evening.

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