Cayuse to Cayuse Ride Report

This last Sunday (June 15th). Aaron Shaw and I along with Kevin Delahunty (Carter Team AKA Team Blood Sausage) and my brother Ben (Montana Velo) hit the road for a long day in the saddle. Our plan was to tackle my brother's hair-brained idea of Cayuse to Cayuse Pass. http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/wa/enumclaw/1042958494

This route he had picked out took us over Cayuse pass to Naches (just outside of Yakima) and then back into the mountains, up and over White Pass, into Rainier National Park, over Chinook Pass and back to Cayuse. It is suppose to be about 113 miles long and with just a little over 10,000 feet of climbing. This was suffer fest 2008.

The ride started nicely descending towards Naches with high speeds and warm temps. We quickly stripped our leg and armwarmers off and figured it would be awhile until we needed a jacket, if at all. The climb up to White Pass was tough. Some solid winds added to the tough climb but we all made it to the top and had lunch. Aaron got the KOM points for that climb.

The Sag Wagon had food and water for us at the top. Yes, I said Sag wagon. My brother's wife took care of that and oh how nice it was!

The descent down into the park was fast and fun. High speeds and wide open roads. The damn thing was we lost a ton of elevation. When we hooked the right to go north, our climbing began again. After about 10 miles, the road ramped up and really started to climb and I really started to run out of steam. I managed to stay with Aaron for a bit, but he eventually rode away from me. Even my brother rode away from me. My pace slowly declined and after coming through a short, albeit scary tunnel, I saw what I was in store for: another 5 miles of climbing that was super steep, had switch backs and looked like it would hurt. I was cooked. I had to pull out there. Luckily I did. Kevin wasn't far back and he was fighting leg cramps. He was so cramped up he couldn't turn the pedals. I rode back and we stuck out our thumbs for a ride back to the car. Luckily, the Sag wagon picked us up and we got whisked back to the parking garage.

I have to say, it was a hard ride, but man was it beautiful and fun and epic. I can't wait to do it again and beat it this time. I'm bringing the 12-27 this time. Oh and Aaron got more KOM points to be crowned King of Cayuse 2008. He is a strong man, even after 3 weeks in India.

Here's the photos to see how cool it really was! How 'bout ya'll join us for our next outing up there sometime later this summer?

http://elizabeth.a.clark.home.comcast.net/~elizabeth.a.clark/2008_06_15.html