Decisions, decisions
It’s October 6th, and I’ve got 86 days left in the year to get myself to 10k miles (760 to go) and 1 RUSA megameter (1397km to go) and I suddenly find that a ride I’d arranged for Sunday has fallen through.
So opportunities abound. Should I
Ride, for the third time, the High Rock 300 and see if I can better the 14h58 I did on the first loop? My iphone, if I put it into airplane mode as soon as I reach Faraday Road, has about 25 hours before it runs out of juice, so I can plug in one earphone and music my way up to Ripplebrook and around Timothy Lake.
Ride, for the first time this year, Sellwood to Hood & Back. If I ride this one, it will give me a chance to verify the info controls out on the mountain (I know that I need to refresh the Clackamas Lake Ranger Station one for certain), and it will get my feet on every permanent I own at least once this year. But it’s got a bucketload of climbing (the last time I rode it it took me exactly 17 hours to complete the loop. Admittedly, this was without riding about 6000 miles in the four months preceding the loop, so I could probably carve off some time) and a really really cold descent down highway 26 from Government Camp to Zigzag, so I’d pretty much have to start at 5am Sunday morning to get back by 10pm and have even the slightest chance of being functional on Monday.
Bail on a 300 this week (I’m hoping to be able to ride a 700 next weekend, so it’s not as if I’m waving goodbye to my last chance of riding a long loop until next June) and just attempt to ride a fast 200 (either to Ripplebrook or Silver Falls) with the aim of getting myself down to or under a 8 hour loop time.
Sellwood to Hood & Back is the most problematic to do by myself, because of the teeny detail of about 10k feet of climbing and no services between mp 59 and 124. That, combined with the other teeny detail of having no cell phone coverage from mp 35 to mp 110, makes for a long desolate ride in the alpine wilderness late in the season, which, although it might be early for snap blizzards, is still a long ways out in a part of the world where the weather can be unpredictable.
The High Rock 300k is more doable, and I could probably get back home before 9pm. But that’s still pretty late for the day before school. If I bailed and did a fast 200, I could leave home at 6am and maybe be home again at 2pm, then fill in with a populaire immediately afterwards or on Monday morning.
A 300 would give me 8904 RUSA km, a 200 would give me 8803/8806 (Silver Falls/Ripplebrook) and get me back early enough so I could maybe clock in another run up to Sandy on Monday morning, which would leave me with 8907/8911 km, which combined with a midweek populaire and the (I certainly hope it’s approved this weekend/early next week!) 700 to get me up to 9730km (and 10k/10k/perm-SR by the end of the following weekend.)
And a 200 would be less exhausting if I’ve actually got a cold instead of being socked with a round of allergies. Go for the glory, or be cautious and maximize the chances of getting my permanent-SR for the year?
Decisions, decisions.