DAY 1 - Qualifying Ride, Ride the Lobster
Sunday 03/23/08, Bellingham, WA. USA
Plan is to qualify with minimal ride length during the night in light rain. Four times up one of my training routes.
Wake at 3:55 AM to a typical Spring storm blowing. No rain (not the plan). With the wind blowing 35+ km and gusting to 58 km I can’t decide what to do.
Hesitantly, wanting to cancel and go back to the warmth of bed, I go through the morning preparation. While checking the weather, standing out side, it starts to spit the first drops of rain and I decide to give it a go.
Running a little late, I wake the wife at 4:45 AM. We miss the 5:00 AM scheduled start. It takes until after 5:25 AM to get to the start, pictures taken and headed up Woburn Street from the bottom at 26 meters (88 ft) elevation. Lana meets me at the Lakeway light and gets it to change green for me to proceed up Yew Street. (We managed to get the light green all four trips up the hill.) The arranged pick up point is at Reveille Street, elevation about 209 meters (686 ft). Using Google Earth each trip will count for about 2.8 km and 182.3 meters (598 ft) ascending. Put uni in car and ride back to the start again. All trips were made with no stops or dismounts.
Unicycle: Standard UDC, Big One 36 inch, Airfoil rim, TA tire, 150 Black Widow cranks, Shimano A520 SPD pedals
Norvara rain slickers (‘Never A Bad Day To Ride’), Sidi Winter Training - Diablo GTX shoes
Last and 4th trip ends and I’m loaded in the car by 6:55 AM.
Distance: 11 km Light Rain: 11 km
Ascend: 729 km Strong Wind: 8 km
Night Riding: 8 km
Final Rating: 153
Objective Rating: 59
Subjective Rating: 94
Weather at 4:53
10 C / 51 F - Feels like: 7 C / 45 F
Wind: SSE 32 km / 20 mph Gusting to 45 km / 28 mph
Cloudy and Light Rain
Weather at 6:53
7 C / 45 F - Feels like: 2 C / 39 F
Wind: SSE 34 km / 21 mph Gusting to 53 km / 33 mph
Cloudy and Light Rain
Sunrise 7:05 AM PDT
DAY 2 - Qualifying Ride, Ride the Lobster
Monday 03/24/08, Bellingham, WA. USA
Plan is again to qualify with minimal ride length during the night in light rain like Day 1. Five times up the same training route.
Wake at 3:25 AM. No rain (not the plan). Forecast is for 90% light rain or snow. With the wind blowing 9+ km and no gusts, it’s a go. Maybe the rain will start. Heck, this is the Pacific Northwest!
When we get in the car to leave it has snow and frost stuck to the windshield.
By 4:40 AM pictures have been taken and I’m headed up Woburn Street in mixed light drizzle and snow. I’m using the same start as yesterday at 26 meters (88 ft) elevation. Lana again meets me at the Lakeway light and gets it to change green for me to proceed up Yew Street. Above Lakeway the light rain turns to light snow. The arranged pick up point is still at Reveille Street, elevation about 209 meters (686 ft). Using Google Earth each trip again will count for about 2.8 km and 182.3 meters (598 ft) ascending. Put uni in car and ride back to the start again. We managed to get the light green all five trips up the hill even with the increased work day traffic of this Monday morning. Each trip is with no stops or dismounts. The weather continued to mix light drizzle with varying amounts of snow or all snow at the lower elevations. The upper portions of the route was in varying amounts of snow that was not sticking to the streets.
Unicycle: same as Day 1
After the last and 5th trip ends I do a few loops of the intersection for pictures and I’m loaded in the car before 6:40 AM and headed home. By 7:10 AM I have commuted the addition 6 km to work.
Distance: 14 km Light Rain: 11 km
Ascend: 906 km Strong Wind: 0 km
Night Riding: 14 km
Final Rating: 185
Objective Rating: 81
Subjective Rating: 105
Weather at 3:53
3 C / 38 F - Feels like: -1 C / 31 F
Wind: SE 14 km / 9 mph
Cloudy
Weather at 6:53
2 C / 36 F - Feels like: -1 C / 31 F
Wind: S 10 km / 6 mph
Cloudy
Sunrise 7:03 AM PDT
http://www.unicyclist.com/index.php?page=gallery&g2_itemId=563922
JM
