Day Three – Up, Up and Away to Badger Mountain

Leave it to Terry Zmrhal to find seven different routes to the same destination. And to create detailed cue sheets for every one of them. That is just one of the features of Northwest Crank that makes it so accessible to riders of all abilities and interests.

Terry said that Friday’s 65-mile route up Stemilt Hill Road would the most challenging of the festival. Thinking the toughest part of the weekend was behind me, I decided to add some miles and some desolation to the mix. Most of the pre-registered riders were here . As Terry finished his pre-ride briefing, small groups of them began to form as they sorted out who wanted to go where and whether they had the right equipment.

The more experienced riders with bikes that couldn’t take anything wider than a 25mm tire chose a paved but challenging 71 mile route up the eastern slope of Orondo Grade, and then on to Badger Mountain. Riders with wider tires opted for one of two “Adventure Routes,” which featured lots of climbing and miles of gravel roads.

I rode with John and Tom from Bellingham on Day One, and we agreed then that we would ride together on Saturday through Moses Coulee on the way to Badger. The route enters the Coulee via the Palisades, a gorgeous coulee in its own right. A seven mile stretch of gravel road connecting Palisades Road to Moses Coulee Road would test our mettle and our machines. That, and the return to the “Farmer Control,” is what I focused on when I considered my options on Friday night in the comfort of my hotel room.

The Farmer grange hall is perhaps the most notorious waypoint along the Cascade 1200 route. It stands alone on a high desert plateau on US Highway 2, just beyond the edge of the Moses Coulee and the little town of Waterville. We reached Farmer about 2:30 in the afternoon. The weather up there was colder, and it was windy. Dan Turner and Greg rolled up in the support vehicle and gave us food and water and encouragement. We needed it. It was a 16 mile ride across that plateau to Waterville. A chilly west wind was coming up US 2 at 12, maybe 15 miles an hour. We were sweating down in Moses Coulee. We gained 1000 feet on the climb up here and we should have been drenched. Instead, we pulled on the arm-warmers and the vests and we wished we had more.

It was at that point that the ride began to take on a more serious mood, as long rides often do when the weather becomes a factor, or when one of the riders in your pod begins to falter. We had both going on. Back down in the Coulee, about a third of the way up the canyon, Tom fell off the back. John and I stopped and insisted that he eat. We pumped him up with Hammer gel and he recovered quickly. Within 10 minutes, he was riding away from me, hanging on John’s rear wheel.

I only met John two days ago, but I recognized his ability and his skill 60 miles into that Day One, 100 mile ride out to Ephrata. You have to be willing and able to ride with John. It worried me to see Tom hanging with him at 22 miles an hour. Tom was bonking, only he didn’t realize it yet. I figured the climb up to Farmer would toast him. But it didn’t. He rode another 16 miles into that wind to Waterville, and there, with a 70 miles down, he smiled as he told us he was going to put his bike in Dan’s truck. It was a good decision, and one that so many riders fail to make facing similar circumstances.

John and I rolled up to an espresso stand to recharge on caffeine, and then headed up the road to Badger Mountain. That was about the time that I recognized the nuance Terry Z’s cue sheet. It read:

2.7 miles to the top of Badger Mountain, all uphill, easily ridable with 25mm (tires).

Terry was speaking of the tread width required to make the climb “ridable.’ He was not commenting on the difficulty of the climb itself, or the demands on a mere mortal attempting to ascend it.

“John!”

As was so often the case, I had to hammer to catch up to him before I could finish a sentence.

“We’re going up to 4100 feet. We are at 2600 right now.”

That is when the nature of this climb became clear. We would gain 1500 feet on 2.7 miles of gravel. As we turned off the black top at the Waterville Ski Hill, I dropped into the small, 24-tooth chain-ring and switched my Polar computer from Speed to Altitude and that is number I watched until I reached the summit.

This was one of just two times I rode ahead of John over the entire 100 mile course today. The Atlantis’s low gear range made it possible on this climb. The 37mm Panaracer Pasela treads did the trick on the 7 mile gravel stretch back on Palisades Road.

As we began the 20 mile, 3500 foot descent back to East Wenatchee, I watched John fall away in the distance until he was a yellow speck on a think black line. He was riding his Lightspeed, as were so many of the riders here this weekend. At times, I wished I had mine, but in the end, I am glad I left it home.

My Rivendell Atlantis is one of the most versatile bicycles on planet Earth, but it is not optimal for pass hunting in the Cascades. It floats over chip-seal, it climbs like a spider, and it rolls easily at 22-25 miles an hour in a pod. But point it down hill at speeds over 30 mph and the front-end begins to shake. Here at Northwest Crank, I was able to downhill both of my steel-framed bikes. Yesterday, coming down Stemilt Hill Road, my retrofitted Raleigh Super Course carved long, stable turns, like a pair of 195mm skis. Coming down Badger Mountain today on a better road surface, the Atlantis was wobbling. I had my knees locked around the top tube, but she wouldn’t settle down.

This is the bike that carried me to the finish line of the Cascade 1200. It will forever have a place in my heart and mind because of that life-changing event. I can no longer ignore the front-end wobble issue, but I am not giving up my old friend, either. I am going to install a front rack that will carry a Berthoud bag low, just slightly above the front tire. If that doesn’t do the trick, I am going to look into re-raking the front fork to adjust the trail.

On June 30, when I leave Portland, Oregon, with a 75-hour time limit to reach Glacier National Park in White Fish, Montana, I have to be on a bicycle that can draw a straight line when I am too exhausted to do it myself.

That was just one of my take-aways from my time at Northwest Crank. There were others, including a brand new VHS copy of Breaking Away, which I won in the final round of the White Elephant Gift Exchange at Garlini’s Italian Restaurant. But that is another story.

Epilogue: (Sunday Morning, Day Four.) I have enjoyed three days of riding here in the Columbia Basin. For me, it is time to head down the road to Portland. Those that are staying will head for Lake Chelan today, and, on Monday, to Lake Wenatchee with a return through Leavenworth in the foothills of The Enchantments. I wish them more sunny afternoons and tail winds on the road home.

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