Unfortunately, there are no pictures for most of the rides. Most took place in the 1980s or 1990s, before the advent of digital photography - and I didn't pack a 35mm camera along for them. The good news is that they all still exist, the pavement is still good, and the traffic light. But - unless you are in the west, they do require a bit of driving.
At least in the 80s, Cascade Bike Club (I think) sponsored - and that may be overstating the case - a ride called RAMROD. RAMROD stood for "Ride Around Mt Rainier One Day. It's an epic ride, a true beat down covering roughly 195 miles and around 13,000 feet of climbing. Only the truly dedicated will attempt this one, and not nearly everyone finishes. Weather can be a real decider in this event, and the saving grace is that sundown in Seattle in June is nearly 10:00 pm.
And then there was my club. Most of our members were more seasoned business type people - I was one of the young ones at 29 or thereabouts. We decided to do the same route, but called it NIMROD (Not Interested...). The goal was to ride from Enumclaw to Paradise Lodge, overnight there and finish out the next day with the extra climb up to the Sunrise visitor's center and back to Enumclaw. (204 mi, 16,000 vertical)
Truly an epic trip. We started around 7:00 AM, working our way south and east along the park roads. Light traffic, few log trucks on the weekend, and our ever so wonderful support driver in her station wagon with food and water every few miles. The scenery through the Douglas Fir, hemlock and cedar trees is breathtaking. Beautiful glacial fed streams, and an occasional glimpse of the glaciers themselves. It's interesting to note that once you get close to the mountain, you can't actually *see* the mountain. At somewhere around 65 miles in, the group stopped for 'pie'. Not being the brightest bulb on the string that day, I decided to grab a bar and press on up the road. Which was beautiful, and the day was beautiful, and I was riding well and easy and, and well hello there, Mr. Bonk... I've bonked before and since - it happens, but this was ugly. I was 30 minutes or so in front of the group, and absolutely no food. I polished off the last of my water, and continued to crawl up the road. And about a mile later, a family was sitting at a roadside table enjoying a WATERMELON!!! With absolutely no shame, I asked if I could possibly bum a slice of their melon. And thankfully they realized I was harmless and not only gave me all the melon I wanted, but refilled my water bottle and sent me on my way. Awesome people. Tastiest watermelon I've ever eaten!
A few miles further along, I made it to the Paradise parking lot, and only a couple of minutes after that was joined by the lead riders in our group. We had a total of about 30 riders along for the trip, so we continued to trickle in for a while. While waiting, we had a chance to make friends with the world's best fed marmots who hang out around the parking lot cadging handouts from the tourists. They aren't quite tame, but will definitely eat out of your hand.
Paradise Lodge is one of the wonderful National Park lodges built by the WPA in the 1930s, and it's held up pretty well. Low on creature comforts, small bedrooms, shared baths (at least at the time) but well maintained. And the dinner service was anything but ski resort fast food. At this point, I couldn't even begin to tell you what I had, but it was certainly good. Servers in traditional black pants, white shirts and ties. Linen and china, wine poured at the table. Special for a bunch of bikers in shorts and polo shirts, to be sure.
After a beer and a good night's sleep, we got up early enough to watch the sunrise, which is amazing, by the way. A good breakfast (not a buffet) and it was time to put on arm warmers, tuck in a newspaper, say goodbye to Paradise Lodge and head down the mountain.
Descending off Paradise gives you a pretty good feeling for some of the tamer descents in the Alps. Long straight roads at 8-12% grade, tight switchbacks, and really nice pavement. The road is closed all winter, so the normal freeze-thaw-beatdown cycle doesn't occur. The road stays snow covered until it's warm enough to melt and stay melted, so the pavement is, well, pristine. On a couple of stretches, I was able to glance down at the computer and see 60+, and later confirm 64 as a max speed. Faster than I've ever gone on a bike, before or since. The weather was beautiful for a second day in the row and after a very rapid descent, we had a long climb back up to Chinook Pass.
Chinook Pass is home to a group of the most agressive, gregarious and notorious Camp Robber Jays. As we shared a snack, the birds would land on your hands, head, bike or anywhere that might enable them to steal a bite of your food. Utterly fearless, and just so darn cute.
A quick descent of Chinook Pass, followed by another long (14mi, 3000' vertical) climb to the 6200' high point of the trip at Sunrise visitor's center for lunch. About a mile from the summit, I heard that horrid phttt, phttt, phttt sound coming from my front wheel. A flat... I changed the tire (sewup) and finished the climb. I'll have to admit that on the way back, I really, really watched my speed and the corners on the descent back down! Back on Highway 410, and a long hard ride for the last 40 back to Enumclaw and a much looked forward to dinner at a Mexican restaurant.
If you go, be prepared to bail if the weather doesn't look good. There are lots of rides in Western Washington that can be done in the rain, but Paradise is not one to recommend. Hypothermia is a real danger, and snow is not out of the question. Plus, 100 miles in the rain is just plain miserable.
If you can, divert to Cle Elum or Yakima and ride on the 'dry side'. I love the ride from Yakima up to Cle Elum via the Yakima River canyon. Only 90 miles east of Seattle across the summit of the Cascades, and the weather is totally different on the 'dry side'.
Bring a light jacket or arm warmers (and maybe knee warmers) for early morning. Any good road bike will do, but make sure your brakes and tires are in good shape. You'll be at 40+ for extended periods of time regardless of route. There are/were several small cafes along the route, but be sure to bring enough food to carry you 50+ miles if one is closed. There is really no support of any kind out there in the wild.
I rode this on a steel framed Trek 770 with a 42x25 as the low gear.
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