Tour De Pierce (Pierce County - Washington, USA)

So Sunday my buddy Steve, Brandon and Scott (Part of Steve's STP
group) headed out on an unofficial riding of the Tour De Pierce. The
Tour De Pierce is put on by Pierce County parks and recreation each
year and consists of 12, 30 and 50 mile rides. The TDP was last
weekend officially. We all were doing other things and couldn't make
it, so we decided to ride it THIS weekend. I mapped out a course
based on the official TDP route and came up with 43 miles.

We met at the Puyallup fairgrounds Gold parking lot at just before 7AM
and headed out. Now up until this point, the furthest I had gone (in
the last 18 years anyway) was 30 miles on the Orting trail. So
setting out on a ride nearly 50% longer had me somewhat worried. We
headed down Pioneer, crossed the Puyallup river into Fife, Fife up
into Fife heights. We were following the "official" TDP markers on
the road and I had not anticipated the hill up into Fife heights.
Steve and Scott are used to rides of 70+ miles, and Brandon is just in
naturally good shape. Not to mention they are all 60 - 110 pounds
lighter than me. So this fairly steep hill caught me off guard, and
about 1/3 of the way up, I unclipped and walked for a bit. At a
relatively flat section, I hopped back on the bike and rode the rest
of the way up. Fife heights, back down into Fife and across the
valley into Sumner. At 20 miles, we stopped at the espresso stand
near The Old Cannery furniture store and re-hydrated and ate a bit.

After our rest stop, it was on north on West Valley Highway into
Auburn, then under 167 and back into Sumner. We followed the edge of
the hill that is Bonney Lake and at about 35 miles hit the second
"big" hill of the day. Well even though I was prepared for this one,
I was not even close to being in shape for it. So I unclipped again
and walked it. I have no excuse, I have never been good at hills. At
the top of this hill, we rested for a couple minutes and drank quite a
bit. The fun was coming down the back side of this hill. This is
where out weighing your mates is an advantage. I got into a full tuck
and showed Brandon what the power of inertia was all about! I think
my GPS registered a max speed of 38.9 MPH . . . there is nothing quite
like going that fast on barely an inch of tread. It certainly makes
you consider things like "Did I remember my insurance card?"

Well, I forgot about the couple of little hills after this "big" hill
and was just about spent when we hit them. So there go Steve, Brandon
and Scott . . . and I putt along McCutcheon road to the Orting Highway
(162). The three guys were far enough ahead of me that they got
through the light and across the highway onto the Orting trail and
headed back north. Rather than wait for the light and traffic, I
turned onto the Orting Highway and ran parallel to them until traffic
had passed and I could use a driveway to get over to the Orting
trail. I don't know why there is always a frickin' headwind as we
ride north on the Orting Trail, but there is.

I came into the Meeker trail head about a minute or so behind the
guys . . . they were dis mounting to attend to business. We were at
just about 40 miles at that point and my legs were JUST to the point
of cramping if I straightened them out. I told them I couldn't stop
for fear of cramping too much. So I kept going, and Brandon hopped
back on to follow me. We ended up back at the Gold parking lot just
before 11 AM. According to the GPS, our moving time was just over 3
hours. So not too shabby me thinks. I drank the rest of my Clif
Electrolyte to get re-hydrated and my legs started feeling better. I
was proud that I made it the full 43, even if I did walk a couple
hundred yards of it. It does give me hope that I'll be ready for the
50 miles on the Dam2Dam in September. I just know I've got to get 20
or 30 pounds off my frame by then. Between me and my bike, my little
legs are pushing 350 pounds around and that just is not acceptable.
Time to get serious!

One shout out to my wife Teri. I really appreciate her words of
encouragement and support when I go on one of these adventures. It's
nice to know she'll allow me to head off with the boyz for a few hours
on a Sunday morning to get my ride on. I don't take a whole lot of
days off and we get precious little time together alone, so I
appreciate it.

Anyway, here is the summary . . . click the map to be taken to
Motionbased to view all the stats:

Location:B Puyallup, Pierce, Washington, United States /B
Activity:B Road Biking /B
Distance:B 43.07 (mi ) /B
Comments: BUn-Official Tour De Pierce with Brandon, Steve and Scott.
/B

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