@Cyclops has taken it upon himself to organize North America’s first official Cogal right in the backyard of where it all started: Seattle, Wa. @Scaler911 and @McSqueak have confirmed that they will be driving up from Portland, OR to attend and we hereby invite any and all Velominati to attend.
We’ll be doing a no-drop ride on Whidbey Island, following a route that is not terribly hilly and easily accommodates varying distances, though I myself will be planning on a 100k or more. We’ll leave the Coffeehouse Bookstore in Langley at V minutes past 10 to give everyone plenty of time to find their way up to the island and into Langley. Route details will be published in the posts below when it is confirmed. (I have to do some research as I’ve not done the ride in it’s entirety myself.) Hope to see you there.
UPDATE: The route has been posted on MapMyRide. It is a 160km ride with the option to cut section off for those who are getting tired.
UPDATE: Those who are interested are invited to dinner Friday Evening at Quinn’s Pub on Capital Hill in Seattle. Please arrive as close to 6:30 as possible; late-comers will not be guaranteed a seat at the table if the place is full.
Yours in Cycling,
Frank
—
Though there are two 2011 U.S. National Champions about 30 minutes down the interstate from me – southeast Idaho isn’t exactly a road bike Mecca. And I wear the V-Shirt whenever I’m traveling in the area to races (whether to participate or spectate) but I’ve only had one person recognize the Sign of the “V”. So the chances of running into or riding with a fellow Velominati are pretty slim. Let alone the demented brainchild of all this nonsense – Darth Strack. What’s a boy to do? Take the bull by the horns and make it happen my own self, that’s what. I figure that anywhere that I can drive to in a day is not too far to go for a ride so I’m off to Seattle to see whether this “Frank” character is indeed worthy to be praised or if he’s just some guy behind a curtain pulling levers and turning dials.
The plan is for a meet and greet (and eat and drink) Friday night Oct. 14 and a ride on Saturday the 15th. A few blokes from Portland way are planning on coming up as well so it looks like it is going to turn into a little Gran Fronkdo. Anyone that can make it is invited. We haven’t sorted out the details of the route or meeting place or time or anything important like that but we should have all that set in cobbles by early this week, so stay tuned.
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One of the the two 2012 Etap stages is Pau to Bagnères-de-Luchon in the Pyrenees. I'd love to ride that but at 197km rather than peaking in two months, I'd need two years!
@itburns
@Buck Rogers
Ok, Gents. The date is sent in stone: Sunday, December 4th, in Austin. I don't have a single detail worked out other than that. Except that I'm going on Friday night to spend all day Saturday eating, drinking, and generally keeping Austin weird. Let's agree upon a place to eat, drink, and make merriment on Saturday night. Sunday's ride is probably going west of Austin, into the Hill Country. A chat with Buck Rogers has convinced me 100 miles or more of riding is probably a bit too much. We'll keep it a bit shorter and have a break somewhere in the middle for some nourishment. Then those of us who want to keep going can and those who want to chill can do so, also. A last goodbye after the ride at another restaurant, that, I hope will include BBQ, would be a great send-off.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
I'm sure glad we cut the 160k to 130k. That last hill did me in.
@Cyclops @Jeff in PetroMetro
Yeah I'd say start early if you want to get a long ride in, especially in December. We started at V min past X in the am, and I was worried we'd be running out of light before the end of the ride, especially if the pace had slowed towards the end.
Also factor in time for eating stops, getting lost taking wrong roads, and waiting to regroup after long climbs at some points. We had 5.5 hours of moving time and an additional 1.5 hours of stopped time, for a total of 7 hours on the cogal.
Another 30km of FLAT would have been very do-able, but those hills were starting to make me pray for mercy at the end.
@Cyclops
Yeah. Buck talked me down from my over-ambitiousness. And, a big OOPS on my part referring to miles instead of kilometers. I meant 160km. That's gonna cost me a couple of extra intervals tomorrow.
@all If any of y'all can swing a "business trip" to Austin for that weekend, please do!!! The more Velominati, the better.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
HEY! I'm in for 160 k. What's this BS about me talking him down?! :)
Still think that 160 K is doable, esp with an early start, though. We'll see.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
On the cogal I kept saying miles and feet. Hey, I'm an American and it's a hard habit to break. I just inherently "know" miles and feet in references to distance and elevation, and have to convert to m/kms in my head. People finally started to call me out on it part way through the ride!
@mcsqueak
You see, that is why I race in the Cat classes instead of the Masters classes. I'd rather take my chances against a dumb twenty-something than a smart and devious Master any day. I had sense enough to switch the ol' V-Meter to KPH before I lefte for Seattle.
@Jeff in PetroMetro, @Buck Rogers
The biggest thing we learned at our Cogal was, and forgive me for my management speech here, but to do a better job of expectation management. We had intended for no-drop group ride and we had people attacking off the front within 1km of leaving Langley while others were dropping off the back. Everyone still had a great time and always waited, but at the end of the day we ended up with two groups riding at two speeds for sections of the ride.
Moving forward all Cogal rides will have a designation; a Rule 5 ride for hard rides, Casually Deliberate rides for no-drop rides, etc. Minipump lashings for people who disobey The Rules or the designation of the ride would be standard on any ride.
Oops.