@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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Bon route, rascals. Be sure to apply ample, amber coloured refreshment both pre and post.
@all
any danger of you Cogalites sticking your iphones or Garmins which you would never violate your stems with, in your back pockets for the ride and give us a few more V-vert for our Velominati Team KOM Strava Competition? We are up to 41st overall.....
That looks like it'll be an awesome day. Maybe a EuroCogal in the future?
@Dr C @snoov
Now there's a thought, a Euro Cogal. Any takers? This looks like it could be oozing Rule 9. If there was sufficient interest, I could look into finding a food/drink/eat location for the Saturday night. We could then ride from said location to the start so as to round it up to a full century, unlike our cousins in the west.
If not that ride, any other thoughts?
444 for roun trip tix and rental car, uggggh. so tempting.
@Dr C
Ya, I'll do it. I have Strava on my iPhone, and a Strava account, but have not used it yet. I'll give 'er a trial run today.
@Marko
Do it!
@Chris
i'm up for some uk based group rides, and early season miles are never a bad idea
@Chris
A UK based Cogal is +1 for me. Getting the miles in is always a good idea.
I would certainly try to arrange one of my visits back to London to time with an Anglo-Velominati trip.
The Hell of the Ashdown is a great ride but it might be best to plan something not based on an organised event, or at least not one that is so popular. It would make it difficult for people to join at anything less than a couple of month's notice. Last year, according to Cyclosport, the 1000 places went within 36 hours of entries being opened in December.
There are lots of good sportive routes and club routes that we could 'borrow'. Or do the same route but just do it another day. Ashdown forest is a great place to ride, as is the North Downs - the Ride of the Falling Leaves (Dulwich Paragon version, not the Giro di Lombardia) route is pretty good too and also takes in Toys Hill, Sundridge and some other pretty fearsome climbs.
It is a little known thing that the year the Tour started in London, the steepest climbs of the whole tour were on the London to Canterbury stage. SE UK has some very sharp climbs, they're just not long... thank God.