Cogal Report: The Seattle Summer Cogal 2013: The V-to-V Stage Cogal
Yes, we got piss drunk after the 2012 Seattle Summer Cogal and dreamed up the V-to-V Stage Cogal: epic riding, vertical, a real challenge. It was indeed all that.
Sadly, there was one element missing: @eightzero on the road. Turns out I had made all kinds of plans for individuals to serve a Director Sportif. And each and every one of them fell through. Thus, the DS befell to me. Not that I’m complaining – I actually had a grand time. I just couldn’t ride the Cogal route myself. Considering that I am exactly Too Fat to Climb, it really wasn’t much of a sacrifice. I brought the Fucking Bike just in case, but also brought along the Wild Turkey. You know – for an evening snack.
Quote of the Cogal: “Descending is like sex: my skill at it has no relation to how much I enjoy it.”
A few of the takers weigh in:
@frank:
Day 1, V1, Mt Saint Helens. Seriously, everyone needs to put this ride on their bucket list. You head up from Packwood, Washington out to the Volcano through the blast zone. The quality of the ride itself is already a reason to do it – fantastic climbs, great descents, good road surface – but the scenery is off the charts. The Pacific Northwest is packed with (active) Volcanos, all lined out in a chain along the coast. At certain points on the ride you have a great view into a handful of them, including one view where you see Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, and Mt. St. Helens all at the same time. Off the hook.
@Mrs PeakInTwoYears took off on the run-in to the first climb and did a super domestique pull on the front from which she pulled off as soon as we hit the climb. @G’rilla assumed that means we were racing, so took over from her and buried the pin on the first climb. Or, shall I say, for about 300 meters before deploying the Schleckchute and ejecting out the back of the group.
Naturally, the rest of us kept going. Hard. We rode hard for all of the 170 odd kilometers and I was seriously feeling the burn on the last faux plat up to Packwood on the return ride in. Any misfire of any nerve would have put me into a full body cramp. I shouldn’t have tried to do that ride in Rule #90 mode.
Day 2, V2, Mt. Rainier. Another stunner. This time with a much larger group as Keeper Jim brought his groupies with him. Those assholes hadn’t ridden the day before, and they were acting like it. Some distance from the top, I let them go to suffer in the peace of solitude. A while later, I had a mechanical just as I was about to reintegrate the group. It was better that way.
The Man with the Hammer spent his due time with me, and I thanked him for his visit. Then he headed on up the road to see who else was worth visiting. G’rilla came by a while later and set a strong pace up the road. I let him go as well. Away he went, farther, farther, farther. Then closer, closer, closer. It was obvious who the next victim was. When I passed him he was pulling over and digging in his jersey for a magical morsel that would stave off another blow. Good luck, I’m off.
The fast boys killed it, and were already eating lunch by the time I waddled up to the top. Amazingly, Lance and Nick both rode off the front. I hate them a little for killing my “I rode both days” excuse.
Massive thanks to @eightzero for pulling off such a great ride, and for his excellent organizational skills – not to mention DS’ing the whole thing. Excellent work, mate.
@Jamie:
First and foremost – It was a privilege to ride the V to V Cogal: The Mountains were tough, but the Velominati were tougher.
When at the last minute no driver was available, Eight Zero, stepped up and performed the duties of Directeur Sportif with dignity and panache, aided by my VMH’s contribution of V-musettes. Every time I thought, “Oh shitfuckdamn, I’m out of water again, you were around the next bend waiting for me. Chapeau mon ami!
V-1 was awesome in every sense of the word. A fast train down 20 Km of highway 12, and a quick jaunt through pastoral meadows quickly resolved into the first pitch, where the climbers were sorted from the rest. “Good bye Nick, Frank, G’rilla – See you at the top.”
After miles of sub alpine forest, pushing through the saddle at Independence Pass revealed the volcanic blast zone – a blast zone whose devastation closely resembled that of my legs and lungs. It was truly awe inspiring. A long down and a longer up finally got us to the Windy Ridge Interpretive Site overlooking Spirit Lake hundreds of feet below. After photos and food, we were again on our way.
Frank’s creative descending line kept us entertained and on our toes. Later, what began as a cooperative pace line back to town became some sort of leg ripping contest from which the weak were systematically winnowed. Ironically, Nick and Frank were too deep into their blood lust to even see the town line, let alone contest it.
It was here that things took a turn. Over celebratory pizza and beer, it was revealed that on Sunday evening there would be no keg of beer at Paradise Lodge as advertised, and that Frank, G’rilla, and Eight-zero would depart immediately after the climb on Sunday afternoon. Well, so much for the Sunday night Coganalia… guess we’ll have one on Saturday instead! Beer at the pizza joint, led to beer at the Blue Spruce Bar and Grill, which led to high gravity Belgian beer in the hot tub. It didn’t seem like a good idea at the time.
It definitely didn’t seem like a good idea on Sunday morning. Keeper Jim, Aaron, and Joe must have thought that they would have an easy kill when they saw the motley crew holding their heads at the espresso shop. We rolled at 9:05. You know it is going to be a hard day when you are dropped on the way to the climb. Even with the tasty and healthy hand ups from the Keeper Jim clan, my morning was slow – embarrassingly slow. It was also gorgeous. At one point I was sure I was hallucinating when, while admiring the wild flowers along the roadside, I noticed the humming bird pacing me less than meter from my face. The descent was well worth the pain up.
If I were in charge of awards, they would go like this:
Hero – Eight-zero for organizing and DS service.
KOM – Nick Brown for his ‘annoyingly good’ climbing.
Biggest Balls – Anatomically unlikely though it might seem, Mrs. Peaks; a formidable demonstration ma’am.
Good Sense Award – Lance. Where’d you go buddy? There was more beer.
@PeakInTwoYears:
If this is what a Cogal is, I want more of them: two days of challenging cycling in sublime surroundings, in the company of Good People. (By “company” I include the relation between myself and much stronger riders who are well up the road from me.)
But the best thing about this weekend for me wasn’t even the riding per se. It was watching my VMH have a great time. For the last year and a half””about as long as I’ve been back in the saddle myself””I’ve been conducting a careful, deliberate campaign to turn an inveterate mountain biker into a roadie. While I’ve gone so far as to ride a mountain bike myself, the critical components of my operation have been discriminating route selection and the spirit of fun self-flagellation that any endurance sport requires. What has been missing (since we live at the ass end of God, where shaved legs and arm warmers are as common as Emperor Penguins selling blocks of ice from mule-driven wagons) is the company of committed, informed, tolerant, enthusiastic, welcoming, and way-stronger-than-us riders””that is, the kind of people one doesn’t meet every day even in cycling meccas.
So, then, this weekend pretty much had it all. Plus lots of beer and a respectable hangover in the middle of it. Perhaps the best moment of the weekend was driving down the Nisqually River valley, hearing her say, “I should get a Strava account so I can get mileage and elevation data for our local climbs. I could be a good climber if I worked at it.” So I’ll be on weight loss, alcohol cessation, and anaerobic threshold interval programs now, thanks to you bastards. Okay, not the second thing, who am I fucking kidding.
Thanks for a great weekend, you guys. I look forward to next time!
@G’rilla:
The benefit of climbing for hours and hours is that you get to descend for a full hour. After climbing to the top of Mt. St. Helens (where you can see four snow capped mountains at once), we snaked down glorious smooth curves in and out of forests.
For me, descending is kind of like sex. Whether or not I’m any good at it doesn’t stop me from enjoying it.
On day 2 we were joined by an all-star team including Keeper Emeritus Joshua (of the bear spray incident and Beer in the Bidon) and Keeper Jim.
Given Jim’s reputation as the evilest Keeper, I joked with Jim’s co-worker Joe about Jim being part of the mafia. Without missing a beat, he joked back that they had put some things at the bottom of the ocean, maybe even some college students.
Six hours later, back at home, I realized that he wasn’t kidding. They both work in oceanography.
And this PS from @eightzero:
Thanks again to @frank for letting us commandeer his vehicle for road support. @Jamie added custom v-musette bags. Very Pro. It worked out perfectly. On the ride home there was some discussion about the V-to-V stage Cogal becoming an annual event. Stay tuned; the wheels are churning. Merckx willing, we will bag two more of Washington’s volcanos in 2014.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/frank@velominati.com/V-V Cogal/”/]
(@eightzero’s photos can be recognize by how much they sucked. Seriously, what is up with your camera?)
Wow – that looks like 2 days of pure awesomeness!
there really isnt anything quite like a cogal, is there? great reports, and particularly enjoyed
love the shot of the paceline..nice and tight!
I guess I shouldn’t have waited a month to send in my report. Here it is:
The benefit of climbing for hours and hours is that you get to descend for a full hour. After climbing to the top of Mt. St. Helens (where you can see four snow capped mountains at once), we snaked down glorious smooth curves in and out of forests.
For me, descending is kind of like sex. Whether or not I’m any good at it doesn’t stop me from enjoying it.
On day 2 we were joined by an all-star team including Keeper Emeritus Joshua (of the bear spray incident and Beer in the Bidon) and Keeper Jim.
Given Jim’s reputation as the evilest Keeper, I joked with Jim’s co-worker Joe about Jim being part of the mafia. Without missing a beat, he joked back that they had put some things at the bottom of the ocean, maybe even some college students.
Six hours later, back at home, I realized that he wasn’t kidding. They both work in oceanography.
I want to see the strava profile for these rides!
My camera is like my guns: seriously lacking.
@Mac
Me too! Although, just the thought of it has me looking over my shoulder for Mr. Hammer…
@eightzero
And smeared with vaseline by the look of it.
@Antoniv
The original cogal article has links to the MapMyRide routes and profiles. Since my Fucking Bike spent the trip in the back of @frank’s car, I have no GPS profiles to share. Just shitty pictures.
sounds like a great weekend. I look forward to experiencing a cogal at some point.
Cogal reports are a must read articles, and how I’ve always said the photos are always interesting!
Only one thing better than a Cogal, and that’s two of em in a row! With a piss-up in between.
Looks like a great weekend, hard riding with good people in spectacular scenery… nice work all of you.
@G’rilla
Added to the article, mate…
Nice work everyone. Cogal write ups are always fun to read. Quote of the day- very funny. Wonder how many other situations where that can be used.
Nice report, great photos. Very tempting for someone who has only ever ridden a bike around Seaddle itself.
College kids at the bottom of the ocean. Hmm. I was picking up post-ride refreshment last night at the beer store. Classes start today (Monday) so the weekend was a party-orgy. I was paying and talking to my pal behind the counter, not realizing the Aryan frat dude who’d brought in two kegs had put one right up against the Record RD on my Tommasini. I let him know I was not happy with his carelessness and told he needs to respect other peoples stuff. “You might think a bike is just a bike, but this isn’t just any bike.”
Which has me thinking about the RD in/out Lean Properly. If Leaned carefully, the RD is protected and not bashed against the wall. This would keep wayward kegs hauled by careless dumb fucks away from the RD. And I normally just lean the bike outside and can eye it through a window, but decided to bring it in because the bike is my pride and joy.
Fuck it. I’m doing at least 1 cogal next year.
Aw, sweet. I just got to feel the love all over again.
What a weekend. See that big smile on the Mrs’ face? She wore it all the way up St. Helens, as I focused on my ahem belly breathing.
@DeKerr Why not this year? There’s still time to put one together wherever you hail from.
But watch out, they’re addicting! I am doing my 4th one in October!
Started weekly 101 km route — the Witch Curse IV — inaugural ride happened August 24th. Although we spent 6 consecutive weeks mapping and remapping the route. Anyone interested and nearby are invited and can follow ride reports online
@Buck Rogers I don’t know if the Whistler GranFondo (which I’m doing for the 1st time) can count as a Cogal but I will definitely be following that ride with BWHY beverage.
and keeping my eyes open for any upcoming PNW Cogals. (Had to miss TBone’s 3K epic this weekend).
@DeKerr
Next year! Keep an eye out for me at the Fondo, just found out I’ll be an official marshal. I’m going to have a list of The Rules printed off, and will be handing them out to riders to let them know the scope of their infractions.
@TBONE Thanks again for the great Vancouver Cogal, and congrats on becoming a Marshall for the Fondo. You should be busy pointing out the infractions.
It really makes me mad that I am not independently wealthy so I can jaunt all over the world and just ride Cogals.. Everyone of them seems like a ripper time.!
I wonder if anyone might be interested in an early spring Cogal in Yellowstone? The roads are closed to motorized traffic from March 15 to the third Thursday in April. I t would be pretty cool to ride through Yellowstone with no cars in the mix.
If not Yellowstone in Spring what about a Jackson (Hole)/Grand Targhee Cogal?
@Cyclops
I wonder if anyone might be interested in an early spring Cogal in Yellowstone? The roads are closed to motorized traffic from March 15 to the third Thursday in April. I t would be pretty cool to ride through Yellowstone with no cars in the mix.
Capitol idea! Talk about motivation to keep up the miles during the dark wet months.
@Jamie
+1 Fuck yeah.
@Jamie @PeakInTwoYears
So I did a little more research. It seems that nothing as far as services go is open at that time so we would need to pack all the food we needed. I also did a MapMyRide of it and it would be an “out and back” century. This might be good since there would be no sag wagon support so we could pick up people on the way back or cut the route short anytime we wanted.
Another option would be to do the West Yellowstone “Block”. We could rent a lodge near Cliff Lake and that would give us about a 70 mile route with about 8 miles of gravel road.
Huge fan of the fact that I’m off the back getting shelled in every picture that’s not “standing around the coffee shop.” Even the pace line! That pretty much sums up day one for me. None the less, these rides were incredible. It makes me wonder why I didn’t spend every Summer weekend climbing a volcano. (Afterwards, I immediately signed up for Tour de Blast to see Helens from the other side.)
@Mac @Antoniv I posted the Strava profiles in the Cogal comments, but here they are again –
Seattle Summer Cogal 2013 Day 1 – Packwood to Windy Ridge
Seattle Summer Cogal 2013 Day 2 – Packwood to Paradise
@PeakInTwoYears
++1 What a great idea!
Are Brits allowed?
Will there be bears?
@Andre the Fish
The Bears should be just about waking up mid April and nice and hungry about then by my reckoning – depending on how high a route.
@Andre the Fish
Having Brits would make it extra cool.
Especially if one got ate by a bear.
@TBONE Awesome! Just went on my first Bicicletta group ride last night. Rule violations a’plenty.
@Cyclops
Key thing to remember when being chased by a Bear – you don’t need to outrun the Bear. You only need to outrun one of your mates with you.
Will there be bears. Is the Pope Catholic?
If you want bears, come to my place and we’ll ride up Hurricane Ridge (hors catégorie) in the Olympic National Park, a veritable ursine warren. And–bonus–I’ll be slower than you, so you get to live.
Actually, our bears here are black bears, which are really pretty much like really big dogs but smarter. Where @Cyclops is talking, it’ll be grizzlies–an entirely different kettle of bears. Those things will have you for breakfast and then not even slow down on the waffles and eggs benedict. And they like little fat guys who’ve been shit out the back, so I’ll really be…toast.
@DeKerr
Should have come out to The World Tuesday Night Championships. Last one of the season!
@Teocalli
This is Rule #42.
@PeakInTwoYears
I’ll just leave this here…
http://www.adventure-journal.com/2010/10/bison-vs-bear-and-the-bison-got-away/
@TBONE Just looked up the WTNC. That is definitely going in the calendar for next year.
@EricW
Five hundred pounds of bear, all four dinner plate-sized paws (pieds de plaques?) off the ground and hauling ass for breakfast. Poor sad bison got but a short reprieve.
@Teocalli
and be able to out sprint the Bison to the town line.
@Cyclops
Ha! reminds me tangentally of a saying that fishermen around here have – “the best bilge pump is a frightened man and a bucket”
I am totally sold by the way – where is Yellowstone?
@Cyclops
Yikes!
@Andre the Fish
Yellowstone is in Wyoming. Wouldn’t mind joining a Brit team but for the time aspect.
The V to V Cogal looks like a smashing success. Some day, somehow El Mateo will join on of these things. Guess I need to go meditate on Rules 4 & 11.Barring a (likely) spring blizzard, a Yellowstone cogal sounds great. Jackson Hole is close by so plan B would be to cross-train with some incredible skiing. Bears may still be hibernating or really F’n hungry for some unsuspecting Brits because they haven’t eaten all winter.
@Cyclops There should be a one-off Photoshop badge, just for this one.
@PeakInTwoYears
+1 to that.
Strava links for the cogal:
Mt St Helens: http://www.strava.com/activities/79017256
Mt Rainier: http://www.strava.com/activities/79016698
Cyclops is this the one half of my Pinarello (crashed) fork?
If there is ever a chance to meet then I’ll bring the other half with me.