Ultracycling: Washington North to South Record

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Ultra Cycling Records
Washington Bicycle Record
North to South (2001)

"I was up and roaring to go at 3:20 a.m."

by Jim Trout

On a sunny Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m., Maryam, Tim and I headed out East to start our journey of breaking the cross-state Washington bicycle record. We decided to take I-90 to Moses Lake and drive north on SR 17 so we could scope out the route before the ride on Sunday. Although the moonrise was spectacular, the drive seemed to take forever, as we arrived in Oraville about 9 p.m. Saturday evening. Feeling the need to get to sleep for the big day, we grabbed some quick grub at McDonald's in Oraville. The goal start time was 4 a.m.

The Start! The start

No need for an alarm, I was up and roaring to go at 3:20 a.m. By the time I got dressed and got all the gear together it was 3:50 a.m. The four mile drive north to the Canadian border was eventful in that we grazed deer on the right side of the car en route. If we weren't awake, the collision awoke us pronto. We pulled up to the international border marker at 4 a.m. and I strapped on my lights and CamelBak and did a once-over on my bike. Temp was 45 degrees, sky was clear, and no wind. I stood with my bike at the marker for a good three minutes while my crew and judge tried to get a photo of me, all the while sprinklers sprayed my behind every 30 seconds. A little wet and humoured, I set off at exactly 4:20 a.m. into the cold darkness.

My knees were a little stiff, even with my tights. I tried to go slow during this coldest time of day during sunrise but my adrenaline got the better of me. My glutes cramped every time I stood out of the saddle, so I kept my rear end down. My crew leapfrogged me throughout the morning and I finally stopped after three hours to shed my jacket, tights and lights. This was the longest stop of the day for me.

It didn't take long for the temps to rise with the sun blazing full in the sky. As the morning progressed, the air life and was at my back at 5 mph. By mid-day, the wind bumped up to 10 mph, a thankful help to the long climb out of the Chief Joseph Dam basin. I had a great descent into Coulee City, followed by some rollers and then another descent into Moses Lake. Pretty much flat from here on out, and I cruised at about 20 mph until the last big hill.

The Finish! At the Columbia

I stopped once more for about eight minutes to take off my ankle brace (strained Achilles from the UMCA 24 Hour Championships) and to get some eats. Maryam was doing an excellent job of leap-frogging the entire day. My main source of calories were Ensure in the morning and Gatorade and snacks in the afternoon. I needed bottle switches every time I saw the car. I whizzed in Pasco about 5 p.m. and was very confident I'd break 14 hours, seeing that I'd just crossed the Columbia River and the Columbia also forms the border with Oregon, so no climbing, right. Wrong! The last hill came out of nowhere and totally sapped my energy. The climb out of Kennewick wasn't very steep, just annoyingly slow-going after a strong day. I cranked it up on the downhill and had to sprint to make it half-way across the bridge over the Columbia by 6:19 p.m.

In all, a very good day with no technical problems whatsoever. Physically, my Achilles ached a little and I bonked a tad at the end, but I felt pretty strong all day. Great support by Maryam. A long drive back to Seattle got us in at 10 p.m. Back to work on Monday!

Official Record: 259.3 miles in 13 hours 59 minutes, average speed of 18.54 mph
Start: Canada/Washington border on Highway 97 north of Oroville.
Finish: Washington-Oregon border on Highway 730 douth of Wallula.

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