Tour de Blast
#1
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Tour de Blast
I am going to sign up for the Tour de Blast in the next couple of days. Curious to know if anyone on the forums has done the ride and what their thoughts are. Thank you.
#2
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Since I see you have not received any responses yet, I will tell you what I know. I live near the Tour and have spoken local cyclists about the ride. All have said good things. It is run well and they like the ride. At least some of them, if not all, have done it more than once. The Longview Rotary that supports the ride is a good organization and do good things for the community.
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FWIW we did the ride about a decade ago and will confirm that the ride was well organized and the people that ran it were very friendly. Also on the plus side the shoulders are usually very wide. It's a very scenic road with two longer climbs and a shorter one on the return leg.
On the negative side the weather can be terrible. The decent off of Johnston Ridge was cold and wet, I heard that several people ended up shuttling back because they were so cold. Veterans of previous rides told me that the previous year was worse, it snowed at the top. We never saw Mt. St. Helens that weekend so we signed up the following year. Forecast again was crap but the organizers allowed us to move our registration to the following year. The following year the forecast was again bad so we just bailed. I've never bothered to sign up again. They moved the dates to mid-September for a few years but this has the same issues with unpredictable weather.
We've driven down there a couple of times and ridden the last 25 miles out and back from the old Hoffstadt Visitor Center (it's now some sort of church facility) parking at the Forest Learning Center the last time. It makes for a very pleasant and hilly 50 miler. We've gone both times in September and the traffic was pretty light. Last time we got down there while it was still borderline freezing at Johnston Ridge so we had to hang out while it warmed up a bit.
It does seem like the weather has been warmer and drier the last few years so hopefully you get a good day to ride.
It's not an organized ride but if you haven't done it it's worth driving over to Mazama or Winthrop and riding up to the north cascades highway if you like mountain rides with good views, we do this ride almost every spring and usually you get good weather from May on over there.
Also the Windy Ridge side of St. Helens is a great ride and can be done as part of the High Pass Challenge later in the year.
On the negative side the weather can be terrible. The decent off of Johnston Ridge was cold and wet, I heard that several people ended up shuttling back because they were so cold. Veterans of previous rides told me that the previous year was worse, it snowed at the top. We never saw Mt. St. Helens that weekend so we signed up the following year. Forecast again was crap but the organizers allowed us to move our registration to the following year. The following year the forecast was again bad so we just bailed. I've never bothered to sign up again. They moved the dates to mid-September for a few years but this has the same issues with unpredictable weather.
We've driven down there a couple of times and ridden the last 25 miles out and back from the old Hoffstadt Visitor Center (it's now some sort of church facility) parking at the Forest Learning Center the last time. It makes for a very pleasant and hilly 50 miler. We've gone both times in September and the traffic was pretty light. Last time we got down there while it was still borderline freezing at Johnston Ridge so we had to hang out while it warmed up a bit.
It does seem like the weather has been warmer and drier the last few years so hopefully you get a good day to ride.
It's not an organized ride but if you haven't done it it's worth driving over to Mazama or Winthrop and riding up to the north cascades highway if you like mountain rides with good views, we do this ride almost every spring and usually you get good weather from May on over there.
Also the Windy Ridge side of St. Helens is a great ride and can be done as part of the High Pass Challenge later in the year.
#5
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Thanks for the suggestion/input. I am looking forward to doing the ride. I don't plan on riding it for a best time, but to take in the sights and maybe grab a good photo or two.
The rides out of/around Mazama or Winthrop sound good too.
The rides out of/around Mazama or Winthrop sound good too.
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Great scenery. Bad weather can be very bad, clear weather is awesome. Pretty much all uphill then all downhill with one brief brake. Can't beat the scenery
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Kind of a a mixed bag. The ride itself is nice. I was worried about the grade being crazy hard but it wasn't bad.
What was bad was the weather. And I I was not prepared. I saw the ride taking place in June and figured June = summer. I was wrong. The weather was cold and drizzle rain. I did not plan for this so I had no warm weather clothes. Lucky for me I did have a pair of arm warmers and a vest, but that was it. There was loads of fog on the ride too. So even when I did make it to the summit, there was nothing to see. Which is a shame too since I was looking forward to seeing the crater.
But I did the ride. I've had the ride on my list to complete/due for a while now, and I enjoyed it. All of my hill training seemed to pay off as I didn't suffer as much as I thought I would. I'll definitely do the ride again.
What was bad was the weather. And I I was not prepared. I saw the ride taking place in June and figured June = summer. I was wrong. The weather was cold and drizzle rain. I did not plan for this so I had no warm weather clothes. Lucky for me I did have a pair of arm warmers and a vest, but that was it. There was loads of fog on the ride too. So even when I did make it to the summit, there was nothing to see. Which is a shame too since I was looking forward to seeing the crater.
But I did the ride. I've had the ride on my list to complete/due for a while now, and I enjoyed it. All of my hill training seemed to pay off as I didn't suffer as much as I thought I would. I'll definitely do the ride again.
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Bummer about the weather, sorry to hear it.
I've made the same mistake about thinking it's summer. Last weekend I got hailed on, for a while.
I've made the same mistake about thinking it's summer. Last weekend I got hailed on, for a while.
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Mrs. NoWhammies and I were kicking ourselves. I mean we had the room in the car to pack as much warm clothes as we wanted/needed. But instead we pretended we were backpacking for a month and brought as little as possible. Lesson learned. From now on we are bringing more clothes than we need. At least that way we'll be prepared for whatever mother nature throws at us.
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