Midnight Century

The Midnight Century ride last night definitely falls into my top-ten rides. I was just so fun. I was expecting a clobbering pace, but it was pretty moderate. And talking to David today, I think knowing what lay ahead on the course made it enjoyable; I was able to pace myself well for the hard dirt climbs and for Spangle Creek Road.

We left the Elk at mid-night with 12 riders. All but 3 of us DNF'd. We lost the first 4 on the Centennial Trail. We learned later, that that group ended up doing an out and back to CdA. The ride to the border was uneventful -- as the flat, paved Centennial Trail usually is.

We headed north on Idaho road and then did our first dirt climb. It felt great to be on the gravel with the new bike. My Rawland is about the most optimal bike for this type of ride: fat slicks, triple chain ring. The bike really did disappear underneath me for this ride. Everything worked flawlessly on it.


One guy (Pat? not Pat but a new Pat to me) had a wonky front derailleur so he was stuck in the big ring up front. The poor guy grinded up the dirt climb (and then Molter) in his impossibly high gear.

At about 3 am, as we descended Henry Road into Saltese flats we came across a lone cyclist on his way home from work. He was a bit surprised to see a bunch of really bright cyclist lights descending on him. His response: "What the hell?"

We lost 2 more guys as we came across 32nd Ave outside of Saltese. Pat and Ron took off at this point somewhere. So it was me, David Blaine, Jake McBurns, Jon Hawkins, and Bradley Bleck that started the climb up Lehman, en route to Sands Road.

Sands Road was one of a handful of hard climbs and probably the most demanding dirt climb. By the time we got to the top David was not looking good. The day previous, his bike was ripped off, so the night previous, he didn't sleep as he worried about it. He end up recovering the bike, but not his sleep. He was ready to nap in the dirt on the side of the road.

So as we crossed the Palouse Highway, David and Bradley peeled off and headed home.

Jake, Jon and I continued on Dunn road, took the closed portion of road where David had dropped off water and Pepsi (thanks David), and then climbed up to Elder Road.

At this point, Jake kicked in and we picked up the pace. Or maybe I was starting to get really tired because I was having a hard time staying with Jake for the rest of the trip.


The sun began to come up after we climbed Spangle Creek Road. Jake got a great picture of the sun just beginning to seep over the horizon. I was starving and hoping we'd stop in Spangle for breakfast. The Harvester opened at 6 am and we were about 3 miles out at 6 am. I was dreaming of a massive pile of hash browns.

Jake, in his wisdom, wisely talked me down. If he hadn't, it would've been a gruelling ride back to Spokane.

I had a piece of smoked salmon stashed in my bag that sated my need for fatty salt. We all three took a hunk and pedaled on to Jenkins road. Jenkins is about 8-10 miles of rolling dirt road that empties out on Cheney-Spangle. We re-grouped again at the Fish Lake Trail head on Cheney-Spangle.

We opted to hop onto the Cheney-Spokane road at the Fish Lake Trail head. We were all hungry and ready to be home. I was able to stay with Jake until about Scribner, where I just couldn't. The guy has more energy stored in one calve muscle than I have in an entire week of riding. Or something.

I arrived at Maron, across the street from the Elk, at 8:07. Jon pulled in a couple minutes later, a-whoopin and a-hollering. Liza and Maddie had just arrived, and Jake had already put in an order for 3 sides of breakfast potatoes. I ate a lot.

A great great ride.