Six Olympia-area randonneurs pre-rode the Olympia 200k route yesterday. We left from Top Rung Brewing in Lacey. We chose Top Rung as start/finish for a few reasons:
- They have excellent beer for post-ride rehydration
- It moves the start a little farther north on I5 for people coming from Seattle
- It positioned the route with easy access to brand-new-to-SIR roads
- The owners work with Andy Speier and agreed to let us use the bathrooms pre-ride
We’re moving the start time to 7:30 am to avoid some traffic, and we’ve rerouted through back byways in Yelm. We’ve also rerouted to avoid a road closure near the Shell station in Oakville due to flooding.
You’ll see very few cars (especially after the first 36k), and just lovely roads. A large portion of the route is on low-traffic roads, but some unavoidable sections are high-traffic, although most of those have wide shoulders. The ride has only about 3000 feet of elevation gain, and that’s mostly rolling hills through the country. Harts Lake, Bald Hills, and Vail Cut Off are all new for SIR, and favorites like Johnson Creek and Mima Gate Road are not to be missed.
Most of the controls are info controls, but there are lots of provisioning opportunities on the route or really close. Some will be marked on the cue sheet.
This was a great ride, even with the unusual headwinds this weekend. We’ve ordered partly sunny skies and high-50s to low-60s temperatures for the ride.
Please preregister so we have enough cookies at the secret control.
Park in the lot behind the Top Rung building or in the Richmond Engineering lot (there’s an orange realtor sign in front) at 8365 Hogum Bay Ln NE, Lacey, WA 98516. Check-in starts at 7:00!
Kirk says: Don’t forget to preregister for the Olympia 200k.
Text and photos by Stefanie Randolph.
Comments Off on March Olympia 200K Update
Filed under SIR Rides