VASA Ride 2010

11_10, originally uploaded by m hoek.

Comments

[BlindPilot]

I rode the Half Vasa this morning. What a great ride!

It's my first time to a WABA-sponsored ride, so I don't have any basis for comparison but turnout seemed great to me. Thanks to WABA and the Swedish Embassy folks for a great event! The blueberry soup was a really nice treat at the end of the ride.

[John]

This was my third Half VASA ride. Finally, the WABA weather curse is broken! The roads were swarming with bikes, not all riding VASA routes. Lots of smiling faces. Great event. A tip of the helmet to WABA and the House of Sweden.

[Derek Lindahl]

Who is the sadistic bastard that keeps putting Brandywine on the Full VASA Ride? That hill is ridiculous, especially after a full day of riding.

[Eric_W.]

Hi BlindPilot,

I did the halv Vasa as well but did not see you. Loved the ride and the Blueberry soup: both were delicious. Compared to last year's frozen-eveything ride, this year was just so much nicer!

Maybe next year I'll graduate to the 100km Vasa (let's hope they'll keep the big hill in there!).

When I came home, my daughter wanted to go out for a ride, so we did another 10. By the time we returned, I had about 60 miles for the day which made me feel like having done the full Vasa...

[Michael H.]

Did anyone else finish the full Vasa (without taking the Persimmon Tree Rd. shortcut/bail-out? I signed up for the 59-miler so I didn't even think about taking the bail-out. I can honestly say that that ride was the toughest workout I've ever done in my life! It was nonstop hills in Potomac and North Potomac. Then there was the long steady incline of MacArthur Blvd. and yeah, Brandywine was a killer. I was already tired from all of those other hills.

WABA may want to reconsider the section on the Interim CCT. There were several icy/slushy sections. I had to do my best cyclocross imitation and carry my bike over those sections. I got tired of doing that so I tried to ride through one of the slush patches. That only resulted in me skidding out and falling over onto my left side. The slush cushioned the fall and I wasn't going that fast but I got slush into my brake levers and pedals. Yuck.

I thought the ride would take me 3 hrs. 30 min. Instead, it took me 5 hours. I made it to the Swedish Embassy with about 5 minutes to go before they closed. I was one of the last to get some of the blueberry soup. A couple women got there after me and had the last serving of the soup. Then a couple other guys arrived but missed out on the soup. I know I had passed more people on the ride but I didn't see them show up so they must have taken the shortcut route.

This was a fun event. I just wish I had been more prepared for those hills. If the route is similar next year, at the very least, there should be a sentence or two on the webpage about being prepared for a hilly ride. Part of the preparation is mental. I think I would have been less affected had I known coming in that the route would be that hilly. My legs would have burned just as much but my mental focus would have been better.

I'll definitely have to move up my hill work to earlier in the winter if I want to try the full Vasa again. I was planning to do more hill work in March, April and May in prep for my summer races. I see this as a challenge, even though Vasa is not a race. I want to make it with more time to spare, for the blueberry soup next year! I hope everyone had fun out there.

[BlindPilot]

I got there kinda late, and just managed to set off with the tail end of the Half Vasa group. It was all bottlenecked along the CCT, so everyone got all stretched out. I made it back to the Sweden House around 10:45 IIRC.

I rode up from home and back, so I got a good 47 miles for the day all tolled. Wish I'd had time to tack on three more - could have had my first actual half century.

Oh well... good day nonetheless, and the weather was damn near perfect!

[Michael H.]

With my bike commute to and from the Embassy, my total mileage was about 71 miles yesterday, my longest bike day ever. Plus all of those hills.

[Ron Alford]

Michael: Just think how easy WAGBRAD III will seem in comparison!

[Michael H.]

I had to look up WAGBRAD just now. I didn't know what it was. (I'm still new to cycling as an adult and new to WashCycle.)

Sounds interesting. I'll have to see if I can fit it into my schedule and my training and racing plans, depending on when it takes place. Even though I've only been riding for 9 months as an adult, I have sort of a hardcore mentality about training and racing. I'd feel uneasy about signing up for a no-drop ride and then taking off. I guess there are limits to how fast you can reasonably go on the MVT and the CCT, so this might not be an issue. I know first-hand about what can happen if you go too fast on a bike/run trail.

[Colin P.]

Great event! Really enjoyed the full Vasa route, though I took neighborhood streets to avoid the muddy/slushy portion of the CCT. Too bad that there aren't many similar events that head out from DC - a number of friends asked today when the next similar ride would be, and not too many events sprang to mind. Anybody know of others like this?

[Michael H.]

I can only think of BikeDC but that doesn't take place until October.

For something slightly different, there's the Crystal Ride on June 13. It's part of the Air Force Cycling Classic. While the Cycling Classic is for competitive racers, the Crystal Ride is open to all cyclists. The course is usually a 12.5K road loop in Arlington. It's not a race but you can earn a gold, silver or bronze "medal" depending on how many laps you can complete in the time limit (something like 3 or 3 1/2 hrs.). Some people ride tri or road bikes but some people are ride hybrids and mountain bikes there.

It'll be a little more hectic than the Vasa Ride but it's the only non-race bike event that I can think of in the next few months.

[Michael H.]

Last year, there was the Bike for the Heart charity ride downtown, but that was in October too. I'm not sure if they'll run that again. It was sponsored by Irene Pollin's charity that focuses on women's heart health and health education, but the Washington Wizards and Verizon Center were heavily involved with the event. Verizon Center was the center of the event, Caron Butler (former Wizard and bike enthusiast) was a co-chair and riders in one of the events received "free" tickets to a Wizards game. (Participants were required to raise money but there were no separate registration fees.)

With Abe Pollin's passing, I'm not sure if the event will go on this year. That's just my personal speculation. I haven't heard any news about the event this year though.

It was a pretty awesome event. I hope they stage it again, especially the separate time trial competition. Even though I got crushed in the standings by all of these elite amateur cyclists (and one or two pros), I still had a great time. How many people can say that they were able to speed down Pennsylvania Avenue alone with no one else on the road except for a personal motorcycle escort? I also won a $400 gift certificate for fundraising that I used to get a mountain bike. Because of that day, I actually came out ahead for the year for all of my races and bike events. I also received the Wizards tickets, a bike jersey, and a cotton T-shirt that day. (I've never worn the jersey though. It's lavender-colored and it has a flowery design in the lighter-colored area, and I'm a guy.)

[Michael H.]

Update: Bike DC 2010 will be held on Sun., May 23. Unlike the Vasa Ride, the streets will be closed to automobile traffic for Bike DC.

http://www.bikedc.net/

[Eric_W.]

HI,

I recall the "official photographer" taking a lot of pictures during the event. Does anyone have a link to where those pics might be posted?

Thanks!