andrew carter

This post is really late but I finally got around to uploading my pictures to Flickr. I did indeed finish the Summit to Surf two weeks ago. Other than driving the long way, it went very well.I had never done the ride at Mt. Hood so I decided to go with the 48 mile. Unlike at Redmond, there was no official start times. You check-in and take off from your choice of starting points. There were some extras you could do like a 12 mile climb to Timberline but since I was unsure of the route, I stuck with the 48 mile route.I had been training pretty hard up to the week before. My pace was up and I felt pretty good. I knew that the first part of the ride would be the toughest with a long climb up the pass before the descent to Hood River.It was a tough climb but not as bad as I thought it might be. I should have started at Welches and done the full 56 mile. Once I hit the first rest stop, it was very easy. The next stage was the heavy descent and I easily averaged 30 MPH with speeds over that. I was on the tail end of a group of 4 drafting so we really cruised. I finished the full 48 miles in 2:21. That was ahead of the pace I thought I would do so I was very pleased.My wife’s company United Healthcare was a primary sponsor. She was there with my daughter to help out at the rest stops and with the event. I hope someday to do a ride like this with the whole family (my wife rides as well). My daughter is doing a good job riding around the neighborhood but it will be a little while before she goes barreling down mountain passes.I had a blast and am definitely hooked on doing the event rides. It helps me focus on the training. I plan to keep it up as much as I can. I did 13 miles this morning and have kept up at least 3 times a week with one extra on weekends when my wife lets me. And the Tour de Cure puts on first class events. Both Redmond and Hood were well managed with great support. I look forward to doing both again next year.Flickr photoset is here.