Lying Bastard 2023

My semi regular Lying Bastard ride use to be a ride where I would post a ride and a route and then make some changes (like adding an unexpected 15% climb) somewhere along the way. My Insane posse however knows most of my tricks by now so there are very few surprises on this ride. 

This year we did this route. I have tweaked the ride over the years to make it a little easier and get rid of roads that had traffic or were not in good condition. There are still a few roads I would like to change like the roads right after the rest stop but some times there are no good alternatives. 

The only surprise of this years ride was a quick detour to see the spillway where the water empties out of Lake Noximixon. The bridge on Headquarters Rd is still out and I don't think they will ever fix it. This year they piled more gravel in front of the barrier but there is still no problem getting over the bridge. 

The climb up Headquarters is the longest climb of the ride. It's just a long grind with only one or two quick steep spots. My legs felt tired as I started up the first few climbs. I had done a long ride on Wednesday to the shore where my legs felt heavy so I guess I had not recovered from my busy week. It's not that I felt bad it's just that I could not push as hard as I normally do so had to use slightly lower gears and cadence. 

It rain early in the morning before the start and was cloudy when we started but by the time we took a bathroom break on the south west corner of the lake the sun was out and the humidity was dropping. 

From there we climbed up the west side of the lake and then through the rolling hills on the north side. There are no real tough climbs here but just a constant up and down with a few short of steep spots along the way. 

There was almost no traffic on these roads which is one of the reasons I like to ride around here. I just wish my legs had a little more life in them. 

After our stop at Turkey Hill we started the last 10 miles back. The first two miles we hit a lot of traffic. Most of the way has a shoulder that lets traffic get around us but there was one spot where a car would not pass us even through they had room. We pull over for a few minutes to let the cars pass then made our way to the Red Circle of Death and back to the start. 

It was a very uneventful ride so even thought it is called the Lying Bastard ride it has really just become a normal ride around the hills of Lake Noximixon.