Oregon will be the queen mother bitch

[Bob Lilley]

Having to ride far enough north to bag Oregon on leg three is going to be a real bear. The 3 Hyder seekers obviously took that into consideration, however, knowing how spent they may well be on the last night of the rally, that is one big-ass gamble. On the other hand, if Meese and Sinclair have an enormous point cushion because of their phenomenal leg one ride, perhaps they can forego big cap boni and take a more direct shot to OR.

For the 4-Corners, I'm see Key West as the non-Hyder seeker's "Hyder". What I mean by that is that if you hit Key West in the day time, it could be close to as long a ride as a traffic-free run to Hyder was. I'll say this, I rode 12K + miles in the '09. A snafu at the Canadien border and a snafu with a rest bonus impacted my overall point/mileage total, but, did I have another 2K miles in the tank? Hell no! So if the guestimates are close - that a top finisher would be in the 14K mile range with Hyder or the 4-Corners and capital boni, the top 5 will be running on the proverbial fumes when they roll into Ontario. Gotta say, though, this arm chair shit is a major BLAST!!!!!!

BTW, does anyone know what happened to Peek at the crossing?

 

[LDRydr]

I'm clueless why more riders didn't drop south to pick up the large Oregon capital bonus right after leaving Seattle (and getting Olympia WA). From there they could have moved East to pick up more big points for Boise ID, then headed for a southern piece of Montana, skipping the miniscule points for Helena. How do I know these were big points? Because they're off the suggested base-route (and I "may" have heard this from somebody).

 

[Aasland]

I'm clueless why more riders didn't drop south to pick up the large Oregon capital bonus right after leaving Seattle (and getting Olympia WA).

Could it be a timing issue, in terms of hitting rush traffic in Vancouver, struggling to get across the I5 bridge, sitting in PDX traffic, then Salem traffic, then back through it all to hit I84 east? Alternative is over Santiam pass or Hwy 26 to hit I84 in the Dalles, but going over the mountains takes time too.

 

[LDRydr]

I'm clueless why more riders didn't drop south to pick up the large Oregon capital bonus right after leaving Seattle (and getting Olympia WA).

Could it be a timing issue, in terms of hitting rush traffic in Vancouver, struggling to get across the I5 bridge, sitting in PDX traffic, then Salem traffic, then back through it all to hit I84 east? Alternative is over Santiam pass or Hwy 26 to hit I84 in the Dalles, but going over the mountains takes time too.

That would be local knowledge that only a few riders would know about. But, no. Even after riders made a stop in Olympia they would have been south through Vancouver and Portland long before any issues (southbound is only an issue in the a.m.) Although there have been a lot of bridge-lifts on I-5 since the Columbia River is still just below flood-stage. Taking I-205 would have been a good idea. And heading back up to I-84 they would have been through Portland (via I-205) before the evening rush-hour problems. Guess we'll have to wait to hear why they didn't think it was a good option.

 

[ldfjr]

I don't know about Peek or Sinclair, but Meese dropped down to Oregon directly from Seattle at the start. I left the Marriot a bit after 11. I saw Ken about half way between Kalama and Castle Rock. He of course was headed back north. We gave each other a big wave and thumbs up. That gave him a huge advantage from the git go. Plus, it probably meant he got to Hyder after some shops were open, rather than the middle of the night. Getting a reciept should have been easier.

Roger

 

[exskibum]

I don't know about Peek or Sinclair, but Meese dropped down to Oregon directly from Seattle at the start. I left the Marriot a bit after 11. I saw Ken about half way between Kalama and Castle Rock. He of course was headed back north. We gave each other a big wave and thumbs up. That gave him a huge advantage from the git go. Plus, it probably meant he got to Hyder after some shops were open, rather than the middle of the night. Getting a reciept should have been easier.

Wow! So he's beginning to look like the monster who can't be caught if he bagged Oregon and Hyder in the first 24 hours. No?

 

[LDRydr]

I don't know about Peek or Sinclair, but Meese dropped down to Oregon directly from Seattle at the start. I left the Marriot a bit after 11. I saw Ken about half way between Kalama and Castle Rock. He of course was headed back north. We gave each other a big wave and thumbs up. That gave him a huge advantage from the git go. Plus, it probably meant he got to Hyder after some shops were open, rather than the middle of the night. Getting a reciept should have been easier.

Roger

This sounds like he only made it to the Oregon border but not down to Salem. Guess that would have been a pretty big bite even for Meese.