When I first heard about this ride 2-3 years ago, I thought it was a very bad idea: it is ~150 miles with ~10,000ft climbing.

Well, Mako and I did it this summer. We didn’t enter the lottery, so we decided to do it on our own. Our housemate’s dad wanted to do a “practice run” (!), so he joined us as well.

The summary of our trip was:

Day 1: Took a sounder train to Sumner Station after work. Biked mostly on Foothills trail (one of the best trails with a view of Mt Rainier!) from Sumner to Buckley. Spent the night in Buckely (we initially intended to stay in Enumclaw but all the hotels had been booked.
Day 2: RAMROD! 5:20AM to 7:15PM. Our housemate’s dad drove out, biked, and drove back to Seattle.
Day 3: Biked from Buckley to Sumner to home via Interurban South. All rides on RB1.

RAMROD was a beautiful ride. It’s the kind of ride I like; ~70 miles of warm up ride (flat) before climbing. We only need a little over 2 bottles of water. We brought a whole loaf of bread, cheese, and brown pickle for lunch and peanuts and granola bars for snacks. I got sleepy on the descent from Cayuse Pass, so I got some coke in Greenwater.

I never thought I’d say this but: I would ride this route again.