We’ve had a pretty damp March here in the Pacific Northwest, and that has meant aligning optimal biking weather with weekends has been a little bit on the difficult side. But this past weekend, that chance came and I called a ride in some of our local cycling groups to see who all wanted to tackle a climbing challenge with me on Sunday.

I had been told about a road that goes through publicly-owned forest land belonging to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources about a couple years ago. The L-3000 road is well-known by locals in the area for its pristine views and recreational aspects, but for cyclists it’s not really part of many people’s repertoire.

In late 2023, Joy Ride Bicycles from Olympia hosted a Gravelpalooza ride that utilized L-3000 from the north end by Lincoln Creek Road all the way out to the descent down to Chandler Road in Doty. That was a difficult climb, but I rather enjoyed it. I had been itching to try to climb it in the reverse direction, and Sunday proved to be the perfect opportunity to do so.

Not gonna get into too many of the details of how I set this ride up, but we had 14 people join from all around the Lewis and Thurston county areas, including four from my local club, Lewis County Over the Hill Riders. Michael won the day for coming the furthest from DuPont. We all gathered at the Adna Trailhead of the Willapa Hills Trail and set forth on gravel bikes to go west out to Doty, then up on Chandler Road where we would reach the L-3000 and climb, climb, climb.

It’s quite an ascent, and Strava has it pegged at about 1,670 or so feet at an average grade of 5.6 percent. You’re tackling all this climbing over 5.5 miles, and it is quite the slog. It took me about an hour 15 minutes.

The L-3000 road starts off with a climb that’ll wake you up and force you to shake off the doldrums. An 11 percent climb of about 80 feet right off the start will jolt you into gear if you’re not ready, and over the first mile or two, it smooths out a bit and becomes a bit more forgiving. I was able to hit a cadence and putt-putt along at about 4.9 miles per hour on average. I found myself finding the start a bit difficult, but began to enjoy it as we went along.

All our group took the route at our own pace, but we had several regroup points and no rider was ever left behind. I had offered anyone the opportunity to turn around at any point if they so wished, and only one took me up on it simply because he had to curtail his ride to pick up his daughter.

Everyone else made it and did fantastically well.

I can’t quite put into words just how awesome it is to tackle a hard ride like this and do it with some fantastic people who are super friendly and encouraging. But it was a true lift to the spirits and a really wonderful experience to keep ascending higher and higher, with “you got this” and “just a little bit longer” being uttered in between labored breaths going up the hill.

For me it was a pretty momentous occasion. I was sidelined with an abdominal injury for a little over two months this winter and haven’t taken nearly as much time to train as I usually do. This ride was the first big test for me, and what timing too: the end of March, with spring beginning and organized ride season just around the corner.

You tend to gain a bigger appreciation for the scenery around you when you have to work harder to get to it. This road might be a bit nondescript, yet adventurous in its own right due to elevation and the prospect of a vehicle coming toward you at any corner. Never once did we feel unsafe, rather, when we came to areas where the trees cleared and we got the views we had hoped to get, the payoff was amazing. More on that in a few.

Encouragement was quieter and a bit more belabored to speak because of the last couple climbs, which at least for me brought the muscles to a point of near failure and forced my mind to pull my body up the hill with all the mental willpower it could afford. And we got there!

After 5.5 miles and 1,700 feet of climbing, we reached the summit. Since the view we wanted wasn’t at the true summit — it’s blocked by trees looking eastward — we descended a tiny bit and climbed to another saddle, where we were blessed with this view of Mount Rainier , Tahoma in all her snowcapped glory, in the distance.

What a sight to behold. I had to dial the exposure down on my phone’s camera a little bit, but I think I captured the essence of the scenery from up there. Glorious.

After a few minutes of rest and replenishing our bodies with some light food and water, it was time to descend from whence we came. Bombing down those 5 miles felt like they took a bit longer than they should have, and for me it was partially for two reasons: the road is open to vehicle traffic (and last I checked, vehicles are bigger than bikes); and there were areas of mud and washed rock along sections of the road. I’ve become a better descender in recent years, but still on a ride like this I want to take it carefully, especially when I’m a ride leader.

I take seriously the concept of never leaving a rider behind for any reason during a ride. If someone wants to go home early, then I try to see if someone is willing to roll with them. If not, I ensure they’re fine rolling out alone. But under any other circumstance, I do my best to ensure all riders have made it back after the ride.

One of our riders yesterday suffered a major mechanical issue when her derailleur hanger busted after having a piece of debris get caught between the chain, jockey wheel and the hanger itself. This happened near the end of the descent and caused her to skid to a halt. Thanks to some teamwork and some serious ingenuity, an enterprising rider in our group was able to essentially convert her bike to a fixed gear!

We stopped in at the Doty store for some snack foods and then headed back. One rider had gone back to grab his truck and potentially sag the rider with the mechanical issue back to Adna; they ended up meeting up about 6 miles from Doty and all was well.

Before too long, it was time for us all to head home. The route I prescribed had called for 43 miles of riding; however, I had ridden from my house which is 10 miles exactly from the Adna Trailhead. I ended up logging a very spirited 63 miles on the day, and it may as well have been a full century with the soreness I felt today.

It was a great day that left my body completely spent and my heart completely full.