Early morning Plateau drivers should expect to share the road with a peleton of bikers this Thursday, huffing, puffing, and climbing nearly 10,000 feet as they race around Mount Rainier.
The 37th annual Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day (RAMROD) event, hosted by the Redmond Cycling Club, is slated to send riders off between 5 and 7 a.m.
The fastest riders will end the race around 2 p.m., but others can come in as late as 8 p.m.
There will be no road closures during the day, and riders are expected to ride single-file.
Bikers will be taking off from Thunder Mountain Middle School and will skirt the city of Enumclaw, riding on SE 464th St. and 244th Avenue SE until they reach state Route 410. Riders will stay on the highway until they turn off on N River Road in Buckley.
Cyclists will continue south on SR 165 and then west on SR 162/Pioneer Way E through South Prairie, and will then turn onto Orville Road E all the way into Eatonville.
After cutting through downtown, participants head south on Alder Cutoff Road E, southwest on SR 7 through Elbe, then continue on SR 706 into Ashford before turning off onto Kernahan Road/NF 52, following it all the way to Packwood and U.S. 12, the southern-most point of the race.
Bikers then head north onto WA 123 before getting back on SR 410. They then make a u-turn at Crystal Mountain, head through Greenwater, and exit the highway at SE Mud Mountain Road.
Cyclists make their final approach back into Enumclaw by way of Farman Street N, 284th Avenue SE, and 424th Street to end up back at TMMS.
More than 800 riders from 23 states, Canada, and the U.K. are expected to participate in the 162-mile race this year.
