Comments: State to Howell Prairie to Sunnyview to Cordon to State and home.
First ride in ten days. Stuff just kept coming up, and I kept getting more discouraged. Finally, Kim said, "Trikey misses you!" and basically kicked me out for a ride.
And it was good.
Nothing special on this ride, but it sure felt good. I think the rest did my legs good, as I felt stronger. And looking at my numbers, that's the fastest average speed I've ever had on that loop, and the fastest average speed on a ride in weeks.
Had a moron in a pickup dang near clobber me on Howell Prairie near Sunnyview. He passed me at 45-55 with an oncoming SUV, causing the SUV to cross the fog line, and clearing me by just over a foot. I was not happy.
Saw the buffalo on Sunnyview. Not sure if I have seen this one before, but it was not what I expected to see, that's for sure.
Clothing: the usual.
Technical notes: GPS continues to crap out on larger bumps.
Comments: Same route as yesterday, with a slight detour to the Pratum Cemetery. Rode in the morning, right after breakfast (trying some new things in my routine, such as it is).
Rode with Katr to help her get a feel for a 15 mph average speed, as she is starting to train for her first century.
A nice ride. I learned to identify sugar beets.
Fields continue to be beautiful: wheat, fescue, clover, beans, zucchini, blueberries, and raspberries.
The buffalo was out again on Sunnyview.
Clothing: the usual.
Technical: The front fenders have been vibrating loose more and more often, so I took them off today. Much less distraction now.
Rode out through Keizer Station to Quinaby/Clear Lake, then west to Wheatland Road and out to Willamette Mission State Park. Poked around the park a bit in the aftermath of the holiday's Civil War reenactment, then took the Wheatland Ferry across the river. To avoid the no-shoulder stretch of Wallace Road, I headed west on Lafayette Highway (past the oh-so-foul-smelling dairy that I usually avoid) to Hopewell, and then headed south on Hopewell Highway.
At Spring Valley Road, I turned right. On a lark, I decided to see what Bethel Heights Road was like. It was pretty, steep, and hot. When I started up, I noticed a plume of smoke coming from the top of the ridge and figured somebody must be field-burning. I got to the top and rested in the shade. As I was resting, two fire trucks rolled into the driveway next to me. Then it dawned on me that no one in their right mind would be doing an intentional burn on a 90-degree day with a light wind. I stuck around for another ten minutes or so as more apparatus arrived from rural fire departments all over the area. Never did find out the cause, but the fire quickly roamed all over the field, and was last seen heading downhill, propelled by a downslope breeze.
I continued on my way, with a lovely descent. Then the pavement turned to gravel. Given that Polk County has been a repaving spree this summer (most of te roads I was on today had new blacktop!), this was a real letdown. The gravel was pretty loose, so I really had a hard time getting traction. Several more pieces of fire apparatus came through, which made things more interesting. My average speed was a whopping 5.3 mph. The scenery was a gravel quarry, a large Christmas tree farm, and trees.
But, I was rewarded by 2.7 miles of lovely descent (31.2 mph avg, -4.1% avg grade)! The descent extended onto Zena Road, which I took to Brush College Road, where I ended my descent and headed south past Zena Church. I passed the 4-H Camp and then began the 3/4-mile climb (6%) to my final summit. The Brush College area farms were as pretty as ever, and I had a couple of nice views northeast across the valley. But I as really glad to get under the trees and out of the sun.
I enjoyed the descent into West Salem, buzzing along at an average speed of 29 mph until I got to Brush College School. This time, there wasn't an uphill gravel detour to contend with. I rode back through West Salem on Wallace Road, over the bridge, and home for some lunch.
After lunch, it was off to the studio, and then home in the evening.
Technical: First speed run without front fenders. I think the fenders take 2-3 mph off my top speed. The gravel caused a nut to fall off my rear fender mount, so I had some rattles on the way home. Descent off Bethel Heights resulted in enough hard braking (stop sign at bottom) that the front discs expanded a little, causing some tinging for a mile or so until they cooled off. Still very happy with the Q-rings, as my cadence continues to get smoother.
Food and water: 3 liters of water (had just enough, barely), 1 liter of Powerade, 1 box of raisins.
Clothes: Adidas bike shorts, red Mt. Borah jersey, smoke AiroShield, DeFeet Woolie Boolie socks, Lake MX60 shoes. Neutrogena Age Shield sunblock (SPF 45, UVA & UVB) continues to work very well.
Weather Conditions: Very warm, dry, clear. Northerly breezes at 6-8 mph. Relative humidity was 35-45%. Tied hottest ride to date (climbing in full sun is quite warm).
Comments: Katr (welcome to BJ!) rode with me today.
We rode out past the airport to Turner Road, then out to Deer Park Road and past Corban College. Turned right onto Aumsville Hwy and climbed for a little over a mile (past the "zoo") to Witzel Road.
A nice descent on Witzel through oaks got us to Ogle/Olney Road, which we followed through nice gently rolling farm country. We headed south on 75th Place through some interesting damper lowlands (very pleasant) to Mill Creek Road, which we followed into Aumsville.
Riding through Aumsville was nice, especially the little brick city hall. We headed north on 1st Street, which became Shaw Road and took us across Hwy 22. We rode getnly uphill to Shaw, where we stoped for a snack under an oak tree.
Shaw is the southern terminus of Howell Prairie Road, upon which we rode north until we reached Macleay Road. We turned out wheels east and coasted into Macleay. Up we went again for a short climb, and then we had a sled ride down to Cordon Road. North to State Street and we were home.
Non-wildlife spotted: a zebra (really!) American cream draft horses, and llamas.
Wardrobe used: the usual (neon yellow jersey).
Food and water: 2/3 liter of Powerade, about 1 liter of water, 1 package of Ritz peanut butter crackers, 1 Quaker Oats granola bar.
My first times: MFT seeing a zebra on a ride; MFT on most of this route; MFT riding to Aumsville and Shaw; MFT having a stranger issue a compliment to me about my riding partner's butt (he seemed like a decent enough guy up until that point).
Weather Conditions: Clear, dry, sunny, light breezes. Very nice.
Comments: Did an exploratory ride today, not in any particular hurry (for the most part).
Rode out Hwy 22 to Oak Grove Road and went north as usual. But this time, I went straight instead of turning to go up Orchard Heights. After a mile or so, I was in Oak Grove -- home to a school, a church, and a grange hall (all still going concerns
Then did Pratum loop (State-Howell Prairie-Sunnyview-Cordon-State) and set a new personal best for this route (16.69 mph avg).
The fields continue to grow and ripen. The fruit stands are open in full force -- peaches are coming on now, in addition to berries.
Hottest ride to date. The dry air just sucked the sweat right off, so I stayed completely dry (except for a damp back) until I got home and stopped. Pavement heat was fine, but shade was always welcome.
Wardrobe: the usual (red jersey). Was late in the day, so dispensed with sunblock (I was lazy... but no burn so late in the day).
Food and water: 1/2 liter of Powerade (but didn't start drinking it until past Cordon Road on homeward leg; should have started earlier, as I needed the calories apparently), almost 1.5 liters of water.
Technical: Got my new wheel today with Capreo hub and cassette (9-10-11-13-15-17-20-23-26). As soon as I got home, I threw a Stelvio and a tube on (at mileage 3184) and went on my 18-mile Pratum loop. I definitely pushed, for whatever that's worth, but I set a new personal best on that loop with a GPS average speed of 16.69 (16.10 was previous best). First impressions were good. The cassette shifted very cleanly and ran more quietly than the stock Shimano Deore. The stock cassette is 11-12-14-16-18-21-24-28-32, so this is a significant change. The front end is 30-40-52 Q-rings, so I now have something resembling road bike gearing. Comparing this with my experiments with a 62T big ring, this gives me a comparable high end without the front derailleur hassles, but at the cost of my beloved 30/32 granny gear. The rest of the gearing is very similar to my current set-up.
My original plan was to switch the wheels in and out depending on the route, but I'm going to leave new wheel on for a few days and see. It's nice to not top out on rollers and gentle downgrades. Eventually I will need to put a quicklink in the chain at the appropriate place to allow easy chain adjustment, but it works as-is for now.
GPS continues to shutdown on hard bumps. I have taken to dismounting it when approaching RR crossings and the like. HRM continues to be drop in and out, too, despite a new battery.
Comments: Commute to salle, then took the long way home for a night ride.
Went north on Commercial to Salem Parkway (note that it is advisable in the future to ride in the bike lane from Commercial to Cherry, THEN switch to the MUP, as west of Cherry it is sidewalk rather than MUP) out to Hazelgreen, over to Cordon, south to State Street and home.
Decent ride. Didn't have quite enough charge in my Sigma batteries to run two lights, so my speed was limited somewhat.
Comments: Rode out to Champoeg State Park for an overnight shakedown.
Ride details to come later.
Technical: Unfortunately, I forgot to reset my cyclometer, so the stats for today are approximate. However, combined with tomorrow's stats, they are accurate, as I have the correct totals.
Weather Conditions: A few clouds, but dry and not too hot. Light breezes.
Comments: Ride home from Champoeg State Park overnight trip.
Rode north on Butteville Road (after stopping in Butteville for morning apple pie and milk) to Boones Ferry and then followed Boones Ferry Road all the way to 99E. Took a brief job north on 99E to catch the northern terminus of Howell Prairie Road, which I rode all the way to State Street, and then home.
Stopped at Baumann Farms for lunch under the lovely oak tree by the side of the road. Also put on sunscreen then.
With this ride, I have finally ridden all parts of Howell Prairie Road (a minor goal of mine). Next will be to do the whole road during one ride....
Weather Conditions: Partly cloudy, humid, no rain, light breezes.
Comments: Pratum loop. First ride since Sunday. Felt good.
I am reading The High Performance Heart by Maffetone and Mantrell. So far, the information in the book is well thought out and well researched. The book strongly emphasizes the utility of a HRM, and is giving me some new ways to look at heart rate data.
So, for this ride, I tried to follow some of the guidelines in the book -- at least as best I can, considering I don't have an HRM available right now.
The Edge is off to Garmin for warranty repair (the random shutdowns), so I don't have heart-rate data. Elevation data obtained from new Garmin eTrex Vista Cx, which I really like. Too bad it doesn't handle heart rate and cadence....
Comments: Rode out Battle Creek/Parrish Gap with Katr. Went south to Jefferson this time, then back on old 99E to Sunnyside Road and home by way of 12th Street.
The ride got off to a rough start when Katr's rear dérailleur cable broke. A trip to Wally-World ensued and they actually had cables. Then I realized I didn't have anything to cut cables with. Shears from the first aid kit! Nope, they snapped. (Am actually glad to find they were cheap POCs now rather than when I really needed 'em at a crash scene.) Back into Wally World for a lightweight pair of needle-nose pliers -- and a new fiberglass screwdriver that I happened to spot. The pliers made it through the cable, but not especially easily. After a successful search for a missing spring, we got the new cable installed, made some adjustments, and had Katr's bike better than it was before. Yay!
So, after an hour of bike fussing, we were off (thanks for buying me snacks, Katr!). We stopped to look for a geocache in the Cloverdale cemetery, but it appears to have been muggled. We found a cache in the Jefferson cemetery, though.
Scenery was very fine. Parrish Gap was as pleasant as ever. Jefferson was quaint. Sunnyside (both road and community) were very nice, with some nice climbs--and OMGP0N1ES!
Wildlife: numerous goldfinches, turkey buzzards, a doe and a 2-point buck..
Food and water: Forgot to eat lunch before we left, so I had to stop and munch a couple of miles out. Altogether, ate 1 Lucerne granola bar, 1 Quaker Oats granola bar, 2 Wal-Mart granola bars (pretty good, actually -- Honey & Oats); drank 2.5 liters of water and 1 liter of Powerade.
Wardrobe: the usual (red this time).
Technical: The ride was good. There were a couple of times when I wished for my factory granny gear, but I made it. And again, having the higher gearing really made the descents and rollers nice. I hit 49.1 coming down 12th Street. I'm liking the Capreo more and more.
Forgot to top off all the batteries last night. I like the new DiNotte 5w headlight for daytime use. Used the eTrex GPS again, which performed well (except that I forgot to charge those batteries, too -- argh!).
Weather Conditions: Mostly to partly cloudy, intermittent westerly and northwesterly breezes. Humidity around 50%.
Comments: Commute, errands, and a trip to CHAOS to have lunch with my wife.
After lunch, an impromptu metric!
Metric #12 Total time: 05:30 (approx.)
Rode out Brush College Road to Zena, then through Bethel and McCoy to Perrydale. Rode north on Broadmead Road to Ballston Road, then west to DeJong Road. After a brief jog west, I rode northeast on Hwy 18 to Oldfield Road and up to Glacial Erratic State Park. I followed the same route home.
Had a stiff headwind outbound that became a lovely tailwind for most of the return trip.
Clover fields were in full bloom and smelled heavenly. On the return leg, the silence of the tailwind allowed me to hear the wind blowing through the wheat as I kept pace with puffs of wind rippling through the fields of gold.
Also had a beautiful sunset on the return leg. The fields around Bethel were magically illuminated with the warm, golden glow of late afternoon sunlight.
Capping off the scenic beauty were two screaming twilight descents: into Zena (34 mph avg for 1.2 miles, peak of 44.3 mph) and into Brush College (29.0 mph avg for 1.7 miles, peak of 38.6 mph). There was much whooping as I went....
A very fine ride.
Technical: Had eTrex GPS again, as Edge 305 is still in the shop. The more I use the eTrex, the more I like it. This was the first long ride, and I actually used for navigation a couple of times, as I have topos for the area loaded in. Unfortunately, I had turned tracking off and forgot to start it until I got to Bethel, but it still kept basic stats, which was nice. But one of the nicest things about it was the backlighting. My speedometer isn't backlit, but by using the eTrex map display with current speed showing, nighttime descents became a lot safer as I could monitor my speed AND also preview the next few hundred feet of road on the screen.
Continued to use the Capreo. I still like it, but after today's ride, I will be using the factory gearing for Oregon Bicycle Ride. I had been debating which one to use. The Capreo did well so long as the grade was less than about 5-6%, but on steeper climbs, I had to stop periodically, as it was just too much to keep a cadence above 80 with that gearing. I think I might be able to build my leg strength over time to be able to use the Capreo for lots of climbing, but not in time for OBR.
Ordered three new tires: 2 35-406 Marathon Plus tries for the front and a 47-406 MP for the back. The front tires still have a bit of tread, but the back is almost slick. I'll see how they wear, but will probably change them out just before OBR.
The DiNotte 5w headlight is absolutely freakin' awesome! In daylight (flash mode), oncoming drivers see me very clearly. And at night, the flash mode lights up signs almost 1/4 mile away. I have it behind my front fairing, so the whole fairing is illuminated like a spaceship. The fairing illumination doesn't cause me any problem except at higher speeds when I need the best possible night vision. I turned it off for those two descents for this reason and used just the Sigma lights. But on nighttime city streets and anywhere in daylight, you can't beat it.
Wildlife spotted: a bat (on the way home in the evening), redtail hawk, three deer (including a very cute fawn), swallows, goldfinches, mourning doves.
Non-wildlife: the usual cows and horses, plus OMGPONIES! and three adorable fat little burros. And llamas. And goats. And sheep.
Food and water: five Wal-Mart granola bars, a pkg of peanut butter crackers, and a box of raisins; almost 4 liters of water. Should have taken more food (despite eating a good lunch). Should have taken Powerade.
Wardrobe: the usual (neon yellow). Took Gore jacket, but didn't need it. Used amber lens until Brush College descent (getting too dark).
Weather Conditions: Mostly cloudy, dry except a couple of sprinkles (despite some very ominous clouds in the afternoon), steady westerly winds at about 10 mph.
Tried some different things with HRM today. Warmed up gradually to about 125 bpm (by Cordon Road), then kept HR 126-136 bpm until back at the same spot on the loop, when I began my cooldown. This is based on "The High Performance Heart" by Maffetone and Mantell.
Based on an n of 1, I'm impressed. I had a good workout, but finished feeling great -- invigorated, even. My average speed dropped a little to 15.79 for the active part of the ride. Will be interesting to see long-term results....
Technical: My Edge 305 arrived back today from repair. Yay!
Also got the Brunton Solar Roll that I ordered. This is a 4.5-watt weatherproof flexible solar panel. It fits pretty nicely loosely strapped to the top of my Arkel Tailrider. Test ride today went very well. Even in early evening sun, it still ran my Edge 305 and even managed to increase the charge on it a bit. So far, I'm very impressed.
Weather Conditions: Clear, dry, light breezes. Very pleasant.
Comments: Metric #13 Thermometer ride 2nd best weekly mileage ever total time: 7:50
Rode with oregonkc (his first metric this year, and his longest ride ever as an adult). I rode out to his house, and from there we rode north through Salem to Salem Parkway and up to Keizer Station. We continued north to Quinaby Road, and then west to Wheatland Road, where we stopped for a snack.
While stopped, two ambulances from two different agencies went by running code to Salem Hospital. A few minutes later, a succession of fire vehicles began to drive by returning to quarters. We figured there must have been a wreck up the road. We were right.
At Wheatland and Brooklake, there was a (loaded) cement truck vs. passenger car wreck. Nasty looking, but the paper said no fatalities (yet -- one person critical). The sheriff's deputies wouldn't let us squeeze past the accident scene, so we had to detour 5 miles.
The detour only added about 4.5 miles to our ride, so that wasn't too bad. What was bad were the other vehicles: a somewhat-close call with a double dump truck, followed by a hazardous traffic backup on River Road just south of Waconda Road because of another incident (this one involving an old John Deere tractor sliding off a flatbed trailer mid-lane and a small crane attempting to lift it back on -- all with no flaggers) combined with... a combine traveling down the road. We decided to alter our detour and get off River Road as soon as possible.
We turned left on Waconda, and it was a lovely road, despite the chipseal, with some very fine orchards. Soon we were back on course on Wheatland Road. We cut through Willamette Mission State Park and hopped on the ferry. We ran into a friendly couple cycling on the other side of the river and warned them of the wreck. The wife cast envious looks at my Catrike.
We stopped for a snack at Maud Williamson State Park, and then headed west on Lafayette Highway, past the manure lagoon and past Hopewell. We rolled north on Webfoot Road, then jogged west on Fairview Road, stopping to take a photo of the old Fairview School.
Then it was over the hill with a nice descent into Amity. A quick stop at the market to get a bottle of chocolate milk (Wilcox Old Fashioned -- yum!) and a quart of Gatorade for later, and we were on our way west on Bellevue Road.
We eventually turned south on Cristiansen Road, which was new to me. It proved to be a very fine cycling road, with good pavement and respectable farmsteads. We turned south on Dejong Road and headed for Ballston and home.
In Ballston, I learned that the general store is, in fact, still a goin' concern, selling ice cream and cold drinks, among other things (but is closed Mondays). I resolved to make the store a destination for a future ride. We stopped briefly for me to tighten to rattling screws on the TailSok.
From Ballston, we followed the same route as my Monday metric, stopping for a snack at Bethel Church.
The fields were every bit as beautiful as they were on Monday, with lots of threshing and haying going on. The clover smelled wonderful, and the raptors were enjoying the harvest activity at the expense of the various field creatures.
The exhilaration of the descent on Brush College was dimmed somewhat because a car got between my partner and I, preventing me from passing either. I at least got the pleasure of incredulous looks from the passengers in the car as I drafted the car.
Had a close call at the gas station at the end of Brush College due to a older gentleman turning left in front of me while staring at the gas station price board instead of bothering to look for oncoming traffic.
State Street received a pavement overlay this week, and is now smooth from downtown to 12th Street! Hooray!
I monitored my HR closely today, as I did yesterday. However, I re-read the section on The High Performance Heart on determining one's anaerobic threshold and decided to revise mine up to 141, giving me a range of 131 to 141. It proved to be a good choice, and accurate, too. My average HR was only 121 today, but that was to stay with my riding partner.
Using the HRM resulted in a very different ride when climbing. Even though I still ended up going anaerobic on climbs over 5% (unavoidable with my current gearing), I did not have to stop on any of the climbs today. Overall, I just felt so much better. Still only a sample size of 2, but I'm happy with what I seeing already.
Technical: Trikey performed very well today. I used the Solar Roll again today with the GPS as a test. It kept it fully charged all day long. Next test will be with a AA battery charger on a metric.
Oiled the chain this morning (ah, silence!). Forgot to top off the Air Zound, which resulted in me using the last of the horn on the Brush College close call. Oops.
Food and water: 2.5 liters of water, 1 liter of Powerade, 1 liter of Gatorade, 1 pint of Wilcox Old Fashioned chocoalte milk (made with real cream!), 1 Quaker granola bar, 2 pkgs peanut butter crackers, plus 2 pints of 2% chocolate milk and a pint of Gatorade at home before the last 11 miles. Felt slightly hungry on Brush College.
Wardrobe: the usual (red jersey). Put on sunblock at Clear Lake fire station, but didn't put quite enough on my arms.
Wildlife: redtail hawks, osprey (mating pair with chick!), various other creatures. Also had a butterfly bounce off my beard at 20 mph. It seemed unharmed.
Weather Conditions: Mostly to partly cloudy, dry. Westerly breeze in late afternoon.
Comments: Metric #14 First-ever back-to-back metrics Most metrics in a 7-day period (3)
The Howell Prairie Road metric
Rode out State to Four Corners and cut south to Macleay Road and Culver Drive. Culver was a nice climb (new road to me). It became Ganon, then 71st.
I turned down Jordan Street somewhat dubiously, as it looked more like a driveway that a street. It turned out to be a nice road that I followed to the railroad, where I headed south on the improbably named Dumore Street. This brought me into Shaw and the southernmost point on my ride.
I headed north from Shaw on Howell Prairie Road. I played leapfrog with a minivan that kept stopping to let the kids pick up cans and bottles by the side of the road. The pastoral views were quite pleasant. I said hello to the burros at the turn to Macleay as I rode by and then dropped down to State and the prairie proper. Some nice motorist (possibly the same minivan) provided a rear escort on the descent.
I continued north on Howell Prairie Rd. As soon as I dropped down off the ridge, a good headwind kicked in at a steady 10-15 mph. The north wind was a consistent feature for the rest of the ride.
At Silverton Road, I jogged east to pick up Shannon Road in order to minimize repeated roads. Shannon became Scism Road (really!), and then North Howell Road (after another job east). And then North Howell dumped into Saratoga Road -- one of the prettiest roads in this part of the valley.
I followed Saratoga/Church Rd. to Mt. Angel, where I picked up Marquam Road and headed to... Marquam. I rode past Trinity Lutheran Church, which appears to be something of a landmark in an area that is historically German Catholic.
Just before Marquam Road jogged south and became Drake Road, I thought I had been teleported to Iowa -- just for a few minutes. There were dense cornfields close on both sides of the narrow road. All I could see was corn. I could even smell it.
Drake narrowed a bit and lost its road paint. The pavement was a little rough, but still better than many of Salem's city streets. I stopped and tightened up a number of loose bolts on the TailSok frame to preserve my sanity.
I breezed through Marquam, but there appears to be a pub worth a future visit. I misread my GPS cue and took the wrong fork. I quickly realized my error aand backtracked the 1/4 mile to Marquam. The right road, Canby-Marquam Hwy, proved to be much more pleasant.
A right turn on Monte Cristo Road (I'm not making this up!) defined the northeast corner of my day's odyssey. It also changed the headwind to a crosswind, which was a welcome relief. Trikey does well in a crosswind, even benefiting slightly if the wind is slightly aft.
Monte Cristo Rd was a nice set of rolling hills, with up- and downgrades in the 4-8% range, which provided the top speed of the ride. The road ended at the Monitor Bible Church, where I paused for a snack. I noticed that the original sign for the church said Nidaros Community Church -- Norwegians missing home must have settled there.
I rode Barlow Road into Monitor. This is not the Barlow Road -- merely the road to Barlow (to the north), although there is a connection to Sam Barlow, for whom the famous road was named.
Monitor also needs a return visit. It's hard to explain why, but it does....
I continued west through McKee. Not much left of McKee -- I couldn't even see the site of McKee School. Sounds like more exploration when I go back to Monitor....
Monitor-McKee Road seemed interminable. The surroundings changed from farms and orchards and rolling hills to flatland with greenhouses and nursery stock. Blech. Boring.
Finally, I arrived at Howell Prairie Road again. I zipped north a hundred yards to where Howell Prairie met 99W so I could honestly say I had ridden the whole road in one day. Then I headed south and for home.
The wind was at my back, and the miles began to fly by. My average speed began to steadily climb (it was at 14.5 at this point). The north wind pushed me down Howell Prairie Road to Pratum -- almost 12 miles -- at an average speed of 18.0 mph.
The same shepherd-ish dog chased me just south of Central Howell. He got Halt this time, but he was a little too far away so he only got a small taste. That dog really does not like trikes!
At Pratum, my tailwind became a crosswind again as I took Sunnyview Road (past the buffalo) to Cordon, and then Cordon south to State. At State, I started my cooldown and cruised on home, arriving just in time for bacon pancakes (it's a Norwegian thing -- excellent post-ride supper).
Technical: Note to self: put Loc-Tite on every nut and screw you can find before OBR....
Today was the first time I used the route function of the Edge 305. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that I had somehow loaded the route in reverse. I didn't catch it until after Four Corners, as that part of the route was the same. I ended up stopping and re-ordering the remaining 95 waypoints. It took about 10 minutes, but it was worth it. The route function allowed me to just ride and enjoy the scenery, as the Edge prompted me for turns in a surprisingly user-friendly fashion. I will definitely use this feature again on longer rides.
Heart rate: My avg HR (excluding warmup and cooldown) was 135. The graph is very steady, as I used the HR alert feature of the Edge. There were times when I had to hold back, but I never felt like I was running out of gas. Climbs were problematic, as I almost always went anaerobic. Even so, I kept my max HR to 150. In all, I spent 2:57 in my target zone, and only 17 minutes anaerobic. Good stuff.
Wardrobe: the usual, except for my new WU jersey (Go Bearcats!)
Food and water: 1 liter of Powerade (blue), 2.5 liters of water, 2 Safeway Select granola bars (yum!), 2 pkgs Ritz cheese and crackers, 1 pkg Ritz peanut butter crackers, 2 Quaker granola bars.
Weather Conditions: Partly cloudy, dry. North wind 10-15 mph. Pleasant.
Comments: Commute and errands, plus some test rides for the replacement tie rod I finally got from Catrike a week or so ago (old one was a bit short for the 2007 frame, but it worked).
Got the new tie rod installed and the toe-in adjusted. Might tweak the toe-in a bit more to see if I can get the bump-steering to be a bit better....
Comments: Forgot to write down complete stats. Includes a trip on the Pratum loop (14.68 avg), plus a few miles of test riding after maintenance.
This was the last ride before Oregon Bicycle Ride. With the cruise starting tomorrow and me going from cruise to OBR, everything bike-wise had to be done today, including packing and maintenance.
MAINTENANCE: Took off all three MP tires and put one of the fronts (20 x 1.75) on the rear. The other two 20 x 1.75s still have a bit of wear left in them, but I wanted no problems on Oregon Bicycle Ride. I put two new MPs (20 x 1.35) on the front and recalibrated the Astrale 8. I also adjusted the toe-in.
Checked frame welds: all okay.
Other maintenance included lubing the chain and overhauling the brake cables. I installed a metallic elbow on the right brake cable to alleviate the sharp bend there. I used a mixture of Slick Honey grease with some Tri-Flow to lbe the cables -- the brakes have never been so smooth! Wow!
Also put Loc-Tite on all of the hex bolts in the read fender/rack assembly. as well as the tie-rod adjustment nuts.
Comments: Cruise ship shore excursion (Bike 'N' Brew) with Mark S.
An easy road ride (except for a mile of easy double-track) through the outskirts of Juneau, Alaska.
The first stop was at the chapel at Lake Auke. Mendenhall Glacier and the surrounding mountains were stunningly and perfectly reflected in the lake.
There was a gentle climb and then we dropped down on to one of Juneau's many MUPs that seem to be adjacent to most streets other than neighborhood streets.
Next were two stops at Lake Mendenhall. The first stop at the southern end was a snack stop. Even almost two miles away from the glacier, there were chunks of ice in the lake.
The next (and final) stop was at the visitor center near the glacier itself. We turned our bikes in and walked through nature trails. We were rewarded with up close views of spawning salmon and black bears (including two cubs).
The glacier itself was stunning. That unearthly ice blue color mesmerizes me just remembering it.
Then we hopped in the shuttle van and drove to Alaskan Brewing Company for a tour and tasting (the smoked porter, oatmeal stout, and amber were especially fine) before heading back to the cruise ship.
Weather Conditions: Clear and sunny, with occasional puffy clouds.
Comments: Day 1 of Oregon Bicycle Ride, Ashland, Oregon. (Because I was on a cruise, I joined OBR a day late in Ashland, so this was the end of their first full day).
Ride from where I parked my truck (SOFC) to campsite for OBR. Included a dinner stop at the Great American Pizza Co. (good pizza, good beer selection, open late) as OBR had already stopped serving dinner by the time I arrived on site initially.
Except for the initial few blocks, I had a bike lane for the entire ride. Ashland is quite bike friendly.
Comments: Day 2 of Oregon Bicycle Ride (OBR). Ashland, OR to Yreka, CA (This was day 1 for me, as I joined the ride a day late)
Metric century #15
Personal Bests for altitude and climbing.
My First Times: MFT riding across a state line; MFT riding on a freeway (especially at 50 mph); MFT riding any of these roads (as well as driving most of them); MFT cycling in California (as an adult); MFT cycling this far south.
What a ride! We took old Hwy 99 over the Siskiyous. That was quite a trip in the days before I-5. Very twisty, but not quite as steep (in most places). Also an elegant 270-degree elevated switchback to cross the railroad tracks.
I went off-route where old 99 crossed I-5 and stopped to visit Charlie Selberg. I wasn't sure about riding Colestine Road, but it turned out to be pretty easy (fairly smooth gravel). What I anticipated being an hour or two chat turned into a four-hour-plus visit. Well worth it. As always, I came away from Charlie's enriched. Now there is a man who is intellectually alive!
Colestine Road below Charlie's was stunningly beautiful as always, with expansive views of Mt. Shasta and the Buddhist monastery, framed by oaks and groves of quaking aspen. However, the road was considerably rougher, resulting in the loss of some AA batteries from the charger that I had strapped onto the TailRider. (Note to self: Put the charger IN the TailRider next time.) We regained pavement a few miles before Hilt, near the old stage stop. The pavement wasn't a whole lot smoother, but it gradually got better.
Hilt has a store and cafe that makes fine burgers and shakes, but I had to pass this time in order to make some time. All of the signs were in and the OBR rest stops were closed on the route, so I needed to cruise to get into Yreka before dinner.
At Hilt, I did just that, as it was time to get on the freeway (and back on the route). For the next 5.25 miles, I had a fabulously smooth descent, breaking 50 mph for the first time on this frame.
Off the freeway at the Hornbrook exit for about 25 miles of mostly gradual climbing through small town east of I-5, including Hornbrook, Ager, and Montague. Most of the views had Mt. Shasta in them. Montague looked especially intriguing in a town-that-time-forgot sort of way.
There were some stiff headwinds and crosswinds through this section, but as I headed west for the final six miles they turned into tailwinds. I rolled into Yreka with enough time to cruise around for 20 minutes or so (to both cool down and get the metric).
Yreka is a very nice gold rush town with a well restored old town. Would be nice to spend a full day here.
Camp was at an elementary school. Ate like a horse, then went to bed.
Had a lot of trouble keeping my HR in zone 3 -- presumably due to altitude, as I live at 200' asl, and most of tdoay's ride was at 2,000'+ asl. This forced my cadence in granny gear down into the 60s at times.
Technical: Trikey behaved well, despite some very rough roads and high speeds. The decision to use the 11-32 cassette was a good one, although a 34T rear cog would have been nice at times.
The SolarRoll worked well, except that it's maximum output (4.5w) is not enough to power the 4 AA battery charger I brought with me (which draws 0.5a at 12v, or, 6w). I didn't do the math first. Will have to try to find a lower power charger. Fortunately, a friendly crew member allowed me to plug into the U-Haul's cigarette lighter every night.
Riding down the upper part of Colestine Rd at speed was very good practice for steering, as I had to rely heavily on brakesteer.
A tough day. I had burning eyes this morning. Blowing dust from a rock operation near Montague yesterday -- or possibly just too much sun glare? Woke up a number of times during the night, so was pretty tired this morning.
A mile or so down the road, my HRM started being flaky. After yesterday, I really wanted the HRM today, as I didn't want to go anaerobic and end up exhausted the next day.
I found that if the Edge 305 was about a foot closer to me, all was well. At first I suspected radio interference, but ruled that out. Next, I swapped the battery out. No joy there, either.
Then I stopped and switched the mounting positions of the Astrale 8 and the Edge in order to get it closer to my chest. During this, the sag wagon pulled up. Nice guy named Mike who supplied me with a mounting shim and black zip ties (I only had white, and ya gots to be color coordinated, y'know).
A few riders passed me during all this, and Mike informed me I was the caboose. Uh oh. He said he would swing back and check up on me. Off I went again.
Slight improvement in HRM, but not much. Grr. Then Wal-Mart appeared. I stopped and went straight to the rest room to wash the HRM contacts, knowing that I would have a few more options available if that didn't work. The wash worked!
I bought some small boxes of raisins in celebration and was so happy I forgot to get a replacement rechargeable AA battery for the one I lost yesterday (dang!). As I was leaving, another sag wagon stopped to check on me. He looked dubious. This didn't bode well.
I continued my interrupted warm-up amd eased into zone 3. The route was mostly flat to Gazelle (about 19 miles). It was open country with small ranches and farms. The road ran along an old stage route. Mike continued to check on me every few miles.
The rest stop in Gazelle was the first rest stop I had experienced on OBR. Fresh fruit galore, Spam (there seems to be a thing about Spam on OBR), various candies, crackers, and salty snacks, too. Plus biffies on a trailer, water for handwashing, and cold water and Gatorade to drink. And shade. And friendly people. I was the only rider there, except for a teenager who had decided to sag. I tanked up on cantaloupe, gabbed a bit, and off I went.
We started climbing right after the rest stop -- gently for the first 7 miles or so, then at 9-12% gradient. My HR shot up, and into granny gear I went. My cadence never got much past 80, and dropped as low as 60 at times. The steeper part of the climb went on for 3-4 miles, gaining about 1500' of elevation.
I began stopping whenever my HR got to zone 4.5 (about 144 bpm). I would rest 30-45 seconds until it came back down to 3.5 (131 bpm). I didn't feel bonky, just slow. It was just frustrating having to struggle so much. That's altitude for a flatlander, though.
About halfway through this steeper part of the climb, Mike started following me in the sag. While it was nice of him to do this, it actually made things worse, as I felt bad for keeping him back there so I pushed harder than I would have otherwise, which probably slowed me down. I would have been happier if he would have just left me to go at my own pace.
Finally, I reached the summit at 4,990'. Mike topped off my water bottle with Gatorade and off I went on a very fine descent. The pavement was much smoother on this side of the mountain. Except for one short climb, I had 15 miles of descent to Callahan, losing about 2,000' of elevation in the process. What a great ride -- even with a headwind!
The second rest stop in Callahan was doubly nice, as there were a few other riders still there -- the only ones I had seen since leaving Yreka. I was catching up!
I ate more cantaloupe -- and pickles! Yum! I gabbed a bit, ogled the remains of Callahan (very much a gold rush almost-ghost town), and watched as the headwind shifted to a tailwind. The other riders had left about 15 minutes before, so off I went again.
I enjoyed a very pretty ride through rolling hills (again, on an old stage route) with small farms and ranches. I was riding on the north side of the Scot River on a 1-1/2 lane road with very few cars. The floodplain was filled with tailings from the gold dredging operations of the 19th century, now being reused for rock products. HR wasn't much of an issue, so I cruised right along.
Very pleasant, until I hit a bump (hard) in the road. The bump knocked the battery pack for my headlight out of its pouch. The battery pack dangled briefly on the end of the cord, and then dropped to the road at 25 miles an hour, scattering batteries in all directions. Not my day for electronics.
I stopped and started looking. Having already lost some rechargeables and not having good prospects of finding any more, I needed these. I found the battery holder first, empty and cracked. Fortunately, I had a spare. Then I found the first battery. Fortunately, it was one of the ones with a bright orange top. A stroke of luck! I quickly found the second one.
A few minutes later, Mike pulled up in the sag. (I could practically read his mind: what is it THIS time?) As always, he was nice and helped me look for the remaining two batteries. I found a rusty horseshoe, which I left on top of a fence post (good luck for someone). We looked for at least ten minutes before I finally found the third battery under some sagebrush. After another five minute, Mike found the last one on the opposite side of the road from all the others, way downrange. Hurrah! Off I went again, but so much for any hope of catching the other riders again.
Mike resumed his position behind me again. Sigh. A mile or so from Etna, I waved Mike on so I could poke along for a cooldown.
I pulled into camp at about 4 p.m., grabbed my luggage, found a campsite, dropped my luggage off, and then scurried off to finish my cooldown.
Etna is a very quaint little town, with a well preserved 19th-century main street, including a drug store and soda fountain, as well as an old fashioned hardware store. Camp was in the city park, which was a bit too small for the number of people we had.
After a hot shower and some cold drinks, I was feeling much better. Then the ride director stopped to have "a chat" with me.
She was not happy with the fact that I was so far behind everyone else and that this was causing a shortage of sag resources for riders further ahead. She informed me that I either needed to be one of the first people to leave camp or else sag to the top of any major climbs.
She viewed me and my trike as a problem that interfered with her logistics instead of as a customer who needed accommodation.
I gave serious thought that evening to leaving the ride. I was the only trike on the ride, and one of only five recumbents. Most of the riders were with groups, and most of the rest knew others from previous rides. Having missed the first day's ride and having spent the last two days riding solo, I was pretty socially isolated. That didn't help my mood, either.
I called Kim and talked with her. As usual, she calmed me down. I set my alarm for 6:20 and went to bed.
Weather Conditions: Cool morning (about 50), hot afternoon (90?). Variable winds. Clear and dry.
Comments: Day 4 Oregon Bicycle Ride Daytrip around Etna, CA
Metric #17
Personal Bests: Most consecutive metric centuries (3).
Today was a much better day. The altitude problems seem to be mostly gone. Got on the road solidly in the middle of the pack and enjoyed numerous conversations with folks during the day's riding. Lots of interest in my trike and the Solar Roll.
This was a rest/easy day, with a day ride through the Scott Valley and no heavy climbing.
We rode through farms and ranches along the eastern edge of the valley north to Fort Jones. The NFS ranger station there was very helpful, with plenty of maps, information, and a nice clean restroom (bonus!). I was still considering my alternatives in case things blew up on tomorrow's big climb.
From Fort Jones, we headed northwest on Scott River Road to where it intersected with Quartz Valley Road. This was the rest stop for the main route. I zipped in an spent the next 30-40 minutes eating and answering questions about the trike and gear. Sometimes riding a trike is a bit like being in a traveling circus....
There was an optional extension that continued about six miles down Scott River Road to a nice swimming hole. I really wanted to keep my string of metrics going, so that's where I went to get some more miles, as I only 20 for the day.
It was a good choice. The road followed the Scott River down a beautiful narrow valley. I was a little concerned about the climb back, as I wanted to be nice to my legs today. But, my fears were unfounded as the grade was gentle except for a few very short stretches.
The FS day use area for the swimming hole was six miles downriver, and there was another rest stop there. Yea! More snacks! I was still feeling good, so I decided to go on down the river a few more miles and then head back.
Another good choice. I think I saw maybe six cars and three cyclists. I poked my nose into Indian Scotty campground (very nice spot). I saw several osprey, both nesting and gliding along the river. On a tip from another rider, I stopped on the Williams Memorial Bridge and spotted a couple of schools of good-sized trout lurking in the pools there.
I kept riding past a couple of more FS campgrounds (primitive) until I got to Scott River Lodge. It was, as my father would have said (understatedly), "a modest little place in the woods." It looks like a lovely place to stay.
After stopping to watch a deer just past the lodge, I turned around and headed back. I had a nice ride back to the rest stop again. I snacked and chatted and then headed back to the first rest stop and grazed a bit there before heading back.
There were still about half a dozen riders behind me, but they either sagged back or took their own sweet time, as I never saw them. All of the signs had been taken in, too, which was kind of weird.
I had a very pleasant ride back on Quartz Valley Road. I rode through Mugginsville and briefly admired the Victorian-era houses that had been restored.
And then, the road started climbing. What the heck? It was only a 300' climb, but it caught me by surprise. I was rewarded by a speedy half-mile descent (-270').
Shortly after that was Greenview, which was so sleepy as to be almost comatose. Then it was onto Hwy 3 for the rest of the way back.
Hwy 3 had a strongly pitched shoulder in places -- usually on hills. This was tiring on a trike, as I had to exert constant pressure to the left. Most of the places with the pitch also had a sloped asphalt "curb". I tried putting the right wheel on the curb. Eureka! Trike was level, and required little steering effort.
Did my cooldown en route to Etna. Got back to camp and enjoyed a lovely shower. Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening either eating or getting ready for tomorrow.
Most of these folks seemed determined to start riding at the crack of dawn -- every day. I just don't get it. But, through observation I learned some things about how to break camp more quickly in the morning.
1. Sleep in your bike shorts.
2. Pack as much as possible the night before.
3. Have as many of your pre-ride chores done the night before as possible -- water, Gatorade, etc.
4. When possible, eat first, then break camp to give breakfast a chance to digest a bit before riding. (Thanks to Pansy for that tip!)
Tomorrow would be test of all this, as well whether my altitude issues were really resolved. I set the alarm for 5:20 and went to sleep.
Weather Conditions: Cool morning (50-ish left me wishing I had worn leg warmers), clear and warm in the afternoon (85-90). Light variable breezes.
Comments: Day 5 Oregon Bicycle Ride Etna, CA to Orleans, CA
Metric #18
Personal Bests: Most consecutive metric centuries (4); altitude; climbing.
What a great day! Woke up at 5:10 to a chorus of clicking tent poles being broken down all over camp -- in the dark. Breakfast started early, so I was on the road by 7.
We said goodbye to Etna and backtracked to Callahan using the same right as two days ago. It was cold, and I wished I had worn leg warmers. Fourteen miles and several pleasant conversations later, we were back in Callahan.
My back tire didn't feel right, so I stopped to find it nearly flat. I had a slow leak -- probably a pinch flat from the ride down the Colestine. I pumped it up and rode on. I kept a close eye on it the rest of the day.
Once past Callahan, we began climbing on Cecilville Road. We climbed for the next 12 miles, gaining almost 3,200' -- mostly in the last six miles. I felt great! In fact, I felt so good that I didn't realize I was still in the middle chain ring until about a mile from the summit. My HR only occasionally went into zone 4, but never far enough that I needed to stop. My cadence dropped below 80 only a couple of times. What a difference a couple of days makes! I even passed a number of folks during the climb.
At the summit, I left Kim a jubilant voice mail message. And then, with whoop and a cackle, I began the descent. The first 18 miles to Cecilville were utter bliss. I carved turn after turn, passing I don't know how many riders along the way. The pavement was smooth and the turns were well marked and well engineered, allowing me to really push my skills as I hiked into the turns with my face beyond the inside wheel at times.
The difference in climbing and the descent apparently sparked more than a few conversations as the day went on.
There was a quaint little store at Cecilville, but I was having too much fun to stop. Unfortunately, the road narrowed to one lane with rougher pavement. But, the descent continued, with some rollers thrown in, through a stunningly rugged valley carved by the Salmon River.
The road was often literally at cliff's edge, with no guardrail. Fortunately, there were few people on the road other than us cyclists. I continued to zip along at a slightly more sedate pace as the downgrade lessened.
The second rest stop was at Forks of the Salmon, a tiny hamlet with a few houses, a new post office, and a school. A remote place to live. I had a big grin on my face as I rolled into the rest stop. I grazed a bit, topped off the rear tire, and headed downriver.
A mile or so after the rest stop, we broke 100k for the day, with a long way to go. I had been pushing a bit on shallow downgrades and short climbs, and realized I needed to ease up if I was going to make it to Orleans.
The cliffhanger road continued for another 18 miles until we got to Hwy 96. We were starting to get more rollers, and fellow riders were clearly starting to tire.
Hwy 96 didn't help. It was like riding the coast -- headland to headland -- with very strong headwinds to match. Not much fun. At about mile 83 or 84, I had to stop at one of the "headlands" to put more air in the back tire. My reliable Topeak Road Morph pump became unreliable, as apparently something came loose on the plunger about halfway through pumping up the tire. I was by myself and hadn't seen a sag wagon for over an hour, so I headed on, knowing it wasn't too many more miles.
It turned out that the stop was the top of the last climb, and I rolled into Orleans, elevation 418'. There weren't many people in camp yet, which made me happy. I grabbed my gear and dropped it on the edge of the ballfield where there was a little breeze.
I got a quick drink of fruit juice, and then set out to try to get a cooldown ride in. After some hunting, I found a fairly flat FS road on the edge of town and did some laps.
Along the way, I explored what there was of Orleans. There is a strong hippie-redneck dichotomy here, with rednecks yelling at "hippie" cyclists offset by a groovy community center. But, that's about all there is in Orleans, other than one bar, a campground, a school, and a store.
The ground was very hard, and I had to keep dodging this one patch of stinging nettles between my tent and camp central. I took a gamble that there wouldn't be any mosquitoes and just pitched the groundsheet and fly to see how that worked out.
I bought a sandwich for lunch (I had never been in camp that early before) and enjoyed a couple of hours of chatting with various folks (including DebbieBikes) in the shade of the pavilion.
I spent the rest of the day and evening patching the rear tire, remounting the right front tire (another apparent slow leak, but couldn't find it), oiling the chain, and getting ready for tomorrow.
I visited the fine folks from Sunnyside Sports in the mobile bike shop to get a replacement tire lever (I broke one of mine) and to see if they had replacement parts to fix my pump. They had tire levers, and they had parts for my pump, but it turned out it just needed a bit of grease. It was like a new pump after that. They even had spare brake pads for my Avid BB7s (I was getting a little anxious due to my rather heavy braking lately -- losing brakes on one of these descents would be B-A-D). Nice folks.
There were several more nice conversations with folks, including the shower truck driver (very interesting guy in his late 40s who has done all kinds o' stuff in his life, including living in the Idaho woods for nine years). The time just flew by.
It wasn't until I jotted down my stats for the day that I noticed I only needed six more miles for a century. I thought about it briefly, considered the next day's ride, and said, "Forget it."
I crawled into bed at dark, set the alarm for 5:20, and went promptly to sleep, tired and happy.
Weather Conditions: Cool in the morning (50-ish), clear, sunny and warm in the afternoon (85-90). Strong winds the last hour or so.
Comments: Day 6 Oregon Bicycle Ride Orleans, CA to Happy Camp, CA
Metric #19
Personal Bests: Most consecutive metric centuries (5).
My First Times: MFT truly enjoying a climb.
Today's ride had a nasty start called Ishi Pishi Road -- 1274' of climbing in the first 4.6 miles, and most of that in in less than two miles. Breakfast just kind of sat in my gut and churned for the first part of the morning. The 1420' summit was a relief to most of us.
The climb was followed by an 810' descent for the next 2.8 miles (avg grade of -5.4%, with spots up to -12%. Whee! The bottom of the descent was on a bridge across the Salmon River, which was lined on both sides with cyclists. I had the pleasure of bombing through at 41 mph. That was fun.
After a quick stop at Salmon River Outpost store to call Kim from the pay phone (no cell service in Orleans), the ride settled down to a more sedate pace.
For the next 38 miles, we trundled along Hwy 96. We only gained 323 feet of altitude, but we climbed 2223 feet doing it in a series of "Paul Bunyan" rollers, with most climbs between 5 and 6 percent for about half a mile each, and one longer climb of 1.4 miles.
It was pretty country, and the road followed the Klamath River, crossing it a few times. But the terrain was not exactly my concept of "rollers". There were more pleasant conversations with folks along the way, which helped.
Happy Camp, our destination, caught me by surprise, as I thought we still had a few miles to go. I had recalled Happy Camp as a depressed lumber town with not much to offer, based on a night-time drive through about 16 years ago. I had judged it unfairly. It was a nice little town, actually, if a bit tired.
As I rolled down to our campsite for the night at a city park by the river, the road turned to gravel, then dirt. The surroundings were brown and dry. What kind of place had they picked for us, I wondered dubiously? Then I rounded a corner and was face to face with acres of lush green grass and lovely shade trees!
I grabbed my luggage and started looking for a campsite. Then I spotted a little footbridge. My inner little kid made a beeline for it, and found another couple of acres of lawn and shade trees with only a couple of tents pitched! O frabjous joy! I had a shady camp for the first time on the tour!
I pitched my tent, and then spent the next 30-45 minutes just laying on the grass, enjoying the shade and gentle breeze while chatting with my neighbor (a RANS rider).
I still needed a cooldown (for what it was worth after flopping on the grass for so long), and I had seen a promising pizza joint in town. So I got back on Trikey and rode the conveniently located second access road behind my tent for shorter ride out to the pizza place. I had a tasty veggie calzone and a bottle of Blue Moon wheat beer. Yum. I also had a nice conversation with the young family in the booth next to me, who were in town visiting the husband while he worked on the fire crew. They were from Scott Valley near Etna and had lived here all their lives. We talked about roads and passes, and they helped me figure out which pass I had recalled so fondly from a previous vacation here with Kim (Scott Mt. Rd.).
After lunch, I poked around a little bit, heading up Indian Creek Rd a short distance before deciding I didn't really want that kind of climb at this point in the day. I poked through some residential neighborhoods and blundered my way down to Hwy 96 north of town.
On a lark, I decided to head out on 96 and see where it took me. There was almost no traffic, and the pavement was good. After a mile or so, the road began to climb. I considered briefly, and then said, "What the hey?" and kept riding. I felt good and I wanted some more miles to get another metric, as I hadn't broken 50 miles yet for the day.
The road climbed at a steady 5% for the next 2.3 miles until I reach Cage Summit at 1755'. It was shady and cool. I passed a few riders bombing down the hill the other way, presumably with the same idea I had.
At the top, I had to top off my rear tire again. Apparently last night's patch wasn't good enough. Grr. I mused over the fact that I had just voluntarily climbed 600 feet and enjoyed it! And then I rocketed back down to Happy Camp (avg 29.4, max 42.3). Whee!
I still needed a few more miles, so I rode down into the older part of Happy Camp. There was a quaint old general store (no rechargable batteries, but lots of kitsch), a saloon, a cafe, a defunct old hotel, houses, the high school (student body of 70), the old log high school (now a senior center), the local court/sheriff's office/fire hall, a museum/gift shop for the local Indian tribe, and forest service headquarters (busy with fire crews). I was chased for two blocks by a fierce little dachshund and I waved to nice people.
I finally rode up the lower part of Indian Creek Road to the local grocery store. No rechargeable batteries there, either, but the local high school German teacher was selling homemade fudge to raise money to take her class to Germany next summer. I bought a piece (yum), and then realized that the store would have chocolate milk! Glug glug glug makes a happy Mikey.
Content, I rode back to camp and lazily took care of various chores. Apparently, I missed the memo about dinner being an hour early today, but I still got fed. I watched the first couple of acts in the "last night of the ride" talent show. One of the crew did a nice juggling routine, and some others had some good songs accompanied by guitar.
I left in distaste when a group got up to do a mock "Zulu" dance routine "from the deepest jungles of Africa". They were dressed in fake native attire, shaking sticks, pounding on 5-gallon buckets, and jumping around. The only thing missing was blackface. Unfortunately, the crowd thought it was great.
I went and took a shower, and then caught up on my journaling. I missed out on a song later that was a take-off on "Bye Bye Love" that seemed to involve me. I am told that the woman sang about how her husband had left her behind on the ride on his fast bike but that she had found a new love in the man who wasn't afraid to ride a bike with three wheels....
After getting everything ready for in the morning, I called Kim and then went to sleep. Tomorrow held a lot of climbing.....
Weather Conditions: Cool morning (low 50s), sunny and warm (upper 80s?) in the afternoon. Variable breezes.
Comments: Day 7 Oregon Bicycle Ride Happy Camp, CA to Cave Junction, OR
Metric #20
Personal Bests: Most consecutive metric centuries (6).
Got up at 5:20 this morning. It was chilly, so I put on my leg warmers. Broke camp quickly. Breakfast was offsite today for some logistical reason. Knowing the climb we had right off the bat, I decided to skip breakfast and see if the grocery store was open yet. It wasn't. Ate some granola bars, and then hit the road as one of the first couple of dozen riders.
The initial climb was about 210 feet, followed by a short descent. We spent the next 8.7 miles climbing gently at 1.4 % (avg). During this time, I discovered a psychological drawback to being one of the first riders out: most of your fellow riders are going at a comparable pace, so you don't see them, and there aren't any slower riders ahead of you for you to pass -- only faster riders coming up behind you.
At mile 10.2, the real climb for the day started. For the next nine miles, we climbed. The average grade was 6.0 percent. There weren't any losses of altitude, mercifully, but the second half of the climb alternated between stretches of 6-8% and stretches of 11-16%. Ugh.
The first rest stop was just 500 vertical feet shy of the summit. For the first time on the ride, I was tired when I rolled in to the rest stop. The view back south was tremendous, showing valleys and ridges one after the other, but I was still tired. I only had to stop a couple of times (including once to top off the blasted rear tire), but man, what a climb. This one was not fun.
I rested a bit and refueled, then knocked out the last 500 feet to Page Mountain Summit and crossed back into Oregon. Then it was time to zip up my jersey, get slouched down behind the fairing, and limber up my hips for a wild descent.
For 12.1 miles, I whooped, hollered, and jockeyed my way down the mountain, descending 3,209 feet in just under 24 minutes. My average speed was 30.5 mph, with a top speed of 43.7 on the straightaway near the end. My speed never dropped below 25 mph, except during two turns (one turn was signed for 10 mph, and the other SHOULD have been signed for 20 mph -- at mile 28.8 from Happy Camp).
I had a grin three miles wide as I rolled into the rest stop at the bottom of the mountain. What a ride! I toped off the fuel tank again, took off my leg warmers, and rolled out into the flats for the final leg to Cave Junction.
As the ride went on, I found myself pushing way too hard to get to the end. Others seemed to have the same problem. Interesting psychology there.... I finally got myself calmed down a few miles before the end.
I meandered into Illinois High School, got some lunch, and found some shade. The sun was very warm. I grabbed by luggage and began the task of refitting Trikey for self-supported touring. Off came the TailSok, and I broke the frame down completely so that the tubes fit in with my tent poles. I hung the panniers on the rack, moved some things around in them, re-rigged my lights and flag, and I was ready to go.
As I was finishing up, another rider I hadn't met before came over and started asking questions about my trike, etc. At first, they were the usual questions. Then he went off about how HE never had any problem with body pain on his road bike because HE learned how to ride correctly, blah blah blah. What a nice way to end a ride, eh? Eventually he wandered off with a "different strokes" comment.
DebbieBikes generously offered to ferry any extra gear home for me. I did have some extra gear, but I wanted to find out what a full day of fully loaded touring was like on Trikey, so I declined.
Rob, the OBR route director, came up and provided me with an alternate route for tomorrow that would reduce the amount of climbing. He also suggested a campsite down the road. What a nice guy. His wife was equally helpful.
After a guy I had had several conversations with during the ride snapped a photo of me on Trikey, off I went. I stopped at a store and bought some trail mix from a clerk who was idly listening to a teleevangelist talking about the End Times. I took Rob's tip and pedaled about eight miles to Eight Dollar Rd on Hwy 199. It was a gateway into the Kalmiopsis Wildernesss.
The road wound down the Illinois River Valley, gradually descending to the river at a bridge about three miles down the road. I continued on for another 1/4 mile to the end of the pavement. I had passed three primitive campgrounds. I went back to the first one at Little Falls and set up camp.
The site was nice. No water, and only a pit toilet, but three nice campsites and a trail down to the river. And only one other site in use. The other occupants turned out to be a young couple very much in love. Fortunately, they were pretty quiet. Ahem. They even offered me some firewood (more on that later).
After making camp, I hopped back on the lighter, slimmer Trikey for a cooldown (and to get my metric). I rode up to the top of $8 Road and back down, spotting a stealth camper just down the road from me in a nice spot.
Back in camp again, I walked down to the river. It was a 1/4 mile hike down the trail, and what I saw almost made me cry. All I could remember was this public service ad from my childhood:
Bottles and trash, and old tire on the trail, erosion from people cutting switchbacks, a tractor tire in the river, cigarette butts on otherwise beautiful sand beaches, and the nice young couple next door starting a campfire despite signs saying no burning due to high fire danger -- and this an area that had burned just six years earlier. "Roads" and "wilderness" are mutually exclusive. Sometimes I wonder if the planet would be better off without us....
The river was clean except for a little bit of algae, so I stripped to my bike shorts and rinsed off the worst of the day's sweat. Schools of little fish came up and nibbled at my feet and shins as I waded. Then clouds covered the sun. Uh oh. Time to head back to camp.
Back in camp, I hung my shorts up to dry, replaced the tube on the rear tire so I wouldn't have to worry about it, remounted the right front tire with correct orientation (wasn't paying attention a few days back), oiled the chain, and ate a bag of trail mix for dinner. I should have bought some water at the store, so I was stingy with what I had.
I took another look at the sky and decided to put the rainfly on. I journaled and went to sleep with the loss of daylight.
Weather Conditions: Cool morning (50-ish), clear, dry, and warm (low 90s?) in the afternoon, overcast in the evening. Variable breezes.
Comments: Day 7+1 Oregon Bicycle Ride Cave Junction, OR to Ashland, OR
Metric #21
Personal Bests: Most consecutive metric centuries (7); 7-day mileage (491.74).
Oy, what a long day! I woke up a number of times during the night to close and open the rainfly as the drizzle stopped and started. I lay around a bit this morning, waiting to see what the weather was going to do. It finally settled to a light drizzle, so got into my raingear in the tent, put away as much as possible, and then emerged from my cocoon. I loaded Trikey, ate a couple of granola bars, and headed out at the resort hour of 8:05. (My neighbors were sleeping the sleep of the young in love.)
I continued to get used to the heavy version of Trikey. My first short descent out of camp showed Trikey to be even more stable with a load. I hit 35 mph and Trikey felt solid as a rock.
It continued to drizzle intermittently, but my raingear did its job. All the same, I was happy to see Selma after 6.5 miles. But, I didn't find the hoped-for cafe -- just a grocery store and a convenience store with a sign for biscuits and gravy. Hey! That'll work! The nice lady behind the counter directed me to the cafe up the road once she realized I was looking for a meal and a dry place to sit. I thanked her, and sure enough, the promised Country Folks Restaurant was open just a half mile down the road.
I ordered hot chocolate and headed for the rest room to wash up. I looked in the mirror and understood the slightly wide-eyed expression the waitress had given me: I had some dried blood on my face from a nosebleed during the night. (I have been fighting nosebleeds for the last three days -- hot dry air and altitude).
The waitress was much more relaxed when a clean Mike sat back down at the counter. They had a "Cowboy Up" item that included three pancakes, choice of biscuits and gravy or toast, two slices of bacon, two sausages, and three eggs. I asked the waitress how big the pancakes were (one of my standard diner breakfast questions). She said, "Oh, about ten inches across." Gulp. I ordered the lesser version with three pancakes, two eggs, and bacon.
It still kicked my butt. That was the first time in probably 20 years that I haven't been able to finish a restaurant meal. The waitress turned out to be the owner. She told me that anyone who can eat the "Cowboy Up" gets their photo on a plaque, and that those who fail go in the scrapbook outlined in pink on the "cowgirls" page.
After a nice chat with her and her husband (cooking in the back), I promised to come back again sometime really hungry.
Back on the road, I had another short climb followed by a nice descent where I hit my top speed for the day. Wonder was near the bottom, so I stopped at the store to use the privy and buy some Gatorade. The sun was coming out and the rain had stopped, so I took off my raincoat and put on arm warmers instead.
At Wilderville, I left Hwy 199 for Fish Hatchery Rd, and later, Southside Rd. I rolled along through small hills for the next few miles before I stopped to take off arm warmers and switch rainpants to leg warmers. I continued on to Hwy 238 (Williams Hwy). I paused briefly at the old Williams Creek bridge, built in 1917 and one of only two spandrel arch bridges remaining in Oregon. It is a graceful little bridge -- hard to imagine it was only replaced in 1996, considering how narrow it is.
As I headed southeast into the beautiful Applegate Valley, I picked up a good tailwind. For the next 16 miles, I averaged a nice 15.0 mph with an average HR of only 128 bpm while gaining 426 feet of elevation. The valley was actually lush -- I haven't seen a place quite like it before.
All good things must come to an end, it seems, and my tailwind was no exception. As I left the Applegate Valley and headed due east to Ruch, the road also began to climb. I stopped in Ruch for a snack and removed my leg warmers, as it was sunny and getting warmer by the minute. I bought some more Gatorade at the grocery store (carpeted floors!), and then settled in for the 600-foot climb to Cady Rd.
The grade was easy -- an average of only 2.3% with a few 6-7% bits. I stopped briefly at the Log Town Cemetery -- the first cemetery I have seen in a forest like that. At Cady Rd, I left the official OBR route and began following Rob's suggested alternate route (through Jacksonville). It was a good choice.
I had a very nice descent into Jacksonville -- 2.7 miles at a 30 mph average. Jacksonville is a lovely historic town that merits a day to itself in the future. I stopped in a nice little city park to use the restroom and wash the worst of the sweat and grime off. I called Kim with an update, and an older couple struck up a nice conversation with me when I got off the phone. Trikes will do that....
I left Jacksonville on S. Stage Road -- in a bike lane! This was to be the theme for most of the rest of the ride -- either MUP or bike lane. How nice!
At this point, the ride was starting to get pretty long. I hadn't even ridden 50 miles yet, but I had done it with a lot of gear. I rolled along through wine country and gently rolling hills to Voorhies and then south to Phoenix. Along the way, I passed (going the other way) or was passed by, at least half a dozen road bikers. Only one of them acknowledged my hellos or waves. Funny how such a cycle-friendly area seems to generate such unfriendly cyclists.
In Phoenix, I had to hunt around a little for the Bear Creek Greenway MUP, but I found it eventually. For the next 6.5 miles, I had a very pleasant ride on this multi-use path. The first part was in very good condition. The last part had numerous root bumps and such, making the ride a bit bumpy. At least the bumps were marked with spray paint though. Unfortunately, the trail was under construction for the last part, forcing a one-mile detour on a narrow medium-traffic hilly road (Eagle Mill).
I bumbled along and picked up the OBR route again. Whose flippin' idea was it to run the route up the aptly named Mountain Ave with its 10% grade??? Especially right after losing the altitude a moment before on Hersey St? Grr. My knees were not at all amused by this climb.
I was definitely ready to be done. As I tried to get some cooldown time, my speeds dropped below 10 mph much of the time. I was starting to get a little bonky, but didn't realize it. I picked up another MUP along the railroad tracks and followed that past the SOU campus and through the cemetery. From there, it was only a couple of miles up Hwy 66 and 99 to my truck.
I finally pulled up behind the truck and just sat there for a few minutes. I had done it: seven straight days of metrics covering almost 492 miles and 30,530 feet of climbing (almost 1/3 of my climbing for the entire year to date!). I had had no significant mechanical problems. My body behaved well until the last part of the last day, when the extra weight was just a little more than I was ready for.
I was tired, but very, very happy. And hungry. After buying a half gallon of chocolate milk and some onion bagels, I hit the road for home. I felt a lot better after eating, and that chocolate milk was heaven. The only thing better was sleeping in my own bed that night next to the love of my life again (my wife, not my trike!).
Weather Conditions: Rain and drizzle in the night and morning, turning to mist and low clouds which burned off by mid-day. Sunny and warm in the afternoon, with puffy white clouds. Winds varying from none to 10-12 mph at times.
Took yesterday as a rest day. Had planned a recovery ride for today, but my knees told me it was not a good idea. Used the treadmill for an hour instead. Felt good.
Comments: Tried to catch the Wednesday morning ride with Salem Bike Club, but got to the rendezvous site a few minutes too late and they were already gone. So, I went off on a meander through the east valley.
Out Lardon/Kaufmann to Cascade Hwy, then south to State Street and back home.
Knees felt better today. Morning HR is starting to come down to normal levels (was up to 60-64 during OBR, now down to 54-56). Legs were a little bit stiff from fencing after a two-week absence. (Need to remember that next vacation.)
A nice ride today, except for the older woman who decided to slowly pass me (I was in the bike lane) while approaching State and Lancaster (we had a green light) and then execute a right turn five feet in front of me without signaling. Nice. And then she had the nerve to look surprised when I gave her the AirZound! (Interestingly, this produced a substantial spike in my HR.)
Comments: Metric #22
Thermometer ride
Total time: 7:50
This ride marked a PB for monthly miles: 721.02. Whoo-hoo!
This was three rides in one -- almost four.
I started out with intentions of a statute century, hoping for back-to-back centuries today and tomorrow. Alas, it was not to be.
I rode out to Howell Prairie Road and then north to Waconda Road, where I cut over to Hwy 99E. Along the way, I stopped at the Pioneer Cemetery off of Waconda and 72nd. This stretch if Waconda was new to me -- mostly nurseries and open fields. There was lots of corn (ears) by the side of the road -- a sign of the season.
The ride back to Salem on 99E was uneventful, except for an episode where I swore something was biting the back of my leg through the mesh seat. I stopped and looked, but no obvious source. I kept riding, and stopped a short time later when I felt it again. After an even more thorough look, I shrugged and rode on with no further problems. Hwy 99E was a little noisy, but there was a good shoulder and nice pavement, so the miles breezed by (avg 17.7 mph).
I had an interesting time figuring out how to get from westbound Chemawa Rd onto the Parkway MUP. It turns out that the powers-that-be have created a less-than-friendly little maze of crosswalks for cyclists and pedestrians to navigate. On the bright side, there is only about 100 yards of asphalt left to be installed before the MUP will run all the way out to Radiant Dr by the stadium, which will make northbound rides a bit easier.
I finally got on the MUP and rode back to the salle. The root bumps on the last section of MUP before Cherry Ave are getting worse and worse.... I gave my lesson at the salle, then rode downtown to get some lunch before meeting up with the WU bike club at 3:00.
Lunch was at Venti's. Had a nice falafel bowl and strawberry lemonade. Apparently they lost my order, but were apologetic at least. I scarfed and got to campus just in time.
There were 19 cyclists there. We went for an 8-mile ride out Pringle to Reed to Salem Industrial Park and back by way of Madrona. I learned a nice little shortcut to bypass the Pringle/Madrona intersection (via Edwards Dr and Georgia Ave).
I also learned that college cyclists do not wear HRMs, do not warm up, and go anaerobic up all hills. So much for my aerobic training day.... I also learned that the club needs to do some basic instruction in group ride etiquette in order to avoid earning the wrath of the drivers of Salem....
Back on campus, five or six of the guys said they wanted to go out for another hour. They were going the same way I wanted to go, so I tagged along. All was well until we got on River Rd. Then they dropped the hammer for the next 2.5 miles, averaging 22.7 mph.
Foolishly, I kept up with them until we got to a short climb. My HR averaged 160 for this stretch, completely hosing my workout. As we started up the climb, reason prevailed in my mind, and I dropped out in order to have a prayer of getting a century.
I eventually got my HR down into zone 3 at Halls Ferry. I should have just stopped and rested, but I thought I could just ease it down. Nope. Lesson learned.
I continued out to the Independence Bridge, which was my decision point as to whether to loop home via Independence Hwy or go farther south. I stopped, evaluated, and quickly decided the century was not going to happen today. I called Kim and then headed across the river and home.
I turned off Independence Hwy to take advantage of the quieter road and smoother paving of Greenwood Rd. Along the way, some chump in a beat-up small pickup zoomed me and threw change out the window. None of it hit me, but it was annoying.
Once on Hwy 22, the fun continued when two clowns in a jacked-up 4WD Ford pickup (late model, greenish-blue) decided it would be fun to slow down as they passed me, and then gun the engine, spewing a cloud of diesel smoke in my face. I choked, and they got the bird.
A few miles later, I passed the fuel co-op, and guess who was leaving the driveway just then? Yup. Another face full of diesel smoke. This time I called 911. I suspect Polk County SO had better things to do, but who knows?
I passed the pathetically closed Holman Wayside (closed due to Polk County homophobia).
And a short while later I was home, several lessons wiser.
Weather Conditions: Clear, except for a few morning clouds, dry. Variable wind at 3-9 mph, except for strengthening to 14 during the last hour.
Comments: Metric century #23
Statute century #5
Thermometer ride
Total time: 11:20-ish
I had a nice warm-up, Fairview Industrial to Kuebler to Turner Rd. I saw a common grey fox. I observed for several minutes as it unsuccessfully stalked a hapless rodent.
I rode on out to Turner. They are realigning the road through Turner. Nice new pavement and bike lanes developing there.
Past Cascade High School, I continued east on Shaff Rd into new territory. I rolled through mint fields and dodged a super-rainbird that was hosing the road and soaking a farmhouse, while occasionally performing some irrigation.
I came into Stayton unimpressed by the newer part of town. The old downtown was cool, though -- a mid-20th century farm community with creative building re-use going on, such as the bank recycled into a fitness center. (The fitness center folks were nice enough to let me use their restroom.)
I headed south across the Santiam River to Cole School Rd, which is known to a friend who grew up in Scio as "Roller Coaster Rd". I had been very slowly climbing since leaving Salem, but nothing like this road.
First there was short 12% climb, followed by a couple of little rollers and a 7% downgrade. Then a half-mile grunt at 6% (peaking at 11%). Then a short 6% drop and 1/4-mile knee-breaker 8.5% climb that topped out at 18%. A couple of rollers, and then another 1/4-mile climb. Here the road became Richardson Gap Rd. And then...
The elevator drop: one mile of descent with an average downgrade of 6%, peaking at 15%, with a hairpin turn for good measure. This gave me my top speed for the day.
And at the bottom, the beautiful Shimanek covered bridge over Thomas Creek.
To top it off, the next 4.5 miles were straight as an arrow with good pavement and low traffic. I averaged 19.0 mph with an avg HR of 129. The farmland was pleasant, and the road went through a literal gap in the surrounding steep hills.
Eventually, there was a short climb and descent, followed by climbing rollers as we got into the hills NE of Lebanon. I had to yell at a few dogs. I got onto part of the route from the Strawberry Century, and descended into Waterloo.
The Waterloo store was a nice break. A quart of Wilcox Old Fashioned chocolate milk and some shade did wonders.
I crossed Hwy 20 and left the SC route behind me as I climbed the 250' to Sodaville. Pretty road, low traffic. Will have to go back to Sodaville sometime and check out the soda springs.
From Sodaville, I rode to Brownsville on rural two-lane roads. Rock Hill Rd was fine. Brownsville Rd was chipsealed and bedeviled by the occasional wheel-swallowing pothole.
There was a one-mile climb shortly before coming into Brownsville that is notable both for the nice descent and for the dogs who hate cyclists. The dogs came after me as I was climbing past their house. I grabbed my can of Halt! (for the third time today!), and used it on the golden retriever who wanted a piece of me for riding past his driveway. Just a dab will do ya, Mr. Dog. Wonderful stuff, that Halt....
In Brownsville, I gratefully used the public restrooms across the street from the library. In a historic little town like Brownsville, you would expect to find a soda fountain. Sadly, I was disappointed. I checked out Pioneer Park for future reference, as they allow camping. It looked shady and green and generally quite promising (except for the short hill between the park and downtown).
The Dari-Mart on the south side of the river had my consolation for no soda fountain: a banana, two quarts of Gatorade, and an orange popsicle. I felt a lot better about everything except for the time of day, which was a bit after 2 p.m.
After eating and lubing the chain, I took a look at maps and reevaluated. Route options from Brownsville included my original planned route to Harrisburg or a cut-off west to Halsey followed by a ride north on Hwy 99E. Hwy 99E did not sound appealing in the warm sun, so I called Kim to check in and see what the forecast was for winds down here (northerly at 3-6 mph ("...gusting to 9" -- really! that's what it said!) and then headed for Harrisburg on Gap Rd.
What a pretty ride! Very little traffic. The price was a 1.75 mile climb (max 11%). The reward was a downhill (except for a couple of roller-ish hills) run all the way to Harrisburg. There were small valleys with terrain verging on oak savanna. Very pleasant.
The road turned west and became Diamond Hill Road. I picked up a cross-wind, but arrived quickly at I-5, where I realized I was very close to Katr's aunt's house.
The gentle descent continued a few more miles into Harrisburg. My intention was to poke around downtown a bit, but I was starting to feel the time pressure, so I headed north on Peoria Road.
I was delighted to find that the forecast northerly winds were in error, as I picked up a nice gentle tailwind. For the next 21 miles, I breezed along, helped by a slow loss of altitude (80 feet) at a 17.7 mph average. The scenery was verdant farmland with occasional views of the Willamette River. From time to time, I heard raptor screams. I rode through Peoria, which felt like a town that used to be something more but had slipped into bedroom community status.
An hour out of Harrisburg, I started seeing the outskirts of Corvallis, including the world plant diversity maintenance program facilities.
My speeds dropped going through Corvallis due to headwinds, traffic, and growing fatigue and hunger. I stopped at Safeway on the north end of Corvallis. After a half-gallon of organic chocolate milk and a banana, I felt better.
I had been on the road for nine hours, with just over seven hours riding for about 103 miles. It was 5:30, and I was ready to be home. And after I headed north again on Hwy 99W, it really showed.
My speed dropped below my average, despite gentle rolling hills and nice scenery. I rode through the sleepy village of Lewisville via Elliot Rd (thus avoiding the nasty intersection at 99W).
I enjoyed nice views to the southeast, as the road was higher than the old floodplain. Unfortunately, just after a check-in call to Kim, a ground-nesting hornet collided with my left arm.
I have never met a more ill-tempered creature than the hornet, and this one proved no exception, stinging me two or three times in the exact same spot before I could brush it off. Fortunately, the pain subsided over the next 20 minutes. Now I know I'm not allergic to the little buggers, at least.
I also had the road I was on, Corvallis-Independence rd, confused with Buena Vista Rd. Buena Vista is mostly flat. Need I say more?
I was not expecting the two climbs and numerous rollers. Nor was I expecting another super-rainbird encounter. I got pretty wet and was sun-blinded as the road headed into the western sun. Thankfully, the road turned north again after 1/4 mile.
The hills really gave me trouble, though. I struggled to keep my HR in zone 3, as my average speed dropped to 13.5 and my average HR went up to 136.
Finally, I got to the Independence bridge. I got a nice boost in speed heading across the flats on River Rd. Past the first/last railroad crossing, the battery on the Edge finally gave out. Not having a HR monitor any longer, I just started pedaling. I rolled into Salem, and after one last climb (and a wrong turn), I was at our friend Fara's house, where Kim was visiting.
Weather Conditions: Sunny and dry, winds 5-9, northerly in the a.m., calm midday, southerly in the afternoon, westerly in the early evening.
Comments: Anaerobic ride, using a different route than usual.
Out Pringle to Madrona to Fairview Industrial Park to Marietta to 27th to Kuebler to Commercial to 12th Street, then around campus and home.
I wanted something that was going to be be about an hour, including warm-up and cool-down (the Pratum loop is more like 80 minutes). This route was good. I was concerned I was going to hit hills too early -- i.e. during warm-up -- but it worked out just about right.
Only spent a little over 17 minutes anaerobic. My left Achilles was a bit tender, so that was fine for today. Next time, I'll add some more on my heading a little farther south and then cutting over to Commercial.
As is often the case, I didn't really get in the groove until 25-30 minutes into it, then I felt great.
Rode out to McKay Park for the Wednesday morning ride and got there in time today. I rode with the faster group. (Next time I want to ride with this group, make sure it's on an anaerobic workout day -- aerobic just wasn't quite enough to keep up.)
We did a nice loop on few stretches of road I hadn't ridden before on a meandering route through Hayesville and Lake Labish out to Waconda Road, then west to Wheatland Road and back down through the flats on Ravena. We rode back in to Keizer and then stopped for lunch at the Subway on Lockhaven. The group was very spread out now, with about 2/3 of the group having decided to ride on to Woodburn, apparently.
Had a few nice but short conversations with folks while riding, but mostly I rode by myself due to the slightly different tempo.
After lunch, I headed back home, as I didn't need to go back to the start site to get my car. I took care of some tasks here and then rode to the salle for work.
The hop harvest was in full swing in the flats, and I scooped up a branch of hops that was on the road. I enjoyed the floral aroma as I rode along. I now understand why hops are grown the way they are, having gotten a peek at a processing operation.
Up near Waconda Road I passed a cornfield in full tassel -- oh, that lovely smell. Wow.
Technical: Still haven't remounted the TailSok yet, darn it. Also getting a bit more creaking from the soles of my shoes rubbing some portion of the pedal. Hmm....
Weather Conditions: A few clouds, dry, with light northerly breezes.
Comments: Metric century #24
Thermometer ride
Total time: 8:16
Corrected max. altitude is 672'
Rode out to Shrewsbury Renaissance Faire in Kings Valley.
Rode out 22 to Rickreall. Passed two women cyclists returning, who responded to my hello with a grim utterance of "Nasty headwind...." I replied, "Yes, but it's a tailwind for me for now!" They didn't seem amused.
I took the MUP south to Monmouth from Rickreall and picked up a full tailwind, averaging 21.2 mph. Wonderful!
I rode out on the Monmouth Hwy to kings Valley Hwy (briefly) and then got onto Airlie Rd, which had been recently repaved. What a lovely surprise!
I continued to Maple Grove Rd, where I rode west to Pedee. I was disappointed to find the Pedee store to be no more. I saw a helicopter with an empty water bucket flying back from the wildfire east of Pedee, as well as the smoke from the fire (later found to be started by some guys shooting .50 rounds of incendiaries into a tree stump...).
I arrived at Shrewsbury with an average speed of 14.9 over 38.9 miles and 684 feet of climbing. Not bad!
The RenFaire did not impress me very much. I got some food (and ice cream!) and wandered around. The Seattle Knights were the featured "act", and they were pretty corny. I had hoped for a lot better. Good karma points for the woman at the lemonade stand who refilled my water bottle with lemonade, though!
I headed out, continuing south on my loop. While the store in Pedee was closed for good, the store in Kings Valley was thriving! Whoo hoo! Gatorade was mine!
I had planned to ride out to Hoskins, but bagged that due to the time and headed east on Maxfield Creek Rd to Airlie. What a nice cycling road! It was also a nice little climb over the hills (300 feet in 4 miles), with a nice descent down to Airlie Road.
I spun along with a stiff crosswind. I crossed Hwy 99W, rode through Suver, and then was back on Corvallis Rd again (from last week) for 1.8 miles. This time, I turned right on Prather Rd and climbed a bit more to coast down into Buena Vista.
I was worried I was going to miss the last ferry, when I spotted a very curious sight on the road coming my way: a scruffy-looking guy carrying all of his worldly possessions (apparently), including a shovel and some other hand tools, walking up the hill. It made quite a sight. It would have been interesting to learn his story, but the ferry awaited.
I got to the ferry with 20 minutes to spare. The river was very low. I trundled along, back on familiar ground for a bit.
I turned onto Sidney Rd and headed north. The north winds were moderating somewhat by then, which was good. A little over half a mile after I turned onto Sidney Rd, I heard a "Hey!" behind me, followed immediately by the clicking of a dog running on pavement. I caught a glimpse of a large blur of dark fur about 15 feet behind my left shoulder. I reached for the Halt!, but the dog responded to its owner's call. Scared the bejeebers outta me -- no bark, no growl, no nothing.
Sidney Road turned a sharp corner and became Riverside Dr. What a nice piece of countryside. Small farms, early evening golden light, and rolling hills for a few miles before a short climb, and then a zooming little descent under the railroad and onto the old river bottom.
I had been dealing with some fatigue for the last few miles, and it continued through the rich farmland. I have got to eat more as I am riding, I think.
I was dampened by a large sprinkler as I passed under some big old cottonwoods that were full of thousands of twittering birds. Then I was at the Independence bridge on the home stretch.
I had forgotten/neglected to fully charge all my batteries, so my taillight dropped into get-me-home mode as I passed Blue Heron Farms on River Rd. A mile or so later, my headlight did the same thing. The sun was down. The lights were enough to make me seen in the twilight, but I was glad I didn't have far to go.
Got home with no further adventures.
Technical: First ride with new Speedplay Frog pedals. Had some trouble getting the left cleat to stay engaged, but adjusted the cleat position and achieved pedaling nirvana. I now understand why people describe them as weird at first -- kinda like ice skating on pedals -- slippery. I was able to get the cleat position a little closer to the center of my foot than with the Shimanos. Also, these cleats protrude just a bit more than the SPDs on my Lake MX60 shoes, so no more walking on wood floors. All in all, two thumbs up!
Weather Conditions: Clear, dry, northerly winds 10-15, gusting to 20-ish
Rode up the Yachats River to the Yachats covered bridge with Katr (happy b-day!) -- a very pleasant ride. The last couple of miles were on gravel on the north fork of the river, but it was good gravel.
Unexpectedly found a geocache near the bridge. Coolness!
Back at Yachats River Rd, Katr set out for the place where we were all staying. I kept going upriver in hopes of reaching Fisher and seeing the covered bridge there.
To be continued...
Technical: First ride with iPhone. Didn't have cell service for much of the ride, and it didn't re-acquire service in Yachats until I turned it completely off and then back on -- a power-saving mode gone slightly awry, perhaps?
Comments: Rode our Hwy 22 to Greenwood Rd and then south to Clow Corner Rd and west to Hwy 99W. (Note to self: only the first few hundred yards of Clow Corner are paved, followed by gravel that gets progressively more washboarded until the junction with Rogers Rd shortly efore 99W -- ugh).
Jogged north on the MUP to Orrs Corner and then out to Dallas, where by heading north I finally left the headwind behind that had been with me since Salem.
Rode north on Perrydale Rd (MFT) -- old, old Hwy 22, basically. It had a number of rollers that were just a bit too long to roll through, but low traffic and nice views across the valley in places.
Crossed Hwy 22 and continued north on Perrydale Rd (still MFT). This section was repaved this summer and was lovely pastoral riding. Stopped for a snack and to e-mail Kim at the top of a hill across from a u-pick apple farm. The westerly wind picked up ere into a stiff crosswind. Looked at the time and decided that I needed to head for home at Perrydale.
Had a speedy descent into Perrydale, then headed for home with a tailwind that blew me all the way to the climb into Zena (20.6 avg).
At Zena, I realized I had enough time to go through Brush College, so off I went. I had decided to let myself go anaerobic if needed, so the climb went well, averaging 6.6 mph with a avg HR of 150 (max 160).
Descended to Wallace Rd and rode to the salle, then home later on.
Technical: Reinstalled the TailSok last night. Hard to get empirical data, but I think it helped in the crosswinds today. Front tires are wearing more rapidly than I would like -- especially the right tire (?). Continue to be pleased with the Frog Speedplay pedals and the iPhone.
Weather Conditions: Mostly cloudy at first, then partly cloudy later. Dry. Variable westerly winds 7-10, gusty at times.
Sunnyview to Howell Prairie to Aumsville. Lunch at Neufeldt's. Aumsville Hwy to 72nd to 64th to the jog at State Street, then north to Fruitland.
Left the route then to go home via Cordon, Swegle, Market, Lancaster, D, and 17th.
A nice ride. Tailwind southbound was lovely from Sunnyview to State Street (22.6 mph avg). Headwind on the way home didn't seem to affect me too badly.
Clothing: The usual, plus leg and arm warmers. Only got a little warm climbing on Howell Prairie after State St.
Weather Conditions: Mostly cloudy, then partly cloudy. Cool and dry and with a steady northerly wind at 14-17 with occasional gusts.
Rode out Pringle/Madrona to Fairview Industrial Park and then onto Strong Road past the old Fairview Training Center and Hillcrest School. Turned right on Marietta and rode up to 27th and then south to Boone Rd and jogged over to Battle Creek.
There is a new sidewalk (still curing) that connects Battle Creek with oregonkc's neighborhood. Will make getting there by bike a bit easier. Continued out Battle Creek to Parrish Gap and had a nice ride.
On impulse, I turned right on Cloverdale Rd to see where it went. I enjoyed the ride over the hills to Hwy 99E. It came out at Willamette Valley Vineyards. I rode north briefly to the Sunnyside overpass and then rode south on Sunnyside. I stopped to take a photo of the ponies that trotted after katr and I a few weeks back.
Eventually Sunnyside Rd ended and I had to cross over I-5 again and get on Jefferson Hwy (old 99E). I rode south to Ankeny Hill Rd and then west. I stopped at the NWR overlook for a snack, and then continued on down to the Buena Vista ferry.
Once across the river (water was very low), I rode north on Buena Vista Rd. Again, on impulse, I took a right on Wells Landing Rd and rode past a cluster of nice little homes.
I took another right on Wigrich Rd (a dead end) to see where it went. It was a nice ride through a variety of orchards, across a couple of sloughs that were long-ago channels for the Willamette River. Just before the road ended, I caught sight of two osprey circling a tree very close to the road. Couldn't quite get the camera ready in time, but got a nice shot of some incipient fall color. Wigrich ended at a good-sized farm with well-maintained grounds. Of curiosity were a few small-scale "old west" buildings across a pasture. Couldn't get a good enough look to get any hint as to what they were for.
Headed back west on Wigrich to the junction with Wells Landing Rd and kept going west. Wigrich met Buena Vista Rd at a T intersection that the map names as Modeville. There's no evidence of a "ville" there now, but there is what it clearly an old railroad grade angling off. From the satellite photos, it looks like it used to connect up with the railroad to the west, which still runs north to Independence. Wonder what the story is?
From Modeville, I headed north to the Independence Bridge. From there, it was across the flats to River Rd and home (via Riverdale Rd).
Weather Conditions: A few clouds, dry. Northerly winds 10-12 mph and gusty.
Comments: Metric century #25 Statute century #6 Thermometer ride Total time: 9:24
Peach of a Century -- a very nice ride.
The ride began and ended at Chemeketa Community College. I rode over there, registered, chatted with folks a bit, and got on the road at 0830.
Headed south on Cordon Rd to Turner Rd and then west to Parrish Gap just north of Cloverdale. During the climb to the summit of Parrish Gap, bike2live caught up with me, followed shortly by youngbentrider. I rode with them for a couple of miles on the descent. Then we hit the flats and they slowly pulled ahead. We continued south to Jefferson and our first rest stop.
After a snack and blabbing with a few folks (including a couple from OBR), we took Jefferson-Scio Rd to Kelly Rd on down to Crabtree, then north on Hungry Hill Rd.
Bike2live had said he was going to bypass this road in favor of Hwy 226. I'm glad I rode it. There was some rough chipseal, but I've ridden worse. The scenery was nice, with no traffic. After a jog north on 226 at the end of Hungry Hill Rd, we rode east on Montgomery until we arrived at Richardsons Gap Rd, where we turned north again.
At Hwy 226, we turned west again for Scio. Thanks to good pavement and a very faint downgrade (0.4%), I put my head back and just cruised for 2 miles, averaging 20.3 mph. It was a nice feeling to just be in the groove.
This was MFT in Scio. A nice little town, reasonably well preserved. Will have to make it a lunch destination.
Just north of Scio on Miller-Cemetery Rd was an unexpected short steep climb (15%). Ugh. Had to stop a couple of times.
The road became Shelburn Dr, and gently continued climbing, eventually becoming Stayton-Scio Road, where the metric century riders rejoined us. This route carried us north to Stayton and our second rest stop in the city park.
The OHPV gang was there, including Aero_Diva and Jeff and Diane. I was getting hungry, so I munched away for awhile.
From there, the route took us west to Gardner Street and north to Shaff Rd (familiar from a ride a few weeks back). Unfortunately, I missed a pavement marking and followed a group that turned out to be 62-milers. 1.5 miles later, I realized my mistake and backtracked.
I was worried that my extra three miles would put me waaay at the back of the pack in a possible repeat of OBR Day 3. I saw some riders a half-mile ahead of me turning north on Cascade Hwy. As I made the same turn, they were nowhere to be seen and there was no one behind me, reinforcing my fears.
Just before we got to Sublimity, there was a short climb in a high-traffic zone with little to no shoulder. I stopped at the top (where there was a driveway) to she arm warmers. As I was leaving two women pulled up and asked if they were on the 100-mile route. Yep, I said, thinking to myself, yea, there are people behind me still!
Rrelieved, I set out again. A bit north of Sublimity, the route began to climb up to a ridge. Other than a couple of short drops, we had 5.8 miles of climbing to our summit for the day on Victor Point Road. The view from the ridge west across the Willamette Valley is always fine, and today was no exception.
After 5 miles of up and down, we descended into Silverton. 2.7 miles of speed was very nice, averaging 32.3 mph and peaking at 40.1. It was a fine thing to pass all those folks....
In Silverton, the route was poorly marked. I didn't make any wrong turns, but I often wondered if I was on the right route.
Eventually we ended up on Meridian Rd headed north for Mt. Angel. The last rest stop was a distant memory, and I was getting hungry again. I grazed on snacks, which helped some, but I really needed to get off the bike and eat something more substantial.
From Silverton on, I had been by myself for the most part, except for one rider who briefly caught up with me to ask if we had missed a rest stop in Silverton (at least I wasn't the only one feeling hungry!). He drafted me for a few hundred yards, and then began sucking wind as the road started to descend gently and I pulled away. I wasn't able to cruise as nicely as earlier in the day, but it helped.
I could see Mt. Angel over to the left, but we just kept going north. I was beginning to wonder when we were ever going to turn when we finally came to a turn on Dominic Rd and headed for town.
A bit down Dominic Rd, I came upon Aero_Diva stopped and talking with one of the sag folks. I was happy to see a familiar face, so I stopped, too. We rode on into Mt. Angel together to the rest stop.
Jane was at the stop with her hand-foot bike. After filling the fuel tank, we all headed for Salem. Aero_Diva was going a bit slower than I wanted to ride, as I could see a possibility developing of a 16 mph average speed for the ride. Jane left 30 seconds ahead of me and led by a few hundred meters. I figured I would catch up to her soon and ride with her for awhile.
Wrong. I just couldn't catch her without going anaerobic. She can ride! I thought we were going back by away of Saratoga, but we turned north just before the junction and rode on Waypark. Still couldn't catch up to Jane. Howell Prairie, then Wabash. Still behind.
We turned right on Duck Inn, then right again on Waconda Rd, where we caught a little headwind and I finally started to gain some ground. Ha! We turned left on 72nd and rode past the cemetery and the old church. Jane's riding partner Steve began to fall behind. I caught him, but she was still elusive.
After a dogleg, 72nd became 75th and I finally caught up to Jane with a little push. We chatted and rode together for the rest of the ride. She is a little bit faster than me on hills, but I am a little faster on descents. The difference is small enough that we can ride together fairly well.
On we rode on roads that were mostly familiar to me, eventually ending up on Hazelgreen, and then heading south on Cordon Road. Another rider passed us both, and Jane tucked in behind him. I tucked in behind Jane, and away we went, averaging a little better than 18 mph. It meant I had to go anaerobic a bit, but we were almost done and my average was up to 15.9.
Shortly before the last turn, we left the other rider. I pushed, but 15.9 was my avg when I pulled in to CCC for a slice of pie (apple -- they were out of peach) and the end of the ride (at 1718).
After a bit of chatting with folks, I headed home for my cooldown ride. I got home safely to find my wonderful wife had a dish of olives waiting for me -- a yummy recovery snack -- followed by a caesar salad and pastitsio (Greek lasagna, basically) and two pints of chocolate milk.
Ahhhhh.....
Maintenance: Oiled the chain.
Technical: Mminor issues with RD cable tension -- need to give the RD some attention. Also, flaky HRM again, but I figured out that that I have lost enough weight that after an hour or two's riding, the strap absorbs enough sweat that it doesn't hold the sensors tight enough. Ah-ha!
Clothing: Usual, plus arm/leg warmers. Took off arm warmers at Sublimity.
Food and water: Two liters of water was fine. Would have liked to have had more than 1 liter of Powerade. Still not happy with the food situation -- I am going to try carrying some Boost on longer rides. I do not like the taste of Heed (drink at rest stops -- yech). The Power-whatever protein bar that came with my registration proved useful for quelling hunger pangs if I ate a couple of bites and followed it with lots of water. Had no bloating or unhappy gut this way.
Weather Conditions: Partly cloudy and dry. Light variable winds at times.
Comments: Rode Pratum loop with OregonKC (congrats on the PB!) as a recovery ride.
Extended the loop north to Lardon Rd, then back south on Cordon where we picked up a nice little tailwind. Left OregonKC at Sunnyview and rode on to the salle, then home after work.
A nice ride.
Weather Conditions: A few clouds, dry. Northerly winds 4-6 mph.
Comments: The Club Ride That Wasn't plus a commute
Personal best for average speed at distance over 50 miles
Passed the 5,000 mile mark on Trikey today!
This ride put me (at least briefly) above 500th place (498) on BJ for the first time, which has been a goal.
This was an interesting ride. I tarted out trying to catch the Wednesday morning club ride, but got a late start and made a wrong turn to boot (brain was on autopilot to go somewhere else). So, as I approached the rendezvous point, I saw a string of club riders heading out. I joined in to find out it was the "slow" group (including my friend Susan M. who was surprised to see me). They told me the fast group had headed out ten minutes earlier and gave me a rough idea where they were going.
A ten-minute lead... Hmm.... Or, I could stick with the slow group, who seemed very nice. But today was supposed to be an anaerobic ride, so I off I went to play catch-up. I figured that with a few higher traffic shortcuts, I should be able to catch them north of Keizer.
I jammed through north Salem via Ward Drive, Portland Rd, Hyacinth, Verda Lane, and Lockhaven to get to River Rd. I pumped north a bit to Wheatland Rd, which was where the fast group was headed. I kept pushing along, figuring that I would either catch the caboose or that the leaders would catch up to me.
I rode Wheatland Rd all the way to Matheny, and then kept going on Matheny (a new road for me). No sign of 'em.
I stopped to look at the map where Matheny joined up with River Rd, trying to guess where they might be. I had been moving right along -- avg speed of 16.6 since River Rd in Keizr 35 minutes earlier. I was definitely getting my anaerobic workout, with an average HR of 18 for that same section.
I spotted a guy working outside. "Hi! Did you happen to see a bunch of cyclists cruise by about ten minutes ago?"
"Yep. They went thataway."
Ah-ha! I poured on more speed. I was now out in the flatlands of French Prairie. I had a slight headwind, but I managed to average 19.0 for the 2.1 miles between Mr. Thataway and the point at which I realized I wasn't going to catch them.
I figure they must have turned off toward Woodburn, but there was no way for me to know which route they took. So, I decided to press on to St. Paul and have lunch at a little cafe that I wad been wanting to try.
Since I was groovin' right along, I kept it up -- especially since I had to be at the salle for a 2:00 lesson and it was 11:30. Hmmm. With lunch and good speed, I should be fine. Onward I went.
It was another 8.1 miles to St. Paul and Huber's Wild Mustang Cafe. I averaged 17.3 for this stretch, thanks to a few little hills. I was starting to get hungry about 3 miles out.
The cafe was excellent, and will be a future lunch stop. Much of their stuff is homemade, including some very fine potato salad. Nice folks running the place, too.
It was about 12:30 when I plunked myself back down in the lawn chair to head home. I was getting a little concerned about time, so I decided to just take River Rd all the way back. I knew it had good pavement and it was the shortest route.
Good choice. My average speed for the whole ride was at 16.5 and continuing to climb, which is a good clip for me. I wondered if I could get it to 17. Then, just south of St. Paul, I picked up a little tailwind. Whoo hoo!
I felt great, even though I was solidly anaerobic. I kept my breathing steady and deep and focused on my pedaling technique. And I kept my cadence a bit higher than usual (averaged 102).
It paid off. I watched m average speed continue to climb. I averaged 20.8 mph for the next 45 minutes. My average HR went up to 151, but I still felt good. When I hit River Road and Lockhaven in Keizer, my average speed for the ride was up to 17.7. Wow!
For comparison, at PIR during the 1-hour road race, my average speed was 20.5 with an average HR of 163 -- and that was with 4.5 miles spent drafting. At the end of that I was wiped out.
Once I got into town, my speeds naturally dropped a little bit. Even so, I arrived at the salle with an overall average of 17.79 for the day, and 50.44 miles.
For a cooldown, I walked over to the convenience store a couple of blocks away and bought a quart of chocolate milk (my recovery drink of choice). It wasn't the best cooldown, but I knew I had an active afternoon and evening ahead at the salle.
Rode home after work, and still felt good.
Clothing: The usual, plus leg warmers, and I wore my WU jersey and matching arm warmers (MFT for these arm warmers). The arm warmers are lighter weight than my Specializeds, but they kept me comfortable. I was briefly chilly right after lunch, but otherwise stayed comfy. Fall is definitely here....
Weather Conditions: A few clouds in the morning, then clear. Dry. Northerly winds 7-12 with occasional gusts.
Round and Round and 'Bent Outta Shape
