(Long Distance) Ramblings

It was a good decision to drive SAG on the Peach, rather than ride it.

Here are some (editied) comments from some riders

Well, the weather didn't clear for the Peach. The wind blew, we had rain, it wasn't warm (wasn't too cold either). The trip south from Chemekete Community College featured fairly strong headwinds, and rain. Not a terribly pleasant way to start. The bike felt as though 50 lbs of water had gotten into the frame. Still, we were better off that those on the single bikes, since we must have overtaken over 100 riders. The headwinds let up for the 5 miles in front of the first rest stop - we managed to get up to our regular cruising speed. We elected to ride the 62 mile loop. We did 100 miles in the rain on Ring of Fire - didn't have a great desire to repeat that! The middle leg was short, and slow. Crosswinds are very bad for a tandem. The final leg back to the start was a mixture of slow and fast. There was one point where we got the full benefit of the tail wind, and cursed along for many miles (probably 15) at between 22 and 30MPH. That almost made up for the rain.. Almost! We averaged a feeble 17.8MPH for the day, but I suspect that was better than most. The Salem Bike club puts on a great ride. The rest stops were well stocked - I bet they had plenty left over today. I also imagine that the 100 mile rest stop didn't see much action today. Had the obligatory Peach Pie at the end of the ride. Scott, Linda MH, Nance and I then went to a local restaurant, and had soup! Finally got warm, and sort of dry. We had fun today! ************************ Jason and I also elected to do the 62 mile ride. Pretty much the same experience as Richard and Nance. We averaged 15.7 though... And finished just before the sky opened up (1:30?). We felt sorry for the folks still out riding. After heading through Salem looking for a Starbuck's (no luck), we figured we'd go to the one in Wilsonville. Calling home revealed that Fitz was heading into work (in Wilsonville!), so we met at the Starbuck's. :-) Visited, shared RSVP experiences with the 3 soggy cyclists at the next table (Fitz had already asked if they had done the Peach, and they were asking about RSVP), then went home. And did laundry. ************************ OK, it wasn't that bad. We did more than survive. We actually had quite a bit of fun. But it was definitely not what we'd been looking forward to for months. With a slightly wry smile, the Salem Bike Club people at the finish blamed Lance. After all, the LAF ride usurped the weekend that they'd "pre-ordered" and gummed up the weather works. We (Linda, Michael G., Nat and I... Laura had put herself on the injured reserve list and didn't show) departed at 7:51, coinciding nicely with the spigot in the clouds being flipped to "full open". There was still a little dry pavement in the parking lot when we rolled out, I think, but that didn't last past the first intersection. Rooster tails became the order of the day. RaceBlade fenders work pretty well for keeping the owner's backside dry, but they have little to no effect on riders following. So, Linda and I got pretty plastered front AND back, while Nat and Michael took all their hits on the front. Nat's collection of grime was especially impressive by the end of the day. Any thoughts of hitting a 20 mph riding average were jettisoned very early on as the wind from the south bore in on us. After about 15 miles, my computer had become so soaked that it quit. I coaxed it back to life periodically by blowing the water out of the contacts, but it was a losing battle. So, I have no stats for the day, but that was strangely liberating in and of itself. Sometime after sloshing through Turner, I apparently struck a chord that had been waiting for an outlet: "What do you think about doing 62 instead?" It took about two pedal revolutions to reach a consensus on that one. We were all riding well, feeling strong, but the "vision thing" was becoming a real problem for me. Between water droplets and fog, my view of the ride had been reduced to a bad blend of mpressionism and Jackson Pollock, and cleaning the lenses was a very temporary solution. Other concerns were raised as well (as if we really had to work at talking ourselves out of the century) and we decided to take the shortcut to the barn. It was a very wet, but very nice ride. There's been a course change after Stayton hat makes an already good ride even better. This might have been in effect last year, but I can't remember for sure. Whatever... it's fun and pretty; even on a sloppy gray day. As we dialed in our aim on Chemeketa, we realized with relief that the winds were not going to shift appreciably on us and that we would have a TAILWINDfor most of the last leg! How very cool! The rooster tails flew even higher, but we kept speeding up regardless. Not long before the finish, Linda doused us with a heaping helping of something green and fibrous that had been pulverized into the bike lane (I don't want to know what it was... it's all washed off now!) but that just added a little texture to the fun. At various times on the last leg, we all mentioned that we really were having fun. It WAS fun! Fully saturated fun, but fun in any case. Michael headed out while the rest of us changed clothes, so I didn't get a chance to thank him for his company and share of the work. Thanks, Michael! That also meant I didn't get a chance to give him the print I'd made of him starting out at the State TT. (Linda has it now... you guys can make arrangements if you want. There's a shot of Laura during one of the RAO test rides, too) Lunch with Richard and Nancy and Linda was fun, and yes, it was nice to watch the deluge from a warm and dry restaurant. Ride post-script: As I passed through Manning on my way home, I got caught in one of the very worst showers I'd ever been in while driving. The clouds just tried to purge every bit of water they had in them all in one spot. The roar on the car's roof was like standing beside a turning jet engine. My bike sat placidly on the roof through it all, and when I got home I realized that it had essentially been power-washed from above. Almost all of the road grime and grit is gone. I still need to clean the rims and lube the chain, but the really messy cleanup is pretty much done. ************************ Andrew, Diane, Nanci, and I have a slightly different story. Same start in rain and wind, with rooster tails from two of the four bikes. At the left turn on Turner, we looked at each other and agreed that it wasn't really fun, so we headed straight into Salem, found a hole-in-the-wall cafe named Off Center Cafe, and had a yummy second breakfast, returned to the start for a grand total of 19 miles! No peach pie, as they didn't have a knife to cut it yet, and all the better anyway. When Nance called to arrange lunch, I was already home in my garage cleaning my bikes. I'll have to work on my birthday miles another day. ************************ Wonders will never cease here in Oregon. The weather wizards were right! They forecasted anywhere from 30% to 80% chance of showers yesterday. Depending when & where you were, you could have been in a downpour. And a very nice, character building south wind for all to enjoy. Who says the Salem Bike Club doesn't provide something for everyone? Many folks also got to practice their flat changing skills. It kept our SAG drivers busy. I was there, in herdware, at the start handing out the Road Animal Awards to those who were day of ride registrations. Got to meet a fellow Intel employee, Michael Goldsmith, Richard and Nora Seton and a few others I can't remember their names. I heard someone ask for Amy Reams packet but didn't see her. We had just over 300 folks pre-register and maybe 50 or so didn't show. Then there are those who signed up day of ride. About 100 folks fell into that category. I remarked to a friend that too bad we moved the ride to this date because we didn't want to compete with Lance and that ride had the better weather. He pointed out that if we had the real good weather we could have had the chance of having more riders than we planned on , there would be more chance of some folks suffering sun stroke, and everybody would have delayed finding their winter riding clothes. This was also a chance to seperate the men from the boys and women from the girls. Now we know who will ride during the winter and who has hung their bike up until next April. ;o) A good time was had by all who rode even though we were completely soaked at the end of the day. Thanks to Bob for the great road markings, to Phyllis for the food, to John, Pat, Dick, & Don for SAG support. A great big thanks to Scott for coordinating the ride. Another big thanks to his wife, Angela, for her support too. Thanks go to the many other folks helped with registration setup/teardown along with the Kiwanas Club who manned the rest stops. I just hope Lance doesn't take our day next year. ************************ Key learnings from the Peach: When I woke up this AM I found I *still* had grime coming out of me ears! A GPS falling off the handlebars @ 20 mph bounces about 6 inches vertically and 25 feet horizontally. Road grit is excellent for removing plaque built up on the teeth. My feet were cold and purple at the end of the ride. This purple somehow got transferred to my socks. Riding on the drops in a paceline improves the angle at which your face intersects the roostertail of the rider ahead of you, thereby increasing the efficiency with which filth is transferred to your face. After the paceline rides though a mud patch, you find yourself hoping that the leader drags you through a deep puddle so as to rinse off your glasses. Warm fingers are happy fingers. Cold toes are sad toes. Avoid having *too* much fun when riding in the rain. Smiling tastes bad.

Posted 8:38 PM by John Henry