| (Long Distance) Ramblings |
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I like to ride my bicycle - for long distances. I have earned the California Triple Crown and finished the Furnace Creek 508. My goals include qualifying for RAAM and ...(read the blog to find out). "The bicycle has a soul. If you are able to love it as it deserves, it will give you emotions you will never forget." "Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride."
"The important decisions in my life I make while out riding my bike."
"Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever.” Lance Armstrong
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Saturday, January 28, 2006
Saturday Century #4Yet another rainy long ride. Due to the weather forecast (Rain. 100% chance. Highs around 50. Southwest wind 15 to 20 mph.), Joanne and I decided to ride our yellow Meridian tandem equipped with yellow fenders. It was not raining when we left our house at 8:00 am. We made it past Marquam and were almost to Scotts Mills before the rain began. It would be with us for the rest of the morning. The rain was bad, but not as bad as the wind. Our route included 50 miles of head wind. Head wind that brought us down to 13 miles per hour on Meridian road. Joanne and I had fun comparing today's wind with wind we have faced in the pass. There was the wind on Cascade Hwy that made us walk our bikes. Then there was the wind that Keith Lippy and I rode into on 62nd Ave. It was so strong we could only do 6 miles and hour against it. Someday, Joanne and I will remember today's epic wind. There not many restrooms the Willamette Valley. It came to pass that we needed one. But there was none to be found. We stopped at the Marion Store, but there was the "No Public Restrooms" sign. OK, but are there any private restrooms? So, we started to look for bushes. Bear in mind that we were riding in the flat farmland of the Willamette Valley. There are lots of fields and lots of farm houses, but not that many bushes. Finally, I notice some we passed Libby Lane. I called out that we would be doing a u-turn, and in a hopeful voice, Joanne said "Bushes?". The ride ended up being 102 miles long and we finished with a 14.5 mile per hour average and we gained 1744 feet of elevation. It was a long, tiring ride.
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