Saturday Century - rain shortened

Joanne and I started the Le Tour de Valley in the rain. It rained all of the way to the first rest stop. It rained all of the way to the second rest stop. The rain stopped on the way to the third rest stop, but the headwind picked up. And it rained all of the way back to the start. There, we were to do a second 35 mile loop, back to the same rest stop that we just left. However, it started to rain even harder, and as we were cold, we did not do the second loop.

We rode the new Cannondale "Rain" Tandem, and again I was impressed with it. The disk brakes stop well in the rain, and the fenders helped to keep our feet dry. At least it took our feet longer to get wet than if the bike did not have fenders.

We rode the entire route alone. There was a group of four singles who were five minutes behind us. We would be leaving a rest stop just as they were pulling in.

All in all, it was a good day to ride, but after four hours of all most constant rain, it is hard to continue.

Posted 9:04 PM by John Henry

A 200K Recovery Ride

Mark and I rode the Oregon Randonneurs 200K Brevet last Saturday. We left Willsonville shortly after 6:00 am and head south across the Boone Bridge on I-5. The roads were damp due to a early morning spring shower, but the sky was just cloudy as we exited the freeway and passed by Aurora Airport.

Mark and I soon lead the group as most of the fast riders started an hour earlier on the 400K route. Yes, Mark and I considered doing the 400K, but the forecast was for rain and I was recovering from last weeks Central Coast Double. Mark and I rode the entire ride together but without anyone else as there were just six other riders on the shorter route.

The route took us due south on Meridian Road to Silverton. There, we continued south on Cascade Highway to Stayton. Leaving Stayton, we took Cole School Road south toward Scio (the Silverton-Stayton-Scio or SSS route?). It has been a very long time since I last rode Cole School Road, years in fact. Why, because it may be straight on the map, but it has one of the steepest short hills in the Willamette Valley. My inclinometer read a consistent 17% as I struggled up a rather large roller.

Arriving in Scio, we decided to stop for lunch as there were no towns for several miles after Scio. Lunch in Scio was very interesting. We stopped at a coffee shop/cafe and sat at the window looking out on Main Street. We could see the town come alive in preparation of the Scio Lamb and Wool Festival. This town goes all out for this festival. We saw the preparations for the parade which made me wish we could stay and watch, but we had 70 miles left to ride.

Leaving Scio, we mis-read the route sheet and added nine miles, but in doing so, we did avoid one hill. Now, we were on the Covered Bridge and Peach of a Century route, but in reverse. Yes, that means we did Hunger Hill Road, love that name!

We pass through the small town of Crabtree and then turned northward and headed toward Salem. Now, the weather warmed up and the clouds cleared. All of the rain gear that we started with began to come off. Our saddle bags were full as well as our bicycle jersey pockets. It was a good thing that the route back to Willsonville took us within a mile of my home. We stopped there and dumped off all of the spare clothing.

The balance of the ride was northward, with somewhat of a tail wind. Mark and I quickly covered the distance back to the Boone Bridge but now it was in the afternoon and very busy. We crossed it without incident. I attempted to talk Mark into using the Canby Ferry, but it was miles out of our way.

We arrived back at the start ten hours and one minute after we started. All in all, I am please with the time, but it was slower than the 200K we did earlier in the year. I believe this was due to the number of stops we took.

At the finish, we enjoyed pizza that was provided by the Oregon Randonneurs. Yum!

At Eden's Gate 200K
Map
Elevation Profile
DST - 135.12 miles
AVG - 16.5 mph
MAX - 42.4 mpg
ATM - 8:10:31
Average Heart Rate - 121 bpm

With a total time of 10:01:00 and a ride time of 8:10:31, you can see that we took nearly 1 1/2 hours in breaks.

Posted 8:08 PM by John Henry

Surviving the Move, and the Central Coast Double

Where to begin?

The Move

We are in our new house and slowly emptying the boxes. We have a lot of work yet to do, but the house is coming around slowly.

The move itself went well. In four days, everything we owned was transported the seven miles to our new house. Except for the Spa, it had to wait a week until the spa movers could get to it. DirectTV did a very good job of re-connecting us during the move. We had TV in time for OLN's coverage of the Giro on Sunday. However, Quest dropped the ball. First, they gave us a new number after telling us we could keep the old number. Then, once notified of their error, it took them five days to give us our old number back. Then there were delays in getting the DSL circuit up. I was down for over a week.

Central Coast Double

Well, here is my report.

The night before the ride, I found pasta at Wilson's, a "family" restaurant in Paso Robles. The portion was fair to small and I have had better spaghetti, but it was what I needed the night before a long ride.

Woke up at 4:30 and consumed 2 bottles of Ensure, one small banana and one Paley Bar. So, I had more than 800 calories, but this amount felt good. I was ready to ride.

We started at 5:40 am and the climbing soon began. I climbed well and stayed with the main group for much of the first climb. But, when it got steep, I backed off as it is a long ride. There are some steep sections on the way to the first rest stop. My HAC4 was reading a 17% incline and I saw at least one rider get off and walk the steepest sections. Soon, I reach the first rest stop which is perched on a ridge line. Below us we could see the fog filling the canyon below us. The was our route to the ocean. I descended to the coast mostly by myself, but I joined four other riders and we formed a pace line that sucked up others for 27 miles. It was a very good pace for me, fast enough but not too fast.

Once we left the second rest stop, we were either climbing or descending. This went on for 20 miles to the base of the big climb - Nacimiento/Ferguson Road.

On the climb I started out with the same group of folks, but they soon dropped me. The climb was just as hot, and just as steep, and just as long as last year, but I did much better. Just for this climb. I replaced my 30-tooth granny chainring with a 26 tooth ring. I must say that my 26x27 is a very good gear. None the less, both knees complained. I paused shortly at the top and then descended down to lunch at 113 miles. I felt much better during this portion, I even felt good. The knee pain never came back.

I had a short lunch and started off with Greg Olsen from Gresham. But soon he broke a spoke in the the rear drive side of his low-spoke Shimano wheel. His wife was nearby in their van with is other bike but he does not carry a cell so he asked to use mine. The problem was that we did not have cell coverage for several miles. We stopped four times before we had enough bars to make a call to his wife. I stayed with him until I felt his wife would be able to find him. Only then did I go on alone.

This was a very hot section, and I ran out of fluids. But on the long climb before the next rest stop, I passed someone who was truely suffering. He could barely turn over his pedals and he looked like he could fall over at any moment. He said he was OK when I asked, but I had my douths.

I reached the rest stop very hot, and my brain was cooked. I drank a Mountain Dew, then went inside of the community center and put my head underneath the bathroom sink faucet and ran cold water over my head. This refreshed me and I felt much better. This is the stop where I picked up my lights (and Peppermint Patty - which another rider saw and wanted!).

Along the way to the next stop, I decided to stop at a market and get some ice for my bottles as I was still feeling the heat of the day. It was here that I dropped my eyeglasses and my prescription insert broke. I purchase some superglue to repair it, but I wasted more time here than I should have.

None the less, I knew I was ahead of my time last year as it was still daylight when I passed the driveway that I stopped at last year. I finished the hill and descended down to the next rest stop. But, I made a mental miscalculation and thought the rest stop was five miles closer than it was. I was expecting the rest stop at 28 miles, not 32 miles, so when 28 came and went and there was no rest stop, I became a bit panicked. I was afraid that I was off course. I was very glad to see Lee Michell's van drive by! Only then did not realize my error and then I felt OK.

I did not stay long here and started out while it was still daylight. I started a mild climb up into a canyon when the sun set. While the sky still had some light in it, but all around me was in shadows, I saw three owls fly above me. This was the first time I have seen owls in the wild and it was very cool.

I descended to the last rest stop in darkness. There, I was asked to shepard in a woman whose battery had gone dead. We rode in together at a slow pace. I finished at 10:31 pm.


Rest stop times (please note that my HAC4 did not record distance properly):

RS1 - 6 minutes
RS2 - 6 minutes
RS3 - 10 minutes (bottom of the big hill)
Top - 3 minutes
Lunch - 15 minutes
Total (including lunch) is 40 minutes.

Time to Lunch was 8 hours and 106 miles.

Spoke issue - ~20 minutes
RS4 - 29 minutes
Store - 10 minutes
RS5 - 20 minutes
RS6 - 13 minutes
Total 93 minutes plus.

Time of the second hundred was 8:32 and 93 miles.

Final Statistics
DST: 209.25 miles
AVG: 14.4 MPH
Max: 45.3 MPH
ATM: 14:25

During the ride, I consumed one bottle of Sustained Energy (two scopes) with one scope either Gatorade or Revenge Pro between each rest stop. In addition, I had some misc food, a Paley Bar or two, about 5 oz of Hammer Gel, one Peppermint Patty and one small bag of salted peanuts. Oh, I should mention the Popsicle at rest stop 4, the hot dog at rest stop 5 and the Raman noodles at rest stop 6.

Posted 7:37 PM by John Henry

I'm Moving

Yes, that's right. Joanne and I have sold our house and purchase another one in the town north of us - Keizer. We are doubleing the size of our house, moving just a bit closer to my work, and the new house has a three car (two car and one bike) garage!

On Friday, May 4, this site will be down while Qwest/Easystreet move my DSL connection. Hopefully, the equipment will survive the move.

Posted 7:52 AM by John Henry