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