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."
Mario Cipolini
"Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride."
John F. Kennedy
"The important decisions in my life I make while out riding my bike."
Former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi
"Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever.” Lance Armstrong
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Amity Hill's Ride Report
It was clear when I woke up, a clear blue sky which excited me. "Perhaps I'll ride the Colnago."
I only take my Colnago out with the sky is blue, the roads are dry and there is no chance of rain. This is not my rain bike. It is my dry bike.
My riding partner Mark called and asked about the weather. He lives in the West Salem Hills and looking down toward the Willamette River, he could see fog. His concern was that there would be fog on his ride to our starting point, Maude Williamson State Park.
"No fog here" I said, but then looked out my back door which faces the river. "Well, perhaps some, but it does not look bad." Even with the hint of fog, he decided to ride his Masi, another bike that does not come out in the rain.
Leaving home, I found that the fog had closed in and I wondered about the wisdom of my decision to remove my taillight (some times it falls off of the seat bag).
Crossing the river on the Wheatland Ferry, visibility was very limited. But I knew, believed, or hoped that we would climb about the fog. I was a few minutes late arriving that the park, but mark came a few minutes after me. I was watching for him by looking down the road into the fog.
Soon, I saw a ghostly figure came riding toward me. But I was not even sure of what I was seeing. Was this a mailbox or Mark? Slowly, Mark on his red Masi emerged from the fog.
Our first climb was Eloa Hills Road. This is a steep and constant climb for the first mile with some stair stepping at the top. We soon climbed out of the fog and into warm sunlight. We continued up a newly paved dead end road to the highest point we would reach. To the east, we saw a sunlit valley below, to the each, we saw a fogged in valley.
The descent was cool, but never cold as we were riding down into the sunlit valley toward the small town of Amity. However, at the base of the ridge, we turned back toward the east to climb Amity Highway westward. This would be our easiest climb of the day. We descended back toward the fog which was now lifting. Reaching Lafayette Highway, we turned toward the north for 1/2 mile before turning back toward the west and Walnut Hill. This stairsteps up the ridge and has some very steep, but short portions. At the top, we could see the large, green buildings of the Evergreen Air Museum in MacMinnville. The descent was tricky due to the large amount of gravel on the roadway, a result of the recent snowstorm. Now, we had several miles of flat as we road toward Amity.
We stopped at the deli in Amity for food. I choose a large slice of pizzia and Mark got his desired burrito and pasta salad.
Our next climb is toward the northeast of Amity and is one I have never done before - Rice Lane. The first mile is flat along side of the ridge, but then it turns northward and raised steeply. I was soon in my lowest gear (26 x 25), and lifting my front wheel with each pedal stroke. The incline is constant; there is no relief until you reached the top. I could not keep my heart rate down and watched it climb up toward 160 bpm. We gained 550 feet for an average of 12-14% for 2 1/2 miles. A very worthy climb!
The descent was very fast and twisty, I was on my brakes the entire way.
The last climb of the day was a reverse of the first, Eloa Hills eastwards. This one hurt. While I could keep my heart rate down, I could not keep my legs from screaming. I thought to myself, "This is the sound of muscles building." But this did not comfort me. Luckily, this climb was not constant, and there are several sections where I could rest my legs. Obtaining the top, we headed back down the hill we climb this morning, reaching the bottom in a very short period of time.
Mark and I rode back toward Salem together, until we parted ways at Hopewell.
As I approached the Wheatland Ferry, the road descends to the shelf next to the river. Along the bank to the left, for year there has been an orange VW bug in brush. It is only visible in winter, when you can see through the brush. But today I saw that it was gone.
However, near the intersection of River and Brooklake Roads, I saw that someone has deposited a car, almost hidden in the brush. How many years will this one remain?
I must say it was a magnificent day to ride! Only, my legs disagree.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Route for tomorrow
Tomorrow, I intend to do my first hill training ride of the year. I mapped out a 42.5 mile route that crosses the Amity Hills four time. In addition, I added an up and back climb I have never done before - Rice Lane. Total elevation gain is in excess of 3,400 feet.
I will be riding my heavy rain bicycle, my Redline Conquest Pro Ti, that is equipped with fenders as I do expect the roads to be wet.
I intend to keep the intensity down. I will not be trying to keep up with Mark. I just want a hard training ride at a hard, but doable pace.
Mark Janeba and I will leave from Maude Williamson State Park at 10:00 am, hopefully after the morning fog has lifted.
Amity Hills
Elevation
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Second Permanent of the Year
The alarm goes off at 5:00 am, and Joanne and I load up the rain tandem into the van and off to Newburg we to. This will be Joanne's first permanent of the year and my second.
We have chosen the Prairies and Wetlands route. Staring in Newburg, we ride to Mt. Angel, return to Newburg and then travel to Forest Grove and finally return to Newburg. This double loop route allows us to stash supplies, lights and extra clothing in our van that we can access before starting out on the second loop.
We arrive at the Newburg Public Parking lot to find eleven others getting ready. A simple posting to the Oregon Randonneuring mailing list seems to been very productive.
Before 7:00 am, we ride over to the Newburg Thiftway grocery store for the signing of our control cards and we are off. Well almost. I was last in line at the check out counter and went I exited the store, everyone had already left!
Oh well, it turned out to be a good think. Just as we were getting on the tandem, my cell phone rang. It was Elise who was late and just arrived at the parking lot. We decided to wait for her as it was her birthday and all.
So, several minutes after everyone else had left, Joanne and I were off with Elise following behind in our slipstream. We left at a brisk pace and kept it up. Normally, I tend to want to take it easy in the first part of a ride so I don't burn myself up, but since we were the last ones out of the gate, we had some folks to catch.
Crossing the Willamette River Bridge was easy as it was so early in the morning. We stopped briefly at the first informational control and then enjoyed a nice ride along the east bank of the Willamette River all of the way to St. Paul. There, we continued south toward Keizer, but turned to the east on Keen Road. As we crossed over the freeway, we saw the first riders of our group. "Rabbits!" I yelled and we picked up our pace.
We soon came upon a group of five which included John, Lynn and others. We passed them with a cheerful "Hi!" and continued on in search of the rest of the group. We did not find them until we reached the road to Gallon House Covered Bridge our second informational control. There, we saw Kevin, Cecil, David and Sandy. We rode with these folks for most of the rest of the ride.
After a short stop in Mt. Angel, we were back on the road heading back toward Newburg. As we rode north, the sky seem to darken and we all agreed that the temperature was getting cooler. While it was never warm, we began to feel colder as we rode.
Soon, we were in Newburg at the Coffee Cottage. We never intend to spend much time there, but we always do. On our way out of town, we stopped and picked up our lights before heading to Dayton and our third informational control.
The route then took us though the small town of Lafeyette, a town will much more traffic than it seems it should have. Five of us were stopped at a stop sign waiting for cross traffic which did not have to stop to clear so we could make our left turn. We waited and waited, but an opening just didn't appear. Then, a kind soul approaching on our left stopped to let us turn, but traffic was still coming from our right. After a several seconds, I saw an opening and called out "Going!". To my surprise, I then heard a chorus of warnings as the kind soul had apparently lost patience and started at the same moment I entered the street. But disaster was avoid and we all got across the road.
This led us to Highway 47, a busy road with narrow shoulders. Last year, we rode this in darkness and rain, but this year we were in daylight and dry roads. But, I thought I felt drops on my face, very tiny drops. The kind of drops that could lead to rain, but not always. But we were not to ride in wetness today as the drops disappeared as we approached Forest Grove.
Rolling up to Maggie's Buns we were pleased to see that it was open. It closes at 3:00 pm; we had arrived at 2:40. I choose an order of pasta with pesto which was really good. Again, time slipped by and we spent 45 minutes resting before we left.
The final leg of the ride is on Springhill Road, a very nice road. Sandy, Elise and Joanne & I picked up the pace as we began to smell the barn. We arrived back at the Coffee Cottage in Newburg at 5:07 pm, just one minute before sunset. We had finished our January Perm in daylight!
Route Map
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Vernonia - Astoria - Vernonia, the first ORR Permanent of the Year!
A strange email came on my computer last week, "I have three riders (me included) who plan to ride the Nehalem River (Vernonia-Astoria-Vernonia) 200k permanent this Saturday starting at 7.30 a.m. For those not familiar with the route, it follows the Nehalem river to Birkenfeld and Jewell, climbs along Fishhawk creek to crest at about 1200 feet, then follows the Klatskanine River to Astoria. U-turn at US-101, and back to Vernonia. I estimate about 4000 to 5000 feet total climbing."
This was scheduled one week before my planned first permanent of the year, but Joanne was attending a yoga seminar, and the weather forecast was for clear skies, so how could I refuse? I emailed Marcello, the instigator of this adventure, back just two words "I'm in."
I watched the weather forecasts as Saturday approached, and the only change was the morning temperature, it kept getting revised downward. But I did not expect just how could it would be come the morning of the ride.
My alarm rang at 4:30 am, and I was out the door by 5:00, or as I like to say, "O'dark thirty". My Chev Astro van has a thermometer the measures the outside air tempurture, and it has at 30 degrees as I left home. No worries I thought, it has to be warmer in Vernonia. I was wrong. Boy, was I wrong. It was 21 degrees as I pulled into town!
Luckily, the Black Bear Coffeeshop was open. And it was warm inside! I grabbed my gear and got ready to ride in the warmth of the coffeeshop enjoying an early morning Latte. Soon, my fellow randonneurs arrived, Ray, Bill and Marcello. It was soon made clear to me that this was all Ray's idea. He must take the credit for suggesting we ride in such cold weather. No worries I thought, I have warm clothing and it will soon warm up.
Shortly after 7:30 am we left the warmth of the Black Bear and headed off toward our first control, Birkenfeld twenty miles away. For each and every one of those miles, my fingers froze. It is hard to smile, much left shift gears, with frozen fingers. But, knowing that sometime today I would be warm allowed me to peddle on.
Was I glad to see the Birkenfeld store! I managed to get a short ways ahead of the others and watched them ride in. Yes, that is frost along side of the road. We stayed long enough to me to consume a small V8, a Starbucks Frappuccino, and for my fingers to warm up.
The Birkenfeld store is full of history and fun. When we arrived, a group of locals were sitting and share stories on a cold Saturday morning. There is nothing like a shivering, fiftish man dressed in multiple layers of Lycra that will bring conversation to and end.
Just beyond Birkenfeld, is the Jewell Meadows Wildlife Area which has, according to Ray, very good bathrooms. (Yes, I tested them out and I must agree.)
And there are Elk! First we saw a small group of three who rushed off into the brush as we approached. Then, Ray and I came around a corner in the road to see a large herd in the sunlit meadow. Then kept an eye on us, and we must have frighten them as they slow moved off away from us.
After the meadows, came the hill.
When you ride a bicycle, you learn that the world in not flat. Leaving the meeadows of Jewel, we began to climb up the spine of the Coast Range, Oregon's little brother to the Cascade Mountain Range. But don't be fooled, the incline was steep and it was an worthy climb. Along the way, you pass Fishhawk Falls.
Leaving the hills behine, we soon came upon Young's River which empties into Young's Bay which is crossed by Young's Bay Bridge
When you see the eagle, you are almost in Astoria!
The route is an out-and-back, with the turn around point being Astoria. We rode into Astoria just far enough to reach the first Dairy Queen we saw. I must say their new Iron Grill Turkey sandwich really tastes great after 62 miles of riding in the cold January sunshine. I accompanied the sandwich with a small cup of hot coffee.
This building (is there a past tense?) is located in Jewel, an unincorporated area. The area really got hit hard by this winter's snow storm.
The route back was much warmer than the trip out, and since we were climbing from sea level, the hill was also much higher. We reach the Birkenfeld store near sunset. Lite up like fireflys, well, really bright fireflys, we rode back to Vernonia together. We must have been a sight, as one approaching car pulled off of the road and came to a full stop as we approached.
All in all, I really had a very good day riding with good friends. A nice time was had by all.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
What I ate today...
Worked out at the gym with Martin - 20 minutes on the stair climber and 20 minutes weights concentrating on my core.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
What I ate today...
Vacation Plans
Joanne and I are planning on attending Week Three - Historic Hotels of the Arizona PAC Tour. An added benefit is that we will be able to spend some time with our friends Koki and Jan, including a ride up Mt. Lemon.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
2009 Race Goals - Revised
I really have only one goal this year - The Furnace Creek 508.
To accomplish this goal, I must do the following...
1) Lose 25 pounds. I am currently at 205 lbs. I need to be at 180 to have a good 508.
2) Complete two 24 hour rides. The first will be the Oregon Randonneurs April 25, and the second being the Lewis and Clark 24 Hour Ultra on 23. These will be non-race pace long distance rides.
3) Complete a Super Randonneur series, including a non-sleeping 600 km. I will do the following: 200 K on July 11, the 300 K on July 25, the 400 K on August 8, and the 600 K on August 29.
Due to scheduling conflicts, I must pass by the Davis 12 Time Trial.
Friday, January 09, 2009
Thursday, January 08, 2009
A good work out is a good thing
20 minutes on the treadmill was not enough.
20 minutes of circuit training was not enough.
60 minutes on the trainer with the Power Crank bike was enough.
What I ate today...
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
A true rest day
I took the day off and sat in front of my PC trying to configure my Kubuntu installation to display a 1440 x 900 resolution. It seems my Nvidvia GeForce 7600 GS can not detect that resolution. The best it can do is 1024 x 768.
Meanwhile, this is what I ate today...
Monday, January 05, 2009
Monday - easy day at the gym
Yes, I took it easy tonight. My quads are sore from cycling this last weekend (I am so ashamed!), so I did 10 minutes on the treadmill and then a quick, circuit workout concentrating on my arms and core.
When I got home, I found my 2008 Super Randonneur Award in the mail. Cool. It is of smaller size than my Furnance Creek 508 or Race Across Oregon medals, but I think that is appropriate.
What I ate today...
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Thoughts on today's ride...
1) It was colder today than yesterday - 32° F.
2) I was tried today.
3) We did more climbing today and yes, it felt both hard and fun.
4) I got a flat, but fixed it inside the Silverton Coffeeshop.
5) CO2 is a won dress thing.
6) I am going to sleep well tonight.
What I ate today...
Saturday, January 03, 2009
What I Ate Today...
Thoughts about today's ride...
1. If you drive your SUV off of the road and into the ditch, you really should take it home with you.
2. Why does the wind blow so strongly when I ride my bicycle, only to die down when the ride is over?
3. The new zipper on my jacket sure works better than the old zip.
4. Do I really think I can get into shape for The 508? Yes, if I keep training.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Thursday, January 01, 2009
2009 Race Goals
1) April 4 - Davis 12 Chanllenge - 12 Hour Mixed Tandem 90+
2) May 23 - Lewis and Clark Ultra - 24 hour solo
3) October 23 - The Furnace Creek 508 - Solo
Yes, I intend to fight my way back into shape for the 2009 Furnace Creek 508. I finished in 41:32:02 in 2006, crewed for Mark "Nutria" Newsome in 2007 and crewed for Alex
Kakapo" Kohan in 2008. It is now time for me to return and attempt "The toughest forty eight hours in sport!".