Three Prairies Permanent Report

The weather was terrible went we woke up on Sunday. It was raining hard.

We loaded up our gear and our tandem and headed off to Newburg, the rain hitting the windshield the entire way. I was not looking forward to riding 125 miles in the rain, but I knew I could, that I would, do it.

Arriving at the Public Parking lot, friends Cecil, Lynn, Kevin and Bill were all getting ready. Talk was short as no one wanted to stand in the rain visiting. Joanne and I got changed into our riding gear inside of the van, and only got out into the rain when we had to. Finally, we pulled the tandem out of the van, saddled up, and followed Cecil to the local market.

The local market serves several purposes. First of all, we get our brevet cards signed, we pick up some last minute snacks, and we all use the restroom in the back, up the stairs and down the hall past the employee break room.


Ceicl and her beloved Sweetpea



Bill and his new camera



Kevin waiting for the ride to begin


We left shortly after 7:00 am, just as the sun was raising, and surprisingly, just as the rain was ending. We rode as a group through Dundee but the group split on the open roads past Dayton. I do not like to ride in the rain at night, so the goal was to finish in daylight. Kevin was with us as he had the same goal.



We rode through Amity but stopped briefly in Perrydale.


Next came the hills on the way to Dallas. Kevin could out climb us but waited on the summits for us.

We used the Dallas Safeway as the control, but the clerk refused to sign our brevet cards saying it was against company policy. I must admit I stared at her in disbelief, but she would not change her mind. However, a nice woman in line behind us offered to do the signing and the clerk determined that it was not against company policy to loan out her pen. Joanne and I shared a quick sandwich and we were soon joined by Bill who took a very short break and joined us as left left the Safeway behind.

Highway 99 W was our route north back to Newburg. This is not my favortie road, but it has adequate smolders and nice scenery. The alternate roads all go out of the way and up over hills while 99 is relative flat. Too bad our rear tire had a flat. Kevin had gotten a head of us, and just as we catch him, the rear tire decided to be low and we had to stop to repair. Kevin continued on not knowing what had happened. We did not see him for the rest of the day.

Back in Newburg, we wanted to find quick food, so we chose Dairy Queen. As we ate our lunch, we were surprised to find the clouds cleaning and the sun coming out. We picked up our lights and headed out to Mt. Angel, our next control. Too bad we had another flat.


Mt. Hood in the sunshine



Happy cycling nearing the end of their ride


Nearing Mt. Angel, we came upon Bill who had taken another short stop. Mt. Angel is lacking in nice places to rest, we always end up at the small market. Again, we kept our stay short and headed back toward Newburg and the end of our ride.

We were now riding in full sun, and we were getting warm. We had dressed for cold rain, not warm sun!

Since the route back was on the same roads we used to get to Mt. Angel, we came upon Cecil and Lynn who were looking strong. They told us that Bill was just in front of us but they had not seen Kevin.

Again, we catch up to Bill and we rode together for a short while. However, without trying, we left him behind and we rode back to Newburg by ourselves. Except, we found Kevin in his pickup. He was looking for his cell phone which he dropped somewhere along the route.

We arrived back in Newburg right at sunset. We pulled up to the Coffee Cottage and ordered some food as we were quite hungry after our ride.

Out time was a bit longer than last month, but we had more hills and two flats so I am please with our time.

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Posted 8:38 PM by John Henry