skaeP eerhT ehT gnitsuB

Date: Wednesday, May 30th, 2007
Distance: 21.4 miles
Average speed: 13.8 mph

Justin and I busted the full Three Peaks ride in reverse today, it was pretty kick ass. I did the graveyard in the morning too, which made for a pretty awesome day of climbage. It was really hot though, I think I went through about as much fluid as I did on the Reach the Beach ride.

The Beach Was Reached!

Date: Saturday, May 19th, 2007
Ride Time: 5:44
Distance: 104.3 miles
Average speed: 17.3 mph

Justin and I made the 100 mile Reach the Beach ride in triumphant fashion and quaffed our victorious pints like pillaging Viking warlords.

The ride was great. We loaded up our pockets with all the free ClifShots and bars we could hold and left the start line at about 7:30AM amid a wash of other Portland cyclists. We kept a good, fast pace as we headed out south west from Portland, and I was surprised that the route actually went up Kruger road, which is a fairly long climb. The descent off of Kruger was so much fun, and both Justin and I were feeling great. We stopped and quickly filled our water bottles and kept rolling on towards Amity.

It began to be clear that the headwind we had been riding into all day was not going to subside; in fact, it was gaining strength as we made our way west. There was one stretch of about 7 or 8 miles that was on pretty rough pavement with a direct headwind, which was the worst bit. Once we made it through that stretch, we were fine and everything else seemed like cake.

The last rest stop we took advantage of was in Grand Ronde, which left about 25 miles to the end. After we filled up our water bottles and at some more bars and ClifShots, we headed out. I felt unusually strong still, and decided to hammer to the end. There was a stretch coming down off the costal range to the beach that was just amazing... it wound along the river and had a great road surface and no wind because of the tree cover. My legs felt great and I had lots of energy due to all the free snacks, so I was flying. There was one bit where Haystack Rock careens into view as you drop out of the hills, indicating that the end is near; which is an awesome feeling, and gave me another boost.

I quickly found myself being cheered on by a bunch of folks as I pulled into Pacific City and on to the Pelican Brew Pub where the finish line was. It was pretty cool to have a bunch of strangers cheering me on as I pulled into the parking lot. It took me a second to realize that it was really the end, and I totally felt like I could have kept going. The worst part about the end was the fact that they were blasting Hootie and the Blowfish through the PA.

I checked my bike into the storage lot, resisted the strong urge to get beer and waited for Justin to arrive, which he did only about 15 mins behind me. We went straight through the food line, which turned out to be a less than stellar spread of bland and unimpressive, fajita-like fixings, but fortunately, there was beer and we did quaff.

Mandy and Violet showed up a little later and we chowed some food and enjoyed the cycling nerdy and the fine Pelican Brewpub's beer. We ran into Lon and Sally, who also rode the 100 miles.

All in all, it was a great ride with no mechanical or medical problems and decent enough weather. We had a house at the beach with a hot tub and a weekend-long babysitter, so the rest of the weekend was spent relaxing on the beach. Good times.

St. Helens And Around The Horn

Date: Sunday, May 6th, 2007
Leave: 7:00AM
Return: 12:35PM
Distance: 86.7 miles
Average speed: 17.6 mph

Thankful that Ben was a work-induced DNS since he wanted to meet downtown at 6:30AM (which would have meant leaving the house by 6AM), Justin and I hooked up at the more reasonable time of 7:30AM at the base of the Broadway Bridge. After a quick cup of joe at Anna Banana's, we were off out Highway 30 towards the bustling metropolis of St. Helens, Oregon.

The ride out to St. Helens is super flat with only a couple of low rollers, so we made great time getting out there. I had just bought some new shorts and a new jersey, along with a huge vat of Cytomax, so I was enjoying my new gear. The weather was a little on the chilly side early on, but was fine once we were moving.

At one point in the ride, a huge tour bus came screaming by us, fast enough so that the mirror WHIZZED by my ear. I thought to myself, "dicks." Then, about 2 or 3 miles up the road, that very same bus was pulled over by a cop. "Ha! Dicks" I thought to myself. Another 5 miles or so, we arrived at our turn around of St. Helens, and stopped at Burgerville so I could put a small cheeseburger in my face. Turns out that tour bus was at the very same Burgerville, and they were a travelling marching band, called The Get a Life Marching Band -- a nice, portly group of aged band nerds. One guy asked me, "how far you ridin'?" I answered, "About 80 miles." To which he proceeded to tell all 30 of the other members of the band, "this guy is riding his bike 80 miles! I've never even heard of that! I can't even ride 1 mile!" to which a band mate replied, "That because you're a fat ass Chris." Funny.

The ride back on Highway 30 was nice, and I introduced Justin to the merits of drafting another rider. We parted ways after the St. John's bridge cause he had to get home or something, and I wanted to get a lap around the horn in before closing up shop. I felt pretty good all the way home, and had plenty of legs to stay in the big chainring just about the entire day. I can't wait for Cycle Oregon.

Around the Horn

Date: Wednesday, April 4th, 2007
Leave: 4:50PM
Return: 7:05PM
Distance: 38 miles
Average speed: 17.0 mph
Wind: Headwind most of the way

Justin and I had a nice, brisk run around the horn yesterday in the middle of some absolutely kick ass weather. Vest guy reared his goofball head as it was close to 70 degrees when we left his office (the usual 10 mins late, of course).

We made good time getting out Hwy 30, but were forced to wait on the shoulder for about 7-8 mins for a gap long enough to cross over to the ramp up to the St. John's bridge. While we were standing there waiting in the bike lane, a car piloted by some fucking drunk-ass nutjob came barreling up the bike lane towards us -- we both yelled, "Holy shit!" in unison and jumped up on the curb with our bikes and this fruitcake swerved back into traffic. We stood there, shocked for another couple minutes and then finally made our way up the ramp to the bridge.

I was treated a couple of times to Justin leaving his toe clips on and falling to the pavement. Good times.