Bonus Sunny Snooseville Populaire

Yawn.  Up at 5:50am, so as to arrive at the start of the Snooseville Populaire before the 8am start.  Preferably by 7:45am.  Stumbled around the house, ate breakfast, argued with my booties, and headed out at 7:02.

9 miles later (and a bit warm), I rolled into the Cornelius Pass Roadhouse parking lot, to find James B and Susan F checking riders in.  I was the last registered rider to show up.  There were maybe 9 riders in total.

Susan: "who will be back first?  how long will it take?"  I guessed Tom D.  Tom D thought he'd take about 5 hours.  Susan said no one finish before 5 hours, because James didn't want to have to get back to CPR before then.  Remember that.

I was awfully warm (I'd removed my cap on the way over), and swapped the jacket for a vest and the tights for some knee warmers.  And, throwing caution to the winds, also removed the booties.  Could have saved myself some weight carrying all that, but the weather forecast was chancy.  If it started dumping rain like yesterday, I would have been very sorry.  And wet and cold.

8am.  Off we went.  The cue sheet was mostly decoration, as the route is one I ride frequently.  Saw a cyclist heading east on Evergreen as we were heading west - friend John O, back from his volunteer stint at the Amgen Tour of California.

Got to North Plains by the shortest cycling route possible.  I was riding by myself, but knew I was in the middle of the group.



Vibrant field of canola right before the turn onto Dairy Creek Rd.





North on Dairy Creek to the very end, then right on Fern Flat to the intersection with Greener Rd.  James was there with doughnuts and hot cocoa.  Had a bit of hot cocoa and a doughnut to go.  I could see Ray and another rider up ahead, and set myself to catch Ray.  Flying down Dairy Creek (it tends downhill on the way out), not quite catching them.  Onto Mountaindale, heading west.  I'd see them up ahead, mark the time and check the clock when passed the same point... Not even a minute ahead by this point.  Inching closer...

Finally caught them at the Frogger Junction crossing of Hwy 26.  The other rider was Tom D.  We crossed.  Ray: "If I'd known you were trying to catch us, I'd have ridden faster."  Into Banks, out Cedar Canyon (Lynne retrieves and eats a banana from her bag, while riding)



Rode with them all the way into Forest Grove. It tried to drizzle on us a bit, but stopped, and that was all there was for attempts at rain. Maggie's was closed for Memorial Day weekend (oh NO), so we stopped at the Kwicki-Mart.  The clerk was so happy to see us: "I get to come out of the freezer!".



Bought a Starbucks Doubleshot, and ate some buttered fig bread and a piece of cheese.  We weren't there long at all, but Tom was getting chilly and left.  Ray and I finished our drinks and headed out very shortly thereafter.



I was now completely on auto-pilot - this is the standard Portland Velo return route back to Hillsboro.  Ray and I chatted the entire way back.

A Portland Velo group passed us just before the 231st street intersection.  To be precise, MY Portland Velo group - Hi Brian!  Hi Jim!

Pulled into the Roadhouse, locked my bike, and it was... 12:36.  A bit faster than the 5 hours, and my fastest 100km ever.  Went in, found James, his friend Kim, David P (who finished in a blistering 3:41).  Tom came in - he'd gotten a finishing receipt from across the street and changed into warmer clothes.  Ray took off to get home.



I knew David P was likely riding home into Portland, and I also knew our routes would coincide.  We rode together all the way to my house (I had lots of Penguin Caffeinated Mints and parted with a tin).

And, major milestone... Sweetpea rolled over 3000 miles!

Great day!  Grand total for me: 80.15 miles, 3300 vertical feet, 14.46 avg mph.