Not Entirely Recovered From The Half Marathon

Which bike ride to do this weekend? If I had been quicker to commit, could have ridden a 100k populaire and rolled over 4000 RUSA km. Or, I could ride with Portland Velo, which I have not done for a few months. So, out the door shortly after 8am, to be in Hillsboro for the 9am start. I was riding Sweetpea, as it was supposed to rain. Attached myself to Dana and JRod's 16-18mph group. Someone looked at Sweetpea and wondered if I did a little randonneuring. I do a lot of randonneuring :-) and he was rando-curious. So I suggested he come out for the Verboort ride in a couple of weeks and did a fair amount of evangelizing.

The route was Carpenter Creek, starting at LaCie in Hillsboro, heading west, through Verboort, and skirting Forest Grove to the west. We stopped at the new park at the corner of Thatcher and David Hill (plumbing!). Everyone was pulling off jackets and gloves and really didn't have a place to stow them. There was a movement afoot to stash them all in my Carradice, but I wasn't going for it. Swung my leg up to get back on the bike and REALLY whacked my shin on a bike rack. It smarted for a good 5 miles, and I will probably have a spectacular bruise. We continued up David Hill and turned left on Forest Gale rather than getting there via Thatcher. Nicer route.

Pause at a convenience store for one rider who had forgotten his water. I'd been moving through my water bottles, so bought some water to top up. No one accepted my offer of water, and we still had at least 20 miles to go. Okay then. Difference between club riders and randos. Always top up the water bottles.

Over to Stringtown Rd, then onto Carpenter Creek and up. Maybe a mile climb, not hard. The view from the top was breathtaking - autumn scenery to the south and west, and an amazing color display at the ornamental nursery just past the summit and then looking down to Dilley Rd from Plumlee. The group paused, but I continued on. Working hard to keep up, so I elected to not stop; they'd catch up.

Crossed HWY 47 at Spring Hill, and listened to what appeared to be a million geese honking on the approach to Fern Hill. North on Fern Hill, east on Geiger, watching huge flocks of geese wheel in the sky. I was fading (yes, I was eating). More to the point, my quads and hamstrings were hurting. Through Cornelius, chatting with Ellen, on complete autopilot back to the start. Dana stayed back with us, which was nice, but not needed. (I am also a ride leader, but not playing one today). And done.

Chatted with KRhea; he promised the triathlon pictures he took that we have not seen yet. He told me about his new bike, which will be purple - we got to this thread because Sweetpea is purple and he really likes purple and "you don't see it often".

Joined Dana, JRod, and Ron at Longbottoms for a Farm Plate and a nice long visit before heading out the 10 miles back home. While we were sitting there, an older woman came over and said: "I just have to tell you - you look so fit and healthy. So many women don't these days." Um. Thank you. That was novel and unexpected, for sure.

Then headed home, with not quite so much zip. Stopped in Cedar Hills and took a couple of ibuprofen. Sloooow. Must not be recovered, because this is too short a distance with not much climbing to make me hurt this much.

62.7 miles for the day, for an overall average of 13.9. The average up until the last 10 miles was 14.5mph. Just 29 miles shy of 5000 miles ridden this year. It should happen in the next week.

Postscript: It did not rain.  Not even drizzle.  However, my brilliantly reflective and long red mudflaps got a lot of love.  You can get them here: Rainy Day Biking