If Not Freezing... Raining

Ray posted that he was planning to ride his North Plains-Lafayette 100k this past Saturday.  He wanted company.  He got it.

Bill signed on, so I offered him a ride to the start if he was at my house by 9:15am.  He coffeeneured on the way, and was indeed at the front door at 9:15am.  I was not quite ready, so Clara waited in the living room.



Bill: "I am doing this if only to really surprise Ray."

I did not do any organization the night before.  That whack on my head possibly has damaged my slightly Type A OCD tendencies on ride preparation.  I shall have to nip that in the bud.

Bikes loaded in the car, we set out.  Found Tony and Eric unloading, and Ray and RB inside the McDonalds.  Registration rituals observed, we set out.

It was raining.  The weather forecast was bands of rain all day.  I was wearing booties, but my feet were sopping wet less than 15 miles into it.  Boo.

Nothing new about this route - North Plains to the east side of Forest Grove, south on Fern Hill/Spring Hill/North Valley/Ribbon Ridge, southwest on Kuehne and Abbey roads, and there we are.

Due to my last minute preparation, my riding glasses spent the day in the garage.  Generally not an issue, because it was gray and raining (no dirt/dust), but the only person I could ride behind was Ray.  Mudflaps.  Longer mudflaps.

So I found myself out in front.  Very strange.  Headwind all the way to Lafayette, noticeable, but generally not overwhelming.  We kept seeing open spots in the clouds, but never where we were.  The rain let up as I arrived in Lafayette; everyone else showed up very shortly thereafter.

We stopped at Carniceria Abaztos.  I didn't see any hot food that called; they were out of flautas.  Bought a banana, a big filled pastry from the panaderia section, and some citrus cream filled cookies.  99% of the products were labeled in Spanish.  The woman in front of me in line was telling me all about their amazing meat department.





Stood outside and ate, and then one, by one, we took off, as it was getting chilly standing around.  Tony and Eric left first - they were on single speeds.  Then RB, Ray, and me.  I assume Bill left shortly thereafter.

We did have a tailwind.  Yay!

I had RB in sight, at least until Ray yelled at me to look at something.  I stopped, and he zipped by.  Started up again; caught him, and told him that was quite the trick to pass me.  "Now that I know it works..."  This once, Ray.  This once.

The rain stopped, so I stopped to remove my jacket.  Ray zipped by again, telling me that it would now rain.  Well, then, I'd just pull the jacket back on.



Found Ray just before Fisher Farms.  Got into Forest Grove, and found RB at the TV Highway crossing.  Apparently the cue sheet was missing the R onto Hwy 47, but I wasn't looking at it.  So RB had a brief tour of Forest Grove, looking for Martin St.

Last 7 miles.  I had been snacking all the way down and back, but the last mile was a bit of an effort.

Tony and Eric were in the parking lot.  I parked the bike, went in and ordered some fries and a mocha.  They all came in and did the same, and I gave a brief tutorial on how to organize the receipts and fill out the perm card.  Ray showed up a few minutes later, and eventually Bill appeared as well.



Nice long visit with hot beverages.

Bike computer claims 63.66 miles, average page of 14.13 mph.
The total time was 5:18, and the ride time was 4:30.  We got started maybe 15 minutes past the official start.

Outgoing average 13.2, returning average 15.3.

The tops of both my knees are sore.  I had moved my seat forward maybe a quarter inch, now, with three long rides on it, I am going to move it back.

Ride track is here, at least for another week.