Three Prairies 200km Permanent, Director's Cut

ok, not so beat-up tired now...

There were meant to be three of us on this ride, but the instigator managed to put herself on injured reserve before the ride. So Rickey and I traded emails trying to determine a meet-up place. Not helped that he knows his way around that part of Newberg and I don't. We eventually settled on McDonald's, and we'd proceed from there.

Made sandwiches, planned wardrobe, fed my company dinner, and went to bed. In theory, coming off daylight savings time, I'd get an extra hour of sleep. What it meant is that I frittered away another hour before going to bed.

Mm. 5am. Up, dressed, eating, out the door by 5:47am, only 2 minutes behind schedule. Found Rickey at the Newberg McDonald's, sitting down to a breakfast that only McD's can provide. He ate. I watched.

Then over to the public parking (a few blocks west of the library on 99W, now we all know), to effect our departure. We were quickly assembled, and rode over to the ATM to get our starting timestamped receipt, 6:59am

Then out of Newberg on 99W. Mmm. Newberg and Dundee should be ashamed, painting the bike lane symbol along the side of the road. Varying pavement levels across the lane, and an amazing amount of trash and such. Some traffic, not too much. After 6+ miles of that, we turned left onto SR-18, then got off to go through Dayton.

I got to see the Dayton blockhouse (relocated on the route), plus point out the Joel Palmer House to Rickey. A fabulous restaurant, if you like wild mushrooms. Best done on someone else's nickel, though.

The fog, starting to collect in Newberg, had set in by earnest now. Or, to quote Rickey: "I'm sure there is scenery, we just can't see it". Then the long stretch to Amity. A road sign: "Amity, 5 miles". A few miles later... "Amity, 5 miles".

We passed through Amity without stopping, heading south on 99W to the Bethel Rd intersection. There was a nice bit just before, with tall trees reaching over on either side of the road, with the fog swirling around. It was condensing on my helmet and mirror, with continual drips from both of them. My booties were shiny wet, but my feet stayed dry.

Then on to Bethel Road. Nice pavement, no traffic. Perrydale Rd, more fog, and stair-step climbing. (This was advertised as a remarkably flat route). Crossed a busy road, more climbing. Eventually we summitted a hill and found ourselves in Dallas.

Stopped at McD's for snacks and a receipt. Their cash registers were still on Daylight Savings Time. Oh well. Our RBA will work it out.

Then out on Ellendale, where I saved Rickey from a wrong turn - the main road goes left, but we had to stay right to get back onto 99W in Rickreall.

(For those of you who have read SM Stirlings Dies the Fire trilogy, it all happens right here)

12+ miles on 99W, mostly climbing. I know this defies the laws of physics, because it felt like we climbed most of the way to Dallas, but there you are. Decent shoulder, so it was ok. Even better, the pea-soup fog began to lift. By the time we returned to Amity, there were blue patches in the sky.

Back to Newberg the same way we came. We did do the first 100km in just under 5 hours.

Off to the Coffee Cottage for receipts (their cash register was off by 30 minutes, go figure), and snacks - a scone and big bottle of juice for me. Then back to the cars to pick up our lights and put on lighter outerwear.

Now heading south east out of Newberg, through the nice part (old houses), then onto Hwy 219, crossing the Willamette River on a bridge with a highly inadequate guardrail and very fast traffic. Saved Rickey from another wrong turn at the corner of Champoeg and French Prairie. South on French Prairie for many miles, stopping my friend Don's driveway to lighten up the clothes some more, as it had warmed up quite a bit.

Then left on St Louis Road, following it all the way into Gervais (more urban renewal completed, 4th Street is restored; looks nice), thence on to Mt Angel. A bit of tricky riding up a curvy hill with cars really wanting to pass. I pulled over and let them. Lots of ups and downs here, then I could see the abbey (plays a supporting role in Dies the Fire trilogy) and we were in Mt Angel. Found the market and deli (I don't think I'd eat the food), bought a candy bar and got another receipt (still on daylight savings time). Note: the Food 4 Less is no longer in business.

We figured we make a lighting decision at some point past Gervais. It was still quite bright, but the sun really drops this time of year. We had fun riding DOWN the curvy hill part, then it pretty much went back to flat, flat, flat. Still light in Gervais, so we kept going. Somewhere on Arbor Grove we thought we'd pull over and apply lighting and reflective gear. The dog on the adjoining property was pretty excited by our presence.

We then had the same discussion at the corner of 219 and Arbor Grove that we had on the 300km. Note for future - go left, then right again on Arbor Grove! No need to discuss it again. Then the counter-intuitive right on the St Paul Hwy, left on Case Rd. Rickey flew up the hills - I didn't know he did that. I had to start attacking them too, just to keep him in sight! The sun was definitely getting low by this point. Gorgeous sunset through the line of tall trees on the left just before Champoeg Park (you know, the climb with the barn on the right). All the sheep were up by the fence, making sheep sounds. Past Champoeg, right onto Champoeg Rd.

Rickey's reflective gear made him very visible in the rapidly fading light. Right onto Hwy 219 (don't hit me don't hit me don't hit me I really don't like riding that stretch not at all the guardrails pinch in and the bridge is scary....)

Then the left onto Wynooski; fortunately a big break in the traffic, whew! A quiet finish through Newberg, then back to the ATM for our finish time receipt. We can at least trust the banks to have the correct time :-)

10:53 elasped time; one minute longer than the Birkie 200km last spring.

Three Prairies 200km Permanent

Short version: done.

VERY foggy morning, cleared off by the time we got back to Newberg. Sunny afternoon. Rickey and I finished just before 6pm (started at 6:59am), in the very dim. Ok. dark.

More later, maybe.

I know we rode on Howell Prairie and French Prairie, but never figured out what the third prairie was.

Flat. Well, not completely, no.

Verboort Populaire 2008

First, it is ALL about the sausage :-)



That said, the weather was OUTSTANDING! Last year it poured the whole time. What a contrast.

I collected Beth at the Sunset Transit Center, then Jason from his house, and we arrived with plenty of time to visit with everyone. Much admiring of Lesli's and Beth's new rides (Rivendells, naturally :-) ) I must say, Lesli's tires look really new and clean.







Cecil and I had talked it up with the Team Bag Balm crowd, so there was a nice showing there, all in herdwear.

Jason and I placed our take-home sausage orders with Barbara O (thank you!), and then headed out, slightly behind everyone else.

I passed through a group on Cornelius-Schefflin; Diane and Jason had zipped on ahead. We arrived at Longbottom's in no time at all, it seemed. Got my card signed; hung around a brief bit, then took off with Diane and Jason. We kept wondering when the Velo would find us. Sort of like looking for the posse in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

As we approached the next control, we could see them approaching from behind - ziiip! swooooosh! zoooooom! and the Hammer and Nails group was gone. Us randos stood around, discussed the correct answer to the info control ("one double door? two doors"), and traded use of the pencil for a small candy bar, and socialized some more.





Then off toward Shadybrook, North Plains, then Mountaindale, and the staffed control (food!) at the end of the Dairy Creek/Fern Flat out-and-back. Joel and I talked about his PBP experience and Schmidt SON dynohubs. I had a nice companionable ride on the out -long conversation with Lesli, then Ray. The scenery was fall-perfect; helped to take my mind off that I really was climbing the whole time, and working hard to keep going with everyone else.

Then the control, with Andrew, Susan, Fritos, getting my card signed, two muffins, and refilling my water bottle. And putting on some chemical toe warmers; feet were getting cold. Visited with Tim, in his nifty new Bike Gallery wool jersey.

Then back out, downhill most of the way. The sun was shining, and I was starting to warm up. Diane, Jason and I pulled over at the Mountaindale Store to do a clothing adjustment - I switched from a jacket to a vest, took off my wool cap, and changed to a less-warm glove configuration. Jack and Amy (on Jack's Jack Taylor tandem) stopped to chat for a bit. I finally started taking pictures here.





Then west some more, crossing Hwy 26 at Frogger Junction, west some more, north to Banks, west on Cedar Canyon, past the fall foliage, wetlands full of geese, the big hill covered with geese, and the turn onto Jack Rd and then Hwy 6. Up Stafford, then onto Strohmayer, where Diane and I needed to take lots more pictures of the sun coming through the fall leaves in the plum orchard, and the haze over the hills and... Jason said he'd wait for us at Love's Barn, and took off.







More pictures there :-)



Then east on Kemper/Osterman, and finally arriving at Verboort. Cecil greeted us and pointed us to the official end control. We checked in, then went to wait in line for our sausage dinner. The line was really long. Last year we just walked up. Shows you what excellent weather can do. After waiting for 30 minutes (we DID stretch), with a long wait still looming, I noticed a fellow Portland Velo member almost ready to get to place his order at the drive-up window. I quickly got money from Jason and Diane, and drove through with him. Five minutes later, I had our dinners in hand :-)

We walked back around to the control, where we happily stuffed ourselves full. Then we got our sausage orders from the cooler, and coasted back to the Grand Lodge.

Diane went home; Jason and I had our post-ride soak in the hot pool. Soaked a bit, stretched in the pool, soaked some more, then we headed out. Found Beth in the parking lot, so she had a ride back to the MAX with us.

Came home, invited my parents to dinner, and cooked more sausage...

Candy Corn

I like candy corn. I usually see it in units of 2 or 3 pieces. Today, a co-worker came in with a jar with 634 pieces of candy corn - she won it with the closest guess at her son's daycare.

I'm wondering if it is possible to eat too much candy corn. Not so far.

Checkpoints

Incline leg press - 300lbs
My run today felt like a run, not a plod.

You know those hard foam roller things, that you can use to work the lactic acid out? I've used them, to no perceptible gain. Last night, my legs were just so achy and sore, I dragged the roller out and used it. It really worked this time!

The garage is painted

whew.

I really am going to paint the garage...

As I'm planning to be riding all next weekend, have to get the points in this weekend :-)



SO, yesterday was the Portland Velo ride, then I came home and primed the garage. Looks better than it has EVER (and we've lived in this house since 1980).

Fitz was golfing today, and I was going to paint. You'd think there was a paint color called "Garage", and you'd just go to Home Depot and buy it. No. The Architect-in-Residence (for another couple of weeks) thinks it should be a light green. Or a gray. Or a terra-cotta. I'm for plain white - the garage needs all the brightening it can get. So, Fitz went to Home Depot this morning. The ceiling will be white. The walls will be Navaho White.

And with best intentions, yesterday evening, I checked my email. Partner-in-cycling-adventures Cecil was up for a bike ride (gee, what a surprise). After letting her know that I could't go for a long one, we agreed to meet at my house at 10:30 and do "something".

And such a nice day for a "something", too. We crossed over Hwy 26 at the pedestrian bridge, and climbed up to Skyline via 119th/McDaniel/Laidlaw. Brief stop at the development with the street names "Appellate Way" and "Supreme Ct", for Cecil to get some pictures. Then west on Skyline to Old Cornelius Pass. I have NEVER seen so many cyclists riding on Skyline in one day. It seemed that every cyclist in the area was up there!

Glorious view from Skyline School.

Then crossing Cornelius Pass (very scary. I'd sooner cross Hwy 26 at Frogger Junction!) and down Old Cornelius Pass, then west on Phillips, stopping to admire the cute baby llamas in the llama herd.







South on Helvetia. Note to self - do not be anywhere NEAR Helvetia Rd the weekend before Halloween. Every person not riding a bike has gone to the Roloff's pumpkin patch (yes, the Little People, Big World folks) and is driving too fast on Helvetia, which is two lanes, no shoulder, and ditches. Pretty much ok they rest of the year.

A stop at Longbottom's (pumpkin pecan scone to share), then east on Evergreen (second scariest part of ride - going through the shopping center), south on 173rd, east on Walker, cutting over to get into the neighborhood north, after 153rd. And then home, the usual way.

Now I've got a bike store errand, then I'll paint... Really.