The OTHER bridge pedal

Dave and I made the trip to Albany this morning to join the Mid Willamette Valley Bicycle Club on their Covered Bridge Bicycle Tour. After having participated in the Providence Bridge Pedal for the last 5 years it was time to avoid the crowds and hassle of that event and go have some fun. Instead of 10 bridges we'd only see 5, but they'd all be covered bridges! The ride had 40, 65, 85, and 101 mile options. We opted for the full meal deal.

The weather was good, a bit cool for the first few miles (we started at 7AM) but soon became almost perfect. The roads had low traffic but especially in the mid sections of the 101 mile route the county had "improved" the road with chip seal, one section was done very recently. I think if more county road supervisors rode bikes we'd see a lot less chip seal!

The rest stops were well stocked and spaced well. At the Roaring River stop they even had made to order turkey or ham sandwiches along with all the fixings. Unfortunately eating full lunches and riding don't go well together for me.

As afternoon came we started getting a bit of wind. That coupled with the chip seal and hills made for a challenging ride. I had my tires up to a full 130psi and was paying for it on the chip seal. I was just getting pounded. At one point perhaps in around 70 miles I was riding up about a half mile hill with maybe a 7-8% grade and into the wind. I was tired of having my behind hammered so a first for me........ about 2/3 the way up the hill I walked my bike for about 150 ft. Dave was a way behind me and I figured while I waited for him I'd just walk a bit. I might have had an easier time with less psi in the tires. I'll have to remember that for RAPSody in two weeks. That 180 mile course has a lot of chip seal as well.

At any rate, Dave and I finally got back to the fairgrounds in Albany, our start/finish point, had a rootbeer float and then proceeded back north. On our drive back Dave and I decided that this ride, with 500 participants, was a bit more challenging and a WHOLE LOT less frustrating than riding with 20,000 others of varying skill levels over bridges in Portland.

Despite my grumblings about wind, chip seal, hills, and a lunch I didn't feel like eating,........ it really was a fun ride!

(I've got a few more photos that I'll put up here when I can get them off my phone!)

In the evening we joined the rest of our Old Goats 4 CycleOne team for a little appreciation gathering. Our support crew had really gone above and beyond for us and we wanted to show our appreciation. It was a good evening.




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...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today...........101...............0................101
Jan total.......98.....+........402....=..........500
Feb total.....385.....+.......220....=...........605
Mar total.....659.....+........41.....=...........700
April total...629.....+........57.....=...........676
May total.....642.....+........23.....=...........665
June total....804.....+.........0.....=...........804
July total....933.....+.........0.....=...........933
YTD...........4285....+.......766....=.........5051

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