My first ride as an Oregon Randonneurs member

I got my Oregon Randonneurs membership in the mail yesterday and promptly took off for my first ride with them as an official member today. I was too late to ride the Wetlands and Prairies Permanent as a registered rider dashing my chances for the first check mark on my R12 quest. Then again, I'm not sure that's important to me. I just like riding with folks who aren't afraid to put in some miles.

About a dozen of us began the trip this morning in Newberg and headed south at 7AM eventually arriving at the Gallon House Covered Bridge.

From there we turned around and returned to Newberg via Mt Angel and Gervais. We made reasonable time even with the stops to answer control questions. We arrived back in Newberg with the first 60 miles under our belt by 11AM. From there we headed west on Hwy 99 before turning NW on Mineral Springs Rd then west on Gun Club Rd eventually turning north on Hwy 47 and making our way to Forest Grove. Arriving in Forest Grove with about 105 miles we were pleased to find that Maggie's Buns was open until 3PM, and we just made it under the wire. Most had a bit to eat, but I often find that if I eat "real food" on rides I get bloated so I stuck to my liquid supplements. As we pedaled back toward Newberg on Springhill Rd we were riding pretty quickly hoping to finish up before dark. Around 115 miles into the ride I found myself running out of energy. Not eating enough coupled with a ride at least twice as long as anything I've done in the last few months had almost done me in. I stopped for just over 5 minutes and took a good drink of Perpetuem and had a granola bar, a few shot blocks, and my favorite....a snickers bar! I got back on the bike and continued on my way. I never caught back up with the 5 others I was riding with. They are strong riders and I just didn't have it in me to catch up with them today.......give me a couple of months! I did turn on my front blinky with about 8 miles to go. (ran rear blinkies for much of the day) It never did get dark enough to make me think I needed to stop and set up the HID light. I pulled into the parking lot marking the end of our ride about 5:15PM. I was ruing the fact that on my first Rando ride as an official member I had come in dead last...but had come in. Cecil Anne reminded me that there were others still on the course so really I was just last of the fast group.
That Cecil, she's a glass half full kind of girl!

It was a good ride, and a great group of folks to ride with. With RAO, FC508, and multiple 12/24 veterans (and record holders!) in the group it's right where I need to be.

Not sure about riding tomorrow yet. We started out in the low 40's as we pedaled away this morning, it got colder as the day progressed and we in the upper 30's at 5PM when we finished. It's supposed to continue to cool down tonight with the likelihood of a little snow in the morning. We shall see.

I do have a late morning meeting in Salem on Monday and may just commute by bike (just under 50 miles one way)if the weather cooperates.



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...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today...........127...............0................127
Jan total.......327.....+.........30.......=.......357
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