What a difference a week makes

Just a week ago 7 of us rode a 37 mile route in honor of Shawn's 37th birthday, some a few more miles, some a few less. Today 4 of us returned to reprise the ride. Since I sent my membership application in for the Oregon Randonneurs I figured I should do the rando thing and ride to the ride. There was a construction road closure so what should have been a 10 mile commute one way ended up as 12 but no big deal.

Today was a bit colder than last week with frost on the roadway in the shady areas in the early parts of our ride but the sun was out and the air was absolutely clear. There was less debris on the sides of the road as well. I took a short video of our ride today at the same location that I took one last week. Note the much cleaner roads!



We avoided the flat tire issues of last week and kept a better pace. Last week we ended two hours late because of those flat tire issues as well as a generally slower pace. This week we ended up right on time!

Shawn had his road bike rather than his cross bike this time. Oddly his road bike has better gearing for the hills we rode today. All of us enjoyed the better weather today with smiles all around.
Here's Steve:


Shawn and Kris:


and myself and Shawn:


For our "post ride debriefing" we ended up at a Vietnamese restaurant where a couple of the folks who rode last week but opted out today joined us.


It was a great day to be on a bicycle!
By the time I commuted to and from, and our little side excursion for lunch, I ended up with a respectable 63 miles.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today............63...............0.................63
Jan total.......143.....+.........30.......=.......178
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++