My first "official" Randonneur Ride

4 of us made our way out to Vernonia in the pre dawn darkness today to ride a 200k Permanent. I've been a member of the Oregon Randonneurs for quite some time, but could care less if my name is in some book in France so I just ride the rides for miles rather than credit. Today however I had a rider's card and was all official...only by default since one of today's group signed us all up. So I, like the rest, found myself collecting receipts as we passed check points.

We began at the Black Bear Cafe in Vernonia.


It was 32 degrees as I drove in this morning, but warmed slightly before we began to pedal. There was some fog around so we had lights on front and rear for added safety. About 25 miles into the ride we came to the Birkenfield Store, our first control.


By now the fog had cleared so we switched off the lights. The fall colors were brilliant today made even brighter with the blue sky and sunshine.


We made our way through the hills and over a 1400 ft summit to Astoria, situated at the mouth of the Columbia River. We stopped at a Dairy Queen there for a snack, all in the interest of gaining the required receipt. Joanne and I arrived there about 30 minutes ahead of the other two in our party. I had my banana split pretty well eaten by the time they arrived. (no need to share that way!) Before long we went back outside and prepared to pedal back to Vernonia.

The return trip promised to be the harder half since there was more elevation gain (we were beginning the return at nearly sea level) and a slight headwind.

We rode along tide water for a bit before beginning our climb.




Joanne and I again proved to be speedier than our compadres and arrived back in Birkenfield just over a half hour sooner than the other two. We had some chocolate milk, collected our receipts, then took a look around the store.


Since we had long since finished our chocolate milk Joanne and I saddled up and pedaled off. The other two weren't too far behind, however Joanne and I arrived back in Vernonia just over a half hour ahead of them again. Of course, randoneurring is not a race.........but it was nice to have the legs today to get the job done.

When we all were there we sat down at a table and had dinner. Well, mostly sandwiches! But they were good!

On the way home John's van developed charging system problems. The battery finally gave out around 185th and Sunset Highway. The van got towed, the bikes and people got moved to an alternate vehicle and all arrived back home safe and sound........after a few hours of "delay of game" penalties.

It was a not so good way to end a very nice ride.


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...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today...........123...............0................123
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......901.....+.........0........=.......901
June total......543.....+.........0........=.......543
July total.....1322.....+.........0........=......1322
August total...1603.....+.........0........=......1603
Sept total.....1403.....+.........0........=......1403
October.........404.....+.........0........=.......404
Year to date...9013.....+.........30.......=......9043
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