The good, the bad, and the ugly

7 of us met this AM with plans to ride an Oregon Randonneur "Permanent". The good is that all 7 who said they were coming did so. Three randonneurs,(Cecil Anne, John Henry, Joanne) two social bike club members, (Peter and Doak) and two of us with "dual citizenship". (Elise and myself) The other good news is that the weather was gorgeous! A bit of a headwind developed beginning in the early afternoon but after riding Furnace Creek my idea of bad winds has been altered a bit. Probably a 10+ mph wind, enough to be bothersome but that's about it. It disappeared by late afternoon.

As we took off from Hillsboro this morning there was patchy fog so we had our lights on, front and rear for several hours. I was in the lead and managed to get through a traffic signal before it turned red but it caught the others. I pedaled on slowly figuring the others would catch up. I kept checking my mirror but still had not seen them by the time I got to Forest Grove, our first open control, about 10 miles in. I pedaled a bit beyond our mapped turn to collect my proof of passage receipt.
(McD..small OJ) While there it dawned on me that the others might have stopped at the 7-11 a few block before the turn and might now be ahead of me. I downed the OJ and hopped on the bike and started pedaling.



I finally got to a long straight stretch where I had good visibility for a couple of miles. I didn't see them. I still thought they might be ahead of me so I kept pushing to the second control. They weren't there, so I waited for a bit. After a bit I reminded myself that I avoid riding in the dark if I can help it. Daylight is getting short this time of year, and 120+ miles is just as long as it always is. I pedaled on.



The "bad" was that they didn't catch up with me and I didn't see them even when I got to Dallas. The route as an "out and back" so on my way back, perhaps 5 miles out of Dallas, I saw Cecil and Peter heading south. We waved but no words exchanged. Cecil Anne is normally one of the speedier riders so I expected to see the rest soon. That didn't happen. At that point I thought perhaps that the two I saw might have had mechanical issues and the rest might have been ahead and passed me in Dallas on the one way streets without being noticed.

I kept pedaling wanting to finish up before dark. Just before I got to Forest Grove, about 115 miles in, I get a text message from Doak to my cell phone. The "ugly": I returned a call and found out that just 5 miles in this morning John Henry went down and broke both bones in one leg. John Henry was transported to the hospital via ambulance and his wife Joanne cycled back for the vehicle and called it a day on the ride. Elise had ride shared from Keizer to Hillsboro with them so she was out for the day as well. There was plenty of stuff to keep them occupied at the hospital.

John Henry's description of the day is HERE

Some of my social riders didn't take the explanation of what Randonneuring is and it's expectations to heart. No cue sheet, no tire flat repair supplies, etc. I took a bit of heat for the actions (or lack thereof) of my guests....as I well deserved.

Hopefully the next ride goes a lot better.



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles Today
................127...............0................127
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.........503.....+.........0........=.......503
November........127.....+.........0........=.......127
Year to date...9239.....+.........30.......=......9269 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++