great weather for a birthday ride

19 of my social riding buddies joined me on a beautiful day to ride bikes....oh, and celebrate a birthday. (that was actually Friday but I was out of town then)

My Training Series riders were on tap for 25-30 miles and I wanted to ride 55 miles for my birthday. Since I was out of town it all had to be rolled into one ride. I accomplished this by setting a 27.5 mile course. 6 of us rode 1 lap as "pre ride bonus miles" then we were joined by 13 more. (1 rider from the pre-ride had Super Bowl plans and left after the first lap and one showed up after the picture was taken)



The first lap was fast by plan. I was at a conference that still had me on the coast this morning so couldn't get back to ride until 12:30. My Training Series was slated to be riding at 2:30PM so I knew I had to be finished up with the 27.5 miles in about 90 minutes in order to be back in time to coordinate the other riders. I managed to get back in 91 minutes. an 18.1 true "clock time" average

The second lap riders got a bit of a jump on a few of us as we waited just a bit for a couple of guys that were running a bit late. We managed to catch up with the group about 6 miles into the ride. Shortly after catching them one of the women had a flat.

It gave slower riders a chance to regroup with us and all hung around as the flat was repaired then pedaled off.

The "on bike" average for lap two was 18 mph so we managed to hold a good pace today. The "class" did well too with most finishing at or under 2 hours total time, even with the flat caused delay.

About 8 of us retired to Wanker's Corner to catch Superbowl halftime festivities and restock both solid and liquid calorie reserves. ;-)

Thanks to my sis who showed up with a chocolate birthday cake complete with candles!


It was another good day for the training series. 3 weekend rides in a row with no rain, and the added bonus of one midweek after dark "homework" ride organized by a member that was also dry. I'm sure that will change, it is after all winter in Oregon, but it's nice while it's lasting!

An absolutely perfect day for biking. Mid 50's, no appreciable wind, blue sky all around, and joined by a good group of friends.

Thanks all!



............BIKE............LIFECYCLE.........TOTAL
Today.......55...............0.................55
Jan........618...............0................618
Feb........110...............0................110
_________________________________________
TOTAL......728...............0................728