A warm day in December

It was warm with temperatures most of the day just above 60 degrees. We did ride into a 20mph wind for the first 35-40 miles, then a blustery quartering head wind for the next 20 miles, and THEN it started to rain! Along with the precipitation came a reduction in the wind so now we were robbed of that nice tailwind we had been hoping for. We still had a tailwind, allowing us to ride 21-22 without a lot of effort but just not that 20 mph wind pushing us.

Here's the route


One of our riders had a bit of problems keeping up. With the effort to ride against that wind it was not surprising. It slowed us down a bit and since the Canby Ferry was closed because of high water we'd be crossing the Boone Bridge on I-5. We didn't want to be crossing that in darkness, compounded by spray kicked up by autos. After taking the Wheatland Ferry side loop we changed plans and decided to take the most direct route back to Wilsonville. It would save us about 5 miles of riding, not much, but perhaps enough to cross the bridge in daylight.

We did indeed get to the bridge in daylight, just barely. I was so close to the somewhat magical 100 mile mark that I couldn't resist. I was already wet, but not cold. I made a loop of Wilsonville picking up the 4 miles I needed to reach 100 for the day.

Despite the wind and rain we all decided that it was a good day. How many time can an Oregonian ride 100 miles in December and have 60 of those miles be dry and the day be near 60 degrees all day!


............BIKE............LIFECYCLE.....ROLLERS....TOTAL
Today......100...............0................0..........100
Jan........618...............0................0..........618
Feb........692...............0................0..........692
March......940...............0................5..........940
April......934...............0................0..........934
May........905...............0................0..........905
June......1152...............0................0.........1152
July......1020...............0................0.........1020
Aug.......1000...............0................0.........1000
Sept......1002...............0................0.........1002
Oct........905...............0................0..........905
Nov........523...............0................0..........523
Dec........200...............0................0..........200
______________________________________
TOTAL.....9908...............0..............5.........9913