It was raining as we began our journey. It wouldn't have taken much to not ride today. I've got this new riding mantra, I don't ride if it's not fun, and this was getting close to that line!
Mark however shamed me into riding!
We began in Tualatin and began by making our way to Council Crest. It was a nice route that kept us off the main roads.
We climbed our way to Council Crest rather easily today, but because of low clouds and rain we were robbed of any view. We descended carefully to Terwilliger Blvd. (the roads were a bit slick because of the rain) Along the way we noted fresh Lion of Flanders pavement markers. I came home to note that the De Ronde Van Oeste Portlandia is tomorrow! That ride is a "non event" that is quite challenging and a lot of fun that is beginning to draw a bit of attention. unfortunately I've got other plans so I'll miss it this year for the first time.
We turned back uphill and ascended through the OHSU campus. The weather was beginning to improve and we got a bit of a view as we climbed. It was still dripping a bit with some low clouds and fog so I left the camera packaged up.
Before long we summited again and began a descent to the downtown Portland area.
We stopped at Starbucks so Mark could get a warm drink then began our biggest climb of the day, Cornell Road to Skyline.
We had a bit of fun while up on that hill. Ever say "I'm going to make it up that hill even if it kills me"?
Our weather kept improving. The rain had stopped, the sky was brightening enough that we now had shadows. A bit of wind developed that would be in our faces the remainder of our trip, but hey, we can ride in headwind. ;-)
We made our way to Lake Oswego and made a lap of it. The lake doesn't look like much of a lake right now. It is drained while they do some work on sewer lines under the lake.
We finished up our ride today back in Tualatin. I noted that we finished today's ride at the same location that I begin my night route. The weather was nicer than when we began this morning, the route was flatter, a coincidence? I think not. I grabbed a quick bite to eat and took off again in search of 100 miles.
I finished up just as it was getting dark. It was a good day to be on the bike. Mark and I got to ride quite a few "new to us" roads on a course that we will likely ride again and I got my March century in the bag! I ended up with 106 miles with just over 8000 ft of climbing.
Next week I've got two good rides planned (here and here) so March is off to a good start.
..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today.......106..............0.............0..........0.........106
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......213..............0.............0..........0.........213
YTD.......1227...............0............21..........7........1255
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