However, I got a late invitation to join a group from Springhill Velo on their 80 mile ride followed by dinner and live music. Sounded like a better deal to me!
Unfortunately, by the time my meeting duties were finished up and I made the over 2 hour drive back I had missed the beginning of the ride. The organizer of the day's event was nice enough to run me up the course in her SUV to catch the rest of the riders and join them from there. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to be riding bikes.
They had begun their ride with a ride out to Hagg Lake and back and were now in the Mountain Home area above Scholls and Hillsboro. They were about 60 miles into their day that had significant climbing. I had fresh legs and only 20 miles to go. I should have been just hammering away.... but it was a beautiful day for a social ride, so social ride I did.
When we got above Newberg we regrouped.
The hills had tired some of them and we had a hill known to them as "The Wall" coming up as we would climb Chehalem Drive from North Valley Rd to Bald Peak Rd. A few of us went the wall way, and the rest went an alternate route that avoided this 18% test.
The hill wasn't all that bad, and the view was great!
A friend was a little slower than the group and I held back just to keep company and offer support if needed. It made for a nice climb.
The group had a follow car in case of mechanical issues so I was there mostly just for the company.
We soon arrived back at our host's home where we had a great meal including strawberry shortcake! Along with being pretty darn good cyclists the hosts were pretty musically gifted as well. It was a great way to spend the afternoon and evening.
.........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........20..............0.............0..........0..........20
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......524..............0.............0..........0.........524
May........1003..............0.............0..........0........1003
June........704..............0............10..........0.........714
YTD........3741..............0............37..........7.........3794
Yesterday was a gorgeous day! Great pics! Newberg is my hometown where I work and I still haven't tried climbing "the wall". As a relatively new cyclist who is still using toe cages, that's my excuse for avoiding it in addition to and narrow roads and little to no shoulder. Although I did train with the Tour de Cure group in Helvetia yesterday! Just 2 cat 5 hills. I'm sometimes glad I don't look at the map. The intimidation factor is always bigger in my mind than the actual hills. Keep up the blogging!
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