A nice day, and base miles

After yesterday's awesome ride I knew that just about anything I rode today would be a second class ride. I am planning a 300 mile weekend next week with a one day STP on Saturday and a 100 mile "STP recovery ride" on Sunday. One would think that I would be well on my way to another thousand mile month, but I have volunteered to help with Race Across Oregon the weekend after STP so if I am to get 1000 miles I'll have to do it in three weekends.

In an effort to keep the 1000 mile month alive... and to take advantage of the nice weather... I took off on the Wilsonville Century route, but rode it in reverse direction due to construction on the Boone Bridge that makes bike travel much more safe in the southbound direction for now.

There was cloud cover this morning as I started off. It almost looked as if I might get hit by a few drips, but that didn't happen. By the time I got to Keizer the sun had broken through the clouds. One thing I like about the Wilsonville Century route is that though there is 5000 ft of climbing in the hundred miles, it's all in the first half. Today of course that meant that I'd start out on the flat Willamette Valley floor for the first 50 miles, then venture into the foothills around the Silverton, Scotts Mills, and Mollala area. Riding the loop in reverse also meant that I got to ride DOWN Bird Hill Rd instead of up! :-)

I finished up with a ride over the Canby Ferry. As a side note, I've heard that both the Buena Vista and Wheatland Ferries will begin to charge bikes $1 for passage. It's interesting that pedestrians will continue to ride free. Maybe we should shoulder our bikes and.... walk on. :-) Will a tandem be charged $2? Is it then a "per person" charge and not a per bike charge? If it is indeed per person, then shouldn't pedestrians also pay? Maybe if we cross as a large group of cyclists we should just "car pool" and take our bikes across in the back of a pickup. One vehicle fee would be cheaper than a dozen bikes. ;-)

Of course both of those ferries are in Marion County. The Canby Ferry is in Clackamas County and not affected.

At any rate, it was a good ride today. Not nearly as scenic as yesterday's awesome ride, but 100 miles checked off none the less.


.........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today.......100..............0.............0..........0.........100
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.......1016..............0............10..........0........1026
July........179..............0.............0..........0.........179
YTD........4232..............0............37..........7........4275