Call it OCD, call it crazy, but that's what got me across the "finish line" today.
I came in from yesterday's ride with wind blowing hard and rain falling harder. The forecast was for that to continue today.
I was pleasantly surprised this morning when it wasn't raining, and it was reasonably calm. It was a bit cool, and I expected rain so I started out in a goretex jacket and pants, plus booties and full fingered gloves. I was dressed for 40 degrees and rain.
What I got was low 60's and dry.
That's a good thing unless being overheated causes performance issues. :-(
Ken and I were riding from Newberg today with a plan to get 100 miles via Dayton, West Salem, Independence, Liberty Rd, Salem, Keizer, Windsor Island, St Paul, and back to Newberg with a little loop around part of Newberg to get that magic 100 miles in.
The expected head winds did not materialize right away, and that lack of wind movement kept the roads wet until we got to Lincoln, about 5 miles north of West Salem, where we picked up a headwind that made our work a bit harder and dried the roads off.
I was not pushing too hard for fear of really over heating. What I should have done was take my rain jacket off, but by the time I ascertained the problem I couldn't take it off because I was soaked and no protection from the wind would have had me shivering within a mile.
Ken was waiting for me at every rise in the road, at the end of every stretch into the wind, heck, he was waiting for me all day!
It was a tough pedal for me. I should know better, I always have issues when I'm warm. Not warm like hot weather, I can deal with that. Warm like the sauna inside rain gear when it's not cold, and not raining!
I had long pants on under the rain pants, and they had a windproof front panel. When we got to Independence I had an epiphany.... take off the rain pants at least!
That helped quite a bit.
Ken and I continued south through Independence then took a left over the bridge and crossed the Willamette River.
Our route today was relatively flat, but we did have to climb about 1000 ft within a few miles on Liberty Rd. I stopped to take a photo of a rather scenic well groomed farm. (no small feat since the camera was inside a zip lock bag inside my pack, in anticipation of a day of nonstop rain!)
We got to the top of the hill, Ken kindly waited for me. I'd like to say it was all heat related, but it might just be old, out of shape, and slow. :-(
We enjoyed the gentle down slope into downtown Salem.,,.aided by a tailwind now!
We continued on through Salem, and through Keizer. We were supposed to take a bit of a detour to add miles and make a side trip to Windsor Island, but my slow pace had made getting back before dark questionable. We both had good lights along, but still, I don't like to be on roads at night if I can help it, especially this route that had us on busier roads.
We stopped in St Paul to put our lights on, in my case they were in my pack so I had to put them on the bike/helmet.
I turned my front and rear blinkies on as the light began to fade. I wasn't going to turn my bright "driving light" on until I needed it as I had not charged it up after the last use and wasn't sure how much battery life it had remaining.
We got back to Newberg after sundown, but before dark. Our planned route had us making a bit of a circuitous entry to Newberg to add the necessary miles. Both Ken and I decided it just wasn't that important. With the bypass of Windsor Island and the blow off of the loop around Newberg we finished up with 90 miles.
Most of you know me, I just can't stand being that close to 100 and not doing what it takes to get a century ride in.
When I got back home I hopped on this road.
Well lit, low traffic, 2.5 miles per lap, 4 laps. OCD! But the 100 mile day is in the books and on the blog! :-)
.........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.......1148..............0.............0..........0........1148
August.....1049..............0.............0..........0........1049
Sept.......1153..............0............50..........0........1213
Oct.........881..............0.............0.........20.........901
Nov.........506..............0.............0..........0.........506
YTD........8762..............0............87.........27........8876
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