a change of venue

I got the email yesterday, the Santiam Spokes would be riding the Helmick Park short loop. I remember Helmick Park from my college days, but had no idea what the "Helmick Park short loop" was. I did note that the ride started from Albany at 10AM. "Aha" I say, "I have time to ride to the ride!"

Upon closer inspection I really didn't have time to ride to the ride as it would be nearly 65 miles one way. That would be nearly 4 hours of pedaling, and it's pretty darn dark yet shortly after 7AM.

I decided to go for the 100 mile option and started from Salem, which would give me a 32 mile commute. I didn't know how long the Santiam Spokes ride would be but figured I could add more miles if I needed them.

I pedaled from Salem, near the Union Street bridge and headed west on Hwy 22 then turned south through Independence. I turned onto Buena Vista Rd and followed that through the little town of Buena Vista. This was rural country and had all the markings of flood plain. I would presume that in pre-dam days that this land was under water every Spring, now probably only during extraordinary high water events.


It was new country for me to be riding in. It was fun seeing new roads, almost so much fun that I didn't notice the significant headwind I was riding into. Almost.

I arrived in Albany with about 15 minutes to spare. I met up with 16 other riders. I thought this was a pretty good turnout for a day that was supposed to be raining.


Our group pedaled along at a relaxed pace and after a brief stop at a friend of theirs who was home recuperating, eventually made our way to Helmick Park.


Our little group made the turn on our loop route and headed back south. Now the group got to enjoy the headwind I had experienced on the way to meet them this morning! ;-) The wind slowed our pace but did not break our spirit.

We arrived back in Albany, the end of the ride for my new found friends, and 65 miles into my planned 100 for me. We had a bite to eat at a bike friendly Asian restaurant then each went our own way, they home, me back north toward Salem... with a pretty decent wind at my back!

We did not have any rain on our group ride today, but there were a few drops falling as I started out. It was not enough to get me wet and quit pretty quickly. That process of dripping followed by dry continued as I rode back.

I made it to my pickup with 97 miles. I did what anyone would do, I pedaled on past in search of 3 more miles.

By the time I dealt with one way streets I bagged a bonus mile. I'll take it!

I'm off on another century ride tomorrow, I suspect it will be much wetter than today's ride.

.........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today.......101..............0.............0..........0.........101
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.........406..............0.............0..........0.........406
YTD........8662..............0............87.........27........8776