We started off at 8:30 AM. We knew that with the short daylight this time of year that we were likely to end up riding in the dark so we brought good lights along. We pedaled southward. We had perfect blue skies, and a sun that was tracking low in the sky. We picked up a very slight headwind about half way to Salem. We smiled, figuring that the wind would increase as the day progressed, and by the time it was an issue it would be at our back.
Dave is a strong rider and we pushed a pretty good pace...me at 150bpm heart rate or more most of the time... until we got to the Union Street Bridge in Salem and made our first stop.
From there we turned west toward Independence. Before leaving West Salem we made a brief stop at a grocery store to stock up on some junk food..er, supplies!
We made it to Independence then crossed the bridge on followed the Willamette Valley Scenic Bike Route for a few miles before turning up Skyline Rd. Neither of us had been up this road before and we got a bit of a surprise when the GPS showed we were at times climbing 27%! As we neared the top, and I was working hard to keep up with Dave, I found out what my Garmin does when I reach 177bpm.... it chirps like a little birdie and displays "maximum heart rate". ;-O
Once on top we had a nice run down Liberty Street into Salem. Things went well but we noted that the expected tailwind hadn't materialized. In fact what wind we had was a cross wind. Before too long we noted that smoke from backyard leaf fires indicated that there was a very slight headwind. Some days that happens!
About 95 miles into the ride we stopped to put on lights. We continued on northward. As we neared Aurora Dave and I talked about just riding across the Boone Bridge rather than taking the Canby Ferry as we had originally planned. It would save a few miles and some climbing.
Never dangle a shortcut in front of a cyclist who's already ridden 100 miles.
The northbound crossing of the Boone Bridge is really not safe right now as there is construction on the interchange that has taken the shoulder. We decided that if we were going to take the Boone Bridge we would find a way to get on a surface street before the Wilsonville exit. We went for it!
As soon as we crossed the bridge we started looking for ways to get off the freeway. We ended up using cyclocross skills and hopped over a guardrail, made our way down an embankment, the lifted our bikes over a fence, while we crawled underneath it.
We survived and finished up the ride on low traffic residential streets.
Days don't get any better that this in late November!
........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.......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.........843..............0.............0.........20.........863
YTD........9099..............0............87.........47........9233
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