Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway, day 1

The plan for today was to ride the Willamette Valley Scenic Bike Route to Eugene. Ken, Dave, Russell, and I began in Wilsonville at 6:45AM, Carol, Miriam, and Jennifer began in Independence for ~95 miles about 9 AM, and Bill also began in Independence, but started off at 7:30 AM. Before we even got underway Ken became aware of an issue. He had forgotten his bike shoes. He made a mad dash back home to get them
  while we planned to start off slowly.
 
 We had problems keeping the speed down. We had a 16.6 mph average to Salem but we made up for it with numerous and leisurely stops. We knew that Ken would be pushing hard to catch back up with us. When we got just a few miles south of Independence Dave peeled off and headed toward Liberty Rd and Salem. His plan was to get about 110 miles, and be home for Father's Day. Russell and I continued on southward. Russell and I stopped in Jefferson (about 75 miles into our ride today) and Ken rode up before we left. He had ridden a 17.4 average to catch us, but more importantly, no stops!

Click HERE for an audio report from Jefferson. (in a new window) Now back up to three, we continued making our way southward.

 On Fayetteville Rd we ran into some bridge construction.  We managed to find a way to use our cyclocross skills and get across the bridge.

 After getting across the construction we continued toward Eugene.

We caught up with Miriam and Carol at Brownsville, about 116 miles into our ride.  Jennifer had ridden ahead and we would not catch her today.
It was a warm day, the biggest hill of the day on this remarkably flat route was just north of Coburg. We noted the heat, and the tired legs as we pedaled up the hill. When we got to Coburg the time and temperature display gave us an indication on just how hot it was.

Just as in the Oregon Trail days pioneers talking of "seeing the elephant", Ken saw an elephant today, and it was PINK!

We arrived at the official end of the bikeway at Armitage Park, but continued on a few miles to Eugene where we planned to spend the night and gather for an evening meal. I arrived in Eugene just before 6PM, 8 hours and 58 minutes on the bike, with a 16.5 mph average. The Garmin 305 said I burned 8261 calories, I guess I earned my dinner.


 

 I rode to the start in Wilsonville, and our group rode from there about 8 miles to the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikway route. In Eugene I commuted by bike between the hotel and dinner. By the time the day was finished I had 161 miles.

 ........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total Today.......161..............0..............0..........0...........161 Jan.........105.............34.............0..........0..........139 Feb.........428............108.............0.........24..........536 March.......809..............0.............0.........22............831 April.........1010..............0.............0..........0.........1010 May..........1000..............0.............20..........0.......1020 June...........678...............0...............0............0......678 YTD........4021............142............20.........46.........4204