A Joy Ride

  When I had loftier biking plans Joy Ride, an indoor cycling studio in Salem, was the first to step up and offer sponsorship. Today the owner of that company and I decided we should go for a ride.  There was a 60% chance of rain predicted, and that scared away the folks who were going to ride with us, but it didn't stop Lorie and I from looking for that silver lining as we prepared to shove off into a light rain this morning.

Within a mile or so the drips stopped and we pedaled along on what would soon be dry roads.  The first portion of today's ride headed south on Liberty Rd in Salem.  That meant we were doing some gentle climbing.  That gentleness reached 12% as we entered more rural surroundings.   We rolled down the back side and when we reached the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway we turned and would follow it all the way back to Salem.  We did get a couple of light showers during the ride, but we had far more dry pavement than wet today.   That was a good thing because Lorie did not have fenders on her bike.

When we reached the bridge over the Willamette River near Independence we left the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway, thinking we might go into Independence for a snack.  We stopped to take a couple of photos as we crossed over the river.

We took 15-20 minutes to chat before deciding that we really didn't need any snacks so we turned back around and proceeded toward Salem.

River Road is probably the least desirable section of the 150 mile WVSB.  The road is somewhat narrow, sight lines are poor, and today auto traffic was numerous.  We didn't have any problem however and pedaled back to Riverfront City Park in Salem, our start/finish point today.

We finished the day up with a sample of home brew served up by Jeff, Lorie's husband, and home brewer extraordinaire.  Following that we all three attended a birthday party/Cancer research fundraiser/BBQ whole pig party!  It was a good way to end a good day on the bike.

Altitude range
Altitude from 27 feet to 761 feet
Total climb 1,626 feet

 ................road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total Today.............31...............0.............0..........0.............31 Jan..................93..............0..............0.........0..............93 Feb................411..............0..............0.........0............411 March.............653..............0.............0.........0............653 April..............176.............0...............0.........0............176 Total.............1336.............0...............0.........0..........1336