All hail King Doak!

We had a little fun on bikes late this afternoon. The idea was to challenge one of Portland's more notorious climbs, Brynwood Street, on classic bikes as defined by the Furnace Creek 508's Classic Division rules. What that meant was that we would be attempting this on bikes that had steel frames, friction shifters, 32 spokes per wheel minimum, flat pedals and no more than 6 sprockets on the back or more than two chainrings in the front.

What those rules don't specify are how many teeth those chainrings need to have. Sad really, for the bike used today had a SMALL ring with FIFTY teeth!

I had expected perhaps 10 or so to partake in this event today. I had three sign up.


We did have 100% of the fun expected today however!



The bike wasn't the best for attempting this, but that's what made it fun! The lowest gear was 50x28 and the grade went to 31%. You don't need to be much of a mathematician or gear head to know that this was a tough effort. The geometry of the bike is such that when you turn sharply the front wheel clips the pedals. I managed to find that out while attempting to execute a "paperboy weave" turn and ended off the road.



I've been riding clipless pedals for 4 years. It was somewhat surprising to me how much I rely on them. My feet kept sliding around and sliding back as I'd pedal. Even a split second of soft pedaling to allow a foot to slide back on center was enough for the bike to stop on this steep grade, and of course once stopped tipping over soon ensued.

Doak (given name John) managed to conquer the hill today. He won bragging rights, as well as a "King of Brywood" T-shirt to be delivered in the next week or so.



After the hill climbing fun we retired to a local pub and caught the final 5 minutes of the Butler game and toasted the King of Brynwood!



I rode bike today, even worked a bit at it, but less than .5 mile so officially no addition to miles for the day/month/year.

Tomorrow I lead a bike trip that will cross both the Wheatland Ferry and Canby Ferry. 75-80 miles. The weather might even be decent. After a rainy and stormy week the day is predicted to be mostly dry until later afternoon. We start at 9AM so should be finished up by then.