on the edge of something big

The Wilsonville Century's reputation is spreading far and wide. As we began this morning we had people arrive in vehicles from two states, and one rider made the trip from Newport. The Wilsonville Century is a great route that's easy to ride unsupported due to well spaced opportunities to resupply. 6 of us rode this route today. Two decided to play hares and began at 7:30AM, the four hounds took off at 8AM. We hammered along and were soon crossing the Willamette River on the Canby Ferry.



It became obvious to us that the community was way into the soon to be classic bike event.



When we got to Canby there was an ocean of bikes waiting to join us. Unfortunately today's ride was an official training ride and since they hadn't RSVP'd club rules dictate they couldn't ride with us. Luckily, they decided among themselves that since they were already there they just as well have a little triathlon competition.



We hounds kept up a quick pace hoping to catch the hares soon. We thought we might catch them on the climb of Bird Hill. We climbed Bird Hill without seeing them but when we got to Scotts Mills my phone rang.
Seems that the hares had missed a turn near Molalla and had paralleled our ascent of Bird Hill on another road. Lauren took out her fancy phone that could do Google maps and after some phone calls back and forth we finally figured out where they were and texted them a cue sheet to get them back to us. Rather than just sit and wait we decided to get bonus miles and bonus climbing (climbing the hill that I had just come down at 45.9 mph!) After a few miles we found them and we all rode together back to Scotts Mills and on to Silverton. After getting through Silverton we made sure that one of the hares had a good map and the rest of us put the hammer down, riding 19-20 mph. The five us us headed toward Keizer and a stop for water and snacks.





We took the scenic tour of Windsor Island and then continued to St Paul where I had one of the nicest Pineapple frozen treat I've ever had. Okay, Okay, had TWO of them! We followed the Willamette River closely and soon had a breeze at our backs as we pedaled towards Champoeg Park. We kept up a brisk pace all the way to I-5, crossed the Boone Bridge and finished up at the Wilsonville Library. After some slow climbing in the first 40 miles we just cruised the last 70. We brought our on bike average up to 16.6 mph.

Clare will be competing in an Ironman Competition in Couer d'Alane in June and was just a few miles short of the 112 miles she will be biking there. What the heck, sunny day, a pretty girl wants to ride a few more miles. Sure, we went for it! 3 of us went for a little lap of Wilsonville and got the miles she needed, plus a little.

An absolutely gorgeous day to be on a bike!

Had hoped to ride a 100 mile loop from Tygh Valley tomorrow that included ~70 miles of the RAO course, but fuel pump issues will delay that. Looks like I'll be riding 100 miles closer to home tomorrow then replacing a fuel pump when I'm done riding.


............BIKE............LIFECYCLE.....ROLLERS....TOTAL
Today......118................0.............0.........118
Jan........618...............0..............0.........618
Feb........692...............0..............0.........692
March......940...............0..............5.........940
April......934...............0..............0.........934
May........321...............0..............0.........321
_________________________________________
TOTAL.....3519...............0..............5.........3524