A new month

That's not so new anymore! I've just not had time to get on the bike during the week so today was my first riding in the month of June. What a nice day it was too! Our Race Across Oregon crew chief Dave and I rode the Pioneer Century today. I hadn't ridden my Scattante carbon bike since the OBRA Team Time Trial and had forgotten that I still had the tubular Zipp wheels on the bike. As I made preparations in the early morning I realized that I still had them on the bike. Since I was running a bit late I didn't want to take the time to swap them out so did a quick check of the backpack to make sure I had tubular supplies instead of clincher and just went with the "race day wheels". We had planned to commute via bike to the ride but as we neared the Canby Ferry the sign said it was closed, we presumed it had just not been changed since the normal night closure but didn't want to take a chance. We rode back and loaded the bikes in my pickup and drove around via I-5 and Knight's Bridge Road. We arrived at the Canby Fairgrounds about 7:20.

Before long we had checked in and were ready to ride.



Our plan was to ride the 100 mile option. We choose to ride the hilliest loop first.
It was a beautiful day for a ride and we followed a decent path out of Canby.

As we climbed up Sawtell Rd I felt the rear tire go squishy. I took out my Vittoria Pit Stop (aerosol foam inflater) and gave it a shot of foam, then took out my CO2 and topped it off to the 170psi that the tubular tires run at.

I pedaled another 20 miles or so then felt the tire go soft again. Gave it another shot of foam and inflated to pressure with my Crank Brothers two stage pump. This time it lasted only a couple hundred yards. I had foam leaking out all around the rim. Decided that this called for doing my first tubular tire change and removed the damaged tire. I reached into my pack to grab the spare and to my horror, in my haste this morning, I had mistaken my clincher spare for my tubular spare. Dave rode on to the next rest stop, not more than a mile or two up the road and sent a SAG vehicle back for me. I had called my sister and she was bringing my tubular tire to Canby for me. (remember that she had saved my bacon before during the start of the 2008 Race Across Oregon)
Dave rode on and we all met at Canby where I installed the new tire, aired it up with my floor pump ;-) then Dave and I had lunch before taking off on Pioneer Century part 2.


We rode the second loop without incident. Dave's got a bit of a cold and it was slowing him down today. He still pedaled pretty well as we held a surprisingly quick 16.6 mph for the 100 miles today. I had been sagged in for the tire issue and ended the Pioneer Century with not quite a full century, only logging 91 miles. I had dinner plans in Salem so couldn't just ride bonus miles to get me to 100.

However, as luck would have it (or unluck depending on your point of view!) as I was driving down to Salem my dinner quest texted me and canceled. What's a guy to do? Well, this guy looked back and noted that the bike was still loaded (was short and time and did not take the time to unload it) and I had bike clothes along. (doesn't everyone carry bike clothes with them at all times,...just in case?) I didnt' have bike shoes but since I only had 9 miles to go I figured I could ride clipless in tennis shoes for 9 miles. I did just that, rode out Corbin Rd in Salem, a road I'm familiar with as it's part of the Peach of a Century route. Out 4.5 miles and back.
100 miles! ;-)

Tomorrow I'm riding 150 miles with a few folks on a route that will cross 3 different Willamette River Ferries along with a loop up into Silver Falls State Park.
Should be a good ride, hope I have the legs for it!


............BIKE............LIFECYCLE.....ROLLERS....TOTAL
Today......100................0.............0.........100
Jan........618...............0..............0.........618
Feb........692...............0..............0.........692
March......940...............0..............5.........940
April......934...............0..............0.........934
May........905...............0..............0.........905
June.......100...............0..............0.........100
_________________________________________
TOTAL.....4203...............0..............5.........4208