Welcome to the tropics

I guess what else would you call it? We rode through Keizer at midday and the time and temp said 69 degrees..........and it rained nearly all day!

OK, back to the beginning.

Three of us from the social bike group had plans to leave from Wilsonville at 6AM and ride a 150 mile route that would cross all three Willamette River Ferries and toss in a climb up to Silver Falls State Park just for giggles. With the copious rain the last several weeks the Willamette River looked like a pot of boiling hot cocoa and all three ferries were closed due to high water. We made last minute change and decided to ride the recently established "Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway" We still hoped for 150 miles so we decided to ride out 75 miles and return. If successful it would be a new one day mileage record for both my riding partners and the longest I've ridden in one day since last October.

The forecast was for a decent day with an increasing chance of showers towards evening. As I stepped out the door at 5:45 AM it was raining. I went back in and swapped my tyvek jacket for a goretex "real" raincoat.

It was a good call. Out of the 157 total miles today it rained hard and it rained harder for 125 of those miles. Luckily it was reasonably warm so it wasn't all that bad.

The route is marked, but not all that good in all locations. If you decide to ride it please print off the map and cue sheet from the State Parks website so you have an idea of where you are supposed to be going.

The vast majority of the roads we covered today were low traffic rural roads. It was indeed very scenic, following the Willamette River for much of it.

No real issues today. Ken did have a tire that developed a slow leak. We found a nice picnic shelter to take refuge in while replacing the tube.

If there is such a thing as having a good day even with that much rain, today was it.
We had a good day, 2 personal bests set (66% of the riders!) and no serious issues.


............BIKE............LIFECYCLE.....ROLLERS....TOTAL
Today......157................0.............0.........157
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.......257...............0..............0.........257
_________________________________________
TOTAL.....4360...............0..............5.........4365