The Birthday Ride (Oregon edition)

It all started on my 50th birthday, I began celebrating the birthday by riding 1 mile for every year. That year was the start of my bike riding craziness.

Last year I celebrated with two rides.  One in Washington, and one in Oregon.  I will do the same this year.  Today 4 of us rode the Oregon version.

 
We had perfect weather, especially considering it is February!  There were a few low clouds around to the west as we took off, but before too long it was mostly blue, with only the lightest of a south breeze, highs into the low 50's.  There were supposed to be a few more of us, but various issues precluded the others from attending.

Especially early in the ride the road was a bit damp in places.  I was glad I had put my clip on fender on the back. But the roads dried off as the day progressed.

As we rode through Forest Grove we stopped in to say "hi" to Mike Olson, at Olson's Bicycle Shop.  He's a great supporter of bike events, and though we didn't have room to haul purchases, we did stop for about 30 minutes worth of visiting. If you are ever in the neighborhood be sure to stop in!

The route had been fairly flat up to this point, but at mile 22.5 we started up a grade that ran about 9% and reached 11.5%, luckily it was only a half mile long.  I had dropped a chain just as I started up, so was immediately off the back.  They were waiting for me at the top.

Dave, Paul, and John Henry

The descent off the back side was nice. We pulled into the Forest Hills Golf Course to top off water, but the outside fountain was drained for the winter.  None of us needed water bad enough to walk inside to get it.
In a few more miles we started up the biggest climb of the day. It was only a mile and a half long, only running about 6-8% most of the time, but again maxed out at 11.5%.  Our group spread out along the grade. Dave was off the front, and I was the lanterne rouge.  A couple of fit young bucks came up from behind and passed all of us handily, while chatting up a storm. I finally made it up to the top, and again the gang was waiting for me.

I was the last one up to the top, but the first one down the back side, reaching 53 mph.  Old age and treachery will overcome youth and fitness!  It was a nice straight run with good sightlines.  I've mentioned it before but will say it again, I love downhills and tailwinds!  We continued a few miles then at about mile 30 of our route we arrived at the Laurel Store. I picked up a package of fig bars, and between the 4 of us we polished it off.

About mile 39 we had some routing issues.  I was....... leading from the rear, and those off the front missed a turn.  Dave and Paul had not downloaded the route.   John Henry was with them and had the route on his Garmin, but was not displaying the map screen.  When they figured out I was not behind them John Henry turned around and rode back to where we were last together.  He switched to the map and realized they had missed a turn. He followed the correct route and tried to chase me down.   My stupid smart phone doesn't have enough battery to last a day and I heard it chirp a low battery alarm just as Dave called.  We got enough chat time for me to communicate that I was near the Tualatin River and was going to be riding on Tile Flat Road before the phone died.  As I was putting the phone back in my pack John Henry pedaled up.  We decided to soft pedal to Tile Flat Road and wait.  We got to the far end of Tile Flat Road and waited for nearly a half hour.  John Henry didn't have the other's phone numbers, I had them, but they were not accessible on the dead phone.  We finally decided that even with a possible flat tire they should have been caught up.  We figured that they knew the way, but not the route, and were probably making their way back to our vehicles at Fred Meyer via some alternate route.  We decided to pedal the last 11 miles to my pickup, where I could charge my phone and call them, if they weren't there already.   We picked up the pace a bit and pedaled toward the barn.

As we finished up we saw both of them, smiling like Cheshire Cats resting by the vehicles.  The did know the way, and managed to shave a few miles off the planned route.  This is what John Henry and I rode, and it was our planned route today.

We locked up the bikes and headed across the road to Cornelius Pass Roadhouse  where my sister and nephew met us for some birthday cake and happy hour goodness.

Thanks to my sister Bev for again bringing a birthday cake!

It was a good day, great weather, and a good workout for me.......trying to keep up with all those young whipper snappers.

..............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle........total
Today..............59...........0................0............0.............59 Jan.................710..............0...............0.........0.............710
Feb.................59..............0...............0...........0..............59
Total.............769.............0...............0..........0..............769