104 Miles
Ah, what was I worried about? While bicycling 104 miles was not a walk in the park, I am sitting here the next day not even sore and thinking about taking a run in another couple hours once the sun is a bit lower and less intense.
I finished right around when I expected at 4pm, after starting at 7:40am in Beaverton. Since I did not carry any water or food on the bike or my back, I stopped at every rest stop and took a nice leisurely lunch. The latter more because of the long line for food than anything. The constant headwind the entire way was definitely wearisome, but I drafted with a few groups and that greatly helped. When you have been going 20-25 miles an hour into the wind just by yourself for hours that reduction of energy usage of 30-40% is such a joy. What? You mean I can actually pedal slower and go the same speed? Loverly. Right at the end, I drafted with a group of four guys and lead them to the finish. Solid way to end a ride.
If you take a look at the Portland course map, you can see the two decent sized hills on the second segment. For the climbs, the elevation gain was not too shabby. My bottom never left its seat, just went to my lowest gear and that was fine. The descent was amazing and great fun, despite being one of the most crash prone parts of the ride. At the second rest stop, there were more than a few riders who wanted to go back and do them again. The hills also had the added benefit of there being no wearisome headwind.
When I was finished, Liz and Carole (and Monk) met me at the finish, and we had an extremely tasty dinner at the Pacific House Restaurant (bit of a wait, but the food was well worth it and the owner came by and entertained us multiple times).
So...great ride! Totally worth doing.
I finished right around when I expected at 4pm, after starting at 7:40am in Beaverton. Since I did not carry any water or food on the bike or my back, I stopped at every rest stop and took a nice leisurely lunch. The latter more because of the long line for food than anything. The constant headwind the entire way was definitely wearisome, but I drafted with a few groups and that greatly helped. When you have been going 20-25 miles an hour into the wind just by yourself for hours that reduction of energy usage of 30-40% is such a joy. What? You mean I can actually pedal slower and go the same speed? Loverly. Right at the end, I drafted with a group of four guys and lead them to the finish. Solid way to end a ride.
If you take a look at the Portland course map, you can see the two decent sized hills on the second segment. For the climbs, the elevation gain was not too shabby. My bottom never left its seat, just went to my lowest gear and that was fine. The descent was amazing and great fun, despite being one of the most crash prone parts of the ride. At the second rest stop, there were more than a few riders who wanted to go back and do them again. The hills also had the added benefit of there being no wearisome headwind.
When I was finished, Liz and Carole (and Monk) met me at the finish, and we had an extremely tasty dinner at the Pacific House Restaurant (bit of a wait, but the food was well worth it and the owner came by and entertained us multiple times).
So...great ride! Totally worth doing.
– Posted: May 16, 2010, 02:26 pm