For Cycle Oregon, that is. Yesterday I had Cheryl drop me and my bike off in Baker City on her way to Halfway to the fair. I had ambitions toward doing a 30 or so mile ride around Baker Valley, then riding home, which would give me between fifty and sixty miles. Little did I know...
On my way out Pocahontas Road I suddenly had the idea to call Kim and Janie, my local riding buddies, and see if they were home, so I stopped and dug my cell phone out of my backpack. They were indeed home. Unfortunately for him, Kim was on call (he's a vet) but Janie was more than happy to get in some miles. "Let's ride to North Powder!" was her reply.
"We can do that," I answered. Silly me...
I rode on to their house. By this time I had about 11 miles on the odometer. It was chilly even while riding and I had several layers on. Actually several too many. While Janie finished getting ready to go, I shed the top layer on my upper half. Much better.
By the time we left their house the wind was kicking up more than it had been and it was shaping up to be a bit of a headwind. Wow, did it ever...
By the time we got back to Pocahontas Road, which pointed straight into the wind, the wind had started to become serious. Just past the old Pocahontas School site we saw Janie's friends John and Cindy coming out of their driveway for a short ride. We rode with them to the Rock Creek turnoff. I had a nice visit with John, who is retired from the Forest Circus. Janie and I went on toward North Powder while they turned up Rock Creek Lane.
By this time, the wind was getting really into its playful mode. I was pulling, and managing to keep my cadence up most of the time by doing a virtuoso performance on my shifters. The wind would drop a little, then kick back up. Some of the gusts made me feel like I was starting to go backwards. Interesting feeling. Janie stayed tucked in behind me most of the time. She did get out and pull for a couple of miles, but since she is only about half my size drafting behind her wasn't the rest break it could have been though she did her best. It did help though. On the leg back toward Baker, I decided that the wind had to be at least 20 mph because I had to be going that fast to get any breeze in my face...
Then, we made the turn back toward Baker. Ah! The joys of a tailwind. I led off and suddenly found myself pedaling easily and a glance at the bike computer told me we were cruising along at just under 25 mph. Cool!!! We made the 8 miles to Haines in just about 20 minutes. More Cool!!!
Janie cut off back toward home when we got to Wingville Road, and I went on into Baker, hit Subway for a foot long Prime Rib and Pepper Jack cheese sub with all the veggies and a double helping of blue Powerade from the soda machine then headed for Durkee myself, anticipating the long downhills from Pleasant Valley to Durkee...
Ride stats: 76.3 miles
16.9 average mph
Max speed 41.64 mph
Just over 4 hours ride time
So it appears that the horsepower is mostly there, so the engine is pretty much ready, but the engine mount , as my friend Don Bolton so aptly put it, is a little shaky. The legs are fine, mabye a little tired this morning, but the sit bones are more than a tiny bit tender. I don't think I'll get on the bike today...
On my way out Pocahontas Road I suddenly had the idea to call Kim and Janie, my local riding buddies, and see if they were home, so I stopped and dug my cell phone out of my backpack. They were indeed home. Unfortunately for him, Kim was on call (he's a vet) but Janie was more than happy to get in some miles. "Let's ride to North Powder!" was her reply.
"We can do that," I answered. Silly me...
I rode on to their house. By this time I had about 11 miles on the odometer. It was chilly even while riding and I had several layers on. Actually several too many. While Janie finished getting ready to go, I shed the top layer on my upper half. Much better.
By the time we left their house the wind was kicking up more than it had been and it was shaping up to be a bit of a headwind. Wow, did it ever...
By the time we got back to Pocahontas Road, which pointed straight into the wind, the wind had started to become serious. Just past the old Pocahontas School site we saw Janie's friends John and Cindy coming out of their driveway for a short ride. We rode with them to the Rock Creek turnoff. I had a nice visit with John, who is retired from the Forest Circus. Janie and I went on toward North Powder while they turned up Rock Creek Lane.
By this time, the wind was getting really into its playful mode. I was pulling, and managing to keep my cadence up most of the time by doing a virtuoso performance on my shifters. The wind would drop a little, then kick back up. Some of the gusts made me feel like I was starting to go backwards. Interesting feeling. Janie stayed tucked in behind me most of the time. She did get out and pull for a couple of miles, but since she is only about half my size drafting behind her wasn't the rest break it could have been though she did her best. It did help though. On the leg back toward Baker, I decided that the wind had to be at least 20 mph because I had to be going that fast to get any breeze in my face...
Then, we made the turn back toward Baker. Ah! The joys of a tailwind. I led off and suddenly found myself pedaling easily and a glance at the bike computer told me we were cruising along at just under 25 mph. Cool!!! We made the 8 miles to Haines in just about 20 minutes. More Cool!!!
Janie cut off back toward home when we got to Wingville Road, and I went on into Baker, hit Subway for a foot long Prime Rib and Pepper Jack cheese sub with all the veggies and a double helping of blue Powerade from the soda machine then headed for Durkee myself, anticipating the long downhills from Pleasant Valley to Durkee...
Ride stats: 76.3 miles
16.9 average mph
Max speed 41.64 mph
Just over 4 hours ride time
So it appears that the horsepower is mostly there, so the engine is pretty much ready, but the engine mount , as my friend Don Bolton so aptly put it, is a little shaky. The legs are fine, mabye a little tired this morning, but the sit bones are more than a tiny bit tender. I don't think I'll get on the bike today...
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