Lisa

As those of you who have been following this blog know, our friend Lisa is a member of our group planning to ride our bikes across the USA.  Yesterday, while crossing Highway 18 east of Lincoln City on her bike, Lisa collided with a vehicle and was "life flighted" to Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland.  She has a broken shoulder and fractured ribs, and some other injuries, none of which are, fortunately, life threatening.  She expects to remain at OHSU until Thursday when she plans to return to Newport.  We are certainly very thankful that her injuries are ones from which she can expect to recover.  Please keep Lisa in your thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.

Banks-Vernonia Trail

June 23rd. Time for Dana to start getting serious about training. We had agreed to meet that evening for Nancy, Dana and Gretchen to ride the Banks-Vernonia Trail.
It was a beautiful day--so in the morning Dana went out and did the Krueger Road climb. 30 miles in the morning including a stop for some delicious juicy strawberries.
Then in the afternoon I road part way to the meeting place then the 3 of us loaded up and drove out to the trail head. Uphill all the way--but a fun descent with no need to even pedal. A flat run towards and back from Banks.
Afterwards it was time for dinner and drinks.
Gretchen and Dana took Max-biked home. Dana finally got home at 11:15pm after 65 miles of riding. A good day.

Petal Pedal

A new ride was introduced to NW Oregon the Petal Pedal in Silverton. Went down friday nite with my mom in the motor home. Meet my friend Joanne Klassen (who this spring completed her own x-country journey) and her husband for a friday evening warm-up ride.
The 3 of us set out--with funky maps and a spirit of adventure. Our initial direction was all wrong--thanks to Dana--but lead us to Mt. Angel just in time to watch the glockenspiel go off. After many wrong turns--searching of maps--we finally made our way back to Silverton after 30 miles--just in time for me to tell mom to jump in the car--we made it back to watch the Glockenspiel go off again.

Saturday was the actual ride. 12 women from the Bike Gallery women's group did the ride. It started with about 20 miles of climbing--then rollers then finally flattened out. 63 miles for the route most of us did. Great times with Patricia pulling me most of the way--and watching Lucinda break away from the pack.

A beautiful ride--fabulous dinner and friendship after the ride. A great day for all of us.

Oh... The Wind! And a Great Climb

On Monday, Gale and Nancy decided to ride from Gale's home near Agate Beach down the Bay Rd. in Newport up over the hill to Toledo, then on to Siletz, then east to almost Logsden.  Other than the highway to Siletz (horrible shoulders and LOTS of traffic), it was a great ride with just enough hills to give us a challenge.  The return trip was a bit different!  Everything was great until we came down onto the Bay Rd. from Toledo, then the wind hit!  Gale and Nancy rode 10 miles with our hands in the "drops" and leaned over as much as we could; the more than occasional gusts almost knocked us off of our bikes.  For some strange reason, even though we had a headwind, climbing up the dreaded John Moore hill seemed easy to both of us.  We rode about 58 miles; neither of us was physically tired, but we both felt mentally tired from fighting the wind.  We later talked with Lisa who had ridden up 101 from Waldport in that wind (would have been a direct headwind), and even rode across the Yaquina Bay Bridge in it!

Today Gale and Nancy rode from Nancy's house to Drift Creek Falls.  To get there we had to climb over 1600 feet into the coast range; 1500 feet of the climb came in the first 4 miles; the average grade was 7.2% with portions up to over 25%.  After a brief stop at the first mile we didn't stop again until we reached the top.  We descended about 600 feet to the Falls parking lot.  With the ride back up to the top, which included some "ups and downs" we ended up with a total elevation change of about 2500 feet.  We both felt great and really wanted to ride some more, but when we got back down to civilization we learned that the road we were planning to ride (Anderson Rd.) was being paved, so we turned around and rode back to Nancy's house.  We ended up riding a little over 41 miles - not as far as we would have liked, but a good workout.  This was an absolutely beautiful ride!

We think Lisa rode from Newport to Pacific City and back today; if she did she rode over 100 miles!

Lost at the Cemetery

Went out for a ride today and decide to ride around Sherwood and explore the city. That was a great idea and my explorations brought me to the base of a road I had always wanted to see where it lead. Not seeing much traffic I headed up. What a beautiful climb-no traffic--heavily wooded not super steep-switchbacks.

As I went up it just all got better. But I had no idea where I was. I stopped a mother walking with her baby and one car and asked where the road went and thought it went where I wanted--so I kept going up and up. Suddenly at the top of Chehalem mountain I stopped and looked around and realized I had no idea which road to take down from the top.

I had a map--but unfortunately it was for the city of Tigard and so no help. Asked one man but he was from Salem and very little idea where he was. Stopped at Gibbs Cemetery--many very old tombstones some with the people dying in the 1890's. Called Arnie--who had no map so he also had no idea where I was.

But all was not lost--I had bought a small compass to have on my bike and realized that the road I was heading on was going south and west and I needed to go NE. So I pointed my bike NE and just road in that direction. Soon enought things looked a little familiar and I found the road I was looking for. Headed down a steep and wonderful descent and then back home.

I am anxious to ride this loop again--what an absolutely beautiful climb.

Fun Ride!

Lisa, Gale and Nancy had a great ride yesterday.  We started at Ona Beach State Park located near Seal Rock, OR, and rode the Beaver Creek "loop" which comes out on the north side of the bridge going into Waldport.  We rode into Waldport, stopped at "Green Bike" to say "hello" to Roger who was working on a bike for the Green Bike program, then climbed the hill on the east side of Waldport and rode to the golf course and then to Hwy. 101.  We rode Hwy. 101 south to Yachats with a great tailwind.  At Yachats we turned onto the Yachats River Rd. and took it until the road turns to gravel ending at Keller Park (a small day use park with no facilities).  The return ride on Hwy. 101 gave us a strong headwind.  Lisa, our strongest rider, was wonderful and led a pace (letting Gale and me draft her) back to Waldport (Thank you, Lisa!).  After crossing the bridge north of Newport we took Beaver Creek back to Ona Beach.  Our ride totalled 57 miles.

Two problems came to our attention on this ride:  On the way back, climbing a hill on Beaver Creek, Gale's chain dropped off as she was shifting; this has happened to her before and we need to figure out what is causing the problem!  The other problem was Nancy - Twice Lisa saw her struggling up hill (of course, on the 2 steepest climbs of the ride!), looked down at Nancy's cassette and noticed that she still had 3 gears left; Nancy needs to learn not to let this happen as there is no way she will be able to climb the Rockies without using her biggest gear!

The good news for Lisa:  The day before our ride she had spent four hours working on the bike she will take on our tour, taking much of the bike apart.  She was anxious to try the bike and see how it performed.  It was perfect!  Good job, Lisa.

Nancy's Birthday Ride

During the middle of a ride with Gale along Newport's Bay Rd. up the steep hill over to Toledo, then the hill over to Elk City, Nancy decided that this was the day to get her "birthday ride" in (her birthday was late in May, but she hadn't yet managed to ride her age).  This was a fun ride and we ended up picking up some guys from the Yaquina Wheels Bike Club (YWBC) to join us.  We ran into Conrad at a little park on the Bay Rd. at the base of the "Toledo Hill".  He had been planning to return to Newport but decided to go along with us to Elk City.  We rode through Toledo and then to Elk City where we took a snack break.  When we got back to Toledo Conrad suggested we detour over Sturdevant Rd (hill) which took us around Toledo, but back into town so we had to climb the "Toledo Hill" (but, the "easy" side) back to the Bay Rd..  Conrad left us at Sawyer's Landing to go home.  Gale and I went back to the gas tank close to Newport where we agreed to turn around to give Nancy another 18 miles so she could get in her 64 miles (thanks Gale for accompanying me!).  While at the gas tank, Skip, another YWBC member, rode up.  He was just heading down the Bay Rd. for a quick ride and joined us.  Nancy got in her 64 miles (actually rode 65 miles), on a beautiful June day, with great company. 

This also served the purpose of being an excellent training ride.  60 - 65 miles is about what we plan to do on a daily basis on our trip, so it is important to get in some days that are that long at this point in our training.  Gale and Nancy both felt it was a "milestone" (Lisa made this accomplishment a few weeks ago; see the June 1 blog), and were relieved not to be too tired after the ride.

McMinnville Ride

Our group has shrunk to four due to others having to drop out for a variety of reasons. We are sorry they won't be with us but wish them well on their other adventures.   Dana, Gale, Lisa and Nancy FINALLY all got together and rode together for the first time last week, on June 4.  We met in McMinnville where we were treated to wonderful treats by Dana & Fran's (Dana's mom) friend Steve.  Dana led our ride over "hill and dell" out Peavine Rd., then over a big hill to Gopher Valley Rd. with the ulterior motive of getting us to the Sheridan Dairy Queen on Hwy. 18.  We, of course, had to eat (with all of the cycling we are doing we tend to be constantly hungry!), then headed back to Steve's house.  We rode 30.5 miles, and were greeted with cobbler and ice cream!  The weather was perfect and we all enjoyed the ride!

"Make Hay While the Sun Shines" (and it did briefly!)

Today was really a terrible day weatherwise on the Oregon Coast, especially for June.  We had 2 - 3" of rain and lots of wind.  I knew there was no way I would get a ride in.  I did clean & oil my chain though this morning so I would be ready to ride as soon as the weather changed. Also, yesterday I finally got around to finding the manual online for my headlight that was on another bike so I could figure out how to transfer it to my road bike (not an easy task, but I finally accomplished it).   Little did I know the change in the weather would come this evening!  As we were eating dinner about 7 p.m. I suddenly realized the sun was shining and it wasn't raining; the streets had even dried somewhat (well, that may be an exaggeration, but they were drier than an hour earlier).  I decided to take advantage of the break in the weather and go out for a short ride.  So, I pumped up my tires, and off I went.  I normally HATE riding Hwy 101 because the shoulders have a lot of debrie, the traffic is noisy, and there are a lot of trucks.  Tonight, however, it was very pleasant (maybe I was just happy to get out of the house!) and I rode nonstop up to Taft and back; I managed to get 15.52 miles in, and thoroughly enjoyed the ride.  It was truly a beautiful evening!

Lisa's Birthday Ride

Lisa did her "birthday ride" (number of miles ridden equals age) on Monday, the last day of the month of May (Nancy hasn't done hers yet, but because her birthday is late in May - Lisa is much older, at least 2 weeks older, than Nancy - she figures she has until late in June to do hers).  This was a LONG ride because of Lisa's advanced age.  She chose to ride out to Elk City from Newport, a beautiful ride with a fair number of hills, and to check out the route for this years Newport Marathon which is this coming Saturday.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA, and congratulations on getting your ride in!