Lots of Riding, Lots of Climbing

Seems as though, despite the weather the past couple of weeks, we have all been getting in a lot of riding.  In addition to Dana's climbing Mt. St. Helen's, Lisa, Gale & Nancy have been getting in some good rides.  Nancy and Gale did the Reach the Beach route between Pacific City and Grand Ronde for about 56 miles (not much climbing).  Gale and Lisa have been participating in Col de Beaver Creek, a weekly hill climb time trial which is "2.1 steep, grueling miles".  Nancy has been practicing hill climbing on the hill to Drift Creek Falls (about a 7% grade); she brought Gale along a couple of days ago and they climbed 2 miles up towards the falls (total ride about 36 miles).  Lisa rode up to the top of Washington's Hurricane Ridge last week, and managed to be hit with snow and hail; she said the descent was pretty "narly" as the road was very slippery.  Today, Lisa, Gale and Nancy did a 44 mile roundtrip ride from Otis to Pacific City starting on Old Hwy 101; this is a beautiful ride with little traffic, and long, steady climbs.

Ride Up Mt. St. Helens

RIDE UP MT ST. HELENS
Decided to try to ride up the new highway on Mt. St. Helens. Luckily got the only dry day and place in the whole month of May (almost true). With Mom providing loyal sagging and my friend Don going partway--made it all the way to the Johnson Ridge Observatory. 33 miles with 5200 feet of climbing.
If you live in the NW and have not done this be sure to do so. The road surface is great with a good shoulder. Lots of climbing and beautiful scenery all the way. A must ride.

Riding in McMinnville

Last week Nancy and Dana went down to McMinnville--because it is Dana's home town and 1/2 way between our current houses. What a beautiful ride at the base of the coast range. The highlight was the herd of almost 200 alpaca's. They enjoyed looking at us as much as we enjoyed them.
Dana's discovered on Google map that if we had just ridden 2 miles further we would have come upon a Dairy Queen. Dana lives for chocolate ice cream. Next time for sure.

Lots of Miles, Good Routes, and a "Close Encounter"

We have all been training hard and enjoying some different routes.  Lucinda and Dana recently rode 40+ miles together on Sauvie Island (near Portland); this is a relatively flat ride through beautiful farmland. 

Lisa has been riding some familiar routes - Newport to Toledo on the Bay Road (a beautiful 25 mile ride, mostly flat but with two major hills), and Newport to Taft (south end of Lincoln City) over Otter Crest and back to Newport (about 50 miles).

Gretchen is planning on riding the 80 mile route of Reach the Beach this Saturday.  You go girl!  That will be quite a ride!

Nancy rode from Waldport to Yachats then up the Yachats River Road last Wednesday (about 38 miles round trip) - a truly beautiful ride on a spectacular sunny day.  She also has ridden a couple of times this week from her house up to Kernville then east towards Siletz on Hwy 229, the Siletz Hwy for a distance each time of 50-60 miles.  Today on that route Nancy encountered a coyote!  Fortunately for Nancy, they looked at each other then the coyote decided to run back into the woods.

The Oregon weather is finally getting warmer and drier opening the door for more riding opportunities.

Training on the Oregon Coast

Gale, Lisa and Nancy had a great training day last Friday.  We got together, along with our friend Skip, at the old Kernville Restaurant (where "Sometimes a Great Notion" was filmed) and rode from Hwy. 101 on the Siletz Highway to Jack Morgan Park.  There were some hills and we rode at a pretty fast pace (according to Nancy).  We had a pretty good headwind on our return, but Skip was a real trooper and led the pace line.  We rode about 35 miles.

Lisa and Skip rode again on Sunday from Newport to Toledo.  Nancy and Gale got in short rides in the afternoon. 

The weather has turned cold and very windy.  Along with the rain, I'm afraid we will not have good training possibilities.

We're ready for summer!