The Think Tank

Kyle, Joel and I are riding in the Seattle to Portland bike ride this weekend. We got to Seattle late last night because Kyle had work calls planned all afternoon, and we thought it would be better to get up here Thursday night so we could get a good nights sleep before the ride.

Of course, that is not how it actually turned out. Our friends Connie and Jennifer were in Seattle on vacation from South Carolina to tend to a few things at Marcie’s house in Seattle, so we stayed with them Thursday night, and there were a few projects that needed taking care Friday after work, so we didn’t get to the camp area (right by the start line) until around 11 o’clock. Mom and Connie dropped Joel off around 8 so he was already in his tent by the time we arrived at 11, coincidentally enough right at the same time as Kyle Boyd, who had spent The day with his family and friends.

About the time I was getting in bed, a fellow biker parked a few cars over from the van came over because he had locked his keys in his car and wondered if we might have something he could use to get in it with. We fished around and came up with some metal skewers and electrical tape, and he set off to his task. A few minutes later we checked in on him and he was still having trouble getting in, so mom and I started helping. Around 12:30 we finally got the car open, thank goodness. So now I am in my tent and going to sleep. We will be getting up at 5am so we can be on the road by six, hopefully.

I’ll try to post some more and maybe a few pics when we get to Centrallia tomorrow.

Joel and are taking part in the Providence Bridge Pedal this morning. More updates to come.

As many of you know because you so generously donated on my behalf, Joel and I took part in Reach the Beach, an annual bike ride fundraiser for the American Lung Association.

This year’s ride caused a bit of a stir and earned some airtime on the local news stations because the police in Amity – the halfway point on the 104 mile ride from Portland – setup a sting operation for bikers who ran a stop sign.  I have definite opinions on that, but I will address those in a bit.

All in all the ride raised more than $600,000 dollars for the ALA, which is a great accomplishment and an event record.  The ride was limited to 3,000 riders and sold out more than two weeks before the deadline.

The ride itself proved to be very pretty and mostly enjoyable, but much more difficult than either Joel or I thought it would be, and I had anticipated it being pretty tough.

Everyone I spoke to about the ride insisted that it was very flat, and indeed there was a significant portion of dead flat land from Newberg to Grand Ronde, but that leaves about 75 miles of climbing.  It wasn’t always super steep, but it was pretty constant.  As is clearly evident in the picture above, I am not a pristine physical specimen, but even still, this was pretty tough.

In fact, it was so hard that neither Joel or I finished.  Joel made it 50 miles and I got as far as 82, but eventually the hills and killer headwind were too much for me.

Click through for the full details.

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Joel and I joined about 4,000 crazy Portlandians at the 10th Annual Worst Day of the Year bike ride last Sunday, marking our 2nd consecutive year.  That just so happens to perfectly coincide with the only years when it has rained as well, although I have to say that we were pretty fortunate in that regard.  It did sprinkle on us just a little, but it was hardly worth mentioning and nothing compared to the deluge that followed later in the evening.

I started off very well by failing to look at my registration information to determine the correct starting point, and went to the Lucky Lab in downtown instead of the one on Hawthorne.  That was bummer.  For Joel’s part, he actually did follow instructions (for once), but in order to hold with tradition he showed up with a flat tire that he had repaired at the mechanics tent.

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Gettin' ready to ride

Joel and I decided to ride in the Pioneer Century in Canby last Saturday.  We figured it would be good training for Seattle To Portland.

This ride is an annual event put on by the Portland Wheelmen Touring Club.  Without a doubt this was the best value of any organized ride we’ve been on yet.  There was cold and hot cereal in the morning for all of the riders, along with coffee, hot cocoa, and coffeecake.  Each rider also received a couple small tubes of sun screen, a mini flat-repair kit, granola bars and some other swag that I can’t remember.  On the trail we were met with fully stocked rest stops every 20 miles or so, each with Gatorade, granola bars, oranges, bananas, fresh strawberries and blue berries, pineapples, cookies, crackers, juices, trail mix…  And if that weren’t enough, our registration also bought us lunch at the halfway point.  There was even a masseuse at the fairgrounds, which was also included in our whopping $25 dollar entry fee.

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