07 February 2010

Weekend Rides

Friday, 05 February, was such a beautiful day in Portland.  Blue skies, sixty-degrees, and there I sat in my office.  A text from a friend came in wondering if I could sneak away for an afternoon ride.  Hmmm.... Well, I am not too great at "sneaky," so I just went around and told everyone I was leaving because I couldn't pass up a ride on this lovely day.  And then, I left.  CRAZY. So, I started my weekend out enjoying the beautiful weather and a few hills up Terwilleger. 
Saturday was our group ride.  It was a flat 20-mile, out-and-back ride on the Springwater Corridor bike path. (See my pics in the right right column for one of the group getting ready to head out.) We kept it pretty slow on the way out.  I was with the group leader and we missed the turnaround point and ended up making our route a wee bit longer.  After their stop at the restrooms on the way back, it was time to challenge the group to keep up their cadence.  So we hit the trail and kept more of a 16-18 mph pace.  I liked that a bit better.  One person got a flat and learned to fix a flat on this ride...lesson learned.  Got back and departed from the group pretty quickly to drive down to Salem where McKensie and team were playing volleyball.
Sunday, Mari - a fellow TNT teammate - and I met up to do next Saturday's ride early.  Both of us will miss the group ride due to being out of town.  A nice 40 minute drive south of my house, we met in Donald, Oregon.  The ride was mostly flat with a few rolling hills and one surprise hill, but still not too bad. 
We kept a decent pace and, due to a wrong turn, made this 23-mile route a 27-miler.  I thought we might get rained on, but it was the perfect riding conditions.  A slight breeze to keep us cool.  Fog...I love fog. 
All in all, a great weekend.  About 70 miles.  Some hills on Friday, totally flat on Saturday, and slight bumps on Sunday...fan-freaking-tastic.  Oh, and at the time that I am finishing this, the Saints just ran a touchdown to make it 31-17 .  This is just crazy....totally unexpected, but this blog isn't about the Super Bowl... wow.

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