Pacific Northwest - Monster Cookie Metric Century

I guess we'll have a thread in Road Cycling too, it sure was a fun time last year.

I've registered, a fun and fast group for this year's ride will be a great way to start off the season.
Who's in?

My parent's road in it several years ago and said it was a great time.

I'll be registering in the next few days (probably over the weekend). Hopefully we can get a decent-sized crew out there. Last year's Cookie was a blast. But there were only a handful of BF members at the Worst Day Ride in Feb.

Our BF group from last year's Monster Cookie:
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d126/telehammer/Image001.jpg

I think I am going to ride the Monster Cookie, the Watermelon Ride, and the Peach Of A Century this year as part of my Livestrong training.

If you are going to ride those 3 be sure to tell them at the Peach that you did all 3. They have had a small take home for doing that. I think they call it the Road Animal award although I call it the Roadkill.Award.

Thanks, I will. :)

If the weather is good, my wife and I can be spotted on our red Co-Mo tandem on the way out to Champoeg. If the weather is really good, we'll have the blue Burley tandem out as well for the trip back...our kids get to take the stoker positions for that part of the ride.

But how are we to spot any of the other BF personalities?

Last year BF members met up at/after registration at a particular time (8:30 maybe?) ready to ride. The picture that Shifty posted was on the steps of the State Library west of the toilets they'd set up that day at the start/finish. That worked pretty darn well as a meeting place.

Where is the best place to find out about events like this?

Google, mostly, websites and some magazines. Then after a few years you kind of learn the schedule and get on mailing lists. Here's a rough list/schedule that'll at least give you some keywords to search.

Salem Bike Club puts on three event rides in the mid-valley: the Monster Cookie Metric (end of April), the Watermelon Ride (late June), and the Peach of a Century (late Sept.).

Down the valley further, there is a Strawberry Century (early June?) and Covered Bridge something or other (I think in August).

The Portland Wheelmen Touring Club puts on a Spring Century (reverting to it's previous name of Pioneer this year) the first Saturday in June. They also stage one in the Mt. Hood Area in August (was the Torture 10,000 - but will be different this year).

The Vancouver club does the Ride Around Clark Country the first Saturday in May. Reach the Beach is a week or two later.

There are also at least one 'Vine' themed ride out towards wine country (Newberg?) in late summer; a Havest Ride (early Oct. from Champoeg State Park); and several others (the Seattle to Portland, Summit-to-Surf, LiveStrong, MS150, Cycle Oregon and Bike Oregon). There was also a (somewhat problem riddled) first-year Portland Century last August, and I've heard of another first-year ride this summer out of McMinnville.

What others did I miss all?

Here's where I get info on a lot of events:

http://www.vancouverbicycleclub.com/events.html#Apr


My wife and I will be at the Monster Cookie if it's not raining. We'll be doing day-of registration.

Dean

Would be nice to meet others from here at the ride. I figure I'll probably meet Deanoldo since I'll be doing day of registration

Thanks to my laziness.... I too will be doing day of registration. Rain or shine.

I guess we'll have a thread in Road Cycling too, it sure was a fun time last year.

I've registered, a fun and fast group for this year's ride will be a great way to start off the season.
Who's in?

Shifty - I can come up with my own definition for fun :) , but what is your definition of fast? I'm in fairly good shape for a 52 year old clydesdale (800 miles so far this year including a very hilly 54 miler today), but I don't want to get into something over my head.

I've registered and will be there rain or shine.

I'm not sure what our overall average speed was last year, but I do remember some 24 mph pace lines that went on for mile after mile. It all depends on the group that shows up, but a 17 -19 mph average is always fun. There can be a couple groups, meet up at the start, rest stops and finish, it's all good.

17-19 MPH pace sounds good to me. :)

What is the terrain like?

What is the terrain like?
Imagine the profile of a big flat cookie with a few chocolate chips here & there. :)

OK, cool. That's what I was thinking looking at the map, but didn't want to be shocked

17-19 MPH pace sounds good to me. :)

What is the terrain like?


There is like 250ft of gain over the 62 miles.

I'm out, my wife made plans for me I didn't know about until now. Good fun, I'll hook up with you guys next time,,, on the new bike!!

The weather forecast is looking excellent, sunny with a few clouds, 10% chance of rain.

Me and a couple of buddies are in.

Unfortunately I can't make it this weekend. I did my first race on Sunday (the Three Rivers race in Ranier) and I used up all my childcare credits with my wife for next weekend. I got completely crushed at the race, but it was a lot of fun and a great experience. Sometimes it is good to be humbled...

Hopefully we will organize again for the Spring Century or the Barlow.

Do you think we should decide on one thread for this event and put a link in the other two threads so no one misses the boat? :)

Do you think we should decide on one thread for this event and put a link in the other two threads so no one misses the boat? :)Very good idea, I'd vote to keep it here, it gets buried too fast on road bike forum.

Will you let someone from Newport (OR) crash you party?

The weather forecast is looking excellent, sunny with a few clouds, 10% chance of rain.


I saw that! Looking forward to it!

Will you let someone from Newport (OR) crash you party?You sure can join us, but on this ride we'll try not to crash!! :D

Hey Shifty, my wife and I will riding. We'd like to meet up with the group. Where should we be and when? We'll be rollin' a purple Santana tandem.

KRhea
Portland

Where should we be and when?

We're looking to meet up by 8:30 (checked in and ready to roll) where the picture was taken last year (in post #4, first page of this thread). It's the steps of the Oregon State Library. Look just west of the registration tables beyond where they (typically) set up the portable toilets. It's marked building 17 in the link below.

http://www.salembicycleclub.org/majrides/MallMap.gif

You sure can join us, but on this ride we'll try not to crash!! :D

OK, thanks.

There might be a few of us from Newport there. I'll know a bit more by Saturday.

Don't know what time I or others will be there and ready to roll.

And definitely no crashing...

Had our local bike club meeting this evening (Thursday) and it looks like there could be 8 or 10 of us coming from Newport.

Don't know how organized we'll be though or if there's any master plan other than to get there.

Hopefully the "plan" will get clearer by Saturday.

Hopefully I'll make it.......my rear wheel won't hold true. It's been trued at the shop twice and twice by me. I tried to ride to work this morning without thinking about it and just about crashed with the shaking it was doing to the bike. :(

Is it much trouble of day-of-ride registration?

Is it much trouble of day-of-ride registration?
I'm not aware of any rider limit. http://www.salembicycleclub.org/majrides.html. Sounds like we're going to have the biggest group yet.

So, who's gonna be packing their digital?

And, should we think about a post-ride meal somewhere? I didn't stick around for burgers & beer at the Ram (?) last year - how did that work out? I'm not going to sit around in riding gear growing mushrooms - is there a place to change? IIRC, the portable toilets were gone at ride's end.

Weather's supposed to be mid-60's & dry - I'm gettin' excited!

^ The Ram in Lake Oswego or is there another one?

In Salem somewhere.

Is it much trouble of day-of-ride registration?


No, but try to get there early, and you may also want to print and fill out a registration form off the website www.salembicycleclub.org so you don't have to wait quite as long.

^ The Ram in Lake Oswego or is there another one?


There is one in salem roughly a mile from the start/finish area. Its on 12th street as you make your way from downtown south towards Mission st / HWY 22, which is the easiest route back to I-5, though not the fastest if you are headed north...

I'll probably take a pair of jeans and a tshirt or something to throw on after the ride. I hate sitting in a resturant in lycra.

There is one in salem roughly a mile from the start/finish area. Its on 12th street as you make your way from downtown south towards Mission st / HWY 22, which is the easiest route back to I-5, though not the fastest if you are headed north...

I'll probably take a pair of jeans and a tshirt or something to throw on after the ride. I hate sitting in a resturant in lycra.


Sunday afternoon post-ride beer sounds great. I'll have to join you all.

And I absolutely refuse to wear lycra in a restaurant. Rule of thumb is if the bike is within 2 feet of you, it's Ok. Otherwise no. :o

I'll have a camera. Not sure how much time I've got to hang out afterwards as I have kids at home, but I'm up for a beer and something for sure!

I'll out there on Sunday as well. It's just a short little couple miles at most ride for me to get down there. I'm already registered though, so thankfully I get to avoid the day-of-registration deal. My girlfriend will be out there too, but she'll be one of the volunteers.

Well, it's 2:49am and I'm working...... I had hoped to be done by midnight so I could get some sleep before the ride. I've got at least another 2 hours of work to do once the Sys Admin figures out why the Unix box I was working on crashed..... So, I'm not going to make it to the ride.........

Dean

http://www.theragsdalefamily.com/smilies/rant.gifhttp://www.theragsdalefamily.com/smilies/rant2.gifhttp://www.theragsdalefamily.com/smilies/rant.gifhttp://www.theragsdalefamily.com/smilies/rant2.gif
I set my alarm for 6 so I would have plenty of time to get up, eat, and drive to Salem. Problem is I forgot to set it for AM since the last alarm I had was for a short nap yesterday.
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Great ride today. 60.9 miles with rolling hills and mostly nice roads. Weather was perfect. It was a well supported ride. Some curiosities - adult trikes, recumbent with polypropolene fairings, chubby people on MTBs on knobbies. I have to ask: why? ;)

I finished in 3:10 averaging north of 18 mph. We had a nice paceline going 21 to 22 mph going for about the last 20 miles.

Pictures to come later.

I got to the start a bit late, so I missed the meet up, dang!! It was great to see several of you at rest stops and Jakey at the finish, what a great day for the ride. We averaged 19 mph for the ride, great weather and the flat course made it fun and fast.

Next event will be the Pioneer Century in Canby, maybe a group for that one, more later on that one.

I missed hooking up with everyone as well. I decided to completely clean my drivetrain and before I knew it it was 8:30 before I even left the house.

I switched from group to group myself. I split pulls with another guy, going around 24-26 mph once we were out of Salem until the first break point. He stopped there, and I kept going, keeping it at around 19-20 for the rest of the way. On the way back, it was more of the same. I moved my way from group to group, passing as people tired and slowed down. For the last 10 miles or so until the city I bumped my speed back up and was around 22mph. Alltogether, it averaged out to be just under 20 for my ride today including the city section.

Absolutely beautiful day though, I must say. Warm enough to not be freezing, cool enough to not be burning up.

What a great day for a ride. Saw Slice and dtrain at the start and Jakey in the restroom line at the 1/2 way stop. Rode what was probably the hardest training ride of my year with a group from the Bike Pedalers team and a few of us from Portland Velo. Finished with 22.4mph ave., and I thought it was going to be a friendly jaunt. It turned into 60+ miles of constant attacks with our 30+ person groups getting whittled down to 6-8 each time. This ride hurts even more cause of the 84 miles I had done on Saturday.

Wish we could have weather like this a little more often in the Spring. Makes the rides soo much nicer.

What a great day for a ride. Saw Slice and dtrain at the start and Jakey in the restroom line at the 1/2 way stop. Rode what was probably the hardest training ride of my year with a group from the Bike Pedalers team and a few of us from Portland Velo. Finished with 22.4mph ave., and I thought it was going to be a friendly jaunt. It turned into 60+ miles of constant attacks with our 30+ person groups getting whittled down to 6-8 each time. This ride hurts even more cause of the 84 miles I had done on Saturday.

Wish we could have weather like this a little more often in the Spring. Makes the rides soo much nicer.

Damn what was your total ride time? Fast average there! :beer: