Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - 2 Clydes, 2 first centurys and some strawberry shortcake (with pics)

As you might have guessed by the title , myself and forum member timmythology completed our first real century rides yesterday. It was the Strawberry Century and was a beautiful ride with about 2600 feet of elevation gain. The route started in Lebanon Oregon, and took us through the foot hills with a lap around Foster Reservoir, and then back down to a nice flat finish. I finished with a time of 6 hours 15 minutes and a 16.25 mph average. My knee started hurting about 30 miles in, but one of the other kind cyclist gave me some ibuprofen so I could finish the ride. It started to wear off at the end, so I hammered the last 20 miles out before it became to painful to ride. I am hoping that Tim (timmythology) will post here too, but I know he was planning another big ride today,so here is a least my pictures for now.

This is Jane (Tim's friend), Tim and myself, ready to ride at the beginning
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/001-4.jpg

Four minutes into the ride Tim had a flat tire. :eek:
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/002-2.jpg

The weather at first, was overcast, and we did get one short sprinkle. Otherwise, things were dry.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/003-2.jpg

The route bordered the Santiam River for for awhile. Jane could not believe how green the water was.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/004-3.jpg

This is Foster Reservoir, which was about the half way point for the ride.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/005-2.jpg

This is some the foot hills on the way back. There were quite a few rolling hills to ride in this section.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/006-1.jpg

...and this may have been the best part of the ride, STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE at the finish!!!
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Hill-Pumper/007-2.jpg

I am hoping Tim will be posting some of his pictures later. I did not get a chance to see him at the end due to me hammering my way to the finish, due to my knee hurting. Still, I am sure that he made it , He was feeling good at the last rest stop, so hopefully he made it and we will hear his thoughts also. :)

So I am at work now and can't post pics. The ride was great.I have the distinction of being the last rider off the course with a ride time of 7h 22m. Slow but steady for the finish. Will get the few pictures up later, who has time time to take pictures:). I will admit that your Strawberry Desert looks better than mine, the ice cream had melted:(.

So it was a good ride for my first century, I got off course right before a huge down pour that lasted for 30 minutes or so. Did you make it in time to BBQ?

congrats looks like fun

So I am at work now and can't post pics. The ride was great.I have the distinction of being the last rider off the course with a ride time of 7h 22m. Slow but steady for the finish. Will get the few pictures up later, who has time time to take pictures:). I will admit that your Strawberry Desert looks better than mine, the ice cream had melted:(.

So it was a good ride for my first century, I got off course right before a huge down pour that lasted for 30 minutes or so. Did you make it in time to BBQ?

Last off is always > DNF! Congrats. :D

Thanks Tom

centuries.

Thank you very much.

Congrats! The ride looked good the strawberry shortcake looked good. I would have probably eaten it but been conflicted all the same. About the last quarter of my century I was craving a cheeseburger with fries and a vanilla shake. Nothing else I thought of sounded quit as good to me as I tried to come up with alternate after ride menus.

The weird thing is when I made up my mind I heard other people had the same craving.

Last rider in! On our century yesterday, my friend was the last rider in escorted in and congratulated by the entire staff. :D...Almost worth being last!:p

Nice pics! Wassup with the mini portions? I'd need 6 of those suckers to make me happy!

Congrats to all. Scenic route.

Well Since I was last, they let me have all I could eat of the left overs:)

Well Since I was last, they let me have all I could eat of the left overs:)

Tim, you are an evil genius, you sandbag me to make me think that I am fast, just so you can get all the shortcake and ice cream!!!:lol: Honestly, you did great, and I'm sure that you two will have no problem doing the STP!!! :)

Great Job Guys!!! This needs 2 thumbs up:thumb::thumb:

I have been discovered. Goes and hides the ice cream.

In other news I have discovered why the hills are killing me so much. The gears on my old MTB are much lower than on the new road bike. Causing me to mash my way to the top, rather than spin.

SO now I am trying to figure out how to make my legs have more power, or if I should have the lbs put on a smaller chain ring?

Also Mr. Pumper I could only catch you thanks to the help of the evil cookie stand.

Gratz guys great job :thumb: are you ridding the peach this sept? I am planning on doing the metric (it will be my first)

whats the peach?

whats the peach?

He is asking about the Peach of a Century (http://www.salembicycleclub.org/content.plx?page=majrides) It is put on by the Salem Bicycle Club. I have never done the ride, but may consider doing it. If I do it it, I'm not sure if I would do the century or the metric since September is a busy month for me.

TC, you might want to consider doing Covered Bridge Tour (http://www.coveredbridgetour.org/) 40 mile route as a warm up to the Peach. I am doing the century for the Covered Bridge. :)

Most excellent. My summer is now complete. Now I have to decide between the covered bridge, which is a gorgeous ride, and this http://www.providence.org/bridgepedal/. Which tends to be a cluster if you know what I mean.

How do you change the link to something simple like yours?

The covered bridge tour sounds good. I think I may sign up for it :)

Tim... go for the gearing change on your bike! If you're riding a triple, be careful to not go too small on the front chainring (Specialities TA makes chainrings that get pretty small). I've had better luck with a large rear cassette. The capacity of your derailleurs will come into play, too.

A friend of mine used mountain bike components for her drive train on a road bike. Worked well for her until her fitness improved.

I rode the strawberry this year too!

Attempted the century, but was pretty late getting into the rest stop at the reservoir so we took the 2nd half of the 55 mile route back to the finish. Total mileage: 86.5.

I was sure glad the weather stayed dry.

My Boy Scouts complained that they didn't have cold potatoes at the rest stops, but they sure loved the strawberry shortcake at the finish. :p

mdlynam (http://www.bikeforums.net/member.php?u=166848)
Hey, so I talked to the LBS, and would need to change the rear derailleur in order to change to a smaller chain ring. Since I can not aford to do so at this point, just purchased a wheel:). They did the math on my MTB gearing so I now the lowest I can go on my commute. Since I have a nice hill option on the way home, I am just killing my self:).

doiuf (http://www.bikeforums.net/member.php?u=166116)
Was that you pulling into the resovoir as We where leaveing:) JUst remeber a few boy scout aged guys pulling in as I was mounting.

The cake was a lie

Great job you guys! Just did my first century last Sunday and it felt great to do.




mdlynam (http://www.bikeforums.net/member.php?u=166848)
The cake was a lie


Portal is great.

Wow! 100 MILES! 20 miles kills me.... :twitchy:

doiuf (http://www.bikeforums.net/member.php?u=166116)
Was that you pulling into the resovoir as We where leaveing:) JUst remeber a few boy scout aged guys pulling in as I was mounting.

The cake was a lie


Probably was, didn't see many other young people on the ride. In fact I've seen surprisingly few people who look under 40 on the organized rides I've done this year (RACC, Portland Century, Strawberry Century). What's the deal with that? Not many cyclists in the X-Box generation?

Probably was, didn't see many other young people on the ride. In fact I've seen surprisingly few people who look under 40 on the organized rides I've done this year (RACC, Portland Century, Strawberry Century). What's the deal with that? Not many cyclists in the X-Box generation?

They haven't built the Wii bicycle yet.....:D 10 years from now when gas is $20 a gallon, you will see a lot of cars abandoned at the side of the road, and a lot of people learning to ride bicycles. GM will probably be looking for another government handout so they can turn into General Bicycle.....

congrats guys, gives the rest of us, me at least, hope...