Hill-Pumper

As many of you may know, I am training for my first metric. In this case it is called a metric plus since it is actually 68 miles instead of 62, but that is beside to point. Anyway, I started yesterdays ride with no real goal in mind other then doing some hills, but I was feeling so good that I just kept extending it out more. Here is the total stats for the ride.

Total time: 3 hours 2 minutes
Total mileage:48.33
Average speed:15.9
Max speed: 36.9 (stupid cars in the way, should have been faster)
Max incline 25%
Total gain:1630 feet
Temperature: 80 degrees

All this was done with no rest breaks. I was little short on supplies since I did not intend to go that far and could tell that I was starting to run out of fuel for my legs. One more Cliff Bar and an another bottle of Cyto-Sport would have been nice. All in all, I am happy with the results, and am petty confident that I can do the metric plus with rest breaks and proper nutrition. I also had a new little point and shoot camera along, so I thought I would chronicle my ride with few pictures of the Mid-Willamitte valley in Oregon for you guys. All the pictures were taken on the flat portions of the ride for safety sake.

First of all the elevation graph of the ride.


To start off the ride, I did this to myself. My foot slipped of the pedal while trying to clip in, and obviously I missed.

This is at the base of one of the hills, not a great picture, but picture none the less.

This in old abandoned barn and silo that I found along the ride.

This was one of the many of the buzzards that I saw along the way, I just used them as motivation to not stop riding.

This little yellow bug rode on my leg for a mile or two. After I took it's picture he flew off. I guess he just wanted his picture taken

This field was actually set on fire and burnt on purpose by the farmers. It is done to rid the property of parasites. It is a fairly controversial practice here, but I thought that I would show it, since it is something unique to our area.

And finally a picture of one of our hard working young ladies driving her combine. She waved at me, so i snapped a picture.


So there you have it, my longest ride ever. I hope you enjoyed some pictures of our area of the state.

riddei

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing. Burning the fields might be controversial in your neck of the woods, but it is common practice on the right side of the continent. Here is a video of what they do to blueberry fields in Maine You Tube

LarDasse74

I know controlled burns are used extensively here in Ontario to clear deadfalls and help the forest regrow. Never heard of it used for farming but I bet the farmers know what they are doing

Joe Bifulco

I think you will do the metric plus with no problem. 15.9 mph is an impressive avg for 48.3 miles.

haenous

bah, we burn em routinely round here...makes the wheat taste better...little more smoke..... Looks like it was an excellent ride and those were some awesome pix...

zpl

Congrats on your ride, you kept up an impressive pace. It included a 25% grade? Yikes! You sound well prepared to complete your metric - have fun!