Jeff Wills

Then this is not for you:
Nieuw Ronde PDX - De Ronde van West Portlandia

choteau

Nope ^

choteau

Hey, we stopped there on a mostly C+V 3 Speed Ride.

jyl

Okay, I just test rode the Velocult - Leif Erickson - St Johns Bridge - VC loop on my road bike with 25 mm 100-120 psi tires. It's np (no problem) at all, very pretty, I think it'll be a nice Portland C&V ride for February. About a 35 mile ride, maybe 2.5 hours.

Skinny tires do fine, even with patches of bumpy gravel, mud, and puddles. The grade is mellow, if you are so inclined the whole ride can be done in the big ring. Fenders would be ideal, of course.

So, any weather gurus want to recommend a (edit) SUNDAY (I have volunteer work every Saturday this month) in February that is most likely to be nice weather?. I'd like to set a date.

(Edit). How about Feb 21?.

Jeff Wills

Both routes of next week's Worst Day of the Year ride stop at Velo Cult: Routes - Worst Day of the Year Ride

Woo-hoo!

jyl

Hmm. I've never ridden that ride. $40 seems a little stiff, and I'm not a costume guy anyway. Do you recommend it? I could reconsider.

jyl

I would really like to do this ride someday. I've never felt fit enough in mid April, but now I have a road bike with a 30T granny ring so I might be emboldened.

CliffordK

Oh, that sounds like fun.

Is it a race, or a ride, or a little of both?

Remind me to schedule a rest day or two BEFORE&AFTER the ride. My last C&V ride to Portland I was on the road until after midnight with a 180 mile ride, and wasn't doing very well early the next morning

I may have to give up on my 19T cassette

I might need to do a new C&V-ish build for it though Better head down to the workshop. Now, if only I had a good 28mm seatpost

jyl

Forgot to take a picture in the forest, but here is what we'll cross during the ride.

Jeff Wills

De Ronde is not a ride, it's not a race, no one puts it on, it really doesn't happen. People just come out of the woodwork. And then they show up on OPB: Steep Hill Ride . TV | OPB

Jeff Wills

I recommend it. I've done the 42-mile "Challenge" ride and it fits the moniker: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/11043027 , especially the climb back up the West Hills on Old Germantown Road.

And how can you turn down a ride that hits 4 bars?

CliffordK

This sounds like fun.
Oh, is it a 2 day event?

211-nieuw-ronde-pdx-de-ronde-van-west-portlandia, Saturday
210-la-doyenne-de-ronde-van-oost-portlandia, Sunday

When exactly are the days? It seems to refer to Ronde van Vlaanderen on April 3. So, is the Portland rides 2 weeks later, April 16/17?

Ewww... back to back hilly half century rides

Time to go out and shovel my driveway for a few hundred driveway intervals Hopefully the McKenzie will be clear soon... I'll have to try a few training rides up that direction. I had a couple of February rides up the McKenzie last year, but it was a pretty exceptional year.

Anyway, I'm very much considering a C&V-ish bike build specifically for those rides. Anybody else joining?

Maybe meet EARLY Saturday or Sunday, then split into flatlander and not-so flatlander group rides. Meeting at a midpoint or at the finish point might be tough as I'm sure each person will have a different speed.

I may have to either see if I can export from RWGPS, or buy a 1 month subscription There is no way I could memorize those mazes.

Velocivixen

@jyl - we could certainly ride the same route as the Worst Day of the Year ride, but not as participants. They're open roads and we pay taxes so why not? We just wouldn't get any of the food, etc. as part of the ride.

CliffordK - I like the idea of having a split - one route for the "hillers" and one for people who like a flatter ride. Hills aren't something I've been working on yet this season.

CliffordK

I wouldn't crash a ride on the same day as the organized ride (unless you go counter clockwise).

But, it doesn't mean you can't use their published courses for route ideas on other days.

jyl

Big party rides are . . . different. You are barely riding, typical speed 10 mph, lots of weaving, drinking, clumping riders, some of whom aren't the best riders. I don't know if Worst Day is like this, but I suspect it is.

Anyway, back to the C&V ride topic - is there interest in a February C&V ride on the Leif Erikson-St Johns loop on Feb 21?. Interest, but not on that particular date? Interest, but not that route?. No interest, wait until more reliable weather?

Jeff Wills

What, you don't want to hear about my cat?

Unfortunately, I'm booked for the 21st. My wife's birthday- we're going to have brunch at Veritable Quandary with friends. Y'all have fun.

gaucho777 

I'm usually in the Portland area visiting family once or twice a year. Hopefully I'll get a chance to tag along on one or more of these rides. As an out-of-towner, I'd be happy to go along with whatever works best for the locals.

gugie 

Taking my wife there this weekend for Valentine's Day! I heard they're shutting down this fall.

gugie 

Hey, let us know next time you come up. I even have some "visitor's bikes" that I could loan out. My buddy Andy hails from the People's Republic, flew up last Friday for 3 days of veloship

gaucho777 

Thanks @gugie. Will do. I usually travel with bikes (over the occasional objections of my family companions), but that's a nice visitor bike!

Jeff Wills

That's 2 different rides: "West" and "East". The West goes up and down the West Hills on the 23rd. The East goes east, young man, on the 24th. It's deliberately obscure because no one really organizes the ride.

The West ride has the "Dan Henrys" I posted above.

CliffordK

Did you guys ever get together for Jan/Feb/March rides?

I've tentatively put April 23/24 on my calendar for a double hilly half century ride up in Portland.

I'm working on a new C&V-ish bike for the ride
Still a pile of parts now, but it is coming together slowly.

Velocivixen

I'm an Assistant Coach with Portland Fit this year so Saturday mornings are booked up for the next 6 months for me. However if it's super hilly or long I likely wouldn't go anyway (I.e. If it's a fast roadie ride). If it's more of a town ride like in past I'm game.

CliffordK

See you on Sunday.

You can just imagine it is flat.

Also, remember what goes up comes back down

Organizing a mid-day rendezvous would be complicated, but also potentially possible, and then perhaps picking up riders to do part of the course.

jyl

Cliff, I'll put that date on my calendar, and will join if I can.

Now that the weather is better, I'm going to try to lead a monthly C&V ride for Velocult. But haven't sorted out dates, route, etc. It will be a mellow-ish sort of ride, 20 miles or so, not too hilly. Might aim for mid-April to do the first one.

Velocult will also start holding periodic "show and shine" get togethers for people to bring their latest C&V bike to the shop, check out each other's bikes, talk about C&V bikes, etc. I'll post details when I have them.

There are also some bike & parts swaps planned at Velocult for the summer.

The shop is organizing rides for various bike interest groups. The roadie group has been doing a weekly Saturday ride, it's a hilly 40-50 miles. There are a cyclocross group and a mountain bike group starting up as well, those may be more competition-oriented: folks training for races or going to races together as a team, with a tent, fire, food, beer, and so on.