Mel_A

Who's going to ride it. Anybody from the Forest Grove area thinking of riding to the start?

velocity

I am supposed to help volunteer for it

Shifty

I'll be driving up from Eugene to ride the 102 mile route. The weather forecast looks pretty good, should be a fun ride, different route since the last time I rode it.

I'll look for you velocity, do you know what/where you'll be?

velocity

I am not sure as of this time Sara has not said yet but I am waiting and will give you a call when I know.
V

Shifty

Will anyone else be at the Harvest?

dtrain

Maybe, not sure yet..and kind of weather-dependent.

Chisolm

I've kind of dropped off the bike forums boards/community this summer, but would love to meet up with some of you for the century. I need to go buy a set of strap-on fenders today just in case of rain...

A couple of us are planning a 7:15 start. Masher, Dtrain and Shifty, what are your plans?

dtrain

I sent you a PM. If it's relatively dry, I'll be up for joining in. The route swings very close to my house, so I'd probably just meet you guys in Wilsonville and ride some portion of the loop self-supported.

Mel_A

Well I guess i assumed since I started this thread that I would be riding. Friend Kurt and I will register at 7am and then start rolling. I am riding a very tall Seven Ti and carbon. Say "hello Mel" when you pass. I am hoping to make this my 8th century of this season at a pace of one per month. Started in March with a solo unsupported 102 miles in Oahu. Have already signed up for El Tour de Tucson in November. See you on the road.

Shifty

I'm leaving Eugene at 5:30, that should get me there in time to join you guys, which would be fantastic. I'll look for you at the start, you do the same. If it helps, I drive a green Honda Pilot with racks on top, look for that too as you are in the park. I'm wanting to ride the century, but will reduce that if the weather gets too bad during the ride.

dtrain

I'll plan to be at the Wilsonville Toyota around 8am, unless it's raining pretty good already. Chisolm has my cell phone number. I double-checked that the route goes right by there a few hours ago.

Shifty

WOW, what a nice day! I rode the 100 mile option, nice route this year on the back 25 miles near Forest Grove. Sorry I missed the group, I rolled into the parking area at 7:15, then there was a line to pick up packets, so I just missed you. It was really lonely on the back 25 miles, I only saw 3 other riders the whole time back there.

dtrain

Bit of a headwind riding alone wasn't it? At least the rain held off.

My plan to meet a few folks along the route went okay. 8am was far too early to meet in Wilsonville. I ended up riding some of the course backwards to the north shore of the ferry and still waited there for a bit. Watched a few loads of riders spill off the ferry...which was very entertaining. A large number of riders weren't in the right gear for that hill and others looked like they were new to clipless pedals. So basically, I saw a bunch of falls.

Anyway, I rode from there with some others (Chisolm, Del Cooper) through the break at Al's and maybe 12-15 miles beyond before swinging back towards home. It was fun to chat with others, however briefly. The solo part of the ride (toward home) into the headwind was hard work. My loop was 55 miles and I was home just after noon.

Mel_A

I started to roll out at about 7:45. My friend bailed out at the last minute. Don't mind riding alone. Lots of folks about. Great rest stops, nice tail wind,,,for a while. Lots of lonely stretches out there north of Forest Grove. Great weather to begin but that head wind really saps you. Got back in to Champoeg and within minutes the rain came. Would have been nice to share the ride with other BF. Maybe we need some type of discrete identification, like an arm band or something. I thought about yelling out, "dtrain, Chislom, shifty" at the rest stops, but I didn't want to get carted off. Mmmmmmm, arm bands, maybe that would work.

Chisolm

I agree that it was a well organized ride. Other than the wind, the weather was perfect and I thought Fernhill road and Spring Valley road were pretty amazing. We did the ride in exactly 6 hours...not exactly an earth shattering pace.

We did have one kind of strange thing happen. Did you see the horses at the 65 mile stop? I propped my bike up against the fence and walked across the road to fill up my bottles. Del Cooper yelled something and I turned around to see one of the horses nibbling on my handlebars to get at the salt/sweat. Another cyclist quickly moved my bike and my bike was unscathed except for a couple of horse bite marks in spots.

We have joked before about having BF identifiers at these rides. Shifty, we were also in line at 7:15, but we didn't get started until around 8:00 due to some mechanical issues. Mel, it sounds like we left at almost the exact time.

I talked to dtrain about organizing a couple of bf rides this fall/early winter, but I know it is tough when the weather is so hit and miss. I would love to do a ride starting in Banks going to Vernonia to Scappose to Portland and back to Banks. I bet we could lure Masher to ride if he is not doing cyclocross this fall. What do you all think?

Shifty

Bummer, next time we'll have to make a point to PM everyone's cell so we can hook up. Funny about the horse, that was an interesting stop, beautiful spot, and more people working it than attending it. I agree, that area up Fernhill was sweet.

I would pass on the Banks ride, a bit too far from Eugene, but if you'd like to do a Silverton and Silver Falls ride I'd be up for that. Where has that Jakey been anyway????

Sorry I missed you guys, it was a fun ride.

dtrain

Yeah, Jakey has been totally MIA since the Monster Cookie. I think they bought a new home and had projects there and at the old place (before they could list it).

As far as rides: I'm up for whatever, whenever. I'd like to ride a bit more this fall/winter rather than hanging it up.

As a part of riding the Mt. Hood Hoo-Ha, I'm now a member of the Portland Wheelmen. They've got a 43-mile group ride from just south of Wilsonville this Saturday that I'll probably do. There's one from Newberg on Sunday as well. I don't know their official stance on non-members joining in...but I've ridden a few in the past.

I might crash a Velo ride here and there in the coming months also. They re-launched a 'Southwest' version of their Saturday signiture ride that leaves from Starbucks/Haggen's in Tualatin.

PedalMasher

Hey all, glad you had fun on the ride... Considering our daughter has JUST started sleeping through the night, the few solo miles I get in regularly had to do...

But, now that I can actually sleep, I would be up for some fall group rides. I'm slowly learning the best dad sports are cycling and winter house and bike projects. Hooked up with Rad the other day and he's gotten me going on my winter vintage and fixed gear projects. So with 6 bikes and no time to ride next spring I'll have to just put each in a room to admire.

PedalMasher

I road with the wheelmen several times a month on their Tuesday Tualatin park ride and they were tres cool with latching on so I don't think they care. If you ride regularly, they'd probably prefer you join.