There's a reason they call it HILLSBORO!

We are starting to get into parts of Oregon where we have never ridden before. This week we rode 45-miles starting in Hillsboro. Most of the ride was relatively flat with nice rolling hills...up and down...up and down...then we arrived at the bottom of Clapshaw Hill Rd. 1-mile up and up and up. There was a big group of us together at that point still, but as we got to the bottom of that hill, we started to spread out for the rest of the ride. With about 10 miles to go, we found ourselves at the bottom of our next big climb, Blooming Fern Hill Rd. That one was a 16% grade climb...I didn't make it on my bike. But walking up that, in bike shoes, pushing your bike is still an achievement, so I don't feel too bad.

This has been a good biking week for us outside of our regular training. I rode my bike out to work on Monday, 14 miles each way--over the west hills. Sean went on a ride after work on Tuesday and on Thursday, we decided to ride out to Clackamas (a suburb to the East of Portland) and we climbed Mt. Scott. The ride was about 30 miles, and we felt great afterward. Hungry...but not sore.

I think we'll be ready for our ride in 2 months...

Viva La Center...Viva La Rain...48 miles

Today's ride was a lot like doing the first 2 legs of a triathlon...swimming and biking. My view was hindered on the entire route by the fog and water droplets clinging to my riding glasses (I am SO glad I had those today). It absolutely poured rain on us for hours. The only saving grace? It was a warm rain.

The ride leader said that there were 2 real climbs, and the rest of the route consisted of rollers...I think our definitions are different, there were many, many climbs. I define a "roller" as a section where you roll down one hill and your momentum can take you much of the way up the other side, and you continue that pattern for a while. These were climbs...

We were out in La Center, Washington, which is right at the edge of Cascade Mountains and the route to Mt. St. Helens. We rode for about 10 miles next to the Yacolt River (I think that's what it was).

We were also joined by a member of the Vancouver Bicycle Club, he came along to act as a guide since only one person had ever ridden this route. We also found out that he is a Lymphoma survivor. Since our honored teammate, Mary, wasn't with us today, Bill was a stand in. Ultimately, today's ride was a great test of our endurance, and our ability to persevere in the Rain.

Edgefield to Crown Point to Multnomah Falls...and back...

View from the Portland Women's Forum (today!)

Just got back from this week's ride. This was a great one. Being St. Patty's Day and all, we started off by all putting on Green wristbands. Each on said either "Kiss me, I'm Irish" or "Irish for a day" Sean and I got the right ones...he's Irish, and I married one :)

The ride started at the Edgefield McMennamins at 8:00 AM. We rode out along the Columbia River Hwy for a few miles and then started our climb up to the Portland Women's Forum lookout. The climb was about 4 miles, and not extremely steep, but a hill is a hill...I was glad to get to the top. We stopped for a break and most of the team was not far behind. We actually got a team photo up there today. Then we started our descent...as you know by now, I love to go down hill. The real downhill was about 5 miles, as we started to get to the waterfall area of the Scenic Columbia River Hwy, the road started to give us some rolling hills until we got to the turn around at Multnomah Falls.

On the way back, it was just a reverse of the ride out. We rode with another teammate, Susan back up the hill. She has said every week that she wanted to some day finish with us...and today she did. She rode great.

Once back at Edgefield, we all stayed for lunch and beer...it is St. Patrick's Day after all!

I love going fast...

Mt. Hood

This week's ride was night and day from last week. The weather was a better, the hills, while very steep, were short and manageable (well, almost manageable for me, Sean just powered up them as usual).

We started out at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Oregon City and rode along the river for a few miles before veering off into some pretty farms lands and absolutely gorgeous views of Mt. Hood. WOW!! The rode was full of fast rolling hills and it was easy to keep your speed on the uphills because they weren't long, and you had enough from the downhill you had just finished.

About 14 miles in we hit the hill at Eadon Rd. It was not very long, but it just went straight up. Once we got to the top, we hit another great area with rolling hills. We looped back around to Springwater Rd. and those pretty little farms, and took a different right on Harding Rd. Within a mile, we found the same hill from Eadon Rd, just on a different street. Again - a hard, short climb up.

Coach Andy invited one of his friends to ride with the team yesterday and he spent a lot of time working with Sean and I and helping us with our form. For me, he concentrated on giving me tips on climbing hills, and he tried to enlighten Sean on the value of using a lower gear and higher RPMs rather than a high gear and "grinding it out." After the last hill, he came back and helped me catch up with Sean again (since he always beats me up the hills). Once we caught up - he rode with us for a while and then must have gone back to the rest of the group since we never saw him again.

It was a great ride, only 2 hours and 9 minutes to ride 33.5 miles. Very different from last weeks ride.

Up & over the west hills...ouch!

View from International Rose Test Garden (not today)

Today was a tough ride. You gotta love the weather people, they never seem to get it right. It was on the colder side and misting. Not really raining, but far from dry. Our ride today started at 25th and Raleigh in NW Portland. Within the first mile, we were across Burnside and heading up through Washington Park. For those of you not familiar with Washington Park, it is a beautiful part Portland which houses the International Rose Test Garden, The Oregon Zoo, The Japanese Gardens, Pittock Mansion and the Arboretum. The views of the city and the mountains can be breathtaking - so think elevation... When it snows in Portland, we don't usually get it at our house, but the west hills do.

We rode up for 7 miles, eventually turning on Cornell and Thompson and making a great 4 mile descent into Beaverton. Then, it was a few rolling hills on 185th and Germantown road before starting a brutal climb up Springville Rd. My legs were screaming at me...in fact, they still are. Sean was riding great and only about 10 minutes ahead of me. Once I got to the top of Springville, I took a quick break and then headed out, fully expecting the guys who caught up with me at the end of the Springville climb, to pass me a short while later. They never did, and I never saw another of my teammates until I finished the ride about 15 miles later.

It took me 3 hours and 40 minutes (Sean's time was 3 hours 30 minutes) to finish our ride - but taking out breaks, it was actually 3 hours of riding. I am ecstatic with our ride.