We Reached The Beach!!

This was the test, and we passed. We rode 100 miles today from Portland to Pacific City.

The weather was supposed to be cool and rainy, we got the cool part, about 55-60 degrees, but the rainy never happened. We started at 7:30 in the morning with a group of 5 and quickly Don and Sally were gone...trying to catch up to the group that left from Salem doing the 77 mile ride.

The first 20 miles of the route were very hilly, with one sustained climb that just kept going and going and going...then, the road levelled out and the wind started blowing. We rode against a head wind for 30 miles.

Around 55 miles we passed the first of the group that started in Salem. About 5 miles later we passed 2 more and then caught up with 2 others at the lunch stop at the 73 mile mark.

Lunch was in Grande Ronde - a tiny little town with a big Native American cultural center and school. When we got there, I had to have my bike looked at. It was making a strange clicking sound. Sure enough, I had a broken spoke (for non-bikers, this could be a big problem as a broken spoke causes a weak spot in your wheel rim and could completely mess up the rim which means a new one to the tune of $130+), they couldn't fix it and I had the choice of carefully going on or quitting...you can guess that I couldn't quit.

I was careful to not ride over any potholes and was doing really well until someone ran into me on a hill at about mile 86. He couldn't downshift his gears quick enough and just ran right into me. I tipped over but was able to catch myself before I fell completely. Another guy ran into us and when he put his foot down,m luckily for me, he went between my bike tubes, not right on them. We dusted ourselves off and kep going. That little hill was the last one...it was all down hill the rest of the way.

The end was a big party with food, beer, vendors, secure bike parking, and the best thing? Mel's wife Colleen was there with her car to take Mel, Sean and I home so we didn't have to ride the bus :)

To end the day? When we arrived back in Portland and transferred our bikes from Mel's car to ours, my front tire was completely flat.

Thankfully that didn't happen on the ride.

Want to support us in our challenge? Visit our fund-raising sites at:

http://www.active.com/donate/tntor/tntorCPickel http://www.active.com/donate/tntor/tntorSPickel1

Forest Grove, Yamhill, Carrolton, Hagg Lake - 77 Miles

Today was a personal best for Sean and I. We have never riden over 65 miles, and today our 75 miles ride turned into a 77 mile ride, thanks to a detour.

8 of our teammates started about an hour ahead of us to try and knock this one out. We caught up to 2 of them, but the other group eluded us. This was another gorgeous ride through the country and into wine country. We even added on a couple of hills, just for the hell of it (they say for training, I say for the hell of it). Check out this link and you can see one of the hills, it was short, but it was a 20% grade. Yes, I made it up the hill without stopping. I was going very slow, but I DID NOT HAVE TO WALK. http://www.anneamie.com/

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. For the most part we all stayed together as a group and everyone is showing massive improvement.

I am very excited to do the "Reach the Beach" century next Saturday.

Hillsboro to Hagg Lake - 65 miles

Ravi, Sean, Marcia, Nate, Don

Put in another 4 hours on the saddle today. We started in Hillsboro and started winding our way through the countryside, past a couple of wineries on our way to Hagg Lake. We climbed one good sustained 4 mile climb up Bald Peak -- Sean of course finished at the top with the rest of the fast folks, but I held my own.

10 miles later, we were at Hagg Lake ready to tackle 11 miles around the lake, and 11 rolling hills. Some were big, some were not, but it felt great to get around that Lake and heading for the 2nd half of the ride.

The second half of the ride found me playing catch up to the faster riders. I was riding with Marcia and we were so close, but with 6 of them, and only 2 of us, we couldn't quite catch them until they waited for us -- I know a novel idea :)

We felt great at the end of the ride...we are definitely going to be ready for Tahoe in 3 weeks.