The Birds and the Bees (and the Bikes)

I have not done as much night riding this year as I hoped. With three nights of riding coming up at the Gold Rush in just four weeks, I decided to ride one of my permanents, Hillsboro-Dallas 200k, starting at sunset. So on Saturday night, I was joined by two other riders, Ray and Bill, [...]

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After much deliberation, I sent in the registration forms for the Gold Rush Randonnee this week. I am still not quite sure it is a good idea, but the past month I did a lot of long rides, and I am somewhat happy with how my training is going.

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The first long ride that I did on my current bike, three years ago, was a 200k permanent from Bingen to Roosevelt and back. I did not have a bike computer, so I took a GPS to keep track of distance and elevation. There is one hill on that climb that is a few hundred [...]

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A few weeks ago I bought a very nice attachment for my Flip camcorder that goes on the handlebar. My idea is that I would like to film some of my bike riding, and some of the scenery in the areas we visit. Unfortunately, the weather in all the randonneuring rides this year has been [...]

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Distance: 101 km (63 mi.)
Total climb: 3000 ft, half of that on the climb to Bald Peak
Short description: Beautiful views of the Tualatin and Yamhill river valleys, both from the Bald Peak ridge and from the rural roads below.

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Distance: 200 km (124 mi)
Total climb: Not much, about 2000 ft, most likely no more than 3000 ft.
Short description: A fairly flat 200k out and back. After reaching Forest Grove along TV Hwy, the route heads South along Spring Hill Road and other low traffic roads to Lafayette and Dayton, and then to Amity and [...]

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Distance: 211 km (132 miles)
Total climb: estimating 5ooo to 6000 feet, I will update after the inaugural ride
Short description: Cross the coast range twice, along the Little Nestucca River and the Upper Nestucca River. The route is a loop that can be done either way, so you can choose to do a tough climb from [...]

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The next two legs bring the riders to the turnaround point at Davis Creek, a few miles from the Oregon border. The 20 miles of open road to Davis Creek are slightly uphill. Wind was an issue for some riders on this leg in 2005, according to some ride reports. It will be nice to [...]

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In 2005, Adin (4200 ft) is the control where a lot of riders stopped for the night, or at least for a couple hours nap. According to the ride reports I read, the control in Susanville did not have air conditioning, and it was hard for people to rest. Adin was a better choice for [...]

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We had decent weather most of the week last week, and I took advantage of it a couple of times to go out and ride, once on my 20 miles to North Plains and back (about one hour), and once to the top of Bald Peak (two hours total, including 45 minutes of climbing and [...]

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