June 21, 1997 - Seattle, WA to Portland, OR
Getting Ready
It was a trip that no one thought I would do -- only try. Well, I started out in 1996 with biking to and from work. It is 10 miles to work, 20 miles round trip, and we are talking about 194 miles. What is wrong with this picture?
The weather for training got worse. It rained more last year than in the last 40 years. So there were not many dry days and it was cold and dark. As '97 rolled around, we were able to get some sunny days, but not many. I put about 300 miles on my speedometer.
On one trip my cousin, Lyle, his boys, Cory and Carl, myself, and my boys, Vellen, and Myran, rode to Saturday Market in Portland. We saw a fire in Northwest Portland, so we biked over to it and then home -- about 30 miles. It was cold and a little wet. They didn't think about going that far so it was fun to take them. Lyle's wife, Linda, and daughter, Margaret, and oh yes, my wife, Ilene, met us there and then started back.
There was another time Carl and Cory went with Vellen and I. We wanted to go over the I-205 bridge. It has a bike path between the 8 lanes of traffic. They were a little slower, but not bad and a little cold on this trip. As usual mother made sure the cousins had their rain coats and later they thanked her for making them take them. At the time there was a little, "Oh, I'll be all right without it." Well, as we went along, the rain came down harder and harder. We got to the bridge and as we went over to the other side, my hand went numb to the cold. I looked for old bags that people had thrown out and found two. They were pretty good and I put them over my hands and taped them. They finally warmed up enough to feel. Boy, did they hurt for a while.
When we went back across the bridge, there was a hard wind and lots of rain. The cars made it very loud. Cory was having a problem keeping up, so I told him to draft me and he did good. As we got to the other side my hands were still warm. It was time to eat. There was a hamburger stand there so we went in and dripped all over everywhere. Vellen stayed out and kept an eye on the bikes. He wore his rain gear top to bottom. Smart kid. We made it back to Oregon City and went up to the falls. I had bought a $27.00 tire. This was its first time out and it went flat. Glass. We fixed it in the rain storm with a new tube and took the glass out of the tire.
We stopped at the shopping center and bought licorice to end my craving. Carl and Cory's folks showed up and took them home. It was several hours and a hot shower before I got warm. I told the kids that it is a trip they will never forget. We were trying to go 40 miles and ended up going 41 miles. It was a good day.
It really got cold and nasty so I had to wait until it warmed up. There was no training except for the skiing trips. Skiing will build up your stamina and leg muscles --maybe not the right leg muscles, but close.I went over to a friend's house in Beaverton. Coming back was a trip that I will not forget for a long time. It started out at the top of the hill. I turned left and went up 'til it started down. So, I ate a Power Bar and drank some more. It is a good view up there if you just sit and look at the same thing. I started down. It was fun to coast and not have to peddle to go fast with the wind in my face. The stop sign seemed to come up too fast, but there was still Cornel Road with steep hill to go. I stood there for a little while to let the traffic go into a lull, and when I thought it was as good as it could get at that time of day, off I went. Two cars and a truck passed me and I thought I was going fast. I took a look at the speedometer and there was 40 looking back at me. Now this is a thrill in itself. Then all the real fun started. There was this big bang and a hissing sound. I didn't have time to say "oh shit!" I put the brakes on as hard as I dared and got down to about 5 miles an hour; then I did a roll and ended up in the middle of the street. I was happy that those people had passed as I lay in the middle of the street. I didn't get cut up or bruised too bad. I took off the tire. The brake rubbed the side of the tire and that is where the air went out. I am not taking my bike to a shop again. I will work on it myself and keep the $150.
Well back to the problem - walk back to my friend's house or continue. I was just over the crest of the hill and that was a long way to go with a flat. Luck was with me and a nice guy came by with a phone and let me call home. Zida, my daughter, was there and said she would come and get me. I offered to pay for the call but the man refused. There are good people. I thought to myself, "I have a tube, let's put it in and see what happens." I pumped it up to about 20 or 30 lb.. It looked flat. I usually put in 90 to 100 lb. but this was going to have to work and off down the hill I went at about 10 to 15 mph. Oh I did work on the brakes before I took off. It is scary going through tunnels at that slow speed. When I got to Lovejoy, I walked it; that is steep. Zida and Matt got there shortly and we put the bike in the back of the truck and off we went. I think I have told this story 100 times. It is one that you would have to be there to get the full thrill.
June 13, 1997, it was a Friday. Now is this bad or what? I rode my bike to work and then over to Cornell Road. It was hot and I had to stop a lot. I walked a lot and as I was walking over the spot where I had the flat, there was a lot of noise in the woods. I thought something was coming out of the brush. I didn't know whether to run or stand my ground. I looked and looked. All it was was a branch falling out of a tree. Scare me? Yes. Well I sweated up the rest of the hill and stopped at the top to rest. Then down the other side. I do like to go down and the faster the better. Sometime I will probably crash; then I might slow down. Not. It never stopped my skiing.
There were some young ladies flagging for construction and I talked to them as they went by. One of them asked if I wanted her to hold up the traffic. I told her it was not a problem so let them go. There was no one home at the Knispel's. I drank almost all the water that I had brought and ate a power bar and up the hill I went. It is a lot easier from that side. I only pushed a little ways.
When I got to the top there were all kinds of cars. They came from every where. I stood there
for a while then off I went back up to 40 mph. I didn't have time to look. This time they were
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passing me and I was in a tuck with teary eyes. Hard to see things that are close, too much shaking going on. The turn came up and I put on the brakes. I guess I am getting older and don't really want to push it too far. I have never taken a high speed turn and may never do it. Time will tell. The rest of the trip was just a good ride down the back streets and side walks at a slow speed.
This Is It!
It was a cool and moist Friday evening before the STP ride. I was really excited. We waited until Matt got back from Corvallis. He had to work and the car he drove went over something and killed the gas line. So, it took a few hours to get that fixed. That put us a little later than we would have liked, but that's okay.
The bikes were in and we left about 8:00 p.m. The gas station was putting gas in a drop at a time, so there went another 20 or so minutes. I wanted to get there at 4:00 a.m. to leave at 5:00 a.m. At this rate it was going to be close. Ilene started driving. She is not a biker. The rest of us went back and went to sleep. We were finally on the way. It took about a mile and I was out.
Ilene started stopping at all the turn outs and rest areas. She was consuming a lot of hot chocolate. At one place Matt put on street tires. They had air and it was free. I went back to sleep. As we were stopping at another rest area, Ilene went to get her drink. I got behind the wheel and the fun began. The showers turned to a lot of rain. People started slowing down when the real rain came. Oh yes, that was where the road work was. They took us down to one lane and 35 mph. That was okay. The other lane was stopped and was backed up for several miles. I was joking when I said we would get there at 4:00 a.m. The rain was still coming down in a big way. I was thinking , this was not a good thing and was thinking about going back. NOT! This was going to be an adventure that would take a long time to forget. The rain was still coming down hard when we pulled into Ilene's sister's home. She and her husband live in Renton, Washington, about 25 minutes from the King Dome.
Well at 12 Midnight, off to bed in the van and right to sleep. Not. It was still raining hard on top of the van and it was hard to sleep with the lightning. They woke us at 4:00 a.m. I got a little to eat and we left for the King Dome parking lot.
Turn here, up here, down this road. I am glad Jack was there. I didn't have a clue where we were going. When we finally got there at fifteen to five, there was a lot of people there and a string of cars came in after us.
It was not raining. What to wear and bring with me? Three water bottles and some power bars. We were not ready. Matt was still putting on tires. I finally couldn't stand it any longer and I took off. They did their little things and caught up with me.
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There was a bunch of us that came up to a stop sign. This guy in front of me fell, and I almost hit him. I asked him if he was okay. He said he was alright so jokingly I asked him to fall in front of someone else after this.
It was not too long and off came the STP jacket. I was getting warm, then hot. It looked like it was going to be a good ride. At about 30 miles there was a food and drink stop -- lots of it. Zida broke her seat and Vellen was the only one with $20. That will not get a new seat at REI, but it was a good thought. We had seen Ilene a few miles back, but that was the last we would see of her for the rest of the day. I told her to visit her sister and we would call and tell her when to meet us.
We went up a hill and did not walk. I did not walk on the whole trip. At the top we rested for a long time. It was a hard hill. When we left, we were at the top so it was a good ride for the rest of the day - little up and down, but nothing big.
Oh yes, one time I thought Zida and Matt were in front of me so I went as fast as I could to catch up. The person I thought was Zida, she had on a STP jacket, was good. There was no way I was going to catch her. I finally stopped at a rest stop and we all got together again. They were way back there.
It is hard to keep track of every body in your group. There are so many riders and they are all wearing the same things. We called Ilene on the phone and told her we would meet her at Centralia at 12 or 1:00 p.m. We stopped at another town way before Centralia at around 3 or 4 and stopped for lunch. Thinking of how fast we should be going and how fast we were really going are two different things. It was raining again, or did it stop? I don't think it stopped all the rest of the day.
We went on -- no van to get warm in or get dry clothing.
We finally got to Centralia around 5:30 p.m. The Van was there. We got warm and dry clothing. They were giving away ice cream. I was so cold but I ate one anyway. Vellen was really hurting by this time. I had been riding with him at a slow pace to keep him going. He decided to stop for the day in Centralia after about 92 miles.
The rest of us went about 20 miles further that night and stopped at Vader, Washington. It took us a long time to cover the last 20 miles because Matt had to fix 3 flat tires, three for himself and one for Zida. The good thing was I didn't get a flat and I was happy. No money and only one tube. Oh, I forgot the 50 cents on the front of the bike.
We walked around for awhile and then Ilene drove us home. As I sat there trying to keep awake, I thought to myself, "we are driving a long way and we will bike this tomorrow starting at 8:00 a.m."
Page 4
Yes, we got up at 7:00 a.m. and drove to the spot where we stopped the night before. That made it 9:30 a.m. I put on a sweater and STP jacket (not raining), but the rain gear was in my bag on my bike. I put
$40. in a bag and left it on the dash of the truck. So, I was down to my 50 cents again. Zida and Matt never have any money and still didn't.
Vellen had practiced a little less than I did in preparation for this trip. He rode to Stanley and back. He lives on Stanley Street and his driveway is 30 feet long. He was going to join us after the first hill (about 10 miles after Vader). He was feeling better today. We told Ilene we would meet her at Castle Rock. Off we went. Vellen was going to start from Castle Rock.
We got to Castle Rock but no Ilene and no Vellen. We waited there for a short period of time, but we were cold so off we went. There was a long day in front of us. The weather was good.
It started to rain. As we peddled into Kelso, it was coming down harder. I put on all the stuff I brought and the kids were cold so I shared with them as we ate all kinds of power food and drank water. I don't know why you have to drink it when it is raining so hard.
Vellen started back at Castle Rock. He left later because they waited for us and we had already left. He started out trying to find us but at his own pace. He was doing fine and Ilene was now trying to keep track of all of us.
Well here was the Longview bridge. Another 60 miles and we would be there. They stopped us at the bottom of the bridge, then they stopped the cars and the bridge was covered with bikes. It was something to see -- a bridge covered with bikes in one lane from top to bottom. There were so many bikes. Only one person walked and rode in the group of bikers we were with. We all rode. The bridge was in repair and there were steel plates that were tricky to get over, but no one fell that I saw. We were all going pretty slow.
The Oregon side was fun. It was cold and damp but no rain. There was a head wind and we let Matt lead. I thought they were giving away free dark beer as fast as he was going. Zida and I were drafting him but were having a hard time keeping up. We got to a rest stop and they let me lead. We went slower. It is an up-hill climb with a head wind. I pushed it hard and that is the only place that my legs started to hurt. There were about 9 people drafting me so I must have had a good pace. Ha. Ha. They were there for the free ride. I didn't care. It was fun. Ilene caught us on the hill and so we stopped for a minute to talk with her and rest. She told us about Vellen. I told her to watch out for him that we were okay.
There was a rest/food stop in St Helens where Ilene caught up with us again. I got my plastic bag with my money in it out of the truck. As we went on, they let me lead again and I went for a few
Page 5
miles, then I had to stop. There was just no more go in the get-along. The rest of the ride to Portland State was a lot slower. There was one steep hill and the rest were not bad at all after that one - Just stoplights and traffic and we were there.
The finish line was a good sight. All the people on both sides yelling and clapping for us. It always gives me a rush and a renewed strength. The feeling makes it all worthwhile.
We parked our bikes and went to drink a dark beer. All the rain went away. Not. It was raining as we drank our beer. Zida had light beer. We looked for Ilene but she was lost as usual. You think she could follow the bikes. There were only 10,000 of us. We left her a note on the board. Actually she was there, but we couldn't find her. She waited until Vellen came in which was only about an hour later, but we just didn't connect. I bought us all a dog and we ate it and then said, "Let's go." So we road another 10 miles home.
I think Matt's seat was up to his belly button. He was running all the stop lights and I was sure he was going to get a fine or run over. When we got to the bike path, he fell back and we went slow. Zida took the lead. She has her own way to get up a hill that you can go around, so I followed or I would have missed a good part of the trip. You see there is this stop sign and this guy that wants to make a left turn. Yes, she didn't stop and the best part was there was a policeman right in back of him. I thought she was toast. He must have seen the jacket. I know we were working on a long day. With all the cold and wet, it was taking its toll on us. I stopped and waved for the pick-up go through. He didn't know if I was going to stop. There sat the policeman in his car. I had stopped, but here came Matt speeding on through with me. He just caught up. I guess the stop signs are just for the motor transports.
Well, finally Wichita and King Road. Home at last and I didn't feel all that bad. I put my bike in the garage and took off my gloves to yellow stained hands. We no more got in the house and here comes Ilene and Vellen. "Where were you?" She took our picture going across the finish line and could not find us.
I was a little sore the next day, but not bad. As an adventure, it was fun. I talked to a lot of good people and had a good time joking with them. I am thinking about doing it again next year.
Maybe the sun will come out. I would rather have it cold because if it is cold you can put more on. If you can find your van that is. If it is hot, shirt, and shorts, and it stops there for me anyway.
Maybe I will see you there next year. It is not that hard to do. Talk about it, then "JUST DO IT!" Starting is the hard part. Once you do that, it is fun. You get to drink and eat all day long and never gain a pound.
Byran, having some more fun.
Page 6
Getting Ready
It was a trip that no one thought I would do -- only try. Well, I started out in 1996 with biking to and from work. It is 10 miles to work, 20 miles round trip, and we are talking about 194 miles. What is wrong with this picture?
The weather for training got worse. It rained more last year than in the last 40 years. So there were not many dry days and it was cold and dark. As '97 rolled around, we were able to get some sunny days, but not many. I put about 300 miles on my speedometer.
On one trip my cousin, Lyle, his boys, Cory and Carl, myself, and my boys, Vellen, and Myran, rode to Saturday Market in Portland. We saw a fire in Northwest Portland, so we biked over to it and then home -- about 30 miles. It was cold and a little wet. They didn't think about going that far so it was fun to take them. Lyle's wife, Linda, and daughter, Margaret, and oh yes, my wife, Ilene, met us there and then started back.
There was another time Carl and Cory went with Vellen and I. We wanted to go over the I-205 bridge. It has a bike path between the 8 lanes of traffic. They were a little slower, but not bad and a little cold on this trip. As usual mother made sure the cousins had their rain coats and later they thanked her for making them take them. At the time there was a little, "Oh, I'll be all right without it." Well, as we went along, the rain came down harder and harder. We got to the bridge and as we went over to the other side, my hand went numb to the cold. I looked for old bags that people had thrown out and found two. They were pretty good and I put them over my hands and taped them. They finally warmed up enough to feel. Boy, did they hurt for a while.
When we went back across the bridge, there was a hard wind and lots of rain. The cars made it very loud. Cory was having a problem keeping up, so I told him to draft me and he did good. As we got to the other side my hands were still warm. It was time to eat. There was a hamburger stand there so we went in and dripped all over everywhere. Vellen stayed out and kept an eye on the bikes. He wore his rain gear top to bottom. Smart kid. We made it back to Oregon City and went up to the falls. I had bought a $27.00 tire. This was its first time out and it went flat. Glass. We fixed it in the rain storm with a new tube and took the glass out of the tire.
We stopped at the shopping center and bought licorice to end my craving. Carl and Cory's folks showed up and took them home. It was several hours and a hot shower before I got warm. I told the kids that it is a trip they will never forget. We were trying to go 40 miles and ended up going 41 miles. It was a good day.
It really got cold and nasty so I had to wait until it warmed up. There was no training except for the skiing trips. Skiing will build up your stamina and leg muscles --maybe not the right leg muscles, but close.I went over to a friend's house in Beaverton. Coming back was a trip that I will not forget for a long time. It started out at the top of the hill. I turned left and went up 'til it started down. So, I ate a Power Bar and drank some more. It is a good view up there if you just sit and look at the same thing. I started down. It was fun to coast and not have to peddle to go fast with the wind in my face. The stop sign seemed to come up too fast, but there was still Cornel Road with steep hill to go. I stood there for a little while to let the traffic go into a lull, and when I thought it was as good as it could get at that time of day, off I went. Two cars and a truck passed me and I thought I was going fast. I took a look at the speedometer and there was 40 looking back at me. Now this is a thrill in itself. Then all the real fun started. There was this big bang and a hissing sound. I didn't have time to say "oh shit!" I put the brakes on as hard as I dared and got down to about 5 miles an hour; then I did a roll and ended up in the middle of the street. I was happy that those people had passed as I lay in the middle of the street. I didn't get cut up or bruised too bad. I took off the tire. The brake rubbed the side of the tire and that is where the air went out. I am not taking my bike to a shop again. I will work on it myself and keep the $150.
Well back to the problem - walk back to my friend's house or continue. I was just over the crest of the hill and that was a long way to go with a flat. Luck was with me and a nice guy came by with a phone and let me call home. Zida, my daughter, was there and said she would come and get me. I offered to pay for the call but the man refused. There are good people. I thought to myself, "I have a tube, let's put it in and see what happens." I pumped it up to about 20 or 30 lb.. It looked flat. I usually put in 90 to 100 lb. but this was going to have to work and off down the hill I went at about 10 to 15 mph. Oh I did work on the brakes before I took off. It is scary going through tunnels at that slow speed. When I got to Lovejoy, I walked it; that is steep. Zida and Matt got there shortly and we put the bike in the back of the truck and off we went. I think I have told this story 100 times. It is one that you would have to be there to get the full thrill.
June 13, 1997, it was a Friday. Now is this bad or what? I rode my bike to work and then over to Cornell Road. It was hot and I had to stop a lot. I walked a lot and as I was walking over the spot where I had the flat, there was a lot of noise in the woods. I thought something was coming out of the brush. I didn't know whether to run or stand my ground. I looked and looked. All it was was a branch falling out of a tree. Scare me? Yes. Well I sweated up the rest of the hill and stopped at the top to rest. Then down the other side. I do like to go down and the faster the better. Sometime I will probably crash; then I might slow down. Not. It never stopped my skiing.
There were some young ladies flagging for construction and I talked to them as they went by. One of them asked if I wanted her to hold up the traffic. I told her it was not a problem so let them go. There was no one home at the Knispel's. I drank almost all the water that I had brought and ate a power bar and up the hill I went. It is a lot easier from that side. I only pushed a little ways.
When I got to the top there were all kinds of cars. They came from every where. I stood there
for a while then off I went back up to 40 mph. I didn't have time to look. This time they were
Page 2
passing me and I was in a tuck with teary eyes. Hard to see things that are close, too much shaking going on. The turn came up and I put on the brakes. I guess I am getting older and don't really want to push it too far. I have never taken a high speed turn and may never do it. Time will tell. The rest of the trip was just a good ride down the back streets and side walks at a slow speed.
This Is It!
It was a cool and moist Friday evening before the STP ride. I was really excited. We waited until Matt got back from Corvallis. He had to work and the car he drove went over something and killed the gas line. So, it took a few hours to get that fixed. That put us a little later than we would have liked, but that's okay.
The bikes were in and we left about 8:00 p.m. The gas station was putting gas in a drop at a time, so there went another 20 or so minutes. I wanted to get there at 4:00 a.m. to leave at 5:00 a.m. At this rate it was going to be close. Ilene started driving. She is not a biker. The rest of us went back and went to sleep. We were finally on the way. It took about a mile and I was out.
Ilene started stopping at all the turn outs and rest areas. She was consuming a lot of hot chocolate. At one place Matt put on street tires. They had air and it was free. I went back to sleep. As we were stopping at another rest area, Ilene went to get her drink. I got behind the wheel and the fun began. The showers turned to a lot of rain. People started slowing down when the real rain came. Oh yes, that was where the road work was. They took us down to one lane and 35 mph. That was okay. The other lane was stopped and was backed up for several miles. I was joking when I said we would get there at 4:00 a.m. The rain was still coming down in a big way. I was thinking , this was not a good thing and was thinking about going back. NOT! This was going to be an adventure that would take a long time to forget. The rain was still coming down hard when we pulled into Ilene's sister's home. She and her husband live in Renton, Washington, about 25 minutes from the King Dome.
Well at 12 Midnight, off to bed in the van and right to sleep. Not. It was still raining hard on top of the van and it was hard to sleep with the lightning. They woke us at 4:00 a.m. I got a little to eat and we left for the King Dome parking lot.
Turn here, up here, down this road. I am glad Jack was there. I didn't have a clue where we were going. When we finally got there at fifteen to five, there was a lot of people there and a string of cars came in after us.
It was not raining. What to wear and bring with me? Three water bottles and some power bars. We were not ready. Matt was still putting on tires. I finally couldn't stand it any longer and I took off. They did their little things and caught up with me.
Page 3
There was a bunch of us that came up to a stop sign. This guy in front of me fell, and I almost hit him. I asked him if he was okay. He said he was alright so jokingly I asked him to fall in front of someone else after this.
It was not too long and off came the STP jacket. I was getting warm, then hot. It looked like it was going to be a good ride. At about 30 miles there was a food and drink stop -- lots of it. Zida broke her seat and Vellen was the only one with $20. That will not get a new seat at REI, but it was a good thought. We had seen Ilene a few miles back, but that was the last we would see of her for the rest of the day. I told her to visit her sister and we would call and tell her when to meet us.
We went up a hill and did not walk. I did not walk on the whole trip. At the top we rested for a long time. It was a hard hill. When we left, we were at the top so it was a good ride for the rest of the day - little up and down, but nothing big.
Oh yes, one time I thought Zida and Matt were in front of me so I went as fast as I could to catch up. The person I thought was Zida, she had on a STP jacket, was good. There was no way I was going to catch her. I finally stopped at a rest stop and we all got together again. They were way back there.
It is hard to keep track of every body in your group. There are so many riders and they are all wearing the same things. We called Ilene on the phone and told her we would meet her at Centralia at 12 or 1:00 p.m. We stopped at another town way before Centralia at around 3 or 4 and stopped for lunch. Thinking of how fast we should be going and how fast we were really going are two different things. It was raining again, or did it stop? I don't think it stopped all the rest of the day.
We went on -- no van to get warm in or get dry clothing.
We finally got to Centralia around 5:30 p.m. The Van was there. We got warm and dry clothing. They were giving away ice cream. I was so cold but I ate one anyway. Vellen was really hurting by this time. I had been riding with him at a slow pace to keep him going. He decided to stop for the day in Centralia after about 92 miles.
The rest of us went about 20 miles further that night and stopped at Vader, Washington. It took us a long time to cover the last 20 miles because Matt had to fix 3 flat tires, three for himself and one for Zida. The good thing was I didn't get a flat and I was happy. No money and only one tube. Oh, I forgot the 50 cents on the front of the bike.
We walked around for awhile and then Ilene drove us home. As I sat there trying to keep awake, I thought to myself, "we are driving a long way and we will bike this tomorrow starting at 8:00 a.m."
Page 4
Yes, we got up at 7:00 a.m. and drove to the spot where we stopped the night before. That made it 9:30 a.m. I put on a sweater and STP jacket (not raining), but the rain gear was in my bag on my bike. I put
$40. in a bag and left it on the dash of the truck. So, I was down to my 50 cents again. Zida and Matt never have any money and still didn't.
Vellen had practiced a little less than I did in preparation for this trip. He rode to Stanley and back. He lives on Stanley Street and his driveway is 30 feet long. He was going to join us after the first hill (about 10 miles after Vader). He was feeling better today. We told Ilene we would meet her at Castle Rock. Off we went. Vellen was going to start from Castle Rock.
We got to Castle Rock but no Ilene and no Vellen. We waited there for a short period of time, but we were cold so off we went. There was a long day in front of us. The weather was good.
It started to rain. As we peddled into Kelso, it was coming down harder. I put on all the stuff I brought and the kids were cold so I shared with them as we ate all kinds of power food and drank water. I don't know why you have to drink it when it is raining so hard.
Vellen started back at Castle Rock. He left later because they waited for us and we had already left. He started out trying to find us but at his own pace. He was doing fine and Ilene was now trying to keep track of all of us.
Well here was the Longview bridge. Another 60 miles and we would be there. They stopped us at the bottom of the bridge, then they stopped the cars and the bridge was covered with bikes. It was something to see -- a bridge covered with bikes in one lane from top to bottom. There were so many bikes. Only one person walked and rode in the group of bikers we were with. We all rode. The bridge was in repair and there were steel plates that were tricky to get over, but no one fell that I saw. We were all going pretty slow.
The Oregon side was fun. It was cold and damp but no rain. There was a head wind and we let Matt lead. I thought they were giving away free dark beer as fast as he was going. Zida and I were drafting him but were having a hard time keeping up. We got to a rest stop and they let me lead. We went slower. It is an up-hill climb with a head wind. I pushed it hard and that is the only place that my legs started to hurt. There were about 9 people drafting me so I must have had a good pace. Ha. Ha. They were there for the free ride. I didn't care. It was fun. Ilene caught us on the hill and so we stopped for a minute to talk with her and rest. She told us about Vellen. I told her to watch out for him that we were okay.
There was a rest/food stop in St Helens where Ilene caught up with us again. I got my plastic bag with my money in it out of the truck. As we went on, they let me lead again and I went for a few
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miles, then I had to stop. There was just no more go in the get-along. The rest of the ride to Portland State was a lot slower. There was one steep hill and the rest were not bad at all after that one - Just stoplights and traffic and we were there.
The finish line was a good sight. All the people on both sides yelling and clapping for us. It always gives me a rush and a renewed strength. The feeling makes it all worthwhile.
We parked our bikes and went to drink a dark beer. All the rain went away. Not. It was raining as we drank our beer. Zida had light beer. We looked for Ilene but she was lost as usual. You think she could follow the bikes. There were only 10,000 of us. We left her a note on the board. Actually she was there, but we couldn't find her. She waited until Vellen came in which was only about an hour later, but we just didn't connect. I bought us all a dog and we ate it and then said, "Let's go." So we road another 10 miles home.
I think Matt's seat was up to his belly button. He was running all the stop lights and I was sure he was going to get a fine or run over. When we got to the bike path, he fell back and we went slow. Zida took the lead. She has her own way to get up a hill that you can go around, so I followed or I would have missed a good part of the trip. You see there is this stop sign and this guy that wants to make a left turn. Yes, she didn't stop and the best part was there was a policeman right in back of him. I thought she was toast. He must have seen the jacket. I know we were working on a long day. With all the cold and wet, it was taking its toll on us. I stopped and waved for the pick-up go through. He didn't know if I was going to stop. There sat the policeman in his car. I had stopped, but here came Matt speeding on through with me. He just caught up. I guess the stop signs are just for the motor transports.
Well, finally Wichita and King Road. Home at last and I didn't feel all that bad. I put my bike in the garage and took off my gloves to yellow stained hands. We no more got in the house and here comes Ilene and Vellen. "Where were you?" She took our picture going across the finish line and could not find us.
I was a little sore the next day, but not bad. As an adventure, it was fun. I talked to a lot of good people and had a good time joking with them. I am thinking about doing it again next year.
Maybe the sun will come out. I would rather have it cold because if it is cold you can put more on. If you can find your van that is. If it is hot, shirt, and shorts, and it stops there for me anyway.
Maybe I will see you there next year. It is not that hard to do. Talk about it, then "JUST DO IT!" Starting is the hard part. Once you do that, it is fun. You get to drink and eat all day long and never gain a pound.
Byran, having some more fun.
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posted by Byran on the side at 7:18 PM
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