June 22, 2007 - CYCLE OREGON WEEKEND
It was the weekend before my birthday and time for Cycle Oregon weekend. Ilene went to Vernonia with me on Friday and was going to pick me up on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. This worked well.
It was exactly 58.3 miles from our house via the Sunset highway to Vernonia. Ilene made it a loop and went home through Scappoose on the Columbia River highway. It was actually closer – only 54.2 miles.
I couldn’t use my cell phone from there so I bought a phone card at the local Sentry. 1084 minutes for $20. That’s 18+ hours of talking. So you are thinking two days for him.
I found a spot to put up my tent. There was no one within 100 feet. I went to town and came back and there were about six tents that liked my spot and put up next to me. I was thinking, “What about the rest of the field? The guy next to me apologized for everything.
I was drinking a beer waiting for the riders’ meeting that never happened. I talked to a volunteer who said that there were 750 riders this year and the week long one was 2,500 with 500 on a waiting list if anyone wanted to drop out.
Saturday: I was up 5:30 a.m. and got ready for the ride. I met this guy that every one knows or has met. Being the shy guy that I am, I started to talk to him. “How is it going?” I asked as I was going to the blue room.
I was in the blue room taking care of business. It was time to finish up. SO . . . there were these two rolls of paper. I know why there were two roles there because when I went to get some I got one square. Now this can’t be happening to me, I say to myself. With five separate squares of paper I said, “paper do your thing. “ I tried it a few more times. There was more to come.
I went to breakfast and the guy that I said hi to was just leaving. I got my food. He came back and told me about riding all over Portland. He got up at 4:00 a.m. every day. He got his first flat in 30 years because he put 6 ounces of slime in his tubes. I am thinking, “Why did I get so much breakfast?” I was eating as fast as I could and was thinking he was going to fallow me into my tent when I got through. It makes you think, “Am I like that? And if I am, suck it up!”
We rode through the country. There were very few cars. We went up so we could look at the Columbia River, then down to it and back up a lot of hills but not steep. There were two rain showers in the day but not long ones.
As I rode by myself for a long way, I was thinking it would be good to talk to someone. Being shy it is hard for me to find someone to talk to. When I do, I loose them at the rest stop. I am thinking I talk too much about my biking trips. So, I am off to a new way of thinking. (Not really but it is good for the story.)
New friend, Gerri Sue - we rode the rest of the day together and it made the time go faster and the hills seem smaller. I had to stop talking about bike trips because they even getting boring for me. SO there was this big city bus in the brush. It was a bus with moss on it and lots of other things. Oh yes, it was an old bus. There were two of them like this and I said, “We need to buy that bus and travel all over the USA. Gerri Sue said, “What do we buy it with?” We can pick up cans.” (Do the math on that one. We did.) We were talking about how we could ride our bikes back and forth in the bus and would not need a car. Oh yea, we need cans for Diesel for the bus. I want to paint it Lavender. I was going to let her pick out the color for the inside. As we came around the corner, there was a bus for sale. (It didn’t say how much and that didn’t help on the can count to buy it.) On the next corner there was a 30 foot 1950 boat to put on the back of our new bus. It too was for sale. This would be a dream come true. I think I might just live on recycled cans the rest of my life. Is this a dream or what? (Maybe a nightmare!) At the rest stop I tried to get more people to go with us and help with the cans.
It was a 74.5 mile day - A lot of fun.
I went to Gerri Sue’s tent after the ride and asked if she wanted to ride with me the next day. She said, “Yes.” Yeah, I was thinking.
At breakfast Gerri Sue, Molly and I all ate together. I said I would get my things and meet at Gerri Sue’s tent. WELL, I got my rain gear on and went to go ride with her but she said she was going home. Why? I asked. No gloves. I offered her my hand heaters. She said, “No.” It turned out to be a wise decision because it rained until noon. So, I went off riding by myself. (Don’t you feel sorry for me?) Yeah right. I look at the bright side. I had someone to talk to almost a full day and this made me feel good.
I pulled into a rest stop and a van full of volunteers showed up to help the other six volunteers help the other rider and me. There ended up being quite a few - I would guess about 200 or so riders at Stub Stewart State Park. Some did come by car but not a lot.
Gerri Sue and Molly drove by with their car heater on full. I don’t think they felt guilty that I was riding in the rain by myself (crying and blubbering along in the rain). It’s fun to ride in the rain and see the water come off the tire. (Watch the road not the tire.)
I was talking to the gal sitting in her pick up at the trail to Buxton trail-head park. They asphalted the trail with 8 inches so it was smooth riding, three miles long and a rails to trails. To think it was originally made with horses kind of makes you think. The canyons are deep. If you get off the trail, there is a railroad crossing sign and as you go on back, a picture of a train coming down the track. HE HE I was telling people there was a picture of a train back there. They didn’t believe me. It was only 50 to 100 feet back, so they went back and looked at it. The one gall asked me my name and I gave it to her – Gerard. She said, “Ok Gerard Byran.” It was on the back of my bike. If it was not back there she was going to look for me. That was fun.
On the way back I stopped and talked to the same person at the trail head - she finally said, “Don’t you have some place to be?” (Could this be a hint?)
I looked over the new park and back to camp in good weather. The sun dried out my tent so I didn’t have to do that when I got home. Yes, there were five tents left when I got there. Not one next to mine and Ilene was early to pick me up. We stopped and got a Slurpee and helped my son-in-law, Matt, with his fence and ate dinner. It was time for bed. What a great day!
I was finally talked out but I will recover very fast. As you read this, I am looking for you to talk about my other biking trips. Now where did I put your phone number?
Come ride with me and be Byranized.
It was the weekend before my birthday and time for Cycle Oregon weekend. Ilene went to Vernonia with me on Friday and was going to pick me up on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. This worked well.
It was exactly 58.3 miles from our house via the Sunset highway to Vernonia. Ilene made it a loop and went home through Scappoose on the Columbia River highway. It was actually closer – only 54.2 miles.
I couldn’t use my cell phone from there so I bought a phone card at the local Sentry. 1084 minutes for $20. That’s 18+ hours of talking. So you are thinking two days for him.
I found a spot to put up my tent. There was no one within 100 feet. I went to town and came back and there were about six tents that liked my spot and put up next to me. I was thinking, “What about the rest of the field? The guy next to me apologized for everything.
I was drinking a beer waiting for the riders’ meeting that never happened. I talked to a volunteer who said that there were 750 riders this year and the week long one was 2,500 with 500 on a waiting list if anyone wanted to drop out.
Saturday: I was up 5:30 a.m. and got ready for the ride. I met this guy that every one knows or has met. Being the shy guy that I am, I started to talk to him. “How is it going?” I asked as I was going to the blue room.
I was in the blue room taking care of business. It was time to finish up. SO . . . there were these two rolls of paper. I know why there were two roles there because when I went to get some I got one square. Now this can’t be happening to me, I say to myself. With five separate squares of paper I said, “paper do your thing. “ I tried it a few more times. There was more to come.
I went to breakfast and the guy that I said hi to was just leaving. I got my food. He came back and told me about riding all over Portland. He got up at 4:00 a.m. every day. He got his first flat in 30 years because he put 6 ounces of slime in his tubes. I am thinking, “Why did I get so much breakfast?” I was eating as fast as I could and was thinking he was going to fallow me into my tent when I got through. It makes you think, “Am I like that? And if I am, suck it up!”
We rode through the country. There were very few cars. We went up so we could look at the Columbia River, then down to it and back up a lot of hills but not steep. There were two rain showers in the day but not long ones.
As I rode by myself for a long way, I was thinking it would be good to talk to someone. Being shy it is hard for me to find someone to talk to. When I do, I loose them at the rest stop. I am thinking I talk too much about my biking trips. So, I am off to a new way of thinking. (Not really but it is good for the story.)
New friend, Gerri Sue - we rode the rest of the day together and it made the time go faster and the hills seem smaller. I had to stop talking about bike trips because they even getting boring for me. SO there was this big city bus in the brush. It was a bus with moss on it and lots of other things. Oh yes, it was an old bus. There were two of them like this and I said, “We need to buy that bus and travel all over the USA. Gerri Sue said, “What do we buy it with?” We can pick up cans.” (Do the math on that one. We did.) We were talking about how we could ride our bikes back and forth in the bus and would not need a car. Oh yea, we need cans for Diesel for the bus. I want to paint it Lavender. I was going to let her pick out the color for the inside. As we came around the corner, there was a bus for sale. (It didn’t say how much and that didn’t help on the can count to buy it.) On the next corner there was a 30 foot 1950 boat to put on the back of our new bus. It too was for sale. This would be a dream come true. I think I might just live on recycled cans the rest of my life. Is this a dream or what? (Maybe a nightmare!) At the rest stop I tried to get more people to go with us and help with the cans.
It was a 74.5 mile day - A lot of fun.
I went to Gerri Sue’s tent after the ride and asked if she wanted to ride with me the next day. She said, “Yes.” Yeah, I was thinking.
At breakfast Gerri Sue, Molly and I all ate together. I said I would get my things and meet at Gerri Sue’s tent. WELL, I got my rain gear on and went to go ride with her but she said she was going home. Why? I asked. No gloves. I offered her my hand heaters. She said, “No.” It turned out to be a wise decision because it rained until noon. So, I went off riding by myself. (Don’t you feel sorry for me?) Yeah right. I look at the bright side. I had someone to talk to almost a full day and this made me feel good.
I pulled into a rest stop and a van full of volunteers showed up to help the other six volunteers help the other rider and me. There ended up being quite a few - I would guess about 200 or so riders at Stub Stewart State Park. Some did come by car but not a lot.
Gerri Sue and Molly drove by with their car heater on full. I don’t think they felt guilty that I was riding in the rain by myself (crying and blubbering along in the rain). It’s fun to ride in the rain and see the water come off the tire. (Watch the road not the tire.)
I was talking to the gal sitting in her pick up at the trail to Buxton trail-head park. They asphalted the trail with 8 inches so it was smooth riding, three miles long and a rails to trails. To think it was originally made with horses kind of makes you think. The canyons are deep. If you get off the trail, there is a railroad crossing sign and as you go on back, a picture of a train coming down the track. HE HE I was telling people there was a picture of a train back there. They didn’t believe me. It was only 50 to 100 feet back, so they went back and looked at it. The one gall asked me my name and I gave it to her – Gerard. She said, “Ok Gerard Byran.” It was on the back of my bike. If it was not back there she was going to look for me. That was fun.
On the way back I stopped and talked to the same person at the trail head - she finally said, “Don’t you have some place to be?” (Could this be a hint?)
I looked over the new park and back to camp in good weather. The sun dried out my tent so I didn’t have to do that when I got home. Yes, there were five tents left when I got there. Not one next to mine and Ilene was early to pick me up. We stopped and got a Slurpee and helped my son-in-law, Matt, with his fence and ate dinner. It was time for bed. What a great day!
I was finally talked out but I will recover very fast. As you read this, I am looking for you to talk about my other biking trips. Now where did I put your phone number?
Come ride with me and be Byranized.
posted by Byran on the side at 9:05 AM
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