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nwhikerI woke up a few times during the night. The first time because I was cold. Cold? Really? Oh whatever.
I woke up again, cold again, and I could feel the dampness. I thought about suggesting to Perry, who was sleeping outside, to go drag his sleeping bag into the gymnasium, but I was too tired and I know how hard it is to wake Perry when he's out. Back to sleep.
4am. My alarm went off, I ignored it for a bit, then got up, went to brush my teeth and pop 3 ibuprofen. I feel ok from a muscles etc standpoint, but my head still ached.
As the others stumbled to morning things, I started stuffing bags and repacking. It was still dark. Then I came up with a brilliant idea, if I may say so myself, to fix AC's seat: one of dh's cotton socks. Part can be wadded up to replace the missing gel and the whole leg part pulled over the whole saddle to keep it in place. And to follow up here, it worked! At the next big rest stop, we got some duct tape from the bike repair place to keep things from shifting around, but overall, the sock contraption was a workable solution and allowed AC to finish the ride.
That she would finish was not evident. Even though it was now chilly, and breezy, the forecast, last we had checked, was still gruesome, and AC was in a bit of a panicky, anxious state. Note that's she in good shape, had had few problems the day before, even with the heat, so it was clearly a mental problem. She was pretty depressed and weepy at breakfast, refusing to eat properly, working on convincing herself that she wasn't going to be able to finish. We tried to dispense a combination of sympathy and "sorry, there is no plan in place for you to bail, you need to finish" practicality.
Off we headed for day 2! Officially we had about 85 miles to go. The first part of the route is "rollers", then over the Columbia on the Lewis and Clark Bridge into Oregon! After that, the long slog that is US 30.
But the weather still seems to be holding as cool. There are clouds in the sky. A nice breezy tailwind. Things aren't too bad!
The Lexington rest stop came up quickly, which was nice. The rollers weren't too bad, and I think the fastest I got was about 34mph.
Weather still cool, cloudy, nice breeze, with the occasional sunbreak. I was really starting to wonder if the high had broken, or what, because this was not the morning of a day that was supposed to beat record temps. Not that anyone was complaining, of course. I don't think anyone was really daring to speak much about it, Saturday had been so very miserable for everyone.
Lewis and Clark Bridge. Always a bit nerve wracking. We check water bottle cages to make sure everything is in tight, pockets etc. There are some nasty gratings on the down that you hit going very fast and the ground is literally littered with water bottles and other things!
Grind up the bridge... this isn't my video -I wish I were that fast on the way up!- it's from some one day rider.
Oregon!
I'm pretty sure my speed exceeded the posted 35mph. Heh.
Into the small town of Rainier, where I saw a breathtaking example of racism that I'd never noticed before.
A barber shop/salon, called Head Hunters, which ya know, is just stupid but not intrinsically offensive. Only... the painting on the wall, clearly visible where driving the highway was... a young Native American man with his hair unbound.
You'd think that a highway that follows the course of a river would be flat. Alas, it is not. Ups and downs, some of them pretty intense. Overall, the trend is upwards, I swear it is! I mean, I know that Rainier OR and PDX are the same elevation (ok, PDX is 1ft lower...) but the whole road still feels like it has an upward trend!
Overall things were going pretty well, except for dh's knees that were bothering him a bit. We were making quite decent time and pulled into the lunch stop at St Helens a bit before noon. The weather, I'll add, was still cool and overcast. Usually St Helens is a hot, full sun food stop, so this was nice.
30 miles to go.
What to say about the last thirty miles? We picked up, alas, a headwind, which I think really bugged dh, and that slowed us down a wee bit, but we were still making ok time.
I saw lightening to the north. Three bolts. Didn't hear the thunder, so it was quite far.
And then it started to rain.
A big fat drop heavy rain, that left me wondering if glasses on or glasses off was better. I should have my glasses on, but my eyesight is good enough for day time driving/biking if need be. I kept them on, but there were a few times where I wondered.
Rooster tails and OMG GRIT was the name of the game from then on in.
St John's Bridge, as usual my favourite part of the ride. The bridge itself is beautiful, and once you are over it, you are into Portland proper, the end of the ride is near, at least distance wise, and it always feels like a privilege to be able to cross such a bridge in a lane without cars!
Things slowed down considerably then. The traffic was not too horrid, but there are red lights, pedestrians, and cyclists, many of them not riding STP. Nothing awful, but we're not longer doing the same speed as on the highway. I always forget that when I'm calculating how long the last 30 miles will take, that the 5 or so from St Johns can take a lot longer than the 25 highway ones!
Dh described what happened next best, and I think he said it like this, "All of a sudden I heard 'ouch! ouch! ouch!' behind me, and I couldn't figure out what was going on, then three seconds later, the hail hit me!".
Hail.
Rilly?
That said, I'll say it now: hail and rain vs record high temps? Bring on the hail.
Dh's aunt was waiting for us at the last block! We high fived as we slowly rode it, under the finish line, picked up our finisher's badges, and onto the grass.
DONE!
Proof:
And here is the obligatory at the finish line photo, take a bit after we got in! Note that Perry is still eating....
Day 2 stats: 85.2 miles, 12.5 mph, 6h46min on bikes!
Next post up: the recap and some extra commentary!
I woke up again, cold again, and I could feel the dampness. I thought about suggesting to Perry, who was sleeping outside, to go drag his sleeping bag into the gymnasium, but I was too tired and I know how hard it is to wake Perry when he's out. Back to sleep.
4am. My alarm went off, I ignored it for a bit, then got up, went to brush my teeth and pop 3 ibuprofen. I feel ok from a muscles etc standpoint, but my head still ached.
As the others stumbled to morning things, I started stuffing bags and repacking. It was still dark. Then I came up with a brilliant idea, if I may say so myself, to fix AC's seat: one of dh's cotton socks. Part can be wadded up to replace the missing gel and the whole leg part pulled over the whole saddle to keep it in place. And to follow up here, it worked! At the next big rest stop, we got some duct tape from the bike repair place to keep things from shifting around, but overall, the sock contraption was a workable solution and allowed AC to finish the ride.
That she would finish was not evident. Even though it was now chilly, and breezy, the forecast, last we had checked, was still gruesome, and AC was in a bit of a panicky, anxious state. Note that's she in good shape, had had few problems the day before, even with the heat, so it was clearly a mental problem. She was pretty depressed and weepy at breakfast, refusing to eat properly, working on convincing herself that she wasn't going to be able to finish. We tried to dispense a combination of sympathy and "sorry, there is no plan in place for you to bail, you need to finish" practicality.
Off we headed for day 2! Officially we had about 85 miles to go. The first part of the route is "rollers", then over the Columbia on the Lewis and Clark Bridge into Oregon! After that, the long slog that is US 30.
But the weather still seems to be holding as cool. There are clouds in the sky. A nice breezy tailwind. Things aren't too bad!
The Lexington rest stop came up quickly, which was nice. The rollers weren't too bad, and I think the fastest I got was about 34mph.
Weather still cool, cloudy, nice breeze, with the occasional sunbreak. I was really starting to wonder if the high had broken, or what, because this was not the morning of a day that was supposed to beat record temps. Not that anyone was complaining, of course. I don't think anyone was really daring to speak much about it, Saturday had been so very miserable for everyone.
Lewis and Clark Bridge. Always a bit nerve wracking. We check water bottle cages to make sure everything is in tight, pockets etc. There are some nasty gratings on the down that you hit going very fast and the ground is literally littered with water bottles and other things!
Grind up the bridge... this isn't my video -I wish I were that fast on the way up!- it's from some one day rider.
Oregon!
I'm pretty sure my speed exceeded the posted 35mph. Heh.
Into the small town of Rainier, where I saw a breathtaking example of racism that I'd never noticed before.
A barber shop/salon, called Head Hunters, which ya know, is just stupid but not intrinsically offensive. Only... the painting on the wall, clearly visible where driving the highway was... a young Native American man with his hair unbound.
You'd think that a highway that follows the course of a river would be flat. Alas, it is not. Ups and downs, some of them pretty intense. Overall, the trend is upwards, I swear it is! I mean, I know that Rainier OR and PDX are the same elevation (ok, PDX is 1ft lower...) but the whole road still feels like it has an upward trend!
Overall things were going pretty well, except for dh's knees that were bothering him a bit. We were making quite decent time and pulled into the lunch stop at St Helens a bit before noon. The weather, I'll add, was still cool and overcast. Usually St Helens is a hot, full sun food stop, so this was nice.
30 miles to go.
What to say about the last thirty miles? We picked up, alas, a headwind, which I think really bugged dh, and that slowed us down a wee bit, but we were still making ok time.
I saw lightening to the north. Three bolts. Didn't hear the thunder, so it was quite far.
And then it started to rain.
A big fat drop heavy rain, that left me wondering if glasses on or glasses off was better. I should have my glasses on, but my eyesight is good enough for day time driving/biking if need be. I kept them on, but there were a few times where I wondered.
Rooster tails and OMG GRIT was the name of the game from then on in.
St John's Bridge, as usual my favourite part of the ride. The bridge itself is beautiful, and once you are over it, you are into Portland proper, the end of the ride is near, at least distance wise, and it always feels like a privilege to be able to cross such a bridge in a lane without cars!
Things slowed down considerably then. The traffic was not too horrid, but there are red lights, pedestrians, and cyclists, many of them not riding STP. Nothing awful, but we're not longer doing the same speed as on the highway. I always forget that when I'm calculating how long the last 30 miles will take, that the 5 or so from St Johns can take a lot longer than the 25 highway ones!
Dh described what happened next best, and I think he said it like this, "All of a sudden I heard 'ouch! ouch! ouch!' behind me, and I couldn't figure out what was going on, then three seconds later, the hail hit me!".
Hail.
Rilly?
That said, I'll say it now: hail and rain vs record high temps? Bring on the hail.
Dh's aunt was waiting for us at the last block! We high fived as we slowly rode it, under the finish line, picked up our finisher's badges, and onto the grass.
DONE!
Proof:
And here is the obligatory at the finish line photo, take a bit after we got in! Note that Perry is still eating....
Day 2 stats: 85.2 miles, 12.5 mph, 6h46min on bikes!
Next post up: the recap and some extra commentary!
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Date: 17 Jul 2014 17:57 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 Jul 2014 18:04 (UTC)I'm still stunned we survived Saturday.
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Date: 18 Jul 2014 19:32 (UTC)That St John's Bridge IS beautiful! Does it have a dedicated bike lane or are cars not allowed on it at all? And with the Lewis & Clark bridge, I can just imagine their ghosts (if such a thing existed) saying "whadya mean, Lewis & Clark bridge? We didn't have no stinkin' bridge when we went through there!" :^)