White Salomon Ride May 24th

I did a gorgeous 55 miler from Janet and Joanie’s house in White Salomon this past Saturday. Since on Friday I had to do the last 47 miles of my ride in a freezing downpour, I was worried it would rain but we lucked out. Joanie says its worth it to pay extra for good weather and she is right! I even got to take my jacket off and ride with just my jersey! The ride we did is mostly the second half of a century I did last year. The roads are mostly free of cars and the scenery is gorgeous, with frequent views of Mount Adams. Ken Reid joined me for the ride and we went out for burgers at the 6th Avenue Cafe afterwards. YUM! That’s Joanie on the left in the photo, Ken in the middle, and me on the right, posing with my bike. That’s Janet (R) and Joanie at the top of this post. Sorry– I can’t quite get my pictures to go in the way I want them to!

 

 

Reach the Beach! May 17th

Wah hoo! Got my first century this season under my belt. Ok, it was 97.5 miles but that’s close enough for me. Suddenly last week, summer came to the northwest and on Thursday and Friday we had record high temps. I was pretty worried about not being able to drink enough water on this ride if it stayed hot. It cooled for Saturday but it was still pretty hot out there on the pavement. This ride is gorgous and the hills were much less than I was expecting. There were so many riders! Despite all my training, I got passed by alot of people BUT I finished very strong so I feel great about the ride. There were very good aid stations and the buffet at the finish had outrageously good brownies. To top it off, I won a dozen bagels/month for a year from Panera. How cool is that! This will be great for carbo loading for the big ride

RACC May 3

Last Saturday, Diana Taylor-Williams and I met up to do the RACC, Ride Around Clark County. At her suggestion, we did the 65 mile ride and I was VERY glad I listened to her advice. Clark County is beautiful and also very hilly. The ride is sponsored by the Vancouver (WA) Bike Club and they do an outstanding job of marking the route and offering support to the riders. It was great to meet one of my fellow Big Ride riders. We had a great time and it didn’t rain!