I love to ride my bicycle I love to ride my bike....

Made it out Sunday morning for a 55 mile ride which was AWESOME!!! The weather looked sketchy and we even experienced warming sun breaks from time to time...but with all the clouds, the threat of rain was obvious for some point during the day. We headed out from SE Portland to Marine drive and then to Troutdale, on up to Corbett and finally to the Women's Forum which is right before Crown Point. I have always wanted to do that ride and finally found someone to go with who had done it before. I am actually quite familiar with the roads out, there as I grew up right in that area. It's more of a mental thing and a safety thing in wanting someone else to ride it with me. My friend told me that a few years back, people in Corbett were putting tacks on certain stretches of roads and cyclists would end up getting flats as the rode through. Doesn't surprise me. Last year on one of my rides along the Sandy river, some one driving a big @$$ truck thought it would be amusing to drive back and forth along side us, gunning it with exhaust. There's so much I could say about this, but I will chose to let it go and know that some where, some mental patient got off in a big @$$ truck and was havin himself a little fun. I have always wondered if I wore a skoal jersey or malboro or maybe a coors light jersey if that might back off those who are easily irritated by cyclists. Anyway, I digress back to the ride... the thing I loved about this ride was the climb up to the Forum... I don't know what the elevation gain is, will have to research that. But it's a good push. My next goal is to continue on from the Women's and head up to the top of Larch Mtn.... good hills, good times!!!! (Have to wait for the snow to melt... so maybe- AUGUST???)
In the mean time... I had my first intereview yesterday and honestly, it was good to just get out and talk with some body.... having all this time off isn't good for some of us. My perception was that the interview went really well and I thought I would be a great fit for the position... it's pretty much the same thing I did in my last job, just a different industry. After the interview, I hung out at my bro's for a bit. Had to let him know that something he made for dinner for mother's day didn't sit well with me... or my mom for that matter. The food was great! But something was not digesting well. My stomach was upset all day today... it even made sounds during the interview which made me turn a little red. Oh well, it happens to everyone from time to time... the interviewer said something about application and all I heard was flatulation. GROSS!
I then went down to Nike Town to meet up with the run club. I did the 7 miler and that totally messed my stomach up even more. I didn't stick around too long to socialize as I felt it would be best for me to hop in my little car and speed home because... well, that would be TMI.

Excuses are like... noses... every body has one.

Backtracking....
Saturday, May 10.
The weather is dreary... on the cool side, sprinkles here and there, and breezy.
This morning I had two ride options... ride with the Portland Velos at 9 or ride with a team in training for the Livestrong challenge which started at 8. It should come as no surprise that I ended up riding with the Velos. I had the best intentions for the 8 o clock ride which was a 45 miler... but seriously, some mornings my motivation is just hit or miss. If the 8 o clock ride would have been my only option, I probably would have made it, but MY EXCUSE today is that I just joined the Velos and I was going to put my memebership money to good use! ...and the ride started at 9. The funny thing however is that both rides crossed paths this morning and I ran into the ride leader for the livestrong 8 o clock ride in the women's rest room on our (the velo ride) only bathroom stop... what a coincidence! I told the her that I was infact rolling out of bed when I should have rolling over to the beginning of their ride which is sadly enough started only 10 minutes by bike from where I live. Oh well... next time. So this mornings ride was 35 miles and went between 17 and 19 mphs. I think my computer must be wrong on my bike because it felt like a slower ride ... probably because I kept ending up in the middle of the pace line. There was a hill, fortunately, that allowed me to break out of the pack and charge ahead... at the top of the hill I latched on to a group of 4 that was splitting off and sprinting ahead... that was fun! It was half way through the ride and was the first time that I felt like I was actually working my legs. I always meet nice people on the 17mph group, but I am finding I want to push myself more and not necessarily chat with people... don't get me wrong, I like being social... but on these rides, I really want to take advantage of pushing myself as much as possible. Next week is Reach the Beach and I am doing the 100 mile course... I am so excited to see how I do on that ... And I am so excited because I reached my fundraising goal AND the weather is going to be really nice for the ride! YAHOO!!!
Last week I did the ride around clarck county 65 mile ride with a good friend of mine. The weather was really on the cool/breazy side for that one. I could have used more layers on that ride. With the exception of getting a flat right before riding out of the parking lot at the beginning of the ride, it was a really good ride. We got a late start - 9:30am and gunned it... luckily we're both strong riders and ended up in the middle of the pack "Seldom early, never last" was our motto. There were a lot of great hills/rollers on that ride, through beautiful country side and farm lands. I really do love the hills and actually struggle more so on flats.. one of the things I need to work on. When we got to the 2nd rest stop at day break park, we had discovered that my back tire had lost a lot of air... hmmm, I think someone one actually let it out so I would struggle more with the ride :) nah... he didn't... it was a legitimate flat and the great hands of River City Bikes, fortunately, turned over my back tire quickly and we were on our way. Should add that during that break I got so cold that both sets of toes went numb and the digits on my right hand were frozen as well. From that point, I would end up being chilled to the core for the rest of the day. I would have thought that the hill that came up immediately after the rest stop would have had me back to a good temp... alas, my toes and fingers came back to life, but I was just damp cold for the rest of the ride... which still had a couple of good hills in store. The Felida hill was a lot of fun, but the hill that amused me the most wast the last... you take this sharp lef turn on to the hill and this SOB is steep ... I mean... granny steep. So steep in fact that I witnesses a crash because this on rider just stopped because they couldn't peddle or I don't know what and another right behind her crashed into her and there was this chain reaction. We were way off to the side passing as this was going on... you really have to be alert at that point in the ride because alot of people were tired and weaving on their bikes and they don't say anything when they are about to fall over. Anyway... a very satisfying ride... I was pleased with the pace we rode at and was done for the rest of the day. I was supposed to go to a birthday party later that evening... but i only managed to make it burgerville, rite aid and bed. The rest of the day remainded cold and it actually started raining after the ride... I was done with being out in the weather.. and a warm, cozy bed was way more appealing.
So tomorow the ride is dependent on the weather... imagine that. If it turns out to be ok weather - the ride is going to be a 60 miler out to crown point and back... should be a great ride! Fingers crossed that the weather alows it.