TTT + 389th/Spencer

Normally during the week we don't do longer rides. But since Amy has to work Saturday and what with the impending rainy season we decided we better ride while we can. So we did basically a metric century on a Thursday morning.

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 61.88 miles   Elevation Gain: 5110 feet   Average Moving Speed: 14.6 mph

The only problem is, once we started riding, neither one of us was really up to much of a ride. Plus, about 5 miles into the ride Amy discovered her rear tire had a bulge in it. A fairly substantial bulge that was thumping with every revolution. So clearly the smart thing would have been to turn back home, replace the wheel (using her old rear wheel in the garage ready for just such events), or replace the tire itself. But with our legs feeling sluggish and a clearly bad tire we inexplicably decided it was better to forge ahead.

Maybe part of the reason was that I wanted to try out a new route. We've done this particular ride before, but had always returned by way of Daybreak Park since we don't like returning on the highway between La Center and the freeway. But I was perusing Google Maps and came upon Spencer Road, a nice little road that would bring us down directly to the Ridgefield Junction, allowing us to skip all of the Daybreak stuff. The only negative is that we would be on the La Center highway for a bit and then turn onto Timmen Road. These are both less than ideal bicycling roads, however they are short enough stretches that I figured we would like it, that is if Spencer Road was a good choice.

RIDE DATA:

It ended up being a good choice. We liked it and will probably utilize this new way back to Ridgefield from La Center many times on rides to come. As for our sluggish legs, they warmed up some, but we never really did feel gung ho. So we just took it fairly easy and it ended up being a nice ride.

RIDE MAP IN GOOGLE EARTH:

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