Dufur Loop Century

For our anniversary the forecast had called for a reasonable chance of rain in Vancouver, so we decided to drive east and ride. Worked like a charm. The only rain we experienced was the downpour in the metro area on the drive back.

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 101 miles   Elevation Gain: 8,066 feet   Average Moving Speed: 14.41 mph

Cherry of a Paride

Can't wait for summer. Spring winds can be BRUTAL!

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 100 miles   Elevation Gain: 6,799 feet   Average Moving Speed: 14.00 mph

North River Century/Tweener

Amy was fresh and did the full century strong, while my two weeks mostly off the bike caught up to me, so I did the tweener.

Quick Stats	Amy	John
Ride Distance:	100 miles	89 miles
Elevation Gain:	5,182 feet	3,726 feet
Average Moving Speed:	16.2 mph	15.6 mph

North River Ride w/ Sunset Falls OB

It was foggy and cold when we got up and we knew it would be sunny later in the day, so we didn't get going until almost 11 a.m. The fog was gone, but it was still pretty cool.

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 88.89 miles   Elevation Gain: 4,699 feet   Average Moving Speed: 15.37 mph

Woodland Tulip Loop

Neither one of us wanted to get moving this morning. Looking out the window at the wet roads didn't help. The sun came out and the roads started to dry, so we finally got out the door and rolling at about 10:30 a.m. Once we started riding we both felt great.

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 65.43 miles   Elevation Gain: 3,647 feet   Average Moving Speed: 15.47 mph

Bachelor Sunriver OB

Today we started our ride with good friend Janette. The plan was to ride from Eagle Crest to Sunriver, and if Janette felt up to it we would do the 4-mile side excursion to get the rest of the way up to Mt. Bachelor on the way there.

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 111.76 miles   Elevation Gain: 6474 feet   Average Moving Speed: 15.39 mph

McKenzie Pass OB

Our legs are feeling it from the prior two centuries in 3 days. So we decided to keep today's ride well under the century mark.

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 67.16 miles   Elevation Gain: 3271 feet   Average Moving Speed: 15.57 mph

Prineville Bend Loop

Our first ride at Eagle Crest, on the first full day there, Monday. Started out with a beautiful sunrise. No better way to start a vacation or a bike ride.

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 104.91 miles   Elevation Gain: 3275 feet   Average Moving Speed: 15.56 mph

Lewis County

Our goal for today was to go faster than we did last year on this ride. Today we did this ride unsupported. They hold the supported ride in May, and we've ridden it twice, until this year because of the cruddy weather we were having back in May (and June and April and...).

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 99 miles   Elevation Gain: 3,232 feet   Average Moving Speed: 16.5 mph

Covered Bridge Bicycle Tour

Today's ride was about as opposite as you can get from last weekend's ride.

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 99.36 miles   Elevation Gain: 3,149 feet   Average Moving Speed: 16.68 mph

Cascade Lakes Super

It really was a perfect day for a long ride. Except for our standard headwind-to-end-a-ride experience. But that seems to be somehow unavoidable, so we are starting to embrace it.

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 138 miles   Elevation Gain: 6,953 feet   Average Moving Speed: 15.26 mph

Elk-Johnston-Elk-Elk Century

What an incredibly awesome day for a ride!

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 100.18 miles   Elevation Gain: 8,911 feet   Average Moving Speed: 13.8 mph

Mt. Adams Bike DeTour

We've been meaning to do this ride for three years now. And boy are we glad we finally did. This was one awesome ride. Certainly the best of the year, and among the all-time bests in our three years of riding centuries.

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 105.57 miles   Elevation Gain: 6,484 feet   Average Moving Speed: 14.65 mph

Strawberry Century

We rode this century last year and the year before, and thoroughly enjoyed it both times. So we came back for more Strawberry Century. This time we brought Mike Ward with us, Amy's spin class instructor.

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 101.38 miles   Elevation Gain: 3239 feet   Average Moving Speed: 16.93 mph

Cherry of a Ride

What a day! What a ride! We intended to do this ride back when they put it on in April but chickened out due to the rainy forecast. Based on how much I struggled in June I'm thinking it was probably a good thing we didn't do it in April.

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 99.42 miles   Elevation Gain: 6,154 feet   Average Moving Speed: 13.9 mph

Old Man Pass

QUICK STATS	This Ride	2010 Cumulative
Distance	79.17 miles	3538 miles
Elevation Gain	5650 feet	39.05 miles
Average Moving Speed	14.26 mph	15.00 mph
Dog Bites	0	1

This was another training ride. Well I guess they all are in a way, but the difference is we've ridden this section of road before, this year even, and decided to do it again in order to get used to the long steep grades. Amy had suggested it, remembering the nice climb on the Lewis & Clark Ultra training route we did this spring. Rather than do the whole grueling 140-mile route again, we drove to Stevenson and climbed over Old Man Pass, descended to the Eagle Cliff General Store near Swift Reservoir, and then returned the same route, over Old Man Pass again.

Mount Shasta Summit Century

QUICK STATS	This Ride	2010 Cumulative
Distance	99.70 miles	3239 miles
Elevation Gain	10585 feet	35.63 miles
Average Moving Speed	12.57 mph	14.86 mph
Dog Bites	0	1

I was a little concerned about this ride after last weekend. I was convinced that the biggest problem last weekend was the heat. And perhaps I therefore wasn't drinking enough water. Easy enough problem to fix, or at least improve upon.

The other difference from last weekend is the support. Last weekend I hauled my CamelBak (with about 60 oz. of water) around Mt. Bachelor. Along with two water bottles. Today we had rest/water stops all over the place. I had 3 water bottles, and my original intent was to only fill the third one as needed later in the heat of the day and use it as a mister for cooling off my body.

Did it work? Yep. Although the heat wasn't as bad as it could have been, so it's hard to tell if the solution worked well or if the heat problem simply wasn't that bad this time. It wasn't that it didn't get hot. And my heart rate was higher than ideal during that stretch. But it seemed under control. I was able to keep going and just live with the fact that my heart rate is apparently 10 or 15 beats per minute higher when I am hot.

The main reason we decided to forge ahead and attempt a ride with an advertised elevation gain of 10,500 feet was due to how the organizers mapped out the ride. Basically you start with 35 miles of fluff, and then you do 3 big climbs. And in all 3 cases the climb is an out-and-back. So if your legs decide they just can't go up anymore all you have to do is turn around and ride back down. Pretty cool, eh?

Troutdale - Larch OB x2

QUICK STATS	This Ride	2010 Cumulative
Distance	93.13 miles	2910 miles
Elevation Gain	8185 feet	30.98 miles
Average Moving Speed	14.08 mph	14.94 mph
Dog Bites	0	1

Today was a training ride pure and simple. We are hoping to do the Mt. Shasta Summit Century in August, and it has over 10,000 feet of elevation gain. So we are trying to prepare our bodies to handle it.

We did this exact same route last weekend. It is such a good ride we decided to do it again, but double the fun.

Troutdale - Larch OB

QUICK STATS	This Ride	2010 Cumulative
Distance	46.39 miles	2730 miles
Elevation Gain	4270 feet	28.54 miles
Average Moving Speed	14.3 mph	15.0 mph
Dog Bites	0	1

We had originally planned to drive out to Trout Lake, Washington and ride around Mt. Adams. However, I wasn't feeling up to such a long day - a 2 hour drive on either end of a long bike ride. So instead we drove to Troutdale and rode up to Larch Mountain in order to get in some good climbing. Plus, in retrospect, it was so cloudy today I'm not sure we would have had the spectacular views of Mt. Adams that we wanted. So probably ended up for the best. We'll just have to hit Mt. Adams another day. Hopefully we can squeeze it in sometime this year. Gonna be tough though as the weekends are mostly booked. :(

Prior to this we have had two separate occasions where we rode up into the mountains and it was colder than we had expected. The Mountain Lakes Challenge in Ashland and then two weeks later our first attempt up Mt. St. Helens this year, the VBC Tour de Blast. In both cases we were blessed to have made the right call, and had ample clothing to keep warm (including extra gloves and shoe covers, or "toesties").

Johnston Ridge

QUICK STATS	This Ride	2010 Cumulative
Distance	83.66 miles	2667 miles
Elevation Gain	6513 feet	27.62 miles
Average Moving Speed	13.7 mph	15.0 mph
Dog Bites	0	1

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

This was the second attempt within a week of one of our favorite rides, the Tour de Blast, which was thwarted last weekend due to fog and rain.