Today started out with a plan. It ended up quite differently, but still it was a good day.
The original plan called for an 80 mile loop at a fairly pedestrian pace. Nate Jones, the owner of Ride Yr Bike put this ride together. It sounded like fun, so I was up and on MAX early this morning to get down to NW 23rd.
I get reminded how much I like Portland downtown on a morning like this. I was riding from Providence Park to the ride start and there was hardly a soul on the road. NW 23rd still has all it’s Christmas lights on the trees and it was just a really good way to mentally prep for the day.
It was a bit of a tall task to ride 80 miles after a less than active late November and basically all of December. However, the ride description said mellow, so I figured what the heck.
We made it from PDX up to Scappoose-Vernonia Highway with very little issues. Then climbed up to the top of the S-V Hwy and during a regroup, we learned from some motorcyclists that there was some road construction ahead and that the road was “closed”. On top of the closure, a couple people had slipped on ice towards the top of the climb and the decent was looking rather dubious. Nate as the ride leader made the decision to turn around and have lunch in Scappoose as opposed to the original plan of lunch in Vernonia.
Two of us decided against lunch and just headed back towards Portland. I split off from my riding partner so I could cut over Skyline via Rocky Point and drop down into Hillsboro. I was also having issues with a soft front tire on the climb up Rocky Point.
I attempted to fix the tire issue at the top of the climb and ended up with a flat front tire that just couldn’t be fixed. Mia had to come save my butt, but I was rewarded with gorgeous views of Hood, Adams, St. Helens and Rainier while I waited. You could also just see Jefferson peaking up over the hills to the south.
So now I need to fix a front tire and clean up a dirty bike. All in all a good day that didn’t go quite as planned. Perhaps I’ll invest in a small pump instead of solely relying on CO2 cartridges. That was my biggest issue with the tire.
Thanks for reading,
-Pete
ON & OFF RHODES 
Well, that sucks about the flat! Didn’t know about this ride! Does he do them regularly? Doubt I would have gone, as I’m not exactly up to riding 80 miles, even at a “leisurely” pace. 😉
Tire thing was a mix of issues. I should have topped off the stans sealant a month or so ago. It had congealed into on big “Stan’s booger” so there were no particulates to clog the tiny hole in the tire.
2nd issue was using a tube/CO2 gun combo that the valve on the tube did not get enough bite so I was just blowing air all over the place.
I know Nate puts stuff on his FB page and he has a ride calendar on his website too.
I should check his website, but I don’t do the FB. Still, the category of ride between metric century and real century is difficult for me. I can pull it off in the better months, when I ride more. But I suck at anything that slightly resembles a competitive ride. Still, I need to do some rando events this year…