Caught wind of a gravel ride out of Gaston, OR mapped out by the folks at Velo Cult.  After the on and off heavy rain on Saturday I was a little hesitant about how today would be.  The weather turned out to be absolutely fabulous.

Now, first things first.  I’m not new to this biking thing, I’ve been doing this almost 30 years now.  However, sometimes you just do stupid things……..like forget your cycling shoes at home!  Doh!  I lucked out though, one of the guys on the ride had a spare pair of shoes.  I’m a size 8-8.5, he was a size 12!  I had to stuff the toe box with a couple plastic bags that were in the car.  It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than riding in sandals or heading home.

We only had one semi scary moment for the day.  We had one of our riders wipe out on a pretty sketchy downhill with some rough conditions about 9 miles into the ride.  Luckily Molly ended up okay.  A little shaken up, a couple bruises and scrapes, but she was able to keep on trucking.

So we ended up changing the planned route on the fly.  We still ended up with 56 miles (plan was 52), but with close to 1500′ less in elevation.  It was a decent decision and kept the group together a bit better.  I’ve got the original course loaded on my GPS and will have to head out that way again to do the “official” route.

Great way to spend a Sunday morning/afternoon.  I was really happy that this gravel ride was relatively close to home.  I’m so used to heading to The Gorge, Hood area or The Dalles.  Looks like I’m not the only one who knows about all the great roads in the coast range.

That is about it for now.

Thanks for reading,

-Pete