There is a reason this is ON and OFF Rhodes.  When Paul and I originally started riding bikes a bit more seriously I was “On” and Paul was “Off” Rhodes.  My first bike was a Cannondale Criterium (5.0 I think) back in 1989 and Paul’s was a Schwinn High Sierra (I think).  We both were instantly attracted to the two wheel lifestyle after spending a good part of our youth being “motor motivated”(snowmobiles, dirt bikes, 3 & 4-wheelers).

Mountain biking was just taking off and Paul went that route.  For me personally it was the 1989 Tour de France and  Greg Lemond’s epic win.  The speed and pack riding really appealed to me.

Being able to explore my town and surrounding areas prior to having a driver’s license was a huge part of it too.  The freedom of being able to get places when you live in a relatively rural setting was huge to a 15 year old.

I did my first PV Saturday ride for the first time in over a year this weekend.  Not going to lie…..I forgot how much I like to suffer and go fast like that.  Every now and again the doubt creeps in if I’ll be able to hang still, am I going to blow up, blah blah blah.  Well yesterday was hard and fast, but man was it good.

Sunday was a chance to get out for a longer ride time-wise but easier at a much mellower pace.  It was a nice reminder of how much I love living so close to the urban growth boundary.  I know a fair amount of PDX folks think that “The burbs” are a desolate wasteland and that this is where you come to die, especially over here on the west side.  I’m just the opposite though.  I like to visit the city but give me wide open spaces and less people any day.  Personally I believe that when you cram too many people into too small of an area, well, it isn’t good.  I don’t think we were made to live right on top of each other .  Keep in mind this is coming from a guy born in a town of roughly 8,000 and a state with a population of about 1.5 million.

Ask any New Englander about mom and pop country stores and we can probably name a dozen or more off the top of our heads.  They were a staple on longer rides as options to refuel instead of carrying a ridiculous amount of food and water with you.  It’s been one of the slight learning curves out here in Oregon.  There are not a lot of small country stores.  There are some, but I have a couple rides that I do/have done where it is quite a long time between options.  Last week’s ride (almost 4 hours) didn’t have anything except at the start/end.  The HOTNP ride the other week did not really have anything along its whole route.

Sadly we lost one of the options last summer when the Laurel Valley Store closed.  There are a couple options within 5 miles before or after, but it is always a bummer to lose something like this.

So anyways…..it was a good ride in some excellent weather, given the time of the year.  We are looking at mid to upper 50’s and little chance of precipitation in the next seven days.  Pretty dang good for the PNW.  Here’s to hoping for this stretch of nice weather to push into next weekend.

Yup! It was a good weekend of riding my road bike.  Luckily I don’t need to choose to keep only one, but if I did it would be the Indy Fab.  Absolutely love this bike.

Thanks for reading,

-Pete