Last long solo ride before the Big Ride!

I started out by riding to Frenchman's Bar, west and north along
the Columbia River, out near farmlands and the wildlife refuge.
There's also a beach where I watch the huge container ships from
Asia as they head to Portland. When I ride there I'm usually
completely alone with the herons, geese, coyotes, and squirrels.
It's great.

Not so today. There were dozens of other cyclists speeding past me in the opposite direction. It turns out that there was a triathlon going on there. So, for a short while, I could pretend I was a triathlete. (Thank goodness they didn't make me swim!)

First stop: Esther Short Park for a snack and a drink.

(Commercial break: The Vancouver Symphony will be playing a free concert there on August 28th!)



Then, I headed south across I-5, east along Marine Drive and the
bike path there, then north across the I-205 bridge bike path, which runs down the middle of the freeway. (Don't worry. I never leave the bike path.)






After my veggie burger and strawberry lemonade lunch at
Burgerville, I took the 34-mile RACC route east around
Lacamas Lake. The lake was absolutely beautiful.

Elvira joined me for the last 11 or so miles of my 90-mile ride. It's amazing how much easier it is to ride with someone else. I felt completely refreshed when she joined me.




HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY, Erin!

The Big Flight Across America

I'm here in Atlanta for Erin's graduation from Spelman College, and I'm making this post from her laptop, which she is letting me borrow for the Big Ride. The next step in my new blog life will be to practice using the camera she gave me to post pictures.

I flew in about five hours yesterday what will take me 48 days to ride this summer. As we were flying east from PDX, I looked down and saw snow-covered mountains . . . lots and lots of them!

Objects below appear flatter than they actually are.

Yikes.

As soon as I get back home on Monday, I'll get back on the bike and ride up every hill I can find. Fortunately, that won't be a problem where I live. Thinking about it, this will be the last weekend until August 16-17, 2008 that I won't be riding my bike!

RACC (Ride Around Clark County)

Today was the first SERIOUS organized ride of the season and my first long training ride for the Big Ride. (Last weekend I did the Monster Cookie metric century in Salem, but it was fairly flat. There were just a couple little hills.)

I rode the 65 mile RACC route, which is a great, but very hilly (3,000 ft. elevation gain), bike ride around mostly rural Clark County. We passed Lacamas Lake, forests, farms, vineyards, rural mansions, the Columbia River . . . it was a beautiful ride. The weather even cooperated by not raining!

The best part of the ride today was meeting Barb Greenebaum, from Hillsboro, OR, who will be one of my fellow riders on the Big Ride! She drove to my house, and we did the ride together from here. We met up with Elvira at her house, and she did part of the ride with us. It was a great day!