Yesterday my friend Joshua and I did a ride from Portland that incorporated elements of the Barlow Trail 300k and the Timothy Lake 200k. The heat was brutal. And in spite of all the trees lining the road there were times when we had no shade at all. Large portions of this ride were on paved Forest Service roads. These roads were absolutely amazing, like singletrack for road bikes. Unfortunately the heat really took it's toll on me and about 40 miles outside of Estacada my stomach stopped accepting food--solid or liquid. I could still take on some water but I was hurting. We also had a fierce headwind that was hot and made it uncomfortable to breath heavily. Josh was hurting too. Once back in Estacada I called my wife for a rescue. I just didn't think I could handle the 30 miles back into Portland even if most of it was pancake flat. I was cooked. Although by the time my wife picked me up I was feeling much better. Still, I rode 140 miles which isn't too shabby.
I've realized that doing rides like this on your own is a lot different than doing a brevet. While Josh was great company it's just nicer being around more people having dedicated controls to stop at. Best of all I just learned that the Barlow Trail 300k (http:// www.orrandonneurs.org/rba/2009/Barlow300/Barlow300_Info.html) has been postponed a week or so which means I may get to ride it afterall. And to think yesterday I was thinking to myself that I was done with randonneuring and would just focus on bike camping. Ha! I should mention that Josh limped home on his own, finishing the ride as planned. Here are the pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41335...@n00/sets/72157621778650380/ --mike --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
