Nice recap, Mike! This ride was my second-ever brevet -- first being the Birkie earlier this month.
Unfortunately, the 6:00 start time meant I left Forest Grove about thirty minutes behind almost everyone else, as the first MAX of the day could only bring me into Hillsboro by 6:03. I did find some company about halfway between Timber and Tillamook, then after a quick stop at the Tillamook shell, was able to regain some ground at Meares. I have family (a grandmother) who lives in Oceanside, so I'm fairly familiar with riding and driving that area -- as the riders with me were complaining about the Cape Meares roads, I was thinking of how much the pavement had IMPROVED over the last several years! The miles between the Capes and Pacific City went by mostly alone, but I was able to run into a SIR rider several miles outside of Grand Ronde, and we rode as a duo for the final 80ish miles. His name was Bill, riding on one of those awesome Moulton rigid frames. We took a mostly leisurely pace with several rest stops, although that tailwind by Willamina did give us a temporary speed boost. Our finish time was 16:42 (or I could call mine an unofficial 16:12). The time was slow, but my only goal for the day was to finish in time to catch an eastbound MAX, and that was no problem. I was on my Trek 520 for the day, with a rather stuffed rack-top trunk. From all the beautiful riding, the only pic I took was from the train, at around midnight. Voila-- http://i.imgur.com/icIfe.jpg I overpacked as usual, and the bike is definitely a true tourer, not a lively randonneur rig. Still, plenty of fun. Hope to catch you at another ride soon... I'll probably be out for the night 200K! --Kevin -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
