Harvest Century

I totally forgot to post about this ride, over a month ago - October 10. I decided at kind of the last minute, and showed up super early, between 6:30-7:00am, not sure whether I'd even do the full 100 miles. I agreed to ride with Martin since he was committed to ride the full century, but I could decide at mile 43 or whatever. It was still dark when I got there, and cold, about 37 degrees I think I heard. Yikes. I had my new fleece-lined bib knickers on and figured a vest & arm warmers would suffice. Definitely full-fingered gloves were in order.

After signing my release and paying the $55, we were off. Oh, wait - blue rooms. Then we were off. Rode through some quiet Hillsboro neighborhoods and wondered why everyone was still asleep on what was sure to be a beautiful fall day. Martin and I decided people should be awake since we were, so we didn't make any effort to lower our voices as we rode down the street. Within the first mile or so, we had already lost track of the orange pumpkins painted on the road to indicate our route. We weren't the only ones, either. Not enough coffee, maybe? Finally a group of us followed Martin, as he was familiar with the way to get us on track.

The ride was perfect, for a century at least. No major climbs, not too many rest stops, but just enough to stop & refuel. Sitting in a school cafeteria scarfing down sandwiches at 10:30am? Okay, sure. Then back on the road. Made it to the cutoff for the shorter routes & decided to go for the full century. Why not? It was a beautiful day, and warmed up enough for me to change gloves & shed the vest. Even the ride on the Canby Ferry was fun, though the hill climb afterwards had me briefly out of breath. A few more rollercoaster-like hills and we were on our way back towards home. Roy Rogers Road offered a wide shoulder, fast traffic and some quickly tiring riders. I somehow had plenty of energy left to pedal ahead for a bit, and we stopped at the last rest stop for smoothies before charging on towards home. I didn't take any photos but there was one I found on the event website somewhere, I'll have to find it. All in all, a great ride, and I'd do it again!