A sunny March day which was very welcomed after a surprise snow storm.

I climbed on my LeMond wearing just a base layer, a short sleeve jersey and arm warmers. I left the leg warmers and the booties at home and I never missed them.

I decided to ride a porting of next week’s Oregon Randonneurs 200k Brevet. I know almost all of the route, but there was a section outside of Molalla that I have never been on.

As soon as I left the house, I met the head wind. And this would be something that I would fight all day long. I headed north to the town of Hubbard where I took my first stop of the day. I found a small market and grabbed some calories before I turned to the east toward Molalla. Of course the wind was now out of the east so I had no relief. I took another stop in Molalla just long enough to fill my water bottles at the local Library. Now I was on new asphalt.

I crossed the Molalla River and turned to the south, and the first time I did not have to face a wind. The road followed the river for miles gently climbing all of the way. The Brevet has a control at a bridge which was my turn around point. Returning down river I enjoyed the gentle descent until I reached S. Trout Creek Road.

I knew this would be a climb, but I had no idea how steep it would be. I learned. I dropped down to my lowest gear (26 x 25) and slowly turned the cranks over while my quads began to scream in pain. They hurt! They wanted to stop. They wanted me to walk. I did not let them get me off of the bike and worked my way up to the top. The climb is only 680 feet, but it is at 7.7% although at times I was lifting my front wheel with each pedal stroke. After about two miles I reached the top and the climb turned to rollers as I rode toward Sawtell Rd.

But the damage was done. My legs were toast. I was hurting and bonking. I suffered down Maple Grove Rd to Scotts Mills where I took an extended break. The rest of the ride was on pure force of charater and yes, back into the wind.

I finished with 100 miles, 4,400 feet of elevation gain and an average speed of just 12.6 miles per hour. However, my average heart rate was a very high 142 beats per minute proving just how hard I had to work.