[OHPV-list] Soggy Peach in a Blasting Gale

[Keith Kohan]

Yup. The Peach was wet.  As a year round bike commuter
wet is not too awfull bad, but wet and cold and long
is not a great formula for comfort.  Overall It wasn't
the worst wet ride I've been on, but it would have
been a lot better if we had done it last weekend. 
That was the original schedule but the Lance Armstrong
ride upstaged the Salem Bicycle Club so we moved the
ride one week and ended up wet.

When I was stuffing the ride envelopes Friday night we
had almost 400 people pre-registered for the ride.  I
didn't get a count on no-shows, but the people
staffing the roaring river rest stop on the 100 mile
loop had counted only about 40 people when we left
there.

Alex caught a cold from me late last week so he ended
up wisely staying home.  He was extremely disppointed
when I left in the morning.  Although he seemed a bit
less upset about missing the ride when I got home
absolutely sodden and shivering cold.  Actually the
worst rain we encountered was the last 5 or so minutes
of the ride and my 2 mile ride home from the finish
line.  

John Climaldi, John Williams, Todd and I started
together but someplace on Cordon Rd John Climaldi and
I lost John Williams & Todd.  They were behind me in a
strong head wind and light rain and then they weren't.
 Didn't mean to drop them, but I was too wet to want
to go back.

There's a couple of things I really don't understand. 
The first is that John Climaldi, John Williams, Todd,
and I started about 10 minutes or so after Jeff,
Dianne, and Marilyn, but we never passed them and we
didn't see them at the first rest stop.  The second is
that we never did see Rand.

Parts of the ride were actually fun.  John Climaldi,
Bill from Tigard on a Bachetta, and I all seemed
comfortable at the speed we were going. We managed to
have some fun fast sections.  Travel from Lyons to
Stayton and Aumsville to Salem (before the downpour)
come to mind.  

Woulda been better last Sunday, but then again my head
cold was in full force then...

Keith




		
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