Saturday, August 14, 2010

Soap Box Derby

We learned our lesson about starting too late on Thursday...too hot! So, this morning we were out of bed at a quarter to 6 and on the bikes by 7am. I wanted to introduce Peter to my Two Volcanoes, 5 Climbs ride. He's never done the backside of Rocky Butte before and has been dreading ever trying climbing Yamhill for a year now. Many times we've been out on rides and we've detoured around this climb up the east side of Tabor because it is so steep. He expresses his trepidation as we start our ride on Tabor. "You're making it into too much of a mythical thing," I tell him. "You'll be fine. Just gear down, open your chest and spin up."

Tabor is filling up this morning with soapbox race cars and their beer drinking crews. Part of me is thinking, "It's 7 o'clock in the morning!" but the other part thinks, "Good for you. I'm glad you're having fun." I stop to take many pictures of the early group of cars. As we ride away from the collection of cars we hear one of the crew members say, "Hangover, a cup of coffee and a beer. Every year."




This is where the race ends...clearly closed to cyclists and hikers today.

Mt. St. Helen's in summer.

Riding early on a Saturday morning means you can ride all the way to the top of Rocky Butte without seeing a car. "Good morning," I say to a women striding purposefully up the long hill. "Beautiful one, isn't it?" she replies.



We head down the back side of Rocky Butte and I tell Peter to pay attention as we go down. Knowing what you're climbing always makes it easier. We turn around at the church, pedal our way back up and then notice a sign for the Amazing Race. I run up to check it out. It's just AN Amazing Race, not THE Amazing Race. Oh well.

We head back over to Tabor and tackle YamHILL (as Peter calls it). He does great, staying right with me the whole way up. Before the last little bit up Tabor (where you have to weasel your way around the gate) the parking area is overflowing with soapbox racers. "You want to just head home?" I ask. "No way!" replies Peter. "I want all 5 climbs!" Without too much difficulty, we make it through the crowd, up and around the top and head back down. I stop for some more pics. These are quite impressive.



We get back home at 23.5 miles, switch bikes, and head right back out to Whole Foods. Yesterday, we saw that Albacore tuna was going to be on sale today for 2.99/pound. We buy a 20-pounder (which ends up being about 10 pounds of fish) and pedal back home with an entire paper grocery bag filled with tuna in my bicycle basket. Total mileage for the day: 28.5. My total mileage for the week (a non-RAGBRAI record): 191.

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