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Oregon trail gravel who wants to join me
Last Post 09/09/2019 08:47 AM by Cosmic Kid. 55 Replies.
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 12/23/2018 11:06 AM |
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Registration opens Jan 15. There is a training goal for 2019. 5 days 400 miles of mostly gravel forests mountains camping and beer. 30000 feet of elevation.
http://www.oregontrailgravelgrinder.com/ |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 12/23/2018 12:46 PM |
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Wow! I've already decided one goal of 2019 is RondePDX, March 30th (I believe). 8000' in 50 miles, all in Portland or just west, starting 11 miles from home and featuring crazy steep paved pitches in the Portland west Hills. (Very early on is Brynewood. The final corner is >20%.)
If I rode this I would have to choose a bike. Either the Raleigh Competition or the Mooney could do it. Mooney is the stiffer, more efficient bike, less subject to overall shudder on fast rocky descents. Competition is wonderfully smooth on rough surfaces. (It has the butted touring chainstays that Raleigh had Reynolds draw for them in the 50s. They look like seatstays. Also skinny forks; adding to both comfort and shudder.
This would be in the category of my 2012 Cycle Oregon - Crater Lake - on the fix gear. Epic. And Day 4 as a Pioneer would be a graveled and geared equivalent to Day 3 of that ride, up Crater Lake, around the rim, my detour down to Diamond Lake and back (oops!) and down. 16 years later and older, can I still do it and do I want to? I do not have the base of that year and this ride comes up a lot earlier. (I rode McKenzie Pass ; out and back from Sisters that year about 2 weeks earlier tahn this ride on that fix gear. It was that ride that confirmed my brand new bike could do it, both the big climbs and the big descents.)
If I were to do this, Ronde PDX would be the perfect training/'indicator. Timed right. 27 days to make up my mind.
Thanks, OC for turning my world upside down.
Ben |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 12/23/2018 07:56 PM |
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You're welcome Ben.
I was actually going to surprise CK with a showing at DK200 but this is a nice new target. We'll keep that one for another year.
The Diverge will probably need some new rear rubber by then otherwise just need to put in the miles. May or may not do the Gorge Gravel Grinder in NE Oregon April 7. Organized by same outfit. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 12/23/2018 10:10 PM |
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Sounds like an epic ride.... up I have ZERO interest in camping out at this stage if my life.  |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 12/24/2018 05:32 PM |
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We typically do posh car camping in the family tent but for this one I'll break out the old backpacking tent.
Last spring break we actually "camped" in a yurt on Oregon coast and did some killer hikes. But the week ended in a torrent of hail and some of our fellow campers suffered collapsing tents and flooded sites. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 01/05/2019 08:56 PM |
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Hi Ben
If you are considering this, signing up for NEWSLETTER on the website gets you an extra 10percent discount with advance registration on Jan 12.
Most likely my friend that I rode Haute Route and Mauna Kea with will join in. He will probably want to race at the sharp end of affairs though cause that's who he is. Kea was only 2nd time in 25 years that I had the better of him. Altitude sickness this time while a bout of flu was first time. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 03/04/2019 11:32 AM |
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OC, I was starting to wonder what I've got myself into. I haven't been riding enough - weather, house projects and enthusiasm - and getting home hammered from rides that shouldn't. Got humbled on an organized ride 8 days ago and didn't get back on the bike until yesterday.
Yesterday was cold and very windy. Classic Portland "gorgeous" day. Absolutely clear skies with the wind howling out of the Gorge. My enthusiasm was zero. So I decided to keep it simple, stay close to home and just do some West Hills climbs. Very close to home is Council Crest, 1073' so I headed there first. Then down to the west edge of the city and back up to Pittock Mansion and then to the top of Barnes road, 1045'. Never went hard. 28-25 (or 23 - I have to count).
Not much of a ride, but I got reminded - I love to climb! On the way up to Council Crest, I passed a woman and said as I did "Don't mind me. I'm just an old mountain goat." And the fire is burning again. I don't have to do the long miles. I don't have to battle the wind. Serious uphill starts 3 miles from home and once I am into those hills, I never have to see flat again.
I think my geared TiCycles is going to see a lot of riding. The West Hills is not fix gear country unless - you are really hardcore AND plan you rides (and head space and knees) carefully. But triples for completely unplanned rides where everything is vertical,; well, they rule! (and wow! are those gears - both choices and shifitng - nice! I know you'll laugh. 9-speed, DT and a heavy Mirage RD but the shifting is like silk. Love that Mirage. Absolutely flawless shifting and over Campy cogs, absolutely positive. Zero "hunting". And as much as I like to dislike Shimano, the D-A trip;e fromt and 105 cranks are just as good. SunTour top mounted DTs, for this guy, are as good as it gets. (I learned recently that they are probably Superbe. And yes, they are superb. Not the auto-correcting SunTours, just the best non-ratchetng DTs I ever used with superior ergonamics.
4 weeks from last Sat is the RondePDX; the crazy 50 miles and 7000+' in those hills. I did about 2000' yesterday. I can do this. Won't be a front runner, but that's OK.
Ben |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 03/04/2019 02:36 PM |
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Its a long way to mid-June Ben.
February has been cold here and all the north facing downhills out of town still have snow on them. I have yet to commute to work. Did get a ride a week in last month, all around the 100 km mark but mostly flat.
This weekend I got two rides in, both with just over 3000 ft of climbing. Started out crap but improved quickly. Time to start building but the big push forward won't come until after spring break. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 05/30/2019 01:51 PM |
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Alright, bringing this old thread to live so we don't continuously run interference with CK's DK200 thread.
Ben - I trust you got the email with initial ride details as well. Going through the start list - now I know your last name (haha).
"The entire 5 days consists of roughly 70% good to great gravel surfaces, 20% average surfaces, and 10% wild and crazy surfaces. Wild and crazy may be soft sand, loose dirt, rocks, roots and other fun stuff"".
I caved and got a VIP tent service. You only live once. Figured I could better use the morning time resting and stretching instead of breaking up camp. The biggest disappointment is reading first night will be a dry one. Camping at high school so no alcohol. Only in America LOL. For the other evenings there will be Deschute brews and whiskey.
BTW - we will be on the Sisters Creekside campground (in town) on evening prior and after the event. Site 19 if you're looking for us. Vanagon with BC plates; should be easy to locate. If my friend's vanagon makes it. It has developed new issues.
If we don't see you prior, my friend is a tall dude and will likely be sporting his Glotman-Simpson yellow/black kit (mind you, it looks like there are two others from his club as well). I'll be in the Fuggitivi kit (look for Steel & Oak, Caps bicycle shop sponsor logos on back) which comes in black, pink and, blue/purple. Not sure which version I'll wear first. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 06/02/2019 07:00 PM |
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In a bit of a training hiatus. Last week saw me ride five 47 km days for bike to work week but no big rides.
This weekend spent 11hrs trimming hedges and clean up. My body is not liking me too much right now.
This week another week of just commuting then a weekend of solo parenting. Hopefully final two big training rides on Monday and Tuesday after that. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 06/03/2019 05:11 PM |
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I went for a HR check ride yesterday, an easy ride around Hagg Lake. A near flat ride out and back, then a hilly 8 mile loop at the far point. Kept my HR between 124 and 138, observing how I felt. (Now my HR went up to ~145 on the hills and higher out of the saddle though I cannot see it then.) Encouraging. Felt really easy and I was home in around 5 1/2 hours including stops, one at a store where I consumed a Coke, chips and cookies.
Then things got odd. I went to a store. Just before I walked in, my right foot and ankle went just floppy. Mo motor control. I walked in holding on to the doors, then using a display as a handrail. Within 3 minutes, l was back to normal. I've never seen anything like that.
In my concentration to get ready for this crazy 5 days of gravel, I've been focusing more on riding and less on upper body work. Hadn't lifted for a few weeks. Over the past week I've been having neck and shoulder pain sleeping; quite obviously slight muscle pulls from poor pillow placement, loss of strength and poor flexibility, So Saturday I did a quick easy lift. Easy upper body stretches yesterday on awakening. Slightly longer stretches this morning. Had breakfast at my computer, then got up to start my day.
Getting up a sharp pain went though my left side along my ribs. Is that pulled muscles or heart issues? As I wondered that, I remembered last evening's leg issue. A little fear. Felt flushed and a little faint. If I go to ER, it's an unknown amount of money I cannot afford. (New to Medicare so it's a whole new ballgame.) If I don't, well I've worked trauma intervention. I know what death looks like. This death is totally preventable. Am I willing to risk being that stupid?
So I asked my housemate/renter to take me to ER. Three hours later, they had EKG'd me, chest X-rays, vitals, many interviews and two rounds of bloodwork. Cleared. I'm home now feeling just fine. (Learned I was cleared by that bloodwork. In addition to looking at all the usual stuff, they looked for a fancy named particle in my blood that would be dead heart tissue. A heart attack is part of the heart muscle being deprived of oxygen. That tissue dies. Within the next three hours, some of the dead tissue will have entered the bloodstream. Those particles are a very sure marker that heart tissue has died. I passed with flying colors. Now let's see what this cost me and Medicare.
Interesting start to my week. You know, I am slowly coming to the realization that there are great blessings to boredom!
Ben |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 06/03/2019 05:22 PM |
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| You made the right choice Ben....glad you checked out OK!! |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 06/03/2019 05:48 PM |
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Glad you checked out with flying colors Ben. Hopefully that bill won't be too steep; Here in Canada all that work would have been done "free" (I am sure we are paying for it one way or another but no bills).
Last checkup I did was 2015 for Haute Route Alps; mandatory medical certificate, my doc an old Russian lady made me go through a hole battery of tests before I got her signature and clearance.
Stretching is your friend. I need to do lots of it at moment. Had a cough while riding bike this morning which led to a minor back spasm. Holding that pole trimmer for hours while balancing on a ladder will do that for you. Happy to be done with that for a year. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 06/03/2019 06:57 PM |
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I still have no idea what that foot issue was about. I mentioned it from the outset at ER but their focus was on the heart stuff and the doc wasn't concerned at all that the two were related. Maybe it was just a temporary body dysfunction, like my Prius sometimes drifting into neutral and I cannot get it back into drive. (Some operator error there. It only happens when my hand is on the stick and I am in drive.) Maybe my body saying "pay attention", kinda like Jessica J that day my fork cracked and I could not get the chain to behave on the tiny downhill cog. If both of these things (my foot, the chest pain) hadn't happened a few hours apart, I wouldn't have taken action. If my chain ran clean that day I would have dived into my favorite steep downhill tight corner at 35+ and hit the brakes hard.
Stretching - I partially tore both Achilles several years ago. October. January, I went to the annual Cycle Oregon ride unveiling. The associated partners all have booths or more. Megan Mosely PT, Bodywise was there. Went over to say hi. She asked me how I was and I mentioned my Achilles', not thinking anything more that just being honest. She hands me a card for a free visit and says "I can something about that!" She did. Lifechanging. My Achilles', my shorter right leg (of which I never had a clue, my posture. Now every morning I grind my coffee by hand in a fine Japanese grinder, stretching both Achilles and both hamstrings as I count out the 420 revs. My knees olvce it and I rarely have to stretch pre- or mid-ride.
Lastly - some ER advice. Want quick service? Either walk in with a bleeding head or mention your heart. (Heads bleed profusely and they like clean carpets. I hit my chin one crash and rode the 5 blocks to the nearby hospital. They were on me like flies to a carcass! To put in 3 stitches. Broken arms don't work. Long waits unless they are idle.)
Ben |
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Dale
Posts:1767
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| 06/04/2019 08:05 PM |
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| Dang, man... hope it's just some little quirk and it's over with. |
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