Happy Valley to Ripplebrook

What the heck were we thinking?   We started out with Keith, Andrew, Scott, Dave M, Chad, Matthew and Nick.  The parcours started with a stiff little climb out of the the valley and we got into a good groove onto Damascus.  Keith engineered a tasty paceline to Estacada and we tapped it out up Faraday.  Props to Chad for the KOM points - great to see King Cross getting his legs back.  It won’t be long before we are all fondly remembering when he was slow and crippled.  Keith and Andrew (who makes a great addition to the squad) proved they are smarter than the rest of us called it good for a 50 miler. 

We had a great roll up the Clackamas river and enjoyed some great scenery and decent weather.  I’m glad a few more souls were lost on Fish Creek – someone owes me beer and a beer to Dave for runner-up!  Nice to see Scott take a good swing at the bat and crawl his way up a large chunk of the climb.   Finished up the outbound ride to Ripplebrook with one last climb – that hurt a little and my 9th grade english class would call that Foreshadowing. 

Long haul back to Estacada, Carver and back home.  Dave gets the nod for some serious pulls. 

95 miles, 5000+ of climbing.   Great job guys.  Matthew takes the green jersey and proves once again he is Ron Jeremy in a 145 lb frame!

Hillsboro

Thanks Matthew for setting up and hosting a tasty 72 mile slog around Hillsboro.  10 of us left this morning in a chilly and foggy state.  Dave M., Steve, Scott, Lance, Cameron, Keith, Ron, Nathan, Matthew and Nick in total and yet another strong turnout for the team. 

We set out at a good clip and scaled some decent elevation.  There was a lot of punch in the group today and all parties contributed to the hurt … nice!  Given the number of riders and damp roads it was a notable change that no one flatted.  The parcours had a little bit of everything from flats to climbs to rollers and definately put the hurt on.  Great job to all for putting 4+ hours into the game.

 

 

Piece of Cake … Not!

T’was a dark and stormy mornin’ as we headed into the wilds of Woodland.

Matthew, Chad, Dave M., Mike V, Denise and Tiffonie all get gold stars for braving some rather active weather. We tapped out two laps through the rain and wind so typical for the Piece of Cake loop and wrapped it up with a nice little climb up Green Mountain and Shirley Gordon.

The miles are starting to build and the strength of the group is growing. Nice!

Trick or Treat

Chad had a few treats for us this AM as we departed from Fairview and headed for the hills this morning. 

Great turnout with 9 riders in total.   Lance and Cameron represented the Washington side very well until Lance had a mechanical with a busted spoke.  Hats off to Cameron for giving it full stick up Louden.  Chad#1 and Chad #2, Matthew, Nathan, Ron and Bill and Nick rounded out the pack.

Matthew road stronger today than I’ve seen him in 2 years … very impressive and just a hint of what’s to come I think.  Chad Smeltzer is definately finding his form and Chad Smith brought full tilt to the mix all day … nice!   Ron road very well and looked in complete control going up and down.

Great route with some rigorous climbing, mixed in with leafy, wet descents.  Thanks Chad for the setup.  Next weekend, all in – as the entire team hits Woodland.

 

 

Redland to Faraday

What an absolutely perfect fall day.  The sun, blue skies and cool temps made for one of the best riding days in 2009.  Great to see Jeff Spencer in the morning - the arm is healing well.

Today’s squad included Dave W. (riding very well by the way), Dave M. who continues to impress with his diesel power, Scott who has ramped up his game very quickly and Matthew who is actually the 3rd Shleck brother in disguise.  We cranked out 55 miles and despite some disagreements on the definition of “flat” we had a fab time.

Multnomah Falls

Sweet turnout today.   Ten riders today as we departed from Fairview to Multnomah Falls.  Glad I made the call on no rain today … wrong!   Some heavy rain and lightening at Crown Point spiced things up.

Chad, Matthew, Scott, Cameron, Nathan, Aric, Dave, Steve, Mike B. made up the roster. 

Great to see everyone working hard on the climbs.   Making the investment now is going to pay off in dividends come spring! 

N.

Meet the Team

Perfect day and a very nice turn out.  This event totally exceeded my expectations.  The ride was indeed social (like we actually stopped twice and waited for flat repairs), but it was fun to test the legs for the home coming stretch.  Definately some horses in the mix!

Matthew’s addition up Skyline/Cornelius and Council Crest added a little zest to the ride.

2009/2010 Updates

OK – my first post as WEB-Dude.

Richard has done a great job setting this thing up.  Hopefully I won’t mess it up too bad.

The calendar has been scrubbed and is now looking pretty empty.  The new season kicks off with the Meet the Team ride and then the weekly Saturday Epic we are so famous for.  Please contact me with two weekend routes you could host.  I’ll get them loaded on the site with any link to MapMyRide.

This coming weekend is the Peach Century.  Good luck to those Cross’ing it at Barlow.

2/15/2009 – Cherry Pie Road Race

Wow, its race season. I should know that when I go into a race thinking I’ll do well that’s a bad sign. Nick, Lance, and Ryan, however, were awesome. Their efforts put Three Rivers 3rd in the team bar! Okay now lets hold it, think? Nicely done on wins for the team, and more important for themselves. It was a gorgeous day – its never rained at Cherry Pie – and that produced big fields as usual. Full results at: http://app.obra.org/results/2009/Road/13821 . Hopefully we’ll see some pictures at some point.

2/7/2009 – Beaver Creek

Beaver Creek is great on the way out and no-so-great on the way back. But it hadn’t been done in  a while. Jason and I managed more than 70 miles and 5000′ of gain on this ride, reminding me how great the climbing on the route really is. Ryan made it out, too, but did a different variation so he could get back to fishmongerin with pops.