Oregon Gran Fondo plus some

     This was the inaugural year of the Oregon Gran Fondo. It involves a 117 mile (very well supported) loop through some beautiful country roads in the Siuslaw Nation Forest starting and ending in Cottage Grove about 25 miles south of my house in Eugene. Some members of my team had talked about it a bit and when push came to shove if 6 of us signed up wed get a team discount. So the nightmare of an email chain started. Some were in some were out but eventually enough for the discount were open to the idea and the registration forms were sent in.

 

     I have done a few of these “sufferfests” before, I’ve done long Mt. Bike rides with lots of climbing, I went out for a 14+ mile run with no socks, food, or water, and my very first and probably favorite was a “short and easy” road loop that ended with my friend Jim Henry who was a one armed paralympian cyclist pushing me to the top of hill with his only arm placed firmly on my back to keep me moving forward. Jim had passed away from a cycling accident a year ago almost to the day so for this one I wanted to come up with something pretty “special”. I decided to ride from my house early in the morning, do the 117 mile loop, and ride home. It’s a grand total of just over 167 miles, 1.5 times longer than my previous longest ride, and double the longest ride before that. Usually I’m able to talk a friend or two or at least my girlfriend Jen into joining me, but in this case I had no takers. I enjoy and kind of crave finding the limits of my body and this would be no exception.

6:00AM (already tired)

      Pretty much all week long I wasn’t sleeping well and the night before I got only about 3.5 hours of sleep. I was all packed up and out the door at 6:00AM so I could take it nice and easy on the way south and still make it in time for any riders meeting and to refill my water bottles before the start. The ride down was a bit damp from the rain late that night but the sun was coming out of the clouds and it was looking like it was going to be a great day (I saw the lucky “Mt. Goats" in the rock quarry). I arrived at the venue, filled my bottles, staged with my teammates, and away we went.

The race was peaks and valleys for me both literally and figuratively. Over the course of the day I would climb and descend about 8800ft of elevation. I had times where I felt the strongest on a bike I ever have and at other times I was wondering if I would even make it back to Cottage Grove. Times where mentally I was indestructible, laughing with friends, and enjoying myself, but I also had breakdowns where I wanted to quit because of rain or another when I teared up missing my dear friend. I had hunger pains early and could barely stomach solids and then ate a huge BBQ chicken meal at the finish. Overall the good outweighed the bad and it was a great event that I plan to repeat for years to come.

"Omen" seen on today's adventure

"total coincidence" seen just minutes later

The way home was pretty BRUTAL! It was only 25ish miles but there was a nasty headwind and a good hillclimb that I almost needed an extra hand to push me along. Even if the hand wasn’t there physically I could feel Jim present throughout the day.

6:45PM (nearly dead)

I went out on this journey today looking for new experiences and the mental and physical boundaries in my life. There’s a saying that I’ve been told since I was little “you usually see what you’re looking for” and today that seemed very true. I rode in a peloton for the first time, I pace lined with good friends, I rode shoulder to shoulder with strangers who became friends. I rode a LOT solo. I had complete spasms in my quads, hamstrings, and calves all at the same time (like someone threw a hairdryer into my bathtub), and to hack a quote from Bill Strickland (editor at bicycling magazine) that I think pretty well sums up my day “I quit multiple times today but didn’t have the heart to tell my friends”.