This Space for Rent

Lazy weekend

Paradise in red & white checkerboard

I had a lot of trouble motivating myself this weekend, and finally decided that I’d just do a first ride of my Zigzag 160 permanent populaire.

It was not exactly what I’d call a fast ride; after I started (at noon), got half a mile from home, and realized that I’d forgotten my helmet, the loop back to retrieve it set the tone for the rest of the day, which included many stops to take pictures, a leisurely (~30 minute) stop at Joe’s Donuts, and a (fenderless) ride through the edge of a fairly enthusiastic rainshower up on Devil’s Backbone. But I still made it back in under 9 hours, which isn’t bad for DGAFing the whole idea of a fast loop.

If I’d been more enthusiastic about just moving, it probably would have taken 7 hours, but then I wouldn’t have had to stop on Ten Eyck to wait for a buck to slowly wander across in front of me, nor would I have seen the doe in a field or alongside Lusted Road on the climb up out of the Sandy River gorge.

And now for a day’s rest (punctuated by working on handlebar bags and baking a fruitcake) before doing the actual workers ride for the summer 200k on Tuesday, and then I’ll have a couple of spare days before doing the other worker’s ride on Friday.

And one of these days I really have to get my butt onto a bicycle at 4:30 so I can do Sellwood to Hood & Back or my other alpine 300 (which I suppose I should actually submit as a permanent so I can get RUSA credit for the ride!) But I’m not going to worry about that just yet.