Spring 2011 Bicycle Trips

28-29APRIL – Amtrak trip to Portland with Russ A.
05-10MAY – Trip to Lexington, KY, and rides with Peter T.
19-22MAY – Trip to Dayton, WA with Russ A. and Pete
The itch to ride continues, but the rains continue unabated. Our Spring started out with a delightful visit by Scott & Lee Pyles, who direct the mission and hospital that we visited in Cameroon.

My first adventure was with Russ. I needed to pick up some furniture at Lew’s house, so decided to take the Amtrak down to Portland, ride the Touring bikes from the Amtrak Station to Oregon City, rent a U-Haul there, pick up the furniture, and ride up the Clackamas the next day. We had a moderate amount of rain on the trip, but our equipment held up quite well.
Russ in front of the Hawthorne Bridge, Portland, Oregon
The next trip was to Lexington, KY. The first day was spent at the hospital, learning about how Peter put together a multispecialty clinic. The next day was a trip from Lexington to his farm in Stanford. Peter figured out a route that took Tate’s Creek road south, crossing the Kentucky River in a Ferry boat, then proceeding along multiple backroads until we reached his farm. Unfortunately, I had to keep my camera in a backpack that I wore on my back, making it difficult to easily take photos. The total ride was 83.7 km, took us 4:36.
Once we reached the farm, the camera came out. I did some mountain biking around the farm. After we returned to Lexington the next day, we did a 25 mile ride up to the Horse Farm north of Lexington.
Attention Walmart Shoppers – here comes Peter. This rig gets him just about everywhere!
The family plot on the farm – completely rebuilt by Peter.

The day before returning home, Peter worked out a loop ride in Northern Kentucky, titled the Ridges of Grant County. That was 32.5 km, taking 1:30. That afternoon, we went canoeing on the Elkhorn River. I did not bring my camera on the canoe trip!

An old flour mill, still in operation, powered by a water mill
Back home, Russ and I got the itch to return to Dayton. Pete went with us (not Peter), and Howie acted as our SAG vehicle.
19MAY 116.6 km, 4:54, 4483 cal, loop taken from Dayton down to Walla Walla and back via middle and lower Waitsburg road.
20MAY 111.4 km, 5:00, 1078 m elevation gain, 4256 cal burned, riding northward to the Snake River.
21MAY 89.2 km, 4:07 718 m elevation gain, 3054 cal, going from Dayton to Starbuck, and then south. There was much steep climbing, but we had a horrid headwind which ultimately exhausted all of us and we aborted early.
Early green wheatfields, stretching beyond the horizon
Wheat fields as far as you could see