I Want to Ride my Bicycle

My life has been dominated by bicycles recently: last weekend, I headed to Sun River, Oregon to ride the course of my half-ironman. I had heard that the road was closed in winter, but it was the end of April/beginning of May, so I didn’t really worry about it. Unfortunately, we should of - after getting lost finding the course, Charlie and I were only 20 miles into the route when we came across a road closed sign.

It looked pretty clear, however, so we decided to do the smart thing and go around it. About five miles past the barricade, we noticed that the snow was starting to encroach on the road. Two miles after that, we started to walk the bike through sections of ice and snow. We continued the hop-on, hop-off spectacle for another few miles, joking that it was more like cyclo-cross than road riding. When we realized it wasn’t going to get better, we could do only one thing: turn around. Of course, at that moment, it started to rain and hail. Our 60 mile ride managed to turn into 100 with all of our ‘diversions’.

After a ride in Bend, Oregon on Sunday, I decided I was ready to try my hand at racing on Monday. I raced with the novice women and actually won! Woo hoo! I may try riding with the women’s open field next Monday.

This weekend, it’s more bike fun as I head to the Columbia Plateau Stage Race to cheer on my boyfriend and his team. I’ll also be providing race support for them as well. I’ll try to take some pictures to capture the mayhem!