Pete and Pete

For this week's training ride, I decided to ride out to Pete's Mountain, which is about 25 miles from my house (at least by the roundabout route I take to get there), ride repeat loops up, over and around it, and then ride home. When I told Lynne of this plan, her response was something like, "Have fun with that." She also mentioned something about me being a sick f**k (a Lance Armstrong reference).

I left home at about 8:30, and meandered my way through town to my first climb of the day, SW Terwilliger Boulevard. Terwilliger skirts the side of the hill above town, just below the hospitals and Council Crest, before eventually dropping down to Lake Oswego. My route then took me past the stately McMansions of Lake O (many of which were for sale, with signs reading "Price Reduced"), with just a TAD bit more climbing on Bryant and Childs Roads (to use Lynne's phrase, "winching" myself out of Lake O) to Stafford Road and Johnson before dropping down (literally) into West Linn. I stopped at the West Linn General Store for Gatorade. Mango Gatorade. Weird. I am old enough to remember when Gatorade came in only one flavor.  I am also old enough to remember when its main ingredient was not high fructose corn syrup. A quick stop at the ball-field blue room, and it was on to the mountain by way of Turner Road.

Anyone who has ridden Pete's Mountain will know that whether you choose to loop clockwise or counterclockwise makes an enormous difference. CLOCKWISE, the steepest grade is 12-13% for a very brief period. There are a few 9 and 10% bits, but for the most parts the climbs rarely exceed 7%. COUNTERCLOCKWISE is much steeper, with a wicked double hairpin on Pete's Mountain Road that comes closer to 15-17%. I went clockwise. I may be a sick f**k, but I am not a stupid sick f**k.

Full circle from the intersection of Mountain Road and Schaefer is just under 8.5 miles. I was riding as quickly as possible, but not so quickly that I did not notice that at least one out of every three of the McMansions on the mountain were also for sale, also with their prices reduced. I did 5 circuits, stopping to snack at the end of each circuit. As the day wore on, my snacks became progressively less healthy. I started with boiled potatoes and tofu, and ended with a Payday Bar. In between were 2 bananas, a granola bar, and a chocolate chip and fig scone. And did I mention the incredibly weird mango Gatorade?

One-third of the way through my third circuit, three riders passed me going in the other direction. One of them yelled my name -- turns out they were my friends Steve and Michele and their friend, Tim. I had seen them 45 minutes earlier on my second loop, as they struggled up that nasty double hairpin I mentioned earlier, but had not recognized them because I was going down it fast (42 mph!). When he saw me, Steve said that he had seen another rider in a Portland Velo jersey like mine earlier, and had wondered if I was out there too. I told him that the rider he had seen was me, because I was doing repeats. "You sick f**k," he said. I've been hearing that a lot lately . . .

After finishing the fifth loop, I returned home the way I came.  By this time, a stiff wind had come up, and the ride home was cold and slow.  I knew that I would be getting home with just under 94 miles in, and briefly considered making a detour to bring it up to a full century, but the combination of cold and wind helped me rein in my OCD impulses for once.  Three cups of hot tea and a hot shower, with Thai food for dinner.  Tomorrow's "bakery ride" with friends will be much less intense (but the snacks will be even more unhealthy).

Here's the route I followed  - multiply the circuit by five and then return the same way. 

93.5 miles, 7755' elevation gain, 13 mph. average