Originally Posted by downtube42

Oregon Randonneurs Grab Bag 300k in the books. After a week of rain, the forecast was for 0% chance of rain, 34F at the start, high 58, mostly cloudy, and light winds. Since it's the PNW, and March, I packed my rain jacket and wore my rain legs anyway. Both can double for additional warmth anyway. I wore my new merino wool baselayer, mid-weight wool OR jersey, SIR windbreaker, full-length tights, wool socks and and shoe covers, and cycling shorts. I wore warm gloves, and carried my wool glove liners. The only extra clothing I carried was the rain jacket, and another pair of socks. The ride was 3 loops, returning to the start town at 100k and 200k. I had more clothes in the car, but we never ended up stopping there. The day turned out sunnier than forecast, so I ended up stowing the jacket and switching to glove liners. My riding buddy had put together an aggressive (for me) ride plan with 5 stops, with one long stop at Chipotle's at around 145 miles. The first 45 mile segment was pretty flat with rolling hills. We stayed with the lead group of about a dozen riders this whole segment, getting to McD's in Sherwood just on schedule. Everyone else went on, which was fun with us. The group pace was a bit erratic, not really to our liking.

Our ride plan had arrive/depart times for every stop. We left McDs on time, and from there the climbing started pretty quickly. From 46-55 miles we climbed from 200 feet to 1200 feet. This was the only sizeable climb of the route; the rest was flat or rolling. From the peak we bombed back down to the start town (Newberg), passing straight through and continuing to our 2nd stop, a quick grab and go at mile 70. Lafayette. Somewhere around here we picked up a couple SIR guys who'd split from the lead group. The four of us rode together the next few hours, though I would drop off the back on the rolling climbs.

Our next segment was 45 miles again, for a 20 minute stop at the small market in Dayton. Per plan, we ordered our Chipotle's burrito's from Dayton, scheduled to be ready a bit before our planned 4:45 ETA. We left Dayton a few minutes late due to difficulties with the Chipotle's ordering system. I guess we'd been dropped by the SIR guys by now; truth be told, I was dropped and my buddy waited for me. So about the Chipotle's. After finally getting the order done, my bud calls his wife and tells her there are a couple burritos at their neighborhood Chipotle's, paid for, if she cared to grab them for dinner.. LOL.

Dayton to Chipotle's was flat and uneventful aside from a fender rattle that my bike developed. We never figured out the source; it was super annoying, so I'll have to get that sorted out. I haven't mentioned the drafting. So my bud's plan was, basically, I'd draft him to keep our schedule. I'd say 90% of my rando miles over the last 13 years have been solo, and I generally eschew drafting. I figured I'd hang on as long as I felt like it, then bail. Well I drafted shamelessly all day. I took a few pulls here and there, including one stretch when he wasn't feeling great. But it went pretty much went according to his plan.

Chipotle's was about a half-mile off-route, but well worth it. Nice stop, a chance to use a nice restroom, put our reflective gear on, and chill for a few minutes. Chipotle's to the last stop was about 30 uneventful and relatively flat low-traffic miles. Really pretty sunset, then miles of fading sunlight. A nice segment, aside from an increasingly unhappy butt. We arrived at Gervais about 10 minutes late and left the same. It was another grab-and-go, getting a gallon of water and a quick bite to eat outside.

The last segment was just 17 miles, totally dark now, and 14 of those on empty roads. Really nice riding. We stopped once for a bio break, and noticed the stars were spectacular. Then the last 3 miles. I'd pretty much been dreading that segment when I first saw this route. There's a 2 mile segment on a 55mph state highway, on a long bridge over the Willamette River, with a few pinch points where the narrow shoulder reduces to almost nothing. Plus it's a slight uphill. I've ridden this several times on 200k routes, and I hate it. One year I had flat here, and had to fix it on a 24" shoulder. Aside from the pinch points and narrow shoulder on the bridge, there's a bit where the one-lane widens to have a passing lane, and again the shoulder shrinks to almost nothing. Fortunately traffic was lighter than on the various 200k's I've done, so it was less stressful than I expected. Unfortunately, there are not many bridges over the Willamette. Once we hit the Newberg city limit I was done, but it was another mile or so to the car. We finished 6 minutes ahead of his plan, having made up time in that last 17 mile segment.

Already, memories of the painful butt are receding. Randonesia is real.