SOUTH OF AMITY, OR - Well I'm back on the road again. This time I'm headed south to Santa Cruz as a part of the National Bicycle Greenway (NBG)'s Relay Ride that started in Washington DC. In Chicago the ride had a major setback when Andrew Heckman was hit by a car. New riders stepped up to fill in the holes and make sure the ride would complete is his honor. Andrew's been recovering extremely well, his shattered pelvis is healing well enough that he's started walking.
I signed up for the Portland to Eugune and Eugune to Sacramento segments after hearing about Andrew but Martin Kreig, the founder of the NBG, convinced me to ride all the way to Santa Cruz. A few weeks later I ended up talking my roommate Bob into riding the Boise to Portland segment with another rider, Skot Paschal. They ended up riding seperately but both arrived yesterday. Last night I went for pizza with Bob and some of his friends in Portland, he was still silent Bob but it seemed like he enjoyed his ride.
This morning I went to breakfast with another old roomate, Chris Larson, and his girlfriend Sierra. Afterwards I packed up my gear (leaving a box of dead weight I'd been hauling in their basement) and headed downtown. Believe it or not I rode the whole way to Portland with no flats but finally got my first one riding down to meet Skot and Bob. I made it down there around 12:15, the schedule said 12:00. Bob had gone to get a box for Skot's bike but there Skot was, typing away on his Pocketmailer. We chatted for a while about his ride. From what he said about the meeting I didn't miss much, it was a pretty simple affair the mayor's commisioner came down gave them the proclamation a couple of pictures were taken and that was it.
I got on 99W and headed south. Man it wasn't that hot, low 90s, but the humidity was killing me. Last summer when we were in West Virginia I was so hot I stopped at a Salvation Army and bought a hand towel. I'd leave it draped across my shoulder and wipe my face off ever minute or two. While it wasn't that bad today I kept wishing I had that towel.
My plan today was to get in a position where I can make it to the BikeE factory outside of Corvallis by 12:00. I think I've done alright, I picked up almost 50 miles on my way out of Portland. Hopefully I'll be eating lunch with Doug Oxen and the BikeE crew.
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