LIVESTRONG CHALLENGE 2007

The Livestrong Challenge this weekend our last organized ride for 2007...and it was a WET WET WET ride! We were soaked BEFORE we even started the ride.

There were 3,000 very dedicated riders, runners and walkers that turned out for the event and a total of 1.7 million raised for all things cancer.

The ride took us 2 hrs 51min. We had a pretty good average MPH (14.7) until we reached North Plains then it was raining AND windy. It was crazy!

September 29, 2007 LIVESTRONG VILLAGE

At the LIVESTRONG Village at Nike World Headquarters we had the opportunity to meet Lance Armstrong's trainer, Chris Carmichael...I know that this will mean pretty much nothing to most people, but he's cool!

Almost the end of the month

This month has flown by and I'm not sure where the time went!

Tom and I took a short vacation (Sept 11-14) to Walla Walla, WA for our anniversary this year.

Why Walla Walla? Well, that has been a common question from lots of people. We both wanted to go someplace different - which it was. We wanted to bring our bikes - we did AND we wanted to taste some wine...WOO HOO!

Places we visited:

Romul's Italian Ristorante - The Dalles http://www.romuls.com/
Saffron Mediterranean Kitchen (Walla Walla) for Tapas
26 Brix http://www.twentysixbrix.com/
Three Rivers Winery http://www.threeriverswinery.com/
L'Ecole No. 41 http://www.lecole.com/
Canoe Ridge Winery http://www.canoeridgevineyard.com/en-us/flash.htm
The Marc @ the Marcus Whitman Hotel http://www.marcuswhitmanhotel.com/index.cfm
Grapefields Wine Bar & Cafe
Woodward Canyon Winery http://woodwardcanyon.com/ The Barbera is Fabulous!
Tamarack Cellars http://www.tamarackcellars.com/
Dunham Cellars (with the Three Legged Red dog) http://www.dunhamcellars.com/

Wednesday morning we managed to find a bicycle shop in town (imagine that) and we grabbed a free bike route map and headed out for an "easy" 15+ mile ride. It was mostly into the wind with one huge hill...don't even want to think what the grade was on that one. It's not easy going up a hill into the wind...but I DID it! Thursday morning we did a 26 mile loop that turned out to be 33 after we were done. I found out on that ride that Walla Walla is a nice place to visit, but the landscape is a bit monotonous for my liking and it is off our list of places to retire to.



A shot at Rowena Point above Mosier, OR


















L'Ecole No 41 in Lowden, WA

Peach of a Century

Yesterday, September 23, Tom and I rode the Peach of a Century (100 K). It was our first time doing this ride...it was a lot of fun. Mostly flat except for a hill with 8% gradient after about 15 miles and then the steady climb coming out of Stayton. The day turned out to be perfect, no rain and not too warm. We rode past farms on quiet backroads and enjoyed two rest stops and peach pie at the finish.

Ride Time: 4 hrs 21 min 36 sec.

Here is a link to the Salem Bicycle Club website and the route map if you are curious...

http://www.salembicycleclub.org/majrides/PeachMap-62.pdf