What is this?
This is where I'll post records of 2007 personal century rides for the UMCA Year-Rounder Challenge. The basic idea is to make at least one 100-mile ride in each month of 2007. It gets me out when it might otherwise be too easy to say "too bad the weather wasn't better this month."
Month-by-month
January
- 27 January, 106 miles, Eugene to Corvallis/Albany area via Brownsville, documented by store receipts. Cyndi drove sag.
February
- 18 February, 113 miles, Eugene to Corvallis/Albany area via Brownsville, return to Santa Clara (stopped at nightfall), documented by GPS records. Tony came along for the initial 65 miles; Cyndi drove sag.
March
- 25 March, 105 miles, Eugene to Corvallis/Albany arrea via Brownsville once again. Documented by GPS records. Solo, no sag, but Cyndi did fix lunch.
April
- 8 March (Easter), 102 miles, Eugene to Tenmile via Lorane, Curtin, Drain, Yoncalla, Oakland/Sutherlin, Wilbur, Lookingglass. Documented by GPS records. Solo, one only (ride back to Eugene with Cyndi and family). Many thanks to Cycle Oregon and Umpqua Velo for route tips.
- 15 March, 101 miles, loop from Eugene through Wolf Creek and Siuslaw Highway and Cottage Grove back to Eugene. Documented by GPS records. Picked up one companion for Wolf Creek from the Sunday GEARS club ride (everyone else wanted the 40-mile Walterville ride, and it turns out my companion actually wanted that too but was confused about which ride was which). Split up at Lorane to add the Cottage Grove segment and bring it from 70 up to 100 miles.
May
- 13 May, 100 miles, Eugene to Tenmile via Lorane, Curtin, Drain, Yoncalla, Oakland/Sutherlin, Wilbur, Lookingglass. Document by GPS records, unfortunately with a missing segment that throws the GPS record off by 7 miles. Solo, one way only (ride back to Eugene with Cyndi and family). Again following route cues provided by Cycle Oregon and Umpqua Velo.
June
- 24 June, 102 miles, Eugene to Tenmile via Lorane, Curtin, Drain, Yoncalla, Oakland/Sutherlin, Wilbur, Lookingglass. Documented by GPS records (testing a Forerunner 205, with my usual Garmin eTrex as backup). Solo, one way only (ride back to Eugene with Cyndi and family). Again following route cues provided by Cycle Oregon and Umpqua Velo, with an earlier start and about an hour faster. Not even close to tired of this ride yet, although it would be nice to find an alternative to the section from Oakland to Wilbur.
July
- 04 July, 102 miles, North to Brownsville via Marcola, then Gap Road South, West to Harrisburg, Southeast to Eugene with a jog West on the bike path to climb Greenhill. Documented by GPS records (Forerunner 205 again, no eTrex backup this time). This route is a little short (compensated with some meandering at the end), so next time I may add the Long Tom Grange and High Pass Road.
- 07 July, 101 miles, Wolf Creek + Poodle Creek (almost standard Blackberry Bramble route). Documented by GPS records (back to Garmin eTrex). Rode the first half with the Gears Saturday morning group as far as Crow, then did the Poodle Creek segment solo. My route used more of Butler and skipped Highway 36, which is more pleasant, scenic, and climby than the Bramble route, but seems to be a little shorter. I need to find a small extension to bring this up to an even 100 miles without the extra neighborhood laps I finished with this time.
- 22 July 2007, 110 miles, Eugene to Tenmile via Creswell, Lorane, Drain, Yoncalla, Oakland, Melrose, Lookkingglass. Documented by GPS records. Differs from earlier Eugene to Tenmile rides at the beginning, starting out through Creswell (over Dillard and Hamm hills) rather than Lorane Highway.
August
- 05 August 2007. 111 miles if counted as a personal century, or 100 as the Blackberry bRamble organized century ride; the UMCA rules are unclear about whether it can count as an organized century without publishing a list of finishers. I've documented it by gps records suitable for a personal century.
September
- 01 September 2007. 110 miles. Started with the GEARS group escorting Ride for Climate riders over Wolf Creek, continued with GEARS riders to Lorane, then went alone to Cottage Grove and back north to Eugene. Documented by gps records.
- 09 September 2007. 106 miles. Brownsville loop via Marcola, including Wendling covered bridge, then Fox Hollow loop. Documented by gps records.
- 16 September 2007. 102 miles. Almost identical to the week before, except perhaps a couple small differences in missed turns. New oversized handlebar mount for etrex unit is transmitting too much vibration, resulting in three temporary shut-downs. Documented by gps records.
- 23 September 2007. 100 miles. Peach of a Century, Salem, Oregon. The last of the organized centuries each fall in the Willamette Valley. Documented by gps records, with a link also to Salem Bicycle Club event description and map and cue sheet.
- 29 September 2007. 105 miles. Back to Brownsville for the third time this month, to complete 5 centuries in the 5 weekends of September. Documented by gps records.
October
- 13 October 2007. 112 miles. Brownsville loop via Marcola, with Wendling Covered Bridge and an out-and-back segment from Crawfordsville to Sweet Home. Documented by gps records.
- 27 October 2007. 109 miles. Refinement of the 13 October loop, substituting some back roads for a stretch of highway in the Crawfordsville/Sweet Home piece. This is turning into a really nice route that I will recommend to others. Documented by gps records.
November
- 3 November 2007. 110 miles. Repeating the Marcola / Sweet Home / Brownsville loop, which is working out very well with places to stop at just about the right spacing. Documented by gps records.
- 23 November 2007. 100 miles. Eugene to Tenmile to work off Thanksgiving dinner. Cold all day; froze up my water bottles in the morning. Documented by gps records.
December
- 8 December 2007. 109 miles. Marcola / Sweet Home / Brownsville loop to finish the year of centuries. Much warmer than the Tenmile trip after Thanksgiving. I set off in twilight but got in well before sunset, which was my worry. Documented by gps records.