2 rides in one week!

Hello all,

It's Sunday night and I wanted to take some time to upload some photos from the BLTs latest journeys down the trail to Armitage Park.  Mom, Taylor and I rode on Tuesday and Saturday this week.  Tay, has a school function going on this coming week and then we only have one more week until summer is officially over.  So, we knew that if we are going to meet our deadline we needed to get our bums on the bikes and ride on!

Tuesday we began our ride at the Grand Prairie Park in Albany and rode to Peoria County Park, which is near Shedd, Oregon along the Willamette River.  Twenty miles seems to be our magic number and again that's about how far we rode that day.  We have really lucked out with beautiful weather and Tuesday was no exception.  It was fun to see historical downtown Albany from a bike.  Very cute and made me think it would be fun to come check it out someday.  We stopped at a park right on the river for a quick pit stop before we'd be away from civilization and the picture below is of Tay on a deck over the Willamette River.

The ride was fairly uneventful except for when we had to cross Highway 34!  That's the highway that goes from I-5 to Corvallis.  Cars are going 55-70 mph and when we average about 10 mph on a bike it seems that the cars are flying.  We made it across and that's when we decided to call Poppa to have him head out with Kate to our meeting point in Shedd.  

More beautiful farm land and blue skies along our path.

Now, we probably should have not stopped at Peoria Park and continued on for the next 5 miles or so to Shedd, because on our next segment of travel we knew there was about a 1.5 mile stretch that was entirely uphill.  However, we were pooped on Tuesday and decided to just wait at the park for Poppa and Kate to come get us.  

There wasn't anyone around to take our "starting off" picture this time so we tried a self portrait.  I'm glad at least a part of all our faces showed up!

Saturday we had plans to set out on the next stage of our adventure.  Taylor had spent the night at our house since she babysat for us the night before.  Mom wanted us to get an early start so we were set to meet up at 7:30ish (on a side note, I'm feeling tired right now).  Anyway, we got to Ma'am and Poppa's house and my dad had pumped all our tires to prepare for the ride.  (What a guy!)  The bad news was that my bike was losing air.  Too early to go to any of the bike shops in town and we didn't want to miss out on the ride, so I called on my wonderful husband to save us.  

We were able to get the bike back over to my house where Tyler had the necessary items to get my bike (Delores) back in tip top shape... or so we thought...

Tyler fixing Delores before our ride.  Notice his greasy mustache which I am happy to say he is shaving off tomorrow night after his bike race!

It probably would have been smart to ride the bike around a little bit before loading up and heading south to our starting point, but did we, no.  No biggie though, my bike just made an annoying sound for the whole trip because my tire was rubbing on my front brake.  Needless to say, my bike is taking a trip to Scott's this week for a little tune-up before our last big ride into Eugene.  

Mom with her bike, Doris.  Aren't we so cute naming our bikes!

This was probably one of my favorite rides.  I'm not really sure why, but I just felt good and it was another beautiful cool, crisp summer morning.  Despite being chased by a couple of tractors and the annoying sound my brakes made the whole ride, it was a great day.  

Taylor and Me.  The sun was a little bright, can you tell?

Tay thought we needed a picture with some water in the background.  Isn't she cute?

Ever since Mom and Dad drove this segment of the ride, they have had us dreading the part of the long, steady climb uphill.  We had planned on stopping in the small town of Brownsville before the hill climb so we could have a little snack and "fuel up", so to speak.  Being the health nuts that we are, (okay maybe not), let me tell you what we ordered at this cute little cafe called Bella Cucina.  Tay: chocolate chip cookie, Mom: blueberry muffin and lemonade, and saving the worst for last, Me: chocolate covered donut and Pepsi.  I know, I know, I'm bad.  

A cute picture of Tay and Mom as they enjoy our break and snack.  As a friend pointed out, we are appropriately staged in front of the Brownsville Fitness Center!

Well, I'll finish this post up as I have no more photos and Tyler and Payton have just gone outside to lay under the stars and I must admit that sounds more fun than blogging!  (Smile) 

We finished our snack, rode through the rest of Brownsville, which I would also recommend as a cute little Oregon town to visit, and then we made our way toward the hills that we could see coming.  I have to say that I'm extremely proud of all three of us for finishing.  When you aren't in the best shape of your life and you have to do an extended hill climb, it's not too easy.  We all finished and the best part was the almost two mile hill that we got to ride down!  

Poppa, Payton and Kate met us at the bottom and we are already planning our big celebration extravaganza that we will have when we do our last leg of the journey the next time we ride.  

We've decided there are two musts...1)Food and 2) a big finish line ribbon that we get to ride through.  

Look out fun summer challenge, The BLTs are almost finished with you!!! 

Marge, Maggie and a delicious biscuit!

What???
You might be asking yourself, "what in the world?", when you read the title for this posting, but soon all your pressing questions will be answered.

Taylor, Me and Mom at the start of the big ride

Today the BLTs embarked on our 4th bicycle ride on the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway.  We started out around the Buena Vista Ferry and ended up on Highway 20, near the I-5 interchange in Albany.  Along the way we had a bit of an adventure.  Poppa and Kate dropped us off about 9am.  We decided to get an early start to try and beat the heat.  It was the perfect time of day.  The air was crisp, and I truly love the smell of freshly cut hay and/or grass.  We encountered some not so refreshing smells on our route as well.  Like the huge piles of dung that appeared to be from a dinosaur, but were more likely to be from a cow, that was smashed upon the road.  Our guess was that they were intended to be distributed as fertilizer and instead had a bit of a "drop" off the back of a truck.

The Willamette Valley is truly beautiful though, and seeing the farms and animals that grow and live here is all part of the ride.  As the BLTs commented on our awe-inspiring surroundings, Mom mentioned someone she knows who has "traveled the world" (he's a famous musician in a local Portland band, can you guess who it is?), and says that through all the places he's been, the Pacific Northwest is by far the most gorgeous.

Mom and Taylor riding in "downtown" Jefferson

On our previous trips we have stopped for sustenance only at the end of our journey.  Don't worry, we do bring our water bottles along!  For this ride, we thought that stopping in Jefferson to have a small bite to eat would add a new dimension to our adventure.  What we discovered there on Main St. was the cute little cafe named Papa's Place.  We tend to like anything with one of our family member's names mentioned.  Sitting in their delightful outdoor seating area were two older gentleman dressed in typical biking attire.  We got to talking with them and learned that they were on a ride from Corvallis to Buena Vista.  Although we completely looked dressed the part of "bike enthusiast" ourselves, they thought they were informing us we were on the WVSB.  We let them know we had maps in hand and this was a part of our journey to Eugene.  At first they looked a little shocked and impressed, then we confessed that we were breaking the 135 mile ride down into 20 mile segments!  The very nice men then told us of an alternative route we might try to get us to Albany...More on that to come.

Taylor and Mom with Marge and Maggie Simpson

Here's where the title of this post comes in.  When we finally made it inside the cafe, much to our surprise, were two of the beloved (not so much by me, but still) characters from one of the longest running cartoon sitcoms ever...Yes, The Simpsons.  Totally out of place in this little eatery, and yet somehow it made the pit stop there so much more worthwhile.  I had not brought any money or debit cards, etc along and so we relied on Mom to foot the bill for our fine dining.  With $10 to our names we were able to get Tay a lovely breakfast of sausage, scrambled eggs, home fries, and toast.   Mom and I each had a delectable homemade biscuit and Mom had a lemonade.  As we ordered, Mom kept asking the server how much each item would cost.  Eventually she divulged to the kind server we only had $10, and guess what?  We got one biscuit for free.  Guess we look more pathetic than I thought!  All in all, it was a great little place to rest and refuel before heading out again on the open road.

Tay taking a water break at the top of a big hill climb

The next component of our excursion contained several small ups and downs.  Hilly, some might call it.  There was one hill in particular though that almost gave us a run for our money (Not that we had any money left of course).  It's not that it was extremely steep, but more of a looooong and steady climb.  I'm proud to report that we all managed to find the necessary gear to keep us in our seats and accomplish riding to the top!

Here's what Kate was doing while we rode up the hill.  She and Poppa went to the "paaark!", as she likes to say.

The last portion of our ride is where the advice from those two gentleman from Papa's Place comes back into play, and where my not believing in kismet comes back to bite me in the, well, you know what.  We carry with us on our rides written directions that Mom has printed from the WVSB website.  We've always just followed along, and have yet to become lost.  That is until today.  

Now all you readers out there, yes, I mean you Mom and Dad, don't you worry.  We did make it and I live to tell you this exciting tale on my blog!  We decided to follow our fellow cyclists advice and venture off the beaten path a bit.  All was well until it was time to get back on the path to our destination and things did not fall into place.  The truth is we weren't really lost, we were in Albany the whole time.  It was just a matter of trying to find the exact predetermined rendezvous location where we would meet Poppa and Kate. 

iphone out and I was trying to orient myself with road signs, the written directions, and the map app on my phone.  I hate to admit that despite growing up with a father who was a geography teacher, I'm lacking in the navigation department.  That's usually where Mom comes in, but unfortunately for us, Mom cannot see without her reading glasses.  So, there we were, "discussing" as Taylor decided to lay down in the grass and rest in the shade.  Probably a good choice for Tay to exit from the conversation.  I had pretty much given up hope, but Mom thought we should press on and that kismet would be on our side.  Kismet is big for Mom.  Well, eventually we did make it to Highway 20, which was close to where we needed to end up.  So as I mentioned above, I had to eat my words and let Mom know she was right.  

On a side note, children should never doubt their mothers.  Mothers are almost always 100% right!  

Although we made it to Highway 20 and we were in Albany, we didn't quite make it to the park where we were supposed to meet Poppa and Kate.  That's where the trusty iphone came in handy again and with one quick call Pops and Kate were on their way to pick us up on the side of the road.  

In the end, another lovely biking experience.  Seriously, if you haven't ever biked before, you should give these routes a go.  It's so wonderful to see the outdoors from a bicycle, not to mention getting to spend time with the people you love!

Ride #4...#1 Blog

Hello all,

Kate, Taylor and Mom at the start of our ride

Well today Mom, Taylor and I completed the fourth ride, of our yet to be determined number of rides, on the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway.  We started where we left off last week at the Buena Vista Ferry and rode through Jefferson, on into Albany...or "Albania" as Mom likes to say.  As we were about to ride off on our journey today, we remembered to take a commemorative photo.  This got me thinking about the unique experiences we are encountering on our rides, and that it might be fun to blog about them.  So... here we are, our 4th ride and my 1st blog posting.  It may just be me, Mom and Tay reading these posts, but it will be a fun way to remember the time we've spent together riding this summer.  Plus, I've been inspired recently by watching the movie "Julie and Julia".  I'm 99% sure my blog won't turn into a blockbuster movie, but I still plan to have fun blogging.

I should give a little background on our blog's name and why we are embarking on this journey.  I believe it all began as an idea from my 13 year-old niece, Taylor.  The idea was that she and my mom, who is affectionately known as "Ma'am" by her 5 grandchildren, would ride bikes this summer.  My mom, who is a retired elementary school teacher and loves to have adventurous and educational experiences with her grandchildren, jumped on the idea.  Naturally, Mom did her research and learned about the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway.  The Oregon Parks Department has numerous rides on their website and Mom thought this would be "the one" for she and Tay to tackle.  The entire ride goes from Champoeg Park to Armitage Park, in Eugene.  A total of approximately 135 miles!!!  This number is a bit much for a group of beginners, so Mom has broken it down into several 20 mile rides.

Kate, Taylor, Tyler, Colton, Payton, Mom, and me.

The first ride was from Champoeg to Willamette Mission Park.  Mom and Tay were going to go it alone, but then I barged in and said I wanted to go, and it soon turned into a big family ride!  See picture to the right.  Tyler, my husband and our resident bike enthusiast, took Kate (our 2 year old) in our bike trailer.  Tyler refers to the trailer as a parachute!  He couldn't quite go his normal 20-22 mph while pulling her behind.  I wish I would have had our camera on the trip to capture pictures of Kate riding along happy as a clam reading books and snacking on goldfish.  Colton (10) and Payton (8), cousins extraordinaire, did a great job for the first 10-12 miles, but then tuckered out and Poppa, (my dad), came and picked them up.


I haven't mentioned Poppa yet, and he is such a key player in this whole adventure I need to give him credit.  He has been the chauffeur on our journeys thus far, which enables us to complete these smaller rides without having to turn around and ride all the way home.  So, THANKS DAD!  He also has watched Kate on more than on ride so that I can come along and I appreciate that immensely.

Anyway, Tyler and Kate ended up not going all the way to Willamette Mission either and thus on our maiden ride we were down to the 3 of us, me, Tay and Mom.  Soon for some reason or another, through our laughter we came up with the nickname of the BLTs, the Bike Lady Trio! We like to ride on these beautifully scenic, rural roads where we are often able to ride 3 across and chat.  I guess the three of us make up a delicious sandwich?  Well, I didn't say it made any sense, but it's our nickname nonetheless.  At times, it is necessary to fall into "formation", as we call it and ride single file, like when a huge truck with hay stacked high goes flying by us.  Tay has a bell on her bike and we are learning to follow her signals of a certain number of rings to alert us of a "car back" or "car up" or sometimes she just likes to ring the bell for no other reason than the pure joy of flying down a steep hill.  We are having fun!

At Willamette Mission Park, the start of ride #2

Our second and third rides were from Willamette Mission Park to my parent's house in South Salem, and from their house to the Buena Vista Ferry.  I won't go into detail about these rides, except to say that the group now is officially the BLTs, me, Tay and Mom and we are having a wonderful time.

Tay, me and Mom at the start of ride #4

To find out how we did on ride #4 please read my next post!