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!!!