LaCenter Loop Ride
1-13-02

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Wow! The La Center Loop ride turned out to be an unexpectedly beautiful day. The air was crisp and the sun was shinning so we had a great turnout. Just when we thought we had enough ride maps for everyone a group of VBC members showed up sporting their new spiffy club jackets. They looked sharp! Some folks had to share ride maps. Fortunatley we had marked the course with yelloe arrows so we were confident nobody would get lost. In all we had thirty riders rolled up for the start. We handed out Blueberry Rides care packages containing animal crackers (they had to be animals to do this ride), a blueberry bar (what else) and a couple of pieces of candy to keep them going over the hills that were awaiting them. In all there was 2500 feet of climbing over fourty miles.

Ann McElhoes, our official staff photographer took the group photo. This gave us a chance to chat with old friends and some new faces. We were happy to see Larry's smiling face on another blueberry ride. Bec loves to look back and see him grinning from ear to ear. We met a new rider who just moved up from San Francisco. He noted that the weather was a little colder up here. We were happy to have him on the ride. Bec made sure he got a map and a care package. We also met, Tim, who found us through the internet group, Tandem Hobbs. That was a nice surprise.

Louie gave the usual pre-ride pep talk and folks were off and riding. Liz, Terry and Lynn, and Bill and Ann stayed back with us as we put away all the goodies. We really appreciated all the company at the start. This route is famous for having many low traffic country roads as well as challenging rollers. Everything was green from all the recent rains. The llamas, alpacas, horses, and dogs all kept us company along the way. On this ride, even the dogs are nice and just run alongside the fences wagging their tails.

The most exciting thing on this ride was a house on fire! The flames shot 100 feet into the air. As we got closer, we saw that it was a controlled burn training session for the local fire department. Were we ever relieved! It would have been horrible if that had been someone's home. Judging from the number of cars parked in a nearby field it must have been the best show in town.

We were happy to help a few folks out with flat tires. They were doing a good job so all we had to do was kibitz. In fact, it looked like so much fun that we had to have a flat, too. Oh well, Bec needed the rest. Louie has not been letting her have granny gear for a few rides now because he is trying to get her in shape for the upcoming Willy Nilly ride. Now, that ride will be a big challenge. We have been getting lots of feedback about it. Most folks think us Blueberries have gone bananas for sure to lead an "E" level ride in the middle of winter! We usually do easy rides in summer and hard rides in winter because we see that there are plenty of easy rides in winter and hard rides in summer. We like to be different.

At the day's end we had a few moments to talk again to Larry. He volunteered (or rather we volunteered him) to help us flip pancakes for the upcoming Blueberry Pancake ride April 13th at Champoeg Park. Our favorite flipper, Liz, has promised to man the pancakes another year. Both Bec and Liz had a great time making them last year. Lynn and Terry finally rolled in after lollygaging at a park over a picnic lunch. They cheated by packing in some extra-unscheduled enjoyment on the ride. But then that is what Blueberry Rides are all about -just having fun on a bike ride with friends.