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Silver Falls Century Story 2-13-00
He said - She said
He Said
It was drizzling when Bec showed up at my place with the BBRY to head out to Champoeg Park where we were to start our ride. She assured me that the weather was on an "improving trend" and that the rain would ease up as the day went on. I grabbed all the gear I had and tossed it into the van and we hit the road. After stopping for breakfast and fussing with the tandem it was 8:30am. I had wanted to be on the road by 7:00am but I guess that was wishful thinking. By now the rain had turned to a mist and I was starting to feel optimistic about the weather.We rode the first 35 miles at a pretty good clip, about 15 mph. We stopped briefly for a RR break and headed for Silverton. It wasn't long after our first stop when the weather took a turn for the worse. Now it was raining, and the temperature had dropped to 39 degrees. I had forgotten to pack my neoprene socks and despite my shoe covers my feet were soaked. We made a quick stop at a Safeway and picked up a couple of produce bags to put over my fleece socks. My feet never got warm, and by the time we reached Silverton my feet were frozen. This situation demanded radical action. We stopped into a Laundromat and put all of our wet gear into a dryer. In the meantime I drank hot coffee while being careful not to look as Bec amputated two of my frozen toes. It only took us 20 minutes before we were back on the road to Silver Falls.
We knew there was going to be a lot of climbing in the next fifteen miles, we took turns riding out of the saddle while we climbed, never once using the granny gear. When we reached Silver Falls we paused to take some pictures, eat a sandwich and talk to some folks about the tandem.
We were wet, and we didn't want to hang around. We hit
the road again. Usually when we do this ride we go back down same way but I
found a road on the map that would allow us to make it a loop ride. Drift
Creek Falls road was completely unfamiliar to us so we had no idea what to
expect. At first there were some small rolling hills, then we really
started to climb. The climb seemed to go on forever and at 65 miles into
the ride we finally used the granny gear. I found this to be unacceptable
and decided it was time for an Oregon Trail moment. I slammed on the
brakes, gave Bec a dirty look, opened up our bike bag and tossed the
grandfather clock that had been in Bec's family for over 100 years over the
side of the road. We resumed our climb, now riding at a pace that I could
live with, and it wasn't long before we made it through the hills. We
cruised right through Silverton this time without stopping. We were in the
valley now, the home stretch. Bec mentioned the "Barn Effect" that’s when a
horse acts tired and goes slow until it can see the barn, then he will pick
up the pace. So that's exactly what we did. We talked about how nice it
will be to get back to the van and put on dry clothes. Suddenly our rear
tire blows out, thus popping our balloon. I did not want to slow down in
the least and without the aid of tire levers I removed the rear tire with my
bare hands. It was obvious that the tire was shot. The sidewall had torn
at the bead and there was no fixing it. I grabbed our foldable and a spare
tube and had us back on the road in five minutes. I had gotten road grime
all over my rain gear and it looked awful, but I was happy to be riding
again. We made one more quick stop at a mini mart to use the RR. I had a
piece of chicken and we split a small coffee. At this time we conveniently
dumped our toasted tire into their garbage and hit the road. The park was
so close we could almost see it in the distance.It was getting late and we were worried that the ranger would lock the van behind the gates. We finally arrived back at Champoeg at 5:47pm. The gate was still open "thank goodness". Before we could even get the tandem back on the DraftMaster a park ranger drove up and asked us how much longer we were going to be because he wanted to lock up. We got that tandem hooked up in record time and hopped into the van and drove past the gate still in our wet clothes. After the ranger locked up, he thanked us and we thanked him, then we got into the dry clothes we had been dreaming of for the last 60 miles or so. That's about it, except for the weather it was a great ride. Only 99 miles with 4210 feet of climbing.
Louie
She Said
Don't let the last ride story frighten you. It really wasn't that bad. The ride started with a little drizzle which is very good for the complexion. Plumps up the wrinkles.Salem is basically flat farm land so we got to see lots of cows and fields. The climbing and rain started when we headed up to Silver Falls. Even with the rain it was beautiful. The clouds hugged the trees as we climbed. At times we were in both fog and rain. Very sureal. The climb was more steady than steep but we managed it by alternating standing together, then one at a time. We rode through the bike path at Silver Falls. It felt as if we were in a primevel rain forest.
The lodge
was closed so we didn't get to sit by the fireplace as we imagined. We
headed back a different way than we came in. What it did was take us one
way around the mountain, accross a ridge and to another mountain and back
the way we came only on another mountain. We could see the road we were on
before accross the valley to our right. Kind of neat.I got tired at the 60 mile mark because for some reason I had my heart set on being done climbing and we were not. But I perked up later. I was happy to see the downhill back to the Valley, though. Once there the rain turned back to drizzle.
So from the softer more feminine perspective of this team it was not such a bad ride. No aputations were necessary. I didn't really have a grandfather clock, though I am always being admonished to lighten up the load. Gloved hands were used to change the tire with no tire irons needed. What a guy! Strong hands! We did get wet but the only thing that got really cold were feet because one member of this team, who shall remain nameless, forgot his neoprene socks!
While it wasn't the best ride we have ever done, we certainly will not forget it any time soon.
Bec
There you are, the he said she said tale of Silver Falls 100.