Day 1: Eugene to McKenzie Bridge

64 Miles
1924 feet of Elevation Gain

So good news is I survived day 1. Bad news, my legs might be a bit tired tomorrow when we go over the McKenzie pass. Oh well, I'll just have to deal with that then.

So today Dad, Mom and I left my grandparents house to a cloudy day, rode down the hill to Eugene central and were immediately hit with a turrential downpour. We were absolutely soaked, from our heads to our socks, and the socks didn't dry out all day :( Luckily we only had about 5 miles of rain and the rest of the weather was great, not too hot but not really all that cold either.

Once we got out of Eugene we had about 15 miles incredible miles on the beautiful backroads. Little traffic and a freshly paved, smooth road made for a great ride. Technically almost the entire ride was uphill, but it was such a small tilt and nice smooth roads that we didn't really notice. At about mile 25 we turned onto hw 126, which while still smooth had a ton of traffic and at first incredibly narrow bike lane. Luckily no one became truck fodder and as we went further the shoulder got wider and the traffic died down. Besides, we were riding through the woods besides the river and it was beautiful. I definitely think the fishermen were out in force, and quite a few boats passed us. Dad and Jim (Jim's a friend of Dad's from college and he came out from North Carolina with 2 of his 5 dogs to drive our "support vehicle" and cook us dinner) both brought their fishing poles and think they'll be catching us dinner, but I'm skeptical about that.

About mile 55 Mom decided she'd had enough, but she didn't train at all so 55 miles was pretty good. It's probably a good thing that Mom isn't coming the whole trip. I don't want to start every morning with Mom pacing and yelling at Dad to get up and get moving, to which Dad replies that this is his vacation. I'm a bit more low key than my mother, and not such a morning person so we'll get going when we want to.

So thoughts after day 1. This was the longest ride I've done in years, my longest training ride was 48, and I didn't really get tired until about 10 miles before we stopped. That's good, and so long as we can go slow and leisurely I can make it. Well, I say that now, but the real test is tomorrow and Monday when I'm sore.

That's all for now. I'll try to put a couple of photos on.