Riders: Vicki Pelton, Tim Woudenberg
Crew: Jim Kern, Rich Kranz
Official: Bob Redmond

Last year, when I did my Cross State CA Record Attempt bicycle ride, I had such a wonderful time that I wanted to do another Record Attempt. But the states here out West are very large so it's a daunting project. I finally found that Oregon, north to south, is a bit shy of 300 miles, which is doable for me on a 2 person team. My riding partner from the CA attempt, Tim Woudenberg, was also eager for another record. I'm a beginner at this so it's wonderful to have an experienced rider like Tim on my team. I was pleased once again to have Jim Kern as a crew member, with his vast experience of both crewing & bicycling. Newbie crew member Rich Kranz added invaluable mechanical help (and also increased the humor quotient immensely). And to round out the team, it was great having Bob Redmond as our Official, especially since he was so enthusiastic the whole time.

Preparing for this ride was much easier than preparing for the CA ride, mainly because this time I actually knew what I was doing. But also, this time the route was already established, and it had only 1 turn in 300 miles. Piece of cake. There's still quite a bit of work getting all the paperwork done & coordinating 5 people with busy lives. You never know what the weather is going to be like on a ride like this and in OR, that can often mean rain. I wanted to be prepared, so whenever it rained at home, I made sure I was out riding, in order to get rain hardened.

I had made an elevation profile of the route, which helps immensely in the planning stages. There was one steep place near Terrebonne that was a bit of concern. It looked like a 200 foot drop in 0.1 miles. How could it possibly be that steep? Should I bring an ice axe for the steep walls? How would we handle this? Just to step ahead a bit & finish this thought, once we got there, it became clear. Sure enough, the walls on the canyon plunged vertically into the river below … but there was a bridge over the canyon! We were saved! My mapping program had missed the bridge.

The day before the ride, we finally had all 5 people crammed into a mini van with all the bike gear, etc. As we picked up one member, his wife looked at the van & said, "I thought it would be bigger." Hey, it's only a 14 hour drive from the San Francisco Bay Area to northern Oregon. How bad can it be? When you throw strangers together, you never know how well they will get along. Well, after the 14 hour drive, we were laughing harder than at the start, so I figured this was going to go well.

The official start is on a bridge over the Columbia River on the Oregon/Washington border. Since the bridge was closed due to construction, we got permission to start at the road closed sign. We thought we'd check it out upon our arrival the day before the ride. When we got to that spot, it was a little confusing where to go & we kinda sorta pulled into the "do not enter" area. Great, I can just see us getting arrested BEFORE the start of the ride. But all went well.

The idea was to start at daybreak. I looked out my window & saw rain. But it didn't dampen my spirits at all. This was nothing compared to my training rides. I was ready for it. I got ready for the first pull & saw our Official standing nearby, clock in hand, wearing a black & white stripped Referee's shirt. Cracked me up. He was really into it. As I pushed off, he pulled out a cow bell he had hiding behind his back & gave it a good shake. Really made me laugh.

The start of the ride climbs out of the Columbia River gorge. The road is lined with basalt cliffs so it was a spectacular beginning. Being a former rock climber, I always appreciate steep cliffs. Since it was daylight, the van could leap frog the rider. The procedure is to have the rider go ahead, while the van waits. Then the van will pass the rider & wait again. So I was on my own for awhile. The road has wide shoulders with moderate traffic. When the first 18-wheeler passed me, the wind & water spray from the wheels were very strong & gave me a big push. It was pretty scary. I could see it now. When the van gets to me, at mile 2, they'll see me wrapped around the guard rail. I'm thinking, "This is going to be a very long 300 miles." But when all the other trucks passed me, I didn't have the same wind problem, so I was grateful.

We decided to do half hour pulls to get started, since it was rainy & to get the kinks worked out. The crew went on ahead & got Tim ready for his pull. The swap went smoothly & Tim was on his way, powerfully ascending the next hill, as usual. Actually, it wasn't "as usual". Tim usually rides a recumbent, but we're not allowed to have mixed bike types for a Record Attempt so he offered to ride an upright bike. He was already in excellent bicycling shape & just had to get his you-know-what in shape for the different saddle.

Soon we went to hour pulls, which works well for Tim & myself. An hour is long enough to get into the rhythm of things, but short enough to not get too tired. The route started at about sea level & got up to almost 5000 feet. There were no big hills, just rollers. I'm used to steep hills & was wondering how I'd do on rollers. I found that a 3 percent grade can really slow you down. It feels sort of flat, but you're sure not going at flat speeds. I'm also used to steep, fast descents. But these descents were so gentle, you still had to pedal. Hey, what's with that? I want to coast downhill & relax for awhile. But nooooo.

There's very little traffic in northern Oregon. During my hour pulls, it was just me & the wilderness. I enjoyed seeing the scenery change from rock cliffs, to high desert to conifer forests. At the higher elevations, there was snow on the ground. My hour of silence would then change to an hour of laughter when I was in the van. I sure was glad everyone was enjoying themselves. It was good to see the team changing positions in the van. Good to do this BEFORE people got tired.

While riding, it was cool & wet, but I was able to stay warm. Once in the van, I would eat quickly & then hop up on the bench to lie down & cover myself with blankets before I cooled down. After about 5 hours of light rain, the sun came out, which was much appreciated. My clothes were wet, but rather than change, I wanted to dry them on the heater vents. I sat in the passenger seat backwards & pulled down my tights to expose my shorts to the heater vents. For some reason, the team thought this was hilarious.

Bend was the only town of any size on the route so we planned to do some grocery shopping there. My pull was ending so I came upon the team getting Tim ready. For some reason they waved me on & I continued. Soon, Tim came up behind me & we did the swap. Turns out when Tim was getting ready, he found he had a broken spoke. The crew quickly swapped in the spare wheel & Tim caught up to me. And where did all this happen? Across the street from the only bike shop we would see in 300 miles!

The crew dashed in to buy a spoke only to find they didn't have that kind. After a bit of tinkering, our crew was able to literally braid 2 spokes together & make a fix. How amazing is that?!

We then quickly did grocery shopping & then sped off (within the speed limit) to find Tim. The road here is 2 lanes in each direction so it was easy to pass the 18-wheelers, but we wanted to make sure Tim wasn't beside one as we passed. We tried to look under the trucks as we passed. Sure hope we didn't miss him. That would be embarrassing.

All went well & we found him & it was time for my pull. This was to be an hour & 15 minutes, in order to even things out after Tim's longer than usual pull. I felt energetic for an hour. Then I felt fatigued. Funny how both physically & mentally I was used to exerting myself for just an hour. I continued on for my last 15 minutes, but I could really feel myself slowing down.

While the team was keeping detailed notes on our progress, no one was calculating cumulative time so I added up the riding times for myself & Tim. We planned on hour pulls, but the exact times were rather loosey-goosey & I found our riding times were actually an hour off. To make up for it, I continued to do hour pulls but Tim did shorter pulls so our times would approximately be equal by the end.

We had a lot of signs on the van so as people passed, they knew what we were doing. As one 18-wheeler passed me, he kindly moved completely into the other lane, to make it safer for me. Then he gave a friendly honk as he passed. It's amazing how when a total stranger is there rooting for me, it really puts a smile on my face.

There was only 1 downhill that was steep enough to warrant a "truck on cheese" sign. Tim is a much better descender than I am so he got that pull. It was great to see him zooming down the mountain.

We had the bike tail lights on all day, since we had a lot of rain. With night descending, we added front lights to the bikes. I also had a helmet light I had just bought for the occasion. I had practiced night riding a bit but had never done it on a real ride. I was wondering how I would do. The headlights of the van were wonderfully bright & my helmet light helped to fill in the shadows. However, there was quite a bit of gravel on the shoulder so I had to intensely keep my gaze ahead of me at all times. I also felt my energy level drop. Don't know if that was from the darkness playing mental tricks on me or rather the fact that I had just ridden 100 miles. So it was more tiring, but certainly doable.

So now it's pitch black, just 15 miles from the end, on a Saturday night. A car full of teenagers whips around us, the kids lean out of the car & yell at me, "Keep going, you're almost there!!" They were pumping their fists. Total strangers, encouraging me in my endeavor. Made me feel great.

The last couple of miles Tim & I rode together. I was so jazzed. I couldn't stop talking. Tim & I kept talking about the highlights of the trip as we powered on. Soon we saw the Poppies sign, "Welcome to California". We did it!!

I love being part of a team, working together to accomplish a goal. The crew was always there when I needed them & the official kept accurate notes. I'm also appreciative that Tim is willing to show a newbie like me the ropes of long distance cycling. And best of all was the continuous laughter. What a way to spend time with friends.