Springtime, and the Riding is Breezy!

...and rainy. Still, today's ride was great! Julie (my pal on the Oregon Coast ride in 2009) rode with me. We rode to Bucoda, then up and over on Tono Rd. to Big Hanaford. In all our training rides for our coast trip we never did Tono (perhaps we should have as it is a good mess of hills). So, this was uncharted territory for Julie.

It rained most of the way to Centralia, but we had some occasional bits of sunshine and blue sky. Stella was making a grinding noise when I was pedaling. I think it is either the bottom bracket/crank arm area, or time for a new chain. The strange thing (if it is the chain) is that it continued to shift fine. Anyway, I'll take it apart tomorrow, clean everything and see if that helps. The other strange thing is that it stopped making the grinding noise on the way home when it was no longer raining.

We stopped for lunch at my favorite take-myself (and Julie)-to-lunch place, Berry Fields Cafe. I had the "side-ache sandwich" (aka crab and provolone on toasted sourdough). It was delish as usual. Julie and I split a Marionberry Cobbler for dessert. Also delish! Saw two other people I know (kind of weird since it was Centralia).

The ride back was nice since we had a decent tailwind pushing us up Hwy. 507. Saw lots of Daffodils in bloom in weird places (along the Hwy., a bunch in a field, etc.). Perhaps there is such a thing as the "wild" daffodil?

Julie's total miles were 57.3. That's her longest ride since our coast trip! She did great! And there were some substantial hills too!

My total miles for the day: 67.5.

Never a bad day to ride!