John’s Ramblings

Memorial Day Weekend 2008 marked my third trip down to Pendleton, Oregon for their 3-Day weekend cycling event, the Century Ride of the Centuries. In the past 4 years of cycling I have not done any events more than twice, save this one. If I am able, I will likely be there in ’09 for my fourth as well.

Day 0 – Friday

I left Auburn at 10 a.m. on Friday, having taken the day off from work. Terri had spent the week at a conference in Spokane. She rented a car, and drove a route to intersect my path in Tri-Cities. After we checked in the rental car and consolidated baggage, we proceeded to Pendleton. We stopped downtown at the Central Pacific Cafe’ to have a glass of wine with a friend from my banking days (20 years ago, yikes!) who now lives in Pendleton. Around 5:30 we headed over to the Convention Center for registration and orientation. Here I ran into Jim Carson (back for his second CROC), as well as part of my “posse”, Bruce and Dee (acquaintances from my spin-class-at-the-gym days). Not yet present were riding partner Kevin, his wife Nina, and Rodney and Lee from the Green River Riders. Work schedules dictated that they leave Seattle later in the day. The CROC folks were quite accommodating, and I was able to register my absent friends and pick up their packets. This would allow us the luxury of starting the day 1 ride from our downtown hotel, saving a drive to the “official” start line. We checked in to our hotel, met up with Kevin, Nina, Dee and Bruce, and headed for a sumptuous dinner at Raphael’s. Dinner was great, and Kevin took a dare from Nina and had the rabbit & rattlesnake sausage appetizer (tasted like chicken, if you ask me). Rod and Lee arrived at the hotel shortly after we returned, and I gave them their packets so that Rod could fulfill his desire to study the route maps. This would be a fortuitous move come Saturday.

Day 1 – Saturday

After a restful night’s sleep at the Rugged Country Lodge, we convened our little troupe in the “Rooster Room” for the complimentary continental breakfast at 6:30 a.m. The event actually provided a full breakfast at the host hotel (The Wildhorse Hotel/Casino), but that was 5 miles away and it seemed an unnecessary trip, especially since the day 1 route passed directly in front of the hotel. We reconvened in the parking lot at 7:30 a.m., and rode out as a group.

After a brief rolling tour of downtown Pendleton (not all that large), we headed out the old highway along the Umatilla River. The road meanders next to the river, with rocky cliffs along the right side and the valley to the left. They had swept the road clear of rocks the day before the ride, but there were still occasional rocks in the roadway that we had to steer around. Terri and I drove this same route on Tuesday in the car, and there were hundreds of rocks on the road, far more than was the case on Saturday.

The first formal rest stop was in the town of Echo, and featured Hawaiian decorations and was staffed by volunteers in grass skirts and coconut bras. In the prior two years this stop was at a wide spot in the road, about 5 miles earlier. The new location was a vast improvement, allowing for real plumbing and a lovely grassy park to stretch out in. Food is the usual assortment of bagels, peanut butter, cookies, etc., with the addition of baked potatoes. I opted for a third of a spud, and half a bagel. This stop also served as the turnaround point for the metric century. Lee and Dee decided that they would leave us guys to our own devices, and head back to Pendleton. We said our goodbyes, and headed west toward Hermiston.

The route was planned to lead us around the town of Hermiston itself, in favor of the empty backroads that are the signature of CROC. This plan was thwarted by a train stopped on the tracks, so long that we could see neither end of the thing. Rod was ready for this moment, pulling out his map and coming up with a re-route before I had even finished taking a picture! Note the multitude of cyclists milling around in the background. A few of these folks would opt to climb over the train, a decision worthy of a Darwin Award had the train suddenly moved while they were wrestling bike or body between cars.

We backtracked to the last turn, and headed through Hermiston (didn’t take long). We rejoined the CROC route without seeing any other riders, indicative that our decision to ride around the obstacle rather than wait was the correct one. We were now riding parallel to the Columbia River, along the same route I had ridden last August on the last day of the Ride Around Washington. Lunch was at Hat Rock State Park. The theme was “white trash”, and the decorations were very much in keeping with that theme. Susan Kelley’s famous cheesy grits were served, along with all the usual rest stop chow.

After Hat Rock, we do a long climb away from the Columbia, and head down Cold Springs Road through more rolling wheat fields and ranch land. As was the case last year, we passed a ranch where the owner has shot and hung three coyotes from the fence. I presume this to be a warning to other coyotes, but I’m not sure how well it works, given he still had coyotes to shoot.

The day was getting warmer, and the road was consistently gaining altitude over this 20 mile stretch. By the time we hit the last rest stop of the day (Susie’s Diner), I was too tired to even pull the camera out. Jim Carson appeared to be fresher than I because he took a few. I was completely focused on getting back to the hotel, but I managed to find the time to scarf down one of the cheeseburgers offered. I rolled out of the rest stop and immediately got a flat tire (riding through the gravel parking lot, bad idea). After a quick tube change, we were on our way back to town. Final mileage for the day was 90 (slightly shorter than advertised, since we rode from the hotel).

Day 2 – Sunday

I hear it was hard. I didn’t ride it, nor did any of my cohorts (with the exception of Jim Carson, who apparently likes to get wet even when on vacation). The hill was shrouded in rain clouds, and slogging our way up, to be followed by a dangerous descent, seemed unattractive somehow. We lounged instead, and capped the day off with a trip to Walla Walla for a pulled pork sandwich at Mr. Ed’s. The weather forecast for Monday was slightly better than Sunday, so we were hopeful that we’d get one more day of riding in before heading home on Tuesday.

Day 3 – Monday

Patches of blue sky! WooHoo!! We had a nice ride out to the Bar M Ranch, where rest stop #1 was a tribute to the USS Abraham Lincoln. A few of the sailors on this aircraft carrier were “virtually” riding with us on CROC, but doing so in the ship’s exercise room on spin bikes. After resting and snacking a bit, we headed back down the valley, then turned up the hill at Thorn Hollow, a lovely little stretch of valley with rolling hills and horses dotting the hillside.

At the top of the climb we had a few miles of slight downhill and beautiful fresh asphalt to the next rest stop, which featured chili and cornbread. Refueled (and burping onions), we rolled into the town of Adams. I was a bit disappointed that the local store was closed for Memorial Day, as I wanted to see if the inside was even half as cool as the outside was.

The group split in Adams, some going the full route and a few heading back to town via a “shortcut”. I opted for the shorter ride, as my legs were pretty well spent. We took the old Adams Road along Wildhorse Creek, a pothole-rich cycling environment that took a lot of concentration to navigate. I ended the day with just less than 65 miles.

Pendleton isn’t exactly in my back yard, and sitting in a car hour after hour is an activity that I lost my love for back in college. But to experience the “big sky” and open roads of eastern Oregon in such a well organized event is, in my opinion, and opportunity not to be missed. So unless I’ve moved to another part of the country, I’ll likely be back next year. Maybe even if I have moved.

Tags: century, Century Ride of the Centuries, CROC, Cycling, oregon, pendleton, ride_report

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