September in Oregon has to be the most beautiful. Today from sunrise to sunset, it has been incredible. After a walk with my dog, Rafi, at sunrise, Cheryl and I picked up my former neighbors and drove out to Mosier, to our property where we are building a cabin. It’s growing! My former neighbors, Bob & Rosie, are surrogate parents for me, and the sweetest. They are well into their 80s now, and Bob isn’t sure who I am sometimes. But every 5 minutes or so, he said, “Isn’t it the most beautiful day?! Man, I tell you.” Every tree delighted him. Years ago he’s the guy who inspired me to bike. At age 60 he started running marathons, and he helped the guy who started Specialized with bicycle designs. Bob would try them out.
So, on the way home, they dropped me off at Multnomah Falls, and I rode home. Maybe it was too much lunch or too many days in a row of riding, but I was not feeling too strong. And well, there was also a pretty good headwind, which prevented the bliss of the downhill from the Women’s Forum through Springvale. The few miles along the Columbia on Marine Drive before turning on to I-205 were pretty dicey.
But here’s to ride #28, for a total of 534.5 miles since Aug. 1. (the scary thing is that we’ll do almost that much in a week on Cycle Oregon!)… Hm…