We are in San Francisco!

We made it into San Francisco fine.

On Our Way to San Francisco

Here we are at the Olive Garden in Eugene, Oregon. We spent the night in Medford, Oregon and it is on to San Francisco today.

2008 Co-Motion Tandem Race

Here is the view looking back during one of the quieter times early in the race. The final 5 miles included a fairly good climb that we were able to dominate and control. Then a mile and a half or so of slight rollers where there were probably half a dozen or so team with us, we traded the lead a few times. Then the last 1 km was a right turn off the main road and a hard climb to the finish at the King Estates Vineyard. We were the first through the turn and Nathan kicked into after burner mode. We surged ahead and held the lead to the finish!

This was pretty special, out of 32 years of active cycling/racing this is only the second sanctioned bike race that I have won (my other one was in 1978)! Very sweet. Nathan & I are both so thankful to the Lord for strength and protection. This really is a wonderful stage race. We ended up 3rd in overall classification in the B group. It was fun to meet others who love tandem riding and racing. Lot's of fathers with sons and daughters. One impressive team was a father & son duo. The son was 17 and was the captain. They won the A group stage for the day. It was a wonderful Oregon summer day.

We won the stage!

We won the stage and came in 3rd in overall GC!

Dinner at PF Changs

The reward for a hard days ride. We checked out tomorrow's course in the car. It looks like it will be challenging. Now, to dinner.

8th place in the Crit.

6th over all, 44 seconds off the lead. The road race is tomorrow.

6th place in B group.

15:30 in 6th place. Something like 10 seconds separates 6 teams. The crit. Starts at 2:30 pm.

Ready to Start - Sat. 7/26

Getting our race instructions. The time trial will start in 45 minutes.

Dinner at Cracker Barrel

On my way to Toronto, I'm stopping for dinner at Cracker Barrel in Buffalo Ny

Tuesday night (7/15) tandem ride

Nathan & I had a fantastic 38 mile ride in Portland Wheelmen Tour Club's Tualatin Tuesday night ride. We led the ride for a good bit of the flats and finished in the middle of the front group on the climb (not bad for a tandem). While not as difficult as some of the rides we do on Tuesday night, the grade does tip into double digits at several spots. It was pretty hot and we  both ran out of water before the end. I think the picture was taken while we were cruising on Hwy 219 near Scholls. We are training for the tandem race in Eugene at the end of the month.

Lilies

These beautiful lilies are a wonderful gift from Rosie's parents, even though they left this earth years ago. Many years back, Rosie's father, Ray, collected these bulbs and grew them in her folks yard in North Carolina. After her father died her mother, Carlene, continued to nurture the flowers. Then, a few years before her own death she gave a few bulbs to Rosie to plant in our yard in Oregon. My, those bulbs produce! It seems each year there are more flowers. I love to look at them and smell their fragrance and think of two really wonderful people. Thank you Ray & Carlene.

Tandem ride with Nathan

Nathan and I had a great training ride on the tandem. We are pictured here on the Canby Ferry on our way out.  We are preparing for a tandem race at the end of the month. We rode about 86 miles today starting at West Linn and riding to Silverton and even a bit further on towards the Silver Creek Falls before turning around and coming home. Fortunately, we got a fairly early start because it was a little over 90°F when we finished. As you can tell, not a cloud in the sky. Lots of cyclists were out, we even saw other tandems. We are wearing our jerseys from last year's "Death Ride."

July 4th

Waiting for the fireworks to start in Canby. We went to the movie Wall E too.

Family Picnic

A beautiful day for a family picnic.