worst day ever

[FixForLife]

great ride...i had an amazing time! anyone else go?

[Matt P.]

I did, along with my friend Tomas, who's planning to ride 10,000 miles this year (I'm trying for a mere 6,500)

Weather was beautiful, the cycling was good (though my GPS says that the 18-mile route was actually 17.5 miles, even taking into account the detour around the derailed train), and the chicken soup at the end was great. CCC and Lucky Lab did a great job with the event and according to them there was something like 1,000 cyclists yesterday.

I rode to and from the ride, so my ride yesterday was about 42 miles.

Fun stuff!

-Matt P.
Milwaukie (Ok, Oak Grove, actually)

[punkfairy]

Geez, I thought I was being ambitious wanting to ride 4,000 miles this year...

The ride Sunday rocked! This was my second "event" type ride ever. I did the Bridge Pedal last year. But I registered for the Seattle to Portland this year, so I'm going to be doing a lot more riding!

[cyberk]

That was a great ride! It must be really hard for the organizers to plan, because depending on weather you could probably gain 50% of the total ridership. Yesterday's was packed!

Fun times. Thanks to all who organized and participated.

[Jonathan Maus]

yeah, much thanks to everyone involved with this ride. I just posted a report and some photos over on the blog.

I rode about half the ride with Eleni, my 3 yr-old daughter and we had a great time. I'm hoping to hear more about the after-party at the Lucky Lab...did any of you go? How was it? any photos?

[falkor]

The weather was great. The route was great. I even made a new friend at the start of the ride who stayed with me the entire way. No complaints at all except...the start and the finish.

Ugh. The organizers are behind the curve on this one. They seem to be using the same strategy they used two years ago when I tried this ride, and it just hasn't kept pace with the number of riders. When I pulled up to the Lucky Lab and saw the soup line winding around the block (two years ago it didn't even stick out of the pub), I just turned around and rode home.

[Matt P.]

Actually, the line wasn't that bad. It was pretty long, but it only took about 15 minutes to get through it. For me, it was worth it, coming out with a bowl of soup with 2 fistfulls of crackers in it and another fistfull of rolls. My only complaint was that all the Odwalla bottles at CCC were completely frozen, and it took a few minutes before they got the water out there for people to drink. Overall, though - things seemed to go well. My first organized ride was Bridge Pedal last year, which was a lot of fun other than the couple spots where it took 20 minutes to get anywhere because of the volume of riders.

-Matt P.

[peregrine]

I did the 40-miler and had a lot of fun! The weather was great and I met some cool new people :] Only problem - the route was quite hard to follow. As one guy I caught up with suggested, it was more like a "you're lost" ride :P

[FixForLife]

Originally Posted by Matt P.

I rode to and from the ride, so my ride yesterday was about 42 miles.

Fun stuff!

-Matt P.
Milwaukie (Ok, Oak Grove, actually)

yeah, i rode to and from aswell. it wasn't nearly the 42...i live by 3rd and college so it wasn't that far to go back and forth.

it was awsome to see as many fixed gears as i did there!

and as for the seattle to portland ride, i'm planning on doing that one...maybe on my fixed...maybe

[maria123]

What a disappointment to ride 40 miles, stopping every 2 to check the map since the long course was unmarked, only to return to the Lucky Lab where:

* secured bike parking was closing
* no more chili or cornbread were left
* chicken soup that was left was burnt and gross
* we were continually asked to move as tables were being broken down
* once on the terrace, we had to listen to unbelievably loud disassembling of tent poles

We did take 5 hours to do the ride, which I think is pretty reasonable for 40 unmarked miles that included 2 gigantic climbs. CCC should either not offer the 40 mile route or offer the same amenities to the 40 milers that they do to the 18. What a BUST!!!!