Last Saturday, had a good ride on the Scio Covered Bridges 200km brevet. I had the drop bars on the BF and the brakes were well adjusted. We got off right at the later start of 07:30. I was actually leading the 8 riders, through the parking lot. Dieter got ahead of me on Wilsonville Rd. The the recumbent got way past us on the Scholl's Bridge. I was taking up the "slower" section, accompanied by a first time brevet rider with a cross bike and wide tires until about Monitor. He was much younger, so I had to let him go. Amazingly, I saw no other riders for the rest of the ride, until I saw Dieter in the Starbucks at the end.
I got to Silverton in a reasonable time, used the plumbed toilet, where the farmers market was set up. there was also a Fun Run going on and a RAAM qualifying race coming through.
Along the Cascade Highway, i was looking at the cue sheet and worrying that I would not make Scio by the 9:43 that it said. After a few miles and hills, I really looked at it and that was the opening time for that control. On one of the early hills, I stopped for a couple words with the RAAM support cars, and found out it was a 300 mile race that had started in Hillsboro that morning. This was Oregon's qualifying race for the real RAAM.
Quickly through Sublimity, where I talked to the 400k riders on my first 200k brevet. and the Stayton, past the Safeway where I met the Utah Randonneur over a breakfast egg sandwich. Didn't see any bicycles in front of the Safeway. Then on toward Scio and Cole School Road, not far out of Stayton is has an immediate 9% short grade, then goes along for a longer 11% ascent, drops and climbs the longest hill a 13% , then down and up a a "wall" of 17%. My speed in the lowest gear, was down to 2.4 mph, but I stayed upright. Down again and the last uphill came in at 7%.
A descent, a covered bridge (Hoffman), then Scio. and the Jimmy Dean sausage & egg sandwich looked like it might be good. It turned out that the biscuit was too salty and way too dry.
