[OrRando] Oct 21 Skyline-Vernonia perm

[Susan France]

Del said I could forward this to the list. His perm report...the answer to
his question about receipts... Handwritten is OK when a timestamp is not
available. As the organizer I actually know that Maggie's doesn't have
timestamps on the receipts yet but the place is too good to pass up. Often
receipts don't have the correct timestamp even when it's printed on there.
Always good to look at the receipt and note any corrections...no need to
wander around towns looking for a business that has the correct timestamps
on their receipts...that's not the point of brevets or perms. One attempt is
enough to satisfy me.

Ah the Vernonia-Timber Rd Bridge... I did a perm what seems like 2 months
ago and I think I was the last bicycle allowed across the bridge...they had
it "closed"...but they were just starting to lie out some plastic on the
bridge deck. As I crossed the bridge I looked for a way to cross the creek,
nothing looked promising...hopefully the Bridge replacement project will be
done soon.

Susan.


-----Original Message-----
From: Del Scharffenberg [mailto:dels at intersoftsystems.com]
Sent: Monday, October 23, 2006 12:59 PM
To: Susan France
Subject: Oct 21 Skyline-Vernonia perm


Mike, Larry and I were going to meet 8 am Peninsula Park.
They were waiting at the boat ramp area, I was waiting at
the upper area and a train was chugging through between.
After 15 or 20 minutes we finally hooked up, found Starbucks
to be the most convenient starting control.  So Mike got a
receipt stamped 8:20 am.

By the time we rode the ten miles to Washington Park, we were
about 1/3 through our cue sheet.  We climbed up thru the park
in no hurry.  It was cold enough to be wearing gloves, tights and
jackets, so we didn't want to work up excessive sweat.  Mike
had not reset his computer at Starbucks, so he was looking for
the 10-mile control a turn too early.  (I had more than a mile
before the "start").  We took 55 minutes for the first 10 miles,
a typically slow start for this route.

Once up Skyline we picked the pace up.  Mike and Larry cruised
ahead of me down Old Cornelius Pass Rd.  We had nice weather,
but still rather cold at 10 am.  The route was quite different between
West Union and Forest Grove, so we had to reference our cue sheets
often.  Vadis Road started out quite smooth, then "some gravel" was
like cyclocross for a couple blocks.  We missed the left turn onto
Porter Rd just past Verboort...I guess because it came before any
of us were looking for it.  So we rode on past SR-47 before finally
turning back and heading to Maggie's Buns for our control stop.
42.7 miles, elapsed time 2:50, average 15.0, max 37.  I ate their
last cinnamon roll.  Maggies is old-fashioned, so the receipt had no
date/time stamp.  I bought an ice-cream cone a block away, just to
get the receipt, but they also had none.  I sure hope the hand-written
receipt is ok, 'cuz high-tech time stamps have not yet found Forest
Grove.  It was warm enough to take off the jacket, gloves and tights.
We spent 25 minutes at the "control".

40 minutes down the road, Mike flatted on SR-8.  Larry rode ahead
while we took a 7-minute repair stop.  Mike seems to always flat once
and only once each ride.  Is it because of the 140 psi the tires start
the day with?  He rarely flats after repumping it up by hand.

Just across US-26 there is a bridge across the Nehalem River on
Vernonia Road.  I should say there WAS a bridge there.  We dealt
with a rather surly construction worker who zoomed up in his pickup
to be sure we did not try to cross the closed bridge.  And were we
the riders who crossed it yesterday?  There was a sign saying the
bridge was closed, but no indication of a detour route.  Finally the
guy pointed us east on US-26 a mile to a dirt road that would bypass
the bridge.  The unpaved section was quite smooth and not very long,
but would have been ugly on a wet day.

Vernonia control:  78.6 miles, 5:39 elapsed time, 13.9 average speed.
Instead of using the usual mini-mart, we stopped at a coffee shop on
the right, went inside to order.  I had a great 2.95 pecan pie.  Again
the cafe had no modern time-stamping cash register.  We used
the outdoor seating, along with four high-octane motorized bikers.
After a 22-minute stop my computer average was down to 13.0.

We passed the century mark in 7:22 by my computer.  My mileage was
a couple of miles behind Mike and Larry, who had again outrun me on the
downhill.  We had hoped to get some wind behind us, but it was mostly
still in our faces on Dike Road.  We passed the final info control at 4:12
pm,
then started thinking about finishing before dark.  Stopped just 3 minutes
in
Scappoose for water.  The only temp readout I saw all day read 63 degrees.
Starbucks was ok for the start, so we figured it would also make a good
finish point.  Just like when we started, Portland Police were all over the
place.  Our final time stamp was 5:34 pm for a time of 9 hours 14 min.
My computer read 129.0 miles, 9:10:54, average 14.0.

After Mike and Larry went home, I finally found the new Proper Eats cafe,
a new vegetarian restaurant/store/gathering spot.  It was just a block down
and across the street from Starbucks.  They had flyers for an alleycat bike
race they are co-sponsoring next month.

-- Del
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