[OrRando] Snoozeville ’08, Pre-ride Report

[Bill Alsup]

The first organized Oregon Randonnuers ride of 2008,
the Snoozeville Populaire, happens this Saturday,
March 8th.  Susan France tells me that nearly 60
riders have pre-registered!

I was prepared for lotsa rain during last Saturday’s
pre-ride, but the weather turned out lovely. ‘Twas a
little drizzly on parts of Dairy Creek Road, and rainy
on Wilkesboro Road as I approached Banks. But from
Cedar Canyon on, the sun poked through, and even
heated the pavement at the top of Stafford Road 

enough for steam to rise.

I didn’t leave the Cornelius Pass Roadhouse till 9:25
AM (my body demanding to sleep in a bit). I soon found
myself on one of the few bike lanes of the entire
journey (Evergreen Parkway), a portion of which (after
Shute Road) is currently compromised by roadside
construction. But soon the route turns right on
Sewell, where I encountered miniature remote-control
dune buggies darting about perilously close to the
ends of driveways. (Think big mechanical squirrels.)
The next left (on the cue sheet) put me on Meek Rd,
which is a very pleasant parallel to Hwy 26.

The roads become generally narrow once you cross Hwy
26. But fortunately, motorized traffic was light and
mostly considerate during the pre-ride.

On Mountaindale Road, I encountered cycling friend
Michele Chirgwin, who was riding with three others,
including Patty Freeman and Steve Rasmussen. Steve is
a friend of Cecil’s who I met last October. I’d never
met Patty before, but I knew a lot about the Seven she
was riding (thanks to Andrew and Cecil). Boy was Patty
surprised!

Many of you know what a nice road Dairy Creek is. The
gentle rollers and incline through scenic farmland
didn’t disappoint this time.

At the Snoozeville turnaround (at the bridge off of
Fern Flat Road), I came up with my “info control”
question. Interesting thing about the intersection is
that Google maps calls the road off to the right
“Burgdorfer Rd.” But the actual street sign at that
location says “NW Greener Rd.” I edited the cue sheet
to go with the latter. And no, that isn’t the answer
to the control question.

Westbound Mountaindale Road merges into Wilkesboro
Road right after crossing some railroad tracks. This
is where it started raining, but not for too long.

Most of the businesses in Banks (that might be of
interest to a randonneur) are in the shopping center
on the right as soon as you turn from Wilkesboro onto
Highway 47. On a previous trip, I patronized the
Drive-Thru Espresso shop. They let me put a small
purchase on my debit card. There are other businesses
up the road in Banks, but none caught my attention
last Saturday.

The colors weren’t as brilliant on Cedar Canyon as
last October, but it’s still a great road. I stopped
at the point where Cedar Canyon Road turns left (as it
intersects with Jack Road), cuz I had “control point”
things to do.

I’d be curious to explore the gravel section of Cedar
Canyon Road as it heads NW just before the left turn
onto SR 6. But not this month.
 
I found the left turn from Thatcher Road to Nichols
Lane easy to miss as you approach Forest Grove. It’s
like you wait a long time for that turn to come, then
it appears suddenly. Two miles of single-family
dwellings paved the way to 21st and Main, which is
more-or-less the center of things for the open control
at Forest Grove. I patronized Maggie’s Buns for the
first time. The meat loaf was tasty, but my body tried
to tell me it would have preferred something else for
the next 10 miles of so. Although I appreciate the
almost hippie-like atmosphere of Maggie’s, I might be
more of a Pizza Schmizza kind of guy, at least while
in Forest Grove. Another thing about Maggie’s, I’m not
sure they’ve ever served an espresso drink other than
a latte (and that includes just a straight shot of
espresso).

As Bill Schell pointed out to me, exiting Forest Grove
is different from previous Snoozeville populaires,
because College Way is now one way 
 the wrong way. So
you’ll need to head back up Main St. to University
Ave. It should all be on the cue sheet (which will
still use Maggie’s Buns as its main point of
reference) once it’s updated.

A rainbow appeared to my left as I headed back East
along Hornecker Rd.  And I even got a few raindrops
riding up Glencoe Road, but not at the expense of the
sun going away.

A tailwind helped my return on Evergreen Parkway. I
was grateful.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon.

~ Bill