[ORRando] Eden's Gate 400k pre-ride report

[Keith Kohan]

On Thursday I decided to disobey my Doctor's advice and rode the pre-ride for next-week's Eden's Gate 400k.  I'm glad I did because it was a wonderful ride and a great day to do it, but he was right and I shouldn't have done it.  Oh well.

The route is the same lovely jaunt down the hills on the East side of the Valley and back up the flat middle that we did last year.  For those of you who haven't done it or are hesitant to tackle a 400k I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity.  It is a relatively flat 400k.  Yes there is some climbing including the notorious Cole School Road, but almost all of it is in the first half of the ride.

I love the way the route takes you south through the forests and quiet country roads and then along the McKensie River before dumping you out to the very flat return through the valley farmland.

There is one road condition you should take note of.  Riverside Drive south of Albany is blocked by an ominous detour sign warning that the road is closed to through traffic.  You should ignore this signage and proceed on Riverside Drive.  The road is open to the turn for Bryant Rd where the brevet route turns left anyway.  And Bryant Rd is open to Albany so there is no change in the route and no difficulty.  In fact I'd guess we're better off with this detour signage because it should mean less car traffic.

Thursday's weather was fantastic for cycling this route.  Incredibly sunny and warm for early May.  The large thermometer by the side of the road south of Coburg read 93 degrees but it didn't feel that hot.  And the usual headwind on the return trip up the valley was completely absent.  In fact it turned into a rather strong tailwind from Independence back up to Wilsonville.  I hope you all will see weather like this next Saturday!

Keith Kohan
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://orrandonneurs.org/pipermail/orrando/attachments/20140503/22189de2/attachment.html>