Ronde Portlandia Style

HiLLLLLLLs!!

Last Saturday was not your "classic" Ronde weather, and for those that have braved any or all of the previous three editions of Ronde van oeste Portlandia you know how nasty those little climbs of our west hills can get with 20 degrees less warmth and a 100% more rain. All-n-all it was a grand day out. And despite having a lot of fun photographing and filming the lot of you, I did miss sharing in the few thousand vertical feet of grunting, sweating and complaining with a smile - and of course the IPA re-hydration after wards. And my special apologies to tandem partner John - Stealth was missing all the fun.

PS - great to see the so-call non-climber fairer sex out there in serious numbers - good job ladies!

PSS - and for all of you who decided it was a lovely day to take your bike for a walk... up a hill, celebrate having the legs to do it!

Death by Success

Well... it appears the local pirate race... woops.... I mean Ride, the Rhonde van oeste Portlandia, has fallen victim to it's own success. Three years in the little gathering of friends ballooned from a competitive couple hundred with its own charming little youtube video, to a 500-600 velo-monster, including crashes and calls for the EMT vehicle.

If you still want to ride the course the legendary Lions of Flanders still mark the route and their roar summons a friendly challenge.... psst - rumor has it a few new freshly painted lions have appeared, hmmmm?

Here's what the "unofficial official" website has to say -
"We're sorry. No official RondePDX will take place this year. An invitational ride for friends will take place at 10:00am the day before the 2010 Amstel Gold (heh, turns out some of us have to be in Brugge over Easter weekend for the Ronde de Vlaanderen). You are invited to punish yourself or a dear friend on the legendary route anytime, of course. "