Eugene

I have lived all over the great state of Oregon during my life. I left the big city of Portland to move south to Eugene to go to college. I ended up spending about 10 years all together in Eugene, including my 4 years at the University of Oregon. I love Eugene. There are times when I really miss the place. The 50 meter outdoor pool is where I rediscovered swimming. The country roads are where I fell in love with cycling. And with Hayward Field, Pre's trail, etc...how could I not start running! Just so happens that two years ago I proposed to Meghan after completing my first marathon (the Eugene Marathon of course!). Last year I ran the half, but this year I didn't have either on the schedule. However, I had a few friends running in the events so I suggested to Meg that we head down for the weekend.

Of course, head down to Eugene (110 miles south of Portland) might mean something different to some people. To me, it means I have a great opportunity to hop on my sweet new ride and get in a solid century! So, Saturday morning I headed south following the newly created Willamette Valley Greenway bike route headed towards Eugene. The plan was to get in somewhere around 110-120 miles and have Meg pick me up wherever that ended up being. The Greenway is not a direct shot so my guess was from my house it was about 140 miles or so. It ended up being a decent day as we had some sun in the sky for the first time in a while.

The day went pretty well. The route is not hilly (2800 feet of elevation), which was kind of nice because it allowed me to spend a lot of time in the aero position. Michael and I have been dialing in the fit on the new Speed Concept for the past few weeks and this ride was going to be a good test of where we were in relation to fit. As I got going, I could tell I was going to have a decent ride. I was finishing an intense two week cycling block and so my legs were still a little sore, but they warmed up quick. I was feeling so good in fact that I didn't stop to take any pictures along the way! Sorry. I've incorporated some new nutrition and hydration techniques thanks to Muddy so I can tell you that I was stopping more often than normal as I was very well hydrated! After about 75 miles I stopped to call Meg and develop a game plan of where to pick me up. I looked down at my computer and realized that I had been moving despite keeping my HR in check. I was very pleased to see these numbers.

The last 40 miles went pretty well. Eventually Meg met me in Harrisburg as I was already nearing 115 miles. Despite having a headwind for the first 60 miles and rolling through 3 towns that forced slow speeds and frequent stops, I was able to average over 20mph riding solo for the 114 miles (check out the Garmin below). The best part was, I felt great. I never pushed it. In fact, I averaged 125 Heart Rate. I was ecstatic with these numbers. After picking me up we checked into our lovely B&B and then went out for a romantic dinner at King's Estate. Highly recommended if you want to take your significant other out for a romantic dinner while in Eugene, especially on a sunny evening. The views are excellent. The next day was great as I got to watch my buddy, and training partner, set a new pr at the half marathon distance! I guess that is all I have to report for now. This week is a recovery week which was much needed after a tough two week block. I know I need to post some pictures of the new machine and will try and do this soon. Just been too busy working and training to do anything else the last few weeks!! Thanks for reading,

-T