May 15th Newbie Ride

.

As stated in Troubadour's last post, Saturday May 15th was the Second Annual Mid-Valley Newbie Ride spearheaded by our very own Bolty, aka tbolt.

A few of us met for coffee and a tasty fresh made French pastries at Le Patissier here in Corvallis before venturing to the designated meeting spot of the old Creekside Coffee location (now closed due to landlord/leasing issues). While at a quick petrol stop at Safeway we tried to see if there were any bikes waiting. We didn't realize until we ventured closer that there was a huge group compared to last year. I think the first thing I said to Troubadour when seeing the parking lot was "holy crap!" Three different areas in the parking lot were being utilized.

Turns out we had approximately 30 bikes show up. Some newbie riders, some who were experienced but hadn't done much, if any group riding, and some experienced riders who just wanted to ride the route. We saw old friends and met new ones. We even met Bluekat and her husband who came along for the ride. (Welcome! It was a pleasure to finally meet you.) Here is a picture of Bluekat and her hubby Ron with Bolty in the foreground.

Soon Bolty had us gathered around for some last minute instructions. You know.... dos, don'ts, what different hand signals meant, a bit on the planned route and also information on how she would like to see everyone broken into smaller groups depending on comfort level of their riding skills.

When taking the photos, I tried to get pictures of the people we were riding with and not just the bikes.

We had 4 groups total. One experienced group and three newbie groups that were categorized into fast, medium and slow. Bolty led the slow speed newbies and Troubadour led the medium speed newbies. Our friend Darren lead the fast newbies and I am not sure who started out leading the experienced riders. Here is a photo of Bolty and Troubadour before the ride.

We were hoping that Troubadour would be riding sweep so that I, riding pillion, could take some action shots of the newbies and even some video, but alas it was not to be. I think Troubadour enjoyed being our fearless leader that day, so it's all good. Soon enough we were on our way. First the experienced riders left, then about 10 minutes later the fast group of newbies left and so on.

40 miles of sunny, twisty back roads later we rolled into Monmouth to Burgerville for the lunch stop. Troubadour and I decided we weren't hungry so opted for a short walk to Dutch Brothers Coffee for a blended iced coffee. Hit the spot on a 70˚+ day. We then mingled and took a few more pictures.

Here is a little video of the faster group of newbies heading out after the lunch stop.....

The long meandering ride back to the coffee shop was uneventful for our group. A nice pace was set and a good time was had by all. After arriving at our destination we waited for about 15 minutes for the slower group to arrive and 30-45 minutes for the faster group. One of riders in the faster group had mechanical trouble and some improvising had to be done to get him back on the road. Kudos to our impromptu mechanics.

We couldn't have asked for better weather or a better group of riders. A big thank you to all those who led, rode sweep, organized and participated. I am sure there will be a Third Annual Newbie Ride next year.

I hope to participate as a rider and not just as a passenger next year. I didn't have enough miles under my belt this time. As a general rule they like all newbies on the ride to have at least 1,000 miles and I am not there yet. This summer, if the rain ever lets up, will be a good time to rack up some miles and gain experience and confidence. I am looking forward to watching the miles increase on the TU.

Au Revoir

"Teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success." ~ Author Unknown
.