Day 1: Portland - Cascade Locks

Roll over America has set off!
We gathered together at a big fountain at the riverside in Portland. All the bikes together. A lot of interested people asked one million interesting questions! NBZ made a live report which can be found here.
The CIBERQuest was included in their photo gallery which can be found here
After that we set out of Portland and took a beautifull cycle path. The route has been developed by local enthusiast that helped us along the route.
After some time we needed to take a piece of interstate:

Since we needed to cross a tunnel later the local autorities were so kind to install a riding roadblock. So we were escorted through that piece of highway and were able to cross the tunnel without any cars!
We arrived at Cascade Locks KOA campground and setup the tents for the first time!
Tomorrow longer and more heavy day ahead!

Great Vibes !!!

Arrived to Portland! After a long flight and all necessary immigration administration at the airport we've made it to the Days Inn hotel here in Portland. The enthousiasme about Roll Over America already started in the plane. The flight attendant recognized my Tshirt and asked me enthousiasticly if I was one of the riders! She knew that due to the fact that a lot of other riders flew with United to Portland. She liked it very much and was even able to explain to me that we are having a "official" ride through Portland on thursday before we start our trip. She was going to attent together with family. Great!!
We picked up the bikes yesterday from the warehouse, the reactions of people in the city were also great. They just love it and shout all kind of enthousiastic questions / comments. If we keep these kind of responds during the ride it will be one great experience with everybody along the route.
The bikes are stored in the hotel in a conference room. Packed with all kind of colours and models. Today some final prep. and then we are off. Can't wait!!

My dashboard for Coast to Coast ride

During my tour I will use my Garmin Oregon 450T as my main "cycling computer". The GPS is very flexible when it comes to the setup. The current setup I will be using during the ride. On the first field the current altitude is shown. This might come in handy when we are climbing and the altitude of the mountain is known. That gives some "motivation" to know how many meters still need to be climbed. Next to that field the daytrip distance. This field will be cleared at the start of every new cycling day. Than one very important field which is the heartbeat. On this screenprint I didnt wear a heartbeat strap so no measurement was made. The heartbeat is very important, especially during climbs. It gives you the possibility to control your pace and not go to fast. Going to fast means a very though end of the day being completely without any energy. I know the hearbeat that I am able to keep up during a whole day. The next field shows the current time. Then the speed, not very important but nice to know. The average speed of the ride is shown in the next field. Another field that might come in handy is the expected time that the sun will set. Then another very important field. My knee saver.. the amount of RPM's that I am making on the pedals. The pace should be at least something in between 80 and 100 turns per minute in order to keep your knees healthy. Then my battery life and the last is the total time stopped during the day.

The next screen is another setting of the GPS which shows the route that we will be following. Thanks to some great people the whole route that we will be following has been loaded in the GPS. Its a matter of following a line in order to stick to the route. Further a nice feature that Maarten figured out is the elevation profile of the route that is shown above the map. Nice to know what kind of mountains are coming up on the rest of the route.

Sunday training ride

Today Maarten and me made a nice training ride. Based on a route that I rode last year as part of the world Randonneur Brevet we startet riding. The wind was strong but we could benefit from that for quite some parts of the route. In total around 185 kilometer with an average of around 31,5.

Training in (between) the rain!

Everybody who lives in the Netherlands and reads this blog must admit that is has been a challenge not to get wet being outside. Such a lot of rain over the last couple of weeks. Especially now i'm not able to use the CIBERQuest thats quite challenging. So for quite some training for the last weeks in the rain.

On the foto above I was riding in a weekend trip to the "Posbank" while there was an organized bike trip that was passing this point. The photographer also took my picture. Not a bad one if I must say. 

On one of the other rides during the evening I ended up in such a rain that I waited and found a shelter: