I rode with my Dad over the holiday weekend. I wanted to ride out in Mt. Hood, but he insisted we do his local ride, and boy it didn't disappoint. We rode 70 miles through beautiful and remote country fields and farmland. The terrain was rolling, and I was surprised we climbed over 4,500' in four hours.
It's been at least 15 or so years since I last rode with my Dad. I grew up riding with him, road and mountain, and somehow stopped when I moved up to Seattle. It's cool that he still rides, and rides strong.
I really put my Dad in the hurt locker. He normally doesn't go over 40 miles with his riding buddies, but he was curious about the area beyond Ridgefield, WA.
I mapped out a course on Garmin which brought us out into Lacenter, WA and back. It was really cool to ride through the city I grew up in. Everything was familiar but so different and strange at the same time. I couldn't remember the roads that connected with each other, but I had a general idea of where I was.
Flying through country roads. It felt great to let loose aboard my Tarmac. I would hammer it out on my own and waited up for my Dad to catch up. At one point I thought he had flatted, and turned back for a few miles only to discover he had taken a shortcut. Luckily we both had our phones.
We took a coffee break in Ridgefield. It was cool to see my Dad's ride, a full carbon Scattante bike with Ultegra.
My Dad's funny. He loves to chat and tell stories. It's hard to get a word in, but he just keeps going and going. He'll tell me all about his riding buddies in the local bike club, the way they scrutinize his bike(s) and how he teases them with stories of how he got them. He's the reason I got into cycling.