Day 7 - Nice One

Kevin:
There's nothing like a good big breakfast to start a day of cycling. We
found an IHOP in the Yellow Pages and went there...but it wasn't an IHOP anymore. It had changed to Todd's Place. But it was open for breakfast so we went there anyway. The food was great! I had two eggs, two sausages, some hash browns, and two big blueberry pancakes. This made me a little full to start with, but it lasted me past noon, with no need
for snacks.

Back at our motel room, I did what I should do every morning: I checked
the pressure in my bike's tires. What do you know? The front tire was down to 60 psi again! (See Day 6 - The Neverending Story.) So I took off the tire and pulled out the tube. There was no obvious leak, and I didn't have time to throw the tube in the sink to find a leak. Before I put the spare tube in, I ran my finger around the inside of the tire. As you will see, this turns out to be a good habit. I had almost gone all the way around the tire when I felt something. I turned that part of the tire inside out and could see a tiny piece of wire, probably from some bit of steel-belted radial left along the side of the road. It came out easily when I pulled. It was only about an eighth of an inch long. Sometimes the little things can be critical: it was infuriating to think how much difference this tiny piece of metal had made to my ride the day
before.

With the offending wire gone and a new tube in place inflated to 120 psi, it was time to get on the road...and we did...at about 10:30. It was another day of good road, cool and cloudy, and rather uneventful. We got into Corvallis by about 1:00, found our way through the city with a little help from Patty, and got to the campsite at about 1:30. Gavin had some pain in his knee when he got into Corvallis, but after taking ashort break we went on, and he did fine.

Patty:
Well after a ratherlong day yesterday, today was quite nice. We all slept in (think 6:30 instead of 4:55), and got moving at an easy pace. I once again loaded the car, and tried headed north. The Willamette Valley was at its finest, gorgeous colors and beautiful landscapes. I passed the guys about 15 miles out. I continued on toward Corvallis, and at about noon Kevin sent me a text saying that they were at 20 miles and continuing on.

I got through Corvallis without much difficulty, I left Kevin a couple of voicemails clarifying som directions. I got to the campgrounds located at the Benton County Fairgrounds, but couldn't find anyone to check in with. By the time that Gavin and Kevin arrived I had everything arranged. We set up camp and then headed into town to get some lunch and quarters for laundry. Gavin also wanted to got to the Comic Book shop that we had googled on the internet the night before. We were ableto accomplish everything easily. We came back to camp and the guys got showers and then we attended an evening service at Grant Ave Baptist Church, the church that Kevin attended during his time at Oregon State. There were actually some people that still remembered him 30 years later.I am now sitting in the laundry room finishing up the last of the clothes...more tomorrow.

Seven days down and two to go!!

Ride Stats
Distance today: 37.1
Distance trip: 291.6
Max Speed: 20.3
Av Speed: 12.8
Time: 2:53