Goals For Cycle Oregon Week

In my preparations for Cycle Oregon this year I have been thinking - what have I done or not done in past CO trips that I want to ensure happen this year? As such I have come up with some overall goals...my own personal CO mission statements I guess.

1. Ride slower and enjoy the journey. This is a hard one for me sometimes and the desire to turn CO into another training exercise for nothing is strong. In past years speed came all too easy being on high racer recumbents. This year on the trike I will have the perfect platform for cruising and relaxing.

2. Ignore the speedo. Following #1 is to not take tabs every mile of my average speed, etc. I'll keep it on to keep the milage totals, but might just put a piece of tape over it.

3. Stop at the sights. Focusing on the speed and "OMG I have to maintain my average speed" has caused me to to blow past sights and photo ops on past CO trips. Later I think, wow, that was dumb. Example: Last year I saw that little coffee place the last day that had the banana outside and half a VW through the wall. I thought how cool that was. I blew past it as I "had a pace going" and wanted to maintain it. Lame. This year I get to redeem myself by stopping there and enjoying their wares and a bit of conversation. Repeat at as many places as feasible along the way.

4. Ask people to take pictures of me and take others for them. I wind up with a zillion pictures and videos of my CO adventures and about 2 pictures of myself. Asking others to take a pic and then offering to take theirs for them is a good conversation starter and good for the scrapbook too.

5. Savor the harder parts of the ride. In the past I have stared at the maps for long periods dreading parts of the ride. I speak of the steep climbs. I would worry over them before i was even there. Would I fall over? Will I be unable to unclip if I stall out? On three wheels this year I have decided to not think about it. How steep is that grade? Oh I forgot to think about it on the way up. I know from past experience if I just keep spinning I will make it to the top so getting my tummy all in knots is not worth it.

6. Thank every volunteer I can for their time. Too often I have not done this in the past. Not that I don't appreciate it or never said "thanks" but I need to verbalize it more - "thank you so much for volunteering!" I did this on the weekend ride really for the first time and it felt great to say and more than once led to further conversation and good memories.