Cherry Pie RR

This past weekend the team headed over to Adair Village for the very first race of the season, Cherry Pie RR. To make the trip even more fun Austin and myself (Shane) took off early and headed up to Estacada to visit Sam's (our official team supporter/keeper of sanity/organizer and gf) family.

When we arrived, we caught a nice break in the weather and went out for nice recovery ride along Faraday Reservoir. There is a utility access road along the lake that is closed to traffic, making for a nice meandering ride with no road noise! 

One of the spillways in the reservoir.

While riding, we noticed little 'sticks' all over the road, which upon closer inspection were actually salamanders taking a break from getting flooded from all the rain. Thankfully, with no traffic to worry about, we were able to dodge the little guys without having to worry about ourselves getting squished either!


Our timing ended up being perfect, because when we got back to the house, the rain began to come down. We ducked inside the house to be greeted by a huge taco feast prepared by Sam's wonderful mom!

Austin about to enjoy some delish tacos.

After gorging ourselves on the delicious meal, we settled in on the couches for a 'friendly' game of  Scene It! The game started off nicely, but it quickly became apparent with all the trash talking that this was going to be a serious fight to the end! After toying around with everyone, I buckled down and closed off the night with an epic streak of winning answers to take (for now) the unofficial 'Pharris Household Scene It!' champions title.

Austin and Brian enjoying the dry pavement.

The next morning we drove down to Corvallis to meet up with Brian Buskirk so we could pre-ride the course. Conveniently, my mom and step-dad live about a 1/2 mile from the start of the course so we were able to have a home base to start our ride from.

Austin and Shane pre-riding.

We were getting all the luck this weekend with the weather, because we saw sunshine during our pre-ride, sunshine in the valley....in February? You bet! It made for a beautiful ride through the rolling fields.

After a good time in the saddle checking out the course, it was time to re-fuel with a delicious, warm meal of homemade spaghetti, bread and salad from my mom. After the filling meal, a cherry pie was unveiled in celebration of well, the Cherry Pie Road Race we would be racing the next morning! 

Alice/Mama/Mom serving up the pie!

Although already full, we couldn't turn down something as good as a freshly baked pie and ice cream! We all overate ourselves silly and retired to the living room in deep food coma's and rested for the upcoming race in the morning.


The dawn of race day brought along some nice weather for us to spin the wheels in, which was fantastic after hearing reports it was supposed to be raining. The nice weather guaranteed a nice, safe, dry course for use to race on. Juan Ramirez joined us early in the morning and after some fun antics, we all rode over to registration to check-in for our respective races.

Austin showing Brian some love as
he shows off his guns.

I must say, having a 1pm start time, sure makes for a great, leisurely morning. We were wide awake, had food in our bellies and were rearing to go by the time the neutral roll-out started.

Another one of Sam's talents is being the master number pinner.
Pinning up Austin.

Brian and Shane before the race.

Austin, Brian and Shane at the top of the climb after the race.

 The racing for us was fun overall. Felt good to throw some intensity super early in the season and being so early, we were all relatively happy with how we did!

Brian, Shane, Alice (Mom) & Ron back at the house after the race.

We were all pretty starving after the race and my mom was on top of it, feeding us tomato soup, freshly grilled cheese sandwiches and endless amounts of Rice Krispies Treats. Full and happy, we parted ways with Brian and Juan and packed into the Subaru for the trek back home over the mountains.


Until next time!


-Shane Johnson