ride preparations

Tomorrow I lead a small group on a ride of the Cherry of a Ride route. The actual event ride was last weekend but I was busy riding the Double Cookie. Tomorrow's route will cover 100 miles in the Hood River/The Dalles/Mosier area and have 8000 ft of accumulated climbing. If that's not enough, I am leading a slightly larger group on the same route again the next day!

We noted that Dave's tires were getting very near the end of their useful life so he decide to put on new tires before riding into the isolation of the east side of the Cascades tomorrow. He also needed a new spare tube so he opted to change both tubes to Slimelite's and keep his used "air" tubes as spares.

Whoa.... what issues I had! Dave opted for Forte Pro Kevlar tires. They fit tightly, and with the thin Slimelite tubes, I managed to pinch holes in three tubes before finally getting one installed. ........ just about the time you think you know a thing or two about fixin' bikes! :-(

Finally got the two tires mounted and aired up. Dave took the bike out for a short spin just to make sure everything was going to work.

Looks like we are ready for an 8AM start from Hood River!

Rain predicted in the Portland area, 0% chance of rain in The Dalles on Saturday, 40% chance of showers on Sunday. With The Dalles only getting 1/3 the annual rainfall that Portland gets we don't expect to get drenched this weekend. :-)

With relatively long stretches without opportunity to resupply pre-planning is going to be important for this ride. I'm hoping to get a chance to stash some gallon jugs of water at key points along the course prior to the ride. I've done that on other rides I've led and it is usually appreciated.

Need all the points I can get! ;-)