Training, or an Ice Cream Ride?????

Clare from the social bike group joined me today on a ride from OMSI with a planned destination of Multnomah Falls and back via a 77 mile route. The forecast said a 70% chance of rain so this was likely to be wet ride. I brought the Marin, which has fenders, and a few pounds on my Scattante. Clare is in training for an Iron Man competition in Idaho in June and brought her Felt TT bike.

We stared off along the Springwater Trail to get us eastward. Once out in the Orient area we took the `08 RAO course in reverse which meant we rode 302nd Ave to Kerslake Rd then Stark St with the intention of crossing the Sandy River via the Stark Street Bridge. When we arrived at the bridge we found it was closed for maintenance. We were forced to bike down to Troutdale to get to the other side of the river. While pedaling through Troutdale we decided to take advantage of the proximity of Dairy Queen and have a banana split. :-)



Despite the forecast, we hadn't had much rain. A light shower from time to time but no real need for raingear. The wind was blowing pretty hard though.

As we pedaled up the Historic Columbia River Highway we saw signs saying it was closed before Corbett, evidently due to a rock slide. The detour forced us up over Woodard and Mershon. It gave us a bonus hill to climb. ;-)

Fighting the wind and the climbing was tiring Clare a bit. When we got to Corbett she voiced concerns about being able to ride the full planned distance. I had noticed her falling behind as we'd climb or turned into the wind. I did twist her arm a bit (though it didn't take much) and we made the climb to Women's Forum Park on Chanticleer Point.


Though I've been there countless times the view is always worth another picture.



We turned around and returned to Portland via the Historic Hwy with a slight detour on Bell Rd then another detour on Woodard. When we got back to Troutdale we rode Halsey Street back into the inner east side where we moved over to Broadway and finished the ride to the Willamette River. When we were about 45 minutes out yet the skies opened up and it began raining. Clare had commuted via bike to OMSI for the start of the ride today so this is where we said our goodbyes with her crossing the Broadway Bridge and me making my way south back to OMSI. As we each went our own way it really began to rain hard. The wind was kicking up also Hate to admit it but it was pretty miserable riding the last 15-20 minutes. I was riding into the wind and rain. Hopefully Clare had a bit nice time of it with the direction she was heading.

The question of the day was "Is this an ice cream ride or a training ride?". Well, since the forecast was for rain and we rode anyway, I guess this has to be recorded as a training ride. But then again, we did stop for ice cream. I guess it gets a check in that column too! ;-)

66 miles, 4300 ft of climbing.


............BIKE............LIFECYCLE.........TOTAL
Today.......66................0.................66
Jan........618...............0................618
Feb........692...............0................692
March......807...............0................807
_________________________________________
TOTAL.....2131...............0...............2131