I had cleaned my chain the night before, but not re-lubed it yet. I had planned on doing that in the morning. With all the activity of the morning it slipped my feeble mind until our little entourage shoved off and I heard my dry chain making sounds. I U turned it and did a quick lube job. The "peloton" was a few blocks ahead by the time I got on the road. I managed to catch up to them as they made a turn. I carried my speed through the turn and jumped ahead of them, and looked ahead at a good down hill run. I pedaled up to speed and saw the yellow jacket of Steve about 50 ft behind me.
The road continued to descend toward the Sandy River and had a few twisties in it. I can do downhills pretty well, and corner well too. Within a half mile there were no bikes in my mirror. It was ok, because we had to climb up from the Sandy River to Women's Forum park on the Historic Columbia River Hwy. It's a decent climb and there were some strong riders in the group today. Several of them could out climb me on any given day. I hoped to stay ahead of them for at least the first few miles of the climb.
I crested the climb at Women's Forum (Chanticleer Pt) and hadn't been caught yet. :-)
Our trip leader's daughter was driving a support car, carrying extra clothing, food, water, and repair supplies. I did see her waiting at the top of the hill. Little did I know it was the last I'd see of any of our group until almost two hours after I'd finish the ride today.
I took the descent to Multnomah Falls fast, again trying to put distance on the hill climbing monsters that were surely going to gobble me up on that long 20+ mile, 4000+ ft climb from Hood River to Bennett Pass.
The morning had a few clouds but as the day progressed (and as we moved closer to the dry side of the mountains!) the sun began to poke through. It illuminated the cliffs on the Washington side of the river quite well. The sight started the Rod Stewart song "Maggie May" in my head that would play for the next hour or so. "The morning sun when it's in your face really shows your age, but that don't worry me none in my eyes you're everything"
I rolled past Multnomah Falls without stopping for a photo. Before long I ran out of Historic Hwy to ride and was routed onto I-84. Many cringe at the thought of riding on the shoulder of a freeway but this was a good run. The road had been recently paved and was buttery smooth. There was very little debris, and the shoulder was at least 12 ft wide!
Our route took us off the freeway onto frontage roads when possible and did so at Cascade Locks. The Bridge of the Gods was looking imposing in the morning light today.
I got to Hood River and felt some twinges of hunger. That's not a good thing when staring up a climb like I was about to undertake. I stopped at a McDonalds that was right next to our route. Had a sausage breakfast burrito and a large OJ. Was wondering a bit on how that would all settle in for me as I'd be working hard on getting up that hill.
I can report that it went well.
I had a 17.6 mph on bike average to Hood River, 52 miles, which I was pleased with considering it included a climb to Women's Forum in it.
Having finished my snack and a cell phone post to my Facebook page I gazed down the road. No bikes coming. Thought about it for a moment, then decided to get a jump on the "big hill".
I started pedaling up. The road of course rolled up and leveled off a bit, then climbed more as I climbed up out of Hood River. The route today took us mostly up the old highway through the Hood River Valley. I didn't have to get on Hwy 35 until Parkdale. I found the roads to be not quite as nice as the roads we took on the east side of Hwy 35 for the Race Across Oregon route.
There were some nice views though.
Mt Adams was behind us as we climbed up the shoulder of Mt Hood.
Hood River Valley is famous for it's orchards. Here Mt Hood stands watch over an orchard near Dee.
Once past Parkdale the real climbing began. The East Fork of Hood River showed a lot of white as it raced down the canyon, I was going a bit slower up!
I note that the roads really do seem to be designed more for autos than for bikes. Take for instance road signs. There's this one:
It might be telling cars that there is an area coming up where there is room to pull off and put on tire chains.
In "bike" what it really says is that you've been climbing awhile and are now officially on a mountain!
Then there is this one:
For autos it's saying to get ready to punch the throttle to get around that slow RV with a trailer you've been following for awhile.
In "bike" it is telling you that even though you are tired of climbing that you've got at least another mile to go..BEFORE you reach the passing lane, which is also on the climb up the hill, so you might as well get used to pedaling that low gear.
Then there is this one:
It might be warning those hauling big loads to use lower gears and keep their speed in check.
In "bike" it's saying get in your tuck, shift into your biggest gear, this is going to be MAJOR FUN!
But back to the climb at hand. I was on familiar road as I had ridden this stretch in late July on a leg of Race Across Oregon. I was working harder then! Today I was just pedaling. I had rolled my arm warmers down earlier in Hood River but about half way up I took off my leg warmers too. I was generating enough heat that I no longer needed the extra insulation.
As I neared the summit of Bennett Pass I rolled the arm warmers back on. At 4650 ft there was definitely a feeling of Fall in the air.
There was a fun and fast descent down the backside of Bennett Pass then the junction with Hwy 26. Once on Hwy 26 the climbing began again, just not for very long, as we climbed up the 4155 ft Barlow Pass. It was in this area that I reached the century mark for today's ride. I logged 8363 ft of climbing in the 100 miles with an on the bike average of 15.6 mph.
From Barlow Pass on it was going to be pretty much a downhill run back to Barlow High School about 40 miles away. That would help bring that average back up! I usually figure I can average about 15 mph on my bike, even with hills, as long as I get the downhills as well as the uphills. Thing were looking good to be quite a bit faster than that today since I was sitting nearly 4000 ft higher than the finish location!
I thought I had a nice photo of White River area but alas the camera had gotten bumped into movie mode and I didn't notice until I was well past.
I was surprised that my fellow riders hadn't caught me on the climb. I figured if they hadn't caught me on that long climb they weren't going to catch me on the descent.
As I pedaled past the turn up to Timberline Lodge I couldn't help but think back to Race Across Oregon in 2008 when we finished with a dash up that road. Was certainly glad that I was going to be continuing to descend today rather than riding up to Timberline!
I was already moving along pretty quickly as I rolled through Government Camp and within just a few hundred feet began a 5 mile 6% grade....woo hoo! With my big 56x11 gearing I was able to keep a 40-45 mph speed up. The busy holiday traffic was choked down to about that same speed. The same few vehicles and I played cat and mouse all the way down the hill. They'd slowly pass by me, then I'd return the favor. More than one passenger would smile and wave as I'd pass them! When the shoulder would get too dicey to be in I'd signal and take the center of the lane. I was in that position as I gained on a big truck running down the hill in lower gears. Quite a feeling to be in the center of a lane at 45 mph and having to feather brakes to keep from running into the back of a motor vehicle!
The road eventually leveled off a bit and I got back onto the shoulder. Got a few more waves and smiles as the cars that had been behind me now began to pass on by. I was still riding along at 30mph+ so they weren't going by that quickly so I had plenty of time to trade smiles with them.
When I got to Sandy I stopped for a chocolate milk and a Snickers bar. Figured I could use the quick energy for the last 15 or 20 miles that would likely include a few rollers.
Our route would take us out Bluff Rd and past the Jonsrud Viewpoint.
I arrived back at Barlow High School at 4:25 PM. Not too bad I thought. It worked out to an on bike average of 16.6 mph and 9289 ft of climbing. My Garmin showed 2 hours off bike. The longest stop was in Hood River for that breakfast burrito, but I had many photo op stops and a few clothing adjustment stops, and a few food and/or fluid replenishment stops. All in all it was a good ride.
I loaded my bike back up, made good use of some baby wipes, and changed out of my bike clothes. I grabbed the camera and waited by the road to get photos of my riding compadres as they would be finishing up.
After just over an hour without seeing anyone yet I decided I should drive back on the course and see if they needed help (not likely since I knew that had a support car with them) or at least get an idea of where they were.
I was amazed to have to drive 25 miles back to find them.
Three of the guys were still riding, the three women and one other guy had bagged it near the 100 mile mark and were riding in the support vehicle. We all discussed plans, both for the remaining miles of riding as well as after ride food options!
The holiday traffic was heavy. On my trip through here there were a few vehicles, usually pulling a trailer, that would come a little close as they'd pass. I suspect the drivers were looking in their mirror to check on my location, but in doing so they'd drift over the fog line a bit. Knowing how reassuring it is to ride ultra events with a support car behind running "interference" I decided to follow behind the guys as they pedaled. I didn't have my big yellow flashing lights and "Caution Bikes Ahead" sign but did have my 4 way flashers on. It worked well, the vast majority of cars went to the left lane (two lanes each way in this section) and those that didn't at least straddled the center line. The bikes had plenty of room to maneuver safely.
The intrepid cyclists finished up just after 7:30PM. It wasn't a race, but none the less I was amazed to have finished a full three hours ahead of them. We retired to Joe's home for a brew, some food, and a good post ride debriefing.
............BIKE............LIFECYCLE.....ROLLERS....TOTAL
Today.......136...............0...............0..........136
Jan........618...............0................0..........618
Feb........692...............0................0..........692
March......940...............0................5..........940
April......934...............0................0..........934
May........905...............0................0..........905
June......1152...............0................0.........1152
July......1020...............0................0.........1020
Aug.......1000...............0................0.........1000
Sept.......348...............0................0..........348
_________________________________________
TOTAL.....7627...............0..............5.........7632
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