When they say "snow", believe them

Kent, Ken, and I (I guess you could say The Three K's!) planned to go on a bike ride today.  This morning I checked the weather and noted that there was a 70% chance of a 1" accumulation of snow in Sandy, Oregon.  We'd be riding right through there.  Well, accurately predicting snow in NW Oregon is anything but an exact science.  After touching base with each other this morning we decided we would still ride.  I brought the rain bike.

We met at Linneman Station. It was raining lightly with temperature in the low to mid 30's. There was some discussion on proper attire. I added rain pants as we pedaled off at 10AM.  We hopped on the Gresham-Fairview Trail and pedaled northward to Halsey Street and followed that east through Wood Village and Troutdale where we crossed the Sandy River and accessed the Historic Columbia River Gorge Highway. It continued raining lightly as we did so.

We chuckled a bit at some of my friends in a Chino, CA bike group.  They cancelled a ride today because the roads were wet.  We didn't laugh too hard though.  We realize that they don't get much rain there, and when it does rain the roads will have a lot of built up oil that makes things slick, just like it does here on the first rains each fall.  They don't get enough rain to ever develop the skills, or even to know what to be wary of.  We compared it to riding in snow.  The commuters here in Portland develop skills to ride on snow because they have to, we recreational riders just usually stay home when there is ice and snow on the roadways.

We were pedaling along at 17-18 mph and having a good time.   After passing the Stark Street Bridge the road began to tip upward and our pace slowed a bit.  Just past Springdale we took a right on Hurlburt road and pedaled toward Bull Run. (click HERE to watch a 30 minute OPB special on Bull Run)  At mile 14 we turned right on Gordon Creek Road and continued our climb. At mile 16 we saw our first snowflakes mixed with rain, though we had dropped down to the Sandy River and were less than 300 ft elevation. By mile 18 we were at almost 900 ft elevation and there was significant snow falling.  We took a brief stop to take shelter and chow down on some snacks.

Kent is smart enough to get out of the precipitation

Ken says he's already wet, no shelter necessary

It didn't take long for snow to accumulate.We continued on, what else could we do? We reduced speed to 10-12mph and stayed mostly in tire tracks somewhat cleared by passing cars.  It was still slippery, even in the "cleared" tracks. 

We eventually got nearly an inch of snow on the road.  The descent to the Bull Run River was taken slowly and carefully.  We climbed the ridge between the Bull Run River and the Sandy River then dropped into the Sandy River Canyon. On the way back up toward the town of Sandy the accumulated snow on the roadways mostly dissipated.

As we rode into the town of Sandy, we were assaulted by a deluge of ice pellets. As we pedaled past the Jonsrud View Point all we could see was frozen precipitation  falling in front of fogged glasses.

I was leading Kent as we rolled down a grade with a small climb ahead of us.  I got on the aerobars to gain momentum and attack the hill.  As I rolled up the hill and speed dropped I got off the aerobars and stood on the pedals.........only to now see my Garmin and note that I was off course.  I turned around and pedaled the quarter mile back to where I had missed the left turn onto Dunn Road.  

The boys had a good laugh when I caught back up to them.  Ken wanted to be back in east Portland by 2pm so that he could pick his daughter up from school.  We pedaled along with purpose. We made our way southward to the little burg of Boring, Oregon, where we accessed the eastern end of the Springwater Corridor trail and road it back toward Linneman Station.

Along the way Kent picked up a piece of glass.  We were all glad that it didn't happen in the snow and rain, as the weather was pretty decent at this point.

Even with the flat, we made good time.  Ken made it back in plenty of time to pick up his daughter.  He sent the conversation to me. It perfectly summed up our day.

"I got back in time to pick my daughter up at school. As she was telling me about her day, she said "and daddy, just
For a little bit during recess it snowed! Did you see any snow today?"

I replied "I was riding my bike in the snow!"

As it ended up, my clothing choice was perfect.  I was a bit warm on the climbs, and just a bit chilly on the descents.  Can't get much better than that.

HERE is a link to a more informative map of our route.

  ..............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle........total
Today..............45...........0................0............0.............45 Jan.................710..............0...............0.........0.............710
Feb................142..............0...............0...........0.............142
Total.............852.............0...............0..........0..............852