I rode my first hundred mile day since last
July 25th. It felt like it too. Not too long ago centuries were a twice weekly occurrence and oh so easy. I earned this one!
Thursday I was driving back through the
Columbia River Gorge following a
bike ride in the
Goldendale area and was noticing the hiker/biker trail improvements along I-84 on the Oregon side of the river. With the favorable weather I thought it might just be a good day to ride through the Gorge and check it out.
I posted an invitation on Facebook:
Does
anyone care to join me on Sunday for a Portland to Hood River and back
ride? The weather should be great, and I'd really like to check out the
new section of bikeway.
Looking at the company, I knew this was going to be no easy spin through the countryside. These boys can ride!
We took off from
Glen Otto Park in Troutdale. Ken had biked to the ride. I thought that with his 9 mile warm-up I might be able to keep up. He led us out at 20 mph with Paul and I just hanging on. The road follows the Sandy River upstream a ways, then begins climbing to
Chanticleer Point. Ken slowed a bit as the road tilted upward, but not much! My legs were burning. In one steeper stretch I shifted toward my inner chain ring, only to have the chain drop between the rings and lodge tightly.
I rolled to a stop as I watched Ken and Paul power up the hill. This has happened often enough, that I now carry a small open end wrench and Torx bit to loosen the chain rings and untangle the mess. It took about 10 minutes, but I was back on the road. When I got to the top the guys were waiting for me. We rolled down to the Vista House and took a photo.
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| Paul V photo |
We took the fast trip down the hill to Multnomah Falls, but did not stop for a photo. The falls were in deep shadows and would not have photographed well, and we've all been here many times before and had better pictures than we'd get today.
We continued on through the
Oneonta Tunnel
The area has the highest concentration of waterfalls in the United States. We rode past many falls, but the morning angle of the sun was just not conducive to good photos.
Before long we accessed the newly opened sections of trail. The trail follows the original alignment of the Historic Columbia River Gorge Highway. When the freeway was built it orphaned many segments of old road.
There is a plan underway to reopen those segments with new connections allowing continuous non-motorized travel from Troutdale to The Dalles. They've certainly done a nice job so far.
I got a close look at the Washington side of the Columbia River on Thursday. It is an arid view of dry yellow grass, scrub oaks in river canyons, and basalt outcroppings. Here on the Oregon side, literally just across the river, the view is of moss covered rocks, plummeting waterfalls, moist fissure canyons, and today also a surprising amount of snow.
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| Ken riding past one of the many late season snow drifts. |
We crossed over Tanner Creek.
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| You can always click on any photo to view it full size |
We got to Tooth Rock, where Interstate 84 goes through a tunnel, and bikes go over a hill, and down a concrete staircase. With my slow pace, and photo stops, I was the last one to the stairs, so I did not pause for a photo of them.
Just east of the stairs the path is littered with debris, in short order it was completely blocked!
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| Just west of the fish hatchery Paul practices cyclocross skills. |
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The path crosses under I-84 (really a nice job on the trail here) and continues on into
Cascade Locks on the north side of the freeway.
Normally we get on the freeway shoulder just east of Cascade Locks to ride the last 17 miles to Hood River. My mapping program has always suggested a ride up Herman Creek Rd. Today we took it. It was a 500 ft climb in 1 mile, only to drop back down to Columbia River level. It was very scenic ride , and eliminated a few miles of freeway riding.
After the Herman Creek exploratory ride we'd run out of options. We merged onto the freeway and pedaled. We put the tailwind to use and kept up 20 mph the last 11 miles to Hood River.
In Hood River we took a rest stop and talked about our time issues. It had taken 5 hours to get 53 miles. They had done a lot of waiting for me (though they didn't specifically call me out). Our devices showed they had spent nearly an hour stopped on the trip out. Some of that hour they waited while I took a photo, some times it was when I dealt with mechanicals, and sometimes it was just to wait at the top of hills because I was slow! We set our goal to ride back without so many stops. It was just after 2PM, and if I took 5 hours to get back I was going to need a light, a light that I was not carrying. The wind would be in my face. It was going to take effort. Ken and Paul both had time constraints. I told them that it was okay if they needed to ride on, I knew the way.
We discussed the route a bit just as we got to the west end of Hood River. The fastest way back would be freeway shoulder, though none of us were thrilled with that option. As we pedaled off, there was no decision on the route. As we dropped onto the freeway the other two pedaled off with intensity that I just could not match. I watched them pedal away and resigned myself to just keep pedaling.
The freeway shoulder is still quite littered with winter debris.
After 8 miles I picked up a radial tire wire and flatted the back tire. I lifted the bike over the
jersey barrier and set about changing it.
I was just about finished with the task when Paul rode up. I was surprised to see him, thinking he would be miles ahead. He explained that he'd stopped to take a phone call and saw me ride by. After asking if I needed anything he rode on.
The wind was a bit pesky. I didn't know what the others were going to do, but I planned to take the trail as much as possible, as it was less exposed than the freeway. I was lazy however and not wanting to climb more elevation then necessary. I bypassed the Herman Creek Rd climb, but got on the trial east of Cascade Locks.
I stopped for two ice cream sandwiches at a market in Cascade Locks then continued on the trail.
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| Climbing Tooth Rock on the historic trail |
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| Bonneville Dam and locks, from above the Tooth Rock Tunnel |
When I got to Multnomah Falls I decided to bypass the Chanticleer Point climb. The wind was not as strong here as it was at Cascade Locks and I figured I could make better time without the climb.
Bypassing the climb was going to put me in a left lane freeway entry however.
I put on my bright yellow windbreaker and turned on both rear blinkies for better visibility, and pedaled off. As I neared the 70 mph travel lanes I kept an eye trained to my mirror, when I saw an opening I pedaled hard and merged into the stream. I signaled my intention to move right. The vehicles gave me room, and I took it, moving to the right shoulder, now doing close to 30 mph. After that maneuver I slowed down a bit and tried to enjoy the view.
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| Crown Point from the freeway shoulder |
The wind was almost a non issue by the time I got west of Multnomah Falls. I was making good time and despite what seemed when I was eating ice cream at Cascade Locks, I'd have no problem getting back to Troutdale before dark.
I pulled into Glen Otto Park after 4 hours elapsed , and as expected, Paul and Ken were long gone. Ken called as I was loading the bike up and told me that he had cramped up badly and walked for about 15 minutes in Cascade Locks. He had also suffered a flat tubular tire. Luckily he carries a spare tire. By the time he got to Glen Otto Park Paul had already left. So it seems that the guy who pre ride said he was going to get his butt kicked, kicked butt today!
I was tired, but glad to get my hundred miles in. What used to be so easy, and a twice a week occurrence, now turned into an effort. I've ridden many miles with both Ken and Paul. They are not slouches, but I used to be able to not only keep up with them, but usually led them, especially on longer rides. Today I was the lanterne rouge. They probably put more than a half hour on me in the Hood River to Troutdale section.
Maybe I'm just out of shape, but both these guys are younger than I. I did my best riding in 2009 at 54 yrs old. Paul just turned 50 a few days ago and would like to ride
PBP next year. Maybe it's time to pass the torch.
............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today.........102................0..............0...............0............102
Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March
...........594.............0..............0...............0............594
Total..........1882...............0..............0...............0.........1882
