F-F-F-Frozen

So it was a pretty nice solo ride up to Larch Mountain. I felt great and it was a bit cooler than last time. I rode my Surly (rather than the new Ellsworth) because it was raining, but since I was solo, I spent some extra time tuning her up this morning, so she was running smoooooooth. The long-ass climb was easier than it was last time, but I wasn't chasing Ben, so that could have been a factor.

Coming down, however, was pretty much the most scared I have ever been on a bike. I was soaked to the bone by the time I got to the top, but was warm from the climb -- I had on a rain jacket and booties, but other than that it was all summer gear. At the peak of Larch (4,000'), the temp was in the 40s, so I cooled down quickly. I hung out in the summit parking lot for 10 minutes or so and hopped back on the bike heading down. That's when I realized that it was very fucking COLD. With 2 minutes of starting the descent, I was literally freezing and still had 13.5 miles to go until the Larch turn off (and still another 6 miles of descent from there) and it was totally dumping rain with heavy winds and I could no longer feel my hands. My head was pounding due to the cold wind whipping through my helmet, and that was when I realized that this could be a very dicey situation. It was without a doubt the coldest I can ever remember feeling in my life. I grew up in Alaska and Colorado and have skied and snowboarded since I was a kid, and still this was definitely the coldest. There were several times when I was shaking so hard that I thought I was gonna wreck.

I seriously considered calling Mandy and having her come get me, but the thought of sitting under a tree in the freezing rain for two hours was not very comforting. I also considered hitching a ride, but there weren't many cars up there, and I didn't see any that would have had room for the bike so I opted to keep moving. Every 5 miles or so, I would pull over and stick my hands in my mouth to get them warm enough to be functional again, which was marginally helpful. As I got lower in altitude, they stayed warmer for longer, which was nice.

I started singing at full volume after awhile to keep my teeth from chattering; it must have been a pretty interesting sight.

By the time I got to the Women's Forum Lookout just above Corbett over the Gorge, sun was breaking through the clouds and I was able to thaw out a little bit. The rest of the descent was cold, but not nearly as bad as the first part. The sun was sporadic but quite warm, and got me to the bottom. I hammered up the two Stark St. hills and got warmed up again, which was nice because as soon as I got past Mt Hood CC, it started dumping again and stayed like that until I got home. As soon as I put my bike in the garage, the sun came out. Nice.

Good times; nice work, Dave.

Mount Scott is Steep

Sorry for the lack of updates, I got a new bike that rules and I have been waiting to get some good pics and post a review, which I will do... sometime.

Today I busted out of work and up Terwilliger and eventually up steep as shit Mount Scott to the in-laws' house. It's not a long ride, but there is one section of hill going up Mt. Scott that I have wanted to tackle for quite some time. It's about a mile and a half of 10+%, totally kick ass. Super fun ride, and the new bike eats hills like they are candy corn.

The Conquerment of Larch Mountain

The road up to Larch Mountain went down fighting today. Ben, Richard and I stormed the hill with the fervor of religion and one goal in mind... get to the top. We left my house at around 7:15 AM and headed for the hill. It was a good crew of equal or near equal ability, and we set a good pace out the Springwater to Stark and eventually out the old Columbia Highway. Ben pulled pretty much from the Sandy River to the turn off for Larch Mountain Road, which marks the start of a 14 mile climb to the parking lot at the top of Larch Mountain.

I really had no idea what to expect from the ride. Lon described it, as he describes most things, as a piece of cake, but I have ridden enough with Lon to know that a piece of cake to Lon means that it will kick my ass and leave me puking on my shoes. This turned out to be a fairly accurate assesment of Larch Mountain. All I can say is that it just keeps going and going and going and going. There are really no flats or down hill sections after the first 4 or 5 miles, so there is really no where to rest, just keep pedalling, mile after god forsaken mile. It was brutal, and with every tenth pedal stroke came the urge to stop and rest and my will to fight that urge diminished with every bead of sweat that poured out of me. It was an epic battle fought in the trenches. I spent the last 2 miles fighting the puke, which turned out to be enough of an attention distractor to get me to the top. And I didn't puke. Sweet.

The descent was both victorious and raucous. Like a sailor on shore leave for the first time in months. All of the potential energy wound up on the climb was released in a furocious volley to the bottom. I hit 42MPH and was yelling into the wind as the pavement flew from my wheels. It was amazing.