On Any Sunday

Date: Sunday, April 22nd, 2007
Leave: 7:00AM
Return: Noon
Distance: 69.78 miles
Average speed: 15.4 mph

Drop-kicked my second kick ass ride out to Multnomah Falls with Captain Crafty yesterday. Gaht Damn that ride is awesome. Early on, it looked like we were on track to be dumped on all day like last time, but I only got hit by about 10 drops of rain all day. It stayed pretty cool all day, which was actually good because I was dressed for cold and rain.

We met up at the intersection of the I205 bike path and the Springwater trail about 7:15 and headed east towards the falls. The weather was a mix of ominous grey clouds and peering sunshine, and there's a stretch of the Springwater Trail east of I205 that absolutely teams with wildlife at that time of morning after a big rain. We saw upwards of 20 rabbits, tons of ducks and geese, feral cats and even a coyote -- it was very bucolic. We passed the time with conversation and a leisurely pace and made our way up 180th to Stark and had a nice descent down to the Sandy River at the base of the first climb of the day.

Justin crammed a couple of Shot Bloks in his face just as we were starting to ascend up towards Corbett, and learned the hard way that climbing with a mouthful of energy chews sucks balls. It's a nice climb up to Corbett, pretty easy, not too steep, but long. Once we got to the top, we got our first look out over the Gorge and it is always amazing. The sight is always envigorating, and it quickened our pace down to the Vista House where we took our first pause to soak in the view. The clouds we just high enough at this point that we could see all the way down the Gorge, and the morning mist gives it an ethereal asthetic that causes you to just stare at it endlessly. We sucked down some Gatorade and made the kick ass descent down towards the falls.

The ~8 miles from the Vista House to Multnomah Falls is awesome -- nice rolling hills and tons upon tons of waterfalls everywhere you look. The new asphalt is so smooth and nice, I stayed in my big chainring from the Vista House all the way to falls. Once we got to the Falls, we ate a bit, refilled our water bottles, and I had my requisite 2 shots of espresso, and we headed on. There is still a certain victorious feeling about rolling up on the Falls on bikes.

The way back up to the Vista House was nice -- I actually really enjoy that climb. It's not as bad as it seems going down, but it's long enough to really get your blood pumping. I was feeling really good and still had lots of legs, so I cranked up it at waited for Justin at the top. Turns out he slipped his chain on the way up (ugh) and was along shortly.

Just as we were pulling out of the Vista House parking lot, we saw a group of about 6 riders coming down. They turned out to be the first of about 50 riders that we saw coming up the whole time we were heading down. There is something kick ass about flying down a descent that you climbed earlier, and it's made even sweeter when there are people chugging up it while you are rocketting down.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, save for the fact that Justin did great and I am totally confident that Reach the Beach will be a breeze. We parted ways at Burnside and I205 and I hit the manual carwash on the way home to clean up the steed. I got home, showered and dusted a box of Annie's Mac and Cheese with a can of tuna mixed in and took a nap with Miles. Bad ass Sunday.

To The Falls!

Date: Sunday, March 25th, 2007 Leave: 7AM Return: Noon-ish Distance: 70.4 miles Average speed: 16.4 mph

Ben and I met at the Tideman/Johnson Park rest area at 7AM on Sunday for our biggest ride to date: the wonderous (and far off) Multmonah Falls, which is about 35 miles east of downtown Portland. The weather was pretty iffy, a little drizzley and cold, but not unbearable on either front. We set off heading west on the Springwater Trail, keeping a nice and easy, but steady pace on the flats of ~17mph or so. Both Ben and I have ridden this portion of the Springwater several times, so we made really good time up to 182nd, where we turned north and rode up to Stark and turned east again. Stark is your typical large street bike path with lots of junk and debris in the way, so it wasn't long until Ben was gifted with a flat rear tire. It was just cold enough that waiting the 5 mins or so for him to change the tube had completely chilled me to the bones, and I was stoked to get back on the road... only to find that we were at the top of a 3/4 mile descent down to the Sandy river, which chilled me even further. As if on cue, as soon as we got to the bottom of the hill, Ben was flat again, so on came another 5-10 minutes of standing in the now increasing rain freezing our asses off.

While changing the tire just before the Sandy River bridge, and at the base of a fairly significant climb, three guys rode past us, at least one of which was on a fixie, which quickened Ben's tire changing pace and got us on our way, although we never saw those guys again. The climb up through Corbett warmed us back up, and was uneventful save for the fact that it began absolutely DUMPING rain on us... so much that it was ridiculous and fun to be trudging through the sheets water. The climb is not very steep, but pretty long and ends as you can either start the climb up to Larch Mountain or descend down to the Vista House and ultimately Multnomah Falls.

The quick descent down to the Vista House is really fun, especially after ~5 miles or so of climbing. We stopped at the Vista House and soaked in some more rain along with the spectacular (even in shitty weather) view. The stop was ultimately long enough to cool down again, which, given the descent from the Vista House down the historic Columbia River Highway, proved to be somewhat of a wool-headed move on our part, as by the bottom we were both frozen stiff again. Despite the cold, the only thing I could think during the descent was, "holy shit, we gotta climb this on our way back!"

The ride from the Vista House to Multnomah Falls is so awesome, especially on a bike. I have driven it several times in a car, but never on a bike, and it was just spectacular. There are so many falls and gorges and things that you miss at 35mph in a metal box that just jump out at you when you're on a bike. We were passed by only 3 or 4 cars, all of which were very careful and gave us lots of room, which was nice because it was still a colossal Oregonian downpour in our faces.

Getting to the falls was awesome, simply because it rules to roll up on a bike to a place that's a fair ways away from civilization, let alone that it was dumping rain and witch-tit cold. Ben snapped this picture of me with my shitty camera phone, which works even less in the rain -- thanks Cingular! I had a couple shots of espresso at the coffee stand and filled up my water bottles and we were off back up towards the Vista House. We took it easy on the climb back up, but even still it proved to be far less daunting than it seemed on the way down -- the more big climbs I do, the more I realize this is pretty much always the case. Still, getting back to the Vista House and up into Corbett felt great, and just as we crested the top, the sun came out in full force. It was totally a moment of shining awesomeness for me, and I think I began to annoy Ben with all my, "boy, this sure is awesome!" talk.

The ride back was pretty uneventful, but there was a bit of an annoying head-wind that made it less enjoyable than it could have been. I made it home to an empty house and took a shower and proceeded to construct an ass-kicking omelette with about 10 pieces of turkey bacon that tasted like it was made by the Specialized Angel.