zoobombers on Mt Hood

link to zoobomber video on local station. This happened the day we arrived at Mt Hood. We saw them in their U-haul van with capes, caps, armor, and mini-kid bikes loading up to go to the top.

www.kgw.com/video/featured-videos/Hoodbomber-cyclist-hurt-in-mountain-wipeout-99913339.html

More pix on Facebook page

My new boyfriend-- kinda on the dull side but he agrees with everything I say.

I put several pix of the trip on my facebook page. This has 2 eagles as seen from the kayaks on the Willamette River

July 30: Approaching Mt. Hood

Following a pasta lunch (cheese ravioli with pesto, plus M&Ms), we continued our 52 mile ride to Timberline Lodge located on Mt. Hood.

I think this pic was taken by fellow rider Russell Ewers, near the start of the six mile long descent off Bennett Pass (elevation 4647 ft). We were entranced by the cloud formation off the peak.

It's about 4.30 pm and we still have about 14 miles of riding to reach the lodge - the last 6 miles are uphill (approx 2000+ feet).

Visiting Peg and John in Corvallis

Following the end of the bike trip, Art and I got a car and drove down 99 west to visit Peg (an old bud from high school and UVa days) and her husband John in Corvallis. The views from some of the Willamette Valley wineries were so nice that we just stopped to take some pictures even though the wineries were closed.
We visited that night and traded stories of our bike trips (Peg and her daughter had just finished riding from Glacier NP to Jasper, BC). They elected to spend the night under the stars being saranaded by coyotes... it made me a little nervous so I elected for a bed.

Following a wholesome breakfast of buckwheat pancakes, hazelnuts (grown in OR) and their own blueberries, we set off for a little 15 mile kayaking adventure in the Willamette River. We passed the 2 bald eagles along with green and blue herrons. See pic of Art on John's tractor

Skamania Lodge to Mt Hood Timberline

Skamania Lodge overlooks the Columbia River Gorge. From the sitting area, we enjoyed a glass of wine as the sun set with a gentle breeze. However, there was little rest for the wicked as we started the following day on the opposite side, first with a lovely ride on a 9 mile RT bike path overlooking the Gorge. A 12% and 14% rise out of town on 13th street got our hearts beating-- I think the city planners just liked to see consecutive numbers. At the top of the hill was a breathtaking view of Mt Adams behind us and Mt Hood ahead of us. From there, it was a set of gently rolling hills but accompanied by a headwind which might as well have been a climb as it took a commensurate number of calories to work through it. The day progressed and with it, the elevation continued as did the heat. At 4:30 we were at the bottom of the last climb of 6 miles to the lodge.We had climbed 5590 feet already. At 5 mph, head and cross winds, and a steep grade, it would have taken another 2 hours...I just didn't have it in me to do it so I took the van to the top.

We came across a group of "zoo bombers" from Portland getting ready for a race down from the lodge on kid's bikes. About 15 of them in a variety of clothing, including capes and body armor, were in a UHaul trailer going up the mountain as we were getting into the van. They get a bike selected at random and go down the hill for nothing more than bragging rights. as being the fastest. As we learned on Saturday from the paper, one kid crashed on the ride and was seriously hurt.

See the photo of our view from the top the following morning. We were above the clouds and only the other tall peaks (Mt Jefferson, Mt Batchelor, 3 Sisters) were visible.

We decended 6 miles at hand aching speed (hand aching from gripping the brakes). It was a good day to have brought all that extra gear along as the temps and the wind chill were pretty chilly. While we expected to have all downhill to Sandy, in fact there were a couple little 10% surprises mixed in. At the top of one of the hills was a pack of attack goats eyeing me as much as I was eyeing them.

We ended the trip with lunch in Sandy, a ballad from Mark the dentist, and a sigh of relief/sigh of wishful want of more.

Day 4: Climb to Paradise (Mt. Rainier)

Today we made 3 climbs: Chinook Pass, Backbone Ridge, and Paradise, and two descents. Chinook Pass climb was 2900+ feet. The descent off Chinook was exhilarating and overwhelming....great fun! Following a nice lunch and rest near 'Grove of the Patriarchs', we climbed 1000+ feet up and over Backbone Ridge, then descended into Stevens Canyon. Photo shows the last climb of 2600+ feet - view is SSE down-canyon towards the lunch stop. Kitty and I had to rest before the final push up to Paradise Lodge (another 4+ miles), so we stopped on the switchbacks labelled as 'The Bench' on the NPS map. Today's ride started at Cliffdell, which was the last overnight lodge when approaching Mount Rainier from the Yakima valley. We covered 65 miles today. The most exhausting day I have ever had on a bicycle!!

Mt. Rainier to Mount St.Helens

Descending from Paradise Lodge on Mt. Rainier, towards Longmire ... our guides advised us to dress for 50 F, but once we hit the valley road next to Rampart Ridge, we had a chance to heat up....latte break at Packwood (I liked the cookies so much that I got two)....by mid-day we were pedaling across rolling hills on the SE slope of Mt. St. Helens....today was a 56 mile ride.

Day 5

Left next to heaven at Paradise (Mt. Rainier) for the 12 mile downhill ride, followed by another 11+ mile drop (of course, this is what we'd been doing the other direction for the last 2 days)-- (see the attached picture of the 3D of Mt Rainier, especially at the switchbacks) hands ached from braking, bone-chilling downhill ride but what a blast. Going up the road was the 150 miler RAMROD group which is the 150 mile ride around Mt. Rainier (Editor's note: we saw only 3 women of the 150 or so that we passed). It made me feel a bit like a wienie only doing 50 miles but we'd already paid our dues.

We continued pedalling through quiet backroads (Rt. 25) to lunch, which Art missed for the 4thday out of past 5). After another great lunch of blueberries, smoked salmon and salad, we loaded up the biles and proceeded to today's ending spot of Skamamia Lodge (Stevenson, WA). We didn't stop at Mt. St. Helens itself but had several viewing points, all of which were pretty spectacular. The Lodge is lovely-- golf course, lap pool, hot tub, view of the Columbia River Gorge, and wine.... and internet so we can catch up with all the lost days.

Dinner was fabulous (Art had beef with blue cheese and K of Kobag had little baby lamb chops(sorry, Susan), topped off with huckleberry creme brulee and cherry cobbler.

Yakima River

Had a wonderful down-valley ride from Cle Elum to Yakima....approx 80 miles....tailwind much of the way. Beautiful, narrow canyon, RR tracks on the opposite side of the river. Mid afternoon we dipped our bike jerseys into the icy river to cool ourselves off

- Art3

Day 1: Iron Horse Inn

We did a 40 mile out-and-back shakedown ride from South Cle Elum, located in upper Yakima Valley. Our lodging was in a RR bunkhouse....and I made a new friend, even though I had to do all the talking

- Art3 .... from Stevenson, WA

Day 2 cle elem to Yakima 80 miles in 101 temp

Beastly day of 101 temperature but the views were fantastic. The terraine changed constantly from wooded forests to dry upland to desert. We took this picture just after climbing a long hill.

Day 2. Cle Elem to Yakima-80iles in 101 temps

Ride leader looks like Justin bieber; stayed at iron horse inn complete with cabooses for rooms; town fundraiser was "pork in the pines"; 42 miles

Seattle and Wine

Met up with Carrie and Dan in the afternoon and saw their new pix of Italy--food, fountains, frivolity! As we sat salivating over the fabulous food, Carrie and Dan made us a lovely dinner of salmon over pea puree and mint with Reisling wine. Ahh!
For our evening adventure, we went to a Proseco wine tasting, featuring a real Italian wine salesman (blue eyes, curly hair, great shoes) who described the different selections that ranged from $16 to $60 (Jeio and Bistol). They even provided brochures for a Ralaix (sp?) and Chateau property outside of Venice where the grapes are grown--- good for our next visit.
K of Kobag

Volcano Training

My training for 'Volcanoes of Washington' ride has consisted of a series of 30 mile rides, on mostly flat trails of Iowa. But I did find a couple of short, really steep hills so I can practice climbing...