Miles: 68.70
Terrain: Hilly river valley
Depart: 7:37 AM Arrive: 1: 22 PM
Riding time: 4:36:32
Average Riding Speed: 14.9
Depart: 7:37 AM Arrive: 1: 22 PM
Riding time: 4:36:32
Average Riding Speed: 14.9
Today's Ride
The first day heading east on the coast-to-coast ride, on the first day of summer, was quintessential Oregon! The Columbia River. Hills. Green trees everywhere. Hills. Logging trucks zipping by. Hills.
The Holiday Inn Express in Astoria opened their breakfast at 6:00 am so that we could get a jump start on the day. It was cool, in the mid-50’s, at 7 a.m. when we lined up at the luggage van to load and then we all assembled in our America By Bicycle jerseys for a group shot under the bridge that crosses over the Columbia River from Washington and passes high above the hotel. Then it was up to our rooms to get our bikes and head out for St. Helens, OR.
It was a great morning for riding
for everyone (except maybe the guy who got the first flat tire of the tour all
of 1.3 miles into the ride!). Almost
immediately out of town we started to get a series of short hills, but ones
that were between a 5-6% grade. Not
terribly hard since they were short, but you knew you were climbing hills! But
short and easy would soon end at the 20-mile mark when we faced a 3-mile hill
with 550 feet of climbing. But that was
just a warm up for the relentless 4-mile hill at mile 40 that climbed over 700
feet. There was a reward at the top—a great
panoramic view of the Columbia River and the majestic steel bridge across to
Longview, Washington (which we drove over on Saturday on the way here). See that view on the left side of this paragraph. We’ve been assured (threatened?) that today’s
hills are just a warmup for what awaits later!
One of our sag stops today was set
up at a state fish hatchery (how do the fish grow in that murky water?)—not
the normal kind of location you expect to see a bunch of cyclists stopping for
snacks, more water, and mechanical adjustments to their bikes.
I’ll be having the mechanic look at
my bike during “mechanic’s time” at 4:30 this afternoon. It’s not shifting
smoothly. Tonight ABB is providing us
with pizza. It’s early to bed tonight
since tomorrow’s ride is slightly longer than today—75 miles—with about the
same number of feet of climbing.
The first "real' day is in the books and I’m
happy to have begun in earnest my Bucket List Cycle Trip!
113 degrees? Was Mt. St. Helens puffing out a belch?
ReplyDeleteThe bike sat in the sun at the last sag stop. When the garmin came back on it was "pre-heated". High temp yesterday was probably somewhere in the low 80's. I was wondering if someone would see that. You passed the test! :-)
ReplyDeleteHow very PHX-like. 113 down here has been normal.
ReplyDelete