Today we headed out of Portland toward Mt Hood for an 80 mile ride. We will do the last 35 miles of Day 2 tomorrow along with 82 miles of Day 3. This turned out to be a very wise decision as the ride to Government Camp had grades that varied between 5 - 7 percent and wound up with a total of 5,777 feet of climb for the day. We were glad to get out of the saddle at the 80 mile mark. Despite the harsh climb, we still averaged over 15 mph (as it turns out we managed to burn our legs a bit more than we should have)..jpg)
The temperatures stayed between 54 and 68 degrees and at times during the climb and descent we opted for cool weather gear which was always available thanks to Larry. I'm not going to complain too much about the weather as it is better to be a little cool than ride in hot weather. The hot weather will come all too soon. The scenery was once again spectacular. It is hard to put into words the the feeling you get riding a bike in this vast wilderness. Hard to believe but there was still snow on the ground when we hit the summit at Government Camp.
The bike lane (shoulder of Hwy 26) was wide and for the most part free of loose rock, at least until we crested the summit. On the descent from Government Camp, the shoulder got narrower and there was a considerable amount of loose rock.
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Even though I rode about 5,000 miles this year preparing for this ride, I was not ready for the climbs that Oregon gave me today (and the rest of the week for that matter). I'm sure that as I progress across the state, my legs will get stronger.
