This is a nice 34 mile ride from Troutdale. We got kind of lost and had to ride in the dark a bit, but this is a great scenic route with lots of little climbs.
Close to town with relatively little traffic once you’re off the main road.
Brian
Author: brian26
America’s Scariest Roads
Highway One/Big Sur
California
Alfred Hitchcock could not have conjured a scarier highway—122 miles of vertigo between Monterey and Morro Bay. Two lanes for nearly its entire length, the road meanders along cliff tops poised high above the Pacific, including 33 bridges and countless drop offs into liquid oblivion. Anyone faintly squeamish should not attempt to drive this route.
I stumbled across this and any scary road might be interesting on a bike and fun in a car…
Cherry Blossom Classic
Last weekend was the first edition of the Cherry Blossom Classic stage race in The Dalles, Oregon. This race is basically an early edition of the Mount Hood Cycling Classic using stages that are all east of Hood River to take advantage of more reliable spring weather.
3 days, 4 stages and a boat load of climbing.
I was invited to ride with what turned out to be the biggest single category team ever to race out of a bicycle shop in Hood River – Mountain View Cycles. We were mostly a bunch of old guys racing in Cat 4. It was an impressive showing with some great support and I am very optimistic that it will grow into a good team with some nice results.
Day one was a 38 mile circuit race of two laps with a lot of wind. Day two was an 8 mile time trial in the morning and a criterium in downtown The Dalles Saturday afternoon and a 55 mile 5200 feet of climbing road race on Sunday (map above).
I finished mid-pac, which is better than I would have done a year ago. I must earn redemption!!! – at least I’m headed in the right direction…
I shall return.
BT
Mosier to Rowena
This ride starts in Mosier (5 miles east of Hood River) and travels 9 more miles east to Rowena, by way of the “Rowena Loops”. At the finish point for this ride you can cross under the freeway to Mayer State Park on the Columbia River.
The Loops are a 600 ft decent (and climb back) on a 2 mile stretch of road that is very popular amongst car manufacturers for use in advertisements.
The round trip is 18 miles and has 1,500 feet of climbing.
Twin Tunnels
This is the ride you can take anybody on. It’s an out-and-back that ends next to a couple of places to get coffee and / or ice cream. The trail is heavily used – often by people that have no idea that anybody else might also be trying to use the trail. So, stay to the right and look around before stopping and starting.
There is a viewpoint just short of 3 miles from the parking lot that is a good place to turn around with smaller children or anybody that doesn’t want to pedal up a hill.
California to Ban Black Cars?
CARB (the California Air Resources Board) has proposed a mandate that would, as of now, make black cars impossible in California. This is to be done in the name of “global warming”.
Some states, and even municipalities (in Oregon for example), would very much like to impose their own regulations on automobile manufacturers – this was previously declared a Federal issue by the Bush administration. The purpose of the regulations is to “do good” by mitigating the “damage” done by your car. Now, it seems, that being black is bad.
CARB So Crazy: California To Ban Black Cars
Autobloggreen recently got its paws on a presentation (PDF, read the whole thing) from the California Air Resource Board’s public “cool cars workshop.” And let’s just say the thing exudes the kind of bureaucratic overreach heretofore only imagined by folks sporting the latest in tinfoil chapeau. Here’s the logic: cars that get hot when they sit require greater air conditioning, which increases fuel consumption and (tada!) air pollution. And since architectural surface coatings are 25-35 percent reflective, there’s no reason not to require similar levels from auto paint, right? Skyscrapers, cars; potato, potahto. CARB will require vehicle surfaces to reflect at least 20 percent of solar energy by 2012, a figure that no black auto paint can currently achieve. One third of OEM palettes must meet the 20 percent mark by then, and all OEM paints must meet the goal by 2016. Oh, yes, and by 2016 even collision repair shops have to use the special paint. The only mitigation for these rules are if you sufficiently increase the Rd factor of your cars windshield glazing. And just to keep a song in your heart, “other compliance options are under investigation.”
The benefits? About .8 million metric tons less CO2 released per year. At an estimated OEM cost of between $39 and $128 per vehicle. But the real price is paid by the consumer, who will not only shoulder the OEM cost increase but will also see repair costs increase while losing the freedom to buy a car in their preferred color. Reducing cooling emissions is one thing in a skyscraper, where a one-time glazing investment can greatly reduce both the cost and environmental impact of cooling. But for government to transfer architectural regulations wholesale to the automotive sector betrays both a lack of perspective and an attitude of regulation-at-all-costs. Given the myriad improvements to efficiency and emissions that continue to occur in the automotive sector, regulating car color comes across as nothing more than an exercise in bureaucratic power for its own sake. And it hastens a world where cars no longer reflect the diversity of our culture and aspirations. Or are we supposed to be happy that CARB didn’t mandate one single acceptable color?
Another Winter Ride
Most of the rides from Hood River cover roads to the south (up the Hood River Valley), or to the east (including The Dalles). This ride does a little of both and covers one of the epic Gorge climbs (7 Mile Road). Also, it never exceedes 2,000 ft in elevation, which makes it a good early season option for avoiding poor road conditions and colder temperatures. In the summer months The Dalles can get very warm and this ride is best done on a cooler day or with an early start.
This ride starts at Egg Harbor (a good place for breakfast, and you’ll need it) and ends in front of 3 Rivers Grill (a good place to sit on the deck and have a frosty cold beverage).From Hood River you work up the West Side of town The roads are light with traffic and pass through orchards and one of the town’s golf courses. You then cross the Hood River and up a short hill toward the town of Odell before crossing The Valley to the east for the ride back down East Side Road.
Now, back in Hood River, travel east on old Hwy 30. Hwy 30 from Hood River to Mosier is now a very wide bicycle trail (beware of loose dogs, unatended children and bewildered tourists – travel cautiously). From Mosier keep riding east on lightly traveled roads through more orchards, with views of Mt. Adams and the Columbia River. This portion of the trip includes a twisty 2 mile decent from Rowena Crest that is so beautiful that many car and motorcycle manufactures choose to film advertisements there.
Once in The Dalles, work your way over to 10th Street and continue east to Cherry Heights Road (near the center of town). Cherry Heights gains about 1,000 ft before the first little decent and then rolls before beginning a decent back toward the west end The Dalles and the start of the 7 Mile Road climb.Here you can turn left and tackle the 1,500 ft climb (it’s kind of a shortcut) that will then decend to Mosier. Or, you can continue another mile or so back to Hwy 30 and return to Hood River over the same route on which you came.
The climb is worth the trouble, however. There are spectacular views any time you choose to look for one and the descent will permit you to reach speeds that you have believed are myths told by comentators of bicycle races on television.
If your goal is to see it all in The Gorge, this is a good start.
Driver School
The 2009 Oregon Region SCCA Driver School is now history. This was my second year as lead instructor – this time I shared the responsibility with one of my 25 Hours of Thunderhill team mates, Bruce Wilson.
Lot’s of people make the school possible. All of the turn workers, officials and instructors that show up a day early, the Stewards that make sure the paperwork stays in order, Todd the Road Race Director, who does all of the liaison work, and Karen in the Region office that personally walks everybody through the registration paperwork. Karen describes the process as like herding cats – whatever that is…
There were quite a few high points for me. There was really good progress made by everybody – most of the students had previous experience and completed the requirements necessary to compete in a Regional race. A handful of students were pretty quick and mostly needed guidance regarding their responsibilities (in addition to driving the car) while on course. There were no reported collisions this time – last year we had a couple, and most everybody always had a big smile on their face.
One student showed up in a mid-eighties vintage Renault Cup car (photo). I raced against this exact car at the beginning of my racing career. I had no idea that any of these things still ran. August, the driver, was fast, clean and consistent. In the one mostly damp session we had he was one of the fastest cars on course – that was awesome!!!
One of the Spec Miata’s that showed up was driven by a young guy that has just returned from a 15 month deployment in Iraq with a Stryker Brigade (photo). Eli is one of the nicest people you will ever meet and was quick enough to catch the attention of the Spec Miata brain trust that was working the school. It’s only right that we fastrack him toward making up an extra 15 months worth of racing experience – Eli will get lots of help on his way to becoming a front runner.
The first Regional race happens later today and many of the students will be seeing a green flag for real for the first time. Here they go again…
BT
Weekend of Racing and Riding
Two races followed by rides to get the daily total over 80 miles.
These are the highlights.
Long Beach – Palos Verdes Loop
After the crit in Long Beach today, as after the Bulldog race yesterday we did another ride. The trip in and out of Long Beach is kind of sketchy, but the Palos Verdes part of the ride is spectacular.
The Hard Corps race series at Camp Pendleton benefit programs that support Marines, Sailors and their families. This race was a blast and for a great cause. Riders of all abilities participate in a very friendly atmosphere.
There is something about being on a Marine base that makes me feel differently than when I’m anywhere else. It’s hard to put to words, there is just something that makes me want to work harder – as if there is something extra to prove. Having the Marines (and some Sailors) that had volunteered to work the race telling me what a great job I had just done made me feel proud that even for just a little while they thought that I could hang…
After the race, my brother-in-law, Joe and I rode from Oceanside down to Torrey Pines and back along the Coast Highway. Another great SoCal ride along the beach with lots of cool places to stop for coffee or food along the way.
Ride Around Orange County
Thursday Coffee Crew is a regular ride all year (as far as I know). This is an option if you want to be abused at 6:10 on a weekday morning in Southern California.
I’ve done this ride twice and I always have a bit of warm-up getting to the start at Campus and University (adjacent to the UC Irvine campus). It’s a big group and the ride remains civilized until it gets into the neighborhood of the old Air Base (MCAS El Toro).
On this day we rode with the group until splitting to meet a couple more people in Laguna Beach for a ride through Laguna Canyon followed by a long spin out to Long Beach and back.
Great before work ride (if you’re into that sort of thing – work, I mean…).