Day 3: Portland to Hood River

We had a very nice 73 mile ride today to Hood River.  The weather was perfect - warm temperatures and a slight tailwind all day.  The first 16 miles heading out of Portland was all on a great network of bike paths - much much better than our ride into Portland yesterday on Highway 30.  At mile 21 we entered the town of Troutdale which has an arch at the entrance to the main street which says "Gateway to Columbia River Gorge".  For most of the next 50 miles we were on roads and bike paths which overlooked the gorge.  It was very scenic and many stops were made along the way for picture taking.  I've included a picture of the gorge and of Multnomah Falls which is one of most popular attractions in the Gorge.  We did have one tough several mile climb with grades reaching 14% made more difficult by a layer of new gravel which had recently been laid over the old asphalt - needless to say we were very careful on the steep descent. For the final 11 miles into Hood River we rode on the shoulder of Interstate 84.  It is somewhat intimidating to have a steady line of trucks going by you at 70+ miles, but the shoulder was good and at least we got a nice draft from the trucks.  During the morning I rode most of the time with Stacy, a skin cancer researcher from Phoenix.  She's a strong rider and found faster company after lunch.  Craig Kipp and I paired up after lunch and had a very pleasant ride.

Hood River is called the "Wind Surfing Capital of the World"  because the constant winds blowing through the gorge combined with the wide expanse of the river make for near perfect wind surfing conditions.  I can see numerous surfers from the window of our hotel which is located in the heart of the town near the river.  After I complete this post I am going to wander around the small downtown before dinner to get a better feel for the place.

You might be wondering about my physical condition after yesterday's accident.  Except for a "world-class" bruise on my left shoulder and chest, I'm actually in surprising good condition - I can even walk. Although I have swelling and soreness plus numerous abrasions, they did not impede my riding.  I am really fortunate and expect that I will improve everyday. 

As any good nuclear engineer does, I've done a root cause analysis of yesterday's accident with the objective of putting "procedures" in place to prevent this type of accident in the future.  The cause was clearly bad judgement on my part.  I was riding in a pace line with people I didn't know on roads that were in poor condition; and my front wheel was within a foot or two of the rear wheel of the rider in front of me.  I was completely blind to the road conditions ahead.  In this situation I should have allowed at least 5 feet of space so that I could see the road conditions for myself and react accordingly.  To follow as closely as I was doing, you need to know the riding behaviors of each member of the pace line and have complete confidence that each one will effectively comminicate upcoming road hazards - becuse you are literally putting your life in the hands of the other members of the pace line.  So effective today I've put the 5 foot rule in place whenever riding with more than one other person.   As we continue across the county I'll relax the rule if I find a small group of riders that I trust.  If I don't, I'll be doing a lot of solo riding - which I really enjoy except when there are strong headwinds.

Tomorrow we have a 106 mile ride to Boardman OR.  It looks like there is one tough climb near the beginning, but then it is fairly flat the rest of the way.  Hopefully the winds will continue to be favorable.

Steve