Day 4: Hood River to Boardman

Today's 104 mile ride to Boardman was again a mixed bag.  The first 25 miles on Old Highway 30 were wonderful.  The weather was perfect, there was almost no traffic, and there were many senic views of the Columbia River Gorge.  I captured one of the views in the picture below.  I soloed most of the time on this stretch and thoroughly enjoyed it.   After the tranquility of the first 25 miles, it was quite nerve shattering to suddenly have to spend 10 miles on the shoulder of I-84 where I had my second flat tire of the trip - but this was only a warmup for the afternoon.  After a pleasant 12 mile ride on Highway 206 we had a nice Trek Travel prepared lunch at a roadside pullout.  

Then the fun began - another 54 miles to Broadman on the shoulder of I-84.  According to the Trek Travel folks, this is the only route to travel up this portion of the Columbia River valley.  I rode with Craig Kipp the entire way  - it was a real grind!  At least the winds were favorable, but it was hot with temperatures in the low 90's.  As we worked our way up the valley the treeless hills became golden brown, the air hazy from the many fires in this part of the country, and the scenic views of the Columbia "wrecked" by the many wind turbines lining the hills on the far side of the river.  Excuse the editorial - but it is simply tragic that we allow wind turbines to be sited in areas of scenic beauty!

Although I look like hell with my numerous bruises and abrasions from the Day 2 crash, my physical condition continues to improve.  I rode strongly today with only a moderate level of exertion and averaged slightly over 16mph.  Overall this is a fast group - and once again I was one of the last to arrive at the hotel.  I call it my strategy for conserving energy - others might just say I'm slow. We'll see how it plays out over the course of the trip.

We arrived at the River Lodge and Grill at about 3pm and I immediately had some post-ride recovery nutrition - peanut butter on a piece of bread washed down by a cold beer.  My room looks out across a wide expanse of the Columbia. After traveling along the Columbia for the past several days I can sum up my impression of the river as follows - it is really a big damned (it has lots of dams) river!

I've really been looking forward to tomorrow - it's the day my granddaughter Sarah moves into her college dorm to begin her freshman year in college.  You might agree that's exciting, but you might ask what that has to do with my cycling blog?  Well Sarah, who grew up in Yarmouth Maine is going all the way across the country to attend Whitman College - in Walla Walla - the destination of tomorrow's 90 mile ride! My daughter Deb and her husband Tim will be there helping Sarah move in and they are staying at the Whitman Hotel - the same place where I will be staying. What a remarkable coincidence!  I don't expect to see much of Sarah, but I hope to have dinner with Deb and Tim.

Steve