Well, sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don’t. Pretty safe statement overall and works in many different languages and socio-economic political situations.
I am extremely fortunate to live in one of the most beautiful parts of the continental United States. I ride my bikes; mountain bike and road bike, as much as I can, there are trails and nearly traffic-free roads at the end of my driveway.
Because of all the riding I do, I am wearing out my bikes. I would like to think when you pay a few thousand dollars for something, that it will last, but that’s not the case. So, a few days before the August Mountain Bike Oregon event, a really great happening that I really want to go to for reasons I can’t divulge completely right now, I blow out the freehub on my mountain bike. This is not an off-the-shelf part. One company had it in stock. They are thousands of miles from here, I ordered the part on a weekend and begged them via email to please send the part as quickly as possible. Hopefully, the part will arrive tomorrow via overnight air delivery. I’ll put everything together and we will leave for MBO the day after that at 9AM. This is nerve wracking, but I love this kind of thing. Finish up at the last possible minute and throw it out there with no testing or “trying it out”.
Since my mountain bike has been incapacitated, I’ve been on my road bike. I live on top of a small mountain, a solid climb is a part of every ride. The road up the hill has some real steep sections; Tour de France climbers would be challenged. On the other hand, there is very little traffic. There are some logging trucks, but they seem amused when I race them down the hill, as long as I let them win.
When you ride down the south side of the hill, you get an awesome view of Mt. Hood.
After you grind back up the steep sections of Snowden Road and ride onto the upper reaches of the foothills, you will ride through ranches on the north side of the hill and get a nice view of Mt. Adams.
This is a challenging and beautiful place to ride. At the end of the ride, you can hit Everybody’s Brewing in White Salmon and hang out with people who ride here every day. There are places to camp and nice hotels, hostels and B&Bs around.
Keep a low profile, share the road, be cool.
Oh yeah, my mountain bike is broke down and when I stopped to take one of the photos in this blog, I noticed one of the pedals on my road bike was broken. I have spent over $300 in the past few days on bike parts. Please, powers that be, I am not made of money! New bike parts, but beans for dinner.