I lost a little riding time because of the eighty hour work week on the organic garlic farm so I’m trying to get a little form back before the August MBO this weekend. I’ve only got a couple days to get some serious riding in so today was as good a time as any.
I took off from the Hood River Hideaway and headed into the hills to the east of town
The road up to the ridge line is The Old Dalles Road. The term “road” is used pretty loosely around here, it’s basically anything you can drive a vehicle on. It’s kind of paved, kind of gravel and the rest is dirt. It’s a couple miles long and pretty steep, some sections are really steep
When I drive my truck up here, I never get past second gear, so you can get an idea of the gradient. There are some pretty spectacular views on the way up, doesn’t take much to get me to stop for a few minutes and check out the view
When you get about three quarters of the way up, the road turns to gravel and heads up to a radio antenna station. When you are standing next to a radio or wireless internet antenna or cell phone tower, you can be pretty sure you’re at the top. The mountain meadows that were green and full of flowers a few weeks ago are now brown and full of grass stickers and thistles
Finally, you get to the singletrack at the top of the ridge, it’s off the road and into the woods
Even in the middle of the day, it’s dark and cool in the woods. A welcome relief from the hot road up the hill
A great day overall. More photo and video work tomorrow, maybe another quick ride, then the bike has to go into the kitchen shop for a “once over” and some new skins before MBO.