July 5th - Day 1

We ate, loaded the vans up, and hit the road about 0730. It was a beautiful morning in Troutdale, next to the might Columbia River. We proceeded to have a beautiful, gentle climb Southeast toward the South side of Mt. Hood. I chatted a bit with Greg, a 16 year old, who is on his SECOND bicycle trip across the country. The weather was unusually hot for the area, with temps in the 90s. Fortunately, we had some shade and gentle wind for the climb up to Government Camp and our lunch stop...after about 5000 feet of climbing. During the brief break there, I got to hear a few snippets of Lon recalling some of the nutrition experiments on the early Race Across America events. Nothing like a liquid energy diet for a week or two. Not for us, however! While we anticipated some good descending after lunch, we actually had a fair amount of climbing left to do before dropping down the East side of Mt. Hood into the wheat fields (and HEAT) near Dufur, Oregon. The last 20 miles or so was allegedly downhill, but it was a mixed bag of downhill and a couple climbs...and, shall we say, stiff winds. The Columbia River gorge is world famous for its strong winds (and resulting excellent windsurfing). The breeze kept all of us honest, getting buffeted a little bit for the final stretch into The Dalles at 102 miles. I did have the pleasure of getting my first flat tire out of the way at mile 99 of today's ride. Thanks to Brian for keeping me company while I fixed the flat. Today was a great day for me to reflect on the amazing qualities of Oregon...the mountains, the plains, the rivers, the forests, the coast, and the high desert. Overall, a great day of 102 miles and about 8800 feet of climbing by my computer. Hopefully the stiff headwind will be at our backs as we head East toward Pendleton tomorrow.