RAIN AND COLD

Riding in the rain for two days - thanks to Ortlieb our gear
stayed dry.

DATES: Mon, Sept.19, 2011
HOME: Hood River, Oregon  Columbia Gorge Hotel
WEATHER: Fabulous
NARRATIVE:
It’s been several days since I posted to the blog – and there are many reasons:  rain, cold, long biking distances, near disasters, and NO internet access.  We have had a wonderful layover day at this historic hotel in Hood River, Oregon.  Before the memories of the last few days fade completely here’s a summary.

Three days ago the weather dramatically changed – the temperature dropped 40 degrees from the heat wave of last week.  The weather reports and the locals all said there would be just a few “showers.”  What they call showers is a steady rain for us wussy Californians.  It rained – OK, sometimes it was just a drizzle – for two solid days.  Our choice:  stay put in a not great place or ride.  We decided to ride – after all, we had new waterproof Ortlieb panniers and good rain gear for us, and there was no wind.  And I’ll have to admit that riding in the rain was actually preferable to the heat wave.  Even Bob, who loves the sun and heat could not believe how much the heat drained the energy from us.

But, one day of riding 68 miles and 4600 ft. of climbing was enough.  Our worry was that we were so remote that we may have to camp – it was all dependent on whether a set of cabins at Swift Creek was open.  We called but received no answer.  Things were not looking good.  But, just like we were saved by our Guardian Angel on Washington Pass, we were in luck – THE CABINS were open, there was water, a hot shower, and a store.  Primitive, yes.  But, we were elated and managed to dry out.

Day 2 of riding in the rain:  It rained all night – a steady rain – and it was still raining as we packed our stuff and headed out.  We were happy, though, we had dry clothes to wear.  We got a late start for another 60 mile day – 9:30 – as we had to clean up our bikes and make some mechanical adjustments.  Neither GPS seemed to be working right, we didn’t look at our maps closely enough and missed a turn.  Before we figured out we were on the wrong road and heading in the wrong direction we had climbed 4 miles and 1,000ft.  Once on the right road the climb was steep.  Then I began hearing a scratching sound – what I thought was a brake problem was a fender problem – a bolt was loose.  So, in the rain we took the panniers off and the wheel, turned the bike upside down to tighten the bolt.  Got the bike upright, as I was putting the panniers back on it fell over and now it WAS the brake.  After another ? hour delay we were once again on our way.  We knew now we wouldn’t make it to Hood River, but at least we knew we could make it to a small town and not have to camp.

But, again, luck was on our side.  It was 4 in the afternoon, we got to a town called Stevenson 30 miles from Hood River.  Looking at the map we realized this is the area where the bike route is on the freeway – there is no other route to take.  So, we arrange a taxi – we arrived at our hotel around 5:30.  Our road weariness began to fade immediately.  And, of course, the RAIN STOPPED.

We had a wonderful sunny relaxing day – Hood River is a wonderful town with great organic food, many sports minded people (3 bike shops, several sports stores).  We are rested enough to continue on our way tomorrow with rain gear packed once again at the bottom of our panniers because the weather is supposed to get into the low 80’s and be sunny for the next few days!

We enjoyed our layover day here on the Lewis and Clark
Trail - it was just as good this time around!