Day three: Mount Hood

Full disclosure: I did today in “reverse”, 3/4 of it. Turns out I am not invincible. 5 minutes in I knew I wasn’t making 44 miles of uphill. I’m not injured, but 200 miles on a bike takes its toll on the derriere, and the angle I sit when climbing creates more friction than downhill. So I chose to change the plan slightly and get today’s miles finished from the planned end-point: Government Camp, Oregon.

Randy graciously picked me up in Boring City (yes, it’s a real town) and we headed up the mountain.

Where it was 50 degrees. So after a quick trip to an outfitters store that was having a buy-one-get-one-free sale where I got two pairs of long pants and adding Randy’s jacket under my neon, I headed down. The first five miles down flew by. Nothing like a 6% grade to do that. Don’t worry mom, I was as careful as you want me to be.

Anyway there were still some sizeable climbs, but 44 more miles are done and dusted. Oh, and I did them in the rain. Light rain, yes, but I was effectively soaked all day.

I haven’t spent nearly enough time in this blog saying how much I appreciate Randy – his patience and love are legendary. He leapfrogged me down the mountain today to make sure I was okay.

Time for a bath and sleep.