Today started off with prospects of good weather and a nice ride along the rivers feeding into the Columbia on my way to portland. I planned on pushing the milage a bit today to arrive earlier in the day tomorrow to enjoy more of Portland. Little did I know what the day had in store for me.
As I started out from my amazing campsite in the old growth forest my legs and arms were a little bit creaky from the constant new movement and all the cold rain. I didn't think much of it as I thought I just needed to warm up. Well after warming up all the pains went away besides my creaky knee. I stopped a drug store to pick up some icy/hot and advil. Then tried to tape it up like they do in the pros (it actually helped a lot, until it came off from all my sweat). I also got directions to the nearest verizon store... apparently in all my excitement of sleeping in a warm clean bed I left my phone charger there... no contact with the world = bad.
So here I am biking down the road with a slightly painful knee and verbal directions for 9 miles to the next verizon store. Thank god the woman knew what she was doing (and I remembered it all) for not to long after I was eating a great burger from Nipps in Longview, WA and getting my phone charged up behiind the soda machine (such nice people here).
I had though ahead for such instances, having already written out the google directions to my next campsite on the way to Portland I would be ok that far... after that however, I did not have directions. So thanks to some very nice people I'm was back on tack and hit the road.
The combination of the tape and icy/hot worked really well until the tape fell off. And I started biking up a steep hill. A REALLY steep hill. And when I say really steep I mean I was in the lowest of my low gears and crankin hard. This thing ended up being 1000 ft verticle in 1 mile. I had to stop 3 times to catch my breath and drink some water. Finally I ended up walking the bike the last bit as I wanted to take care of my knee (see mom and dad I do listen to my body).
Every cyclist know that with great work, up hills, comes great rewards, downhills. This was the best downhill I have been on in my life, not cause it was the steepest, but rather because it was perfectly sloped. I didn't really have to break, there were not turns on steep sections. It's like it was designed for a cyclist who just had a rough day and didn't really need much else to worry about. Ahhhh the fresh air and cooling effect of wind on my sweaty jersey (too graphic sorry, but it felt awesome).
On down the road I knew I was getting close to my campsite (still further than I had anticipated) and what did I see but a little gift from god: Fresh Raspberries $1. You have no idea how great they tasted, and how cute the mother and daughter who sold them where. Wow I can still taste em. They were great fuel for the last clim of the day. I think I was only able to do it cause I knew it was the last climb. At the top there was a traffic jam. Apparently an oversized load truck got too close to the ditch and slid on in... traffic was shut down so much that I, the person biking up the hill with 60 lbs of gear, was able to pass a few cars. Imagine the looks on the people as they saw me pass them by... So Good!
Another campsite. Less bugs, less rain, more used to it. It keeps getting better and better. In spite of all the trials of today, I feel very successful. The highest milage yet 67.5, a detour, I'm so close to portland I can taste it and I'm still safe. Tomorrow will be a much lighter day (25 miles) and I plan on getting a massage for my achy body (thanks pops for makin that possible).
Peace and love
1 pic: the top of my climb
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