June 18
June 18, 2001 Monday
Welches, Oregon ( Mt. Hood ) 75.12 miles 3,270 feet of climb 6 hours
The “Resort at the Mountain” at Mt. Hood. What a glorious day. Up
and on the road by 6:30 AM. The views were fantastic. We rode by Portland and right along the Columbia River. Thank goodness I was riding close to a few
others after we crossed the Hood River bridge.
The directions were pretty confusing.
I darn near ended up on I5 a busy Interstate. As we left Portland, Mt
Hood was up ahead of us. So magnificent was the mountain. I can hardly believe we are climbing toward
it. The climbs have not been too hard
--- yet! They are 3 – 5 mile long steady
climbs so I just gear down to 42-30 and charge on forward. I ate at a western style cafe at noon in
Sandy, OR. Mike from Washington D.C.
ate with me. He told me about hiking
the entire Appalachian Trail in ’74.
Took him 3 1/2 months.
I’m enjoying my
roommates Nancy and Lee. Nancy is a
super high energy person – up by 4:30 AM, first one out on the road. I’m not sore anywhere, feel great. However, tomorrow will be a super challenge. We are staying at a 4 star resort. Sheets were turned down far as ever. The spa was all bubbly and warm. Put my biking body parts right up to the
jets of water- hopefully it pounded out the lactic acid build-up in the
muscles.
Dinner tonight was down
the road at a Chinese restaurant. Lee &
I decided to walk to dinner instead of waiting for the ABB van to take us down the
road 1 mile. We were so busy chatting,
we turned the opposite direction and walked a mile before realizing we were LOST. Oh well, we needed a little more exercise
after 6 hours on bike! This place is
really super. They told us not to get
used to this luxury – it was the only place around here in the wilderness that
could house 60 people. There is a 27
hole fabulous looking golf course here too.
Still can’t get my
800 number to stay connected to the Ohio computer number. Paul called from GOBA last night. He and the others from the Folks on Spokes
bike club are having a good time on the Ohio bike tour. Thank God. God is good!