The Gorge is my Gym

Enter “Temira” as your referral code

Now that fall is here with windless days, it’s time to ride road bikes. You’re in shape after a summer of pedaling, so sign yourself up for the Echelon Gran Fondotoday. There’s a road ride (30/80/100 miles) and a dirt ride (35 miles). The dirt ride is on a mix of dirt roads and paved roads, with the possibility of adding a little singletrack and riding along with you will be Greg LeMond. Start time is 8am Saturday at Full Sail, and it’s a mass start, so should make for good spectating. The ride is fully supported by Hammer (gel, etc) and Solstice, and Knead, and other local companies. Even if you don’t want to ride, you can still get in on the action. The afterparty runs from 3-6, with $15 getting you delicious food and the chance to hang out with a bunch of smoking hot cyclists. If you sign up between now and Friday, enter the code “hood” and get $25 off.

First off, I’d like to give a shout out and thank you to all the people who rode in the cycling events yesterday. Thanks for donating your time and money to OHSU and local charities if you did the Echelon Gran Fondo, and thank you for supporting the Hood River Valley Residents’ Committee if you rode in the Harvest Ride.

Second, you have until 10am to vote for Hood River band Sunderland. If you’ve already voted, go vote again. You get one vote a day. As of this morning, Sunderland has pulled ahead, and is 600 votes up. Please, please, please…. it’s Sunday morning and people are unlikely to be up and voting. Go vote. Type Charter.com into your browser and click on the Center Stage icon. Sure, it’s a bit of a pain, but you really can make a difference here.

The Clymb: free membership.
Access to super cheap gear including Trew, Zeal, Sierra Designs, and many more.

The forecast today is calling for some rain, and that’s the best think we could ask for both on the mountain bike trails and up at Dollar Lake. Portland’s new dual-pole radar isn’t looking very positive about the possibility of rain. If you want wind instead, you can have some today. The gradients right now are at .09 and .09 as this front swings through (there’s blue sky to the west of Hood River already). It’s blowing in the low twenties out east. If you want it, go get it. It’s going to be gusty, but should hold through the afternoon.

Tomorrow brings light wind, and then on Tuesday, we’ll see a round of gusty 17-20, from Stevenson all the way east to Arlington.

If you’re heading out to mountain bike in Post Canyon today, keep your eyes open. Former Tour de France winner Greg LeMond says he’s going to shuttle our super D today. If you see him up there, thank him for coming to town, and make sure he makes that tricky right turn instead of heading down to Mitchell Point.

There was supposed to be a race on the Twin Tunnels today, but according to the Columbia Gorge Running Club’s website, it’s cancelled. However, I just learned about a public running workout on Wednesday nights in Stevenson at the high school. .It’s at 6pm and everyone’s welcome, so go check it out this week.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

p.s. If you find this report useful, entertaining, or just want to recognize all the hard work that goes into it, please take the time to make a donation by clicking on the link below. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til August 2012, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors. If you don’t PayPal, you can send a donation to PO Box 841 in Hood River, 97031.

Enter “Temira” as your referral code

Now that fall is here with windless days, it’s time to ride road bikes. You’re in shape after a summer of pedaling, so sign yourself up for the Echelon Gran Fondotoday. There’s a road ride (30/80/100 miles) and a dirt ride (35 miles). The dirt ride is on a mix of dirt roads and paved roads, with the possibility of adding a little singletrack and riding along with you will be Greg LeMond. Start time is 8am Saturday at Full Sail, and it’s a mass start, so should make for good spectating. The ride is fully supported by Hammer (gel, etc) and Solstice, and Knead, and other local companies. Even if you don’t want to ride, you can still get in on the action. The afterparty runs from 3-6, with $15 getting you delicious food and the chance to hang out with a bunch of smoking hot cyclists. If you sign up between now and Friday, enter the code “hood” and get $25 off.

There’s still not much wind this morning, but it will pick up later today. We’ll see westerlies in the 15-18 range late this afternoon from Stevenson out to Mosier. Tomorrow starts off light, and then we’ll see a brief period of 24-27 at Arlington with gusty, rainy 15-18 near Hood River. In addition, tomorrow afternoon we’ll see snow levels drop to about 7000’, for a pretty white layer on Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams.

Today’s a big day in the Gorge, with lots of events going on. The tennis tournament at the Hood River courts is still going on, raising money to resurface the courts. If you have time today, swing by and cheer on the players. In running world, today is the Flagline 50k running race in Bend. I know, that’s not the Gorge, but it’s still cool enough to get in the report. Or maybe it’s just crazy to run 31 miles.

The Clymb: free membership.
Access to super cheap gear including Trew, Zeal, Sierra Designs, and many more.

While you’re out on the roads today, keep an eye out for cyclists. There are two big events going on today. The Echelon Gran Fondo sends riders toward The Dalles from Hood River and the Hood River Harvest Ride sends people from Hood River up towards Lost Lake and Cooper Spur. These are both fundraisers, so be nice to the riders, and please don’t honk at them. But you probably ride bikes and knew that already. =)

And speaking of biking, one mistake yesterday: Red Hill (despite not being listed as closed on the NWCC website), is closed still. Not that you want to climb Vista Ridge. It hurts. Or it’s great fun. Depends on your attitude.

Coming up tomorrow, there’s the Twin Tunnels 5k and 12k races, meeting at the Twin Tunnels trailhead at 8am. Looks like we’ll see cool weather and maybe a chance of sprinkles tomorrow morning, so it would be great racing weather.

I told you a few times earlier this month, but I’d like to remind you that it’s bike commute challenge month. It’s still not too late to participate. Sign up at bikecommutechallenge.com.

Finally, I want to remind all of you to vote for local band Sunderland in Charter’s center stage contest. Head to Charter.com, click on Center Stage, and vote for our local band. They’re only behind by about a hundred votes, so your vote can make a difference.

Have an awesome day today!

Temira

p.s. If you find this report useful, entertaining, or just want to recognize all the hard work that goes into it, please take the time to make a donation by clicking on the link below. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til August 2012, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors. If you don’t PayPal, you can send a donation to PO Box 841 in Hood River, 97031.