The Gorge is my Gym

This week’s forecast is brought to you by Crossfit Hood River and their upcoming standup paddle series taught by the SUP fitness queen, Nikki Gregg. Now, you’re probably wondering why Crossfit (a gym, kinda) is sponsoring a report related to a website called ‘The Gorge is my gym’. Well, Crossfit will kick your a** into shape faster than anything else (you basically have a personal coach), leaving you more ready to tackle Mother Nature’s gym. Crossfit Hood River Sport Clinics: SUP series will get you SUP’ers into great shape too. The clinic runs 7/18,7/25,8/8,8/15 and is $155 for the series. You can sign up by calling 541-490-0939. And yes, we’re giving something away on the email list, but we’re not sure what yet. Stay tuned…

Now, your forecast:

Well, at least it’s not pouring this morning… unless you’re west of the Cascades, where it’s pouring. It’s hard to say whether the showers will move east today. They’re rotating around low pressure off the coast, and right now they’ll miss us. Later on? We’ll have to wait and see. We’ll still have a light start on the water today, but by early afternoon, we’ll see 21-24 from Hood River to Doug’s, picking up to 24-26 from Mosier to Arlington late in the afternoon. So that means that David Troup will get to windsurf on his birthday! However, David, expect gusty conditions with a chance of thunderstorms. This isn’t going to be epic. You can have that Tuesday afternoon at Arlington.

The Clymb: free membership.
Access to super cheap gear including Trew, Zeal, Sierra Designs, and many more.
Tomorrow starts off in the 5-10 range, but desert heating will bump up the wind to 22-25 from Hood River to The Dalles in the afternoon, with less wind at Stevenson and east of The Dalles. Keep an eye out for thunderstorms tomorrow, because they could ruin the wind quality.

On Tuesday, we’ll see another light start. But sometime during the day, an upper low will cross the Cascades, setting up a very windy afternoon, with windspeeds averaging in the thirties with much higher gusts.

The rain yesterday might not have been the best thing for our crops, but it was definitely the best thing that could have happened to our trails. As of last night, the dirt was in perfect shape at Post Canyon, so get out and ride today if you can. I saw the trail fairy out yesterday chopping brush on Spaghetti Factory, so the worst of the brush is gone and the riding is good.

Finally, Tuesday at Columbia Center for the Arts, Jon Bell talks about Mt. Hood and his recently published book, On Mt. Hood. And then on Wednesday, come see the movie Bicycle Dreams, the story of the crazy people who do the Race Across America.

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 sad-looking link below. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til June 2012, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.

This week’s forecast is brought to you by Crossfit Hood River and their upcoming standup paddle series taught by the SUP fitness queen, Nikki Gregg. Now, you’re probably wondering why Crossfit (a gym, kinda) is sponsoring a report related to a website called ‘The Gorge is my gym’. Well, Crossfit will kick your a** into shape faster than anything else (you basically have a personal coach), leaving you more ready to tackle Mother Nature’s gym. Crossfit Hood River Sport Clinics: SUP series will get you SUP’ers into great shape too. The clinic runs 7/18,7/25,8/8,8/15 and is $155 for the series. You can sign up by calling 541-490-0939. And yes, we’re giving something away on the email list, but we’re not sure what yet. Stay tuned…

Now, your forecast:

Oh wow. It’s raining. I feel terrible for the cherry farmers, but I have to admit I smiled when I woke up and saw the wet pavement this morning. If we get just a quarter inch, or even just a tenth, we’ll see wondrous trails tomorrow. I was thinking of doing the women’s kayaking clinic through the Kayak Shed tomorrow, but tacky mountain bike trails in the middle of July beat running the Middle White Salmon any day.

The Clymb: free membership.
Access to super cheap gear including Trew, Zeal, Sierra Designs, and many more.
Anyway, moving on… as usual when there’s a windsport contest in the Gorge, the wind has backed off to nothing this morning. We’ll see light conditions early picking up to gusty 13-15 in the western Gorge this afternoon with 21-23 out east this afternoon. Along with the lackluster wind, we’ll have a chance of some rain showers today.

Just in for kiteboarding news, Windance is putting on a Slingshot kite and board demo today from 10-4 at kite beach (come on wind). Then tonight, Windance & Slingshot throw an after-kiting party for the RoSham Riders and all other kiters in the Windance parking lot 6-9. Free (beer) drinks and snacks and swag and GUST video premiere.

Tomorrow looks calm in the morning, picking up to 21-24 in the afternoon from Stevenson out to The Dalles. Tomorrow’s forecast looked awful when I checked yesterday, but Mother Nature knows David Troup’s birthday is tomorrow, so she’s playing nice. Monday looks a little better, as weak high pressure sits off the coast, for west wind in the 21-24 range for much of the day.

This cool weather downright sucks if you want summer, but it’s great if you like riding bikes (and I’m obsessed with bikes, so I’m okay with cool-and-cloudy) If you can’t motivate to ride alone, there’s the hammerhead ride leaving Ground Coffee at 8am, and there’s a slightly less hammering ride leaving at 8:30. And if all that’s too much, just grab whatever bike you have and ride the Twin Tunnels trail to coffee in Mosier.

Finally, the first Movie in the Park is tonight (I forgot which movie they are showing) at Jackson Park, starting at dusk. And coming up next week, Jon Bell is at Columbia Center for the Arts on Tuesday, talking about Mt. Hood (he’s the author of On Mt. Hood), and Bicycle Dreams plays on Wednesday.

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 sad-looking link below. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til June 2012, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.