The Gorge is my Gym

First off, if you’re a road biker who’s been feeling trapped, be advised that the twin tunnels are open again!

On the wind front, nice cold marine air slid into Porltand last night, a nice hot thermal trough is over the desert, and high pressure is hanging off the coast. Put all that together, and you get west wind in the Gorge. The early gradient was at .14, and that’ll give us 27-31 in the Corridor this morning .

Get it today, because high pressure rebuilds this evening, turning gradients weakly offshore tomorrow.

On Saturday, a shortwave crosses the Northwest, setting up another round of west winds. It’s not clear yet how strong they’ll be, but we’ll all be back on the water.

Also happening today and tomorrow is … the coast, where you can kite or windsurf 20-30 knots with a 5-6 foot swell.

There are a ton of events coming up this weekend. First, you can earn some wind karma at the Hatchery this Saturday. Da Kine and CGWA are sponsoring a work party from 9 to noon at the Hatch. You use the hatch. Come make it better.

On Saturday, Crossfit Hood River is holding a huge fundraiser workout at the Hood River Armory. Crossfit is more than a workout. It’s a spectator sport, so come up and check it out!

Also this weekend is the Dirty Fingers bike repair campout at Lewis River on Saturday and Sunday. Bring your road bike, your mountain bike, a potluck dish, and be prepared to ride the Boundary Trail.

It’s another beautiful fall day in the Gorge, and fall means big easterlies in the western Gorge. There’s strong high pressure in the desert today and a heat low languidly lounging along the coast. Combine the two, and you’re looking at exuberant easterlies. You don’t even need to look at the gradients, webcams or sensor readings this morning. Just toss the tiny gear in the car and start driving. 30+ is the call today, with 35+ possible at Rooster.

High pressure weakens just a bit tomorrow, but the east winds should still be in the 30+ range down at Rooster and Stevenson. If you decide to sail at Rooster, remember that it’s going to be close to 90 degrees, so you can take advantage of all that Rooster Rock has to offer. Just remember your sunscreen!

At this point, models are showing high pressure over the inland Northwest through Friday or so, with the easterlies weakening a bit each day.

In other news, there’s free tai chi and chi gong at Wilson park in Hood River tonight. Chi gong’s at 5:30 and tai Chi’s at 6:00. Also tonight is the hammerhead bike ride out of Mountain View cycles. If you think you’re fast enough to not get dropped, show up at the shop at 5pm.

Then on Tuesday, Wedensday and Thursday you can join Jeri and her semi-sadistic Crossfit cadets for free workouts at Children’s park. That’s the next three days at 6:30am and 5:30pm.

Whatever you do today, have an awesome day!