events - The Gorge is my Gym

Good morning,

Sponsoring the report this week is a reluctant sponsor, Pine Street Bakery in Hood River. It’s not open yet, but it will be open, either June 12 or 13th. Why are they reluctant? “Temira, we want to have a soft opening,” they said. “No, I want you to be busy,” I said. “You have yummy things to sell, and they shouldn’t go to waste. Plus, you’re my favorite people, and I want to advertise for you.” They rolled their eyes at me and shook their heads and gave up. Pine Street Bakery, opening soon on 12th Street in the Heights.

Before you read on, please remember that this report is brought to you free of charge. Nobody pays me to write it for you. If you think the report saves you time, money, or keeps you in the loop about cool things going on in the Gorge, please take the time to make a donation to keep the report coming. Thank you for your support!

First off, I’d like to give a big shoutout to all the people who volunteered to help with the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic over the last few days. The race couldn’t have happened without you! Congratulations also to all our local riders who finished the super tough three summits course yesterday. I rode along with one of the official cars. If you like rally driving on narrow paved roads filled with skinny, spandex-clad people, this is the volunteer position for you.

This morning brings excellent road biking conditions: no wind. Not so this afternoon.

Well start off with light west wind through the Gorge this morning, perfect road biking conditions, but by afternoon, as a system approaches the coast in the afternoon, we’ll see the wind pick up to 22-25 at Stevenson and 18-23 from Hood River east to Arlington.

It looks like we’ll start out with more clouds and maybe some sprinkles tomorrow, with more west wind. 15-18 east of Hood River to start picks up to 23-26 in the afternoon. Wednesday brings another round of strong west wind, starting at 21-23 in the morning and picking up to 25-29 in the afternoon.

Mark your calendar for next weekend. Coming up on Saturday: The Backyard Half Marathon in White Salmon. That’s 13 tough miles of climbing (1800′ or so) and then descending for a good cause – the White Salmon High School Cross Country Team. The race is free, but donations are encouraged. After all, you’re paying pretty low taxes right now. You might as well support your local school system. Follow that up with a pig roast fundraiser in Rheingarten Park, brought to you by Henni’s, and benefiting the White Salmon Pool. After all, your taxes are pretty low right now, so you might as well support your local pool.

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 for a year, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors during the summer season (and the winter if I get off my bum and get some!). If you don’t PayPal, you can send a donation to PO Box 841 in Hood River, 97031.

Good morning,

Well, NOAA’s 4/3 weather model is finally showing a weakness: it’s overpredicting the wind by a large margin this morning. We do have a great setup: high pressure off the coast and low pressure in the desert, combined with low clouds in Portland. However, those clouds aren’t widespread, and they are forecast to burn off today rather quickly. So, we’re seeing widespread 15-20 this morning. I think we’ll see a slight increase today: 22-25 from Hood River to Doug’s filling in to Stevenson late, is as strong as it’ll get. East of The Dalles, 18-23 today.

Tomorrow starts off light, picking up to 10-15 in the afternoon. Tuesday starts with 10-15, picking up to 21-24. Wednesday looks windier than Tuesday.

Today’s just for fun stuff includes the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic Three Summits race in the Parkdale area, with all the riders suffering their way up multiple big hill climbs. Also today, mere mortals (like you, unless your name is Kosmo or Tom Morgan) suffer over the same course, a lot slower (or maybe not slower), in the Tour de Hood supported bike ride, brought to you by the Classic’s organizers.

If that’s too much biking for you, or too much pavement, there’s a work party in Cascade Locks on the EasyCLIMB trail this morning. That work party runs from 9am to noon, and you’ll definitely want to have your bike so you can ride afterward. There’s another work party this morning, this one at the mouth of the White Salmon River. Show up at 10am with your waders and gloves, and you’ll have a chance to replant native plants in all the silt that’s settled just north of highway 14. That one actually sounds like fun, but I’m headed to Parkdale today to do the Three Summits race… in a chase car. Perhaps a ride up Lake Branch will be in order after all that sitting!

Heads up for next weekend, it’s the Backyard Half Marathon in White Salmon (a fundraiser for the high school XC team), followed by a huge pig roast fundraiser for the White Salmon Pool, brought to you by Henni’s. The pig, guys, the pig is brought to you by Henni’s, not the pool. And don’t get me started on why we have to have huge fundraisers for the local high school cross country team and the town pool. Just show up at both fundraisers and open your wallet!

Have an awesome day today!

Temira