Hood River - The Gorge is my Gym

This week’s forecast is brought to you by the Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River, located
at 215 Cascade Street. Sure, it’s fun to use the Gorge as your gym, exercising your body every day, but how long has it been since you attended a cultural event? A play? A show? An indie film?

Well, Columbia Center for the Arts has you covered. Coming up on July 19th, Oregon author Jon Bell will be at CCA discussing his book ‘On Mount Hood: A biography of Oregon’s Perilous Peak.’ Jon was on OPB a couple of weeks ago, and he’s pretty engaging, so this should be a great talk. On July 20th, ‘Bicycle Dreams’ plays on the big screen at CCA… it’s a documentary about the Race Across America. Definitely a must see, and a bargain at $5. Finally, on the 27th, there’s another great film, ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’. And those are only the highlighted events – you can check the website for more. And, if you want to support art in the Gorge, become a supporting member. On the email list, We’re giving away twopairs of tickets to Jesus Christ Superstar, playing on July 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16. Tickets are only $15 if you’re not one of the lucky winners.

Now, your forecast:

It’s a windy morning, and it’s only going to get windier today. With the low clouds just west of Hood River (right at the tunnels, actually) we’ll see 24-28 this morning from Hood River to The Dalles, picking up to 28-32 from Rowena to Arlington this afternoon. I’m a little concerned that there’s a front pushing through the Gorge midday. When that happens, we often see the wind crash between the Hatch and Maryhill (or at least become really gusty), with the action shifting to Stevenson and Arlington. It’s hard to see that happening with the early gradient at .15 from PDX-DLS, but keep the possibility in mind.

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

The strong west wind continues tomorrow as a weak front combines with high pressure off the coast for 23-26 all day long from Hood River eastward.

Saturday looks windy too with a start in the 17-20 range, the wind may back off as the day goes on. Sunday looks like a light start, with the wind picking up to 17-20 in the afternoon.

Tomorrow is the kickoff for the Tenacity Games, three days of sports events better known by the name Athletes for Cancer. If you’re not participating, you can make a donation by going to the Tenacity Games website.

For group events, tonight is the Post and Pint co-ed Post Canyon mountain bike ride leaving Dirty Fingers at 5:30. Coming up tomorrow, the Disco meet at China Gorge 8am to ride Knebal and 8-mile. The Tenacity Games go off all weekend, and on Sunday, there’s the White Salmon Riverfest and Symposium.

Tomorrow night is the Tenacity Games kickoff party at the British Pub at 8pm, and also tomorrow night, there’s a fundraiser for Peg Lalor, featuring the Ultronz, at the Hood River Inn starting at 7pm. Both of these parties benefit really good causes, so please try and find time to make it to both.

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.

It’s Windfest, and that means that the Gorge is going to take a break form being windy today. There’s a little bit of west gradient this morning, so we might get lucky and see 5-10. Even so, Windfest will go on, with a gear swap that started at 8am at the Expo Center in Hood River and a free intro to windsurfing class at 1pm at the Hook. There are all sorts of other lessons and clinics going on, so swing by Hood River’s Event Site and check it out.

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

Over the next couple of days, we’ll see light wind in the Gorge as upper flow turns southerly. At best, we’ll see easterlies in the 5-10 range tomorrow at Stevenson and Rooster. On Tuesday, we’ll have light west winds with a pretty good chance of thunderstorms. Models show westerlies picking up to 17-20 Tuesday afternoon, but given the high risk of thunderstorms, don’t count on hitting the water.

In mountain biking news, Mr. Dirty Fingers himself took a tour of Falls Creek yesterday. If you start at the bottom, you’ll get about 8.5 miles of clear trail before you run into snow, so you can get the best of the downhill. Just don’t try to ride from the top of Old Man Pass, because the trail up there is still buried.

If you’re looking for things to do over the next couple of days, think about trying some new road rides. You can find some routes at my website, the Gorge is my gym.. These are beautiful rides, so if you don’t road ride, you can go check them out as a Sunday drive instead.
Have an awesome day today!

Temira