Hood River - The Gorge is my Gym

Good morning and welcome to the shameless commerce division of TheGorgeismyGym.com. Yes, there’s a dot-com in there for a reason. Commerce, baby. Okay, I’m kinda kidding, but I did make some t-shirts because I wanted some. You can get them at 2nd Wind Sports in Hood River, or you can wait for me to get the code up on this website. You might be waiting a while for that. In case you were wondering, you can also get “The Gorge is my Gym” stickers to counter all those “Big Gym” stickers on cars around town.

The low clouds are past Hood River this morning and it’s already windy, especially at Maryhill where the current is ripping and Laura reports that you pretty much have to sail unhooked to point far enough downwind to stay far enough upwind that you won’t wash away to someplace more reasonable for windsurfing or kiting right now. We’ll see 24-27 this morning from Mosier to Maryhill, filling back in to Hood River this afternoon in the 22-25 range and holding in the 26-30 range east of The Dalles.

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Tomorrow looks windy too as high pressure builds. We should see 17-20 from Hood River to Mosier early, filling back to Stevenson by midmorning. However, as the wind turns more northerly in the afternoon, it’s going to get gusty, and we’ll probably see the wind drop to 13-16 by afternoon.

Tuesday doesn’t look windy at all, with the possible exception of easterlies in the 5-10 range, but it’s the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. You’ll have 15 hours and 42 minutes between sunrise and sunset, plus dawn and dusk, so you should have plenty of time for every sport that doesn’t require wind.

I had a couple of people ask me about kite launching yesterday. There’s a race that starts out of the Marina today, but you’re welcome to kite there. However, there’s no more launching at the Event Site.

In mountain bike news, thanks to all the volunteers who worked on Mobius Strip yesterday. It’s not quite done, but will be soon. At Doug VanZandt’s request, please don’t ride the trail yet. Soon, my little friends, soon. Thanks also to Andrew and Andrew, of New York City Sub Shop (yummy) and Andrew’s Pizza (also yummy), for donating food for the volunteers.

If you like Mitchell Ridge, ride today, because the flat section at the top is likely going to close starting Wednesday due to logging. There is a reroute in place, however, there’s a chance the road will be closed due to logging, which makes the reroute inaccessible. Anyway, don’t freak out. It’s only the section from Post Canyon Road to where the downhill starts, so if you love the Mitchell Ridge downhill (I do), you can relax.

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 April 2012, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.

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

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Good morning,

My friend Kevin told me yesterday that he was going to have an ADHD sports weekend, and I think that’s a great idea… get in as many sports as you can today and tomorrow while it’s warm and sunny. Before you get out and play, head to the White Salmon firemen’s breakfast to fuel up. It runs from 6am to 10am, so both you and I are already late (6am?!?!? On a Saturday?!?!).

If you’re looking for wind, you’ll find it in the western Gorge today, as we get east winds in the 16-20 range this morning at Stevenson and Rooster, fading to 10-15 in the afternoon, and dying by the evening. Near Hood River, the wind will be calm this morning, picking up to 5ish this afternoon. Tomorrow morning we’ll start with light west wind in the 10-13 range from Hood River to Stevenson, filling in to the 20-23 range from Stevenson out to Maryhill late. We may see some disruption in the wind from high clouds and possible thunderstorms late in the day tomorrow.

Today, theoretically, is the first Gorge Cup race of the season. Registration is at the Event Site at 9am, but I don’t think the wind is going to cooperate with those racers today. Mother Nature is playing favorites with bike racers this weekend.

Coming up Monday, cool marine air pushes into the Gorge, setting up a big west wind day by noon, with 28-32 east of the low clouds, probably from Hood River eastward. Tuesday looks at least as windy as Monday, especially in the morning, when we’ll see the first Dawn Patrol of the season. See you at Cheap. I’ll have a spare 2.9 and a spare 3.2 Hot Sails Superfreak for anyone who wants to try them out.

If you’re out driving around today, keep an eye out for cyclists from the Tour de Hood. They’ll be leaving Hood River around 1 and riding to the Dalles over Rowena Crest and then back to the Hood over Sevenmile Hill. Those are casual cyclists. If you’d like to see some racers today, come to downtown Hood River this afternoon and watch the Criterium. If you’d like to ride with me, come do the Lost Lake Loop, because I want to ride my bike between high snowbanks, and I also want to check out the condition of the road.

The Black Dog Dual Sport is this weekend. They’ll be up in upper Post tomorrow, so if you want solitude on your moto, go somewhere else. But don’t bitch about the Black Dog, because it’s a super cool ride, there are 300 people here for it, and they’re out there picking up a bag of trash each day, which makes me (and should make you) feel pretty guilty for all those times you’ve ridden by garbage while out on your bike or moto. =)
Have an awesome day today!

Finally, if you’re looking for something to do tonight, CAST is putting on a free show featuring their top scenes of the last 5 years, a greatest hits of local acting, so check it out. 7:30pm, free, Columbia Center for the Arts.

Temira