Good morning!
This week’s report is brought to you by Mosier’s gems: the Thirsty Woman, Good River restaurant and Vine 69 wine bar. The food is awesome at Good River, but tonight is the best night of the week to head to the Thirsty Woman. Why? Because it’s Booze Cruise (I call it the Nacho Ride) out of Mt. View. Join a bunch of people for a ride to the TW for nachos and beer. Afterwards, take a deep breath and get reading for a heart-pounding, death-defying ride back through the Twin Tunnels after dark (bring lights, please). One of you will win $25 at each of the three restaurants this week, so head to Mosier and support our sponsor!
The week is starting off with another round of west winds in the Gorge. A weak system moved through overnight, burying the western Gorge in marine clouds and giving a .13 gradient to start. The cloud line is west of Hood River, so strongest, steadiest wind this morning will be at the Hatchery, Sandbar and Mosier in the 24-27 range, filling in at Doug’s and Maryhill this afternoon, with a possibility of mid-twenties at Roosevelt late in the day It was blowing 26 (thanks, iWindsurf) at the Hatchery at Dawn, so stronger wind is possible for a short period or time this morning. A weak weather disturbance will sideswipe the Gorge today. When that happens, the wind will get gusty, so get it early if you can.
An upper level low drops into eastern Washington tomorrow, setting up another windy day. Timing is going to be everything with this system. If it doesn’t make it to the east side of the Cascades early enough, we’ll see westerlies in the 10-15 range. If it moves east earlier, winds will pick up into the low twenties.
At this point, Wednesday is starting to look light a light wind day, possibly light enough to break the long-lived windy streak. If that happens, it’s time to break out your road bike for a rare light-wind, cool weather ride!
If you’re coming out after work tonight, there’s free Tai Chi at Wilson Park in Hood River at 6pm, and at 6:30, it’s the alternative ride (aka the “Booze Cruise”) out of Mountain View cycles. Please bring along lights for this ride, as we’re not coming back until after sunset. And… as added incentive, Mountain View is giving away a free bike tuneup to one lucky rider this week!
Coming up this week, in the wee hours of the 12th and 13th, it’s the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, where you’ll see up to 100 meteors per hour, along with lots of fireballs, blazing across the northern sky. It’s the best meteor shower of the year, so make plans to be up late!
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 button at the bottom of the page. For a suggested donation of $10, I’ll add you to the email version of this list ‘til May 2011, putting you in the running for cool prizes donated by the weekly sponsors.
