DAY 2
Welches
Couldn't be better
Distance:  74 Miles Climbing:  3200 Feet Winds: Light tail
Weather:  Sunny and warm, Hi 76 Terrain:  Hilly at times

TODAY'S TALES: 

Is it day 2 already?  I guess it is since we are in Welches tonight.  Today's 74 mile day started out a bit on the cool side, but the afternoon was in the upper 70s  so we were pretty cool and comfortable all day...light tailwinds, sunny skies by ride's end, and beautiful scenery.  Everyone still seemed to be feeling pretty perky...life is good.  It was almost a picture perfect day as spectacular views of Mt Hood greeted us as we neared our destination.  Hopefully, we'll have some clear skies tomorrow...it's always a treat when we can see Mt Hood while we are climbing to the desert. 

Today's route left St Helens on Hwy 30 and crossed the St John's bridge in Portland.  Everyone made it across without incident and made it to the first SAG in good time.  From there the route went right by the Portland Airport and followed the Columbia River for quite some time varying between streets and a nice paved bike path that was right next to the river.  One thing I like about this part of the country is they have bike paths or lanes almost everywhere.  You can go just about anywhere downtown in the major cities and be on a published bike route.  I wish my state, Alabama, would figure out how to do that...but it may be too hot to ride your bike there in the summer.

Most of the riders arrived in Sandy OR (mile 60 or so) shortly after noon so lunch was in order...the prime spot was Calamity Jane's...a burger joint that almost everyone stopped at.  It was really hard to get back on the bike after chowing down there.  Luckily, it was only about 15 miles to the motel and most of it was downhill so a stomach full of burger and legs minus the blood it takes to keep them moving wasn't too much of a problem.  Anyway, this place had a ton of different burgers...some of which didn't even sound appetizing like one that had whipped cream, ice cream, and fruit along with lettuce and onion...items on the burger, not on the side.  If you can think of it, I'll bet they'd put it on a burger.  Quite a place...just the topping on a great day.

Tonight's dinner is at Panda Panda, a Chinese restaurant where we also had route rap.  Tomorrow we start going up...when I told them that, everyone was curious what we'd been doing for the last two days...wasn't there a lot of UP on those days?  Well, yes, but not much...I hope everyone is ready to do some REAL climbing tomorrow...they'd better be.  The road to Kah Nee Ta is a beautiful ride and I'm definitely looking forward to it...of course, I get to ride again!  I told the riders that the toughest climb on this first leg to Boise was the last 150 yards to our motel in Kah Nee Ta...it sits right on top of a BIG climb away from a river...hope they can make it.  Maybe we should drop off their walking shoes at the bottom of the hill...hmmmm.  See you tomorrow. 

TODAY'S RIDING PHOTO RECORD

The early sights of Mt Hood drew the riders to stop many times to admire the sight...but they had no idea what they were going to see before they got to the motel.

Just before the motel, it looked like you could almost reach out and touch it.

Calamity Jane's...after that meal, we won't have to feed them for a week.

That bright shiny thing in the sky promised to make it a nice day.

OTHER PHOTOS AND SUCH

Mike, say it ain't so...I'm afraid it is:  I think we need to have a little "get to know you" circle tonight at RAP.  Seems we had two interesting things happen today.  After the last SAG, one of our riders stopped in Taco Bell for a snack.  As he was leaving, he was trying to figure out where he was on the route sheet when he noticed two other riders ride by. "I'll just jump on with them,"  He thought...and so he did.  After about 10 miles our unwitting rider (Let's just call him John) informed them that he didn't think they were on the right route...according to his route sheet.
"Route sheet?  What route sheet?  They asked.
"Aren't you with America by Bicycle?"  He asked. 
"No," was the reply, "we live here and are just out for a ride.  "Oops!"
Luckily, the dudes studied the sheet and were good enough to ride John back to our route and get him back on track.  Moral to that story...know who you are riding with lest ye end up in an alternate destination plus make the website.  Brings to mind a common southern word...Heckerwe.  Used properly in a sentence:  "Where the Heckerwe?" 

There was another one?  Yep...you think I can make this stuff up?

Being friendly staff always wanting to make the new riders feel like they belong to the group, when Jim and Jeff saw a rider walk into the restaurant by himself, they invited him to join them. 
"Jeff, that looks like Gil,"  Jim remarked as the rider was moving toward the table. 
"Sure does,"  Replied Jeff, "Hi Gil" 
After a nice lunch and pleasant conversation, Jim commented that he hoped their guest would enjoy the rest of the ride today.  "Oh, I'm home already, I just rode 20 miles today.  Thanks for lunch.  "Oh, by the way, my name is Gail."

Paul, I thought this was a BIKE ride.

Bill and Richard are thinking about entering a new sport into the Olympics...synchronized lounging.  Our judges gave them straight 9s...was it the hand placement or the helmet and glasses that swayed the judges? 

One of these guys misinterpreted RAP last night...Dan thought Karen said they'd be riding around the traffic circle while Bruce thought she said they'd be riding around the arctic circle.

OK...I'm going to hold out just a little longer when the sale items on sale goes on sale..

Copyright © 2009 by Bamacyclist  
All rights reserved. 

Smileys provided by Smiley.com