Tuesday was the first day in a long time that perfect weather aligned with my day off, so I decided to dedicate my whole day to an adventurous ride. Knowing I wouldn't have too much in the tank this early in the season, and not wanting to waste any miles getting out of or back into Portland, I planned to take the MAX train east to the end of the line and ride up into the hills that line the Columbia river gorge. I ended up doing this route
Gravel WTF - A bike ride in Gresham, OR and it was amazing. The climb up was sunny and bucolic, passing through the farmland in and around Corbett. The descent down to the Columbia, however, tested the limits of my skill and gear. It dropped 1400 vertical ft in 2 miles, with grades greater than 20%, completely on gravel. Some was nice and hard packed, as in this shot [IMG]
[/IMG], but some stretches were on loose gravel the size of golf balls, carved up by rivulets of mountain runoff that joined this river [IMG]
[/IMG]I kept the rubber side down though, and shook the white from my knuckles with a nice stretch of beautiful pavement out to Wahkeena and Multnomah Falls [IMG]
[/IMG], where I took advantage of the touristy facilities and warmed up with a coffee, before turning around and taking the Historic Columbia River Hwy back past the Vista House [IMG]
[/IMG]and the Women's Forum [IMG]
[/IMG] and back to the MAX. The MAX stop in Portland happens to be right by the Velo Cult bike shop, and I stopped in there for a post ride recovery beer and to browse the collection of beautiful vintage bikes hanging from the ceiling. All in all, I couldn't ask for much more from a ride.