Archive for the ‘Touring’ Category
Memorial Weekend at Cape Lookout
The Lady and I were joined by 4 of our good friends for a pleasant Three-day weekend at Cape Lookout.
We departed as a group from the Hillsboro Max station Friday evening after work, pedaled through sun, rain and fog to Elk Creek Campground to get through the hardest part of the ride. 1,600 feet of climbing took its toll on our riders as we pulled into Elk Creek after 11:30pm.
Nothing like getting rained on in the night and waking nearly in the middle of a puddle.
We woke the next morning and mostly skipped breakfast so that we could get back on the road for the final 35 miles to Cape Lookout State Park.
Within a few miles, there were several of the six that were grumpy they haven’t had their morning coffee, but their grumpiness would soon be lifted by the awesome breakfast at Alice’s Country Kitchen. They had pancakes the size of your head!
After stuffing our bellies with home-made goodness, we pushed on to Tillamook, mixed rain and sun and a stop at the only bike shop in Tillamook. Can’t say I was at all impressed. it’s nice that it’s there, but they really need more stock and accessories that cyclists actually need like tubes, patch kits, frame pumps.
We finally pulled into our destination around 3pm with rumbling bellies and more sprinkles in the air.
After a beautiful sunset, fire, drinks and snacks, all six of us hit the sack pretty hard.
The only bummer of the trip was the fort of leaves created by some children from the Group Campsite.
They bushwacked so many leaves from the Yellow Skunk Cabbage that the trail looked TRASHED.
As a supporter of Leave No Trace and enthusiast of the outdoors, I could not abide by this damage to nature. We had a brief talk with the park rangers who then in turn had a talk with the parents of the defilers of plant life.
Audrey and I stayed 2 nights to ride back on Monday while our 4 companions went their own ways for adventures untold. Two ended up taking “The Wave” back to Portland. The other two took the long way of Little Nestucca River Road.
It was a great weekend of not-freezing-our-butts, hanging with good friends, yet having time to be romantic by the ocean.
Monday morning, we found it difficult to get out of our warm sleeping bags knowing that we had to leave the soothing hush of the ocean. My friend Kate had joined us late the night before and stopped by once more to see us off. It was sad knowing that we had to go.
Another stop for brunch at Alice’s, a mix of rainshine and hail, we had a relatively pleasant ride back to Hillsboro, pondering a time when we could again return to the AWESOME that is Cape Lookout.
Matt Starts His Adventure
My long-time friend, Matt Picio, is starting his Trans-America adventure this past weekend. He’ll be blogging all about it at Northwestwanderer.com
We met in Hillsboro for breakfast at Elmers then pedaled our way 25 miles up to one of our favorite parks. L.L. “Stub” Stewart State Park.
Six cyclists joined him for an over-night stay. We had a night of glee then a morning of hardy breakfast. We were eventually joined by two more friends that had driven from “The Rapture”.
The weather was mostly pleasant and the hike-in camp was all to ourselves!
Cycle Wild – Ainsworth
This past weekend, The Urban Adventure League & Cycle Wild organized a group ride and overnight at Ainsworth State park deep within the beautiful Columbia River Gorge.
The weather cooperated in letting Matt and Shawn put together a lovely route out of Gresham, along the Historic Columbia River Highway and passed so many gorgeous waterfalls.
18 cyclists met up at Cleveland Max Station on a bright Saturday morning, the chill lingering in the air. A mix of regulars and new-comers to join the group made for a very lively trip.
Headed East on Stark we joined up at the Historic Columbia Highway and started the climb up to Corbett and beyond. Shawn lead the way while Matt and I acted as sweeps putting us far behind the group.
A smaller group decided to ride ahead to Multnomah Falls. After hanging out for a while and downing some snacks, the group pressed on a few more miles to the Ainsworth campground.
After a few more of our cyclist joined us at the park, we somehow squeezed 23 cyclists into 3 sites, nine of the tents were crammed into one site!
and roasted peeps.
Then a group of us rode back to Horsetail Falls for some hiking and a rock scramble.
Nothing like a kiss with a great view.
After a quick dip in the upper falls, we headed back to camp to socialize the night away.
Sunday’s return, the group split into different gangs to leave at different times. I was one of 4 to be the last to leave. We were in no hurry and wanted to enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather and get as much sun as possible.
Multnomah Falls had a cleanup day hosted by the Mt. Hood Search and Rescue groups. Leave No Trace had a booth there so I along with 3 of my friends, became members to support their cause.
After snapping a ton of pictures and enjoying some sun, we four slowly biked our way back up the historic highway to Vista House and into Gresham.
The weater was PERFECT, the 23 cyclists were happy, and the views were BEAUTIFUL.
I really look forward to spending more time in the Gorge.
S240 to Stub Stewart
Matt and I are, in a way, fortunate that we work so close together and so close to a campground as cool as Stub Stewart State Park.
I only took the bare essentials needed to sleep in the cold and be prepared for rain:
- Ultralight Tent
- Sleeping Bag
- Sleeping Pad
- Extra warm clothes
I left all my cooking gear, save for a knife and spork that go everywhere with me. This simplified the trip immensely.
We met after work and pedaled our usual route up to and through the Banks-Vernonia multi-use path.
Stopped at Banks to pick up some sandwiches for dinner and some snacks for the morning ride back into work. Can’t really enjoy the ride without snacks!
The trip up the Banks-Vernonia trail was pleasant but a little chilly, making ideal conditions for pleasant conversation and joking around.
As expected, we were the ONLY two staying at the hike-in site. We had to set up our tents in the dark, but this wasn’t much of an issue. But, after getting it all up and having a quick bite to eat, we both zonked out by 9:30pm.
My alarm buzzed at 5am, but I couldn’t drag myself to sit up until 5:15am. We were off to a sluggish morning but knew we had to get packed up and back to the office. I scarfed down some donuts and a can of coffee to give me some kick so that I could hit the road ASAP.
Back onto the Banks-Vernonia path by 6am on-the-dot! This gave us two full hours to get back to our offices and start our work day. A few minutes later, we were greeted by some rain drops but it never came down too hard on us.
One of the more interesting sights of the trip was spotting a lawn-maintenance robot. I couldn’t get a very good look at it but I was able to get a dark and blurry picture of it. It was like a Roomba for the lawn. A Loomba? Lawnba?
Since we left at 5:30 and returned at 8:00am, perhaps we should have called our trip a S16O.
Overall, it may have been a short trip but we were happy to have done it. We’ll probably do it again before Matt leaves for his cross-country trip in May.
-Love, Chainrings and Patchkits:
Tomas
Cycle Wild – Anderson Park
A friend and I camped out at Stub Stewart State Park Friday night so that we could have one more night away from the city lights. It was a bit cold and wet but definitely worth it.
The next morning, we packed up a bit early and headed back down the Banks-Vernonia trail to get some breakfast and to meet up with the rest of the Cycle Wild group.
12 Hardy Cyclists, some veterans of the group and others new, braved the sun, rain, sleet, hail, and wind to ride out to Scaponia for a night of camping as part of another Cycle Wild trip. We stocked up on food from the Thriftway and headed North up the Banks-Vernonia trail. A third time for me in 24 hours.
Arriving in Vernonia for a late lunch, the group decided it would be much nicer to stay at the campground at Anderson Park. There was a pavilion, heated showers, fire pits, clean water, nearby shops and a Chinese restaurant, but it was the playground that sold us on staying the night. Several riders braved an additional 11 miles up the road to our original destination to report that the site was muddy, noisy and the water spout tasted of sulfur.
Overall, the experience of camping here was quite pleasant. There were several riders that were new to Cycle Wild, and at least one that was completely new to camping by bike.
Another rider, Rick Olson has an excellent write-up on the Osprey Blog.
Matt Picio, founder of Cycle Wild, has some more picture on his Flickr Stream.
See the rest of my photo set.
I’ve sold my Betty
Surly Long Haul Trucker for Sale 50cm, originally uploaded by Tomas.Quinones.
I’ve had this bike for 3 years and have ridden it nearly 16,000 miles around Portland and Oregon. She’s been in all kinds of weather and never had any catastrophic failures. But, I wanted to get a lighter, faster bike for Cyclocross racing and Randonneuring so I sold her.
This is the last decent picture I took of her and I miss the gal already.
I hope her next owner loves her as much as I did.
-Tomas
Fish Creek Exploring
Sometimes, one must leave the group behind and take a weekend trip with a good buddy.
Matt and I left home around 9:30 Friday night to explore the Mt Hood Nation Forest forest a little bit by bike.
We discussed or lack of energy and played it by ear to see how far we would go for the day and decided to find a place we discovered almost three years ago.
We found the spot along Fish creek that was part of an illegal ATV trail but part of it used to be an old forest rode that washed years ago and ended at a small stream.
Woke up around 8:15 to a boom that I thought was thunder but after my eyes adjusted to the light came to the realization that it was too bright for rain clouds.
We headed back into town, the weather cleared up, and had lunch at Fearless Brewery.
It was a pretty relaxed day.
