Timberline/govt camp ride

This weekend I headed up to Timberline with the Geckos.

We met out at Tri-Sport but I had a timeline to get back by so ended up heading out ahead of everyone fully expecting to be over-taken by the faster riders fairly quickly.

So I head out Halsey to Troutdale, turn onto the Historic HWY, across Stark Street Bridge turn up Kerlake Rd and start heading up hill. That is pretty much the story from that point. It's uphill to one extent or another including a very steep climb right after a stop sign on 302nd! Did I say Steep! Lowest gear standing was how I got up that one.

On top of that it was a HOT day. Very humid as well. Temp was about 94 but the humidity made it feel warmer.

I missed the stop in Welches so pulled over at a Subway for water to remix drinks. I was trying to consume about 1 bottle every hour (regular concentration). I was doing well with this. However, as it heated up I could feel that I really just needed some straight water but didn't really have any access at this point. So I took electrolyte tabs and continued up the Mtn.

I didn't get all the way to Gov't camp. I think I had about a mile left to go and turned around because I was really pushing getting home in time.

I hadn't realized how much I had climbed until I started going down. I flew down to Sandy. I don't think I ever had to get back out of my big chain ring all the way. Unfortunately I had a blow out on my side wall on my brand new tires which sucked. Went through 2 tubes fixing that one and limped the rest of the way home delicately.

Stopped in Sandy for water to refuel and filled one bottle full of just water. That was exactly what I needed.

When I got back onto Halsey I was ready to be done and since it's a straight shot I started singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall to pass the time counting down the blocks to the store.

All in all a good ride. I think I climbed about 5000 feet and rode 106 miles. Good stuff. That is my last really long ride until IMC!