Aufderheide Highway Ride

Summer is going fast.  We have been riding quite a bit, although after Italy, I have had to scale back due to some tendinitis issues.  A couple of weekends ago we rode one of my favorite rides, Jackson's Ride the Gorge (see 7/29/11 post for detailed description).

This past Saturday, KRhea took a group to ride the 118ish mile out and back of the Aufderheide Drive, actually NF 19.  A good description with mileage can be found on Gorp.  We over-nighted in Springfield on Friday and drove to the starting point along the main fork of the McKenzie River.  We rode to the top of Box Canyon and then I turned around and went back to get my car  - an abbreviated version and compromise so as to give my knees a rest and also provide some support to the group.  Rode down all by myself in old growth forest, the south fork of the upper McKenzie river roaring to my right side, then quieting on the left after crossing a bridge close to French Pete campground (gotta love that name).  There were only a couple of deer standing in the road to slow me down.  25 miles down in a little over an hour with a few stops for pictures; now that is what I call a fun descent!  I drove back up and found the others on the backside, only about 10 miles from West Fir, where they had stopped to have lunch.   Cowboy (Jeff) got rid of his 15+ pound pack filled with his nice camera, etc.,  while others dropped some additional gear.  I went on, stopping every 10 or so miles to provide any support they might need.  All in all a good day for me; some riding and some alone time in the forest.

VA and Mary

The top of the climb where you can access Grasshopper Trailhead, offers access to Chucksney Roadless area.

Box Canyon Guard Station. Built by the Civilian Conservation Corp. and the Forest Service during the 1930's (Depression Era).  This is a replica.  

Cougar Reservoir parking lot across from
Terwilliger Hot Springs (clothes optional) $6

South Fork of the McKenzie after French Pete Campground

10 miles from the top, backside.  Loading up on water and snacks before the last climb.
VA, KRhea and Jeff (Cowboy)

Box Canyon, back at the top, waiting for riders. 

VA - first woman to the top!

The end
Phil, Jeff, me, Cowboy Jeff, VA, Gary, KRhea, Mary and Jim

Cycling Tips has a small blurb about the Giro di Lombardia.  The "famous ramp", Wall of Sormano has been put on the route!  Sept. 29th.

Mt. Adams Bike Tour

Saturday rode up at Mt. Adams.  105 miles, some 5000 feet or more of climb.  I thought I'd be stronger after 7 days in the Alps.  On the contrary, VA had to pull me in on her wheel most the way!  She was the most 'superior' rider in our group.  A little joke here - the first hill on the second loop, Mitch came by and yelled, "superior riders on your left".  Fuel to the fire....we passed them and then VA continued up to KOM that hill!

Craig, Davis, VA, Mitch, Steve and me after the ride

Speaking of superior riders and strong women, Jennifer Cree and Heidi Swift from Portland (you can follow their trek on Peloton Magazine and Oregon Live), along with 4 other women are riding the TDF one day ahead of the men.  They are the first of few women to do this and are featured in a Cannondale Women ad that is shown everyday on the coverage for TDF! So cool!

Trans Lombardy Challenge is done!

Hi Bob!

Got home last Thursday night after getting done with our bike trip last Sunday the 24th,  then spent several days in Florence, Italy.  429 miles, 51,300 feet of climbing.  I knew the trip would be hard - more climbing than miles everyday.

We arrived in Milan the 15th and did a little sightseeing.

The Duomo Cathedral in Milan

Inside the Duomo

Share bikes in Milan

The canal district of Milan

On Sunday, the Thomson Tour vans took us to Ponte di Legno, about 2 hours away from Milan.  Built our bikes up and then did the warm up ride up Passo Tonale. Fairly easy, only abut 15 miles with 2150 feet of gain.

Day two; Passo Gavia and Mortirolo.  10,101 feet of climbing in a little over 70 miles.  We met Eric from Hong Kong, and later found out he is in the Java Rapha video that was put out out a couple of months ago.  We were at dinner, discussing the day's climb, how steep the climbs were plus how hot it was.  We mentioned the Java video and those steep climbs in hot, humid conditions.  He said, "I'm in it!"  We pulled out the laptop and had a lot of laughs watching it again, seeing our new friend riding those crazy roads.  He can be seen in the video wearing a white/yellow band Rapha jersey.  There's an especially cute shot of him talking to some local kids.

Eric in his black/pink Rapha jersey

Grace, from New York and Craig

starting the Mortirolo

Rest break at the van.  It was HOT!

water break along the way

Marco Pantani memorial on the classic Mazzo di Valtellia ascent of Mortirolo

The top!! Getting ready to descend

Day 3 we rode to Borno via the Passo Vivone.  A little easier day, 53 miles, 5750 feet of climb.

No caption needed

Day 4; Borno to Sale Marasino via Passo Croce Domini, Maniva and Tre Termini.  I did have a ride plan and this day blew it apart.  Day 4 was supposed to be my rest day and there was a "wee bump" at the end that Peter forgot about.  I had to remember, this is an 'inagural VIP ride' -  there may be some surprises.  We ended the day with over 80 miles and 9600 feet of climb.

I was able to take some moving shots

The descent down Croce Domini

The view out our room at Hotel Villa Kinzica, overlooking Lake Iseo.
Jumped off the docks across the street into the lake after the ride.
The drink?  Aperol Spritz, the drink of Italy!  Had  a lot of those.  

Getting ready to leave for the day.  Too comfortable to move!

Day 5, we are getting there....we rode to San Pellegrino via Colle di San Fermo, Colle del Gallo, Passo di Ganda and Dossena.  Another day of 4 climbs, 65 miles, 8400 feet of climb.  San Pellegrino Terme used to be a 'spa' town and the Grand Hotel is huge and dark, sitting abandoned across the river Brembo.  Our hotel, the Centrale, across from the Grand, was a version of a Spanish disco which kept going until 2 am.

Me and Grace

Museum Madonna dei Ciclisti.  This old Bianchi had leather toe clips and huge gearing.
Hard to imagine these guys riding the Giro on those bikes.  The church has stained glass windows of bikes.

I need to mention that at the tops of the climbs we had to put on wind jackets before the descents only to have to stop 1/2 way down to take them off.  Italy was having record temps and the valleys were sometimes registering 95-100 degees F.  Day 6 was no exception.  We rode to Varenna via Passo San Marco and Premana to catch a ferry to Como.  77  miles (we cut off the last climb due to time) and about 9000 feet of climb.

My favorite climb and descent!

We found out that the direct ferry to Como would not take bikes even though there looked to be ample room.  We ended up taking a ferry to Bellagio, then rode the rest of the way to Como in the very hot vans!

The very nice hotel Villa Flori on Lake Como

Finally, we are at Day 7, riding a classic part of the Giro di Lombardia, which happens in the fall.  We rode up Civiglio to Passo Ghisallo and the Madonna del Ghisallo Chruch and museum where we met a bunch of Italian riders from 'Brember Valley Cycling Club'.  That day we saw more riders than cars!  We even saw a team drafting behind a motorcycle.

Getting ready to leave for the last ride.  Craig has his Portland Velo jersey on.  

Madonna del Ghisallo church

Cyclists from Brember Valley.  We got in trouble for talking too loud during the Mass being held.  

On to the wall of Muri di Sormano.  I have to post the profile again:

This is a crazy 2 kilometer climb and averages about 16%, some stretches 24%.  My new friend Phil, a doctor at NIH from DC decided we should do it.  Craig started up and then I heard him yell, "I'm not doing it!!"  The first part is rideable until you hit a gate.  The good riders ahead of us could ride around it; we had to stop and get off our bikes.  On that steep a grade it is almost impossible to clip back in.  Our ride leader, Dominic helped Phil back on at the gate and gave him a good shove.  It took me a couple of attempts to get clipped in again, only to go about 1/2 km and have to get off my bike.  I walked a bit, rode a bit, and caught up to Phil who was walking in his bike shoes, having a hard time.  We both took our shoes off and walked almost to the top in our socks!  There is a small portion at meter 1060 where one can get back on, only because the grade is about 8.7%.  The elevation gain in the 2 km climb is 1124 meters.  It's a stupid climb, every meter of elevation is marked, along with some interesting stencils on the pavement of local flora, leaves, trees, names, and other Italian stuff I don't get. There's a lot of information and videos on the web for anyone wanting more info.  Me, I don't ever need to do it again.

the start

Phil at the gate trying to get started again

Looking up, doesn't look that steep in pictures, but this portion was about 18%.

The end where we ate a good meal of pasta pomodoro

All in all, a very good trip.  No accidents except a few minor falls and scrapes (not me this time!).  Like childbirth, one forgets the pain and I want to go again next year - different route though!

Looking over Lake Como from our room balcony.  Overcast and cooler as we depart for Milan by van.

Larch Mountain; 39 degrees with snow

And this is June??  A group of us from PV rode up to Larch Mountain today.  The forecast called for clear skies and 65 degrees.  Most definitely, that prediction was WAY OFF.  We started in 60 degree temps and someone said, "it should be warm and dry by the time we descend".  Well, that didn't happen!   The weather only got worse and the last mile up, the roads were slushy.  

VA at the top of Larch

Craig's Garmin shows a wide array of temps, but the low is slightly higher than I expected - 39.2, and of course, that was on the way down.  Wind chill factor?  Must have been below 30 degrees.  


Thanks to VA I made it down safely. I had to stop numerous times to warm my hands up, and faithful VA stayed with me.  Had it not been for her, I may have sat under a bush and waited for a ride.  Gary had fingerless gloves on and was quite cold descending.  We were debating about what to do; wait for him or go down and get a car.  In the meantime, some good samaritans, a nice couple, stopped to see if he was ok.  They put his bike into their car and took him down!  On the way they stopped to ask if VA and I were ok.  They started taking off their coats, offering them to us.  The driver actually gave me his oversized jacket!  Put it on me, zipped me up and put the hood over my helmet!  I wish I had a picture, but I do remember VA and Craig trying to stifle a laugh when I finally caught up to them.  I didn't care what I looked like, it was heaven having that thing on.  They delivered Gary to his car and drove back up to see if we were still ok!  In addition, Gary also drove back up to check in on us.  Craig had reached the car in the meantime and came back.  He found us at the bridge to Troutdale.  I happily accepted a ride, feeling just a little guilty leaving VA to ride the rest of the way to her car at Edgefield McMenamins.  I finally stopped shaking when we got home and get this - -  I actually got too warm while cleaning my bike off in the sunshine.  Man, what a day.  I think us Velo peeps are pretty good at looking out for one another.  


One scary thought is next week at this time we will be biking in the Alps.  Isn't that terrain known for snow??  Yikes.  

Trans Lombardy Challenge

Next Thursday Craig and I leave for the Lombardy region of Italy and another Thompson Tours bike trip.  We ride several climbs that were featured in the recent Giro d'Italia and the course is the setting for the Giro de Lombardy.  We start in Ponte di Legno in the Italian Alps and end down by Lake Como.  430 miles, 53k of climb.  Day 1 we have a short warm up ride to Passo Tonale.  Day two starts the main ride and is a scary 10k loop over Passo Gaia and.....sigh.....Mortirolo.

Subsequent days take us to Passo Vivione to Borno, to the shores of Lake Iseo, including Passo Croce Domini (13 miles, 5k climb) and finally, to the Passo Ghisallo (the cycling museum the Madonna del Ghisallo is there) followed by the Muro di Sormano ("the wall", a nice little 2k climb, 15% grade).

Watch this guy riding only the back wheel;

DAY 1 Warm-up ride around Ponte di Legno 15 miles 2,150 ft 

DAY 2 Ponte di Legno 

 Passo Gavia 

 Passo Mortirolo 

Ponte di Legno 

71 miles 10,000 ft 

DAY 3 Ponte di Legno 

 Passo Vivione 

Borno 

53 miles 5,750 ft 

DAY 4 Borno 

 Passo Croce Domini 

 Passo Maniva 

 Passo Tre Termini 

Sale Marasino 

76 miles 9,500 ft 

DAY 5 Sale Marasino 

 Colle di San Fermo 

 Colle del Gallo 

 Passo di Ganda 

 Dossena 

San Pellegrino Terme 

65 miles 8,400 ft 

DAY 6 San Pellegrino Terme 

 Passo San Marco 

 Premana 

 Passo Agueglio 

Varenna (then ferry to Como) 

91 miles 11,150 ft 

DAY 7 Cernobbio (Lake Como) 

 Civiglio 

 Passo Ghisallo 

 Muro di Sormano 

Cernobbio (Lake Como) 

60 miles 6,500 ft

The next few days we will ride easy in comparison; the PV signature ride up to Larch Mt. Saturday and Sunday, the Tour de Hood.  A week off with swimming and strengthening and then we are off.

Oregon Gran Fondo

Portland Velo team at the start
Craig, VA, KRhea, Mark, Steve and Phil

Our team of 7 from Portland Velo rode the Oregon Gran Fondo.  117 miles, 5700 or so feet of gain.  We were the only mixed team.  Mark, KRhea, Steve and I crossed the finish line first, so we 'finished'; there has to be at least 3 men and one woman finishing to place.  Got 1st place of course.  Results show a pretty slow ride, although we averaged 16 mph per Craig's Garmin.  We stayed too long at the rest stops.