Climbing Mt. Hood

For me, this summer has been one of those years when I learned that sometimes you just have to listen to your body. Accumulated fatigue can take a long time to go away when you block out heavy training in March and April, race a 9 day 1300 km May race at a fairly intense pace, add the BC Bike Race in June, and sprinkle in assorted day races as icing on the cake. July comes along and you tell your body to go… and it reacts by immediately informing you that you have to be kidding. Guys you  normally pace with ease are soon disappearing into the distance. Although your ego may tell you differently, there really is only one solution. A solid block of easy riding with the emphasis on fun is what the doctor ordered, and I made sure July and early August filled that bill.

By mid August, I felt a little bit more pop in my legs so I started a bit of a build in anticipation of the RBC Gran Fondo to Whistler and Levi’s King Ridge Gran Fondo in Santa Rosa, California. I had some time off in late August and as usual made my annual pilgrimage to Hood River, Oregon to abuse my trusty Roberts sailboard on the Columbia River Gorge. Usually, I bring my mountain bike for no wind days; this year I brought my road bike too. 

My son was attending a summer ski camp on the slopes of Mt. Hood with the Whistler Mountain Ski Club and needed to be picked up after the camp was over if he wished to stay with us in the Gorge. This sounded like a good opportunity to put a few miles of climbing in as training for my fall plans.

The base of the ski area at Mt. Hood is at about 2500m elevation and Hood River is pretty close to sea level. 2500m elevation over about 80km distance… about an average 3% gradient. Sounds perfect. My wife had to be at the mountain to pick Blake up with all his ski gear so my ride home was already in the bag. If the day dawned with a no wind forecast, this trip was sounding pretty much like a no brainer.

Sure enough pick up day arrived and the forecast was for marginal conditions on the water. Pick up time at the ski area base was to be about 1030hr, so I was up at 6 to fuel up for the climb ahead. Even though temperatures in the Gorge routinely reach the high 30’s Celsius, early mornings in late August can be quite cool. I was also riding to altitude, and it makes sense that if the kids are skiing, the temperature on Mt. Hood has to be reasonably cold. Arm warmers and knee warmers were the order of the day and I was soon on the bike.

The ride out of Hood River is quite scenic as you wind you way through rolling terrain filled with cherry and pear orchards. Mt. Hood is pretty much always in view so there is little doubt which way to go. If you turn around, Mt. Adams is behind you so that anyway you look a snow capped volcano dominates the horizon.

The first 20 km are pretty flat and they roll by pretty quickly. Soon you are on the steeper north flank of Mt. Hood. The road circumnavigates in a clockwise direction around Mt Hood as you ascend to the ski base on the south side. Road quality is excellent and at this time of the morning there is little traffic passing you by. By 0900hr I was still wearing every piece of clothing I had brought. Temperatures can plummet precipitously to the low single digits when you ride in shady areas beside glacial streams.

The scenery is spectacular. The broad focus is the snow capped mountain, but the narrow focus reveals signs of its power. Road washouts in various states of repair are fairly common caused by early season glacial snow melt. The view changes with every km. ridden. This is not a boring ride.

The gradient continues to increase as you ascend the mountain. Eventually you turn off the highway for the final 12 km ride to Timberline. The gradient on this road approaches 10% to 12% in places and your legs are certainly feeling the effects of the days efforts.

The last few hundred meters are through the parking lots of Timberline. You finish by  weaving your way through skiers exiting the mountain after a hard days skiing and eventually reach the snow.

Not a bad way to finish an epic climb in the middle of the summer!