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just to show the extremes of weather here in oregon in july (summertime???), i submit the following brief report...

on friday 7/10 (just two days before zpl's cold and wet journey) a friend and i rode to the top of larch mountain from portland. when we reached about 1000 feet elevation a large grey cloud passed overhead and we wondered how cold things would be at the top. as it turned out by the time we made it there the clouds had passed and we had beautiful warm sunny skies.. after shouldering our bikes up the last 1/10 mile of stairs the view from the top was truly stunning, we could see at least 5 large mountains within about 100 mile range.

coming down was suitably epic-ish, about 10 or so miles of constant 30+ mph, and about 20-25 miles of total descent. of course we hit a major headwind for about the last 15 or so miles of the ride which was definitely the hardest part.

stats for the day were 89.3 miles w/5600 feet of total gain in about 6:20 riding time (plus about another hour of stopping here and there).

the next day i felt surprisingly good, had normal energy levels and only minor soreness in the quads (ok, they hurt going down stairs). however my calves were completely toasted (still recovering) from so much constant descending (cleats too far forward??)...

in the first pic you can see mt. st. helens between us (me on the left), with mt. rainier just to the right of my friend.
2nd pic shows the same two plus mt. adams on the right.. (corrected)
last pic is from the the 'portland women's forum scenic lookout' with crown point visible on the next ridge over.

 

[PdxMark]

Another nice report. We were up there on Saturday, between the Friday and Sunday rides. Our weather was much more like yours, though I almost always like a vest for the descent down Larch Mtn. I think Rainier is in the middle of the 3 mountains pic. Great composition with the mountains, though. Where did you start/end/detour that you got 5600 feet of climbing? Our regular Portland to Larch Mtn ride is about 83 miles and 4300 feet.

 

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no vest was needed for our descent but i did keep my toe covers on...

the nice man who took our picture had a very expensive camera of his own so i figured it was a safe bet asking him to capture our achievement...

we detoured on the way down by taking a sharp left on loudon road (about 10 miles down from the top) which had some very steep descents (40+ mph) as well as a fair amount of additional climbing. loudon eventually leads to hurlbert (more rollers) which connects back w/the historic highway before it hits troutdale. sometime it would be fun to combine larch w/the bull run route from rubbertotheroad by turning left on gordon creek (from hurlbert), that would add at least another 1000 feet of climbing - maybe later in the season.

 

[PdxMark]

we detoured on the way down by taking a sharp left on loudon road (about 10 miles down from the top) which had some very steep descents (40+ mph) as well as a fair amount of additional climbing. loudon eventually leads to hurlbert (more rollers) which connects back w/the historic highway before it hits troutdale. sometime it would be fun to combine larch w/the bull run route from rubbertotheroad by turning left on gordon creek (from hurlbert), that would add at least another 1000 feet of climbing - maybe later in the season.

Loudon, Hurlbert and Gordon Creek have what I call Hobbesian Hills... "nasty, brutish and short." Cool ride!

 

[zpl]

Of course these guys invited me to their Friday ride and I turned it down due to work commitments. Guess it serves me right!

Scott

 

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Loudon, Hurlbert and Gordon Creek have what I call Hobbesian Hills... "nasty, brutish and short." Cool ride!

indeed! especially as you get close to bull run on gordon creek - i seem to remember one particularly set of steep switchbacks after crossing the sandy river down there....

 

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i was just looking at the elevation map from my friend's garmin again - its funny how all the extra 'climbing' we did on the way back down to troutdale basically looks nonexistent compared the giant hump that is larch.