Pedal On and On...: Day 2 - A Great Day For A Ride!!

St. Helens, OR to Welches, Or

Distance: 76.5 miles
Time: 6 hrs
Elevation Gain: 2,828 ft

It was a beautiful day today. The day started cool with an overcast sky, but cleared up by late morning giving way to a blue sky. We started with a ride through St. Helens and then through the town of Scappoose. Around mile 20 we rode over the Willamette River on the St. Johns Bridge. The bridge was 4 lanes with no shoulder to ride on. We road through the village of St. John's to our fist sag stop at mile 22. We then rode on a bike path that took us along the Columbia River and around the Portland Airport. The bike path was very picturest along the Columbia River with house-boats, bridges, boats of all sizes, and a fantastic view of Mt Hood in the far distance. The bike path took us 12 miles and it was a nice break from the busy and noise highways. We had our 2nd SAG stop at mile 39 and at mile 45 we started to climb, but this climb was more like rollers, small hills (ups and downs) but each hill brought us higher in elevation. At about mile 60 we stopped at a restaurant called Calamity Jane's, with a wild west type atmosphere. The food was big and it was very good. After we ate we had more climbing and a nice long down hill and the finale climb to the hotel. Tonight we are staying at a very nice resort hotel called the Resort at the Mountain. Tomorrow will be an early start for most of use including me, we have our fist large hill to climb, 13 miles to the summit with the climb starting about a mile from the hotel. The slower riders will be able to leave before the faster riders to keep the group from spreading out to much. We will be riding 65 miles to Kah-nee-ta, Or.

Link to my GPS Rout