Old Man Pass

Big Plans vs. Reality. The original plan was an out-and-back ride starting from Carson and heading north up over Old Man Pass, a quick jaunt to the east end of the Swift Reservoir to get some water at the General Store, and then follow the Lewis River eastward on Forest Road 90 all the way to Mt. Adams, or as close as possible on a road bike anyway. It would have been almost 140 miles, just like last week's ride.

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 86 miles   Elevation Gain: 6,532 feet   Average Moving Speed: 14.0 mph

The other cool thing about the planned ride was that we were going to connect up to the same road we rode in last month's Mt. Adams Bike DeTour ride. Okay, maybe only cool to me, but it would have filled in our 2011 Ride Map quite nicely, thank you very much.

However, it was not to be. After only about 8 miles on the new-to-us section of road it changed to gravel. With another 30-ish miles yet to go on the "out" portion of the ride. We decided it was time to turn around, what with our high pressure skinny tires and my extreme dislike of changing flats. So the ride basically morphed into something similar to the Old Man Pass ride we did last year.


Okay, the truth of the matter is that we were both secretly quite happy to see the gravel road. Only a few minutes prior to hitting the road bike road block (gravel road) I had said my legs weren't up to the full ride, so I thought we should turn around at whatever point would make it an even century.

This is what happens when you don't get on your bike for a full week. Part of it was my fault, and part of it was the weather. I am reminded again of how important it is to get out and "make hay while the sun shines."


Like a microcosm of the whole year, today was a strange day weather-wise. The forecast called for clouds but up to 80 degrees, and possible rain. To our delight it started out sunny. With the tree cover we were seldom in the sun, and before long the sun was gone. It was a bit too cool to ride without jacket and arm/leg warmers unless you were climbing. I don't think it ever got anywhere near 80 degrees. My iBike was reading in the high 50's at the higher elevations and on the return to Carson it was in the mid 60's.

On the return leg it was getting quite humid, and I was really suffering on the steeper climb back up to Old Man Pass. Amy floated away as usual. Of course the big issue is that I haven't been on the bike for a week, which seriously affected my legs. But I have generally noticed that I tend to do much better on climbs in the range of 5% or flatter than I do on the 7 to 9% climbs.

Rain drops started falling when we were about 3 or 4 miles from the van. We picked up the pace just in case it got worse, but it ended up being the kind of rain that doesn't really matter - a drop here, a drop there, enough to tell it is raining but not really get wet.

RIDE DATA:

I have learned yet another lesson. If the sun is shining I will be riding.

Oh, we got some great views of Mt. St. Helens today, but we never did actually see Mt. Adams, assuming it is still there, of course.

RIDE MAP IN GOOGLE EARTH:

Maps showing all rides: 2011 Rides • 2010 Rides • 2009 Rides • All Rides