Washington Bicycle Ride, 2011

Background

Bicycle Rides Northwest, a company based in Bend, Oregon, conducted their fourth Washington Bicycle Ride in 2011. The route was a loop north and west of Dallesport, Washington, returning up the Columbia Gorge through Hood River and The Dalles. The weather was generally sunny and warm, but we did have thunderstorms the first evening and morning in Trout Lake and clouds and cooler temperatures the day we left Cougar. The ride through the Columbia Gorge was on the Oregon side of the river, and most of it was on the same route we took with our loaded bicycles earlier in the month.

Itinerary

Day	Start	Stop	Mileage	Elevation Gain
July 24	Dallesport, WA	Trout Lake, WA	73	5662
July 25	Layover in Trout Lake (we did not ride)
July 26	Trout Lake	Cougar Park & CG	70	4072
July 27	Cougar Park	Blue Lake Regional Park, OR	67	3207
July 28	Blue Lake Park	Cascade Locks, OR	36	2124
July 29	Cascade Locks	Dallesport, WA	50	3145
Totals			296	18210

I was hit with a gastrointestinal ailment early the morning we left Trout Lake, and was able to ride only 40 of the 70 miles that day. Fortunately, after a lot of rest that evening and overnight I was able to recover adequately by the next morning to ride the rest of the route. Linda was strong and fast on the tour and the mileage and gains are the official values for her - subtract 30 miles of mostly level riding on the 26th for my mileage.