Hotter Hood

Friday, 16 May

Happy Birthday, NateDawg!

Quick report. High temp observed today: 99 degrees. Water in my bottles got to a temperature warmer than some hotel showers. I rode from Hood River east to the Discovery Center outside The Dalles where the TT started. Chatted with a few folks I know officiating and neutral supporting along the course. Talked with the photographers who were all congregated near the top of the big climb, where the view back down the course shows this great hairpin. You hardly realize it's there when you're riding.

I was still riding backward on the course when the pro men started. Kinda funny. Some guys had disk wheels, other had deep-rimmed carbon wheels. But some guys had wheels that were no more aero than my training wheels, and one guy was just resting his hands on his cables--not even any clip-on aero bars. And one pro-team guy had a rear wheel with a cassette that was at least as rattly as the one on my disk wheel. What are his team mechanics and sponsors for?

I checked in at the start with a few of the women in the race, letting them know that the nuclear winds were definitely not blowing up on the top of the course today. Then Miranda joined me and we rode tomorrow's route for the pro men to the town of Dufur, where all the other categories start the Big Road Stage at Hood. We missed a turn and came across this relic. We also found lots of orchards and vineyards--along with grazing cattle and sheep and plowed fields on amazingly steep hillsides. And, like, 2 cars in 50 miles.

The hotel ISP apparently doesn't like my email account because I can't get it to load any messages. There are 108 of them in my inbox, but I don't know what they are. I guess ignorance is bliss and makes for a better vacation!