Building off of last year’s success with the Dirty Sellwood #1 – we took it up another notch. A few more miles, a bit more climbing, and a lot more pacelining. To recap, our shop and Dirty Fingers have started a little tradition of meeting up and riding a far distance. Last year the DF crew came to Portland and we rode back to Hood River. This time we headed out there and rode back to Portland. It’s a simple idea and it’s always fun.

Saturday

After closing out the shop we packed the van and headed east. Getting out of town right at closing is no small feat and I’m happy to say it only took about 15 minutes to get it all together. Once on the highway we speculated on how Hood River would treat us and whether we were ready for the ride the next day.

We arrived at DF and had an excellent night chatting with old and new friends. After a while everyone started to break off and Mitchell handed us the keys for the night. Before we bedded down for the night, we headed into downtown to get a feel of the Hood River vibe. What we found was a lot of well dressed people (wedding season?) and one Phish bar that we accidentally walked into and then right out of. Except Jake. He stayed for a while and hasn’t been the same since.

Sunday

And finally it was Sunday. We woke up, wiped the sleep out of our eyes and headed down the hill for some breakfast. Loaded up on carbs and protein, we kitted up and gathered with a group of about 35 in front of the shop. Erik, Brad, Patrick, and Sean were enroute from Lolo Pass and barely missed us as we left the shop around 9.

The route out of town was pretty chill and after about 15 miles we turned onto Red Hill and began the climb to Vista Ridge. The weather started rolling in and most of us questioned why we didn’t bring any arm or leg warmers. At some point we crested that climb and froze our asses off on the descent. Luckily there was another climb right after to the top of Lolo Pass to warm up on again.

The group came back together at the top of Lolo Pass as the rain started to let up a bit. The descent to Zig Zag was well deserved! After a quick lunch we jumped back on our bikes and headed home. Our mechanic Jake met us up the road with a gang of margaritas that fueled the rest of our journey.

A few more climbs, pacelines, and some ice cream and we ended up back at the shop stronger than we were before. Our friends at Zenbu had a meal of curry and kalua pork waiting to eat and beer from Portland Bottle Shop to drink.

Review and Next year

It has been our intention to open this event to others outside the two shops, but we have been very deliberate to build that idea slowly. We aren’t sure if we’ll make it available next year, but we will meet up again and do something fun. If you are interested in something like this, do let us know. Who knows where this thing will go next?!