Category: Cycling

Up the Pass

I don’t even think I can’t do it as I prepare my gear. Test temperature. Decide to pack another layer. Pump up tires. Pack bars and quick energy gummies. I can no longer carry a pack up a mountain by foot, but I can climb with just my body weight and light gear on my bike. So I do – the feeling of euphoria and exhaustion at the top worth the effort.

This pass has become an annual tradition. A ride right from town, pedaling 15 miles and 2,000 feet up to the summit. It’s not straight up, or my back couldn’t handle it – standing on pedals, grinding. It’s fast spinning 6 miles to the gate, where our two wheels are separated from four as we start the windy climb to the summit. Just bike traffic – nods and waves from those heading down and cordial greetings and encouragement to those we’re passing on the road up.

Trees still scarred from a Central Oregon burn a few years ago. Ground-level vegetation starting to appear, sprouting from the seeds buried in ash.

Temperature dropping as we ascend. Cloud front previously kept at bay now moving in, obscuring mountaintops in the distance and the pass we’re nearly hitting as we round one of the last windy turns.

Wind turns icy. Jackets and winter gloves come on during ever-so-brief photo stop at the summit for the fast ride down the mountain, frozen feet and hands slowly thawing as we’re pedaling back to warmth, sun on the fast flat.

Summer Cycling in the Northwest

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The summer goes by so quickly, like the miles turning on my bike’s CatEye.

I should have recorded all the rotations, reflecting energy expended up McKenzie Pass in Central Oregon, rolling past the open farm and ranch country in the latter and Southeast Washington’s wine country. Up to Women’s Forum for a view of the Columbia Gorge with my Sorella Forte teammates.

Past alpacas, sheep, cows, horses. Sprinting to catch an orchard’s sprinkler – the cooling mist briefly refreshing a sweat-filled forehead. Up one hill, we hear brush stirring, a family of deer rush across the county road in front of us – the baby trailing just as we crank to the top.

Perfectly sunny days, the white glacier mountains of the Cascade chain standing tall in the distance. We are so lucky to be healthy and able to churn the pedals that get us out off the main roads, peeking into places we’d never see by car, never veer off the main roads to travel.

This multi-geared machine I ride has been a big part of my life for the last 20+ years post back injury and recovery – a way to rebuild physically and mentally post partial disability, a way to meet new friends and extend the circle via common interest of the two wheels that we plan trips around, connect with post-ride meals and wine tasting during annual rides.

A whole world centered around quad and glute-propelled spinning tires, connected to a sturdy titanium frame that supports all my miles of discovery.