Day 2 - St Helens to Welches, Averaged 14mph

On Tuesday, we rode 77 miles from St. Helens to Welches through Portland.  The first 30 miles was on a busy highway with a paved shoulder and I made very good time.  It was enjoyable to watch the fog burn off as I rode into Portland.  I was pleased and somewhat surprised  to get through Portland with no problems.  We had good directions and most of the time were on a bike path that followed the Columbia River.  The picture is me in front of the river.  (In the interest of full disclosure, I did make a wrong turn coming out of a rest stop, but figured it out right away.  Ok, actually the person I was riding with figured it out, but I would have also very soon.)

There are two brothers from the Netherlands on the tour who have biked in both the US and Europe and are very strong bikers.  All day they would pass me, stop to take pictures, and then pass me again. 

Once we left Portland we biked in primarily a wooded area with farms and houses with amazing landscaping.  We also had great views of Mt. Hood which is Oregon’s highest mountain at 11,239 feet.  It has snow year around and from a distance looks like a snow cone surrounded by greenery.  The second picture is of me still a long distance from the mountain.  I just found out it is a “sleeping” volcano with the last eruption in 1907 and is due in the next 75 miles.  I think I will leave a little earlier tomorrow morning than I originally planned. 

Since getting in early this afternoon, I have been mostly eating.  Hard to believe I biked 77 miles and gained 77 pounds for the day.  Tomorrow stars with a climb of 13 miles.  Will be quite a grind.  Then a lot of downhill.