There's a reason why they call it “Lost Lake”…
Last week was the 2004 DargonZine Writers’ Summit, which took place in Oregon. I flew out a couple days early and rented a bike and spent two days riding around the foothills of 11,200-foot Mt. Hood..
My goal was to cover the same ground as four and a half of the five stages in the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic stage race, including the entirety of the very mountainous, 70-mile final stage.
Thursday morning I drove our rented Ford Explorer in to Hood River, the nearest town, located at the eastern end of the famed Columbia River Gorge. I stopped at Discover Bicycles, where I rented a navy blue 60cm Cannondale R400.
Taking it outside for a quick test ride, the first thing that happened was that the frame pump fell off, which I fixed by putting it on properly, as it hadn’t been before. Then, as I worked my way through the gears, I felt a sudden jerk and nearly fell because my pants had gotten caught in the chainring and torn. I’d been dumb enough to do the test ride still wearing my jeans-a stupid move to begin with-and it ripped a seven-inch tear right up the pantleg. I had to hobble back to the shop holding my pantleg up. I also had them decrease the float on the pedals.
That done, I went back to the car, where I traded my pants for cycling shorts and transferred my cyclometer, my GPS, and a bunch of other stuff to the bike, then calibrated my cyclometer for the new bike. By then it was about 10:30 already.
Before I left, I wanted to take one lap around the half-mile criterium circuit that comprised MHCC Stage 4. Starting a block from the bike shop, that was quickly accomplished and I loaded the bike into the back of the Explorer.
Then I drove six miles east to Mosier, where I began MHCC Stage 3: a 10-mile loop along the high ridge overlooking the Columbia, with about 700 feet of climbing. The views were fantastic, and I reached the turnaround-a scenic overlook known as Rowena Crest-where I met a batch of cyclo-tourists, led by a guy from Natick. The ride back was treacherous, as the gorge winds had kicked up to about 30-40 mph. This leg took me about an hour, all told.
Then I drove back through Hood River to the Pine Grove School at the foot of Van Horn Butte, where I began MHCC Stage 1, a 5-mile loop to Panorama Point and back. The road dipped 200 feet between some of Hood River’s famous fruit farms before a short uphill to the lookout tower. The wind was still blowing pretty hard, but not so fiercely as down in the gorge. By then it was time to get back to the group.
Friday I planned to ride MHCC Stage 5, a brutal 75-mile loop with 7500 feet of climbing over three peaks, which coincidentally covered about half the length of Stage 2, as well. I didn’t have to do any driving, either, because the lodge we stayed at was the race’s starting line, and it finished nearby after a short additional climb.
So I set off shortly after 7am. The early morning air was a bit cool, which was doubly uncomfortable because I wasn’t pedaling; the first twelve miles were pure downhill, dropping from 3400’ down below 1000’. This being my first time on an unfamiliar road bike in a long time, I was on the brakes almost the whole way, from the Cooper Spur Mountain Resort through Parkdale and on to Dee, where I turned southwest onto Lost Lake Road for the long climb into the Mt. Hood National Forest.
The first hint of a problem came from my GPS, which seemed to be getting confused between waypoints I’d set for the outbound leg versus those on my return. I wouldn’t figure out until later that I’d missed a turn from Lost Lake Road onto an unmarked forest service road and had actually jumped from my planned outbound route to the road I’d planned to return on!
The first of three planned climbs (2300’) finally dumped me out at the Lost Lake campground at a four-way intersection that made no sense on my map. It was clear that something was wrong, but I still thought I’d come the right way, and surely the way to proceed wasn’t back the way I’d just come (though actually it was). I stopped at the Forest Service office and asked the attendant how to proceed, but she was apparently just as confused as I was, because she sent me back along the way that I should have arrived on, cutting out of my route about 25 miles and the middle, 2500-foot climb that I’d planned.
Proceeding out the way I was supposed to come in, I eventually figured out that I was heading northeast, back toward Dee, rather than southeast. About the time I decided I was truly lost, my front tire flatted. I tried to continue on by pumping it up a couple times, but never got very far before it needed pumping again, so I got off, took the tire off and patched the tube. At this point the day had begun getting very hot, and I was well and truly pissed off.
Under way again, I rejoined Lost Lake Road as I suspected I would and got back to Dee. If I’d successfully followed the Stage 5 route, I would have been dumped in Parkdale, but because I’d missed it, I had to face the long, 12-mile, 2400-foot ascent I’d first come down, and now beneath a blazing noonday sun. I picked up some Gatorade at a convenience store and pumped my way back to Parkdale and then up Cooper Spur Road to the lodge, not bothering to do the additional 2-mile, 800’ ascent to Stage 5’s official finish line at the Cooper Spur Ski Area.
So instead of 75 miles, I’d done 61. Instead of 7500’ of climbing over three peaks of 2250, 2500, and 2750 feet, I’d done two ascents of 2300 and 2400 feet, totaling 4700 feet.
During the two-day trip, I rode 80 miles, which-combined with my 90- and 100-mile rides the previous weekend-gave me a weekly total of 273 miles and just over 19 hours in the saddle, which completely eclipses my previous records of 221 miles and just shy of 14 hours. You can see how it compares on my Training Graphs page.
Despite getting turned around and not properly following the Stage 5 route, it was still a good ride, and a great experience. The climbing will certainly put me in good stead for the upcoming Pan-Mass Challenge, which-although it does have some climbing-isn’t anywhere near as significant. Though I still wish I’d finished Stage 5 because it would have been much more of a challenge for me.
But it was indeed a bit of an adventure, and a lot of fun, as well.