This Space for Rent

Too bad it starts in Sandy

*Two* 3000 foot climbs in 190 miles.  What's not to love?

This sort of ride would probably be too much for me, but, then again, maybe it would not. It’s like climbing Larch Mountain twice, with another 100 miles of upping and downing thrown in for good measure (two Cascade range crossings on the way out to the Deschutes river and back.) It would take approximately forever×2 for me to climb up to the ridgeline (made even better by each climb being about 40 miles long – if my experience climbing Larch Mountain is any indication I’d end up being hoisted aloft by the bee parade before I reached the summit) but there would be some compensation for this by the gravity-assisted plunges down off the mountain in return.

But it starts in Sandy, which is 1h55 (and 40km) away from home. The idea of waking up at 3:30, riding two hours, then riding 18-20 hours (if I look at on-the-move-time on some of my shorter loops, it would “only” be 15 hours, but something always comes up to slow me down,) then riding another two hours or so to get back to my cozy bed at home (normally it takes me about 1h20 to to get back from Joe’s Donuts , but in the dark? Along highways 26 and 212, then Foster/Woodstock? No, speed would not be of the essence here. Not dying would be of the essence) is a fairly daunting concept.

But, oh the thought of dragging the mighty xtracycle over the mountains twice in one day. I could do it once, and then I’d have to do it again to get home. It’s very tempting. Too bad it starts in Sandy.