Day 2 from St. Helens to Welches, Ore. 3200 Ft.of Climbing and 74 miles was the listed Mileage. (83.6 My Mileage)

Today everyone was ready to get on with our adventure.  Last night at the rap session ( this is where we get the route with the mileages and anything we need to watch out for or be aware of.)  we were told the luggage would load between 0545 and 0615 with breakfast at 0600.  I loaded by luggage right at 0545 and then went in and ate breakfast.

After eating I got my bike and put air in the tires and then waited for some more riders to leave so I would have someone to ride with.  Margo and 1 other rider whose name I haven't learned.  We left and had a slight tail wind at 15 MPH and 50 degrees.  We were riding about 22-25 MPH and at about 3.5 miles I felt my back and realized I left my camel back with my wallet, leg warmers, etc at the Motel.  I turned around and headed back but this time it was against the wind.  Needless to say my heart rate climbed as I was in hurry to get back to locate my pack.  All the riders coming against me kept giving me looks, like where are you going.  After arriving back to the Motel, I looked where my bike had been parked when I put air in my tires and it wasn't there.  Then I went in to the motel lobby and some of the staff from group asked what I was looking for, l told them and they said it was in the breakfast area and Jeff had it, what a relief. 

This was not the way I wanted to start.  Mike the ride leader asked my when I came back out of the Motel, I thought you had all ready left.  I said that the mileage for today was not enough for me so some bonus miles were in order.

Just when I was ready to leave the 2nd time, Jay and Kay were leaving so I hooked up with them.  We trucked down the road at 25 MPH until we crossed the Columbia River in Portland where the Marathon goes as I saw Mile 17 painted in the Street.  All was good and we arrived at the 1st rest stop for the day at mile 22.  I then hooked up with Michael and Matt Louis, who are riding a Tandem bike.  They are father and son and Matt is 16 and Michael will be 55 on July 30 so we will celebrate his birthday on the ride.  They are raising money for a charity and have raised over 17,000 Dollars

Michael is a sports physical therapist and in the 1984 summer Olympics,  he was assigned to be the official therapist for all of the cyclists.  Not just the Americans, but all of them.  This was really neat hearing his stories and talking to his son Matt. 

After leaving the rest area we were routed to the Portland bike trail along the Columbia River for our departure out of town.  Because we had to make many turns on this path other riders from our group caught up and about 15 were all riding together which was really neat to see.  The Portland bike path system is really neat and fun to ride.

After  leaving the bike train we arrived at our last aid station of the day and we refilled our bottles and were ready to leave once again.  From here on we started our climb, which was not real steep but a steady grade where it went from 2% and at times kicked up to 8%.  At we were climbing the sky's started to clear and the sun was shining on Mt. Hood and it was clearly visible. 

While climbing we went by many tree farms and fruit stands.  As we were passing a church the sign out front said "Come as you are, Perfect people not allowed, which was a high spot in the conversation as we passed.

We then came to a spot where we could get a good photo shot of Mt Hood and we took pictures. 

Moving on we were looking for the lunch stop at Calamity Jane's.  We found it and ate and then moved on to our last stop which is the resort at the Mountain..   This is really a plush place and each of our rooms is a sweet, with a Pool, Hot Tub, Golf Course.  We are really lucky for this break from today's ride.

This is all for today and pictures are posted below.

Tomorrow is 66 Miles with 5000' of climbing.