Portland Oregon Cogal
Ah, the Pacific NW in winter, who can beat it? To ride in the foothills of some of the most majestic snow-capped volcanoes on the planet, with views of the Pacific Ocean or Puget Sound (which is almost the same as a view of the ocean).
Anyway, take my word for it that all that is out there somewhere, because those who join us February 4th for the Portland Cogal will be be wrapped in clouds and drenched in a cold, drizzly rain. But a little bit of Rule #9 riding never hurt anyone.
Yours in Cycling,
Frank
—
Portland Oregon in Fabruary: Highs 7.5C, Lows 2.6C average. Near 16cm of liquid sunshine. This is not Palm Springs. I do have respect for those of us that ride in high temps, I actually prefer it hot most of the time. Perhaps I misunderstand Rule #9 as it addresses both ends of the mercury scale, but we Velominati seem to gravitate towards the spring classics, and the images of hardmen; cold, wet and reveling in the moment.
McSqueak and I, under direct pressure from Fronk, planned on doing this in December. As we talked, December is a hard month for folk to get out of town. There’s a lot of meditating on Airing of Grievances. Family obligations. Made more sense to have it in the year of the Mayan Apocalypse.
On February 4th at precisely V past VV, we roll out from Carter Park at the corner of W 33rd Street and Columbia Street in Vancouver, WA for 127K ride. It rolls out flat with a couple little bumps along the Columbia River. Then up part of the Historic Columbia River Highway along the Sandy River. A bit of Sur La Plaque climbing, then a quick decent back down to the Sandy. A few pretty big climbs and descents, a stroll through some wine country, back along the Columbia River and back to my house for beer and food (in that order). Fantastic views of green fields, evergreens, the mighty Columbia, Mt. Hood, wine country and great, lightly traveled roads most of the way. Except it’s fucking February in the PNW. Probably won’t see the mountains.
Couple of details; I’ll emphasize again that it is February. Probably won’t be any snow but I can almost guarantee cold rain. After about 30K, there is NO bailout point, except turning around and backtracking. The MapMyRide climb profile while accurate, understates the climbing. This is a hard route on a sunny day in July. I’m also suggesting a Casually Deliberate pace, but years of riding have taught me one indisputable fact: two or more cyclists going the same way will get competitive and drive up the pace. That, combined with the climbing, will almost certainly see separate groups forming. If the group splits, we’ll regroup at the top of the major climbs and at intersections where we need to make a turn.
Make an honest assessment of your ability to finish the ride (no sag support); we will be riding the rolling sections of the ride in the neighborhood of 25-30kmph and the climbs will be ridden at whatever climbing speed works for you. Let us know if you’re planning on attending so we have a head count for food, bring some hoppy beverages, and come bathe in the glory of a full Rule #9 day. We look forward to seeing you.
Route and planning details can be found on the Portland Cogal Page
[separator break=”true”/][productphoto thumbnail=”http://velominati.com/wp-content/uploads/readers/frank/2011.11.15.00.46.49/cogal_v-cog.png”/][product buttonid=”Y5JK65MQFHRA2″ name=”Cogal V-Pint” price=”30.00″ optionslabel=”Cogal” options=”Portland, Oregon 2012″ /]Attendees of Cogals may order Cogal V-Pints, emblazoned with the name of their Cogal. These are intended only for Cogal attendees and are shipped to the organizer for pick-up at the event.
The V-Pint will be shipped to the Cogal organizer. Shipping charges are $8.00 USD for US domestic orders, $12.00 USD international.[separator break=”true”/]
This ride sounds cool! I’ll be there. Snark.
If you are planning on attending, you can e-mail me at; [email protected] (ghost account), so I can have an idea of food supplies.
AWESOME.
If it winds up being a decent day we should go a few more miles up the historic highway and stop at the Women’s Forum, so folks who have never been there can get a good look at the gorge and environs.
I’ll probably be off the back somewhere, so I’ll just catch up.
ALSO: I believe there will be drinks and food consumed the night before the ride at the Hopworks Bike Bar in NE Portland.
Would 7 PM be an appropriate time to gather?
@mcsqueak
Most excellent Idea. Get good and dehydrated before the ride!
@scaler911
I prefer the term carb loading.
Sounds/looks like a great ride! Let’s see if I can find a semi-legitimate excuse to be in Washington for a few days…
congrats for putting this together. sold work.
What? No climb up Larch Mt.?
@Cyclops
knock yourself out. The gate’s closed though.
Can I just poke my nose in to point out that the abbreviation is kph, not kmph?
@Oli
Only if you fly up here and correct us in person!
Haha, I wish!
Anyone from Vancouver, BC planning on heading down? Carpool? Also looking to see if Amtrack will do the business.
I’m trying to negotiate room rates at the Hilton which is about 10-15 blocks from my house. I’ll post up when I get that finalized.
A FYI: We get a deal if I can block 10 rooms. So the sooner I know if you are coming and staying, the better deal. Not that February is ‘high season’ around these parts.
@Oli: I didn’t write that part. It was added after. Guess that’s what happens when you mix Dutch and English!
I’m actually fairly interested in this ride, although it’s a bit of a jaunt for me to get to Portland from San Jose. It most certainly sounds like a beautiful ride. I’ll think on it a bit…
@urbanwhitetrash
Amtrak will drop you off about 3K from my house. If you end up booking that, let me know and I can provide transportation from there to wherever you are staying.
I drove San Jose to Portland two years ago. That was a very long day. Theres gotta be a better way.
@robertsexton
There is: ride from San Jose to Portland in however many days it takes.
Are you going to post the route? Gotta make sure that the net suffering isn’t more than I’m up for in early february….
@frank
That is a much better way, in _June_ Those NoCal mountain passes sometimes require chains….
@robertsexton
This is the route.
I’m with robertsexton in wanting to know a bit more about the route. I’m good for some climbing, and for 127k, but for both in February, I’m not exactly… err, peaking, i.e. fitting into all my kit.
Unlike the Skeleton Man, I want to have some kind of idea what the climbs are like before putting myself out there with a 38×25 botom gear at 40%.
What a keen sense of timing I’ve got…
@Oli
Oi, Oli, I don’t post about what Roger de Vlaeminck had on his cornflakes the morning of Het Volk in 1972…
And actually I would suggest you’re both wrong but Frank is less wrong.
k simply means 1000 in the metric notation system as in kg, km, kj so kph has no meaning because there is nothing to say what units there are a thousand of. You use it because it equates visibly to mph but the m is a unit.
km/h is the correct usage, so in Frank’s version he at least use p to express the per concept.
@Champs, @robertsexton
All the route, start time, etc is located on the Cogal Event Page.
@ChrisO
Roger was a real man, he ate steak for breakfast, not cereal.
@ChrisO
Take that, @Oli-san!
Funny, the differences in sub-cultures. I guess I’m used to writing kmph from my Nordic days, but my iPad wants to correct kmph into kph, so Steve Jobs (used to) agrees with you!
@scaler911
I’m in for sure, by the way. This will fit in to my training plan for sucking very
…well
…it’s too easy to hit “post” on an iPad…
@Champs
Ahh, but that’s the point. The beauty of this ride is that it’s not in June or July. Great weather, you’re peaking. The joy of this is going to come from the suffering among friends. As to the climbs: relatively short and steep. All close together in the middle of the ride. But again, as I wrote in the article, there is no bailout. Once you’re in the climbs, either way is up and down and up.
Gonna be a blast.
Yeah, once the climbing is done you can “enjoy” the rest of the ride, in the relative sense that you’re no longer climbing.
Looking forward to it!
Each rider will be assigned a bidon filled with a random Portland microbrew and will write a report immediately after.
I hope I get a Hair of the Dog.
Unrelated, I rode some Seattle cobbles this morning on the cross bike, knobby tires inflated to 50psi. It felt like cheating…the tires smoothed out the major bumps really well.
Granted, these were fairly flat bricks and not European kindernoggins.
@frank
Aha! Right under my nose. Looks like a good ride, with some “Climbing”. A nice flat spin with a lunch ride ( Class V Lunch Ride ) in the middle :-)
@ChrisO
I’ll take the km/h, but I still maintain that kph is less wrong (and more used) than kmph which I’ve never seen used in the real world. I am fully cognisant of the etymological origins of the word kilometre, but as it’s written as one word I guess that’s why it’s used in this fashion.
FYI, the ‘p’ in kph quite clearly does explain the ‘per’ concept, which is why kph does equate to mph – kilometres (one word) per hour v. miles per hour.
Hope this assists in your understanding, and I welcome your input on RdV’s breakfast selections at the first available opportunity. I am feeling somewhat unwelcome up here in the Pacific Northwest, so I will now leave you to your arrangements.
@urbanwhitetrash
I’m certainly looking to go from North Vancouver, BC. This sounds like a great event in a foreign country on new roads to me. With beer and food and like minded folks for a ride oot and aboot eh? By the way, I have never seen kmph before and I grew up xc skiing and in a metric country. Oli, good explanation. Continue as you were
@nvvelominati @urbanwhitetrash
Glad to hear that some of our neighbors from the north might make it down!
Ooh boy, wish I was a bit closer & could make it. Have fun!
Cool lead photo. Reminds me of one of my favorite stretches of road on one of my favorite routes:
Of course, this one is across the country right at the border where I’d ride from New York into Pennsylvania. A sunny day, but plenty of wet ones as well. Lots of clouds and rain on the many rides I did there.
Have fun at the Portland ride!
Belgian and French national CX championships are happing live at this very moment: Live race video.
Wow, G’rilla…I had no idea but thanks to you I just caught the Belgian finish and now have the French race on. The VMH is happy watching along since she speaks French.
Thanks for the awesome Sunday morning heads up.
On another note, did my first true, proper 161 km ride yesterday! Done plenty of 140s & such, but never went all in. Left late so had to ITT to a group winter charity ride, did the ride, then rode to meet the VMH at the local dairy for ice cream. It was 67*F here. Oh, and I had to do it on my cross bike. After two years of Steerer Tube Cutting Anxiety I took it in to the new shop on Friday to get it cut. They cut it too short! (on my LOOK!) Ah! Too shocked to be upset, but they did contact LOOK and they seem to have the same 2009 fork around, so I guess it’ll get sorted. And my cross bike was skipping in about three gears because I tossed my road wheels on & the cassette is different than my cross wheels, so I guess the chain wasn’t happy.
Anyway, happy to be in the 161km klub.
@mcsqueak
Oh hey, that looks like a really fun ride. Not a whole lot of elevation gain for the distance, and the hills don’t look too bad. Granted – I won’t keep up if you tend to climb at 20kph… My climbing, while I enjoy it, isn’t among the fastest. (But it’s my goal to work on that this year)
Sadly, I won’t be able to make this Cogal. I’m saving up for my atomic tourism in late March. (Gonna go see the Trinity Test Site!)
@Xyverz
Ah, that’s too bad – but yeah, I can understand coming all the way up from CA isn’t the most feasible for one-day ride.
@Ron
That’s your avatar, isn’t it?
@Oli
Actually (as the one who wrote that) I’d say its certainly less orthodox the way I wrote it, but I also disagree that its wrong. Convention certainly agrees with you and there’s an argument to be made with how sloppily people speak these days that convention takes precedence over what’s right or wrong.
That said, there’s nothing at all wrong with saying kmph. Its just unusual. Kinda like me.
Senor Fronk – Yep, that is my wee photo there. The lead photo seemed so similar that I couldn’t help but put it up in big form.
That photo shows a great country road that I loved riding on a daily loop when I had 2-3 free hours to ride. Depending on how I approached, I’d either ride out of PA and into NY or out of NY and into PA. It was always quiet, cool, and damp on that stretch, whether rain or snow or runoff on the road.
It remains special to me because I moved back in with the Olds kind of late in life because I was in graduate school in town, why not live with my family, right? For some it seems odd, but maybe not for others. Anyway, I had a great time, and I really, really earned my Velominati wings there. Tons of riding, lots of climbs, a lot of learning about myself while in the saddle.
To be back home at an advanced age and have the outlet of heading out on my bicycle whenever I needed, or felt like it, was incredible. Hence, it’s not just about the bike!
@frank
As is sadly often the case, I wish I’d never said anything.
ahhh so gutted I am missing it – work stuff means I will be on my way back from Japan – this ride is RAD ( I think rad has fallen out of favour so I am bringing it back!!)
The climbs are great, the scenery lush – it will be a great ride.
I think I may try and organize one later in the year – how about a Lolo Pass ride or a ride from Hood River Scaler?
@Gerard
Ah, that’s too bad! Japan is pretty badass though.
Even if it’s not an official cogal, I’d love to go on some country rides out of Hood River/The Dalles. I’ve heard there is excellent riding out there, but I’ve never been.
@Gerard
Nothin’ wrong with a summer Cogal in P-Town! Set it up and we’ll do it! No shortage of amazing rides around there, I’m told.
@Gerard
@mcsqueak
@frank
Sounds like a job for @Gerard! If this doesn’t turn into a disaster, I’d be glad to help. Too bad you can’t make the current one though. If the weather holds like it has been (which sucks for skiing), we might even get some views!
@mcsqueak
sure thing, I am usually out on group rides on Sundays, but happy to do something more fun and exploratory – I have done a few great rides out the Dalles/ Hood River way….