Portland Area Group Ride — Mt. Hood Loop

[Guth_imp]

I had the pleasure of riding with cooldrum, Jonz, husky385, husky385's nephew and pdedse today. Jonz, cooldrum, husky385 and his nephew met up with me at a local coffee shop for a quick jolt of caffeine and then we headed east where we met up with pdedse. Our timing was perfect as pdedse was pulling in to the designated meeting spot at the exact same time as the rest of us. Then we headed out from Troutdale on the historic Columbia River Gorge highway. The historic highway is a two lane road that can get a bit congested, but it rewards the rider with some wonderful scenery.

Our first stop was at the viewpoint overlooking Crown Point and the Gorge.


From left to right: husky385, the nephew, Guth, cooldrum, pdedse and Jonz.

We had a nice group of beautiful bikes: five CB1100s and one nifty Ducati.



The guys let me follow them from the viewpoint on down the road a ways so I could capture some video of everyone riding. Here are a couple of images from the video.





After finishing up with the historic highway, we hopped back on I-84 and made our way to Hood River where we fueled up. Then we headed south on Highway 35 through the fruit orchards on the east side of Mt. Hood. We stopped in Parkdale for some lunch.



Then it was time to hop back on the bikes and get back on the road.



We made our way south until Highway 26 and then we headed back west towards Portland. We managed to catch some backroads before arriving in Portland. It's a really nice ride until you come across a truck hauling a trailer with a huge hot tub aboard. But the driver was kind enough to stop and let us ride on by. pdedse spit off to head back home shortly afterwards and the rest of us continued on into Portland before husky385's nephew had to make his way home.

Jonz, husky385, cooldrum and myself finished up the day at the coffee shop where were started off.



All in all it was a great time. I was a reluctant ride leader, but it went okay. No one got lost at least, lol. A couple of times I got so busy keeping up with what everyone else was doing that I forgot to cinch down the strap on my helmet so everyone had to pull over along with me so that I could correct the situation, but no one gave me a hard time (thanks guys). The weather couldn't have been more perfect. It started off a bit overcast and cool but the sun came out soon enough and the temps stayed in the 70s.

It was a pleasure meeting all of you guys and hopefully we'll get together to ride again soon. I'll add some videos to this thread after I've had a chance to do some editing and post them up.

[the Ferret]

Riding with the boss. How cool is that? and in one of the prettiest places in the country. Great photos Guth. I recognize some of those places from our visit. Glad you gentlemen had a great ride.

[cooldrum_imp]

Ferrett, Riding anywhere up the Historic highway is amazing. We started early enough to avoid the later afternoon traffic which made for a very pleasant ride. Have a great weekend, Russ A big shout out to Guth for getting us together!

[Guth_imp]

Riding with the boss. How cool is that? and in one of the prettiest places in the country. Great photos Guth. I recognize some of those places from our visit. Glad you gentlemen had a great ride.

Yep, pretty much the same loop that I took you on with the exception of the last bit of backroads. (Nor did we take the Timberline Lodge detour. Maybe another time.)

Funny story: I was driving home in my truck last night a bit late in the evening, around 10:30. I'm getting close to home and am headed down my street when out of the corner of my eye I catch a glimpse of a very familiar site in the glow of my headlights. The instantly recognizable shape of the red tank with the stripes highlighting its shape and the winged badge. WHAAAT? I did a quick double take to see a CB1100 sitting there just as I was driving past. I thought to myself, what are the chances that one of the guys that rode in from out of town to join us is staying just a few blocks from my house? I figured that had to be it, but just to be sure, I had to check the garage when I got home to make sure that my CB1100 was still parked inside, lol. As it turns out, it was Jonz's CB — his brother lives right on my street, just a stone's throw away. Pretty crazy.

[the Ferret]

THat is crazy. CA200's brother lives a stone throw from me. ROde past his house with my son on his new FJ-09 just the other day.

Small world.

[Guth_imp]

Some video from today's ride. Riding along the historic highway in the Columbia Gorge. (We were forced to stop due to an antique car event taking place at the Vista House on Crown Point.)

[pdedse]

Thanks all for the ride! Great meeting you guys and enjoyed finally seeing other CB1100s on the rode, a first for me. Our Ducati companion showed us his heels just after leaving I-84 and heading south on 35 towards Mt. Hood, followed by a sheriff with lights on...I think we all thought he was a gonner and that we would soon pass him by, maybe take a photo of LEO handing over a ticket, but he just flashed his lights at John and let him ride on! Nice.

Later on in the day...unrelated, but weird sight: I was walking along Columbia River Drive near airport and saw a car fly upside down through the air--could clearly see the tires facing up--only to crash down an embankment. I have no idea how that could have happened. People stopped in both directions and ran to their aid, but I saw no movement coming out of the car. Just a very strange thing.

Back to the ride...sometimes I forget just how close I live to some spectacular riding areas! Ok, actually, I don't forget!

[Cormanus]

Good one, guys. I don't know what it is about riding around with other CB owners, but it lays turns out well.

[curlyjoe]

Great pics and video!

Sounds like you guys had a good time!

[emptysea]

Looks like a great day. My brother is an avid windsurfer and has visited this area several times to take advantage of the relationship the river's current to the prevailing wind. He's suggested that I get myself out there to ride the winding roads and to fish the rolling waters. Your report and pictures confirm that his suggestion has a lot of merit. Thanks for sharing.