Japanese Hollow (Pleasant Ridge Cutoff). This was a wonderful, tough solo gravel ride out of Sorosis Park in The Dalles. A couple of weeks ago, the day after I had my latest Covid-19 booster, I did a shorter 29-mile version of this ride (GR - Japanese Hollow bailout) and really struggled. A late start and side-effects of the booster really affected my performance. This time around, however, I felt great. Our gravel group had planned to do this route but received reports of bad road conditions so the group ride was postponed. That was the right call given available information. However, I was itching to do the ride after a week off the bike so gave it a try. The road conditions were actually pretty good. It was clear that they had been muddy recently but by the time I hit the trail they were mostly dried out. Weather was great, cool, dry, with very little wind. The only less-than-perfect thing was low-lying clouds obscured the mountain views. The climb up Skyline is challenging but fun and I really enjoyed the descent down Pleasant Ridge, that was a long, fast run. The climb up Upper Five Mile Road has some steep sections but nothing too over-the-top. I will definitely make my way back out here again, and next time I will probably do the full 55-mile route that includes a stretch on Japanese Hollow. More to come.