How's this for fun: Get a bunch of bike-riding pals together on a drizzly spring Saturday to tackle the most killer hills on Portland's west side. Oh, and get someone to film the whole grueling adventure, and, of course, post it to Youtube.com.
James Thomas, a Portland doctor, produced the a 9-minute, 46-second movie he calls "Incredibly Steep."
He's not kidding.
The toughest hill was Brynwood, which he estimates has a grade of 20 percent. And that was only one of the 15 to 18 hills that were strung together for the 42-mile ride April 7 -- a sort of bike homage to the Tour de Flanders, a race held April 8 in Belgium.
Between 70 and 100 cyclists took part in the Portland race -- a route so demanding that Thomas, a veteran cyclist whose weekend rides are up to four hours long, headed home after the race and promptly went to bed.
"It's the only time I have ever gone home and gone to sleep," he said. "It's one of the hardest rides I have ever done."
He's a film buff -- he goes to Sundance every year -- he decided to put together a short movie on the ride. He asked his wife, Susan Sienko, to film the ride.
This week, he posted the movie on Youtube.com -- the first time he's done that with one of his movies. In 24 hours, more than 1,200 viewers checked it out.
"I am impressed," he said this morning. "If I had made a documentary video and tried to show it in a theater, I certainly wouldn't get that many hits. It's quite fun to see 1,200 hits in one 24-hour period."
Check out "Incredibly Steep" here: