So four of us set out to ride a route laid out by Andy starting in Maupin, OR. What a great route. We started off rolling along the Deschutes River through dryish canyon lands. A few miles in it began to rain but it stopped pretty quickly while we messed around in a drainage pipe and checked out the river. We then began climbing out of the canyon a long a twisting section of road that was quite pleasant with little traffic and a reasonable grade. We check out some falls and ruins and then kept rambling to Tygh Valley. From there we headed towards the Mt Hood National Forest and miles of dirt/gravel roads the climbed rolled and descended, dropping us off in Waimic where we refueled. From there we had more rolling roads and a screaming descent and steep climb out of some canyon. This was an amazing stretch of road and while the descent was a bit harrowing and the climb quite steep, it was still my favorite section of road. We then rolled along on a few more miles of gravel before getting back onto pavement and dropping back into Maupin which included an absolutely perfect 3 mile descent on steep twisty roads that were quiet and offered good sight lines.
My only regret about this ride is that we couldn't have pitched camp along the route. I had never ridden with Tommy or Shawn before and they were great company. I would absolutely not hesitate to do this ride again as part of a longer camping trip or even as a day trip. It would certainly be worth visiting on a clear day. I'm not sure what the temperature was but I was never too cold or too hot. The route was about 60 miles. The only sustained rain we experienced was at the beginning. We had stiff winds across Tygh Valley but also a strong tailwind when heading east like when we rolled into Waimic and into Maupin at the end. Andy rode his Hilsen with 40mm Schwalbe Marathons. Tommy was on a Bombadil with Panaracer Col de Vies (or whatever they're called). Shawn and I were both on LHTs. We both had Schwalbe Marathons (35s for Shawn, 38s for me). Tommy was the only person to flat. No mechanicals. Andy didn't have fenders on his bike and that's probably why it rained on us at the beginning of the ride. Big thanks to Andy for planning the route and Tommy for providing transportation. Pictures proved it happened: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41335973@N00/sets/72157633188497354/ --mike -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en-US. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
