Yesterday I was in Eugene for the 6k service. I decided to change the tires as the rear would probably not make it to Alaska. I can not afford any delays or breakdowns due to the tight schedule I have to get to Anchorage. After the service I decided to do a little exploring. Liz the lady at the parts counter suggested a dirt ride along the north side of some reservoir. I Did that and I have some video of it, plus the views. I also wanted to take a RT 19 which is supposed to be very scenic, but I could not find it. It is right there on the map, but due to the detail I could only get a guess as to the area. The GPS was no help, it said it didn't exist. Anyway I wasted about an hour looking for it, and going down the WRONG road some old timers said was 19. I had to double back 60 something miles to head back to the rally. I had planned on taking 242 from 126 after I got off 19. I knew where 19 was on 126 but that was the ending end for me. I took 242 and that was an awesome road. This was far more challenging then the Dragon, and much more scenic. There is video of that too. After I got back I set up my tent in a blustery wind. Language was kept to a low mumble, but still not for the weak at heart. We met at the Happy Trails tent and had a pot luck dinner. They do a lot of dutch oven (not the covers over the head kind) type of cooking. The chicken was very good, and so was desert. Here it is: cut up boneless, skinless chicken breast into thirds, and brown in oil a few minutes. Put into pot with Russian dressing, pineapple and apricot preserves, add a package or two of Lipton onion soup and cooks for a few hours. Add white rice to the mixture towards the end, and walla a meal. The desert was cake mix 7up or sprite with apple pie filling cooked in a dutch oven over the coals. Yummy. After dinner it was off to the sleeping bag where I FROZE all night long. It got pretty cold.
This is RT 242, a very nice moutain ride.
Today was the GS ride through the dirt roads of Oregon, around Redmond anyway. Very very challenging for me. I have little dirt experience and we were on all kinds of difficult surfaces. We did about 70 to 80 miles in the dirt and I did have a Little incident. After navigating several different types of gravel and dirt I came to this down hill right turn in a mix of soft dirt and stone. The front end kicked back and forth the tail end whipped out a little and down I went. No injury to me, and the bike suffered some scratches. A shame, I hate to see it happen, but with the amount of dirt and type, I was very much aware it was a real possibility. It is all training, you can't learn it without doing it. A side note, Dave is a madman on dirt. He does it better then most can do the pavement. I have only one video post for today and that is the end of the dirt ride up to the top of a mountain for the mountain views. Spectacular view.
Some views from yesterdays ride on dirt.
Another video of my solo in the woods yesterday
Another view on the solo ride.
Ride to the top of the mountain.
Tommorow morning I take the ERC, Experienced Rider Course which starts at 0700 and ends at 1130.
Awesome films!
ReplyDelete