Rides

The Saga is getting a spring tune up. It was fun riding the Trucker this week. 

Bellfountain to Monroe.  Then out Territorial a ways and west to Long Tom Grange.  100's of people. Nice day. Back home on 99w, then a side trip to Philomath. 

More seasonable weather. A little fog, a little rain, but I don't recall getting wet. Two rides to Philomath. 

Still no rain, but it's comming. Coninued mild weather.

Willammette park with January who is riding well on her own now. Then to the garden.

Another gorgeous day for riding in the Willammette Valley. Lunch at Calapooia pub in Albany. Slight tailwind on the way home on Riverside. Extra loop out to Philomath with Robert.

Morinings sunny and cold, afternoons around 60. It's official. We had no winter this year.

Continued spring like weather. Wonderful riding. 

Berry Creek to Airlee road. After the stop at the winery I headed of to do a longer route with a group of 5. I could not keep up over the hills. They put me to shame. I have to loose weight if I want to stay with the faster riders, even with the tenners.

From the Winery we continued to Kings Valley, then north to Monmouth highway  lots of hills on this route, which today really did me in.

Beautiful day. Fog at he start but it lifted early and we were treated to 60 degree sunshine. Not bad for February. 

The week started out stormy but turned spring like. Foggy mornings and warm dry afternoons, allowing me to get the extra miles.

The rain let up and the clouds were even breaking up as we set out, but we knew it wouldn't last. Sure enough as we turned up Decker the sky's opened and it poured all the way back to Philomath. Fortunately it was warm, mid 50s so it wasn't't so bad. 

Missed logging this week so putting in the minimum miles.

Foggy in the valley so I drove to Wren. I was treated to some sunshine for a while, but it soon turned to high clouds. I wanted to explore Harris road as it is part of the all gravel route to the coast. Nicer than expected. Through some well logged land along Mary's River. Some climbing but nothing steep. Seven miles on it hits Tum Tum road which is the route to the coast. When I got to Blodgett I decided to make a loop, up to Summit and over Hoskins road. At the base of the gravel road on Hoskins I saw Alexander road which would have provides a shorter, gravel route part of the way back to Wren.

The ride over Hoskins road was great. Mostly hard packed wet dirt, with occasional gravel patches. I had some trouble with the loose gravel, still haven't found the magic to get through these even though the Grando handles it well.

When the days get longer and the weather improves I want to do this as a full loop from Corvallis. Cardwell Hill to Wren, then this loop, then Maxfield Creek and the usual route back home. This would be the improved version of the ride I did last year when I rode to Blodgett on the highway, then did the rest as I just described. 

Foggy mornings sunny afternoons. Warm for January. 

First ride of Spring, at least it felt that way. 60 degrees, no wind. With the Tenners out Independence - Buena Vista - Monmouth. Then solo out Elkins - Airlee - Maple Grove - Pedee - Kings Valley - Maxfield Creek - Airlee - Berry Creek - Tampico - 99 - home. Inspired to get at least 100k. Good start for the season. 

Incredible views of the mountains today. Saw Mt. Hood from Buena Vista, and this shot from Tampico road. 

4 day week. No rain. Days are getting longer. Could make it home before dark if I headed straight home. As it was I was able to get in some extra miles. 

Parked at Hemmick Park. Took Elkins to Smith Road (gravel) to Monmouth Hwy. Short stretch of pavement to Kings Valley Hwy. South about a mile to Gardener (gravel) which is directly opposite the end of Airlee Rd.  A few miles on Gardner then a few more on Frost into Falls City. Nice little town. Appears stable, not in decay.  Little Lukiamute Falls was amazing with the water very high from heavy rains.  Back on Bridgeport to Gardener to Airlee, and then Simpson (gravel). Less than 10 miles of pavement all in all.

It was quite foggy for a good part of the ride.  The Sun broke through while we were in Falls City but then we had more fog on the way back, before finally breaking into the sunshine.

The Grando (or maybe it should be gRando) handled wonderfully. A lot of the road was just a thin layer of mud, the kind that creates a lot of suck, but I had no problem just gliding over it on the gRando. I would definitely call the gRando an all road bike. So far the only time I found it outside its comfort zone was on downhill trails. 

Fog finally lifted. Got rained on one ride. It is an amazingly rare occurance considering how much it rains zround here.

Nice gravel ride in one of my favorite areas. Drove to Summit with Nelson. Not my usual MO but I never would have gotten that far out otherwise. I was cold misty fog. Much nicer to be up in the woods than out on the road. Shingle creek road is about a 6 mile connector between Mary's River road and Hoskins road, allowing a loop. Some good climbing but very enjoyable.

Fog most of the week. It broke on Friday and I got a bit of a ride in after work.

Not quite as cold as it has been. A spirited ride. Gave me a good workout.

Up Oak Creek, down Dan's trail and Jackson Creek. Temperature was right about freezing but the sun was out. Plenty warm climbing. Downhill on the trail was hard on this bike due to the handlebars and my thick gloves. Lot's of fun though.

This was the first time I had Grando up to Dimple Hill

Got back from one ride, had lunch and went out for another. Up Sulphur Springs, down Soap Creek, across on Camp Adair, and then back on Indepdendence. No wind and by now it was up around 40. Good start to the year.

Last ride of 2014. Another great year of riding. Did not miss a day of commuting. Finished the year strong with the best December yet. Looking forward to more. 430 for the month, 5170 for the year.  

The rain held off but the wind picked up. In our faces heading out, but at our backs coming back. Nice to finish off the year strong with four good rides in a row.

Nice day. Some clouds some sun, upper 40s. Bryant park very flooded. Right now I'm seeing some of the worst flooding since I've been in Corvallis. 

Christmas day. Started out cloudy got sunny, but then I got caught in a cold shower on the way home. Back on Arboretum and Mt. View.

Snuck out between rain showers. Past Philomath a bit, then back and around town.

Short week. went over 5k miles for the year with this ride.

Exploring gravel roads down by the river, which is at flood levels. 

Got pretty wet this week.

first with the tenners out Smith Loop and back Bellfountain. Then solo out Riverside to Albany, back Metge. Started out foggy but got sunny with no wind, mid 40s. Gorgeous day. 

Managed to miss most of the rain, and wind. In the groove of winter commuting. 

Started out with the 9:00 group but couldn't keep the pace. Looped back to town and caught the tenners. 12 people. Some wind but the rain stopped. Back route from Tangent to Shedd I had not ridden before. 

Not so cold. Not too much rain. 

Up Jackson Creek. The road is clear up to Lewisberg Saddle. I headed towards Dimple Hill but only got about a quarter of a mile before I hit the downed trees. Still a lot of work to do. Looks like they brought in a yarder and have some nice looking logs on the side of the road. Probably only gets worse the higher you go. I couldn't get as far as the upper Horse trailhead, but took lower Horse. Fun. Very cold altough the actual temerature was just above freezing. Switched my gloves and took amy jacket on and off a lot to regulate body heat. Went back through Chip Ross part. Still a muddy mess, but now partially frozen.

Up Sulphur Springs road. Looks like most of the down trees and limbs have been cleaned up at Lewisberg Saddle. I was amazed at how much smoother Soap Creek road felt on the Grando. Fat tires and steel frame really smooth out a nasty road. Light rain wasn't bad but heading East on Airlee I realized there was a stiff South wind. A slow slog into the wet ind on Independence road heading home. 

3 day week. Warmer but wet. I seemed to avoid most of the rain. 

The week started cold and then warmed up and got wet.

Up Sulphur Springs which was icy in spots. At Lewisberg Saddle the plan was to go north on forest road 500, but the ice storm had brought down many limbs and trees. After carrying our bikes in for about 100 yards we realized it would not get any better and turned arround. Going down Sulphur Springs was okay as the sun was out and most of the ice had melted. After lunch at Adair Village we headed up forest road 540 which was fine at first but got pretty bad up towards Cronemiller Lake. Eventually we made it past the lake and on down to Pevy Arboretum and home on 99.