maximo

Bucks Lake aka Oro Quincy aka 162 always closes for winter. The road is just upslope from Lake Oroville (and the forebay/afterbay) so weather systems pick up a lot of moisture as the move from west to east and dump it all on the area just where this road is. So it gets a lot of snow. Also, it does not get plowed so you have to wait for a natural melt to clear the road. But it is much lower than the other well known passes, so it doesn't last as long. So, you can usually safely plan on being able to cross it end to end from June through October. Here's a picture taken this year on May 5 at this spot: 39.8228944,-121.32 If you come up from the quincy side you'll get as far as here 39.900426, -121.119033 and then hit snow. Now for the bad news: This road is dead. The North Complex Fire (Bear Fire, whatever you want to call it) raged right over the top of it and it was hot enough that the road surface boiled and disintegrated. Much of it has turned into a fine powder, almost like the road is made of sand. Even worse, the State and Feds have said this is a low priority road for them, so they don't foresee putting in the $$ to tear down and rebuild the road. And certainly the county doesn't have that kind of money to fix it. So for now it's set to stay as a semi paved road. This kills me. I work in Oroville, right at the foot of this marvel, and I often ride it during lunchtime. And now I feel like Ralphie's dad when the Bumpus hounds steal the turkey.

For me right now it's the Canadian Rockies.

Congrats! Many happy miles!!

Yeah, hard to paint an entire manufacturer on personal experience. If that were the case, I would have never touched another Yamaha after the pitiful experience I had with the FJ1200, and all my bikes would be BMW's, based on the (miraculously) trouble free miles on my K1200. (to be honest, "trouble free miles" excludes those infrequent $4,000 breakdowns...) 😂 😭

Oh man, now I'm hungry AND jealous!

If I commute 65 MPH on cruise, mode B, I gas up anywhere from 210-220 miles on the tank. If I'm rip roaring in the twisties, a heartfelt prayer might get me to 140 miles on a tank. This is probably the most sensitive bike I've ever had vis a vis MPG and wrist control.

It's good to read posts like this. My wife is from Steilacoom and her parents and sibs are scattered from there up to Bellingham. We make the requisite family visits, always in summer, and always by car. When we retire she wants to go settle "back home." Having lived the bulk of my life in sunny, dry, and gorgeous NorCal, the thought of living in the PNW kind of scares me. It gives me hope to read fellow riders' adventures in the area, just in case we actually do end up there.

Somewhat related funny story. Back in the 90’s, before Sears Point Raceway was expanded/renovated, I used to go to the races and mostly hang out on the back side, T 7 8 9. One year I decided to scout a better position and realized that the protruding hill at T 1-2 offered a spectacular vantage that I hadn’t considered. For Sunday I made a point of arriving early to claim the spot. I got there in time, set up my camp chair and umbrella and settled in at THE prime spot. Not long after that a group arrived, and the guy who was clearly in charge of the group graciously asked me if we could share the spot. He’d even put up his huge sun shade, and all I had to do was scootch over a few inches so he could sit next to me. The guy then starts to point out things to me as the riders go by. At first I think he’s a blowhard, but then as I start to listen, this guy really knows what he’s talking about. He’s pointing out things like body positioning, braking points, specific riders weakness and strengths. It turned out to be the best time I’ve ever had watching races live. I had no idea who the guy was, until I saw his picture in one of the bike magazines. It was Keith Code! It was an amazing experience.

For my own comfort, I've yet to find riding apparel that is 4 season that performs well at the extremes. If the gear keeps me comfy at 110 degrees, it'll need way too many layers to keep me warm at 35 degrees. Conversely, the gear that keeps me toasty at 35 will make me have a heat stroke at 110. So I have summer gear and winter gear, and in the spring/fall I pick whichever one fits the particular day.

Those panniers were designed on a Monday morning 7am, after a long weekend of drunkenness and unspeakable debauchery.

Fantastic!

And all along I thought that my wife was referring to my age when she calls me her "high mileage husband."

Jeepers! I may never be well again after reading these tales of horror!!!

All other roads in the area are fine. I will say that as a general statement many of our favorite roads in NorCal took a beating this year due to fires. AFAIK only Bucks Lake Rd disintegrated. But others bear the scars of heavy machinery, fire apparatus, and yet to come is the abuse of logging trucks hauling out all the dead timber. So yes, the other roads are all good, just expect a pothole or two more than usual.

Awesome picture! 🙂 I have sad news on Bucks Lake Rd. The North Complex Fire virtually destroyed the road. Because of the heat the asphalt cooked and hardened, and the slightest pressure on it pulverizes the surface. I'm not sure if they'll let it go back to gravel, or if they'll reconstruct the whole thing from the lake down to Berry Creek. Either way, the road will be out of commission for some time.

Similar here - no rain from April until November. The downside is that the state burns down from May to November...

Terrific!! It felt like I was on this ride. To wit, the screen grab below I found myself leaning more and more as that guardrail got uncomfortably close.

This is how I ended up with my FJ1200. I'd been considering one of these beasts, and not knowing the going rate I checked ebay and saw one that was 3 hours from my house. I put on a lowball bid w/o much thought (without reading the fine print). I had absolutely no intention on buying it, and totally forgot about it. A couple of weeks later I got a congratulatory email, so I went back to see what I had gotten. Turned out to be a fixer upper. I sank a lot of money into it, and never got it to where I actually enjoyed riding it. I sold it two years later and ended up losing thousands of dollars on it.

I bought one of these pigs brand spankin new back in '99. It was everything you say, plus the oil filter bolts that would strip if you used anything other than your hand. It was rickety, finicky, and weighed a million lbs that had to be pushed by the 39hp it produced. I fondly remember having the riding group I was with change the route on the fly because the bike literally could not make it over the Ebbetts Pass (I had it jetted to squeeze more power with the open pipes, and the mixture was too rich for the thin air). I kept mine for 5 years and I inexplicably loved it! I replaced it with a BMW K-bike, so I guess I'm just a glutton for maintenance punishment.

Also, by the wear pattern on the tire, you can tell the owner is much more interested in the 'Busa looks than its performance.

I was going to write something, but Denver wrote it for me. 🙂

I love riding this area! The pix you shared @daboo are fantastic! I find it hard to capture the essence of central OR, and you managed to do it!

Yeah. I belong to the camp that will fill a tank bag regardless of size, to the point of weighing my touring bike's tank bag at almost 40 lbs! So now I get smaller ones for the things you just said. And a granola bar.

Usually followed by a story about a crash, getting married, or drafted. You can just feel the pain of these folks, as they think about what might have been...

I've not ridden much up there, but loved the few days I spent in the John Day area and around the Wallowa mountains. Stunning, world class roads.