Ride the Ribbon - 2020

[daboo]

I went to this ride with the Concours Owners Group last year for the first time.  The "ribbon" is one of several rivers in the area.  The roads follow the course of the river and twist and wind their way through the mountains and hills.  With excellent pavement and twisty roads, this place is totally awesome to ride.  And then in the evening after riding hard, the group parties hard.  All good friends, and each year and each event builds the relationships with people who live even several states away.
 

Left on Friday with Andy and Nancy.  We headed over Chinook Pass and down to Yakima.

 

It's kinda cool to realize that mountain in the background will be in my rearview mirror in a couple hours.

 

At Chinook Pass

 

 

 

Heading toward Yakima

 

Look on the hillside, and you'll see it is on fire.

 

 

 

 

 

Temps were pretty high on the way in.  My bike read 112F several times.  Luckily, the cooling vest worked well. 

 

 

Charlie led a good sized group along the Middle Fork of the John Day River.  
 

 

 

Every turn had a beautiful view of the river as you followed it for miles and miles.

 

I love the rock formations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday was the day to get back home.  Andy and I left at a few minutes after 6am.  I should've taken a picture of the quiet and still parking lot.  As the poem says, "Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse".

 

The sun was coming up behind us and made for some incredible lighting effects on the landscape.

 

 

 

 

Everywhere you look, you see different colours and textures in the landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hit some high side winds and a dust storm on the way back.

 

One thing that sticks in my mind as I travel, is when I see old abandoned buildings.  Not just barns, but houses that used to be homes.  What stories would they tell if they could reveal the hopes and dreams of the people who lived there?  The children that grew up there?

 

 

Later, Mt. Adams on the horizon.

 

I think this is near Yakima.  Note the rock just sticking out of the middle of that hillside where the road disappears.

 

Heading up towards Chinook Pass on the final stretch home.

 

Andy.  Great rider, with a great personality.

Mt. Rainier

 

 

Chris

[showmerider]

Awesome pictures, I would love to make a ride up there some day.

[betoney]

1 hour ago, daboo said:

Charlie led a good sized group along the Middle Fork of the John Day River.  

 

 

 

Every turn had a beautiful view of the river as you followed it for miles and miles.

 

I love the rock formations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the photos Chris.  I never get tired of riding in Oregon, I was just riding in the Clatsop State Forest this morning, Clatskanie, Mist, Jewell to Tillamook and then up to Astoria.

Could you share which highway(s) you were riding in the above photos?

Thanks, Brian

[daboo]

Remind me in a couple days. I can even supply tracks.

Chris

[betoney]

22 minutes ago, daboo said:

Remind me in a couple days. I can even supply tracks.

Chris

Perfect, Thank You! 👍

[Stew]

Some gorgeous views as usual from your rides. I'm always most impressed by how smooth your road surfaces are compared to here.

Just out of interest, on that mahoosively long straight section, what would the legal speed limit be?

[fjrchuck]

Come to Michigan, USA Stew.....you will probably feel right at home! 🤥

Thanks daboo for sharing the pics. I too would like to ride out your way. Only been to the PNW once and Crater Lake was the high point of that car ride!

[daboo]

11 hours ago, Stew said:

Some gorgeous views as usual from your rides. I'm always most impressed by how smooth your road surfaces are compared to here.

Just out of interest, on that mahoosively long straight section, what would the legal speed limit be?

 Oregon's roads seem much nicer than Washington's roads.  I've been tempted to buy an "Adventure" bike, not because I want to go off road, but because the pot holes are so big here it is like riding off road.

As for the "legal speed limit" in that section...I'm not sure.  Probably between 55 and 65 mph.  

I attached some screen captures of where we went each day.  I have GPX files, but can't seem to upload them.  PM me, if you want those.

Chris

[betoney]

@daboo - Thanks for posting those routes, I have been on all of them except the one SE of John Day.  Awesome riding and scenery. 👍

[keithu]

Beautiful country. I should be riding that area right now on the North by Northwest Rally, but I had to back out due to the fire/smoke situation around here. 

Is that Upper Middle Fork Road from US-395 to US-26 paved all the way through? I've been on many deer hunts in that area, but always south of Keeney Forks Road which is mostly gravel. It is beautiful country around there. For some reason I never explored the area up around Upper Middle Fork Road.

[betoney]

1 minute ago, keithu said:

Beautiful country. I should be riding that area right now on the North by Northwest Rally, but I had to back out due to the fire/smoke situation around here.

I hope you guys are doing alright, I have been following the fire developments and sadly The Detroit Lake area and Rainbow/ Cougar Reservoir area West of McKenzie Pass has been destroyed.

Stay safe.

[keithu]

43 minutes ago, betoney said:

I hope you guys are doing alright, I have been following the fire developments and sadly The Detroit Lake area and Rainbow/ Cougar Reservoir area West of McKenzie Pass has been destroyed.

Stay safe.

We're fine. We are in Albany which has become one of the evacuation points; smoke here is terrible but we're far enough from the forests that there shouldn't be a major fire danger here. My sister-in-law near Brownsville is under level 2 evacuation though and they'll be coming here if it gets to level 3. And to top it all off, my mother-in-law is having health issues and it looks like we need to do an emergency wheelchair ramp build tomorrow in Lebanon, hazardous air quality or not. Fun times. 

[maximo]

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! 

[daboo]

On 9/11/2020 at 10:17 AM, keithu said:

Is that Upper Middle Fork Road from US-395 to US-26 paved all the way through? I've been on many deer hunts in that area, but always south of Keeney Forks Road which is mostly gravel. It is beautiful country around there. For some reason I never explored the area up around Upper Middle Fork Road.

All the roads were paved.

It's a shame about the fires.  We went through at about the last possible time, not realizing how much it would change in a matter of days and even hours.  Detroit Lake was beautiful.  I hope it isn't totally destroyed.

In many areas, I saw old dead trees piled up like someone was planning on having a huge bonfire.  Hundreds of them.  I'm sure that contributed to the fires getting out of hand.

Chris

[keithu]

1 hour ago, daboo said:

All the roads were paved.

It's a shame about the fires.  We went through at about the last possible time, not realizing how much it would change in a matter of days and even hours.  Detroit Lake was beautiful.  I hope it isn't totally destroyed.

In many areas, I saw old dead trees piled up like someone was planning on having a huge bonfire.  Hundreds of them.  I'm sure that contributed to the fires getting out of hand.

Chris

It appears that the entire town of Detroit was destroyed, and there is a lot of damage in nearby communities as well. My son (a plumber) had to do some emergency work in Mill City Friday and saw some pretty awful things. 

I'm not sure if the tree piles you saw were slash piles or actually piles of lumber. Slash piles are normal after a logging operation and I would not think they contribute to fires getting worse. There is blame enough to go around for this situation including a freak wind storm last Monday, climate change, past fire suppression, and ill-conceived forest management practices. There isn't any one simple thing to blame.