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Mid-autumn loop to central Oregon


keithu

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I woke up resolved to go for a ride this morning, and was shocked to realize that the "dry side" of the Cascades were still in play. Weeks of dry weather mean no snow in the mountain passes.

The morning dawned crystal clear but cold, so I started with a boring drone up I-5 to Portland to avoid possible mountain ice.

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In the Columbia River Gorge I encountered strong winds. At Crown Point observatory the winds blowing up the cliff face were so powerful it was difficult to stand. The last time I felt wind force like this was on the deck of a ship rounding Cape Horn in a storm.

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At The Dalles I turned south to climb into the Ochoco, the vast high desert of central Oregon. Two centuries ago this land was a battleground where British, Spanish, American, French, and Native trappers vied for dominance. The beaver they hunted are largely gone, replaced with wheat and cattle range.

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At some point I realized that I was really far from home and I'd promised to make dinner. So I bombed over Santiam and Tombstone Passes on US-20 with a new high score of just 1:50 from Sisters to home. I accidentally rode 420 miles and still got home to make a delicious lemon chicken soup for dinner.

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9 minutes ago, keithu said:

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This little 'go cart track' section always makes me wonder every time I ride it, "what were they thinking?"  Out in the middle of nowhere they paved a tight, twisty section -for no apparent reason- where they very easily could have continued with a straight road. - not that I'm complaining. 👍

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***2015 Candy Red FJ-09***

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9 hours ago, betoney said:

This little 'go cart track' section always makes me wonder every time I ride it, "what were they thinking?"  Out in the middle of nowhere they paved a tight, twisty section -for no apparent reason- where they very easily could have continued with a straight road. - not that I'm complaining. 👍

Sadly I found it's been ruined recently by a very poor chip sealing job. Their roller must've had a defect because there's a pronounced groove in the middle of the downhill lane, and overall it's poorly compacted. There's fine gravel all over the road surface which doesn't inspire much confidence in the curves.

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