Fall ride to Detroit

I had a fantastic Fall ride to Detroit and back on Sunday. It was chilly when I left the house, but after gassing up in Estacada, it began to warm up enough to be comfortable. The road to Detroit remains open until the first snowfall; from Ripplebrook south they don't plow the road so whatever snow falls, stays. This will probably be my last ride on that route until May or even June next year.

The vine maple are turning colors and their vivid oranges and reds are dramatic underneath the much taller douglas fir. Not all trees are changing yet, so the mountains have a nice mix of greens and yellows. I was briefly followed by another motorcyclist, who gained on me in the straights but lagged way behind in the curves. He never got close enough for me to get a look at what kind of bike he rode. By the time I stopped in Detroit and headed back toward home, there were quite a few more bikes out and about, all heading toward Detroit. I saw several V-Stroms in the mix.

New parts

My 2007 V-Strom has 34,000 miles on it. So far this summer I've had the brakes replaced (for the first time), new tires put on (third set, not including the Trailwings that came with the bike), and just yesterday I had a new chain and sprockets installed (second set). I also had the radiator fluid flushed about a month ago.

So far the bike has proven to be rock-solid and reliable without a single mechanical failure. Everything I've had done has been normal wear-and-tear kind of stuff, other than the front-right bar end and turn signal from when I dropped it in the parking lot at work.

Ride report: Steens Mountain, Southeast Oregon

I just got back from a 6-day, 1,600 mile trip through, across, and around southeastern Oregon, with a visit to the highest road in the state at 9,700 feet -- Steens Mountain.

After camping my way all the way across the center of the state and down to the southern border for a couple of days, I met up with Mark and Janice, two new friends from California. I met Mark in a diner in Weaverville, CA back in June. He and I both ride V-Stroms and had stayed in touch all summer, talking about taking a trip together. His wife Janice also rides a V-Strom, so the two of them headed up to Lakeview and met me there on a Monday afternoon.

The next morning we set off to see the pronghorns on top of Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge (we even saw fighter jets in dog-fighting maneuvers directly overhead), then rode 65 miles at 60+ mph on a washboarded dirt road to Frenchglen where I picked up a nasty hitchhiker in my back tire.

I fixed my own flat, then we headed up to Fish Lake on the western slope of Steens Mountain and stayed the night. The view from the top is incredible and should definitely be on everyone's short-list of must-see places on the west coast.

On Wednesday we rode south through Fields (home of overpriced burgers and rather pathetic soft-serve shakes) and into Denio, Nevada. From there it was one wide open space after another as we boogied across the prairie back into Oregon for another night in Lakeview before heading our separate ways back home. I headed north in another cross-state jaunt, landing at my sister's ranch outside of Goldendale, Washington for a one-night stay before heading back to home turf.

It was a trip of firsts and I can easily say it's one of the most enjoyable journeys I've ever made. The route was light on twisties and heavy on long views, but I'm learning to appreciate and actually enjoy them.

Rather than stick individual photos in this blog post, I'm going to link to my Picasa page and let you peruse the entire bunch from there. http://picasaweb.google.com/ruckerworks/SteensTrip

Back side to Timothy Lake

It was a pretty good Labor Day weekend. The weather wasn't too hot or cold, it was dry, and I had a nice mix of productivity, rest, and recreation. Of course, that means I got a good ride in. This time I headed up the Clackamas River road to Ripplebrook Ranger Station, where several government vehicles were parked at a forest fire staging area (presumably there was a fire nearby but I saw no smoke or flames). Instead of heading south to Detroit as I usually do, I headed east on FS57 past Harriett Lake and up the gravel road to Timothy Lake.

The road up the back side emerges at the lake's outlet, a man-made dike that flooded Timothy Meadows back in the 50's or 60's. The water shoots out in a dramatic spray below the dike and flows west to the Clackamas River.

Once I crossed the dike I rode around the various campgrounds on the southern shore of the lake, then got onto Skyline Road for about a dozen miles before merging onto Highway 26. Once up and over Government Camp I stopped at the Dairy Queen on Rhododendron for lunch (avoid the mushroom swiss burgers; they're nasty). Fed, I left 26 in Zigzag and headed about a mile up Lolo Pass Road where I then cut west again on Barlow Trail Road and followed my favorite "Marmot Run" into the back side of Sandy and home.

My new Bridgestone Battle Wing tires were broken in and performed great, riding nice and smooth and providing plenty of grip. They're supposed to grip really good on wet pavement. It's supposed to rain most of this week so I may commute one or two days to test it out.

Here's the route I took in Google Maps:


View Larger Map

New tires

I just had new tires put on my V-Strom. At 31,700 miles total bike miles and approx. 9,000 miles on this set of Metzeler Tourance's, they needed to be replaced. I had Yamaha Sports Plaza -- in the same location as the former Action Motor Sports dealership -- install a new set of Bridgestone Battle Wings, purchased from JakeWilson.com (great prices and free shipping!) I also had them flush and replace the coolant in my bike.

Testing out gear

Gear update 12-15-2010:

I've replaced my 25 year-old CampinGaz stove with an MSR PocketRocket. It fires up easily, cooks nice and hot, is ultra-compact, and boils water very quickly (which is what I use it for 99% of the time). I got mine for less than $35 from Amazon.com

I've also purchased a new sleeping bag. My old one was a 30-40 degree bag made out of spider silk and smoke, and required the use of a Thermolite liner to keep me alive. I've slept in that system down to 20 degrees and although I made it through the night, it was unpleasant. I've since ordered a Marmot Never Summer 0-degree down bag from Campmor.com. I'll report more when I've actually slept in it

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming (a.k.a. the original post):

I have a trip coming up that will involve several nights camping out rather than staying in motels. The location will be remote, far away from services such as gas, food, and lodging, and will be at high elevation. This past weekend I decided to ride to a spot in the woods on the eastern slope of Mt. Hood and spend the night, testing out my camping gear. The last thing I want to do is find out my gear doesn't work or isn't adequate for the job when I'm relying on it for real.

The whole purpose of the short trip was to spend the night in the woods to test gear, rather than the more usual goal of a bike trip. I planned to eat dinner in camp, stay the night in my tent, eat breakfast, then ride back home.

It had rained at Government Camp within a few hours before I went over the pass, judging by the wet pavement and cool fall-like air. By the time I got to camp, about an hour and a half away from home and on the dry side of the mountain, I could see spots in the dust where it had rained briefly within about a half hour before. There was still an inch thick layer of fine dust on the ground, however, and it got everywhere as I rode over it.

I set up my tent and unpacked my cooking gear, then set out to make dinner. I've been using the same small Campingaz butane camp stove for 25 years and it has always been rock solid. However, partway through cooking dinner the fuel ran out. Prior to leaving I had suspected my fuel canister was getting low and when looking for a supplier I discovered that brand is no longer sold in the United States. So I took my chances and ended up eating most of my dinner cold.

One trick my brother taught me was to take food that doesn't have to be cooked in order to be edible. If you get into a situation (like I did) where you're unable to heat your food, you won't starve. Eating my dinner cold was no big deal. However, yellow jackets soon discovered my presence and began to pester me aggressively. They landed in my food, on me, and began to really threaten my quality of life at that moment. I had to continuously walk around camp while I ate because if I stopped I'd have a half-dozen yellow jackets in my food.

I finally managed to eat my cold dinner and get my mess kit cleaned up. With the summer fire season in full swing building a fire was out of the question. Considering the prospect of a cold breakfast and more hassles from the increasing numbers of aggressive yellow jackets, I decided spending the night at home would be more appealing. Plus I already knew my tent and sleeping bag set up worked fine down to 20 degrees so I had basically tested out everything that needed testing: cooking, food prep, and packing/loading it all on my bike.

I broke camp and rode home.

End note: I've already ordered a replacement for my venerable but now obsolete Campingaz stove: An MSR PocketRocket from Amazon.com, $35 with free shipping. It's the same type of stove but uses a different kind of fuel canister.

Into the mist

Saturday I took a nice ride up Marmot Road to Barlow Trail Road, then turned around and headed back. There were several bicyclists heading west on Marmot. I didn't see numbers on their jerseys so I assume it was a for-fun or training ride, rather than a race.

Sunday, however, was a different story. I went through Bull Run and Aimes then up to Corbett and up to Larch Mountain, and from Sandy all the way to Hurlburt Road I was passing bicyclists in some kind of race (numbers on their jerseys). Some road three abreast taking up the entire lane. I don't understand their mentality when bicyclists do that.

I managed to get past them safely. By the time I got to Corbett the clouds were thickening up and threatening rain. It had rained the night before so several spots of pavement were wet. I then headed east up Larch Mountain Road. As I climbed elevation mist began to form on my windshield and face shield. Once above 2,000 feet it began sprinkling.

The parking lot at the top of Larch Mountain -- at 4,000 feet elevation -- was shrouded in cloud and mist and drizzle. It was the first time I've ridden in precipitation in months and I welcomed it. I turned around without stopping and headed back down the mountain toward home.