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My 1st Bike and 1st Ride Report!
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OK, so this one is almost a week late.
Last Thursday (June 14) I went out to a Boy Scout camp near Tillamook to inspect their climbing facility and program. On the way out there I lost my right side mirror. Apparently another bad part of having bar-end mirrors is when you drop your bike it loosens the set screws, and if you don’t tighten them back up they fall apart. I ended up behind some slow traffic a couple times, and made some passes. Unfortunately during one of them I so intent on making the pass that I wasn’t paying attention to my RPMS….and I hit the rev limiter. At least I know that it works
I went out there after work, and didn’t get to the camp until about 5. The inspection ended up taking about 2 hours longer than I thought it would (I blame the other guy, blab blab blab). Anyways, I didn’t leave there until after 9:30, and I was already tired. The weather had gotten a little bad, there was a damp drizzle coming down. Every time a car came the other way I was blind…Really I wish that it was actually raining, at least then I would have been able to turn my head and have the water run off.
The sky cleared up about 5 miles inland, and I could see stars and a nice big moon for the rest of the trip and I had an uneventful. After about 200 miles of riding (there and back), I got home around 12:30am on Friday. I feel lucky that I have another method of transportation, because at 6 when I was leaving for work, it would have been dangerous for me to be on my bike….was probably dangerous to be in the truck, but not as bad. However, when I had to fill up the tank in my truck, I was glad that I had been riding my bike all week.
OK, I went out for a ride on Sunday (June 27). I left home, and went up the Clackamas River valley, through Estacada to the Ripplebrook Ranger Station. It is a really nice ride, mostly big sweepers until you get to the ranger station. I had to stop for a little sight-seeing and a couple photos. Just after going past the Ranger station, I caught up to a group of 12 (or so) Harleys, one a Trike. I tailed them for a while and stopped at the turn off for Ollalie Lake for a pee break, a quick snack and a photo op. Went a little bit further and crossed from the Mt Hood National Forest into the Willamette National Forest, stopped for another photo op. The road from Ripplebrook to Detroit is pretty good, mostly nice 30mph+ turns.
When I got into Detroit, I stopped at one of the more popular restaurants in town. When I walked into the restaurant the main portion was full, so I made my way back to the bar. There were a couple of chairs open, so I sat down. After a few minutes the bar was shoulder-to-shoulder, two deep from one end to the other. Another biker walked up next to me to ask for a couple of menus and he told me that there was a poker run out of Lebanon….so I decided that I probable wasn’t going to be getting a meal anytime soon and left to go down the road to Stayton. The ride down the hill was great till I got behind a carnival ride. He was going slow slow slow…..I took the opportunity to stop at a closed weigh station (650lbs, me and bike). Had lunch in Stayton and stopped by Grandma’s on my way home. Went up around Silver Falls, through Silverton, and made my way home.
Another 200+ mile day brings me to about 2200 miles total on two wheels. Now I need to get that mirror replaced before I ride too much more on the freeway. Here are some photos from the ride:
On HWY 224, East of Estacada:
On HWY 224 near Indian Henry:
S-Curve on Forest Service Rd 46:
Crossing from Mt Hood to Willamette National Forest:
Me and my bike:
Detroit Lake on HWY 22:
North Silver Falls:
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