Dan's solo adventure to Brothers, OR 1-14-09

It all started with this BADASS January weather we've been having. As always, I have Wednesdays off so, it was go time!

From my NE Bend abode, I headed south down 27th st to Rickard, Arnold Mkt to the much anticipated Ford Road. The soil was in pretty good shape. Plenty of chocolate underneath! The Ford Rd experience went smooth...A great way to warm up!




Onto Horse Ridge...



Horse Ridge soil sample...


As the road forked (left to the pad, right to the snowy hillclimb), I busted right to take the "Flyin' Brian" hillclimb challenge...


From what I can tell, Brian made it just to the snow, maybe a tad beyond. Halfway into the snow patch, I was confident I was gonna make it. WRONG. Just after that feeling, I lost momentum and began to spin out. Weak! Oh well, I am the current record holder! Brian was right...slippery stuff. Even the exposed dirt was hard and icy.



A view from the top (kinda)...


Even the massive knobs of the Dirt Shark couldn't tackle the ice and snow...


After my hillclimb attempt, I dropped into the Millican Valley. I bombed east across the valley...



More...

As I move east, I continue to hit private property and/or fences/gates. At times it was fun...sometimes just sucked! Oh well. Take the bad with the good right?

Pine Mountain at 50mph...


Rather than take our classic route through the ravine, I chose to head dead east into a couple of farm houses. After a few minutes of bushwacking, I eye a cow trail. Ya know, cows make some killer singletrack!

I rocked this to the observatory road...


I headed south toward the observatory and veered left to continue SE over a portion of Pine Mt. I see snow ahead of me on the road but assume I can work my way through it...WRONG! Solid ice! A hundred feet into it, BLAM! My ass end slips out from under me and I low side it onto the Rink o' Death.


Okay, this ain't gonna work. Back down the road toward highway 20...


Once I pass through a couple hard to open gates (sometimes f'ed up double gates), I hit Moffitt road. Like the adventurer I am, I jump off Moffitt to find a cooler route. As usual, it bites me in the ass and I have to fight my way out .

Pre Moffitt pic...


Moffitt. Free of lakes Kurt! Jeep ahead of me...


In the background is Pine Ridge. I'll end up busting around that to get to Brothers...


Mas...

Looks like it was a sweet ride!

My favorite part of the ride was the 5th gear, wide-open pumice two-track. Good god, AWESOME!


It starts getting quite "desert-y" out there. Not a lot of anything.



Pine Ridge and Pine Mt behind me...


Salute!


As I begin my turn to the north into Bros, I first run into a young couple (from Brothers) shooting along side an old XR600. Shortly thereafter, I meet some more friends...


Time for a cookie, water and a piss at the Brothers Oasis...


I found a perfect, in-tact Sausage McMuffin...


I left my offering to the gods...


Brothers...


Okay, here's where it gets boring. I have 1 hour to get home, I'm 43 miles from Bend (47 to my house) and I'm on a DRZ. Time to slab it! Slabbing can be weak but, I had a test to perform: See how long I could slab without getting off the seat! I'm now training for my 1200 mile Montana/Idaho/Washington adventure with Casey this June.







Out of Brothers I rock HWY20, Geo Millican Highway and Alfalfa Mkt home.

SHOE TREE!


Mission accomplished! 47 miles of straight seat time on slab! My ass really started to hurt around mile 40. I had a great ride today. Great weather. Great scenery and a great bike!

Stats and maps:

117 miles
Max speed: 61.8mph
Moving Avg: 38.7mph
Overall Avg: 28.2
Max Elevation: 5013ft
3 hours moving time...1 hour stopped.

Cool! Looks like fun, danny! I've taken my jeep out to Pine Mt. a couple times when we went camping, its pretty out there!
Be safe!

You should be on the Discovery Channel, the way you log your adventures! As your mother, though, you scare the shit out of me. Do you have to go by yourself? So dangerous!

One more thing...are your shoes on that tree, too

Moomers wrote:

You should be on the Discovery Channel, the way you log your adventures! As your mother, though, you scare the shit out of me. Do you have to go by yourself? So dangerous!

OMG you might die or get eaten by a bear, just kidding Moomers haven't heard that in awhile not since our high school camping trips

Sweet weekday adventure. You really do get every dollar's worth of that DRZ!

You just wait til you hear the naggin' I'm gonna do when you go on your mega mile trip this year, my little Casey!

Where did you host these pics? How come I can't post a big pic? Gay

Neil wrote:

Where did you host these pics? How come I can't post a big pic? Gay

Yeah, how do you get them into posts? Pics are here: https://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y8/djcdrz/1-14-09%20Solo/

Hey, what's that smeared behind the McMuffin? Looks like ...

Image tag. Photobucket creates one for you.