McKenzie Pass OB

Our legs are feeling it from the prior two centuries in 3 days. So we decided to keep today's ride well under the century mark.

Quick Stats Ride Distance: 67.16 miles   Elevation Gain: 3271 feet   Average Moving Speed: 15.57 mph

We weren't sure how to best get over to Sisters, having had bad prior experiences on roads with lots of freeze/thaw cracks, which can jar you to the bone every few seconds. So we decided on the direct approach: take the main highway between Redmond and Sisters. The downside is of course the relatively high volume of traffic. We don't like traffic, particularly high speed traffic. However, we had ridden the western 5 miles of this 15-mile stretch of road before (on the Tour desChutes in 2009), and remembered the quality pavement with nice big shoulders.

RIDE DATA:

So we went for it. I didn't have my normal computer on vacation so was unable to pre-plan the route with an accurate cue sheet, but it was simple enough we decided to go without. I feel there could be a movie in the making: Cueless in Sisters.

Made it to Sisters without any problems. It was a bit scary at one point where there was a short ascending grade: very small shoulder on a corner to the right. I guess they decided to squeeze the shoulder width in order to make room for the uphill passing lane. Definitely not a pleasant little stretch of road to bicycle.

After Sisters we were on the McKenzie Pass highway heading west. The scenery started out as your standard variety pine forest but changed as we rode upward, gaining elevation for some spectacular mountain views. And before we knew it we were surrounded by lava fields. It is like the moon up there. Another world. Odd that the vegetation hasn't been able to grow much. One would think at least some weeds could take root and figure out how to grow. I mean they can grow everwhere else we dont want them, why not here too? But it remains a sea of volcanic rock.

We explored a bit while up there, but didn't want to ride too far down the other side, so we turned around and headed back. The descent back to Sisters was over before you knew it. And the ride back on that highway between Sisters and Eagle Crest was great - no narrow shoulder stretches on this side of the road. In fact, we even had some tailwind! A tailwind on the home stretch doesn't happen often for us, so we loved it!

We also noticed the sky was getting darker on the way back. The forecast called for thunderstorms in the afternoon, and we could feel it in the air, thankful that we decided to do a shorter ride so that we were back around noon.

A wonderful ride. We will definitely do it again, and possibly add descending and re-climbing the other side. We hear there are switchbacks over there, and can see them on a map, but will have to see for ourselves one day.

RIDE MAP IN GOOGLE EARTH:

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