Peer Pressure & Ride to Work Day

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Riona

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Messages
240
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Location
Redmond WA
I can resist anything. Anything that is apart from temptation, peer pressure and chocolate.

Living in the Pacific North West, I have become pressured by the number of ride reports that show a photograph of the snowed in outhouse at the top of the Chinook pass over Mt. Rainier, while myself remaining a Chinook Virgin. When the opportunity presented itself to be over in the East of our fair Sate of Washington, I knew I had to take the long way round and pop my Chinook Cherry.

The start of my ride was a little silly. I was so focused on my target of ascending Chinook, that I just put that as a destination in my GPS and blindly followed its directions. Turns out that Chinook is a small town on the mouth of the Columbia River near what would have been aptly named "Cape Disappointment" had I got that far. Luckily my sense of direction cut in before I had gone too far south and the only penalty I paid was to miss out on the back country ride along 202 and Snoqualmie Falls to get to Auburn via 18 instead of around the 520/405 super-slab.

Passing through Enumclaw on a bright and sunny Fathers Day, I joined the procession of tourists and day trippers heading up the pass. I stopped every now and then to take photographs (after all, it DID happen, so there must be photographs ...). This turned into an amusing game with a car driven by a pair of denim shirt/ khaki pant wearing couples from California. They would pull in, take photographs with huge Nikon SLR's, then drive off. I would overtake them, pull into the next scenic viewpoint and take my photo with my Canon Elph and wait for them to pull in behind me, We managed to encounter each other 4 times going up the pass.

Destination - Chinook or Bust !

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"scenic viewpoint"

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Starting the climb ...

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And climbing ...

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At last, I can contribute my own photo of the snowed in restroom !!! Thankfully there was still some snow left !

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Faithful FJR, loaded for travel, at the top of the pass

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After the beauty of the climb up from Enumclaw, the far side of the pass is a bit of a let down. . A long, straight down hill run for about 65 miles down highway 410 and 12 to akima, followed by a hard slog along I-82 to Kennewick, which was my destination for the night. On top of that, my planned lunch at Whistlin' Jack's turned into a "grab a sub at the mini mart" after the waitress informed me that there was at least an hour's wait at the cafe, which was packed with families celebrating Fathers Day. On the bright side, I did get to change out of my winter gear into my mesh jacket to enjoy the desert heat (91 degrees) and had a bit of company on I-82 when I joined up with a couple on a BMW R1200GS to while away the miles exchanging point position every now and then.

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair

Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night ... and a steak, and a beer..

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That was Sunday - Fathers day, when I had no father to celebrate, so I went riding instead. Monday was "ride to work day". I had no work to ride to, so I went riding instead.

Monday I had company from another Forum member, who took me on a tour of the twisties over the border in Oregon. Here is the route:

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This is the scenery - a mix of high plains and then twisties down canyons, some lush and green through irrigation, some just bare rock. This photo was taken at the top of FR53 which runs 43 miles from Ukiah to Heppner .. a glorious road of swooping turns and great natural beauty. I was sorry when eventually it came to an end and we stopped for lunch.

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After Lunch we switched from forest to canyon, on the 206 to Condon and Wasco. A most marvelous set of hairpin bends ...

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A feature of this otherwise featureless landscape is the wind farms. They, like the wind, are everywhere. We had 35 mph cross winds much of the day, which made riding a little tiring. I was glad when we reached our stop for the night at Maryhill, where 97 crosses the Columbia river.

On a bluff above the river is a replica of Stonehenge. I had been to the original just a couple of years ago so it was interesting to see the replica of how it was when it was intact.

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So, Although I didn't have any work to go to, I certainly rode my bike -- another 263 miles of twisties and canyons enjoyed.

Tuesday I turned back home. A relatively boring 80 mile run up 97 to Yakima brought be back to 410, but this time I took the southern route and came back over White Pass rather than Chinook (SO two days ago, been there, done that, posted the picture of the restroom in the snow drift, yawn ...)

White Pass is SUCH a beautiful route. Lakes, snow capped peaks, cascading waterfalls, great roads (albeit with road works every 10 miles, but I lucked through and got waved through by every single flagger). These few pictures barely do it justice:

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At one point I was tempted to turn left and do Steven's canyon and Paradise, but I had to leave something to come back for, so those twisties are waiting for another day - so I continued North on 123 to rejoin 410 East and back home....

A note on fuel:

My trip home was a single tank of gas. Also my longest ever run with the reserve light flashing (36 miles). I got 260 miles out of the tank (including the 36) and still could only get 5.5 gallons in there. That gives me about 47 mpg, which isn't bad for mountain climbing, and probably I STILL has a gallon left in the tank .... !

 
After the beauty of the climb up from Enumclaw, the far side of the pass is a bit of a let down. . A long, straight down hill run for about 65 miles down
Quityerbitchin! In Texas a 65 mile straight stretch of road with a four way stop on either end is considered a twisty road, so long as you don't go straight at the intersections.
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Love the pics, and as you can tell, I'm super jealous.
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Nice ride report Riona and thanks for sharing. Hopefully some of my outhouse photos at Chinook Pass and the pics of Tipsoo Lake contributed to your ah hem..... shall we say goal.
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Great write up, thanks for Sharing. I have only ridden a short part of Washington State, twice now. (129 from Oregon border to Clarkston, did it southward on one trip, northward on another. FANTASTIC LITTLE road)

You should have quoted Neil Peart's "Resist" to start this thing off.

"I can learn to resist- Anything but temptation
I can learn to coexist- With anything but pain

I can learn to compromise - Anything but my desires
I can learn to get along- With all the things I can't explain

I can learn to resist- Anything but frustration
I can learn to persist- With anything but aiming low

I can learn to close my eyes- To anything but injustice
I can learn to get along- With all the things I don't know"

 
HelzBelz,

You are much more highbrow than I.

I quoted "Hotel California" and was thinking of also throwing in America's "A horse with no name" but I could not get "An FJR with no Name" to scan correctly ... And besides, it should have been plants and birds and rocks and WIND FARMS and things ... how could they have missed the wind farms ? They are everywhere.

On the first part of the journey
I was looking at all the life
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rings
The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz
And the sky with no clouds
The heat was hot and the ground was dry
But the air was full of sound

I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
La, la ...

After two days in the desert sun
My skin began to turn red
After three days in the desert fun
I was looking at a river bed
And the story it told of a river that flowed
Made me sad to think it was dead

You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
La, la ...

After nine days I let the horse run free
'Cause the desert had turned to sea
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
there was sand and hills and rings
The ocean is a desert with it's life underground
And a perfect disguise above
Under the cities lies a heart made of ground
But the humans will give no love

You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
La, la ...

 
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Nice ride report Riona and thanks for sharing. Hopefully some of my outhouse photos at Chinook Pass and the pics of Tipsoo Lake contributed to your ah hem..... shall we say goal.
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Your ride reports are definitely part of my inspiration ... keep 'em coming ! I would say "can I tag along" but you do at least twice as many miles in a day as my butt can cope with ...

 
HelzBelz,
You are much more highbrow than I.

I quoted "Hotel California" and was thinking of also throwing in America's "A horse with no name" but I could not get "An FJR with no Name" to scan correctly ... And besides, it should have been plants and birds and rocks and WIND FARMS and things ... how could they have missed the wind farms ? They are everywhere.

On the first part of the journey

I was looking at all the life

There were plants and birds and rocks and things

There was sand and hills and rings

The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz

And the sky with no clouds

The heat was hot and the ground was dry

But the air was full of sound

I've been through the desert on a horse with no name

It felt good to be out of the rain

In the desert you can remember your name

'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain

La, la ...

After two days in the desert sun

My skin began to turn red

After three days in the desert fun

I was looking at a river bed

And the story it told of a river that flowed

Made me sad to think it was dead

You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name

It felt good to be out of the rain

In the desert you can remember your name

'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain

La, la ...

After nine days I let the horse run free

'Cause the desert had turned to sea

There were plants and birds and rocks and things

there was sand and hills and rings

The ocean is a desert with it's life underground

And a perfect disguise above

Under the cities lies a heart made of ground

But the humans will give no love

You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name

It felt good to be out of the rain

In the desert you can remember your name

'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain

La, la ...
Last summer I rode across Nevada between Yosemite and southern Utah and that was the only song in my head all the way. I don't know all the words, but I had enough of them to keep myself entertained.
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Last summer I rode across Nevada between Yosemite and southern Utah and that was the only song in my head all the way. I don't know all the words, but I had enough of them to keep myself entertained.
smilingsmiley.gif
A couple of years ago a girlfriend and I did the RAIN ride (Ride Across INdiana).. Its a pedal cycle event, "160 miles, one day, one way" ... You start at dawn in Illinois (close to Terre Haute) and ride across Indiana to Richmond along Indiana 40, finishing in Ohio. A mutual friend rode SAG in his truck, and that was our song for the event. "we rode through the desert with a truck with no name" ...

I guess RAIN is kinda like a pedal cyclists version of an Ironbutt. They even have RAINSTORM - "ride across Indiana, same thing only ride more" which is a week of century (100 miles) rides leading up to RAIN itself. Kinda like the IBR. Too much for me, though I would like to accomplish STP (Seattle to Portland, 200 miles with an optional overnight) and RAMROD (Ride Around Mt. Rainer, One Day, 170 miles with 10,000 feet of climbs). But in order to do that, I would have to put my FJR away and put air in my Cervelo's tires.

Maybe I like the 145 FJR horses rather than my own 1/3 HP ....

 
I am insanely jealous.
Thank you for sharing
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I know, right ?

It's insanely beautiful here. I live 47 miles from Snoqualmie Pass, 65 miles from Steven's Pass, 86 miles from Chinook Pass, 112 miles from White Pass ... the whole of the Cascades is my back yard, and when I get bored with that, there are the high plains and canyons of Oregon, the islands in the Puget Sound and the whole Olympic peninsula to explore ... and after that, all I need is my passport to get to Canada (220 miles to Whistler)

That's just day trips ... take a long weekend or a week and I have access to so much more !

I'm glad you like my ride reports, because I hope there will be a whole lot more of them ;-)

 
Great report/pics, Riona... you have a fun sense of humor! Can't wait to get up that way next month...
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Bummed I'm in Canada for most of the time you are here. Looking forward to meeting you soon, though.

 

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