Amazingly, the snow is still hindering my exploration progress up in the higher country. It's hanging on at 6000-ft elevation and I can see an end to it soon so hopefully the snow will no longer be an epic ride stopper in the near future. For this ride though I was slogging through snow fields trying to make a complete loop back home. I had to re-route and back-track numerous times and eventually finished a higly modified 82-mile loop (9000-ft climbing) with a muddy bike and a smiling muddy me (the mud was from the melting snow fields of course).
The day was spectacular, warm, and was full of those automatic-mood-lifting flowers blooming everywhere. Everywhere I looked there was a jaw-dropping field of flowers that made me say "WoW!" all day long. How can it get better than this???
Someday (soon hopefully) I am going to ride a mountain bike on dirt road ride to the far distant mountains here (the Wallowa Mtns)...to Joseph, Oregon. I'm thinking that I can do it in a single day, but I will make a plan to overnight it if necessary. Right now my thoughts are to go light and fast since I estimate the trip will be over 100-miles and I have no idea how huge the climbing elevation will be. And that is only part one of the plan...part-2 involves returning by another route to make a loop of it the next day. Can it be done? Hmmm...time may tell.
The Ellsworth super-endurance bike with the 650b wheel up front is still the most amazing and comfy ride I've ever put together. I've got some serious mileage on it now and still I can not seem to get enough of this bike. I'm thinking a 2nd Ellsworth built in a similar way may be in my future for a back-up bike...hmmm think pink?
Amazingly, the snow is still hindering my exploration progress up in the higher country. It's hanging on at 6000-ft elevation and I can see an end to it soon so hopefully the snow will no longer be an epic ride stopper in the near future. For this ride though I was slogging through snow fields trying to make a complete loop back home. I had to re-route and back-track numerous times and eventually finished a higly modified 82-mile loop (9000-ft climbing) with a muddy bike and a smiling muddy me (the mud was from the melting snow fields of course).
The day was spectacular, warm, and was full of those automatic-mood-lifting flowers blooming everywhere. Everywhere I looked there was a jaw-dropping field of flowers that made me say "WoW!" all day long. How can it get better than this???
Someday (soon hopefully) I am going to ride a mountain bike on dirt road ride to the far distant mountains here (the Wallowa Mtns)...to Joseph, Oregon. I'm thinking that I can do it in a single day, but I will make a plan to overnight it if necessary. Right now my thoughts are to go light and fast since I estimate the trip will be over 100-miles and I have no idea how huge the climbing elevation will be. And that is only part one of the plan...part-2 involves returning by another route to make a loop of it the next day. Can it be done? Hmmm...time may tell.
The Ellsworth super-endurance bike with the 650b wheel up front is still the most amazing and comfy ride I've ever put together. I've got some serious mileage on it now and still I can not seem to get enough of this bike. I'm thinking a 2nd Ellsworth built in a similar way may be in my future for a back-up bike...hmmm think pink?
