I've been wanting to do S24Os for quite a while and finally have the gear to do it so on Monday I headed out to Indian Henry Campground on the Clackamas river to enjoy a night in the woods and see how my Hilsen handles with a load. Since this was a shake-down ride for an upcoming tour I took a little more than I needed. I only recently purchased a tent, bag, pad and stove so this would also be a chance to try all these items out.
Indian Henry Campgrounds is about a 60 mile ride from my house. I left around 12:30 and pedaled out the Springwater Corridor to Boring and then dropped down to Hwy 224 and into Estacada. There was a fierce headwind out to Boring which was quite annoying. Once I was on 224 I had a tailwind. In Estacada I stopped at a taco truck and had a torta. Delicious. From there it was out 224 20 miles to the campground. This stretch of road is great. There is very little traffic and a good sized shoulder. I've ridden out this way quite a bit so it's familiar although I've never camped out there. The road climbs gently in a few spots but for the most part it's flat. I arrived at the campgrounds around 6:30 or so and picked a spot. I basically had the place to myself. It's a beautiful and thickly wooded campground with water and a bathroom. I unpacked the bike and pitched my tent with no problems. I cooked up some dinner and then took a walk around the campgrounds. It was so quiet and beautiful and I felt more relaxed than I had in days. The mosquitos were annoying and so around 9pm I crawled into my tent to read and soon fell asleep. I slept okay but was up by 5:30 which is nothing new for me. I decided I would have some food, pack up camp and head to Timothy Lake. I'd been wanting to ride out that way for some time and figured I had plenty of time to ride up there and either turn around and head back the way I came or ride over and up to Hwy 26 and Government Camp on Mt Hood and then down Hwy 26 into Sandy. I got to the turn off for Timothy Lake and and sign said it would be 14 miles. I pedaled up FS 57 in the morning sun. It's a fairly gentle grade and the early morning sun and quiet rode made for quite a pleasant ride. at about mile 8 the FS 57 turns to gravel. I knew from reviewing brevet routes on the OR Randonneurs website that there were ways to stay on pavement up to Timothy Lake but figured I'd take the gravel just to see how the bike handled. So far everything had been great with the bike. No wobbles at speed and even the front end with pretty steady in spite of an overloaded handlebar bag. I could even ride no hands but not at slow speeds as the bike would shake pretty bad. The gravel climb to Timothy Lake was awesome. I got passed by a couple of autos that left quite a bit of dust in their wake but it's just one of those things that can't be helped on a road like this. Finally I came out at Timothy Lake. It was blue and beautiful and yet something felt sterile about the area. It was also very windy and so I decided against riding up to Government Camp. I turned around and headed back down FS 57 to Hwy 224 and headed back to Estacada. The bike handled just fine on the descent. My tires are pretty beefy--700x37 Panaracer T-serves (basically Paselas) but I still found myself wishing I had tires just a bit beefier. At Hwy 224 I headed back to Estacada where I enjoyed yet another torta and then back home along the Springwater Corridor which was boring and uneventful but made bearable due to my ipod. This second day was just a few miles short of 100 so it was great test of the bike. I'm confident my Hilsen will be up to the task of touring next month. I should also add that on this second day I decided to forgo my bibs and instead wore a pair of ExOficio briefs and MUSA knickers. I've had the knickers for quite a while and never really used them much for cycling. They worked great and I'll be using these on my tour. This was a great ride and I look forward to my next bike camping overnight. I think next week I'll head west towards Tillamook or some place. I'm more than satisfied with my bag, pad, tent and stove and feel I made wise choices. Here's a link to a photo set of the ride: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41335...@n00/sets/72157621135574596/ --mike --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
