And the same return.
Over east of Prineville in the Ochocos is a big ride made even bigger. Previously I had ridden the second part of Lookout Mtn. Big uphill pedal for a challenging and smile inducing mixed in with gritted teeth downhill. Joe is a local whom I have ridden with several times, last being the O Leary ride. He also has a Turner history, now with an RFX like mine only our build kits are our own solution.Joe had ridden a part of Lookout, he was interested in adding Round mountain to the ride to test his ability to ride this long loop. I could go either way. We talked during the drive over. We decided to go big. Round mtn adds miles to Lookout ride starting from the same place and finishing at same. Paved road pedal climb to dirt. We talked on the pavement part. Once dirt hit with steep climbing it became less frequent and more direct. Round mtn had a mix of climbing turns to nasty steep loose rock. Hump of a pedal with mix of hike a bike. Joe and I are pretty comparable riders, albeit I have a few years on him. We are about the same speed and ability downhill but I am a stronger climber.
Climb up Round mtn, descend down same to start of climb up Lookout. Lots of horse pucky. Joe lead downhill loosening dirt to become air borne dust which partially obscured my vision of tread. Stay off the brakes and steer the bike where I wanted to go. We had a bail point at start of Lookout that was talked about but the downhill off Lookout pulled us up.
Some hike a bike as energy level was abating. Made the summit ridge
Trailforks ride data displays starting at 5,500′ climbing to 7,000 then drops down to 4,000′ with several soul sucking climbs. The upper part the tread is loose nasty sharp rock. Previously I walked some of it. With Joe ahead serving as a model I rode most of it. Lots of rocks, some hidden by plants encroaching the trail. Just keep feet in tight and steer over the rocks. Up high there were several rock gardens intermixed with woods dirt tread. Somewhere lower it breaks into no brakes gravity assisted screamers. Descent was great way to finish the ride. Ride data was 25 miles pedaling for 3 hrs 58 mins, descent was 4472 which should have been the same for climbing. All day effort adding the drive to and from.
Just 2 great Turner RFXs and riders to push and enjoy ourselves. All by ourselves.
Thursday marked my 11th year of full time living on the road mountain biking the states. 32,144 miles over 2,212 rides all on Turner bikes. I rode Petersen Ridge over at Sisters, west up east down. Rock gardens mixed in with smooth.
I have been studying the Pandora moth. The bright lights of the city attract the females as I discovered looking at squashed remains on the pavement under a downtown street light. Females have different antennae and are full of green eggs. even caught a pair doing the deed for next generation.
Today, Sunday, is a rest day after taxing ride yesterday. Garmin recorded heart rate of 175 beats per minute. Finally hot temps.
On our ride yesterday we noticed large piles of aging horse manure. Never seen that before even in a trailhead parking lot. A man who works at Newport Market where I spend most of my grocery $, sort of like a mini whole paycheck store. Previous conversations shared mtn biking themes. I told him about Lookout. He was quite familiar. I asked him about the manure. He told me it was from wild stallion horses marking their territory. Subsequent web search concurred. Not visible is the pee which has the hormone notices.