Day 5 of 9 completed. This actually turned out to be a very
good day; 193 miles in ~7 hours. Lots happened, and I have many pictures to
share (if I can this slow Wi-Fi to download them at all).
We departed Ontario, OR enroute to John Day, OR in two
groups again; 184 miles. Jeff and I started at 7 am hoping to make some miles
before the forecasted 100+ degree temperatures arrived later in the day. I also
ride slower than the other guys so wanted a head start. The remaining five
riders (Steve, Terry, Jason, Woodrow & Matty) left at 7:30. Our first stop
was planned to be 84 miles down the trail where we would meet Marty in the
Support Tuck for fuel. Marty as always was waiting along side the road with fuel
and refreshments. Jeff and I only took a small bit of extra fuel because we knew
that the other bikes behind us would need more than we did; smaller tanks.
The terrain for this stretch was very scenic and gave us
lots to experience. The first half was beautiful rolling hills with no trees
anywhere. I took several pictures to give you an idea of what we saw. The second
half was forest with lots of climbs and descents and in one stretch with some
of the most difficult trails we have encounter since crossing the Rocky Mountain
passes last August 2017.
Animals:
Deer jumping out of the bushes right next to the trail, snake
on the road, coyote running up a hill, long horn cow, eagle, bulls blocking the
trail and Terry swears he had a wolf cross right in front of him on one of the
mountain tracks. Terry is pretty reliable, so we are giving him credit for a
wolf which beats all the rest of the sightings. We also came upon a dead cow
next to the trail but I won’t post its picture.
The temperature most of the day was around mid to high 70’s
and great for riding. Later in the day the temperature rose quickly and was
over 90 by the time we hit the motel at 2 pm. We were all glad to be done by
then. BTW we have been extremely lucky with the weather; no rain or mud (up to
now). We’ve ridden lots of trails that have deep ruts caused by previous wet
weather so we are very thankful.
The TAT route we are using mixes up the riding, so you don’t
get bored. The rolling hills provided lots of turns and decent roads except for
the occasional gravel sections. The forest and mountains had lots of varying
tracks with gravel, sand, rocks and even some terrific pavement with lots of
turns. The one spot I will give more detail on is the climb/descent we made on
a rough, rocky section that was barely wide enough for an ATV. It was not a
dual-track like most of the TAT but a single lane through lots of brush. It
included deep ruts, baby head size rocks (lots), off angle track and many opportunities
to drop your bike in a very bad spot. What makes this a strong memory for me is
that I hadn’t ridden anything this bad since Ophir Pass in Colorado. I was
doing ok but was keeping it slow because a fall would definitely mean damage to
me or the bike. At one point I glanced in my rear-view mirror and all I see is
a bright headlight and a blue motorcycle right on my a__! I said over the intercom
to Jeff “WTF, some a__h___ is on my tail wanting to pass!” I pulled over where
I could, and he sped by. That’s when I recognized it was Steve and the 2nd
group catching up with us at the worse possible place.
We all pulled over and discussed our riding experiences up
to this meeting. As I predicted, they were riding much faster than I wanted too
and that’s how they made up the 30-minute lag in time. Terry decided to join up
with Jeff and I, so we let the speed freaks leave first and then us 3 left a
short time later. We met up several more times later and arrived at the motel
about the same time.
Lastly, Jeff ran out of gas 3 miles from the hotel, so we had
to stop and pull his RotoPax off to give him enough gas to finish today’s ride.
Guess he didn’t get enough fuel and the meet up with the support truck.
If there are no pictures with this post it’s because att service
here is lousy so I will upload them tomorrow at the next motel.
Ride Safe!
Sounds like a good day of riding!
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