I left Sisters around 9:30 this morning, and enjoyed an easy eight or nine mile ride along a fairly flat road heading toward McKenzie Pass ... nice way to start a day's ride. Not much in the way of wind and very little car traffic. Nice and comfortable.
But as the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Not that things turned ugly, but rather things turned upward. The next six miles or so found me comfortably moving at about 4 MPH, which can wear a person down. Lots of other cyclists on the road, but most on lightweight road bikes moving at a much faster pace than I.
For the next few days a majority of the road over McKenzie Pass is closed to cars, so for we cyclist it is a joyful ride. The adjacent photo was taken at the top of the Pass and shows just a very small area of the vast lava flow beds. (click on the photo for a better view)
For some cyclists, climbing brings them much joy ... not so much for me.
But flying down the glorious descent definitely puts a smile on my face. Hard to describe the reason this is so joyful to those who have not experienced a great downhill run. Maybe this YouTube video
of someone's ride down the west face of McKenzie Pass will provide understanding. This cyclist was on a road bike and traveling at a greater speed than I, but it does show how wonderfully the road winds. My downhill run lasted about 45 minutes ... what joy.
Tomorrow I ride into Eugene, then after the weekend it is off to Seattle via Amtrak.
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