I have been thing about starting to post again on my site.
Until I figure out how to work WordPress again, and I find things to write about. Here is a video Angel made during the first new back in the beginning of December, Enjoy!
I have been thing about starting to post again on my site.
Until I figure out how to work WordPress again, and I find things to write about. Here is a video Angel made during the first new back in the beginning of December, Enjoy!
It has been a while since my last post. I have been really busy lately, with some trips, visitors, work, moving into a new place, and Angel’s birthday. Here are just a couple photos from the past couple weeks.
Last week Angel and I went on our first camping trip of the summer. We haven’t had enough time since she got done with the school for summer. We went with two of our friends Tuesday night until Wednesday morning. This was a quick bike camping trip we spontaneously decided to do just days before. It was super fun. The weather called for some rain and thunder, and that is what we got. Even so, it was fun.
Due to the secret location of where we camped, I’m only going to post the elevation of what we did. There were some great hills with some gravel logging roads on the way home.
We left Eugene late in the evening, just a couple hours before sunset. It was a nice ride through the country with some nice hills between here and where we camped. Right before we arrived at the camping location we started hearing some thunders. And right when we got there it started sprinkling, although that ended really fast and it didn’t rain anymore that night.
The next morning one of our friends had to leave early to get back to work on time. So it was just 3 of us on the way home. We took our time because none of us had anything to get to that day. We took a longer way home, featuring some long down hill gravel roads where Angel ended up getting a rear flat tire at one point, which got patched up quickly. We got a nice strong bout of rain at one point, which let up quickly. And we only had a couple very small spouts of rain after that. We ended up coming across one of Oregon’s many covered bridges.
Here is a 360° Photo from a clear cut along our route.
Overall it was a great trip and ride. Angel did super well riding her Linus Mixte 3speed, climbing most the hills with no or very little (at least verbal) complaints. Hopefully soon we can get her something with more gears. I’m just trying to figure out what frame would be great for her right now. Hopefully doing an internally geared hub again like a Nexus or Alfine 8 or maybe even an Alfine 11. I’m sure she would appreciate it. It was a great trip, and I hope Angel and I can go on more trips like this before the end of the summer.
Here is a collection of photos I haven’t posted from Mid June to Early July. There are a lot of photos in here I like including fresh cookies, new bike tools, fun trips, and fireworks. Enjoy!
Posted in BIKE, Day Ride, FOOD, OTHER, Trips
Tagged belt drive, belt drive bike, bicycle, bike, bike path, camera, carbon drive, carbon drive bike, cookies, eugene, fire truck, fireworks, flower, hanafuda, homemade soda, ice cream, iPhone, KEEN, LHT, Linus, Long Haul Trucker, Mario, mixte, MKS, MKS Pedals, Nintendo, Nutcase, Nutcase Helmet, Oregon, park, Park Tool, Park Tools, photo, Playmobil, soda, Stein Tools, sunset, Surly, vegan, vegan cookies, vegetarian, watermelon
On Memorial Day, Monday the 29th, I got the chance to ride Scenic McKenzie Pass (Highway 242) for the first time. Being my first year in Eugene, I really wanted to do this ride. I had seen a lot of photos of other cyclists on the ride before, with the high packed snow walls; it just seem incredible. Also, last October, Angel and I had a chance to drive it while going to the OHBS in Bend, it made me really want spend more time there and revisit the Pass.
They close off Hwy 242 during the winter months due to snow. They open it back up in May for a couple weeks only to cyclists, which is a great time to venture out, because you have no fear of cars coming up the hill behind you. The pass is about 4o miles from the turnoff at 126 to Sisters, OR. I chose only to ride up to the Dee Wright Observatory, (22miles) the summit of 5325 feet elevation. 3600 feet of climbing with great views throughout of the Willamette Nation Forest, Mount Washington Wilderness Area, Three Sisters Wilderness Area, and into the Deschutes National Forest (if you continue or start in Sisters). Up towards the top there are amazing lava fields, it’s kind of crazy to think about the lava fields, and how much volcanic activity Oregon had just a couple thousand years ago. At the top, like I mentioned, is the Dee Wright Observatory where you can look out at all the amazing mountain and land formations.
It was a super fun ride. I tend to ride a little slow, taking about 4 or 5 hours on my way up, but that includes a lot of stops for photos, food, making a couple snowmen, and just enjoying the view. It then only took about 45mins to get back down to the bottom. An incredible descent after riding that same route up. I totally recommend this ride for anyone who ever gets a chance. Just be prepared to climb a lot. Here are my photos from the ride.
Along the way I decided to made a couple snow men just for fun. I thought other cyclists would like the encouragement while going up and down the pass. The one in the road has 2 faces. I had to climb the snow wall to get his features, but that was really cool itself.
360 Degree View along Highway 242
360 Degree View from atop Dee Wright Observatory
Here is a 360 Degree View from atop Dee Wright Observatory from the first time Angel and I drove the pass last October on our way to Bend for the OHBS. We took a lot of photos that day. I’m really glad I got a chance to ride the pass, hopefully I get to do it again.
History of McKenzie Pass – HERE
I have had my Surly Long Haul Trucker for 2 years now, and I have never doubted myself for choosing it over a different bike. The love story between me and the LHT began long before I got her. For years I knew I wanted the bike. I would try out other bikes at shops and never be happy with how they felt or how they were set up. I knew I wanted to do long rides and touring so why not go with a full out touring bike such as the LHT? The one thing was I already had a decent amount of bikes and not a lot of money. Also, I didn’t like the colors it was offered in for a couple years. They were dull colors: Utility Blue, Olive Green, Truckaccino Tan, I wanted something brighter, and then they showed off the new color at Interbike in October 09, Blue Velvet (also known as Hill Street Blue) and I knew I really wanted it.
I moved to Oregon in late March of 2010. A month later, on April 25th, I bought my Surly Long Haul Trucker. I was so happy that day, finally getting a super comfortable bicycle to ride for a long time.
This year on April 25th I happily was able to do a nice 20mile ride with a friend in the morning. Then after he left to go home I kept going, ending up riding just over a metric century that day, 67.58miles in total.
Last year on Surly’s birthday I got him the Surly Rear Nice Rack, and this year I got him the Surly Front Nice Rack to Match. This rack is massive, and will certainly see a lot of use. Now I just need to get myself a set of Ortlieb Front-Roller Panniers to match my Back-Roller.
Happy Birthday Surly!!!
March has been very eventful for me so far, but there haven’t been any big topics I have wanted to blog about yet.
Last week I got to go on a nice long ride with a friend outside of Eugene; we got to sit and watch some cute baby pigs for a little bit. The next day, Angel and I had a nice ride around Eugene. We went to the Masonic Cemetery, and got a lot of great photos of some wild flowers. I’ll write about the cemetery next time I go there. It’s a great place to spend some time looking around. Afterwards we went to Viva! Vegetarian Grill for some ice cream and sweet potato fries. (Recently, I won a free ice cream cone, for guessing the flavor right on their Facebook Page, but haven’t had the chance to clam my prize. It’s peanut butter. YUM!) Later that night Angel and I went out to eat with some friends at Cornbread Cafe, our first time there. We have had really nice weather so far this month, but it looks like the next couple weeks might not be that great.
Rant:
Most recently Angel and I went to see The Lorax. When we got our movie tickets we didn’t really look at the tickets themselves right away. (We got the tickets early). Later we realized we had received IMAX tickets. We have never seen anything in IMAX, and neither of us have ever seen a 3D movie. We don’t care for the idea of 3D movies, as we both have glasses (and don’t want to deal with the 3D pair), and find all the hype annoying. After we went to exchange the IMAX tickets for normal 2D tickets, we were told they were for John Carter, (didn’t notice that part) not what we wanted at all. We just wanted to see The Lorax, standard 2D, not John Carter IMAX 3D.
Well anyway, here are some nice photos I have taken since the beginning of the month.
Throughout the month of February I took a lot of great photos that I never used in any of my posts here. So instead of letting them fade back into the darkness of Flickrs past I have collected them all here for anyone interested. February was quite eventful this year. I ended up going on a couple good long rides with friends as well as by myself. I had some good foods I haven’t had in a long time, like a Voodoo Doughnut. And had some great finds like a compost bin and roller trainer.
Now, on to March for even more exciting new adventures for me.
If you don’t use or follow me on Twitter, or have the Instagram app for the iPhone you can always find these photos and more in my Flickr Album: Instagram.
Skinner Butte is located just north of downtown Eugene, and everyone here knows it and has probably a ridden their bike up it a couple times. It’s not a hard ride really, just slow going. Last week I rode up and down it 10 times (making it a little tiring) just to make this 2min video for fun. It allowed me to try the camera out in different angles and views, and ended up being quite fun climbing it that many times in a row.
I got some nice photo on the ride that I like.
I ended up taking over an hour of footage for this 2min video, 10 rides up and down. I did it to try out all the different angles I might be able to do with my GoPro.
Each Ride and What I did that Time
1. Front facing from helmet
2. Pointed at my face (not used)
3. Pointed at gears
4. From rear facing pedals
5. Front wheel
6. Handlebars facing downtube
7. Scenery
8. Map My Ride route mapping (pictured at the bottom)
9. Photos
10. Fun for good measure