Twin Bridges Ride

Saturday 6/22/2013

It helps when there are two of you if you get lost. It also helps to realize you are lost when you have made it to the top of a two mile hill, rather than at the bottom of a two mile hill ;'-)

Rene was so happy to find that she had not forgotten to bring her helmet

Rene opted to skip fishing today and join me for a ride. That made me happy. We chose one of the Oregon Scenic Bikeway rides that is a loop from Bend to Twin Bridges and back to Bend. We decided to cut out the Bend part and begin our ride from the Tumalo State Park which looked (by the map) to be right there directly on the route.

Rock formation at the State Park

We blithely turned right onto the road that bordered the Park and began our grind uphill. We were not seeing any roads that had names that were on the map, but thought we were probably not there yet. Finally we stopped for a closer scrutiny of the big map and discovered we were not on the correct road. At least now we would go DOWN the two mile hill we just climbed ;'-)

With great fortitude we soldiered on to find the correct road to continue our route. There were TONS of cyclists out on these roads. At first I thought it must be an organized ride, then when I saw no number bibs or support vehicles or stops, I thought maybe a club ride. But no -- there were individual riders, small groups, and couples all spread out and some on spur roads leading somewhere. They were all fast on their lightweight, bare (no extraneous gear or equipment like racks) bikes speeding along these quiet, bucolic roads.

One of those bucolic roads with two Sisters

We trudged along at my usual glacial speed and enjoyed stopping for photos with camera, and snacking from our stores, stashed in our extraneous gear.

Time for a snack

This is horse country

 

This horse wanted to adopt me

One of those old, beautiful buildings that once served a great need

The Sisters mountains were often in view and I could not resist stopping for more photos as each place offered a different perspective.

All three of the Sisters

A closer look at two of the Sisters

I thought Rene was amazing! She does not have the opportunity to ride much and still she rode well up the many rather steep climbs on this ride. We think we had at least five big climbs and many rolling hills to top on our route, so of course we needed a tea and crumpet stop when we got to Tumalo. Little did we know that one of the biggest hills is after this stop! But at least we were nearing the Park where we were parked.

Tea and crumpets

I chatted with a retired couple from Arizona. They rent a place in Bend for three months every year to escape the Arizona heat, and ride all the the lovely roads. They ride at least three days a week when in Arizona. As they did their "pedal up" on their tandem, I wished them safe journeys.

Posted with Blogsy