Sunny and warm!

Well, it least it ended up that way. :-)

Earlier in the week I had thought about riding around Mt Hood, but some concerns for all the gravel debris at the roadside, and having noticed that the Oregon Randonneurs were riding 300k from Newberg to Brietenbush and back caused me to rethink my plans.

I'm not much of a Rando, just don't get the collecting reciepts, identifying colored zip ties, etc.   I also often find their routes to be on roads I'd prefer not to ride when there are alternatives available.  So, this morning, rather than start out from Newberg in the cold fog, I started out a few hours later from Gervais....... in cold fog!

By the time I got to Stayton the fog cleared, and from then on the day was just gorgeous.

 Rather than ride Hwy 22 I took county roads and bike paths to work my way up the Santiam Canyon.  I rolled through Lyons and arrived in Mill City via a bike path that followed the Santiam River and crossed the river on an old railroad bridge.

From that vantage point there was a nice view of Mill City Falls.  That was always a fun ride back when I did a lot of whitewater rafting.  I presume it still is fun, but now I spend far more time on the bike than I do with oars in my hands.

From Mill City I continued on up river to Gates.   I was able to make the 3+ miles to Gates with very little time on Hwy 22.  I continued to find paths for a short stretch, then on low traffic county roads for most of it.
There were a few folks out on the river enjoying the day as well.

Once past Gates it was pretty much on the shoulder of Hwy 22 the rest of the way up to Detroit.  There was a road right after the rest area where I was able to take a parallel lower traffic route for a few miles.  It was very scenic and right along the river.  I guess I was too busy gawking to take out the camera and take a photo. :-O With all the late season snow, and the rather wet Spring, the side streams were running full.

  Before long I arrived at Big Cliff Dam, followed in a few more miles by Detroit Dam.

Both dams were spilling water over the spillways.  That surprised me when it appears that all danger of a high spring runoff has passed and the reservoir is not full. Oh well, the Corps of Engineers knows more about anticipated river flows than I do.  Mt Jefferson did look nice today across Detroit Lake.

 I arrived in Detroit and had a fudgecicle from the little store, and a few snacks from my pack before turning around and pedaling back down the canyon.  I did pass a few of the slower Randoneurs as I neared Detroit Lake on the way up, and started seeing some of the faster Randos on their return trip as I neared the town of Detroit.  There were several Seattle Randonneurs milling around the store when I got there.

I had a good pedal down the canyon.  I blew right past a few Randos near Lyons.  You can spot them a long way away.  Why on earth you need THAT much luggage on a bike for a day trip is beyond me! ;-)

The Randonneurs were going for 187 miles today, I figured with my plans for De Ronde Van Oeste Portlandia tomorrow, that 136 would be plenty for me.  ....and I had fun, which is what it's supposed to be all about!  (not that the Randos didn't have fun too)

 .........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today.......136..............0.............0..........0..........136
 Jan.........105.............34.............0..........0..........139
 Feb.........428............108.............0.........24..........536 March.......809..............0.............0.........22..........831
 April..........705..............0.............0..........0..........705 YTD........1958............142.............0.........46.........2145