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Oregon Outback

Oregon Outback Day 1

Tore outta Klamath Falls only be stopped by a sheered valve on Sarah’s new steed 12 miles in. Ole city slicker Joe sent an Uber to Zach’s bike shop for a replacement or 2. Shoutout Carolyn in her Kia optima absolutely following the speed limit all the way out to us. Slow but reliable. Pony express (more to come on this Billy van der Wal).

Peddled on through some lovely double track spotting red winged black birds and yellow headed black birds in abundance.

Steve took a big tumble heading down into metro sprague river. Stopped for a well earned lunch at [redacted] Flat Store. Hammered 1/5 of bill’s hot pickle and chugged a Gatorade (go gata) along with some honey bbq twists.

Hit a steep climb on some pavement heading east on the north side of sprague River River. Got buzzed by a guy in a flat bed with a “try that in a small town” sticker.

Slogged up some slow chunky ass red dirty double track to camp.

All in all a good first day. Camp was beautiful. Enjoyed Beef Stroganoff with Noodles (8.0) yep. Stars were real nice. I have a cold. Kara has a cold.

Oregon Outback Day 2

Behind schedule out of the gate. Big dinner reservation to make by 6:30 at the Cowboy Dinner Tree.

Billy woke up full of desire and enlisted his ragtime band to write a few tunes about the apple of his eye. You actually might find the apple of his eye with an apple it in its mouth. Followed up his first hit with a lesser one about getting dusty (which we managed to do all day.)

The tail end of Kara’s cold had her sounding like a 70 year smoker. I think I kinda liked it. Breakfast was Mtn House biscuits and gravy (9.0). Fight me. Verve instant got us back online.

Was about 30 degrees at the rooster crow but warm enough for some sweating when we started rolling. Got up a climb without too much of an issue (Sarah slow rolled into a barbed wire fence without too much damage). Got treated with some surprise pavement at the top of the climb.

Rolled down through some burn areas on some washboards (bikes stayed dirty). NY Nicky and I got caught up in a dirt devil for a bit. Stopped for a lunch midway under a big tree. Chicken noodle casserole (4.5) Lots of generous folks in their ATVs slowing down to keep us dust free.

Hit a nice valley south of the Thompson Creek reservoir and stopped for some nice group pics. Pushed on to silver creek marsh area. Welcomed by a friendly face attending the sign.

Potable water at the campground just wasn’t pumpin. Sooners at the campground had a very sweet attack dog. Stopped at one last creek but felt a bit murky.

One last climb up before the dinner tree and it was a test. Stationary bike activated. Red dirt spinning under the 27.5x2.1” teravail rutlands.

Rolled into the CDT about 4:30. Shower was excellent although the hot water didn’t last long. Sat on the boys porch with some ice cold modelo. Shoutout to the strava stat padders for riding the 5 miles in and 5 miles back from silver lake with 20 beers in tow.

Dinner was massive. If I’m being honest the rolls were the highlight. My advice is chicken over the steak. Absolute can’t miss experience.

Sat out with the gang to watch the sunset then headed back to Cabin #1.

Oregon Outback Day 3

Woke up in a warm bed at the cowboy dinner tree. Cruised down hill to Silver Lake a little past 9. Crew was mostly rested other than Joe having a run in with a night terror demon that woke up the boys cabin.

Gas station in silver lake was our breakfast stop and last snack fill up for 100 miles. Went Willy wonka mode for the trek ahead and for breakfast had a fried cheesy potato cake (make it a double ma’am).

Started hot out of the gate. Had the whole crew drafting like jumbo visma north toward the deschutes national forest. Caught a few glimpses of the sisters over near bend. Bangin club sandwich at the waterin hole in Fort Rock. The nice folks there let us use the hose to fill up our water for the 70 mile no fill track.

Everyone was feeling great around mile 30. Talks of slowing it up just so we wouldn’t get to camp too early.

That was not a damn problem. The next 20 or so miles to camp were a perfectly melded nightmare between red sauce and washboards. Slow and miserable. Suffer induced delirium a couple miles from camp made for some good laughs and Led Zeppelin squealing.

Kara, Kenton, and Sarah had a surprise PBR waiting for us when we rolled into camp. Shoutout to the neighbors at sand springs. Sat around the fire and pondered the psychotic nature of setting the FKT on this route.

Major thanks to Thomas L and the crew from last week for the 2 gallon water treasure at camp. Absolutely lovely to roll up to.

Oregon Outback Day 4

Last morning of waking up to Billy singing about horses. Everyone was pretty quick to sip, eat, and pack. Billy’s saddle bag contents went flying right when he hit the trail. Kenton put 3 punctures in his sidewalk in mile 1. Gooooooood morning ahahah.

Lovely descent out of the deschutes down towards highway 20 where we were to depart with our 3 4 day riders. Spirits were high. PBRs were shared.

We waved goodbye to Billy, Kenton, and Sarah and headed east for a mile on the highway, only getting nearly sucked into all 18 wheels of 3 big rigs.

The descent down the crooked river highway was certainly a trip highlight. Felt like a good spot for a couple of cowboys and cowgirls to hide out for a bit. Nick gave it his best go by shearing his rear shift cable right before the biggest climb of the day.

The team rigged him up with a couple of knots to hold him in mid range to try to make the bike shop before close in prineville. Joe took off with him.

The 4 remaining took the climb with grace and did a hoot and a holler coming down into the prineville reservoir. The next 20 miles were unbelievable canyon of rock walls along the river. It was absolutely gorgeous as we all gritted our teeth and stared down at the road to power through brutal headwinds. The wind was face on at every angle. Black magic.

Met Nick and Joe at wild wood brew for the best Pilsner of all time. Stevie’s knees were giving him a time. Got some assurance from a PT friend to power on a manage the pain. Mad respect for the push.

Nick and Joe had shown up to a closed good bike co but the saint of an owner put the bike on the stand and got him shifting again. Burgers and shakes for dinner. I think you should leave for tv at ripp’s Airbnb. Goodnight.

Oregon Outback Day 5

Hit the paved road north and up out of prineville for what was to be an incredible day on the bike. Had some all time bad coffee from the kurieg at rip’s Airbnb. Otherwise it was a lovely stay.

Steve sprayed sealant all over the driveway a couple of times and everyone lathered on the icy hot before pedaling out.

The day started with a 2k foot paved climb in the ochoco national forest. Had a rest stop and snack at the top looking out over a beautiful meadow. Nick had 2 dogs run alongside him for a couple of miles. Descended gravel down the north side of mountains through Nye Ranch. Crossed 4 creeks. Everyone used their own special method. All methods ended with soaked feet (this would be quite discomforting the next morning for our 5am departure).

Cruised down into Ashwood and sampled all the delight from Frankie’s honor fridge (what a good kind man). Ice cream sandwich. Dr Pepper. Gatorade. Chips. Water.

Hit the big mf climb out of ashwood. Hot steep and tough. Headphones in (Grateful dead veneta) The top was like pedaling into heaven. Tear inducing beauty. The next 15 or so miles was all up high. Felt like riding through the sky. The wind was severe but the sights and terrain were nearly enough to not feel it.

Hit the Young Life/Rajneesh road down to antelope and pulled into the in construction antelope market. Honor fridge with drinks and potable water. $5/person to camp. Flirted with sheltering in the A frame cabins but the rat droppings had us setting up our tents once again. Kara’s achilles tendon and I everyone’s @$$ were in shambles.

Decided to set our alarms for 4:30 to ward off the gorge winds as long as possible. Coyotes cried through the night.

Oregon Outback Day 6

The final push. Climbed out of camp at 5:20am. 1000’ up. Toes completely without feeling. Racing upward toward the first morning patches of sun.

The mountain views once up on the plateau and into Shaniko were hard to believe. Thielsen to the northern cascades. No one on the trip had ever seen it so clear.

Quick bathroom stop in shaniko and then 10 miles of head down highway time until gravel. We had been leaping frogging (they stayed ahead of us pretty much the whole ride) with a group of riders all week. They had camped in shaniko for the night and said hello to them. Good meeting you Stephen Hartzel.

Breakfast and coffee came on the side of the first gravel road of the day. Gravel rollers for the next 35 miles. Slowly climbing and descending our way toward the mouth of the deschutes. BM and a ginger ale around mile 37 had us feeling fresh.

One final big climb with about 20 miles to go. Radio station up top with sweeping views of the gorge and deschutes canyon. From there it was riding the brakes 2000’ down to river level. The air becoming warmer and warmer as we descended. Down jacket feeling more and more insane.

Ceremonial rotations at the front of the pack on the last 1.5 of flat to the deschutes river park. Kara beat us there and Alisa was waiting with a 6 pack of pfriem pils.

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Check out Spotify’s Year In Music 2014. Create yours. spotify.com/2014 #Spotify2014

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You bet we fight until pressed against six feet of distance and earth. Yeah, we make mistakes that our fathers have made and my troubles come up from the earth. My teeth, grit, fierce, and I beg to you, understand. "Grace" is my name. Tongues run amok and fangs will breed on fangs. So keep your secrets into the mattress and pray they don't escape. It's the impossible act of building our bridges much faster then they burn. Stay, Because I cant afford the distance shadowing my heart and what good is a sinner if we haven't got grace. Save the son. My troubles boulevard across the land. They keep their secrets in the mattress. Discard. I'm trying to keep it in the right hands. Medic, I have given up all my weapons and i have headed home. Well I can see the words inside your silence, But I can't speak about your pain for you How long can you burn for anyways Turning over and back again with tongues ablaze. Like lions without teeth hungry. Staring at the forest with flames in our eyes just talking with the trees If we can drift long enough, we'll be home. Sails blown by the fire within pushing me to you And you can live inside of me, sewn together Breaking and healing, growing and breaking again and again And you are a part of me, you are my home and I'm your home, But I'm no place you'll want to be So I'm out here again sparks hid behind my teeth I won't say a word for fear of failure spreading It takes some of us longer to get to our dead ends We have old blood stained with loose living Ran through charcoal hearts to make it red And we can be on fire again you and I, You want this? Well say what you want, say what you mean! We can talk lung to closed ear, head inside of hand Turning over again together Cut up for the cheap heat running through our veins And we can lay brick by broken brick Our ashes pushed in between And build this road back home to where we want to be We are not our own, we are the same". Let fangs give birth to fangs but i cant walk away. Let them breed. Fangs give birth to fangs but i cant walk away. Let them breed.

The Chariot / Dan Smith

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I heard that a lot of playwrights used to end their stories with a funeral if it was a tragedy and a wedding if it was a comedy. I think that's why we make such a bid deal out of weddings, because a wedding means life and because the bride and groom are old enough to write a thank-you note for the serving spoons you gave them. And perhaps because you get to drink and dance, no matter how old you are. I only dance at weddings. I practically only drink at weddings, too, mostly because that's where I do my dancing. One of the things that gives me hope is that, even with all the tragedy that happens in the world, the Bible says that when we get or heaven, there will be a wedding and there will be drinking and there will be dancing.

Donald Miller A Million Miles In A Thousand Years p32

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You know, I found out that I don't need anyone to tell me to know that I am a wonderful person.

Sam Henderson

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Forgettingism- Lions  Cats PDF Part 2

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mtn

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Savannah, GA

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Thanks Pensacola, FL!

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Have you been waiting on the sound of my return?

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Breathe it in.. #bodysurf #bidysurfer #torpedopeople #waterninja #instasweet #truth #handplane #surf #skate #belieber

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Keith, Chris and Dan Malloy and Fletcher Chouinard in Indonesia. Photo by Jeff Johnson