Anyway, to start, here's the story of David Parson's Dixie Mountain 100K (#1303), which also served as the inaugural long ride on my new Olmo fixed gear rando bike.
Things got off to a good start, with a breakfast of champions:
I went (solo) out of town on Cornell, then 53rd to Thompson/Germantown/Philips/Helvetia. Somewhere early along that stretch, I found a car cemetery of sorts:
And this somewhat odd, but certainly well-meaning, sign:
I had dug up one of the first wool hats I had ever made from a pile of misc crap... it still looked and fit quite nicely, just with a slightly warped bill:
Soon enough, I turned onto Dixie Mountain and began my slog up through several miles of hard-packed gravel. The Olmo and myself stopped for a little creekside photo op:
As you can see, I said "yes" to every possible bright color, and a rad handlebar bag from Swift Industries in Seattle. Bagel and cream cheese was the food du jour:
Up and up we went (OK, maxing out at only about 1400 feet elevation), with some rather lovely views and zero traffic:
As you might expect, I ran into a rather strong bike contingency when I left the gravel roads and rejoined Skyline (it was, more or less, the first nice Saturday of 2012):
The last little stretch back into urban Portland takes you through Forest Park, via Saltzman and then Leif Erickson, and at the juncture of the two trails I ran into a bunch of Reed College students on rental MTBs from Sellwood Cycles.
I cruised with them at 8mph for a while, then left them behind and headed back home. 114KM total in barely under seven hours, done in a leisurely manner.
Bonus picture of perhaps the favorite bike part I own, peppered with NW PDX mud:
The end!
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