# Seattle-ites riding in Central Oregon (24K+ of climbing!) Route info?



## ChilliConCarnage (Jun 1, 2006)

Seattle-ite in need of some info on North Central Oregon riding...


Towards the end of the month, I'm joining my riding buddies on a self-supported 4-day trip to North Central Oregon. The itinerary call for a first day covering 97 miles with 9200+ feet of climbing. Each successive day calls for big miles and lots of climbing as well. That scares the poop out of me. 

My riding buddies are not only fit, but they are lightweights (compared to me). At 160 lbs, I am the "fatty" of the group. I'm also, probably not coincidentally, the sprinter and not the climber of the group.

In particular, I'd like to find out about the roads / route between Husum/White Salmon, and Biggs Junction. I'm riding solo a couple of days, and I've got to make my way between those two towns. Do I ride on 14, or do I take 84?

And while I'm asking, anybody here have any local knowledge of the areas around Heppner, Fossil, Maupin, and Biggs Junction?

With my two solo days, I'll be at about 450 miles of riding, and 25K+ climbing by the end of this trip, and I'll stick around to do the Mt. Adams Century (105 miles, 6500 ft climbing) a few days later. I will likely not want to look at a bicycle for 6 months after!


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## Fordy (Feb 3, 2004)

Hey Chilli,
I spent some time working out of Hood River. I had a daily route I rode just for the work out. From Hood River climb up to the old cascade highway trial (MUT) and ride it to Mosier. This trail ends at Mosier. Continue on 30 until you are just entering The Dalles. Turn right and climb up Seven Mile Hill Road. Stay on this until you loop back into Mosier. Get back on the MUT and return to Hood River. I think it is about 40 miles. Good climbing and great scenery.....


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## mcsqueak (Apr 22, 2010)

I was just out that direction last weekend.

I started in Hood River, and did what Fordy said, taking the trail from Hood River to Mosier, than HWY 30 from Mosier to The Dalles. Here's the map of the ride I did if you want to see what roads I took: Hood River to The Dalles and Back in Hood River, OR | Bike Map | MapMyRIDE

While you certainly could ride on I-84, I wouldn't want to. Very windy conditions combined with very fast traffic and lots of trucks. Even though it has shoulders it seems like it would be a shitty place to ride.

There are routes that parallel the highway for the most part pretty much all the way to Biggs Junction. Strava shows a few segments on 15 Mile Road/Co. HWY 18, so I'd take that I can't speak on the quality of road surface however. Side roads out there are generally low traffic, as the interstate tends to suck up most of the through-traffic.


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## David in WA (May 4, 2012)

Fun short loop out of Maupin: climb west out of town and then north on 197 up to 216 east to Sherar's Bridge and back to town on the BLM access road on the east bank of the Deschutes. Only 27 miles but starts with a good climb and ends with great scenery. Sherar's Bridge area is culturally significant for Warm Springs tribal members who dipnet for salmon there. Cool to see.


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## David in WA (May 4, 2012)

If you were riding a sportbike, I'd tell you that the highway between Antelope and Fossil was made by God when He was into racing motorcycles. I am being deadly serious.


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## ChilliConCarnage (Jun 1, 2006)

David in WA said:


> If you were riding a sportbike, I'd tell you that the highway between Antelope and Fossil was made by God when He was into racing motorcycles. I am being deadly serious.


The guy who planned the route has been regularly riding those roads on his motorcycles for the past 15 years. He says the same thing as you.

Thanks for the suggestions. I didn't think of looking to Strava for route possibilities. I normally just use that site for bragging rights


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## ACree (Feb 5, 2006)

The areas around heppner, fossil, and ione are where the old Columbia plateau stage race was held. Never did it, nor have I ridden there, but have only heard good things about the area. Sounds like fun, well, other than trying to hang with skinny little climbers.


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## mcsqueak (Apr 22, 2010)

ChilliConCarnage said:


> The guy who planned the route has been regularly riding those roads on his motorcycles for the past 15 years. He says the same thing as you.
> 
> Thanks for the suggestions. I didn't think of looking to Strava for route possibilities. I normally just use that site for bragging rights


Yeah I use Strava a lot for research - I look up rides that people have done in areas I plan to go, and look up climbs with the their climb finder tool. I think the grade % reporting is better than what mapmyride reports. I've even left comments for folks about their rides, and had good responses.


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