Last Saturday was the 2013 edition of Velodirt’s much-loved Dalles Mountain 60 ride. Below is our story, head over to Velodirt to check out their recap and links to some more good photosets. Tim, Nick and Bday loaded up in the Fat Tire Farm van and drove out to the Dalles to participate in the fun, hand out some cookies and beers and grind some gravel.
Bday had the honor of breaking in one of our new Disc Trucker rentals. (more on that coming soon) We had a few last-minute tweaks to the bike, and then ready to roll.
Parked outside Domino’s in the Dalles, waiting for the ride to start. Tim brought out the CX bike, Nick was on the road bike with 28′s and Bday was on 26×1.5 touring tires. Pretty much no way to go wrong with 20 miles of good dirt roads and 40 of pavement.
Donnie from Velodirt thanked everyone (more than 150 riders in the parking lot) for coming out and then everyone hit the road.
After a little bit of cold and ice it warmed up quickly. However; I double flatted hitting a big square rock while putting away my camera about 20 seconds after taking this picture. First two of the day.
We crossed the bridge at the Dalles and immediately began climbing. It warmed right up and views were stellar.
Then the road climbed some more,
and some more, coming to a small pass in the hills and dropping down a great descent with views of Mt Adams and Mt Rainier. No sweet landscape pictures were taken as it was too much fun riding (except for my second 2 flats- don’t use 20-28 tubes in 700x28s on a rough dirt road, people.)
After dropping down Hwy 97 by Maryhill, we crossed back into Oregon and immediately hit gnarly headwinds. Thanks for the double paceline, team Ironclad. Turning onto Old Moody road by the Deschutes, we hit the steepest gravel of the day.
A few riders were forced to walk, but team 21st gritted our teeth and rode it out. From this point we were too busy battling headwinds to get too many pictures, but the rest of Moody was pretty fun even riding into a gale, and descending back into The Dalles on 15 Mile and 8 Mile roads was a blast. Back in the parking lot we had some recovery beers to chase the deliciously salty Juanita’s chips and Guacamole waiting for us in the van, rested for a bit and then pointed it back to Portland. Good times. We’ll see you at the Rickreal Classic and the Rapture.
