Central Oregon 2010

• 18075mi.  New skin and binders on the rear wheel, electricals seem OK. Ready for Central Oregon tour.    
• Day 1 (26-Aug):  OR74-US395-FR52-FR74  - Very windy on 74, Battle Mountain Summit was complete riot, FR52 was fun but most of FR74 was torn up for repaving that was supposed to be completed in June.  225m.   
• Day 2:   Baker City to Sisters  - Dooley Mountain was epic, as expected;  Blue Springs summit on OR220 out of Sumpter was very nice, pavement a bit of a challenge but a typical, backcountry technical ride;  I just got spoiled on Battle and Dooley Mountains.  OR7 was a pleasant surprise, as I don't normally like high-speed sweepers but the great sight lines and lack of traffic, not to mention law enforcement made it enjoyable.  The summit climb out of John Day on US395 up to the intersection with OR380 goes on the "Epic" list, but the rest of 380 was barely worth the visit, no thanx to nearly 20 miles of new gravel and oil on top of the chipseal.  Then, near the end of the ride, just out of Post, I hit the section just south of Eagle Rock and it almost made up for the 70 miles of boredom
• Day 6:  Pony Butte Road-OR218-OR207  -  Discovered an interesting side route on Pony Butte Road - Pavement ranged from rank to wonderful, scenery was exceptional, starts out with a typical summit climb/descent then winds into a very narrow defile.  Riding out of Antelope up the go-kart track toward Shaniko was unbelievably fun;  scraped metal on both sides, wasn't able to master the nasty, decreasing-radius, two-turn combination in two round-trips.  The rest of 219 was awesome and the ascent on OR207 up from Spray to the summit to Bull Prarie was very much worth the time, although absolutely the coldest place I've been in August.  OR207 back to Mitchell had a few interesting sections but the day's highlights were definitely the technical section north of Antelope - on my list of all-time major grins with Battle Mountain, Dooley Mountain, and Blue Springs Summit (OR220) - and the run between Spray and Bull Prairie.    
• .Day 7:  Aufderheide rained out  --    Did a late afternoon run up east slope of McKenzie Pass just for grins.    
• Day 8:  Aufderheide rained out  --    McKenzie Pass, northern third of Aufderheide twice, Quartzville road twice.  Quartzville is the second best ride of the trip, behind Dooley Mountain and just ahead of the Antelope Ascent.  Front tire has a nasty nick, so that's it for the Central Oregon Tour.  Looks like the total mileage is ~1400, well short of the 2200 I had planned.    

Flatted rear, boil-over

No bike as of 18-Aug.