[ORRando] Mollala Foothills 200k pre-ride report

[Keith Kohan]

Michael Wolfe and I spent a sunny warm Saturday on the pre-ride of the Mollala Foothills 200k.  My simple quick evaluation is don't miss this one.  Michael has designed a beautiful course.  If the weather holds out like it did for us you're in for a terrific day of riding.  Most of the roads are infrequently taveled by cars and the views are terrific.  

The ride starts out with a warmup on fairly flat terrain then winds it's way up the beautiful Mollala River gorge.  The first control is at the end of the pavement.  I'll be manning this control and I'll remind you to turn around and do a fast decent to the first left turn which is the start of the steepest and most difficult climb of the ride.  Bring your bike with low gears.  Mapmyride says the grade hits 17% and I think Michael told me there's over 1,000 feet of climbing in the three miles to the top.  That's where you start a lovely long descent to Scotts Mills.  Michael and I stopped at the country store in Scotts Mills and had a snack on their front porch.  I think there were two tables with chairs and a couple of benches all under cover.  The woman working there was very friendly and told me I could fill my water bottles from the soda machine.  You know, the water button next to the lemonade selection.  With the sun out and the peace
 of this small town it was a great place to take a break.

From Scotts Mills there's another flat section to Silverton where the next climb on Victor Point Road starts.  From there to Silver Falls State Park the road winds up through the foothills offering plenty of scenic views and very little traffic.  The next control is at Silver Falls State Park.  I'm hoping you won't have to walk through the snow to get to the bathrooms like we did.  The large building just beyond the bathrooms contains some tables and a snack bar.  The woman working the snack bar was happy to rinse and fill my water bottles.  I stuffed a couple of bucks in the tips jar.  Unfortunately you have to walk your bike to the bathrooms and snack bar.

There's some climbing left after Silver Falls State Park before the beautiful fast descent to Silverton.  After that it's nearly all flat back to Canby.

This really is a very nice course and I had a terrific time riding it with Michael.  Hope to see you Saturday!

Keith Kohan
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://orrandonneurs.org/pipermail/orrando/attachments/20120326/5d15a7ec/attachment.htm