[ORRando] Bend Prineville 100km Populaire Report

[Joe and Sue Keenan]

Having created some populaires, tis time to put rubber to the road and ride
'em, eh?

Here be a cliff notes report of  my ride: It was very good.

Ok..that's it.

Cereally, should you get to Central Oregon I'm putting this down as a must
do ride for sure.

The ride starts at the Alfalfa Country store which is down the street from
the Alfalfa Community Center and now you've seen Alfalfa.  The Country
Store is just that and the lady behind the counter was a delight.  She
asked how my day was and I told her it had to be good as my name wasn't in
the obituary column.  She replied any day above ground can't be too bad.

Heading east on Willard the scenery is high desert with lots of juniper and
scrub brush along with rolling hills in the background.  You'll pass a few
ranches and don't miss the photo op of the horse statues reflected in the
pond.  For the first 12.5 miles the road gently climbs until the road
intersects with OR 27.

The next part of the ride is well worth the price of submission.  There's a
big smile bug catch'n downhill grin for over 4 miles with a stop atop the
Arthur R Bowman dam with surrounding photo op vistas of the reservoir and
the Ochocho mountain water fed Crooked River.  The whole time you might
feel as if you were in Utah as the reservoir is surrounded by interesting
rock formations.

Enjoy the next approximate 20 miles of gentle sloping downhill along the
river to the center of Prineville, a rustic small town with plenty of
establishments to fulfill the appetite.  Better fuel up here with food and
water as there is virtually nothing for the next 30 plus miles.

Exiting Prineville it is time to spin on up the biggest climb on the route:
A good 1.5 mile up up and away with grades topping out at 6.5%.  Who
doesn't like a climb after lunch?  Ok, I know the answer.

The next 8 to 10 miles are wheel'n along graded downhill and around mile
44.4 vistas of Mt. Bachelor, the Three Sister Mountains and numerous buttes
fill a panoramic photo op here and along most of the rest of the route.

At about mile 47.7 there's what we called in New England "a false flat" for
the next 5 miles or so.  Sure looks flat but your feets will tell you
different.

For the rest of the ride welcome to the undulating part as the road rises
and falls under your wheels, but to your liking,  like most of the ride,
there is almost no traffic and what traffic was encountered gave wide berth
when passing.  Nary a nasty was encountered.

Grab a low fat chocolate milk at the end of the ride at the Country Store.
It's almost as good as the ride in me opinion.
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