Andy_K 

It's a little known fact that Mordor gets quite a bit of snow in the winter.

VRJAKE 

Like the idea of Virgin rides, introducing folks to fabulous routes and scenes they've never been to before!

bikingshearer 

Oh, I bet I would be slower up the climb than you. Of course, since you stop to take photos, I might be able to see you on the way up every so often . . .

Ooooo, that sounds like a ton o' fun. I won't go so far as to say I'm in, but I am most definitely interested. I've had my eye on that climb, and doing it with you guys (okay, a fair distance behind you guys) followed by libations and carnivorous grub sounds like a really fine day.

I've done that south to north. It's the old Highway 99. In my recollection, the climb is not too bad, mainly a continuous rhythm climb. The descent down the north side is great fun, especially the turn that has the road go right-right-right until it tunnels under itself, making it a net hard left turn.

northbend 

Ok time for some more photos.
It was great meeting up with you guys on Sunday.

On the drive down from Washington State I had some doubts if the ride would be decent enough to say it was worth the effort. Drove through a bunch of rain, then it cleared up somewhat in Eastern Oregon but it seemed like the clouds were thickening to the West over the Cascades. None of the big volcanos were visible but you could see the sun was doing it’s best to burn some holes through the cloud cover over the town of Sisters where we met. The sun stayed with us as we rode up the McKenzie Highway and it was warm enough to ride without Jackets. Yippie!

Insidious C. McKenzie 4

Andy_K McKenzie 4

Regroup
McKenzie 3

SquireBlack McKenzie 1

At the Gates - we are car free from here up to the Summit! As you can see, there were scads of Cyclists out on Sunday.
At the Gates

We ride through a huge burned out forest.
Into the dead zone

Dead Zone 1

gugie Dead Zone 2

Dead Zone 3

It starts to rain..It starts to rain near the summit

northbend 

So jackets come out for the final push to the summit

Jackets come out



Almost there



It’s a little windy and cold on the summit, I crack open a beer as we wait for Andy to arrive.

The Summit - cheers!



The summit photo



We have alot of company

We are not alone



There’s not much in the way of views due to cloud cover but I’ll remedy that the next day if the weather changes as it’s expected to do. We begin the fun descent back to sisters.
The road can be taken at speed once you’re through the initial section that cuts through the narrow gully near the top. I stop and wait for the regroup at Windy Point.

Waiting on the descent the rest to catch up

Here they come, time to saddle up
And here they come

After we cross the gate the highway straightens out. We have a tailwind and a steady downhill gradient. The miles swiftly go by.
Soon it’s just Gugie and I pacelining it alone, feeling like supermen. What great fun! A perfect way to end the ride.

merziac

Tx Andy and Matt!

Andy_K 

For the record, I didn't experience any rain at all, even at the top. I guess sometimes there's a benefit to being slow.

rccardr 

Fun times! Jealous!

northbend 

What a difference a day makes.

Spent the night in nearby Redmond hopeful the weather would clear up as forecasted.

Monday morning it was clear, the winds had died down and it felt warmer so lets do this again so you can see what our group missed yesterday…

Apparently Monday was the official opening day of the pass to vehicle traffic.

There was an occasional car but it was never a distraction and there were long periods where it was very quiet.

Monday Repeat 1

And you could see mountains

Monday Repeat 2

The Sisters were out in all their glory

Monday Repeat 5

Bluebird Day

Monday Repeat 3

I passed by the Summit and kept going..

Monday Repeat 4

northbend 

There’s more snow as you drop in elevation to the West

Monday Repeat 6

Then begin the descent on the western side

Monday Repeat 8

Altitude is lost quickly as you negotiate the switchbacks in the trees

Monday Repeat 9

My turn around spot

Monday Repeat 10

…and begin the climb back up to McKenzie Pass

More Snow on the West side

Monday Repeat 11

Approaching the tower from the West

I'm glad I stuck around for another day.

Andy_K 

@northbend, your second day ride looks fantastic! I think you're lucky it was open to cars. They might not have let you pass either. Well, maybe since it was you they would have.... They didn't let me and @gugie go up midweek last year.

I'm glad the clouds went away for you. The views are so much better for this ride on a clear day.

northbend 

I've ridden it before mid-week on the drive back from Eroica California so I don't know...perhaps you guys were just unlucky. Maybe ODOT was doing some repair work up there the day you guys were there.. I had always heard they plow a single lane then leave it for nature to do it's work. Perhaps closer to opening day ODOT has more activity going on up there.

I pretty much thought there wouldn't be a problem given that Monday was the Juneteenth holiday...

northbend 

Virgins and Volcanos...

this could get interesting

Drillium Dude 

Pretty sure you can pencil me in, yeah

DD

droppedandlost 

I was going to suggest I carpool with northbend, but then he does both sides the next day!

stardognine

Boy, those burned trees give me some bad memories, from last year. I was riding up to Seattle, and trying to avoid the fires, and not that familiar with the roads. The worst was around Roseburg, there was a ton of smoke in the air, and road closures in areas. Add in the fact that most businesses were closed, making it hard to get food & water, and it got a little scary. 😟
But God watches over fools (like me) & little children. 😁

mhespenheide 

If I'm not otherwise occupied with family, I'm in for next year. I've ridden up the West side from the campgrounds right near Proxy Falls (on a modern bike), but I've not ridden the route up from Sisters.

CliffordK

Let me know should you choose to do the ride again in the future. I've done the ride a couple of times starting from home, but it is pretty intense to get up there, and back home.

I've found all the shortcuts to minimize the time on HWY 126, especially if you're willing to take in some very rough gravel on the way there or back.

I think I heard they opened the pass a little early this year, so it should be open by now.

I'm way down on my annual mileage, so perhaps some warning to get into shape again.