McMinnville

March 11, 2018 to March 12, 2018

We woke up this morning to the warm glow of last night’s charter meeting of the Hostile Actors Club. A memorable and inspiring evening that we won’t forget.

The Hostile Actors Club, plus a few surprise guests. In no particular order: Kat, Ron, Andrea, Tiva, Jen, Willie, Rachael, Bruce, Scott, Jeff. Not shown/sleeping it off: Kristen, Juniper, Pinkie.

We have a one night lodging gap between our Air B&B reservations in Portland; and we have two days of incredible, spring-like weather. It’s a perfect setup for a brief break. With several good choices to pick from, we opt for a night out at Hotel Oregon in McMinnville.

Saturday: to McMinnville, via Bald Peak

This is moving day. After almost a five week stay, we’re leaving Stacey’s. We’ve been leading up to this for a few days, so we don’t have much left here. We get up early, take a few last pics so we won’t forget this place, load our bikes and our few belongings into the Jetta, and head over to Grand Central Baking for breakfast and coffee.

Next, it’s off to our condo to drop off the car, and then we’re on the road, climbing up our usual route through Washington Park and past the zoo to the summit at Sylvan Hills. It really is an incredible morning. Halfway to the summit and we’re stopping to remove layers. We haven’t been biking on a day this warm since last fall, if you don’t count our break in Hawaii.

Shirt sleeve weather. Enjoy it while it lasts.

On the western descent from Sylvan Hills summit

Rodriguez and his load add a splash of color to the wall.

We’re taking the high road to McMinnville today, over the northern shoulder of Bald Peak - the highest peak in the Chehalem mountains. I’m not clear on which route we’re taking though. We almost never bike down this direction so I don’t have one in mind based on past experience. This was a last minute idea, so I just let RideWith GPS draw the route for us. It does impressively well, and leads us on a new route that we like a lot, down Rood Bridge Road to Farmington.

After working our way through the outskirts of Hillsboro we pull up to use the restroom at Rood Bridge Park, a new place for us. While I’m waiting for Rachael I look at the map and see that there’s quite a bit to this park - a nice network of paths that loop down to the Tualatin River. We have plenty of time, so we explore a bit before moving on.

Exploring the tranquil riverside trails of Rood Bridge Park

The Tualatin River from the Rood Bridge, with Bald Peak in the distance

Beyond the park we enjoy several flat miles biking through the beautiful flat lands of the lower Tualatin River before coming to Farmington Road. Soon after we’re on Bald Peak Road, and our climb begins. I’ve never taken this approach, but it’s not bad - a steady 8-10% grade for roughly three miles, before capping out at 1100’. Just before beginning our descent we find a lovely spot for lunch - a cushy truck tire by the side of the road, with a nice view to the still snow-capped coast range.

There’s still a fair amount of snow in the Coast Range.

Enjoying life’s simple pleasures: peanut butter, an old tire, and a view.

From the top, we plummet down the west side to Laurelwood on what must be one of the steepest roads in the region. It’s really too steep to be enjoyable - we lose all of our hard-won elevation in two miles, switchbacking down the narrow, shadowy road, our brakes squealing. An occasional impatient car zips around us on the rare stretch with enough visibility to risk it. We’ve never ridden the other direction on this monster, for good reason.

And this isn’t even the steepest part of Laurelwood Road.

We bottom out at Springhill Road and head south, rolling along Beautiful wetland valleyfor about 20 miles before coming to Highway 99W for a busy final few miles to McMinnville. We’ve ridden this route (not counting the final spur to McMinnville) many times, and I always love it. It’s a flat watershed, separating the north flowing Tualatin and southbound Yamhill. Actually, that’s not quite true - it’s actually a three-way watershed, with the beginnings of Chehalem Creek, bound southeast for Newberg and the Willamette River. Today the road feels like a new ride, with the valley still so flooded that it feels like we’re biking beside a five mile ribbon lake.

The ruin at the foot of Laurelwood Road, where it ends at Spring Hill Road. It looks like it could be an old school, but I couldn’t find any information on it.

I’m not sure which side of the watershed this swollen stream is. It’s either Chehalem Creek or the beginnings of the Tualatin River.

We were last in McMinnville late last summer, on our ride From Cannon Beach to Portland. It was completely crazy then because the annual Dragging the Gut Festival was on. It is much quieter and more relaxed today but it still feels like the same gritty town, with Harleys lined up outside the hotel and colorful characters noisily cruising the groove.

We’re staying tonight at Hotel Oregon, a McMinamins joint. Not my favorite, but its location is great if you want to experience the town. If you’ve ever been to one of their hotels, you know the decor - ultrafunk, with walls covered with a unique hand-painted American primitive style that feels like an odd blend of Grandma Moses and Woodstock. We’re staying in the Coaches’ Room, so our walls feature quotes lauding the coaching greats from nearby Linfield College.

We’re in luck. It’s a quiet night tonight so they swapped us into a larger room with space for our bikes.

Also, there’s plenty of room for those all-important stretching exercises.

Distance: 52 miles; elevation gain: 3’500’

GPS route

Monday: to Portland, OR, via Fern Hill

Another beautiful day - it’s sunny, almost warm already when we roll our bikes out of the Coaches’ Room and head back to Portland. We’re loaded down with an attractive lunch we picked up next door at the Red Fox Cafe this morning - sandwiches, and an intriguing French buckwheat cake.

For the first few miles we reverse yesterday’s route into town. Soon though we leave 99W and bear north on quiet Haven Creek Road, a new route for us. The next several miles are beautiful, nearly carfee. Daffodils line the roadsides, baby goats frolic around their elders, horses give us the eye. Very pleasant.

I’m not sure what’s atilt here - the silo, the horse, or the image.

This is really daffodil country. We passed displays like this all morning.

We receive our quotient of cute for the day.

The Carlton grain elevator, from Mineral Springs Road

Leaving Mineral Springs Road, we endure about a mile or two of gravel on Yamhill Road. This is really a beautiful section of the ride, but riding is pretty tough - the gravel is pretty deep, loose, almost sand-like to pedal through in spots. It’s quite a bit worse than I remember it from last summer. I think a fresh layer must have been added over the winter, perhaps in an effort to cut down on the pesky bike traffic.

The cycling on Yamhill Road is rougher that I’d remembered.

With that behind us, we continue on north, past a string of vineyards and dropping down to the wetlands and Spring Hill Road again. As we bike past Laurelwood I taunt Rachael with the proposition that we bike up to Bald Peak from the steep way, but she’s not biting. Instead, we continue north, bending around the snout of the ridge. When we come to Blooming Fern Hill we take the sharp turn and immediately start climbing. The next quarter mile is painfully steep, but mercifully short. At the top we pause to enjoy our lunch and look across the Tualatin Valley and north to Mount Saint Helens and Mount Adams rising above a distant ridge.

Descending Yamhill Road, toward the northwestern snout of Bald Peak

There’s never an old truck tire around when you need one.

Back on the bikes, we enjoy a delicious coast east toward Blooming, with Mount Hood dead on in front of us. That’s it for the best part of the ride though. In a few miles we reach the outskirts of Hillsboro and resign ourselves to 15 miles of riding through the suburbs. I’m pretty tired when we get back to the car, but pleased with how we did. This is my third 50+ mile outing in a row - Saturday I rode out to Chanticleer Point - and I’m feeling good about our conditioning for this early in the spring.

Descending Blooming Spring Hill Road - one of the best shots at Mount Hood that I know of

Cultivating the cane crop, south of Hillsboro

Distance: 54 miles; elevation 3,200’

Today's ride: 106 miles (171 km)
Total: 2,222 miles (3,576 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	3
Comment on this entry	Comment	0