I will venture to guess that besides maybe two other people on Ridemonkey, nobody has heard of Round Mtn. I picked it off a map and decided to explore on Sunday. Derek and I decided we were up for the "big boy" route which involved some 22 miles of riding, something over at least 5000' of climbing (I'm being conservative), no people, lots of sunshine, some INSANE switchbacks, and a lot of sweat.
The ride starts outisde of Bend about an hour in a mountain range called "The Ochocos". The riding is different characteristically than Bend in that the rocks on the trail are less of the lava type, and more prevalent. It started with a 7 mile road climb, followed by a 4 mile singletrack climb, then lots of descending, mixed in with more climbing! The singletrack was really very tough, and keep in mind, I like climbing.
I can't remember the last time I had to climb such steep switchbacks...maybe New Zealand? It was TOTAL small ring climbing with intense concentration to keep my front wheel down. I didn't get any pictures of that though, I just got a couple forest shots.
This dude thought we were aliens who had come to take his babies.
We climbed basically to the sun.
After the climb it leveled out a bit and we got some descending in.
That didn't last long, we were soon climbing up to a lookout tower thingie...at 6500'. The views were great and I snapped some pics.
Look where you want to go, not where you don't.
One more pic.
.
Awesome day, saw lots of deer, no people, and had a great time riding a new trail.
The ride starts outisde of Bend about an hour in a mountain range called "The Ochocos". The riding is different characteristically than Bend in that the rocks on the trail are less of the lava type, and more prevalent. It started with a 7 mile road climb, followed by a 4 mile singletrack climb, then lots of descending, mixed in with more climbing! The singletrack was really very tough, and keep in mind, I like climbing.
I can't remember the last time I had to climb such steep switchbacks...maybe New Zealand? It was TOTAL small ring climbing with intense concentration to keep my front wheel down. I didn't get any pictures of that though, I just got a couple forest shots.This dude thought we were aliens who had come to take his babies.
We climbed basically to the sun.
After the climb it leveled out a bit and we got some descending in.
That didn't last long, we were soon climbing up to a lookout tower thingie...at 6500'. The views were great and I snapped some pics.
Look where you want to go, not where you don't.
One more pic.
Awesome day, saw lots of deer, no people, and had a great time riding a new trail.
I'm with hooples on this one...my legs groaned just thinking about that much climbing!
I do too! Nice Pics !
