Hey Gang-

I am lucky enough to spend a week in Sisters, OR once a year and ride up McKenzie Pass a couple times. Unfortunately, this year it seems that it will not be open when we are there over the 4th of July.

Are there other rides out of Sisters with the same level of traffic and climbing, etc.?

Thanks in advance!

David

Try this link.

http://www.deschutes.org/index.cfm?objectid=D9531619-BDBD-57C1-92865E7D3C09D97F

Thanks Richard. That is a cool site I had not seen yet. Thanks!

Now the next question. Should I bring my cross bike and 2 sets of tires (road 23s and cross tires) or could I get away with a set of 28s on my road bike to handle a dirt road here or there. How soft is the soil, etc.

Thanks!

David

Hmmmmm, If I were you I'd bring your mountain bike AND your road bike. The single tracks here are wonderful and mostly moderate with some tricky sections. You'd loose a bit riding them on your cross bike. Equally, the road riding is fantastic as well, but you'd not loose as much with your cross bike on the roads

Tough call....either way you're bound to have a good time!!!!!

That is a bummer, I really wanted to ride McKenzie at the end of June.
Does anybody knows if it is open on the East side? Or closed but ridable?
Ciao

Paolo

McKenzie Pass rarely opens before July 4, and this year the snowpack is well above normal

Last year it was open by the end of May and we did it on the 16th of June, there was no snow, none on the road and none on the side and snowback was pretty good last year too, not as good and not as cold of a spring but I am sure it is ridable by now.
Ciao

Paolo

It looks like plowing from the Sisters side won't start until July. Here is the latest press release fro ODOT, it's from May. May and June were cool, so not much snow melt up that high yet.

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/REGION4/McKenziePass2008.pdf

Thanks Shifty, I guess I have to find some other epic ride for next weekend....
Maybe I go chase Lance around Beaverton.
Ciao
Paolo

I just spoke to someone at Eurosports (the bike shop in sisters eurosports dot us) and he said that the pass is plowed 14 miles up the road. That is about 1 mile short of the pass.

There is still snow on each side of the road, but it is not piled as steep as some years past because they waited so long to plow. He said he was personally hoping it would be complete to the pass by next week. Woo hoo!

He also told me that they had to stop plowing because they ran out of funding and needed to wait until the next fiscal year. LOL.

Apparently, Three Creeks Road is open all the for the paved portion and about one mile into the dirt.

So, who knows what it will be like next week, but that sounds good enough for me...Road bike it is!

Just to follow-up, I rode McKenzie Pass on Monday and 3 Creeks Road today. Both were awesome, but in very different ways.

McKensie was it's usual civilized self, never too steep, and beautiful as always. Having the road closed to cars was nice as I was able to use the entire rode going up and down. There were quite a few hazards (fallen trees and such) and the snow. The decent was great, not too steep so you can just coast all the way down w/o needing to pedal or hit the breaks.

See pics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/monkeytom/sets/72157605919257778/

3 Creeks Road was amazing in different ways...much more challenging than McKenzie. Most of the first part of the climb was 3-5% grade, then you hit the first rise over a bluff and it hits 8% right away. From then on it averages 7% with a couple sections that pitch up to 8-9%. Then the last mile is 9% with spikes up to 11% at the very end. Good stuff. Scenery was good but I was usually working too hard to enjoy it.

Pix here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/monkeytom/sets/72157605961089016/