[OHPV-list] Barlow Trail Spring Century

[Carolyn Devine]

Hi Folks,
I'm writing to invite you to join me on the
Barlow Trail Spring Century this Sunday*.
It's a good ride. Great roads, mountain views, the weather looks  
promising,
and I hear the burritos and smoothies at the end are really tasty.  
There'll be some microbrews, too, if that's your fancy.
Warning:  this is one "bad boy" route. If you have bad memories of   
going up the 1 mile or so of Bird Rd then this ride isn't for you.
http://www.orbike.com/servlet/ 
com.gcm.servlet.event.EventView?commodityID=9767
But if you're interested in challenging yourself with some darn big  
hills, rollers, and fast rollouts, you'll have a blast.

Just to give you an idea, here's a description of the middle section of  
the route:
 From Roslyn Lake (elevation 640) climb the Devil's Backbone (elev.  
1400), descend into "Little Switzerland" (elev. 960); then you have
a river-grade climb (using mostly, but not entirely middle ring) for a  
bunch of miles along Barlow Trail Rd. and then on to Lolo Pass Road.
Here's where it gets hard:  8.5 miles of up on USFS 1828 (granny all  
the way!!! even for a monster climber like Michael) to the top of Lolo  
pass (elev. 3500) -
If you're doing the math, here, you've gained more than 3000 ft. since  
Dodge Park. Scream down Lolo Pass road for 6.2 miles, losing 1,000 feet  
of elevation (I calculated an ave. grade of 3%)
The rollout continues as you go back along Barlow Trail Road to Little  
Switzerland. Then go up  and down the backbone again. no joke.

Michael did the supported ride last year and was really impressed by  
the food and organizers.
BTW:  He's still looking for someone to join him....*
I know the ride has great views and good roads.
If you're smiling right now thinking about how much fun it'd be to  
spend that much time in your smallest (and biggest) gears, I'd love  
your company.
Or maybe you want to ride fast with him.

*Michael's going to be going at searing Seiran speed.

Anyway, if I get no takers for the ride, I'll be hiking in the region  
and you're welcome to join me on that, too.
I'm hoping to see paintbrush, lupines, penstemons and more in bloom...!
It's pretty fantastic. The hike would be a good cross-training  
exercise, and you'd probably learn a plant or two along the way (I  
can't help myself).

Let me know,
Carolyn Devine
helianthus at comcast.net