Chilly Winter Ride

Having a break in the weather I took the opportunity to get out for a short hour long ride. I headed up toward Ridgefield and then cut back through Battle Ground and Orchards. What made this ride interesting was the temp. It was a balmy 38 when I left and by the time I got home it was down to 32 degrees. Certainly the coldest I've ridden before but it was beautiful and well worth the cold. 

A Sunday ride

The day started early. I told my wife I wanted to take her to a great spot for breakfast. What I didn't tell her was that restaraunt was 2 hours away. We got up and ready. It was a beautiful sunny day and look to be perfect for riding. We geared up and headed out.

From Vancouver WA we headed down I-205 and connected to I-84. I'm not a huge fan of interstates but heading east out of of Portland on I84 is truly amazing. As you leave Troutdale and get in to the Columbia Gorge. I think that it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. The Columbia river on the left and steep cliffs on the right. We headed out to The Dalles and ate at Cosuins restaraunt. It a great local joint that has a good breakfast and amazing cinnamon rolls.

We shared a very tasty omelate and decoyed to hit the road. From The Dalles we headed east out to Biggs and crossed the Columbia River. Biggs is a nice crossing because unlike some of the other crossings there is no tolls at Biggs. From Biggs we headed south on SR14. SR14 is a great road that mirrors I84 but is only 2 lanes most of the way.

It also goes through some great little towns that flow up to the edge of the Columbia River. We wondered through great little towns like White Salmon and Stevenson. All together we did about 220 mile. It was a great Sunday ride to breakfast.

New Bike, New Blog

Life is a fascinating thing in 2.5 short week I'll turn 40... Its hard for me to wrap my head around the fact  that i'm turning 40!! My life has seen many changes in that time. I have 2 beautiful children who are the joys of my life. I have seen a marriage come and go. I met my soul-mate after that marriage fell apart. These are all things that have provided me with a lot of change in my life. However there has been one constant. Through everything I've always had bikes. They have been that constant that no matter what have been there. Over the last few years the stable has been a little light.after having to clear out everything a few years ago i have been trying to rebuild.  Last night that rebuilding got a serious boost.  I got an early birthday present from the most amazing woman in my life. She surprised me with a very nice 2006 FJR . This has been a bike on my desire list since it came out and i cant believe I finally have one in our garage. Not to mention that this is a substantial upgrade to the 1999 Concours I have been riding for the last 4.5 years. I figured that a new bike deserved a fresh start. So here we are. I hope you enjoy this journey and it will be interesting to see where this crazy road of life takes us.