MISSy Simula’s 28 day OTT epic
“Sometime around the middle of July I biked to Hood River and across the bridge to the Washington side and back to my parents' house in Battleground via national forest service roads from Carson. In all, I biked 28 days and 1200 miles with 100,000 feet of elevation gain. It seems like a long time and a lot of ground to cover but before I knew it, I was already home. I took the Oregon Outback north to south and cut off on highway 140 to get over to Lakeview. My friend bailed last minute on joining me for the OTT, so I will say I didn't anticipate that and was a little nervous heading out of town. In hindsight, I am pleased to have pedaled the trail alone. It inspired some confidence within me to continue pushing my limits in the outdoors alone. Or maybe just knowing my own competency with navigating, accessing risk, and relying on myself in the wilderness.
I did miss quite a bit of the trail and ran into a lot of snow. At certain points, I wondered what percentage of the trail I was riding versus, walking, pushing, carrying, etc. haha. I would like to return one day to finish the parts I missed. The burn area from Detroit north and the section of Bunchgrass ridge to Sisters.
My route was still pretty great. I linked national forest service road 19 from Oakridge with some single track and then onto McKenzie river trail and then to Detroit and back to Santiam wagon trail. From Sisters, I biked around Billy Chinook reservoir to Warm Springs reservation, stopped at the reservation, and asked about riding through their land to cut straight west to hop onto Breitenbush road to reach Timothy Lakes. I was able to buy a day-use permit online and off I went. The roads back through the reservation were actually quite beautiful. Though the roads split many times and often many of them didn't even appear on my Gaia maps so it wouldn't take much to get turned around.
Missy and Melissa builing new trail in the Bear Creek section during Watson Fire Rehab #1
The ride from Timothy lake to Hood River was incredible. All of it.
All in all, the trail was truly amazing. It pushed me physically and mentally. Sometimes I would reach a pile of down trees and not even know if it were possible to get through the spider web of branches. But it had to be possible because I wasn't turning around to detour on a forest service road. It's funny to think about now because my determination to complete the trail even under some circumstances wouldn't have made any sense to most humans. But when you are by yourself and you set out to ride this trail, part of you has to stick to the plan with all loyalty while at the same time some other part of you wants to skip the 4-foot base of snow and bike around on a clear forest service road.
I was very surprised to meet so many people that were interested in asking what I was doing, how my journey was going, and offering a ride, food, a shower, etc. I stopped at Crescent Lake to spend the hot part of a 95-degree day swimming and washing my clothes and then planned to continue riding in the evening. This local couple camping there with their RV invited me over and fed me ribs and pasta salad, fruit, and dessert. They offered a hammock to sleep in or a spot for me to set up a tent. When I got to Detroit I picked up a package from the hotel there and the owner offered a free shower and the backyard to set up my tent. I still need to send a thank you card.
Reminds you that humanity is not so bad after all.
I would say my favorite part of the ride was Lakeview to Oakridge. The remoteness. The trails less traveled. Crystal clear creeks. The small population. The vast openness of the land and views. Getting on top of Yamsay Mountain from one side and dropping all the way down the other. I love the idea of through riding a state connecting as much singletrack as possible. I am considering ideas for a next summer ride.”
9/15/22 Lower Fifteenmile logout
Inspired by our Brian Anthony ride report, last week we teamed up with the USFS to log out the Lower Fifteemile section. Brian alerted us to the fact that this section had 25 trees down, so to improve the lives of everyone planning to ride our Mt. Hood Gorge Loop, Stiletsi and the White Crane loop this fall, we set off with crosscut saws, Silky Katanaboys, loppers in hand and took a day to clear the trail. IFPL was at level 3, so we left the chainsaws at home and embraced the challenge to clear the trail with just hand tools. Our motivated 9-person crew made steady progress lopping vine maple and had it cut out and lopped back by 2pm. A big thank you to all who took the day to improve this key connector in the East Mt. Hood area. 44 Trails does a great job maintaining all the key trails in the area, but this section is not part of most folks normal MTB ramblings. Thank you to Marc Cormier and his saw crew for working with us on this section to keep it clear for all to use!
BIG LONELY RIDERS DONATE TO OTTA
Jesse Blough is an ultra-endurance athlete who competes in ultramarathons, ultra-distance bikepacking races, and has pursued FKTs. Jesse regularly competes in road & gravel cycling races, and has volunteered, directed, or otherwise supported nearly every variety of athletic event. His experience as a board member for a non-profit cycling team and a background in operations management provide a strong foundation for Northwest Competitive Adventure. They are a group of athletes who participate in, create, and support competitive adventure events around the world. Their goal is to foster the sense of competitive adventure in other athletes. But Jesse was not satisfied to just promote an event. He created his events to give back to the causes he believes in. Lucky for us, Jesse believes in the OTT and his 2022 riders have donated $2373.39! We are so grateful for Jesse, NW Competitive and all the Big Lonely racers who generously donated to the OTT. We wish you all tailwinds and a clean ride!
Jesse Blough and Big Lonely racers are Rock stars