Matthew Haughey

Just wanted to drop a note to say for anyone training in the hills
west of Carlton up in the Nestucca wilderness area -- Bald Mountain
Road is almost totally clear of snow now and can be ridden entirely on
a road bike. Just a week ago, the road looked like this:
http://is.gd/tZsD

Today I rode the entire thing without having to clip out once on my
road bike. There are a couple dozen downed trees across the roadway,
but the trunks are only a few inches in diameter so you can either
bunnyhop them at speed or slow down and just roll over them.

To anyone that's never done the road, it's a pretty amazing single
lane paved road cutting through forest that climbs up to a 3,000' peak
and descends into Willamina, roughly 25 miles in length. On weekdays
you'll likely be alone and not see another car or human for hours, on
weekends you may see a few trucks dragging motocross bikes to the OHV
areas that the road accesses. From McMinnville, up to Carlton, left on
Meadowlake and climbing 2500" to the start of Bald Mtn, then up and
over Sheridan Peak and down to Willamina and back to McMinnville is
roughly 70 miles and about 4800' climbing total. It's about the most
beautiful, tough, and secluded ride I've found in the area (here's
what it looks like in the summer http://is.gd/tZxe).

Here's a map of the first time I rode it last week in the snow:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/3842511

Matt