Big news around here; two nice days in a row. Been a long time since that happened. Today was a little warmer than yesterday, pretty much a great day. Still a little cool for spring, but perfect for a bike ride.
Headed east a bit and rode from the wine country above Lyle, WA on Canyon Road up towards Appleton.
Canyon Road is a great road to ride bikes on. The surface is pretty smooth, the lower part of the road has wide shoulders and there are great views just about everywhere you look.
It’s a pretty steady climb for the first 5-7 miles, depending where you start from. Then it evens out a bit into some nice forests and then more open farm country where the roads are up and down, but not as steep.
The downhill back down Canyon Rd. is one of the most fun downhills around, you can really haul ass, there are only a couple of hairpin turns to slow you down. Keep an eye out though, everybody; from motorcyclists to logging truck drivers don’t pay much attention to the double yellow center line.
There are a few roads that connect to Canyon Road that can make a nice loop through wine country, but some of these roads are unpaved and pretty tough on regular bike tires. If you want to go for the full adventure ride on the backroads, I would carry a couple spare tubes and maybe even a spare tire, or go with a group. Everybody can’t get a flat(at least at the same time).