It has been one heck of a winter. We’ve been snowed out/frozen out of all of our gravel faves for months now. All things considered the county has been doing a good job keeping the “important” roads open. Unfortunately there is a 1 mile section at the top of Baird Springs that has been deemed unimportant. Time for VC to get creative! We got out for a ride today to explore the Overen option. It looks a bit like this: no Norton Canyon kick in the teeth (woohoo), gentle canal road roll out to Martin Rd which is a flat, paved road that meanders it’s way west about 17 miles. From there you’ll take a right and head up and over Overen Rd which is gravel, and in really good shape. It’s right in the sweet spot -just after the road has firmed up from winter mud, but hasn’t gotten torn up and loose yet, pavement like gravel! You’ll climb about 700′ to the top where you’ll be treated to a 180 pano of the Columbia Basin and the Cascades. A fast rolling down hill with nice sweeping corners will take you down to Baird Springs, back on course. This is our current plan for the 2017 Gran Fondo Ephrata. The county has scheduled a road closure for part of Martin Rd in the very near future, so there may be yet another reroute but it would be very minimal. All registered riders will receive and email on Thursday with all the need to know info and what we hope will be the *final* course.
*Come ready for adventure!
When does rule 5 kick in? A mile of hike a bike doesn’t sound so bad 🙂 Keep the traditional routing!
It would be bad, trust me!
I could bring my skis. Can’t wait for Sunday.
Updated tire recommendations? You’re looking road oriented in these pics. 28mm Gatorskins OK?
Tire recommendation is still a 28 or 30 tubeless. But your results may vary.
Any chance we could get a GPX file?
my first GFE and am out of shape and slow, afraid I’ll get lost and forgotten
An email was just sent to all registered riders containing a gps link. The course should be very close to what was sent out, however there may still be a few tweaks. The course will be finalize Saturday and we’ll try to get it posted asap. Don’t worry, you won’t get lost and forgotten!
What’s the latest word Jake? Just don’t leave out 3 devils. Should I bring skis?
The weather has been good, things are thawing, still on track for the Overen reroute, but there’s a few new closures we need to get around. The most current version of the course is posted, but is tentative. Course will be finalized Saturday.