Author: MikeMcGuffin

A variation of RT’s 3 Pass Challenge. Route info: https://www.strava.com/activities/3738348591

54 miles, 4000 ft elevation gain in central Washington. Route info at https://www.strava.com/activities/3712832583

The Taylor Mountain – Rattlesnake Mountain – Tiger Mountain route is gaining a lot of attention these days so I figured I’d better pen a story about the trip Eric and I did a few weeks back. Eric and I both live on Mercer Island so we left from home and headed south to Renton.  […]

Columbia Plateau The Columbia Plateau Trail certainly looks good on paper, and I’ve been wanting to investigate this route for a few years now.  On paper the trail runs 130 remote Eastern Washington miles from Cheney (near Spokane) to Ice Harbor (near Pasco).  In reality, only the eastern and western ends of the trail are […]

Forty-five minutes due east of Seattle is Snoqualmie Pass, or simply “the Pass.”  In the winter the Pass is both home to some of the easiest and some of the most difficult skiing in the country; when the snow melts it is fast becoming a gravel mecca.  The Ironhorse State Park, which follows the old […]

60 mile 3500 foot lollipop route in the Campbell Global Forest. Route info here: https://www.strava.com/activities/3595870461 The early daze gravel rider doesn’t have to look too hard to find new and exciting routes in the expansive Campbell-Global Forest.  The area has just about anything a gravel rider could want: flat and smooth – yep, steep and […]

Bessemer Road is destroyed just above CCC junction. Route info here: https://www.strava.com/activities/3569967160 I’ve been hearing/reading about the CCC trail and the Bessemer Road climb for a few years now and finally my buddy and Eric and I were able to take an afternoon to investigate.  The CCC and Bessemer are east of North Bend, WA […]

Granite Falls to Barlow Pass to Darrington to Arlington to Granite Falls.  95 miles with 14 miles of gravel and 4500 feet of elevation. One thing that I really enjoy is knocking off something that’s been on the hit list for some time.  The idea of cycling Washington’s Mountain Loop Highway has been floating around […]

Quilcene to Blyn over Bon Jon Pass.  50 Miles with 5300 ft of climbing. Route information can be found here: https://www.strava.com/activities/3474734201 Bon Jon Pass is on the remote Olympic Peninsula between the small town of Quilcene and the extravagant gas station at Blyn.  I learned of the route by stalking Kiel Reijnen’s (local resident and […]

44 mile, 60% gravel, 3400 ft of elevation ride starting and ending in Darrington, WA. https://ridewithgps.com/trips/49199671 During my climbing years I’d often pass through the town of Darrington on my way to the North Cascades.  I like the town, it seems honest, hardworking, durable.  Like many small towns across the U.S. Darrington seems to be […]