Thursday, August 18, 2011

New Trails

Stoker, Bobby and I set out to find a trail that few have ridden yet. We were told it was built at the very end of last season and only know of one group of guys that have been down it. Unfortunately we had little to go on in the way of finding it. After walking all over the mountain for a good two hours we gave up and headed back to a known trail. As soon as we started getting ready to ride Bobby found "Hemlock". I can't really say this was a good thing because once we were on this new trail we discovered why nobody else has been down it. I'm sure there are people out there that enjoy trails with no flow and zero speed rock fields, but not us. It was cool just to find it and ride something new though. After that we climbed up to Avalanche and took that to Dome and lower PCP. Avalanche was new to Bobby and I. It was also a slow rocky downhill, but it had a certain flow to it and transitioned nicely into Dome. Brutal day for a shuttle. Avalanche was extremely demanding on our depleted energy stores. It is the hardest I've had to work at that low of a heart rate. 1271 calories, 13miles, 4.24hrs, 1408ft gain, 4059ft descent.
It took Stoker longer to get his camera set up than it did for Bobby to eat his lunch and find our trail.
Avalanche wasn't very nice to Bobby. I guess it safe to say Trek's have red blood.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Found the creak

My Firebird has been making a creaking sound that I couldn't find for a while. I greased the headset, pivot linkage, seat post, and every other part I could think of. The only thing I hadn't checked yet was the bottom bracket, so I assumed it had to be there. Fortunately Lucas was riding my bike around the parking lot yesterday. He found 4 frame cracks. If it wasn't for his discovery who knows when I would have "found" them. We were about to ride some serous rock trails. I don't want to imagine what it would have been like if it let go mid drop.
It is a little hard to see in the photo but there are 4 cracks. 2 across the I beam and 2 following the weld.
One in the fore ground one in the back. I guess I should have washed my bike more often, then maybe I would have found them myself. Pivot's web site says all there frames have a 3 year warranty, I guess it's time to test it.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

New back yard

Its strange how you can ride in an area all the time and still not know it all. I have been hearing about Moraine trail for a while now but I never got around to it. Riding this trail is a humbling experience. Lucas was right when he said it makes all the other trails look easier. There really isn't anything scary but the effort and concentration it takes to clean a section is intense.
Lucas showing me the line. You can't tell from the photo but that rock is so steep I could barely walk down it to get the shot. I then had to climb back up for my attempt at staying on line. This is one trail that I think would actually be harder on the Uzzi. You need a bike that is very responsive, no slacked out DH sleds here.
We had a little bit of a Stoker moment while we sessioned this super fun baby rock drop for the camera.
If I could only get the other wheel in the air it would look way cooler
Lucas is the master of the slow technical rock trails. I did my best to follow his lines but he didn't make very many mistakes. Every time I botched a line he was gone. I am going to have to ride this trail a lot more. I think it will definitely improve my balance and timing.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

As much as I loved Oregon it was still kind of nice to hit some one of the local classics. I set up a shuttle ride for Pinecrest Peak. We decided to hit Willow first and then climb to the top of PCP. the trails were in great condition and the weather was perfect. Cody was very pissed off that we had to climb on a shuttle ride. He should know I aways throw some climbing in there. Its the only way to connect trails and make your ride longer.
This is what Cody thought of the 1500ft of climb in the middle of our "Downhill" run.
After several years of trying I finally rode PCP in the dark. Here you can see Stoker, Lucas and I as we are about to take off. It took us about an hour and was probably the funnest run down that trail so far. I don't think we went any slower than we do in the daylight but we sure didn't do it as smooth. Huge thank you to Jeanie for the shuttle, without her it never would have happened.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Oregon Week 2

After Mt St. Helen's every ride other ride is now smaller. I managed to get some more new trails in though. The BLM is doing amazing work teaming up with the I.M.B.A. to make a trail system in the small town of Sandy OR. They know what flow is and just how steep "climbable" is. The signature trail is called hide and seek. I met up with a couple locals that were nice enough to give me a tour. Its like riding a roller coaster down to the bottom after an easy road climb. It was so much fun we pedaled back up for seconds on the lower trail. There were so many rollers and berms that my legs hurt from the downhill not the climb.
You can see the forest is about as dense as it gets. Mike here is coming down Hide and seek.
Alex pulled up the rear. I didn't get a picture of Dennis. I want to thank all three of them for showing me around.
After leaving the Portland area we stopped over in Ashland. Ashland Mountain Adventures runs a shuttle service to the top of Mt. Ashland. The trails that run back into the town are fast and steep. Gage got going fast enough to have his first serous endo. Once he got his confidence back he was able to ride almost every part of the run.
A little blood just shows that you did something.
Awesome single track.
I don't think Jeanie thought it was as much fun as Gage but she had a good time anyway. The next morning I did a solo run at 7 am (thanks for the shuttle Oldpa) and made it back to the hotel in an hour and twenty minutes not to bad for a 4641ft drop. It would be possible to get several runs in a day as it only takes 30min to get to the top. Over all an amazing trip all over the north west. So many different types of terrain. I am looking forward to my own trails finally being free of snow though.