Monthly Archive for September, 2008

The Men’s Mountain Biking Weekend in Central Oregon was last weekend, and was as fun as ever. On Friday morning Aaron and I went on a ride (10 miles or so) around Gray Butte, up behind the Smith Rock area, near Redmond. This is my favorite area, as I prefer the hot, dry climate, and the expansive views. I was not in as good of shape, so the two-hour uphill start to the ride nearly did me in!  Aaron cruised up the hill, and then patiently waited for me here and there… The next 7 miles was either nearly flat, downhill, or screaming downhill, and took us another hour to complete.

On Saturday there were 8 of us that went down to the awesome Phil’s Trail complex a few miles west of Bend. We rode up Stan’s Trail to the Whoops! Trail. It is one we’ve been on before, but this time there were higher banked corners and more “whoops” (berms to catch air on). I choose to keep my wheels from going airborne… Saturday we rode 19 miles.

On Saturday we also went to check out The Lair, which is nearby. It is an area that is being built for more extreme biking. It was still pretty primitive, but it looks like it will be quite a deal when its done. It’s mostly jumps, plus some wood things to ride on.

On Sunday we rode over by Camp Sherman. We drove up to the lookout tower, and followed a trail down Green Ridge. It was awesome. and one I will definitely do again. It was a little-used trail, so it was tricky to follow sometimes, and the brush would whip our arms and heads in many stretches. It was obvious that it had been used mostly by horses, as it was rougher too. This ride was 15 miles long and “all downhill”. Kind of an inside joke, I guess. We drive to the top of something, and expect it to be “all downhill”. It inevitably turns out that there are some uphill parts (ravines or ridges). My legs were shot from the first two days, so I suffered a bit! Eventually we dropped down steeply and it was worth all the pain to get there!

At the end of the ride on Sunday, (and within the last mile, actually) two unusual things happened…

First, my rear derailleur BROKE OFF! We had just finished racing (25 mph) down the last part of the ride on a red cinder U.S. Forest Service road, and we came to the paved highway. There was a small hill to climb, and a sign, “Camp Sherman 1 Mile”. As I was riding up this last hill, it just broke off! I don’t know why! My chain also broke, so I took it off, bungeed the derailleur (still connected by the cable) out of the way, and pushed it to the top of the hill. The last 1/2 mile was downhill, so I was able to coast into Camp Sherman where we were all meeting. Or so I thought…

As Hans (a teenager who was behind me) and I rounded the corner entering Camp Sherman, I blew through a stop sign, hoping to continue coasting clear up to the store (about one more block. Well, unbeknownst to me, a Deschutes County Sheriff truck had just come up behind us, and there he was with his siren going. We pulled over. Busted! He had a speech ready which he sternly presented to us (Hans had not stopped either!), and he started with a threat to fine us each $297. After the lecture, he dismissed us with a warning.

So… after this full weekend, in the desert and in the deep woods–45 miles of wide open views and wild rides, I break my bike AND get pulled over by a cop! What a way to finish!!

Aaron drove the pick-up down from the lookout tower (He had hurt his leg on the Whoops Trail). What should have been a 1/2 hour drive down the mountain took him several hours, as the map he had turned out to be a pretty lousy one. He found the ends of several logging roads and ended up driving over 50 extra miles through the woods!

Here are some pictures… I forgot to take my camera on Sunday, so unfortunately there are no pics of that ride.