A big group of us went camping last weekend out at Shadow Bay on Waldo Lake. It was a farewell to summer trip but somehow I don't think it will be the last riding adventure before fall sets in.

Group Ride

I had the rare chance to ride with Tony Ellsworth as part of the Cogwild Ellsworth weekend on Saturday. I bought an Ellsworth Truth this past spring and have been totally loving it. The ride we did is probably close to my favorite in the area. Big climbs, lake views, long downhill descents with big trees...classical Oregon riding. We rode from Little Cultus Lake out and around Lemish and Charlton Lakes and a few of us splintered off and rode up to the top of The Twins and back as well. All together it was somewhere around 26 miles with at least 3700' of climbing and topped out arond 7100' elevation at the top of Twins. The group was made up of only people who rode Ellsworth bikes which was amusing. I met people from Alabama, Utah, Northern and Southern California, and Oregon. I didn't take too many actual ride pictures, just a couple scenery pics.

Here I am with Ellsworth founder Tony Ellsworth.



Views were easy to find.







Tony isn't riding an Ellsworth here..he's in the campground kids bike race!

Summer Vacation

I took a vacation to mountain bike in Durango, CO. Derek had to work and couldn't join me so I went to visit my friends Matt and Katri. Matt owns Hermosa Tours and we spent the week riding high country singletrack in the mountains surrounding Durango.

The riding in that area is steep and technical with high altitude - some days were up around 11 & 12,000 feet. I took care to drink lots of water and the altitude didn't really bother me that much. The weather was near perfect and I had a blast. Most days we took the Hermosa Tours shuttle up mountain gravel roads and then spent another hour or two climbing and descending as we circled the mountain ranges. At the end of each day I was treated to an awesome long downhill.

As the snow melts I get to head higher and higher to ride. We rode along Tumalo Trail, up North Fork and then across to Mrazek and Farewell. There was only one spot we had to work through snow (about 6 steps) and then there were about 8 trees down on Metolius Windingo. The weather was hot and sunny and the sights were remarkable. Flowers, snow capped mountains and beauty that can't be described. Summer is sure shaping up to be a whole lot of fun.

Change of Pace

One of the best things about Bend is you are so close to everything outdoors. After work the other day, I met some friends to paddle. We packed up the car and were up at Sparks Lake in no time at all. Kayaking until the sun sets and then enjoying some beers. Good times.

Derek and I rode in Oakridge on Sunday - well worth the 1.5 hour drive. The trails in Oakridge are steep and varied. Some sections have steep rocky switchbacks, some are smooth with a jungle feel. This ride ended up being a bit over 4 hours with lots of great views and plenty of heat and climbing.

View down after the first climb. The trail actually started down at that water.



HUGE trees everywhere.




Here is one of the rocky steep switchbacks I'm talking about.



Can you pick out Derek?

Helens

Last week a big contingent from Bend packed up and headed to the Mt St. Helens area for a few days of mountain biking and camping. It was PERFECT weather and I had a really fun time. I lived in Washington when the volcano blew back in 1980 but I was a little girl and was amazed at how much things had grown back. The trails were very different from Bend and we enjoyed the variety of terrain.




Mt St Helens big and bold.



That's the trail along the ridgeline!






That's Mt Adams in the background.

It has been a long time since I've written anything here. Summer is in full swing and I've been incredibly busy riding, spending time with friends, washing my bikes, and enjoying life. We started off summer on the wrong foot with daily thundershowers and sometimes giant hailstorms! I've ridden in the rain more times this past 30 days than in my whole riding career I think. Trail conditions are really nice right now and I'm writing this after having just returned from an evening ride. Here are a couple shots from my past rides. Darn camera batteries having been playing tricks on me lately. Everytime I go to take a pic the battery is dead. Grrrrr - I've missed a lot of good shots because of this.











I can't go overwhelming myself with all these words so I'll save some for another day.

Sometimes Life is Real

Thursday night was girls ride night but we were cut short by an unfortunate incident. We came across a man that was unconscious on the trail. It looks like he was riding his bike up Phil's Canyon and just collapsed because when we came upon him the bike was still between his legs and he was on the ground. CPR wasn't able to bring him about and he never regained consciousness. I can't say I've ever had that kind of hands on experience with death. RIP Ray.

On a happier note, Friday night was the First Annual Bend Bicycle Film Festival and it was sold out! I love the cycling community here, everyone is so fun and supportive and the movie submissions were great.

Today was trail maintenance day so I helped out on a crew that worked on a section of the new trail Funner. It was tough work in the hot sun and we were treated to Phil's Trail Ale and a BBQ afterwards. Yet another chance for friends to hang out and enjoy life.

Saturday was my first ride up to Bachelor this year. Derek was doing the bike leg for a PPP team so I rode my bike up to the mtn and then flew down. Along the way I caught up to a guy who was down from Seattle for the weekend to visit some family so we rode together and chatted. It was good to get out on my road bike and grind away.

Sunday I got a little lesson on fly casting at a park by my house. I definitely don't have it down yet...I'm using too much power and not enough finesse. No fish were harmed during this activity since we weren't even using hooks and not near any body of water! I don't know if I have enough patience for fly fishing but we'll see.

Yesterday afternoon I left work and rode out of town to the bottom of Whoops trail to meet some friends. We had decided to move happy hour to the dirt. After a couple loops of riding Whoops we settled in to enjoy nice cold beverages the fine Friday evening. It was a busy place as rider after rider came down the trail and it was fun to see everyone back on their bikes after the winter.

Girls Ride

I met up with some of my female friends for a ride after work tonight. It was a little bit chilly bit we didn't care. 6 of us flying through the forest was a cool site to see when I looked back. We started by riding Marvin's Garden in it's entirety and it is pretty cool. New trails are always fun and I'm lucky to live in a place where we get new trails.

This weekend I think I'll ride my road bike up to Mt Bachelor to watch some of the Pole Pedal Paddle happen. Derek is racing on a culinary team doing the bike leg.

Friday was the Epic Trail Ale launch party which basically meant hanging out with every mountain biker in town that I know. I love that about Bend - still a relatively small community and we all support each other as best we can.

Saturday I did a nice mountain bike ride and enjoyed the sunshine and heat! I'm ready for summer...just so you know. After the ride I helped out with registration for the Webcyclery Chainbreaker mountain bike race that took place Sunday. The race was a huge success with 312 racers of all abilities and ages. All the way from the itsy bitsy little kids with training wheels doing the little kid race, to World Champion professionals. It was a lot of hard work, but very rewarding to give back to this sport that has given me so much over the years.

I was even home in time to call my Mom to make sure she received my Mother's Day present!

Spit on us if you want

Saturday I led a group of beginner mountain bikers on a ride of the upcoming Webcyclery Chainbreaker mountain bike race course. There were 17 of us! The weather started out nice enough but turned cloudy and even spit at us a few times. Nevertheless, we persevered and everyone had a great time.

Ridesssss

Saturday was the first ride of Storm King and CIA this year! All the trees are cleared thanks to COTA and the snow has melted. Derek and I had a nice afternoon riding. It's fun to ride these trails after a 4 month or so hiatus that happens annualy while the snow does its thing.


Me on a section of Storm King



Derek on a fun fast section. You can't really tell it's a downward slope in this pic.



Saturday night I rode to a birthday party with some friends where I pigged out on some excellent cake and cookies with a big gathering of friends.

Sunday was race day! I rode the course with Kevin while his girlfriend Angela raced. The trails at Bear Springs are soooo much fun and quite technical. We had an awesome time but didn't take many pictures at all. The course was waaay tougher than years past because snow covered the trail in at least 20 places. So much so that you had to hop off and run or try to do some sort of scoot-n-push method. Angela got 3rd place in her first CAT 2 race and we're proud of her.

Part of the course:





Angela tired after 2 hours and 35 minutes of racing/hiking through snow.