Saturday at Smith Rock Park was vastly different than our ride the previous weekend. Mainly...I hardly had any riding clothes on! It was downright hot as we headed out in shorts and short sleeve jerseys...no winter gloves, no shoe covers, no vests, no arm warmers or leg warmers, no ear covers. None of that. We slathered up with suntan lotion and headed out for a new adventure. The more I ride out there the more I like it. There are so many trails and roads to explore and we put together nearly a 3.5 hour loop of riding. We even spent half an hour practicing our push biking thanks to Derek's faltering memory. Push biking is easy, anyone can do it. Grab a bike and find a really steep sandy hill and push your bike up it. Cuss some, watch the sweat drip off your arms and feel your shoes fill with sand. That's the way I started to feel until I looked up and saw the awesome views and just thought about how "awful" it really wasn't.

My lucky horseshoe from last weekend didn't bring me any good luck. I experienced my first flat tire of the season. WOOHOO!

Enjoying a little climb



Me napping in a cave.



Taking a break with my buddy. He rocks!



If you're anywhere where stuff has been or still is under snow, or maybe you don't see a lot of greenery anyway, then enjoy this

Lucky Horseshoe!

Saturday the weather looked ok so we went for a long mountain bike ride up at Smith Rock/Gray Butte. We rode the Cole Loop trail and Gray Butte Trail. The climb up on the singletrack to Gray Butte was a welcomed burn and it was good to get back on my little xc race bike. It the difference between driving a Hummer and a little Porsche. We stopped to snap a few pictures and admire some of the views and then continued on up. The weather held up nicely despite the horizon looking ominous.





The shaded side of the butte still had snow so we didn't bother heading way up to the top...just took the singletrack around.







It was a bit muddy in a couple spots and I didn't really have mud tires on so it just packed in!



I found a lucky horseshoe!

Saturday we felt like samplng something new and different so we pulled out the maps and books, flipped pages, compared ideas, and loaded up the car. On tap: Surveryor's Epic with Dogfish River. It was described as being 33.2 miles, 5-8 hours, with around 3000'of climbing and the same of descending. The fires from California are causing haze on the horizon so the views weren't as crisp as they could be. This ride gives you at least 5 lookouts where you are across the valley from Mt Hood. The fall colors were representing big time! It starts with a very gradual climb on the road, then slightly steeper on gravel, then you hit some very steep singletrack climbs where you just have to put your head down and grind. The book mentions walking sections because it's so steep and loose. Once at the peak you descend to the starting of Surveryor's. We rode the entire Surveryor's singletrack, turned right on a fireroad for a few miles and hooked up with the Dog River downhill. That trail drops around 3000' in around 5 miles through some really steep switchbacks and very fun traverses.

Here are some pics.

The view of Mt. Hood from where we started.



Lots of Autumn reds and yellows.



Fun little rock sections



The view of Hood after having climbed 2000'



Me coming off a little rock drop section



Almost to the end of the trail.



We ended up taking a tiny bit over 5 hours and were good and ready for some food.