Fall '09 MTB What-not

"Come do this event someday. And hope for PERFECT dirt and weather for your three days like we had..."

December 7, 2009

Since there’s a weekend off from Cyclocross racing before the late season stealth assault on the final USGP and Nationals, we might as well catch up on the “off” weeks in October and such. October, much like the soon to pass November, kind of flew by. I’m not sure exactly what happened but there definitely was some good stuff going on in Oregon involving bike riding on trails. Sounds like fun…

I take a lot of flak for not outwardly focusing on bike riding enough. This could stem from the fact that I’m always doing random trips around Oregon in pursuit of non-bike adventures. A while back I took a weekend with no agenda and drove around to ride bikes with the boys. Novel idea. Now that I did I’m kind of pissed that any previous local road trips were only prompted by other activities. Turns out there is a whole crap-ton of riding around the state that I don’t spend enough time doing since it’s farther than my garage… Matthew Slaven and BrantNess have been heckling me to come up to the Mt. Hood area proper for some shredding on what they say are real fun trails. They’re right, that zone is worth the trip even if it coincided with the first snow of the year and a late previous night out on the town. The fresh snow and solid crew meant that we could shred to our hearts content and have documentation of said shredding right there on the trail for everyone’s entertainment. Think you got forty feet of air off that knoll? Snow never lies, it was nine and you ride like a small child. Want documentation of how close you were to taking The White Buffalo out on that inside line pass? About 4mm, according to the white detective. We rode a bunch of stuff I’ve heard or for a while now, Fifteenmile canyon being the icing on the upside-down cake.

Another benefit of riding in 33 degree snow is that all of the super neat snow/dirt/dust/mud/tree bits that fling up onto your bike can easily be shaken off after a night of drying with a Sunny Coast Hills shuttle day. After earning our turns on Saturday, The White Buffalo and I headed west of Portland to some underground proper DH trails. I’d also been hearing whisperings of this magical sounding place for a while and was stoked to finally check it out. After one run with fast guys on Downhill bikes the Trance X was up to operating temperature and shaken clean. Ready for the rest of the day of rooty/buff/steep/fast/flowing/air laden shredding. Did I mention it was sunny? I got greedy eventually and when it was local shredder Charlie’s turn to run shuttle I took his Glory for a spin. Promptly low-siding in left turn #2 and getting run over by the fun train. That’s what you get for wearing a white jersey… Not to be discouraged, I got back to pinning it only to wreck again in left turn #56. Oww… Regardless, now I know those trails are there and can go learn to ride DH bikes someday, hopefully in the winter with some Michelin DH Muds!

Next up and most important on the fall docket was Bend’s Big Fat Tour. This three day festival of shred needs to become a fixture on everyone’s calendar. Turn up in Bend on Thursday from wherever it is you came from (California, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, Canada, etc) and settle into doing kick-ass bike rides for three days with no thought to route selection, food or entertainment. Paul Thomasberg and the COTA crew have been putting this event on for years and it just gets better with time.

The tour started this year with an alternative Paulina Peak ride that eventually ended in Sunriver. Since my friends Matt and Brant didn’t make the first bus and, as a “Guide”, I was required to leave with the first group, we were unable to win the first hillclimb up to the Rim Trail. Good thing, since even with our best “win the ride” impression it would’ve taken way longer than at 50mph behind the snowmobile in the winter. Instead I chatted with a Brit named Dave who was all fired up on all mountain racing and a chap from the Bay Area named Dick Jackson who’s daughters were both shredder ski racers. We stopped at an overlook on the Rim Trail to appreciate the scenery and look at some ski lines minus the snow like the first run classic Penis Bowl... Eventually my friends caught up as we exited the Obsidian flow descent and started our second climb to the rim. We were back on pace to win the first day. Then, disaster struck. Shortly after getting first tracks (in the fresh snow and all year, probably) on the upper Swamp Wells trails trail, Slaven flatted. How embarrassing to be re-passed by all the lowly “recreational” riders with huge mustaches whilst repairing a torn WTB tire...

We were back on track by aid station #1 when, even worse, distraction struck! We hung out and shot the shit in the sunshine while eating sandwiches and Halloween candy for a while before noticing the huge cinder hill backdrop. A hike and shred was immediately agreed upon. White Buffalos leave funny tracks on cinder… OK, back on track there was no way we were going to catch the winners without a shortcut. Fortunately, my moto trail knowledge was fresh and we did a quick “cut ‘em off at the pass” maneuver to regain sight of the leaders, and shred a sick sand hill DH. Did I say sick? In the lead solidly again, Kona OE guy Kevin Noble led us down the Black Rock trail at a respectful pace, kind of lulling the shred posse into submission. This was a key turning point in the quest for the W. Instead of heading upstream on the River Trail to the finish line at the Sunriver Lodge, we banged a right and went down to Benham Falls for a little scenery appreciation and bromance with the dudes. We’d never see the lead again, but I’m pretty sure the winners didn’t stop to shred the dopest bike path sandpile jump I’ve seen in a while. Sick. We finished maybe tenth according to Jacko, who, in addition to tuning skis and listening to loud music in the Skjersaa’s Basement all winter, also was checking riders in and handing out free beer tickets. Even though we were losers we still got to get schlitzed off one and a half Deschutes beers like the winners. And everyone else who finished a rad 50 mile ride on a perfect October day. We totally could’ve won though. Tomorrow, it’s ON!

Day Two of the BBFT is the Epic. If you want your NO WHINERS patch, you’d better finish this one before dark. 80 miles starting with one of the top 5 descents EVER before looping Mount Bachelor and riding the best town trails back to, well, town… Once again, my slacker shredders couldn’t all make the first bus so Slaven, Thomasberg, Cali David and I were forced to take point without the Buffalo to watch over us. We needed it too, as about 20 yards in, there in the pre-dawn light, were three guys going AT IT with chainsaws, cutting down a bunch of fir trees around the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Skiing Center. We held up the 50 or so riders who were keen to get rolling while buddy guy finished dropping a tree on the trail, then bushwhacked around to get our shred on. And Shred on we did. For pretty much the rest of the day. Eventually Brant caught up at Rest Stop #1 after we were delayed with some Thomasberg Punctures and route re-flagging and the gang was back together for the remainder.

Two passes down the Funn’ah trail had us within sight of the Aspen Hall burrito bar finish but the boys just kept flatting. Everyone but me (the only one on Michelin Tires…) punctured and eventually the rad Canadian guy, Eric, got tired of waiting and rode off for the win. Dang it. We really had to win on Sunday’s cruise up Cache Mountain. But not before drinking more free beer and listening to the Sweet Harlots croon at the after-party…

Sunday bucks the previous two day’s trend of early morning starts (which were actually quite pleasant) for an eleven o’clock roll out of Scout Lake at the base of Santiam Pass. The climb to Cache Mountain takes an hour and a half or so of you don’t smash your face into the ground on the first fun approach downhill. So it took me, the “guide” a bit longer after everyone passed my star-counting self sitting on a stump… Oops. We eventually cruised the climb with the Portland crew and the Bend Girls Club and were rewarded with a perfect panoramic view of the Cascades and High Desert from the old fire lookout.

Thomasberg’s opinion of trail quality is held in my highest regard and he always raves about the radness of Cache. He’s right, especially after our local boy Jerry did a bunch of brush clearing so we could properly shred things. Thanks Jerry. All too soon it was over, the shred train having gobbled the last downhill of the weekend, but we were happy for more beer and Sisters Bakery goods at the lake. Instead of rushing off like most bike racers would to put their feet up, folks trickled in and hung out until the sun dipped below the ridge and the onset of winter reminded us to go home and try to get fat. Even though we were already Big Fat...

Come do this event someday. And hope for PERFECT dirt and weather for your three days like we had...

The last interesting mountain bike type thing that I recall happening in October was a quick trip over to Oakridge for some filming with our Canadian buddies from Ride Guide TV. Cory was traveling around Oregon with Ben Boyko filming a DH/Freeride oriented episode of their network TV show and Oakridge was on the list of places to shred. Since I can ride down trails but can’t really hit huge jumps (without dying) it was a great place for me to meet up and show them a little corner of our state. The weather cooperated perfectly, with a rainy night giving way to a clearing day deep in the forests of the West Slope. Randy Dreiling of Mountain Bike Oregon helped us out with a ride up to The Alpine Trail where we spent the afternoon hiking sections of radness for the camera and rallying them as hard as possible. I like Oakridge riding. A lot. The day finished with a “commute” down the rest of the trail for some Westfir Pumptrack action and a few interviews by the North Fork Middle Fork Willamette River. Not a bad day at the office and still enough daylight to check out the moto trails up at Huckleberry Flats...

Since I was already in Oakridge, I reckoned taking Willamette Mountain Mercantile chaps Derek and Eugene up on their outstanding offer to show me the good stuff off the beaten track would be the right thing to do. Since Derek has been a champion of clearing and maintaining the Bunchgrass Ridge ride over the years it was only natural to head that way. The only bump in the road was the normal 9 mile drive to the top was gated… We’ll just call that climb a warmup for the rest of the day… good thing we were warmed up because the rest of the day was made of whatever they spin dreams from. Every type of trail you can imagine in thirty-odd miles back to town was just what I was hoping to see. We all took turns leading mellow climbs, hike-a-bikes and deliciously perfect descents. I was able to clean all of Derek’s Deadly Switchbacks, Eugene took point on the transit to Heckletooth and laid it bare with Vulture Hardtail precision after dining on some delicious Kosher Snacks and a good time was had by all. We arrived at dusk and headed straight to the only Mexi Joint in town for some all too cliche refreshment and re-fueling, as all bike rides with friends should end, regardless of predictability...

The moral of this little re-cap is that everyone needs to do more semi-local bike trips with their buddies, or themselves, everywhere has tons to offer, so get out and GET IT!

Oh, and when you’re not out there getting it, you should do some community service... Kirt Vories and I took care of some conscientious citizen duties at Obsidian Middle School up in Redmond on a brisk Thursday morning. Kirin Stryker of Cog Wilde Bicycle Tours also happens to teach middle school Science and wanted Kirt and I to come spice up their discussions on Newton’s Laws. She didn’t mention that it was Halloween week and thus Nerd Day when we came. After a few minutes of Lindsey, Kirt and I exchanging concerned but amused glances on account of most Student’s attire, it was revealed that this wasn’t some strange fashion microcosm… Just Nerd Day. With that Voreis took the helm and we spent the better part of two class periods chatting with about fifty teenagers. None of them even made fun of us… Questions from “what was your worst crash?” to “how many languages do you speak?” were fielded, and once in a while we could even spin them back to Newton’s laws… The morning obviously ended with us in the parking lot while the kids tried out our sweet bikes and then naturally migrated across the street where the local jumps were for a little demonstration... Fun fun...