Since my friend Bob Horness has signed up for the fifty mile race at Capitol Forest, I suggested we ride one leg of the course on Friday. We had ridden part of the first/last leg a couple of weeks ago and found it to be a disgusting mess of mud and manure.
Friday usually finds me, Barry Desemple and Bob riding on local trails, since this is one of Barry's days off. Alex Sandrow also takes Friday's off and asked if we would be riding. Alex posted a ride inquiry for Friday to facebook so he joined us for the second leg of the Capitol Forest fifty.
We met in the parking lot behind the Kelso McD's to carpool the sixty five miles to Capitol forest.
After a change of clothes and making sure we had all of our equipment together, we headed up the Green Line trail #6 to the Mima-Porter trail #8. The sign at the trailhead indicated a 6.6 mile ride to Wedekind Picnic area.
The tread was almost perfect. The weather had been warm all week, in the lower to mid eighties but with a cloud cover through the morning and the trail reflected that. The soil was still holding some moisture so there was no dust but there were also no mud holes. We rode across places that were gooey, like dough but nothing wet.
The line started with an easy climb up through timber for a quarter mile or so until we turned west onto the Mima-Porter trail.
The trail ran for about a third of a mile on a nice three to four percent downhill grade.
It was a fast rolling line that swooped through the woods and crossed an aged clear cut. As the trail ran through the clear cut it was lined with purple fox gloves flowers fully bloomed with a few white ones sprinkled in and patches of white daises all in a backdrop of dark green underbrush and ferns.
The trail hit a gravel double track for a hundred yards then turned back into the timber to start a long climb.
The climb was steady, a lower mid-range grind that had a few spots that required a shift into low gear or some extra oomph to clear a short steep.
The trail ran in and out of the timber but mostly climbed through clear cuts, twisting and winding, climbing over five hundred feet in a mile and a half.
The line finally broke into a flat and downhill run for a very short ways as it entered big timber and started the next, easier climb over the next four miles on a three to four percent slope.
The trail ran around a ridge cutting a wide line into the steep hillside, traversing a slope that approached forty five percent, to follow a line that took it deep into a rugged valley and across a stream to turn and head back out and around the next ridge, repeating this process a half dozen times on the climb.
A crack of distant thunder rang out; I was surprised since I was expecting the day to be like the other days this last week, overcast turning to sunny.
We kept cranking out the miles, breaking into a young clear cut where the steep hillside we were traversing became so much more apparent.
Bob pointed off toward the southern horizon, noting a logging operation a mile or two away across the deep valley. The hillside scared with long strips that stretched down the face of the mountain, created by the high lead logging operation going on there.
The open area we were standing in had seen its own scaring recently. The large roots of the harvested timber still stretched across the trail forming rise after rise to bounce up over as we climbed.
We crossed out of the clear cut and back into the woods to find a trail junction. The trail markers indicated we had covered a little over four miles in the last hour of climbing and had another couple to go. The junction presented a connector trail, trail #50 that cut across to the Green Line #6 and up to Capitol Peak, or down and back to where we were parked. It was a possible option for a shorter loop ride.
The thunder cracked again and sounded much closer. We continued turning pedals and climbing up the trail.
A heavy mist was in the air and it felt like it could rain at any time. I had left my rain coat at home and was a little concerned since every time I hit a little down slope on the trail I could feel the chill. This was how people over extended themselves and got into trouble. If it were another ten degrees cooler, the potential of hypothermia could come into play.
We continued across another young clear cut and through the woods, crossing a bedrock stream. The crossing facilitated by some logs that had been laid across the creek so using your bike as a crutch the crossing was simple.
Barry and Alex scoped a line that they talked up as ride-able. I just made note that there was also a twenty foot drop where the trail crossed the creek so the penalty was big.
About five minutes later and we reached the gravel road that was the C-line.
Bob spotted a trail, across a spur road that came off the C-line and headed for it. I was busy pulling maps out of my pocket to check our location and verify our course.
I shouted out to Bob, asking if there were any trail markings as I checked my map. According to the map, we needed to head down a spur road that was across the C-line and the trail we wanted would be just a few hundred feet down on the right.
This would be a departure from the race route. The race was going to make use of the gravel road, the C-line and road C-4000, for about six miles along here.
Everyone seemed to be headed in different directions here so I headed down the gravel spur road and shouted out when I saw the trail.
A sign at the trail head indicated it was closed to horses. The trail curved around a corner and turned sharply up hill, I was in a mid range gear and started cranking hard.
I was up out of the saddle, leaned forward and cranking hard, climbing into another turn that presented more steep climbing so I stopped.
As Barry and I pulled off the trail, Bob came by, tearing up the trail. A determined look on his face and in his favorite gear combination of middle ring gear and large sprocket, he poured the power to it and within seconds was out of sight.
I could hear my heart thumping in my ears as my gasping for breath subsided. I picked the back of my bike off the ground and kicked the pedal around as I shifted down to the small ring gear. Pulling my bike across the trail, perpendicular to the line, to mount it on a level stance and leaned forward into the climb.
It was a long climb, a good half mile on a ten percent grade. It is the kind of climb that makes the front end of your bike so light that it dances back and forth as you grind out each pedal stroke.
As the trail finally started to level off, I could see Bob standing alongside the trail, his water bottle in one hand, grinning at me. "Damn this f'in thing just keeps climbing" I gasp out on my approach.
The connector trail, trail #30, we were on junctions with the Green Line #6 trail. The signage indicates it is just about four miles to Capitol Peak, where we start the downhill run.
A look at the map tells me we will be running up and down along the top of the main ridge, the ridge that all the others form off of.
The trail is overgrown and although it is not raining the wet brush is soaking me down my arms, legs and shorts are soon wet. My shoes are shining wet and black.
This section of trail is a mellow downhill, could be very enjoyable but the brush is a little distracting.
We hit the gravel again and crossing it we continue with some easy climbing and descending. The brush along here contains a lot of brambles and I keep pulling back on my right side, trying to avoid contact as much as possible.
When I looked down at my arms, I noticed that there is a stream of bright red blood running down my left arm, down and around my arm, into my glove. I had to stop and pull some tissue from my pack. Cleaning up my arm, there was one gash pretty deep and I had to apply pressure to stop the bleeding.
Later Alex would say "I was getting scratches in the scratches" and the next day he posted this to facebook "Anyone else look like they got taken out back by a pack of Alley Katz yesterday? Legs aren't too bad - but DAMN are my arms shredded!!!"
The tread was decent along here, firm packed dirt with a few rocks for a little rumbling action now and then.
We got a little spread out through the brush and brambles, but ended up regrouping at the base of a very stiff climb, not a long one but a bottom gear stiff climb that had my heart rate at red line by the time I cleared it.
Another clap of thunder that sounded very close, and then a few minutes later as we were approaching a peak on the ridge, the sky lit up with a bright flash and just a few seconds passed before the thunder rang in our ears.
Bob looked at his bike and said "better get this lightning rod off the top of the hill". With that we were all screaming down the back side of that ridge until we reached a gravel road.
Across the road we picked up the trail again and followed it to the C-4000 road where the Green Line #6 takes a turn downhill, on a very steep descent.
It was wet; the rain had started, although it was light it was wet.
This descent is not for beginning riders, the steepness and technical challenges are in the intermediate to advanced rider category.
Since I knew I would not be hammering down this line, I stopped and let the others take the lead while I wiped off the lens on my camera. Barry and Alex took off first on the squish bikes with Bob following close behind on his hard tail 29er.
The descent starts at a fast pace with a couple of root hops and rollers that lead into a hard switchback.
The tread still firm and smooth, the line heads down to the second switchback where there is a caution sign. The corner is very sharp and has been built up. It is a flat corner and there is a rail, made from local resources, it is about a foot or so off the ground. I don't think it could stop you but it clearly shows the edge of the trail.
As the trail drops into the next switchback the tread starts to get a little rougher, there are a couple of big root drops along the line as it makes the switchback.
The trail descends almost five hundred feet over three quarters of a mile through a dozen or so switchbacks. As it descends there are plenty of technical root drops and rocks to keep you on your toes.
The line serves up a short uphill section of a quarter mile of so, nothing too strong, just some nice single track with a few root ups and a little rock. There was one spot that did catch me, a slick (since it was now raining) little steep that I should have been able to clear in a half dozen pedal cranks but after a couple of slips I had to step off and push a couple of feet.
The next half mile of steep switchback descent is filled with root and rock drops as the trail winds down through the clear cut.
This section lends itself to speed, the harder you hang on the faster you can go, most of the corners are dug in and bank through the turn, a full suspension squishy bike will perform excellent through this and other sections of this descent. It does pound you though, especially if you are riding a hard tail.
The bottom of this run junctions with the trail #50 that we had seen on our climb. This is also the place where the race is going to turn onto trail #50 and exit to gravel for a couple of miles instead of taking the Green Line on down to the gravel road.
A short ways down the trail there is a split in the trail that offers a short steep climb to roll over the top of a large mound, shoot down a steep on the other side and hit a small kicker or to ride around.
A short ways on the trail leaves the clear cut to return to the timber, the line gets a little more technical and we are back into a section of root and rock drop descent.
There is not much pedaling through here, mostly keeping your weight back and picking the line that is going to please you the most, whether it is to hit the drops hard or rail around them, there are plenty of options to match your speed and style through this section.
After the line drops to cross a stream and climbs up a short climb, the track starts to mellow.
A run back out through a clear cut, the line is fast and approaching smooth.
Then it takes a turn down hill again but not as rough as before. It drops and cross the C-line.
The descent is not as radical, the root and rock drops smaller and smoother; the trail starts to scream.
For us on this day, the rain has started to pour and the tread has started to get slick. The descent has smoothed out radically and we rip down through a tunnel in the brush cover, the only thing visible is the line.
Another break out into a clear cut, stopping for a moment to survey the surroundings, Bob leads off and we again blast across the clear cut on a fast track.
Blasting back into the woods the trail keeps serving up fast corners and quick shots down a hard packed line.
The trail finally hitting the bottom of the run as it crosses a creek on a small bridge and turns uphill for a short but steep ascent.
I can see both Barry and Alex pushing their bikes so I make a quick shift on the sprocket to the large gear and leave the front on the center chain ring and hammer it up the hill.
Quickly turning back downhill, the trail is super smooth single track that is running almost straight. A few easy wide corners and I find myself sitting back, seat dropper down, resting my weight on one thigh as I fly through the lush rain forest back to the parking lot.
Back at the car, I look down and see the muck accumulated on my bike. The last time I was here we found the bike wash, so I hop on my bike and coast down to the stream to rinse my bike and I am soon joined by Bob.
Back at the car, everyone is grinning ear to ear, the rain has stopped and the temperature is comfortable. I again had not even thought to bring a towel, so Bob offers me one side of his. After a quick wipe of my face and beard I see I have left a muddy impression.
We change, share a couple of Vortex craft beers in Dixie cups while eating lunch and head out.
Mountain biking the McKenzie River Trail with the PhattyPuss Crew
Alix Sandrow put together an event, to ride the MRT, on Facebook and invited a group of riders that he dubbed the PhattyPuss Crew. He scheduled the ride for the seventh of July.
We worked out the logistics of camping or lodging and contracted with a local service for shuttling the crew to the top of the trail head.
Three of us, Bob Horness, Barry DeSemple, and myself were camping at the hot springs. It was located on the McKenzie River Trail and about four miles from the lower trail head. The shuttle service was to pick us up at the trail head at ten in the AM on Saturday.
The ride from the hot springs started with a mellow climb, a mid gear range chug up the hill to break into a nice fast paced descent.
The descent had a few sketchy spots that might be a bit intimidating for a novice rider. A couple of places where the trail narrowed significantly as it passed by a large rock, then again after turning a very tight and somewhat exposed switchback the line skinnys past the crook in a tree.
After the trail crosses a large creek it climbs around another ridge and starts a mellow fast run for the next few miles to the lower trail head. The track is mostly smooth and fast with lots of serpentine action.
This portion of the trail is normally the end of the ride, and those couple of moderate climbs become more challenging as your energy wanes.
Bob and I had ridden to the trail head and back the night before and knew how long it was going to take us. The departure was scheduled for ten and we were a half hour early.
The van showed up right on schedule, we loaded up and transported to the top of the 26 mile trail.
From the parking area, the trail starts just a few feet down a double track. A large sign welcomes you to the McKenzie River National Recreation Trail. The sign located right next to the bridge that is the start of the trail.
The first mile is blazing fast smooth single track that takes you to a bridge and an option. Cross the bridge and travel down the East side of the lake, a technical line that cross a couple of large lava fields or continue on straight ahead on the West side of the lake and continue to enjoy the fast smooth single track.
I have been down both sides one time. The East side of the lake was very slow and technical. I was with a very large group and almost everyone was walking their bikes. This group might have been more adept at riding the lava but I knew we were going to be seeing lots more of these technical challenges over the next ten miles.
We screamed down the West side of the lake, a few short climbs but overall the track was smooth and fast.
There is a section of cabins near the end of the lake. The trail continues at the other end, past the dock and up a slight incline.
From the trail head to the end of the lake was about three and a half miles. There is a bridge over the outlet of Clear Lake which marks the transition from smooth single track to the start of more technical riding in the lava.
The water here has an emerald green hue and is crystal clear. The old submerged logs, rocks, and algae clearly visible.
There were a half dozen ducks sunning themselves on a log that was floating nearby.
I have read that further out in the lake there are submerged petrified trees from the forest that was here when a lava flow blocked the McKenzie and formed this lake, around three thousand years ago.
From a row boat the trees can be seen through the clear water since the visibility in the lake can be up to 200 feet; remarkably clear water.
The smooth track has turned into smooth track running through old lava, a lava flow that has a mature forest growing on it.
This is also where the East and West lake trails converge and it is easy to miss the dark brown sign that indicates which way to go and end up heading around the lake.
The trail flows nicely through the lava, under the canopy of very large Doug fir. There is one significant challenge where the trail takes a turn around a large fir tree which presents a huge root on the turn.
The trail crosses a forest service road and runs through the trees next to highway 126 for just a few feet before it turns to cross the highway. An easy place to get confused and a place to be aware of your surroundings since the traffic is flying by at sixty miles an hour.
The trail parallels the river on the east side for about a quarter mile to a foot bridge that crosses the river.
The tread had become more challenging and I stopped at the bridge to put on my armor, consisting of knee and shin guards and forearm and elbow guards. I was the only one using protection. I knew the next section was one of the most technical on the trail, lots of rock drops and tight turns.
We cranked along the trail that was traversing a steep hillside then over a set of stairs that were built to cross a giant fir log that had fallen across the trail.
A turn in the trail forced everyone from their bike as we packed them over a lava outcropping, the roar of the river rang in my ears as it passed just a few feet below us.
This was followed by a short climb up a very exposed section that pulled me from my bike near the end. The line climbed over roots and lava; there were large lava formations sticking out from the hillside and portions of the benched trail supported by timbers as it hung above the river.
The trail continued high above the river, following on the ridgeline in and out, up and down over lava imbedded trail, until it approached Sahalie Falls.
The group had gotten spread out and Lee and I stopped for a second, if only to notice they had blown right by one of the most impressive waterfalls on the McKenzie. The trail did require all of your attention so if you didn't know you could easily pass the falls.
As the trail started to descend I had to stop for a second to watch the torrent of water flow over the top of the cliff and plunge to the river bed far below.
The trail moved back away from the edge of the ridge to descend through a very technically challenging area.
No sooner did we start our descent than we came across a group of hikers. I would descend through a section and around a switchback to a point where I could stop, sticking a foot out to brace myself and wait before taking on the next section.
It was a large family group of fifteen or more, and when we reached a point in the trail where it flattened out a bit they stopped and let us go by.
We came across more hikers, but all of them going up the trail. We yielded for each group.
Back down to the river, we continued to weave around boulders and bounce across lava rocks and roots as the trail followed the river's edge.
The trail was still technical but now more in small chunks it has you rumble through a short section or power up over a small knoll to crank a few pedal strokes across the forest floor on compacted dirt and fir needles.
And just as I was starting to cruise along, we hit a nice technical descent that forced me from my bike for the first three feet. The line of decent was down a steep chute of sorts, the hillside on the right and a large log on the left with a sharp turn at the bottom. I remounted and with my weight back over the rear wheel, descended down over the rocky steps.
The rest of the crew had reached a trail junction just above Carman Reservoir and were waiting for us there.
We all headed off on a much buffer single track than the last mile and a half.
The trail climbed some and traversed a steep hillside, with the reservoir visible as a blue background through the trees.
Then the line dropped down to run across a much flatter course where the brush was thick and hanging over the trail.
As we rode the trail, we would catch glimpses of the dry riverbed. The McKenzie River disappears underground for a few miles. There is a visible river bed where I am told it does run at times during the winter or high water season.
Crossing the dry river on a bridge we are just over six miles and slightly over an hour into our journey.
We enter yet another segment of the ride, across a large field of lava. The lava supports a forest of very large Douglas fir and for the most part the trail is smooth single track with an occasional section of rumbling lava rock.
I have personally always enjoyed this section but it does have some technical challenges.
I had a friend from the old PUMP club days tell me he would not ride the McKenzie anymore because on his last trip he came across a rider down in a lava hole along the trail, somewhere in this section I do believe. The rider was severely injured and someone had to go for medical help. He spent the better part of the day supporting and providing first aid to the rider.
We took a short break at the bridge, then I jumped in front to see if I could set a pace that might be a little below red line on my cardio gauge.
The trail runs for the next two and a half mile across an undulating landscape. The line rolls up and down, flowing through the forest with lots of short rumbling lava rock sections.
The whole area is one big lava flow but it is so old that the forest floor now covers it so the tread is smooth and fast until you crest a knoll or swoop around a corner to be presented with short section of lava rock and you have to quickly pick your line.
It seemed like the closer we got to the Tamolitch or Blue pool the more rugged the lava became.
We stopped after twenty five minutes and had a snack at the Blue Pool. It is hard to describe, you are up on the top of a lava ridge, the McKenzie River has just burst back out of the ground and the water is crystal clear and an azure to cyan blue. A striking blue color, the river roars away down the gorge it is in with the trail now following it at the top of the ridge.
There are many places along here where the sides of the gorge are vertical and large flat stone features present themselves as viewpoints, exciting beautiful and scary.
The next section is the biggest challenge of the day, in my opinion. Many would say that the upper section of lava trail was the most difficult but for me the biggest challenge is the next mile.
The tread is almost pure lava rocks and gnarly tree roots. The trail winds back and forth while climbing and descending in short bursts, mostly descending.
The trail starts by delivering up a hard, but doable climb to flow across some smoother lava and descend through a small ravine, the bottom of which is firm but filled with sharp jagged lava chunks then it makes a sharp turn at the bottom.
For the next fifteen minutes the process to some extent would repeat over and over.
Besides the grunting and wheezing sounds I was making there was also this loud pinging sound from my tires as the knobs on the tread caught and broke free from the sharp lava.
I had to put it all out there on the climbs and pull it all back in on the descents.
It was a crowded day and I stopped at least a half dozen times to let hikers ascend through the narrow gorges and ruts that made up the majority of the trail.
Finally the trail returned to the river to run along the edge for a half mile or so, much easier than the lava but still challenging as the line wound through the big trees, over roots and rocks to finally climbed back up to cross the road that lead in from Trail Bridge Campground.
From there the trail climbs at about a seven percent slope for about a half mile. Not a hard climb but after about two and a half hours I am feeling it.
The descent is hard and fast at a nine percent grade, the trail traversing the steep hillside on a narrow line that blasts down the hill.
By the time I reach the bottom my hands are starting to cramp, the two fingers that hold the handlebars on each side pulling in tight as the muscles in my forearm contract. I don't fight it and try to relax as I coast up to the water spigot at Trail Bridge Campground.
I pushed the button on my handle bars and my seat drops five inches allowing me to sit astride my bike. I am able to pull some electrolytes from my pack and swallow them down, I know that I had too much alcohol to drink the night before and didn't hydrate well on the ride. Pulling the bladder from my pack I see that I have only drank about twenty ounces.
I open the bladder to add more water and Alex asks if I would like some fizzes (an electrolyte product that you can add to your water to keep your electrolyte levels higher). They have a nice grape flavor and I try to get as much water as I can into me.
After a few minutes in the shade we hit the trail.
It is a short descent to cross a creek then a hike a bike up a steep bank to gain the trail.
The trail climbs up the side of a steep hill while circumventing it.
After grinding out the climb, which had a couple of very exposed spots and a short section of spring feed muck, the trail starts a fast descent.
A quick stop just after the Trail Bridge Dam and the guys hit it hard, I am still feeling a little weak so I roll the trail at a nice moderate pace. The tread is solid with just a sprinkling of roots and rocks.
Stopping every ten minutes over the next half hour I slug down as much water as I can and swallow a couple more electrolytes.
I catch up to the crew at Deer Creek Foot Bridge. Everyone is hanging at the edge of the creek, cooling off, Aaron's was lead rider and his face is a bright red and I know that Bob was right on his back tire for the whole three miles.
The whole crew slows the pace a bit for the next couple of miles, but soon after that we are spread out again, everyone riding at a pace that is good for them.
Every ride I have done here seems to go that way, some of the riders still have a lot of fuel in the tank and this is a good spot for flying single track.
Three and a half miles brings us to the road where the trail crosses over to the south side of the river. It is a spot where on my first ride I spent an hour following fisherman trails down the north side of the river looking for the trail. Since then the signage has improved.
I am riding by myself at this point but after a short ways I find Alex has stopped to wait for me.
We ride on for another mile and hit the Belknap hot springs where I am camped. Alex has another four plus miles to ride to get back to the parking area and it looks like the others just blew on by.
Alex rode down to the lodge with me but after seeing the others were not there we part ways, Alex heading for the finish to his ride and me heading to the camp.
It was a twenty six mile ride.
We left camp at eight forty five and I was back at just before three in the afternoon.
My video time works out to four hours and forty five minutes on the trail.
Bob Horness is trying to get prepared for the fifty mile race at Capitol forest so he continued down to the lower trail head and back to add about nine more miles.
Barry rode on just a short ways and decided he had enough and backtracked to camp just shortly after I arrived.
Mud Muck and Horseshit
The 50 mile race at Capitol Forest and Bob Horness's wanting to do an epic ride prompted a trip up north to Capitol Forest.
George Barnett had ridden some of the trails; in fact he said he comes up to ride a couple of times a year. So he agreed to show us a section of trails between the Mima Falls and Fall Creek trail heads.
The plan was to ride over to Fall Creek along the Mima Porter #8 trail and back along the Green Line #6. The planned ride was somewhere around twenty two miles.
The day was a warm, 70 degree day with sun and clouds. We were hit with a couple of short showers but nothing that got us wet.
The four of us, Bob, George, Bob's wife Becky and I headed out at about ten o'clock.
We rode for about ten minutes through clear cuts and open areas. The tread was good and the sun was out.
Then we hit the timber. Nice stands of trees but the trail went to hell.
There is a lot of horse traffic on these trails and the ground was wet which left mucky puddles filled with horseshit and mud.
For the first several miles of the mucky mess I slowed to a crawl and rolled or pedaled through the muck, trying to keep my bike and legs as clean as I could.
Every time we broke from the forest to ride through clear cuts, the trail firmed up, the tread was firm and fast.
We hit a solid climb at about five or six miles in, it was doable in lower range gears and for the first half I tried to climb in the third sprocket. But as I was making the climb, I noticed that my bike would make an awful snapping sound every now and then when I pressed the climb hard so I dropped into my lowest sprocket and spun my way up the rest of the climb.
The climb was through a clear cut with one small section of timber about half way up the hill which made the tread good and firm for most of the grind.
Once on top there was a great view through a clear cut, although I have no idea what we were looking at.
Looking at my bike, I noticed the sprocket was crammed full of sticky gooey mud in between the first few gears, the biggest gears, the low range, the ones I had been using the most. My derailleur cage was one big block of mud and I realized why I had been hearing that snapping sound while pressing the climb, my chain was being pushed up off the sprocket by the buildup of mud until it slipped and jumped a tooth.
I cleaned out some mud with a stick and we pushed on.
There was some nice riding across the top of the ridge, the tread firm and fast with just a few little spots of muck that were easy to rail around. The distance from the horse camps was probably about equal and the sign of horses was less along here.
The trail dropped over the other side of the hill and we got a quick descent of a couple hundred feet.
The descent was fast with the line traversing a timber covered hillside. We did hit a few mucky spots near the bottom which dampened the speed and overall fun of the descent.
It only took a few minutes to make the descent to a trail intersection where there was a short connector trail, trail #20 from Mima Porter #8 to the Green line #6.
There was a trail closed sign tacked up on a tree, just a few feet down the trail which meant we were forced to take the trail #20 connector.
We rode a couple hundred feet up the trail to find another temporary sign that read, Trail Reroute.
The reroute looked awfully damn tough; the line a rugged and raw strip about four feet wide that looked like it had been put in with something like a bob cat or small rubber tired piece of equipment.
The connector trail #20 went on up the hill and Becky said she was going to take that over to Fall Creek trail head.
Bob asked George if he wanted to go with her but Becky was firm in that she didn't need anyone to accompany her, she was quite capable so she headed off up the trail and we headed down the reroute.
The trail was rough and bouncy, but it was solid. The few horses that had been on it had ridden in the center and there had not been enough traffic since it was put in to make it mucky.
The trail was very rough. We made our way up and down short steep climbs and quick descents as the line traversed the hillside. It has the potential to be a very fun section of trail if it were smoothed out a little.
After a couple of miles (30 minutes) we popped out onto gravel, an old gravel road and a sign hanging on a tree, with an arrow printed on it, pointing down the road to the next section of the reroute.
We blasted down the gravel, a very fast run and a bit of a disappointment since any time you invest in the climb, you are expecting the sweet reward and gravel is not a reward.
It took about two minutes to regain the reroute and follow that for another couple of minutes to find the intersection with the original trail.
The whole time we were on the reroute, I was thinking about how much nicer the single track was going to be, then we found it and I want to call it slutty, it was so nasty.
The original trail was three miles of the sloppiest, nastiest, stinkiest piece of crap trail I have ever been on.
The line was overgrown with brush and ferns. The tread was nonexistent, just sloop. The goop so deep that at one point I rode into a hole that dropped my bike to the frame, burying the back wheel up to the axel; the hole made a sucking sound as I wrenched my bike back out.
As we rode the trail I had to shift into higher and higher gears because the lower ones were getting so clogged with mud and debris that the chain could no longer make contact with the sprocket.
George had developed a slow leak in his front tire and when we stopped to pump it back up I noticed that Bob's cassette was clean. Puzzled, I realized that he was doing his single speed thing, using the middle chain ring and the large cog on the cassette. Since there was no back side to the large cog, that is there was not another gear, so there was no place for the muck to get trapped.
I grabbed a stick and cleared as much muck from between the large gear and the adjacent one then shifted to the same combination of middle ring and large sprocket. This gearing change made a big difference in the performance and the short climbs were all doable in this gear, I just had to stand up in a few places to achieve the power required to clear a short section of climbing.
We made the Fall Creek trail head and found a place in the creek where we could dunk our bikes to rinse them off. It looked as though someone had made this spot, since there was a flat spot carved into the bank, right over a deep pool in the creek where I was able to wash most of the mud from my bike by thrusting it up and down in the pool until all the mud had dissolved and washed away.
We took a lunch break and while George changed out his tube we talked about the return trip on Green Line #6.
Becky told us that the route she came over was just as nasty as what we had encountered on our six mile section of trail. She said that she had gotten directions off her phone to ride back by the road.
We broke out Georges map and decided we would ride up (north) on the Green Line and pick up the main road C-Line. Then we would follow that out until we got to Margaret McKenny Campground where we would take the Waddle Loop back to the Mima Falls trail head.
The climb out on the Green Line was all uphill. It is normally used as a downhill run by mountain bikers and not used much at all by the horses. Still there were only a few places where we had to get off and push our bikes.
When we hit the pavement, George said he was going to put on his coat since the run down the road would be a bit cool after the sweat fest climb. Becky said she was taking off and we could catch up to her.
Once on the main road, it was almost all downhill for the next few miles. Then it was a couple more miles on pavement to the campground.
The road runs into the Sherman Valley road that intersects with the Waddell Creek road, the intersection is easy to ride right by, I had made that mistake in my car a couple of years ago when I was up here.
Becky had missed the turn and when we reached Margaret McKenny she was not there.
A phone call later and she was heading back up the road a couple of mile to the missed intersection to wait for us at the campground while we rode back to the trail head to get the cars.
The ride from Margaret McKenny to the trail head had a couple of mucky spots but overall was not too bad a trail.
We did a big loop that took us seven hours to complete. The first eleven miles took us four hours, then after an hour of repairs, lunch and discussion we rode back in about two hours.
In the end, I will probably never ride this trail again unless it had not rained for at least a couple of weeks. I think that after a couple of weeks of dry weather the muck would dry up and hopefully the tread firm up and smooth out.
The 50 mile race is in late August and the tread should be good since that is probably the driest part of the year for us.
Solo Ride at Growlers
When I got up this morning, the rain was hammering the roof and I could hear the bushes next to the house rattling against the siding as they swayed back and forth in the wind
I had posted on the Cowlitz Mountain Bikers page that I would be riding up at Growlers today at nine o'clock this morning. The skies had been clear when I posted it but I knew I had to go even if no one else showed.
I made my breakfast and prepped my gear as I watched the weather report; the front was being pushed in by a low pressure area that was pulling the weather from south to north. My only hope was that the further north you went the better the weather would be.
As I headed north, my windshield wipers on full, the rain poured and the road spray was intense.
I pulled up to the parking area at the end of Growlers Gulch road to see a vehicle parked there. I was hopeful that someone was there to join me but I quickly assessed that since I didn't see a bike it was probably not.
I spun my rig around to back in and as I pulled up next to the other car, the window went down and Jim LeMonds smiling face was there to greet me. He just wanted to make sure I knew that there was work being done up the gravel road and the gate would be open, not to park in front of it and pass the word along to anyone I saw today.
I stepped out into the rain as it poured down, put on my heavy rain coat and set about getting my bike ready to ride.
With my riding gear on I headed off up the gravel. I had put on a pair of lightweight rain pants to keep my legs warm since I had not expected such a down turn in temperature.
There were two large pieces of equipment working on a plot, just off the gravel road right before the power line. It looks like they are leveling a spot for a new residence.
I cranked my way up the power line hill and hit the first of the trails, on the left side of the road. The trail called Predator.
This trail runs up and down a mild slope so the water sheds pretty well.
Considering the amount of rain, the tread was still good. I was able to crank through the turns and lean into the easy uphill sections along the line.
I followed the old line down through the woods as it twisted and turned to run back under the upper section, a continuous descent down a moderate grade with just one moderately steep section for a hundred feet or so.
Standing on the pedals, with my weight back I cruised down the line, bouncing over the roots when I felt a cold wet dribble of water seeping down the inside of my shoe. Normally these shoes hold the water out pretty good but I knew that I was going to have pruned toes by the end of this ride.
A continuous stream of water ran down the trail, following the line to the bottom where it formed a mud bog, five feet wide and twenty feet long, very slippery and sloppy. As I crossed the muddy section I could feel the grip of my tires break away and slip as I cranked down on the pedals.
I started the climb back up through the woods, the tread was sopping wet and the track filled with puddles.
Since I was riding solo, I was in no hurry and there was not a pace to keep so I rode slowly.
The tread was still very firm and my tires were sticking well. I was able to make all of the little short ups, crossing root wads and muddy mounds.
Every depression on the trail was filled with water, at first I tried to skirt the edges but soon found it not worth the effort.
When I hit the end of Predator I turned to continue down the trail called Cousin Eddy. This trail is much like the Predator trail, a very moderate descent down through the forest.
Cousin Eddy has two very steep, although very short sections to descend. I was a little concerned that they might be a little slick but found that my tires stuck as I descended with very light breaking on both.
Normally when I ride in the rain, my breaks will squawk pretty loud on the descents for the first few seconds, until the moisture evaporates, then they run silent except for the light modulating noise created by the slotted rotor sliding under the break pad. Not today, the heavy rain and the soaked plants hanging over the trail had my breaks saturated and they almost never stopped squawking.
I rode the trail out to the end where it loops back to the gravel road.
I reached down to take a sip of the energy drink in my water bottle, which has to be mounted upside down because my frame is so small. When I pulled the cap off the bottle, the threads were full of mud. I reached over to my shoulder and pulled the line from my hydration pack to my lips and sucked until the water started to flow, then leaning forward I rinsed the threads off with the water flowing from the end of the tube.
My feet were both wet but warm, kind of like the rest of my body, wet but still warm.
I turned my attention to the next trail, one of my favorites, Terminator. The trail climbs up over a broad ridge to descend down the other side, through a short section with a couple of big humps, root drops and a couple of swoops that were filled with water today.
The rain continued as I exited from the trail called New Guy and headed up through the area called Beauty and Belly to pick up the mini downhill on the other side of the ridge.
I blasted down the mini downhill from the top of the ridge to the gravel spur road, even soaked down the tread was good and grippy, my tires were running very soft and I think that helped a lot.
Crossing the gravel I continued the descent. The mini downhill merges with another trail here, Trail of Tears. I took the left off the downhill to roll through the woods and do the short loop on the end of the trail.
Returning to the mini downhill, I was now cranking my way back up. The downhill can be ridden further to a gravel spur but then I would have to ride gravel all the way back to this point and I would just as soon be cranking up dirt any time.
It was a short steep climb to the junction of Trail of Tears where I turned off the mini downhill to follow this line. I checked down in the gully below me to see if any animal carcasses have been dumped, there have been two horses and one dog dumped along here over the last year and a half. It was nice not to see any.
The rain continued to pour as I rode the trail. The line descends and climbs sharply a couple of times then merges with yet another trail to continue on the same theme of sharp descents and climbs until it reaches a clear cut.
I noticed a couple of surveyor's stakes along the route and then spotted another one on the return trail. The stakes form a straight line running through the forest, I can't help wondering how much longer we will be able to ride this trail.
I returned to the Beauty and Belly area and rode the two loops, great fun stuff with lots of swooping trail that screams down through the trees.
Checking my watch I noticed I had been out for almost two hours so I mentally plotted a route back that would take me back over Terminator, to pick up New Guy. Then I would take a turn off New Guy before it returned to the gravel and hook up with Cousin Eddy where I could ride it in the reverse direction.
Then finish the ride by again riding Predator in the reverse direction.
It was a good route; the sharp steeps on Cousin Eddy foiled me. I knew I would have to use a mid range gear if I was going to have any chance of clearing them, and in both cases I reached within a few feet before running out of momentum and having to put my foot down.
I was able to clear all of the climbs on Predator and finished off by descending through the high grass on the power line.
I hit the parking lot, expecting to see at least a couple of cars but found just one, mine.
I was wet, soggy, and soaked through every layer. But I was warm and happy.
Bob and I rode at Growlers today.
We hit the Predator trail and flowed right on through the Cousin Eddy trail. Bob moaned as we rode past the big log ride at the start of Cousin Eddy.
We hit the first of the road trails after crossing the woods on Walk in the Park and dropped into Big Wow. A quick skidding descent down between the two trees, my tire stuck in a rut and the tread just wet enough there that even slight breaking caused you to skid. But a modulating break with a light touch brought me under control. I had to pull up a little further down the trail until my legs stopped trembling.
We climbed up Bitter Bitch to A-Bomb. Since I was carrying my saw and had mentioned a gnarly root that was on A-Bomb, Bob asked if I wanted to go cut it out.
We bombed de Bomb and the tread was almost perfect. So many riders had skidded on that root that the line had moved over and benched out from tires sliding sideways to catch the dirt and push it a little wider. Cut the damn root anyway.
We climbed back up Bitter Bitch to grind out some gravel tread to the creek side entrance of Jekyll and Hyde.
We climbed Vortex and followed that with a climb up WTF. That was about the fourth time up WTF for me, it is a hard climb on the bottom half. I hit one rut on the climb that almost threw me off my bike, did a pedal strike with my left foot that pushed me right, then a pedal strike with my right foot that pushed me left, and there was a very steep hillside to my left. I was able to plant a foot on the edge of the rut and push myself back in toward the hillside.
Once around Legacy and back down WTF. Beautiful day in the clear cut, we could see the bright white snow covered Olympics stretched out across the northwestern horizon.
To the east the volcanoes stood out, gleaming dazzling white. The Goat Rocks still covered in snow, stretched north from Mt Adams.
We connected to Creation via the gravel and blasted down that.
All the climbing up Creation in preparation for the 5k has put that trail in pristine condition. About half way down Creation a small dog came running out of the woods and fell in behind Bob, trailed for a quarter mile then jumped out to the road where another dog was limping down the gravel.
When we hit the road, we crossed and headed down into the ABC trails to catch the last bit of the C trail, a great little section with lots of log over features to bring a grin to Bob's face, then down to the Railroad grade.
We followed that with a shot down Little Sister. Again with all the folks riding Little Sister in the uphill direction for a couple of months the downhill was outstanding. The line rolled and flowed like a pump track, just a screamer.
Crossing the road brought us to Jekyll and Hyde again, but this time we were going down. It is a great run, dropping around the big switchback and rolling over the short canoe log that crosses the creek we screamed down through the woods until we hit KMA.
Turning onto KMA the trail again drops out from under you and we flew down the hill.
A few more turns of the crank, as the line follows the side of a ridge to drop off and blast down the track; the trail ending with a steep descent into big banked corners where you can rail high and carry speed to finally drop through a ditch onto the gravel road.
One more little section of middle KMA and we hit gravel to head out. Bob wanted to be home by two and it past 12:30 now. It will be a good half hour of riding and I am whooped.
As we ride down the grave we see a logging truck coming through the gate. The driver is very friendly and tells us he saw a couple of dogs down the road, one he thinks has somehow gotten it's leg stuck through the collar around its neck.
A little more chatting and we head off to climb a short hill and blast down the gravel road.
We spot the dogs at the bottom of the hill and the one that is running on three legs turns away from us to limp off the road.
We stopped just past the dogs and Bob calls out with a whistle and a "come here boy". The dog starts to run off up the road as we turned around so we did not give chase.
A few more feet down the road and we turn off on to some of the un-named road trails to grind out the last couple of climbs. My quads are quacking as I start putting some power into the pedal. Bob is standing up and cranking the climb in the middle chain ring.
I think he is testing himself to see if he is single speed ready yet.
Our last run is back out Predator where it runs next to the road and down through the open area under the power lines to the car.
Four hours of hard riding on a beautiful sunny warm day. It doesn't get much better.
Late last year, Paul Norris told me that Melanie and he would be doing the 24 hour race and asked if I would be their volunteer. The race organizer required that each team provide a volunteer for four hours. The volunteer would be able to pick their work assignment based on how early the team registered. Since Paul registered very early on, I was in the group A and was able to get a good time, 8:00am to 12:00 noon.
The thing I realized right after picking this time was that I would be at my assigned task until the race ended because they raced up until noon but if a team started a lap at 11:59 then they would be able to continue to complete the lap which could bring in the last rider as late as 1:30pm.
Ann and I decided we would tent camp and packed everything into a rental car (for reliability, then after parking it for two days when I went to start it the battery was dead and I had to get a jump) and headed for Spokane on Thursday the 24th of May.
We were a day early for the race, they would not allow teams in to set up until Friday morning so we got a place to stay at Northern Quest Resort and Casino, which is another story. Safe to say that it was the most lavish hotel room I have ever been in and the price was very reasonable considering.
Next day we set up camp and I was ready to ride some trail by noon.
Paul had been in town for a couple of days, visiting a friend (Clayton) and riding some trails. Clayton had some business to take care of but would be back around four to lead a ride on some of the local trail in the area.
As the day wore on, the arrival of the 900 entries and their supporting crews increased turning the small field into a small community.
The other teams in our group from Growlers Gulch showed up, there was a five man team, the AARP Chapter - Growlers Gulch, that was made up of Jim and Dave LeMonds, Bob Horness, Lance Brigman, and Ryan McMaster. The four man team of John Kowalski, Miles Olin, Greg Ogden, and Kevin Knorr with the team name of the Bushwhackers. A two woman team BikeRay USA, Juntu Capistrano Oberg and Dara Hartman and the final team was a solo team of Denise Livingston.
The teams were supported by Jeff Muldoon (master bike mechanic for Juntu and Dara but was mechanicing for anyone who needed help), Shane Oberg (volunteer), myself (volunteer) and my wife Ann (who ended up in the camp cook roll).
Clayton showed up a little after four and a group of us went on a ride.
Paul made a point of telling Clayton that we were looking to just turn cranks and our intent was to keep the pace down.
As soon as we rode out of camp I could see that was not happening. Clayton took off up the hill with Bob and Lance right on his wheel. Now neither Bob nor Lance have a slow mode, so every time Clayton looked over his shoulder, ether Bob or Lance was grinning back at him and he would pick up the pace a little until we were all cranking hard, I had almost run out of gears.
Cranking as hard and fast as we could, jumping up out of the saddle for short climbs and slamming down through the gears when we saw the couple of extended climbs pop up in the trail.
Paul repeated a couple of times to the group, Clayton is not riding in the race tomorrow...all to no avail as we hammered out some great single track.
Most of the ride seemed to be on trail 25 in the Riverside Park trail system. There seemed to be a lot of little connector trails running through the woods. Clayton led us out through connector trails until we hit trail 25 and followed that to a point where we hit gravel.
We turned off the trail to follow the gravel road down across a creek and back up around a hill to where trail 25 crossed the road again.
We turned back onto single track to follow this line back to where we had turned onto the road.
The trail was good single track with lots of half buried round rock poking up out of the ground, commonly referred to as baby heads. It climbed at a moderate rate, giving short breaks with little flat and downhill sections before climbing again.
We were probably somewhere around two thousand feet in elevation. The tread along here varied from dirt to rumbling sections of rock and started off with a nice single track running through a field that was sparsely populated with pine and dotted with black and gray boulders strewn across the landscape.
The trail wound around the mountain, flowing through sections of timber and open field. There were some great views of the valleys below and mountain silhouettes stretching off across the horizon.
There was one little section of hike a bike up a very rocky rough and steep section to where the trail turned and ran through the open understory of grass and white flowering brush. The tread mostly smooth single track, covered in pine needles but the short rock and rumble sections highlighted the fast line.
We followed the nice single track that led to a set of switchbacks. The switchbacks were tight with a solid dirt tread; there were six switchbacks that had me out of the saddle and back over the wheel as I negotiated each one.
At the bottom of the switchbacks the trail diverged and we took the line that went right to descend a bit through the trees and crossed a large rock field, a flow of lava boulders.
The descent picked up speed as the grade increased, we followed the track through the timber and around the hill to make another turn at a trail junction, again going right.
We were now on a fast paced decent as we rounded a corner to turn and traverse across an exposed line. It was a tight line that dropped away radically on the left and forced your focus to the trail as we continued dropping to round a couple more switchbacks before the trail dumped us at the edge of a dry creek bed.
A wide sandy creek bed filled with large boulders, some up to a couple feet wide. We carried our bikes across to a very steep bank. The climb up the bank was made with my bike in one hand and my other hand searching for a purchase on any root or rock within grasp until Paul reached down and grabbed my bike.
The trail was a steep ascent though a short climb, doable in low gears up and back to the point where we had turned onto gravel on our ride out.
We returned the way we had came up with one diversion that looped around through the pine forest.
Saturday and the race would start at noon.
I decided to take a lap and see what the teams where setting themselves up for.
The start took off up a moderate grade, this would also be the route taken in the Le Mans start. The first leg riders would run up this climb, to turn and run down along a narrow single track descent then loop back around to the staring area and grab their bikes.
Once I reached the top the trail was a double track. The track runs through very young pine trees, seven to eight feet tall. I followed the double track for a couple of minutes before it turned into the woods.
The next couple of miles were double track with a very small piece of single track, the opportune spot for passing other riders.
Then the trail hit a section of single track that started with a short challenging rock garden climb up a low grade slope to be followed with another couple of miles of single track running through a forest made up of large pine trees.
The trail route takes an upward turn, on a section called I Wanna Take You Higher. The map calls it a five minute hill. I shifted to my lowest gear and spun my way to the top in five minutes and thirty seconds.
The top of the climb ended at a gravel road with the single track running alongside, on the left side.
There was a great panoramic view from the top but I am sure it was lost on most riders.
The track was bouncy, not big bouncing but small bumps that mad the ride uncomfortable for this short section.
The gravel road turned away from the single track, and the single track turned into a very fast double track.
A little over a mile on the smooth double track and the tread turns rocky, still a double track a climb up a steep short section called Devil's Up, a short climb that ended with a very steep ten feet of climbing. This spot pulled me from my bike to hike a few steps then get on and continue on a low grade rocky climb.
A half mile later the trail presents the Devil's Down, with an optional route called Angels Down.
Devil's Down was a steep rock and rubble descent. I picked the right hand side to drop down through a nice chunky section but ended up drifting left about half way down and followed the established line to the bottom.
All the teams from Growlers Gulch said that they took the left line from the start. And by the end of the race lots of loose stuff had been kicked down the hill and the bottom was getting a little sketchy with loose duff.
The line turned to run for a mile across the Strawberry Fields Forever section, a flat run on double track across a plateau that was surrounded by high cliff walls to the right and the Spokane River far off to the left.
Another turn downhill and the track descends even more to switchback and head in the direction of the river.
Three quarters of a mile further and the trail crosses a paved road to run up on a ridge above the Spokane River.
The line runs along the ridge above the river, through a stand of small pine trees. It is a wide single track with a gravel and rock tread.
The trail soon descends to a wide flat above the river and the line moves back from the river's edge to run through a pine forest.
After about a half mile the trail turns away from the river and climbs, traversing the hillside on a moderate, low to midrange gear climb to gain the paved road.
Some years the trail will follow the riverside down through an area called Little Vietnam but this year the water is high and that area is submerged.
It could be a fast run down the road but the wind was blowing up the road so the downhill run was negated for me on my run. This is where some of the riders took advantage of the opportunity to draft on faster riders and gain some time and speed and conserve energy.
A mile later the end of the pavement turned the trail back into single and double track mixed through a couple more colorfully named places, Purple Haze and Piece of My Heart.
This section seemed to have the most single track per mile of course, with one short bit of single track that ran the line right down the top of a buried foundation wall from an old CCC building.
The trail was a mix of smooth double track, single track and lots of rock and rumble over a mostly flat course, one short easy climb up a double track to a low ridge.
After just over two and a half miles, check point four is sitting in a clear area on a pipeline right of way. There was a short but very steep climb where when I was working as a volunteer, I observed at least 4 people eat it. It was very interesting to see the level of power by each rider, some just stopping and dismounting, most taking the right hand route, which was to drop to the lowest gear and climb up a short steep, following the line running right next to the brush, almost like a switchback. Then the strong riders that attacked the hill straight on, always in a mid range gear and just powering through.
As a checkpoint volunteer I noticed this spot had lots of strong riders passing on the hill climb.
After gaining the top of the short climb the trail took a turn into the woods and back onto single track with more rock garden features and a few swells to cross.
Next the trail runs down a short piece of double track to take a sharp turn and gain the top of a very low ridge, more of a berm than a ridge. Following this line along the top of the berm to the end where it drops down to swoop about four times back and forth through a wide ditch, probably the most fun part of the whole trail (although I don't think anyone had fun on their mind when they came through here).
A little bit more single track running through a dense patch of small pine trees, then the trail turns back onto the last bit of double track and the last climb of the loop.
I think that almost everyone was caught by the last large climb, coming down single track to round a corner and be presented with a rocky double track climb. It caught me in a high midrange gear and I just did a turnaround circle to get positioned to shift down before making the climb, but I am sure that riders in the race were not afforded that opportunity and ether ended up off the bike to shift down or shifting under power, the rattling banging down shift that is so hard on the gears and drive train, hammering the gears and stretching the drive chain.
The last climb was not a long climb but just steep enough that taking it in a mid range was beyond most riders.
The climb put you up on a ridge with a flat out double track run to pick up speed and start the final run back to the timing tent. This is where the trail, after a short down, takes a turn past checkpoint three. A place where the trail runs up against itself, one side of the yellow ribbon near the beginning of the trail, the other side of the ribbon near the end of the trail.
This is the place where one of the riders on the AARP Chapter - Growlers Gulch team went to the left side of the yellow guide ribbon and ended up back at the beginning of the course, just a quarter of the way in. Not realizing he had went left when he should have gone right he ended up riding back around through the three checkpoints one more time. That made for a very long lap and some anxious team mates back at the timing tent. He said, and I paraphrase "I had my head down and when I looked up the ribbon was in front of me, I went to the left side of it and didn't know I had gotten off track until later".
It is a fast cruising descent down and around a few more double track corners to break into the finish line sprint with lots of speed. Almost all of the riders came screaming up to the dismount bar to hop off their bike and duck under the bar just in time, run to the table and swipe their wrist band so they could make the hand off to their riding partner, or start their next solo lap, like Denise Livingstone or do a double lap like Juntu and Dara.
The riders ran the course all night long, I felt almost bad as I laid there in my nice warm sleeping bag and listened to them moaning and groaning about the course and cold conditions that the night brought with it (it got down to 35 deg and some riders did not have full finger gloves).
Although none of the Growlers Gulch racers place high enough to podium, they all did a great job, putting it all out there on every lap, I saw a lot of determination and was inspired almost to the point of thinking about doing it myself, hahaha right. It didn't take me long to get over that thought.
Race Video
Growlers Gulch 5k, how hard could it be?
The 5k is a yearly event put on by the unofficial group called Growlers Gulch Racing. They are unofficial because there are no meetings, no dues, just a bunch of people who love mountain biking and share in the development and maintenance of a system of trails called Growlers Gulch.
Each year since 2006 there has been a 5k event. The event consists of five thousand feet of climbing over a course that is 23 to 26 miles, depending on who you talk to. I did get a copy of a GPS file from one of the riders and ran it through a script that just added the footage whenever the next reading was higher than the last, that calculation turned out to be 7,600 feet, for what that is worth. His GPS length totaled a little over 22.63 miles.
The route is different every year, partly because there are new trails added each year.
This was my first year of riding the 5k, last year I just took videos of the riders and stood in the rain to support the event.
I think this may have also been the first year that the event was not done in the rain.
I was pretty anxious about the ride. I have been riding portions of the route on a weekly basis since the first of April, but had never done the whole route.
My last training ride had me taking the climb to the top and checking my time when I got there. I had not pressured myself at all, just slow and steady climbing. I was right at two hours to make the climb. Then I circled the Legacy loop a second time for both training and timing. It took me twenty five minutes. I bombed my way to the bottom of the system and again checked my time. With one more climb up the lower section of trail, bitter bitch and a check on the time, then back out on the ridge trail and back to the car.
As we drove to the official start, at Jim LeMonds house, I told Barry that I had calculated what I thought our time would be to finish the event. I told Barry that based on the timings I had gotten off my last ride that I figured our time to be just under six hours.
There were two scheduled start times, eight for the slower riders, and nine for the hammer heads. Though there is no set start time, participants can take off any time they want, just sign in and take off.
Barry and I showed up a few minutes before eight thinking there would only be a few riders there, not the case.
The place was swarming with riders getting ready to take off; most leaving before I even had a chance to get my helmet on.
Just about the last of the eight o'clock crew, Barry, Jeff Muldoon, Kevin Knorr, myself and another rider all took off down Jims driveway to hit the road to start climbing on pavement for the next half mile.
The climb went fairly fast and by the time we hit the gate and started up the gravel, Barry and I were by ourselves.
We plodded up heart attack hill and road into the first single track trail we would ride in the event, Big Wow.
I was very anxious about this trail, I had never ridden it until this year, and most of the time I had been taking the alternate route to bypass the big steep. I have heard lots of tales about advanced riders that nail the tree in the middle of the trail on the slick steep descent. Although I have to say, other than having to dodge the big tree, the alternate entrance is longer, just as steep, and more uncontrollable with a sharp turn at the bottom.
We dropped into Big Wow; I kept my eyes focused on the line as the trail presents an eight foot long canoe log spanning a large sink hole right at the start.
A few quick turns on a fast line then the trail drops through a bowl to roll up on the top of the big feature on Big Wow. The steep descent is broken into two parts, a quick short drop to a narrow shoulder. It is a narrow shoulder that is too narrow to stop on but enough to allow you to reduce your speed before dropping down into the narrow grove that has been formed by countless tires; dropping into a rut as you blast between the two trees and scream down the steep trail.
The trail continues to descend, dropping and running down through the timber, the cool morning air chilling my fingers as we descend over three hundred and fifty feet in about a half mile.
The track ends at a spur road that we take for another half mile, the gravel descending and climbing to the start of the next section; the climb up Bitter Bitch.
Barry leads the climb, taking it very slowly as he is determined to maintain a pace that will yield results without depleting his energy stores. A mile long climb that gains four hundred feet.
We hit the gravel again after twenty plus minutes of climbing.
On the road we passed by some supporters and Joel, who had broken a chain on his single speed, out of the event this year, he would spend much of the day taking pictures of the riders as they came down a section of KMA that had a couple of very tight fast banked corners.
We continue to climb on the gravel for the next half mile until we reach the entrance to Little Sister, on the left as we climb, just after the road crosses a creek.
I have found that the entrance to Little Sister trail is best attacked in a mid range and for me it is usually middle ring and second sprocket gears.
I take the lead here, standing up and powering my way over a bumpy section, weaving through a couple of turns to drop my front, ring gear to low gear and leaning into the short but steep climb over the next hundred or so feet.
I like to ride this trail in a low range, third sprocket works well for me. I am able to roll along at a moderate rate and still have the power to push through a couple of deep wells.
As I start approaching a break in the trail, I notice that Barry is not behind me, he has dropped back or I am pushing it a little too hard.
After a short wait, I spot Barry and I start off again, I have to attack this section the way it works for me so I press on in the low mid range gears until I reach the rail road grade.
We take a few seconds to fuel up before attacking the next section, a short section of the ABC loops. The line along here is mellow and it gives us a chance to crank through without busting our asses.
The trail deposits us on gravel again for a very short fifty feet before we take on one of the toughest sections of the climb, Creation.
Amazingly the GPS file for this section show a gain of just over a hundred feet but while doing the climb you would think it was five hundred.
There are lots of difficult features that challenge you while on this trail. I have never cleared the trail, the log crossing is one of the places that I have to get off and walk across. But, I did clear all but the log crossing on my last lap and felt pretty strong on the climb.
We were passed by Paul Norris on the climb, we were about a third of the way in when I heard someone call out, we pulled over and he came cranking by. Paul was on his second lap, having started at seven that morning. After he passed Barry asked me, what was Paul riding and I had to admit that he went by so fast it was all a blur.
Just before reaching gravel Bob Horness caught us, Bob had started forty minutes after us and was cranking hard.
Back on the gravel, we followed Bob up to the tank trap where he took off while we grabbed some more fuel and took a short break.
It is a very beautiful climb up the spur road that leads into the Legacy trail. The small alder curve over the top of the trail forming a mellow green tunnel, it is a nice moderate climb that covers about the same elevation as creation but is very smooth and even.
The approach to the Legacy trail from the spur road is a bank about five feet high and requires a low mid range gear, I prefer the forth sprocket and the small ring gear but I have done it in the second sprocket and the middle ring gear. It takes a few good hard cranks to build momentum then just leaning strong on the pedal as the bike rolls up onto the bank.
The Legacy trail is another of those very busy trails; it bounces and twists around to make a loop of almost two miles with just over two hundred feet of climbing.
Barry and I had decided on a strategy that seemed like a good idea at the time and in the end I think it worked out well for us. We decided to loop around on Legacy a second time, and then on the second climb from the bottom we would just shoot down the WTF trail. Our reasoning was that we would be fresher on our first lap and therefore be able to bang out the Legacy loop faster.
One of the unexpected benefits was that the faster, 9:00am riders were starting to catch up as we made our first loop around Legacy. Then while we did our second loop on Legacy they were all finishing and heading downhill so we only got passed by two riders, other than Paul and Bob.
When we reached the top of Legacy for the second time, I pulled aside and let Barry take the lead. Barry is much faster than me on the downhill so instead of having him on my back tire I just get out of the way and enjoy the downhill at my own pace.
Legacy is a screamer on the downhill with a nice flowing upper section that rolls and swoops with just a few rumbling spots to turn and drop off a steep that gets you screaming into a series of rumbling bumps that can be hard to control. The line makes a fast traverse to be followed by a drop through a dip and launch up over a huge roller. Finally weaving down through a dense section of young fir trees, dropping over a couple of technical features that will dump you over the bars if you are not prepared and miss the line.
The exit of Legacy flows right straight into WTF. The trail winds across the top of a hill for a ways in the small dense fir trees to drop through a couple of nice fast descents to run through a series of swooping benches and finally head straight down and out onto gravel.
It is just a short ride up the gravel to the top of Vortex, a great trail to ride in either direction. The Vortex is broken into two major sections, the first with some nice small berm corners but the second section has some major banked corners. Just after entering the second section there is a big banked corner that is followed by a large roller where you can get real speed and launch off the roller and into another big banked corner.
Barry was waiting for me at the bottom of Vortex.
Another rider came down the road, he was having tire issues and Barry offered to help with a tube.
At this point I didn't have anything to offer since I was riding a 29er and told Barry I would meet him at the bottom if he didn't catch me first.
I dropped into Jekyll and headed down hill, only to be stopped by the big log over. This line makes me uneasy since the penalty looks big if you make a mistake and fall. I have been walking the log over and the narrow line up until it parallels the road again.
As I hit the road, Vaughn Martin was there taking pictures so I pulled in my gut as best I could to pose for a shot. Then after a brief conversation (Vaughn has been on injured reserve for a torn meniscus and missed the 5k, he is the senior rider in the group and I am sure he misses not doing the event) I dropped back into the descent.
The tread was so perfect that I had a hard time holding myself back. My strategy here was to try and get some saddle time where I was not hammering but it did not work very well. It was just too screaming!
From Jekyll if flowed right into the middle KMA trail and down to drop out onto gravel, Joel was there and got a shot of me as I tried to lean through the big banks on the bottom of the trail.
The second KMA is another quick line that shoots you across from one gravel road to another. The trail dumps you on the road by way of a very steep bank to pick up the lower KMA straight across the gravel.
Now lower KMA makes a marked elevation change in a very direct line; it starts with a couple of big turns at the top then traverse the side of the ridge in a steep run that requires good break modulation to keep you on the line and prevent you from skidding. The traversing line soon follows the top of a wide ridge down through the trees to drop down a steep bank and onto old gravel.
The Secret Garden trail is just a few feet down the gravel and starts with a track that runs through a split stump to negotiate a sharp turn, it's a little tricky.
Secret Garden trail then flows into a great set of rollers that lead into a fast straight run to the junction of Plan B.
I stopped to change my helmet cam battery when Barry came flying down the trail. Probably the best place for me to stop since Barry has missed this turn a couple of times, though it's no big thing since he would end up at the same location anyway.
The Hog Trail is in the Growlers system. It was laid out by Paul Norris and built during the 2011 trail building work party.
Located along the Arkansas Creek, the trail affords some idyllic and tranquil spots to stop and reflect.
This trail is an interval style trail, there are not any long climbs but the trail has plenty of short climbing and descending. We were able to clear all of the climbs on a dry clear day in spring.
The trail head is actually located on another trail, the PMS (Paul and Mels Secret) trail.
Turning from the gravel, the PMS trail starts with a fast and moderately technical downhill run. A large roller, followed by a second smaller roller leads into a narrow single track that drops into a banked corner.
After a couple more fast turns the trail presents a large log over. The old log has been laying here for many years and the crew that installed the trail fortified it with smaller logs on either side, making the feature look formidable. The first time I saw it I stopped and walked my bike over it, I have since fond that if I push my weight back off the saddle and over the back wheel while rolling over the feature, it rolls very smoothly.
Another small log feature is just a few feet away but the line offers an option of rolling past the log and on down to cross the creek.
The creek crossing catches almost everyone off guard the first time. The line is fast and I like to keep my gears in a mid range on any descent in case I need to ratchet or crank through or over something but the climb right out of the creek is steep, low gear and head down, weight balanced steep.
After grinding out the climb; a balancing act that requires twisting and turning the handle bars while the front wheel skips back and forth to maintain the line and maneuver the sharp corners.
The trail levels off very briefly to present a large roller before it turns back downhill to weave and wander across the hillside until it approaches the small creek again.
The creek crossing here is on a short piece of canoe log, a fast descent to shot across the log then jump up and press the short climb until the trail levels off.
The Hog trail starts here. The trail splits and the Hog bears right, a descent down a bench cut line to a wide shelf twenty or thirty foot above the Arkansas Creek.
Turning away from the creek the trail runs up a mellow line through some deciduous trees, alder I think, with a couple of root crossings and starts the first climb on the Hog trail.
The climb can and should be done in a low mid range gear, to give you the torque required to make the switchbacks. My first attempt on this climb was in a low gear and I could not spin fast enough the make one of the switchbacks.
There is one switchback that rolls up and over a mound then the line then drops through a small swale to present another switchback around a tree. This set of switchbacks is the primary challenge on the climb.
Once on the top the trail drops down with a quick short run and climbs again to turn and head out to gravel following the natural form of the ridge as the terrain drops away into a gully on one side.
The Hog trail starts again a hundred feet or so down the gravel, just the other side of the gully.
The track has an optional log over just before a switchback across the face of the hillside and a quick descent to cross a marsh on a cord wood bridge. The crossing was made by stacking split wood to from a path across the soft wet marshy area.
The exit from the marsh is a very sharp turn up a short benched section and out onto the top of a wide ridge.
The trail flows down the front of the ridge through a series of five switchbacks. The descent went well but I was off my bike a couple of times on the return ride, not by the switchbacks but by root steps in the straight sections. This section would need to be ridden a couple of times to figure out the best attack.
The descent finishes on a narrow ridge with a sharp switchback at the end. Rolling the switchback to make a sharp right turn and cross a small creek on a bridge that is one of three bridges crossing three small channels at the bottom of this little valley.
The bridges are well built and wide enough to be comfortable to ride. The crossing on my return trip did not go as well, I had a good line going across the first bridge but after bumping across a small root drop as I rounded a tree on the return run, I got off line and dropped off the edge of the second bridge. A quick hop and a couple of skips kept me on my feet as I danced along the edge of the creek bank.
The trail rolls up over another small ridge; a couple of good cranks to cross another small bridge, narrower than the previous three but the approach is straight.
The line flattens out and runs through a lush green area, thick with flowering clover, grass, and small broad leaf trees.
The trails follow a path that keeps it next to the creek.
The Arkansas Creek is flowing with a high volume of water this time of year; it is clear blue and slightly murky from the high runoff.
The trail dips through a small tributary, just a trickle of clear water running down a small valley.
The trail along here is pleasant, a meandering line that rolls along with a couple of small log hops and very easy climbs until it turn away from the creek.
The trail starts an ascent that has one small log over, that can be cranked straight through, and a large step up.
The step up is a stack of small three or four inch logs stacked three high, just one big step up onto a dirt landing. When I approached it, I leaned back and pulled my front wheel up, rolling onto the step and as I rotated my crank arm around, my pedal struck flat on the top of the lift. I stopped and dropping my other foot to the ground I leaned forward and pulled my bike up onto the landing.
The climb turns to angle up the face of the hillside at a moderate grade to make another steep but short turn and gain the top of the ridge.
Across another ridge and down through a small creek, where the line continues to descend down around another turn and drops into another small creek. The bank drops off on this side into the two foot wide creek. The other bank has a stone work path crossing some soft marshy ground before climbing up the dirt bank.
The trail flattens out again and runs through a lush area that looks like it is seeing a lot of use by the elk, there are tracks all over the trail and surrounding area.
One final climb up through the clover brings us back to the gravel.
There is a steep bank to traverse right at the end of the climb that has a narrow track across it.
Once on the road, you can chose to ride back by gravel or return on the trail. We chose to return on the trail.
My return trip was not as smooth as the ride out. I was pulled from my bike at the little creek crossing, when I fell off the bridge and had to push across a couple of roots steps in the switchback climb.
The trail is young and green but is firming up quickly. This day was exceptional because we had clear weather for a number of days preceding, so the ground was firm and the tread was tacky.
New trails at Scout Lake.
Bob Horness and I were riding at Stella on Tuesday and he asked if I wanted to see a couple of new trails that Vaughn Martin had put in over at Scout Lake. How could I say no?
We met in Clatskanie and drove out to the secret trail head.
A short trip up a gravel road and we turned into the forest on a well established trail, none of the trails here have gotten any names yet. This trail crosses a ridge and loops around a small unnamed lake.
But we take a turn off the main trail and ride down to cross some gravel and climb up to the top of a hill on a young trail. I don't know how long it has been here but I rode it for the first time last fall and I think it was established just before that.
As almost all of the trails in the Scout Lake area do, this one weaved its way up the hill, going around downed trees and stumps, catching features like tree wells and log overs while working its way up in short burst climbs.
There were a couple of spots that pulled me from my bike this time, just like last time. A spot that has a double log over, the logs are spaced almost a foot apart and I just balk when I hit it, putting my foot down to step off and bounce my bike over the logs.
When we reach the top of the line, the trail dumps back out onto gravel. It continues on the other side of the break but we turn and head up the old gravel road.
Bob tells me that Vaughn left a plastic bag with three small rocks init to mark the trail head, which is up the gravel and around a bend.
The trail starts off on an old overgrown skidder road, a northwestern jungle. A large fallen tree that is busted in half lays across the line, giant bracken ferns surround the area and if you didn't know there was a trail here you would be hard pressed to find it.
After a few hundred feet we turn off the firm old skidder road to weave our way around some very sharp turns while trying to climb. The tread here is nonexistent; soft loamy soil giving way under our tires as we grind our way up the hill. The only evidence that there is a trail are the trees with the limbs knocked off one side and small logs cut in two and pushed away to open up the line.
Bob picks himself up and adjusts his saddle which is turned off at an angle from the tumble he took while trying to weave around an old stump where his front wheel slide out on a moss covered root.
As we climb the undergrowth thins out, the ferns seem to be in little clusters, and there is Oregon grape, thick in places, the sharp pointed leaves scraping across my legs.
The line weaves its way across the top of the ridge around and through lots of downed trees, from a thinning operation years ago, to turn and head down the other side.
The line becomes a steep descent that is accented with the little plateaus formed from tree wells and quick turns around old stumps and trees.
The line runs up close to a steep drop off that was formed when the gravel road that is down below us was cut into the hillside.
A few more turns and we picked up an old line that is developed enough that the track can be plainly seen running through the woods, a fast line that is straighter as it runs down through large patches of clover.
A couple of turns and we hit the trail that circles the small lake. We are near the end of the trail and follow it until we reach the junction where it turns and starts the lake loop.
We followed the trail along the edge of the lake, to turn away and head up over a ridge and drop down the back side to intersect with an old abandoned spur road.
The trail follows the old road for a little ways then turns up the hill to climb back up the ridge to cross a couple of spurs roads, where we take a turn from the trail and ride up an old gravel road.
Bob told me that there is another trail up the road where it breaks to flatten out, the trail will take us back down to the lake trail one more time.
We reach the break and turn off the road to roll some big swells as we launch into the woods.
The line follows the path of least resistance and minimal impact taking advantage of the natural contours to present an exciting and challenging descent.
Right after we hit the trail, Bob stops to point out a couple of very large old rotting logs that are laying just a few feet off of the road. He tells me that Vaughn has laid out another line that runs along the top of the logs; he has scrapped the rotten material off the top, down to solid wood.
We continued our descent down through the timber. The trail is a rolling line that weaves back and forth through the remnants of the logging operation from twenty years ago. Again there are lots of small, fifteen and twenty foot trees lying on the ground from a thinning operation many years ago.
This line is a little more technical than the last new trail we rode, a couple of large wells that will develop into good swooping turns in the future but are soft and hard to clear now.
There is very little under growth, a few ferns but most of the ground is soft forest floor with large patches of clover.
There is a very steep section near the bottom that runs down through a wet area that is filled with elk tracks and droppings, an area thick with clover.
The trail descends until it intersects with the trail that goes around the lake.
We turned and rode up the trail opposite the normal flow. The climb was tough and had us off our bikes a couple of times to push up short sections.
Back at the road, we cranked our way back up to the start of the new trail again, Bob wanted to try the new log ride and there was also another section of trail that started at the end of the new log ride.
Bob took a run at the end of the log and rolled up onto the top. He made a couple of cranks and started to slip off the edge, dabbing down, he pushed himself along the top with his foot and glided down and across from one log to the next, then clipped back in and rode the second log on out. Me, I slipped and fell just trying to climb up on the log to walk my bike to the other end.
The new line was a little rugged and we had to do quite a bit of hike a bike.
We reached the gravel and crossed to another trail that was more mature but still a young trail, we had ridden it back in February when I was here last. This was a connector trail that took us over to another gravel road.
We cranked our way up to the top of the system. To a trail that was really an old skidder road.
The skidder trail is steep and very slick at the start. Bob and Vaughn had been up there and cleaned the line, raking it down for a fast run.
We blasted down the skidder trail, slipping and sliding through one section that has a spring flowing across and down the line to roll a couple of big berms that have been put across the skidder road to keep vehicles off.
The skidder trail finally leveled off and we turned onto a trail that ran through the trees, weaving in and out on a well established line. Large sections of the forest floor are covered in a bright green carpet of clover.
The trail meanders along and follows a ridge above an old gravel road for a ways, then drops down to cross the road.
The trail access from the road is impossibly steep but somehow Bob manages to clear it after making a charge from up the road, I just got off and draged my bike up the embankment.
We followed an established line through the woods. The trail varies from deep timber with a forest floor covered with fir needles to sections of deep green moss and ferns. The trail down through the timber and thickets of deciduas trees, where the tread changed from solid forest floor to a muddy muck that had me slipping and spinning in spots, throwing the muck on my bare legs.
We hit a junction with the lake trail, on the back side of the ridge and rode up over the top on the same trail we had ridden earlier, to cross the gravel road and blast down the trail we had climbed just an hour before.
We were following a trail we had ridden many times, one that I would venture to say was the first trail built in the area. We made our way along the edge of the lake until we were almost at the end, where Bob turned to follow another new line, one that I had spotted as we entered the system but had never ridden.
The trail took us up and over a ridge to loop around and deposit us back on the lake trail.
The climb back up and over the ridge from the lake is a challenge, I cleared it last time I was here but ended up off my bike once on the assault this time.
Broken Spoke
I decided to do a training loop for the 5k up at Growlers.
My goal was to take a couple of laps around the bottom of the course, make the Bitter Bitch switchback climb twice before making the main body of the climb. Then take a couple of laps around the top, the Legacy trail before bombing it all the way back down to the bottom.
I cranked my way up from the parking lot and took the alternate climb up Heart Attack Hill.
That dumped me right onto the Predator trail, seems that there have been a few predators spotted on the trail, I'm not sure what kind of predator though.
After a good warm up on Predator I crossed the road and picked up a couple of the road trails, slammed the first trail, shooting over the rollers and whipping through a couple of turns to drop down to the bottom of a great short intense climb that requires low gear, strong grinding and soft tires (low air pressure) to clear it when the tread is wet.
After exiting onto the gravel, I picked up the second road trail and passed the official entrance to Big Wow to opt for a short roll down the Ridge trail to drop in on the alternate Big Wow entrance. Even at that the alternate entrance is steep, slick and had me skidding all the way down to the turn, which I just made by locking up the back wheel and sliding around the corner.
On the main line, I bounced through the first couple of rolling turns and feathered my breaks to keep from skidding down the trail as I wound my way down the steep descent.
After a couple of quick ups and downs I hit the junction with the bottom of the Ridge Trail and made my way out to the skidder road.
A quick ride down the road, picking a line that tried to avoid all the limbs and branches lying on the ground or at least cross them at right angles to my tire.
I hit the entrance to Bitter Bitch and focused on making the climb in the right gears, each time I ride this trail I seem to find another spot where I need to ether gear up or down for the best attack and get the most climb for the energy output.
Around the first switchback, a spot where the trail goes around a log and I shifted into low range but not the lowest gear I had. After climbing a bit and bouncing over a small log, the trail takes a short descent to present a very steep shot; you have to be in a low mid range gear to clear it. The short quick ascent is all about gearing. If your gearing is too low or if it is too high you will stall out and be off your bike to push it over the rise.
Some more easy climbing and the trail makes another short descent, this one caught me numerous times before I realized I have to leave it in low and flow through the descent without pedaling, then be ready to start spinning as you quickly lost momentum. It is the big crunch just before reaching the intersection with Secret Garden.
After rounding the corner at Secret Garden the climb is mellow, a low gear push that can be made slowly, conserving and recovering before the next big push just before the switchbacks start.
I was maintaining a nice even cranking motion when I heard a pop come from my bike like I had missed a gear. Then there was a rumbling sound on every couple of pedal strokes, the sound coming from my tire rubbing on my derailleur.
Confused, I stopped and picked up the back of my bike to spin the wheel. The tire wobbled wildly to rub against the derailleur on every revolution.
I spun the wheel and held my finger tips against the spokes, they melodically sang as the wheel spun around. Switching hands I spun the wheel again as I reached across to the other side of the bike and let my finger tips dance on the spokes until one spoke clattered as it bounced off my fingers and into other spokes.
Damn, a broken spoke and the wheel so far out of true I would never be able to climb the hill in the small ring gear.
The adjustment on my derailleur was so tight that I could not turn it out even a quarter turn before it started rubbing on the chain. Bummed I tweaked the derailleur back and shifted into the middle ring gear (I don't have a large ring, not that it matters).
I pushed my bike up until the trail flattened out a little and hopped on. Standing and cranking I powered through the first switchback then eased along and powered into the second switchback, a little wide and I had to dab but I kicked off and kept riding.
I worked my way up through the switchbacks and only had to get off a couple of times to walk a few feet; this was not the strategy I would want to use to make the climb on the 5k.
Finally back on gravel I headed back to the car.
When I got home I checked to see if Universal Cycle was open and if they had spokes in stock.
I was surprised at how many 29er spokes there were, they seemed to come in one mm increments. Not satisfied with the measurement I got with a ruler I decided to pull another spoke and take it with me.
An hour and a half later I was back in the shop. Since I did not have a truing stand I put my wheel, minus the cassette, the rotor, and the tire back on the bike. Clamped an angle on the frame and mounted a dial indicator to run against the rim.
I spent a couple of hours that evening with a beer and my wheel to true it up to within about twenty thousands. Every tweak on the spoke nipple seemed to affect the whole wheel.
Tuesday I took my bike up to Stella and rode with George Barnett for four hours to test it out. We climbed up into the Haryu and cranked out the Lakeside trail. It was wet and muddy, there was a thick fog, thick enough that the trees would drip like rain but it did not rain.
We rode down out of the Haryu and climbed up the Gateway trail onto Stella ridge, where we rode out to ride Tire Bite and Fast and Furious in both directions, using the new cut across trail that Brian had shown me last week.
A quick break at the ten trails area and we dropped off the back side of Stella ridge on the Canadian Trail. A great descent that has some good steep and a few short side hills to dump you into a clear cut, then a great climb back out, a climb that can be done all in a low mid range gear combination.
After breaking out onto the fire road we shot down through the woods to pick up the Skeleton Trail and climb back up and over the pipe line to pick up Gateway again on the descent.
Back on the gravel we decided to finish it up with one more good climb up through the Haryu on Georges Trail. Georges Trail is one that most people don't know about; it takes off of the skidder road just after entering the timber. The trail has half a dozen hard climbs, lowest gear climbs that have you hunched over and cranking hard. The front wheel light on the ground, bouncing slightly back and forth with every turn of the cranks.
The trail follows the edge of the clear cut and finally turns to drop back down the top of a ridge and dump you onto the Lakeside Trail, just before the pipeline crossing.
We finished the ride out on the same line we came in on and rolled down the gravel back to the parking area.
Spanky!
Brian Mohan shows us his new trail and I find out why he named it Spanky!
Bob sent me a text asking if I was up for a ride tomorrow. What a silly question. He was riding with Brian Mohan and wanted to know if I wanted to tag along.
I pulled up and parked alongside the road, just in front of the gate at about a quarter to nine. The gate was open and there was some logging activity going on just up the road.
Since the neighbors have been displeased with the mountain bikers recently, Bob and Brian had parked down Harmony by Eufaula Height Rd, to reduce the amount of vehicle traffic.
We headed up the road, past the logging operation, where they had punched in a new road, which seemed strange to me because there was a road going up the hill just a couple hundred feet away.
Bob suggested taking the trail up into the Haryu but Brian had a route in mind; we rode a little farther up the road and dropped down next to the creek.
The creek crossing is always sketchy so in the summer and fall I will dab my way across the creek instead of using that narrow little plank. The structure, when viewed from the end looks like a T. It is a two by eight board with a couple of other two by's under it, turned sideways and running down the middle to make the plank ridged.
The plank-way is fixed to a tree on the one shore; the tree is hanging out over the bank with the water about four feet below. There is another tree right at the end of the plank so access to the plank-way is gained by leaning out and grasping one of the trees while slipping around another. Once on the plank, you shuffle out until you are at arm's length then take half a dozen well placed steps to the other side.
Brian crossed quickly, carrying his bike in one hand and quickly dancing across to the other bank.
Bob approached the plank-way with his bike over his shoulder, the bike on the same side as the trees, I am not sure how he even got onto the plank but he charged forward with a couple of steps then leaped from the plank to the bank on the opposite side.
Once we were all on the other side of the stream we started the climb up an old gravel road.
We were heading into the Pit Stop area and would take a trail about a half mile up the road, the trail was a part of a network of trails but over the last couple of years this connector trail seems to be the only one that is being maintained.
We climbed until we reached the Jeep trail, which we did not ride but instead turned on to the Ken, Bob, and George trail; a nice level grade trail with lots of up and down motion as it winds through the woods.
A short while later we picked up what Brian called the Fossil trail but that I recognized right away as the Skeleton trail. The trail got its name from the full Elk skeleton with an arrow still stuck in its back bone that was found when Bob and Ken were putting the trail in, a few years back. Now all that is left are a small pile of bones.
We made a 180 and followed a trail that took us down and across the pipeline to the Mainline trail.
Brian wanted to take us to ride the trail "Don't Ask Don't Tell" a twisting line that goes round and round in circles. This is a very common approach to trail building up on the top of Stella Ridge.
We turned and headed down an old overgrown skidder road, a straight line that ran down hill at a mild grade until Brian pulled off into the timber. Now most of the time I can see the line on a trail, even one that is not used much, just because of the fact that the limbs on trees next to the line have been knocked off.
Then I saw it, there was a red flag hanging on a branch as we rode by, then another and in spots I could see the faint line of a path through the ground cover.
The serpentine line ran through the timber in an attempt to go over every stump, log, and system of exposed roots in a five acre square.
There were places where evidence of trail building and maintenance were visible in the form of a small downed tree which could not be incorporated as a feature in the trail, having been cut to clear the path.
The trail twisted around back and forth so much that soon I had no sense of direction. I could not tell you which way was out or which way was north or south.
It was a tough course that had Bob on the ground a couple of times, Bob's clip less pedals put him down more than anything. While I have platform pedals and cup sole shoes and when I see I have a challenging feature to attack I will drop my saddle a couple of inches to give me a little more clearance.
After about ten minutes or so we hit a junction with another trail and headed up to the ten trails area.
Brian told us he had put in a new line that he had named Spanky.
We rode out of Ten trails toward the east and headed down to the end of Fast and Furious. We rode the trail backwards to its normal flow for a few feet to a point where again, Brian turned off the track to start riding off through the woods, I could see a few red flags but the trail was non-existent.
The line was fairly straight but the terrain was just a series of root wells and mounds. The path was like a kiddy roller coaster, if the mounds were a little closer you could have pumped them.
After a couple of minutes we reached a point where Brian told us we were starting a loop that was best ridden counter clockwise. Brian pointed to a red beer cozy that was hanging on a tree limb and said this was called the Budweiser junction.
We headed off down the trail, twisting and turning around through the trees in an apparent attempt to find every obstacle we could find to ride over.
The main difference between this and the last trail we had ridden was that we were now attacking the features on more of a hillside, we would ride downhill, bouncing over logs and swooping through small swales to rumble through a section of forest where the roots were expose, a twisted knot of wooden tendrils running across the surface.
In places the trail was evident; there were crushed sections of rotted logs where the line crossed, the red chunks of wood trailing off on either side of the log. There were groves and narrow tracks cut in and around the tops of mounds.
But most of the line was followed by spotting the small piece of red ribbon hanging from branches.
We reached a point where I had to get off and push my bike up and over a large mound (this would not be the only time) and as I came around the end of a large old log, the trail turned down a very steep hill.
We rode down the hill, my breaks rumbling, modulating as I weaved through the trees and around stumps to be dumped into what could best be described as a little gully filled with rotting trees. The track going up and over a solid chunk of half buried wood to climb sharply back up the hill, pulling me from my bike to push for a few yards.
A sharp serious climb that again had me off my bike, not to push but so I could get it shifted into the lowest gear and start grinding my way up through the loose detritus.
Huffing and puffing my way up and over mounds and again through small swales until we reached a point where we turned back to following the hillside on a leveler course. There was one old log lying on the ground among a widely dispersed group of trees. The line followed a large arc around and over the log.
A turn downhill put us on a track that maneuvered its way over still more rotting fallen trees and root mounds until we reached another low point on the trail and turned to climb again.
We wandered around up and down until I realized that the downhill slope was no longer on my right but was now on my left, which lead me to the conclusion that I was completely turned around.
As we rode, our line brought us close to a nice smooth single track running through the woods, the Fast and Furious trail which was one of my favorites was just a few feet away. Oh!
Pushing on through the woods, over the soft surface and bouncing over every feature that presented itself to us, we rode.
The return line was a track that maintained more of an even elevation, with just small challenges and it finally brought us around to a short downhill run that ended back at the Budweiser junction.
The loop had taken us just at twenty five minutes and was appropriately named; "Spanky"! Cause it spanks you over and over.
Brian led us downhill through some more of his trail to wind around and end back at Ten trails.
After a short break we took off to ride Tire Bite and were going to follow that with Fast and Furious. Brian was going to show us some connector trails that ran between the trails when I got a flat tire.
I had slime in my tubes and thought maybe I could pump it up, after a good forty strokes on the pump we took off.
Half a mile more and the tire was flat again. I had a spare tube so I pulled the wheel and removed the old tube, pulled the one from my pack and went to put some air in it. I pumped it up just to turn around and pick up the wheel and find my spare had gone flat.
I was the only one riding a 29er so I put the wheel back together with the original tube and pumped it up again, hoping the slime would eventually seal the leak.
We did the loop around Tire Bite and I had to pump it up a couple of times, it was weird riding because it would start off feeling good and firm then at each turn it would get a little sloppier.
I finally gave in and told the guys I was going to head out, Brian said that we had been out over three hours and he was ready to call it good so we decided to ride single track out with me stopping every half mile or so to put some air in my tire.
Barbie Camp
I asked Paul Norris last week if he was up for a ride next weekend and he said he was going to Barbie Camp.
I had never been to Barbie Camp so Paul told me to check it out on the Disciples of Dirt website. The DOD being a mountain biking group based out of Eugene Oregon.
After checking the site and logging in I signed up for Barbie Camp.
This was a weekend campout up in the Sisters area. The campsite was a dispersed campsite that acted as the base for the Peterson Ridge trail system and was located about three miles south of Sisters.
We arrived on Thursday evening to find Ken Pearson and Lee there setting up camp.
Friday morning found one other camper had shown up in the night, Davie Sprocket.
Davie and the DOD had started Barbie Camp back in the early nineties. They had been grousing about the weather in the Eugene area, rain, and had decided to take a break from it by doing a campout on the dry side of the mountains. As Davie described it, the official campout name came from his daughter wanting a full sized Barbie Doll, which after an extended period of pleading and begging she got. Then within a very short time, she was bored with it and tossed it onto a pile of Goodwill donations. Davie saw this and decided Barbie would make a good mascot for the bi-annual campout, hence the name Barbie Camp.
I was eager to get a ride in, so I jumped on my bike and rode down to the camp fire ring to see if anyone was going to ride today. I found Davie, Lee and Ken putting up some banners for the DOD and Ninkasi Brewing (they provided a keg of beer).
The four of us headed out about 10:30 and followed some double track for about a mile to an intersect with the Peterson Ridge Trail at trail marker 15.
We started with a short little loop that was probably a couple of miles.
The trail was a mix of smooth single track, very slick mud, and short sections of embedded lava rock.
The temperatures in the area were into the low twenties over night which made the muddy spots extra slick since the mud still had ice crystals and the ground underneath was still frozen.
There was easy to moderate climbing through a couple of series of switchbacks.
At one point the trail leveled off and a large tree had fallen a few feet from the trail, the tree had been turned into a log ride with a ramp built over the root section. None of us attempted the ride on that Friday, but on Saturday there were a half dozen riders that took a shot at it in both directions.
When we reached the top of the climb, there was a rock wall that formed a circle, Davie stopped to point it out and ask if we had any virgins to sacrifice.
Our route up and around the loop went through a short rocky playground, some very large smooth lava rocks with a few strategically placed rocks made a feature that was reminiscent of some of the rocky features I had been riding in the southwest, Arizona and the Tucson area.
The first line is marked by a row of stones laid out as a guide. The tread is a large slab of lava tilted downward with the mud tracks of the other riders painted across the top to a narrow transition over a couple of boulders to a lower lava slab that dumps you out onto dirt.
The feature presented a short intense climb back up to the top of the rocks, a climb I was never able to clear.
Then there is an alternate descent down over another point on the rocky feature that dumps you out a few feet from the trail that runs around the feature. The line not as easy to spot on the approach, the tread a tight packed stone and dirt path that pours out onto a lower lava slab. The line rolling down the face of the slab and off across a large boulder onto the dirt.
We circled back around to trail marker 15 by hitting a short connector along a double track and descending through some chunky lava sections and some fast single track.
We made another loop to the north of marker 15, a route that would take us up and over Eagle Rock.
The climb up to the saddle on Eagle Rock was a good challenge; I was unable to clear it on ether day. I take some consolation in the fact that the rider in front of me on both days, bobbled on a section of flat rocks that were loose and laid out to form a path a couple of feet wide. Both riders encountered the same problem, a pedal strike on a rock that skirted the trail along a very narrow section of the line.
From the saddle on Eagle Ridge we took a short hike up to the top of the rocky outcropping. There was a 360 degree view which was highlighted with snow covered mountain peaks from north to south.
While on Eagle Ridge we were joined by a couple more mountain bikers who had set up camp and came looking for us.
The descent was through a couple of switchbacks but only had one very technical spot that pulled me from my bike on both attempts. It was a large step up over some boulders that were wedged between a tree and rocky outcropping. I think that if the tree was not there I could clear it but the tree, my angle of approach, and my wide handle bars foiled me on both attempts.
We looped around from the base of Eagle Rock to return to trail marker 15. This time we headed up the way we had come down.
The line we rode was a very low grade climb that took us across a few short stretches of embedded lava rock but was mostly a serpentine line that ran through the small pine up past a couple more trail markers to marker number 19.
From trail marker 19, we made a loop that followed a ditch for a short section, and then climbed through a large switchback to swoop back and forth across an abandoned irrigation ditch. It was a fun run even though we were climbing; it would be a real hoot on a descent.
We continued to climb and follow the meandering trail up to trail marker 22, where we made a turn and rode a few hundred yards to trail marker 21 and the middle overlook. This was another large rocky outcropping that presented a view of the mountains.
The view was panoramic; the blue sky dotted with gray and white clouds and a flurry of dry white snowflakes flashing through the air all around us.
The trail back to camp started with some smooth single track following a mild descent. The line is broken up in a couple of places by some challenging rocky features, the first a big lift with a second chunk of rock behind the lift and the second feature a rock garden with multiple lines.
After a quarter mile or so the trail takes a big switchback to rumble across some rocky tread then it makes a right turn to cross the upper ditch. The ditch turns into a jump if you hit it hard but is also very easy to roll.
A short blast from the upper ditch to the lower ditch with a couple of water bars that work as small kickers then the line drops through the lower ditch and that completes the loop.
The trail we took back was the same as the one we rode up on.
Back at camp, there were people arriving all afternoon and that evening.
Lee had gone back to camp and was busy all afternoon gathering fire wood, there looked to be enough to build a small cabin.
That evening around the campfire, that was a good four to six feet high, there was lots of discussion about the trail conditions and lots of introductions to new friends.
Saturday morning brought a bright sunny day. The cloudy patchy conditions of the day before were gone. It was cold but clear and crisp.
The schedule was for everyone to get together in camp at ten o'clock. Then we all rode out to the trail head and broke up into three groups.
One group took off to ride all the trails with a goal to accumulate fifty miles of trail.
Another group took off on a mellow pace with a goal to enjoy themselves.
The last group, the one I went with was going to ride up and across Eagle Ridge, then do a loop out and around Peterson Ridge. The route would take the East trail out and the West trail back.
This was an interesting group, they were all strong riders. We didn't do a lot of waiting, with the exception of a couple of mechanical issues, the group was tight and cranking it out at a solid pace.
After enjoying some of the same features we had done the day before, we headed out the East trail.
The tread was muck! The ground was thawing and the mud was very sloppy. This is unusual for this area, most of the time the tread is dry and dusty.
At one point I think I had probably picked up five to ten pounds of mud, I could hear it grinding away in my chain and it was coated so thick on my frame that my back tire was constantly rubbing against it.
After a mile or so of a track that meandered through the pine, we crossed a gravel road and the group stopped at an unmarked intersection.
Davie pointed out a line that ran down the back side of a ridge or rim and said that if anyone wanted to do a little technical riding this was an opportunity.
Paul Norris was the first to take off, and then a couple of others followed. I stood there with a hum and haw, couldn't make up my mind when Davie and Ken both shouted encouragement, so I took off to follow the line.
The trail started out following the top of the ridge line for a few hundred feet, then turned away from the ridge to roll out and turn back down over a few rocks and bumps through sage brush and grass as it descended.
The line descended to the bottom of the ridge and followed very close to the rocky face, presenting lots of challenging step ups and rocky features to maneuver as it made its way back to the main trail.
We rode on through the mud and muck for another couple of miles or more until we reached the Far Overlook.
The Far Overlook was a rocky outcropping that presented some more of the fantastic views of the snow covered Cascade Range. I can't remember all of the mountain peaks; Jefferson, Three Fingered Jack, Mt Washington...
After a break, the group started the return ride on the West Trail.
Not as much muck and mud, although there was plenty, but lots more rumbling over rock gardens and technical features that raised the fun level by a notch or two.
It was probably about three and a half miles to the middle overlook, where we picked up the same return trail we had ridden yesterday.
Then we took the same route back to camp that we had taken the day before, or at least I did. I lost the others after a mile or so, one of the guys bobbled on a rocky section and the rest of the group rode the return at a faster pace so I ended up riding the last couple of miles by myself.
Back at camp, we had a potluck that evening. There was lots of good food and more of the free beer provided by Ninkasi.
There was a huge fire with everyone gathered around for a raffle. One of the local Eugene bike shops had provided electrolyte drinks and other odd stuff to be given away. The final raffle was for the coveted Barbie Bike.
The Barbie Bike is another tradition that I unfortunately didn't get the detail on. At each of the biannual camp outs the bike, a pink single speed with pink wheels and pedals, is raffled off. The winner gets to use the bike for six months, until the next campout. Then they return the bike to be raffled off again. And as I understand it there is usually some type of improvements made that are consistent with the Barbie bike theme.
It was a great time, the rides were fun and the people were great.
