Scappoose night ride

We thought we'd ride some trails closer into town this week so we hit up the Scappoose trails. We had Fat Larry, April, The Causey's (it was Debbies first night ride) and myself. Jamie missed out because his work went longer than planned. He has a job that require's him to work now so it gets in the way of his riding sometimes. The ride was great, though we should have started later so the whole ride could have been in the dark. Debbie seemed really enjoy the whole riding in the dark thing. April realized that a pre-ride meal of Dorritos and Hummus is not a good idea. Larry stood up the whole time and ...well....he just kept going. Terry was going crazy leading us through the maze , which is Scappoose. And Me? Mashing on the singlespeed and laughing all the way.

Browns camp night ride

It was time for Jamie's yearly XC ride and once again it was Browns camp. We figured we'd start late and make it a kind of night ride too. We had Fat Larry,April,Crazy legs (out of retirement) and myself. Started off with the 1/2 mile switch back climb which seems harder than it should be, and then to the flowing singletrack. I was riding the Bianchi SS, Jamie was on the 100 y/o cannondale, April was on her cool Turner 5 spot and Larry was sporting the Sinister free ride Hard tail, standing up all the way. Larry kind of bummed me out , as i was expecting a lot of coughing and maybe some throwing up. Nope. He was mashing the pedals all night. I'm not to sure about that guy, seems to be some sort of all around mountain biker or something. Up and the picture spot we ran into Whiplash and the Don. They showed up a little after we left and were getting on it to catch up. Now we're having fun as the group grows.When it got dark we saw some bat's and it started sprinkling and cooling down a bit. Trail was in good shape with a few wet spots that are typical in Oregon any time of year. Super fun ride. We're going to start weekly night rides so I'm excited about that. It was Larry and April's first time riding at Browns camp and i think they liked it. I sure did.

Another Whistler trip in the History books

Fat Larry and skinny April planned and headed up this trip and Flying J, S-huit and I tagged along. We took off on Fri morn a little later than we planned but we stayed up and watched Drop in so you can only do so much. Drop in takes precedent over sleep. About an hour later i realized i left my bag of food Marla made me in Larry's garage. Great. Now i have to eat Canadian top ramen or whatever they call it up there. Met up with a friend of Larry and April's in Seattle who thought my name was shameel or shamozzle for some reason. He was nice guy and a great driver. We had a good time on the drive heckleing April by messing with her MP3 player. Jamie had it in his hands and was moving the plug and she thought it was the plug going into the radio, and she kept messing with it but it was us. Too funny. About 15 miles from the border we we're talking about identification and stuff. April was saying how she was going to renew her passport after this trip since it expires at the end of Aug or so she thought. When she got it out she saw that it expired on Aug 3rd. Oops!! Jamie and i started talking about how we we're going to be riding in Northern Washington since there was no way we would make it across. (since the border is so secure) She was freaking out and Jamie wasn't helping. While we we're waiting in our line a few cars a few cars from the front a lady rear ended the car in front of her. A diversion!! The guy got out and was yelling and when the Mounties we're checking him over and his car ,we started thinking maybe they would let us go in the commotion. April played cool and answered the questions and then the guy asked if we say the accident and she told him what she saw. She offered him our documents and he said Nah and waved us through. Too funny. I guess Jamie and i could have brought our Glocks after all. Now we we're excited to get there and ride, Weather was nice and traffic was ok. Stopped in Squamish for food and hit Whistler about ..i forget. Hooked back up with Shawn who was riding with the Seattle race car driver, got all our stuff minus my food into the cool house we had and started drop in again. O and played cards. I'm good at cards. Don Coyote and Stephyao showed up later. There like almost Whistler locals. The Don transforms in Canada into a crazy rider. Up early to head to the lift's so we can ride until we drop. About a 5 or 10 min pedal to the lift line and Jamie and turn around and no Fat Larry or April. Wait 10 more min then we figure we'll see them in line. Turns out Larry's wheel seized up and he had to go back for another. He bring's extra wheels everywhere because..well...He's Fat Larry and he needs a LOT of wheels. First run down was Crank it up which is a cool warm up trail with small jumps and some cool wall rides. After that its a blur of riding and riding. Larry tore off his derailleur about 10 feet into Scheyler and i got a flat on Dirt merchant. Highlight's for me we're No Duff,Crabapple hits and Scheyler, Ninja cougar, Karate Monkey and not crashing. Eventually I ran into The mighty Red Raja, Robholio and a guy I'd never met Jaeel.( i think) Did a few runs with them and found Larry and April again. Upper mountain was good except a lot of trail was gone. Rode part of Freight train, that was cool. I was sitting at the bottom looking at the lift line ,eating a sandwich that April made me(thanks) and i heard a siren. To my left i saw an ambulance heading up the hill. Too bad. 2 hours later i found it was Crazy Jake, one of our riding buddies that we hadn't run into yet. Not good. He got a real bad concussion and a bruise the size of your average wall-mart shopper. StephYaow rolled a really cool line that was near vertical and she was a little excited.

After riding..more goofing off, and more of Jamie and I singing Bernie songs. We seem to have a talent for that.Up late and up early to head home. Didn't ride 'cause you couldn't even see the mountain through the clouds and rain. Stopped at Shannon Falls in Squamish. Really cool. Off to the border to see if April can go home. We waited an hour or so at the border and hit the duty free shop so we could cut in line farther up and saw Jake. Bruised, battered and repeating himself but other than that he was ok. SO we prepared for a long wait when April was denied entry. Larry handed him the passports and he scanned them all and sent us on our was. Great border security eh? Ton's of traffic and home late. Another great trip .

Post Canyon campout #2

Hood River

Had a really good ride today at Post Canyon. We rode from the top and hit up the super D course that is for the Gorge games that are next week. A lot of down with a few serious hike a bikes. Wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't mid 90's and pushing a 46# bike. Oh well. From the top we could see a forrest fire on the Washington side. Looked big. Riding today were a few of the usual suspects. Flying J and Chip. I was stoked to ride with Andy for the 2nd time in a year. He was flowing the DH trails with style. Crazy Jake was there with his Sunday and was hard to keep up with, even while pushing. Also present was Fat Larry and Skinny April. It's always a kick to ride with them. Larry managed to not break anything on his bike and April had a ton of quick,witty comments as usual. O..and no wrestling. The first run was a really long combo of steep hikes and steep descents. If it were about 30Deg cooler it would have been great. It was still great but we were dying. Next run I drove the truck down while they sessioned some stuff. I was spent. Great day as always.

4th of July

usually we do a big ride on the Glade trail but the snow is still there. So, we went to Hood River and camped.

Kid's and Bikes

I always try to get the kid's out on rides. Dirt or street. We've been doing some 26 mile around town ride lately so that has been cool. Solomon is a bit to young to ride that far , so last night we did a short around town ride. Way short. We cruised over to a local school to have a drag race. We had a lot of tire sizes represented. 29", 26", 24", and two 20" 'ers. I won but in the commotion we we're all turning around and Louis cut off Otto and he had a big crash.He rolled well but lost some skin on his elbow and shoulder and sprained his wrist. He ad to ride home with one hand, so he crashed into a tree just to make it even more memorable.

All and all...i think he would rather crash in the dirt.

The ride to work

I've ridden to work 5 times now and it's been pretty fun. I found a good route that keeps me on bike path's maybe 50% bike lane's 30% neighborhoods 20% and 10% Danger zone riding. I'm riding my Surly Karate Monkey. It's a 29'er and I've been running it Single speed, with BIG fat road tires. Schwalbe Big Apple, 2.35. I cruise through some neighborhoods right from the start then hit a bike path which takes me through 2 town's through 2 parks and over the Tualitan river. Then it's up hill for 5 or 6 miles then the last bit is the danger zone section. Country road with no shoulder and Lot's of trucks. Other than that it's great. Coming home today Marla and Louis met me in Tigard and rode the rest of the way with me. We even went to New Seasons on the way for some food. This bike commute thing aint too bad.

Riding in the heat

Not a big deal for some. I know that Pac man loves to ride in the hot weather but i'm from Oregon and i like it cooler. Mid 90's today in Hood River and it sucked the enrgy right out of you. I took Louis (our 12 y/o) for his first time at Post and he was kinda nervous on the way. We hooked you with Chip which is always a good time then we met up with Don Coyote,Todd( who got 2nd place at the beacon race in Spokane) and Daver. On the first run we took that single track that bypass's two chair and it was dusty. Louis was trying to keep up with the big boys and crashed like 4 times that i saw. He was following Chip so close that the dust was about a foot high and you couldn't see the trail. Boom! e clips a stump,Wham! he hit's a big rock..and so on.He got up fast though. Gotta keep up with Chip. When we got to 8 track he was getting worked. On 8 track he crashed through a berm and flipped OTB. I was starting to get nervous. He made it to the bottom ok and we even saw Maing and the little Woman on the way down. Second run we lost Chip but gained J.R. his son and Robholio. Same deal but even HOTTER. Louis opted to stay behind and guard Davers truck. Good idea i think. The 2nd run was hard for me. the heat i think and lack of food and water. Little things like that. Don Coyote hit a few cool things and mostly we sweated. When we got to the bottom i was spent and ready to go to sleep. Another great ride