Peaceful night & morning up off road 1910. Down to red Bridge in Westfir for 10:00 meet w/ Jay and a shuttle from Scott to ride down Winberry ridge to remove race markings. Jay & I started down just after 12:00 and finished just after 6:00. Not many miles ridden but lots of flagging and the race paper markings carried between us. The trail in places was like riding on slippery snow: front wheel wanted a different direction than back one that was sliding around. Got to ride more of the Oakridge trails. These are old hiking trails that have been reopened by mtn bikers and some places renovated. Great big woods riding. Not very technical on tread but narrow trails w/ occasional exposure. Alpine is in top 5 trails of my all time favs.
Scott picked us up and drove us back to Oakridge. He treated us to dinner. I learned that he knows Dean & Jamey from Sedona and rode w/ them. Jay let me shower @ his house.
Going to ride w/ Scott tomorrow down Alpine, maybe even up to Jedi and I will ride it slower this time.
Today before taking off for our ride I checked the front brake pads. Getting worn down. Have a new pair waiting in Bend. These trails eat pads from the downhills, not from the grit on shallow hills of the east. I discovered that my fork travel was locked out meaning that I had about 2″ of firm travel vs the plush normal 5.5″. I wonder if my pel mel ride down Alpine was w/ reduced fork travel. Corrected the adjustment and flowed down what we could ride. We would get in short distances of riding to be stopped by our role of removing flagging , signs, & picking up litter. Poor ride quality. Saw more deep woods & new trail to me.
Its late in Ray’s parking lot. Fed cat another can of food after dark. No extension of friendship.
Bare skin of shirtless body is sunburned from yesterday.
Congrats on the completion of your Mountain Bike the States tour!! Now that you are almost local I thought I might invite you to join a few of us to ride the Skookum Flats Epic by Crystal Mountain. We will be arriving at the Dalles Campground Friday evening and riding Sat, Sun, and Monday. Hope to see ya!