Jesse and I agreed for a Thurs meet to ride the NUT when I left Jason’s house. I decided to go to Oakridge for the days b4 our NUT trip. I spent the night in a FS XG right on hwy 58. I was too tired to realize how close I was to free Oakridge.
On a sunny morn I drove into Oakridge to the Willamette Mercantile hoping to connect w/ people I know. I met Richard who speaks wild flowers in We Speak Oakridge language. We enjoyed each other’s company as either were eager to move on, he work and me a gargantuan climb up Alpine.
I drove back road to Westfir and Office Bridge, the longest covered bridge in OR and the start of the Alpine trail. I filled up the solar shower and hung it on the side of my van. I geared up then pedaled off. The first part was along the N Fork Middle Fork Willamette River. I encountered 3 GOATS working on the trail. They had a tracked like dump truck bed that they used to haul gravel to ameliorate several wet spots. Their effort has been more successful than my creating flow lines w/ a shovel b4 the 2011 race. Poison oak did not attract my attention.
The trail dumped out on FS road 1910 and the hurkin logging road climb to Windy Pass which is not quite @ top of Alpine, it was as far as I wanted to expend effort for. 7.85 miles climbing 2588′. Beat me up. I raised the tip of my saddle because I thought my pain was caused by it being too low. Wrong move as my sitting area was toasted and painful. The road gave way to single track for next 8.76 of wooded deep tree cover old hand built hiking trail dropping 3253′. Stupendous as always. Last summer a fire burned over some of the trail. Very steep hillside on narrow bench cut trail. Big trees. Lots of moisture. Man, spectacular. Come ride Oakridge.
At Red Bridge a young couple were preparing to shuttle him to top of Alpine. Toy truck. He asked me if I wanted a shuttle back up to ride it again. Shit, I was 3 sips into a beer and mentally satiated from my ride. I declined. I told him about 2 guys who might be on the road climb and they might want a ride. My solar shower delivered hardly tepid temperature. Wind was blowing, too cold to stand outside for a shower. I took my shower stuff to the restroom that has a large enclosed toilet area and a floor drain. I shut the door and hung the shower over a partition and took a wind protected chilly shower.
I dallied passing time till a 5:00 beer @ Brewers Union which is on Main street in old town. Craft beer, theirs is cask condition. Ben was involved on the patio. Catrina entered. What a spark plug woman. She was involved in creating I Speak Oakridge. Warm hug. I sat outside sipping my beer. A rider pedaled up that turned out to be Derick whom I was looking forward to spending time w/. Warm greeting. He is a co owner of the Cream Puff. He filled me in on what is happening w/ trail access. Oakridge is about to blow up. They are earning their IMBA ride center rating. Although the pump track is grassed over. Wonderful being back in town. I split just b4 dark to sleep out by the airport.
Forecast was calling for serious rain as far as the weekend. I checked bend’s forecast which called for slightly drier conditions. I drove back to Bend today after visiting w/ Eugene @ the Mercantile. Cool bunch of people.
My right shoulder is not happy. It hurts 24X7. Today I made a PT appointment for tomorrow.
My ordered seat post didn’t happen. I asked Web Cyclery if I could ship a post I bought on line to them. They said Yes. I have a LEV coming arriving Fri. My Reverb needs new parts. The LEV is a better post that in the long run I save $.
Stopped for a pint of beer @ 10 Barrels. Mike, the manager remembered me. The bar tender poured me a beer, cutting in line. Everybody knows your name. So great for connections which take time to develop. Visiting new spots just aren’t the same but they are what living on the road are about. I received a jusy summonds for King County that I need to turn down.
Morgan of the former IMBA TCC published their ride story of the Maah Daah Hey trail. Great pics, I lacked the time to read the article and cash to buy the mag.
I drove out to my new sleep spot in time to see slow flurries falling in the sunlight. Forecast calls for 50% of .5 of snow.