I spent Saturday night on my land. Earlier I walked the FS logging roads thru the Deschutes Forest. The lower forest is so brushy that walking XC is a shin scrapper. I stayed on the logging roads. I used to make fun of northern ID w/ all of the logging roads, i said if there isn’t a road nearby, wait and one will be built. The Deschutes is just cut up w/ old logging roads as here a road is just a bulldozer blade away. Peaceful night.
Sunday I drove up to Swampy snowpark, 33 miles. Trails up here are in the fuel load forest w/ short sight lines and big trees. Also, once, I described the Michaux in PA trails as if they were made by a drunk staggering thru the forest as the trails were very easy to make. What I experience on the trails here is a similar vein of turny flowing trails. Easy to make trail here. Seems like a format: 1,2,3 turn, repeat. Bermed corners, some have weathered down to loose sand. Tree cover creates shade patterns as the trails go in and out of sunshine and shadow which makes seeing things difficult for my older eyes. Trails here are mostly all about pedaling. 20.92 miles climbing 2349′ (112′ per miles). I drove back down to town for a shower, groceries and a beer at 10 Barrel.
Monday I drove down to Phils TH which has been completed for a much larger lot and CXT outhouse. I rode up Ben’s which is a one way climb. I rode up a newly adopted social trail named Pine Drop connecting with Phils downhill back to the TH. COTA recommended making select trails one way to eliminate user conflict. All of Ben’s is uphill, the upper part of Phils is 2 way that changes to downhill only when the trail drops. Open Ponderosa pine forest. 15.42 miles climbing 1394′ (90’/mile). Afterwards a short drive to SNAP for a shower, a few more blocks to 10 Barrels, dinner at Longboard Louies. at 10 Barrels I ran into Todd whom I shared a ride with 2 years ago. We made plans to ride up higher on Tues. I drove up 11 miles on mt bachelor hwy to a camp spot. Todd said he would ride up to meet me for the ride. I reacquainted myself with the ride distance that Todd was not aware of. He will get worked before he even start our ride. Full moon longest day of the year.
Tuesday morning I drove back down almost to the first round about to wait for Todd to give him a ride. He texted me at the time he was going to start pedaling from his house. He begged off w/ life got in the way. I responded telling him I drove down to pick him up. I drove away once I read his text to the TH. At the TH I read his text saying the road was the problem and if I could still give him a ride he would be in. Bummer as I did chose not to drive back down to pick him up. This ride would pick up a short piece of Storm King to Funner all the way to the Wanoga snowpark where Tiddlywinks started. I left Tiddly at the Kiawa junction dead ending at Tylers traverse which uses old skidder roads for descent over natural features. The Larsen’s back to Funner then to Storm King back to van. 16.64 miles climbing 1703′ (102’/mile). Funner is a popular shuttle downhill. Riders need to know and act that with speed comes responsibility. A rider almost creamed me as he was going to fast even with a long sight line. Back to town for a shower and beer and dinner at the Lot. Slept at spot past Phils. It’s like Willow Springs road at Moab: get out to pick a spot before dark.
I replaced my new chain which was a road bike chain w/ a real mtn bike chain. My shifting woes were caused by just a slightly too tight shifter cable. The SRAM guy at Junction said the shifting issue was the B tension screw and not cable. What happened was the chain would not drop down to correct gear and I would shift back up to correct. I was not a happy pedaler as I could never easily shift to the proper gear. Wrench at Sunnyside nailed the adjustment. I ride a 1X11 which is so wonderful as I only shift the right gripshift twisty.
My left nut still has issues plus I have nausea. Today I called a clinic here in Bend where I am a repeat patient. I scored an appointment is just a few minutes. Gotta go.
Tomorrow is wash day then drive over to Oakridge for a 3 day trail work project. Cogwild will shuttle riders up to Young’s Rock which is a killer downhill.
Back at it.
A selective logging and fuels reduction is underway out from Phils which has closed roads for the duration and trails in the area are open on weekends and after work hours. Over the years I have ridden thru stuff effected as above and have watched slow healing of the scars. It sure improves the sight line. Today I rode COD which cuts thru this spring cutting. Sometimes trees were left near the trail.
What it used to look like just across the skidder road
Today I rode up Bens to Pine Drop up to Storm King which goes mostly downhill, I turned wrong way at new catch and Release riding away from where I needed to be. MTBProject requires a bit of sharp attention to figure out, neat thing is your location is noted by a small blue dot. I came out at the new visitors center at the start of COD which is inside the cut zone. An official posted sign stated trail closed but my reading of the posted closure notice was it was open. I pedaled to the center and asked. COD is open as it is a necessary cross over trail. I rode thru the cut per above. Managed forests. Big day 26 miles climbing 2264′ (87’/mile) pedaling time of 2 hrs 59 mins. Empty trails greet the weekday day time rider. Trails are dusty where they can be. If you ain’t first you ride in dust. Tree cover creates shadows and bright sunlight which make it difficult for me to see from the light to the dark.
DR visit generated a referral to a urologist. No tactile pain, urine is normal. Sore nut creates abdominal pain.
Some time ago I smoked pot during a ride. I broke some old habbits which made my riding stronger. It took repeated rides for those discoveries to become my norm. I am pedaling stronger using the gears and letting my breathing control my effort. I moved the cleats all the way forward, tilted the nose of the saddle slightly down to keep my but on the saddle when climbing, and fine tuning my saddle height. Pot has helped. I sometimes stop for a solo safety meeting. I’m in Oregon.
Below is one view of my house, shape is correct. I am working on windows. It is 20’X20′ w/ one corner removed.
