Late evening recap.
This morning when I turned the ignition key to start the engine it would not start, condition sim to what happened last year at Baker City. Joe and others were driving over from Bend. We texted and I scored a ride with them down to McKenzie Bridge shuttle pick up. Eliza is still the driver for my 3 previous shuttles. Loaded up for like 45 min drive to where we were going to start, the usual put in. Joe, his daughter Tanya and sil Rob, and Larry was the party. Old hiking trail, legacy single track not purpose built for bikes except for rebuilt sections to current standards. Deep woods cover. Skinny tread w/ long distances of significant exposure partially fear lessened by tree cover. Forecast called for 90% rain and thunderstorm. Beautiful start of the day. Clouds built over Cascades, nasty storm. Weather finally caught us on final climb to Castle Peak trail. Scary strong winds whipped the dense tall trees, a bit of hail. We hunkered down under tree canopy and waited out the downpour. No, earlier a brief thunderstorm hit but not strong or long enough to don rain jackets. Made the saddle to drop down Kings Castle downhill, 4.3 miles of just fun trail, deep woods. Rain eliminated dust. Man, just let gravity pull me downward. Deep tree cover blocks the sun then added the clouds blocking the sun the light was like almost twilight. I wore my tinted glasses because I wanted eye protection, the trade off was loosing trail detail. My brakes squeal sometimes when dry, when wet pick an angry animal to describe the squeal. However even in the rain when using them for a bit the pads dry out and grip.
Mountain biking like it was in the beginning.
Joe dropped me off at the snowpark. Glass was still in all the windows. Tried to start yielding same results. Tonight I tried to make a towing appointment for tomorrow but it’s first come first serve. Van will be towed to shop in Bend that has experience with my van. Can sleep in parking lot. Heater is working like it should. 42 degrees and raining.
Tomorrow I will order a Fox 36 factory fork and have it shipped to Diaz Suspension to be tuned and a RUNT installed.
Chilly night. No mosquitoes.
Physically taxing ride today. So looking forward to laying flat on my bed. I need to wipe off the woods dirt from my legs first.
O’Leary is top drawer.