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after the MADE bike show Patz and I wanted to have a little fun and unwind with some friends on the trail. not that the bike show isn’t fun, its just a little intense at times. We had the idea a few months ago to hit up some classics including Mackenzie River trail, Alpine in Oak Ridge (ended up being closed), Smith creek trail on Mt St. Hellens, and the timberline to town trail down Mt Hood. We would drive out and camp a night near each trail head — more driving than I tend to do in a week, but worked well as a vacation. Pals Ryan and Jordan also joined us for the week, as well as Kyle on the last day. he loves to shuttle.

These series of rides would be my first on the new R-Works EVO (working title), so I was extra excited to put race grey rubber to duuuurt. it is also fun to feel how good the MARS is on the trail. personally could not ask for a better XC tire, especially as a rigid 29er tire.

the Makenzie river trail is a must do. it had been 9 years since the last dip into the river trail for me, and daaaang I’d missed it. 31 miles of XC paradise diving through loamy forest duff and dramatic lava fields — it feels western and east-coast-tech at the same time. there is also a river that shoots under ground through a lava tube and comes out 10 years later on the other side. wild place. its a shuttle, but the place we camped at had a shuttle service on call. the 4 of us loaded in the van and headed for the trailhead 30 min away. what a vacation!

most of the trail is just pure flow. very rigid friendly, and one of the more beautiful rides you’ll do. I am the kinda mountain biker who loves IMBA epics, and this is one of my favs in the series.

and onto oak ridge — the alpine loop was the one to do, but they were using a big part of the trail to move firefighters towards an active blaze. we ended up climbing a stomper of a dirt road up to the top of the bottom of the trail that was open, and dropped back to town. it was like 95 degrees that day, and I didn’t have much fun. the DH had some braking ruts in it, and my flow was off after suffering the uphill so much.

then it was off to Mt Loowit “St Hellens” for a loop around the lave pool. a lunar scape of volcanic action — the lateral blast zone itself. we saw a few placards along the way “commemorating” “those who stayed”. I guess 51 folks stayed and in turn, really stayed… melted in the rock. we routinely muttered “those who stayed” as we pushed along the more difficult stretches.

what a trail though. holy corn of the colonists, this was a day!

the new bike performed wonderfully. it is only 22 lbs, and with that steep seat tube angle, it clamors up just about anything with dedication. a climbers bike. I always feel like I need all the help I can get going up so I have energy to go down. rigid mountain biking requires laser focus on extended downhills, and if you are shot from going up, it is downright dangerous to let it rip. and you haaaave to let it rip.

I mean c’monnnnnn so cool up there. okay there are more photos, hope you are enjoying.

the last day we did the run down from timberline to town on Mt. Wy’east “Hood”. I have looked at this mountain top so often from Portland — was really cool to be onnnn it. but wow the parking lot was insane. I would estimate 1000 cars at the parking lot. we quickly learned there was a DH mountain bike race going on that day also. luckily they were not using the trail we’d be on — too tame. we went into the lodge at the top that they used for a few shots in the Shining. I only took a picture of the door.

thought it was neat. the whole place was though. I am so used to east coast stuff like this, was interesting to see the Oregon version of an Appalachian lodge. they had some pretty big trees to work with I reckon.

the DH to town was amazing. really felt the groove that day and let the bike loose. Kyle got some follow cam action, but I don’t think it’s uploaded yet. was too busy getting the rip on in order to take any photos, so my apologies for underblogging.

I will have more info on the bike in another post. I think I want to cut the bars a bit and ad bar ends before I take the final blog photos. so far though I took it out last night and obliterated my strava times on pervious bikes. more testing to be done though. needs bar ends etc. here is a photo from last night on the local trails.

Oregon was great, but it’s really nice to be back home. wanting to leave less and less as time goes on.

hope everyone has a nice weekend!~

XORR