G
gabrielle
Guest
ER & I have been trying to set up a camping/biking trip together for about
9 months now - our schedules & the wind's have never meshed until this
weekend. With all the tourists, she wasn't about to go sailing, so we
headed up Mt Hood for an overnighter.
Grabbed ourselves a clandestine campsite off of 44 (the road that connects
35 with Dufur). Perfect spot: car was hidden, tents were hidden from the
road up on a ridge that gave us a perfect panorama for both sunset &
sunrise, away from the madding crowds with their screaming children.
I needed to try out the brake pads I'd received from beyondbikes.com -
they'd screwed up & sent me DH pads instead of XC & I wanted to get used
to the Improved Stopping Power these babies would give me. We rode on
over to Eight Mile & did a quick out-and-back on the lower section. Both
of us were nervous about the wildlife - I'd seen a bear here the week
before, and ER's been stalked by cougars twice now. (She's smaller than I
am, and a perfect Cougar Snack Cake.) Impressed with my braking power, we
headed back to our campsite & the cold beers, local cherries & dark
chocolate that awaited us.
6 am wakeup call & a brief discussion lead to the decision to sleep
another hour. 7 am and coffee for ER, pineapple juice for me, we find
that both of us dreamed about bears during the night. (Nervous, party of
2?) Coffee drunk, granola eaten, camp broken within the hour and we are
on our way to the Fifteen Mile trailhead.
(Note: like Eight Mile trail, which is named after Eight Mile Creek and
is in reality only 6.2 or 7.2 miles depending on whose odometer you use,
Fifteen Mile trail is named after Fifteen Mile Creek and is only 10.8
miles.)
Although they share the same Ponderosa forests and fields of wildflowers,
every trail off of 44 has its own personality. The quirk that
distinguishes Fifteen Mile from the rest is the rather unique view of
Adams with Rainier right off its shoulder. I've never seen them lined up
quite like that.
<Insert standard PNW mtb trail description: Ponderosas; fields of lupine,
paintbrush, comumbine, crimson sage, and cascade lilies; scarlet tanagers,
monarch butterfiles & hummingbirds. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've heard it
before.>
Another fun *cough* quirk is that Fifteen Mile is basically 5 miles down,
then 5 miles up. The trail was in good shape & I'd still rate the
downhill part as probably the most hairball thing I've ever ridden. The
last 1/2 mile of downhill is really steep and is already dusting up this
early in the season. (I actually turned back to look at one point &
decided I was better off not knowing how steep it was.)
We crossed Fifteen Mile creek at the halfway mark & took a brief break at
the meditation garden someone had thoughtfully set up next to the creek
amongst a grove of old-growth cedars.
Thus began The Grind.
We never figured out what happened - nobody in the area knew of a
rainstorm that had come through the night before, and we hadn't seen any
clouds - but this section of trail was recently watered & perfectly tacky.
Of course, all of the vegetation had been recently watered too, so due to
the "carwash effect" we were soaked to the skin in a matter of minutes. We
were grateful for the extra water keeping us cool on the (mercifully
brief) sections of trail that traversed open rock gardens.
One last push through one last steep section & the crux move is over a big
rock. I get my front tire up & miracle of miracles, my back tire follows
it. And I'm out of gas & off the bike. I made the move, but couldn't
ride out of it. Next time!
gabrielle
9 months now - our schedules & the wind's have never meshed until this
weekend. With all the tourists, she wasn't about to go sailing, so we
headed up Mt Hood for an overnighter.
Grabbed ourselves a clandestine campsite off of 44 (the road that connects
35 with Dufur). Perfect spot: car was hidden, tents were hidden from the
road up on a ridge that gave us a perfect panorama for both sunset &
sunrise, away from the madding crowds with their screaming children.
I needed to try out the brake pads I'd received from beyondbikes.com -
they'd screwed up & sent me DH pads instead of XC & I wanted to get used
to the Improved Stopping Power these babies would give me. We rode on
over to Eight Mile & did a quick out-and-back on the lower section. Both
of us were nervous about the wildlife - I'd seen a bear here the week
before, and ER's been stalked by cougars twice now. (She's smaller than I
am, and a perfect Cougar Snack Cake.) Impressed with my braking power, we
headed back to our campsite & the cold beers, local cherries & dark
chocolate that awaited us.
6 am wakeup call & a brief discussion lead to the decision to sleep
another hour. 7 am and coffee for ER, pineapple juice for me, we find
that both of us dreamed about bears during the night. (Nervous, party of
2?) Coffee drunk, granola eaten, camp broken within the hour and we are
on our way to the Fifteen Mile trailhead.
(Note: like Eight Mile trail, which is named after Eight Mile Creek and
is in reality only 6.2 or 7.2 miles depending on whose odometer you use,
Fifteen Mile trail is named after Fifteen Mile Creek and is only 10.8
miles.)
Although they share the same Ponderosa forests and fields of wildflowers,
every trail off of 44 has its own personality. The quirk that
distinguishes Fifteen Mile from the rest is the rather unique view of
Adams with Rainier right off its shoulder. I've never seen them lined up
quite like that.
<Insert standard PNW mtb trail description: Ponderosas; fields of lupine,
paintbrush, comumbine, crimson sage, and cascade lilies; scarlet tanagers,
monarch butterfiles & hummingbirds. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've heard it
before.>
Another fun *cough* quirk is that Fifteen Mile is basically 5 miles down,
then 5 miles up. The trail was in good shape & I'd still rate the
downhill part as probably the most hairball thing I've ever ridden. The
last 1/2 mile of downhill is really steep and is already dusting up this
early in the season. (I actually turned back to look at one point &
decided I was better off not knowing how steep it was.)
We crossed Fifteen Mile creek at the halfway mark & took a brief break at
the meditation garden someone had thoughtfully set up next to the creek
amongst a grove of old-growth cedars.
Thus began The Grind.
We never figured out what happened - nobody in the area knew of a
rainstorm that had come through the night before, and we hadn't seen any
clouds - but this section of trail was recently watered & perfectly tacky.
Of course, all of the vegetation had been recently watered too, so due to
the "carwash effect" we were soaked to the skin in a matter of minutes. We
were grateful for the extra water keeping us cool on the (mercifully
brief) sections of trail that traversed open rock gardens.
One last push through one last steep section & the crux move is over a big
rock. I get my front tire up & miracle of miracles, my back tire follows
it. And I'm out of gas & off the bike. I made the move, but couldn't
ride out of it. Next time!
gabrielle
