Today I did an epic ride in Bend, OR: 44 miles of nearly all singletrack, and some stellar trails. I rode my full rigid Niner for it. I'd gotten the low-down from Ryan at Pine Mountain Sports (thanks Ryan!), as we mapped it out, plus I had the new edition of the Kising the Trail book (bought at the shop - looks great so far). I knew this would be a pretty big ride for me, it's been a while since I've done an MTB ride in the 40 mile range, plus it was in the upper 80's and low 90's temperature wise for the ride.
I got on the bike around 10:30am, parking sort of halfway between Phil's trailhead and where the Shevlin park trail ends (some random set of stores and offices). I quickly got lost finding my way to Phil's, maybe going a mile or two out of my way, then getting back on course. I took Ben's trail in the Phil's network, which was a mild ride, and fun. This is a fairly long segment, and took me out to the start of Skyliner's Trail, which was superb.
Skyliner's has various stunts and log rides, etc. on it, and was just a really twisty fun ride. I didn't do the long log ride, telling myself I shouldn't do that while I'm riding solo, but I've got to get back and do that. Skyliner's also looks like it'd be fun the opposite direction.
Next up was the Tumalo Creek trail, which is where things went a bit wrong for me. It started off innocently enough, and fun, but I'd read that I was supposed to "drop" to the right and cross a creek. Well, uh, I picked the wrong one. It was a drop, and there was a cool bridge there, and a black diamond sign that said "Most Difficult", but I thought I was on trail, as I knew if I went left I'd head off to Sweed Ridge where I didn't want to go. I got to find out that the reason this is a black diamond, is that you are bushwacking through seriously thick manzanita for a mile until you hit a dirt road, and then, uh, realize you've gone the wrong way. Bushwack back, fall over into manzanita once, argh. But, it was actually still nice, and I took the opportunity to refill a bit on water, dipping into the fast rushing water.
Back on Tumalo Creek trail, I found the correct junction, which then was half a mile to Tumalo Falls. The Falls are gorgeous. They seemed far taller to me than the 131 feet that the reference page I found said, but that was probably the mileage starting to set in (was at about 22 miles at this point). After inhaling a banana, Mojo bar and gel, it was off to climb Farewell - after some hiker's warned me it was steep.
And here I am at the falls with the sweet headband ring on my forehead :)
Ok, so, yes, it is steep - about 1000' of climbing in 2 miles, then the last mile of it is a mild rise. I was pretty stoked though, as I rode nearly all of it - couldn't make 3 switchbacks at the bottom, and 3 sections of steep in the first half or so (I'm riding 1x9, and a granny would've helped, but it was minor). Couple of cool little rock slab and hop ups on this climb, and a nice view coming around the corner maybe half way up.
After that, it t-bones into Mrazek. Mrazek is just a kick ass 12 mile descent. There are bermed sections, lots of mini-jumps, a log ride or two, and perma-grin sets in for sure! This is one of those trails, where you could really really fly, and it's darn good that the trees are quite tight in spots (watch those handlebars!), as you could probably get yourself in trouble in a big ring. This is a truly well done trail, just so damn much fun. There are a couple tiny rocky bits as you come into Shevlin park, I wish there was more of that, but still great. It made me think of sort of a combo of Fruita's 18-Road and Tahoe's Rim Trail.
Down in Shevlin Park, I refilled in the river, as I was out of water, and then it was basically a few miles back to the car. I took a little bridge across to some switchbacks to avoid the road on the way back, and had my one true crash. I don't even know what happened, but somehow on one of the switchbacks, I just fell over and scraped the crap out of my arm and leg. One of those tired-at-the-end-of-the-ride crashes I guess. There were even a few raindrops falling as I pedaled the last few miles to the car.
All in all, a really superb ride, and I was stoked to get in such mileage and fun. Came home and gorged myself, feeling pretty nice now.
I got on the bike around 10:30am, parking sort of halfway between Phil's trailhead and where the Shevlin park trail ends (some random set of stores and offices). I quickly got lost finding my way to Phil's, maybe going a mile or two out of my way, then getting back on course. I took Ben's trail in the Phil's network, which was a mild ride, and fun. This is a fairly long segment, and took me out to the start of Skyliner's Trail, which was superb.
Skyliner's has various stunts and log rides, etc. on it, and was just a really twisty fun ride. I didn't do the long log ride, telling myself I shouldn't do that while I'm riding solo, but I've got to get back and do that. Skyliner's also looks like it'd be fun the opposite direction.
Next up was the Tumalo Creek trail, which is where things went a bit wrong for me. It started off innocently enough, and fun, but I'd read that I was supposed to "drop" to the right and cross a creek. Well, uh, I picked the wrong one. It was a drop, and there was a cool bridge there, and a black diamond sign that said "Most Difficult", but I thought I was on trail, as I knew if I went left I'd head off to Sweed Ridge where I didn't want to go. I got to find out that the reason this is a black diamond, is that you are bushwacking through seriously thick manzanita for a mile until you hit a dirt road, and then, uh, realize you've gone the wrong way. Bushwack back, fall over into manzanita once, argh. But, it was actually still nice, and I took the opportunity to refill a bit on water, dipping into the fast rushing water.
Back on Tumalo Creek trail, I found the correct junction, which then was half a mile to Tumalo Falls. The Falls are gorgeous. They seemed far taller to me than the 131 feet that the reference page I found said, but that was probably the mileage starting to set in (was at about 22 miles at this point). After inhaling a banana, Mojo bar and gel, it was off to climb Farewell - after some hiker's warned me it was steep.
And here I am at the falls with the sweet headband ring on my forehead :)
Ok, so, yes, it is steep - about 1000' of climbing in 2 miles, then the last mile of it is a mild rise. I was pretty stoked though, as I rode nearly all of it - couldn't make 3 switchbacks at the bottom, and 3 sections of steep in the first half or so (I'm riding 1x9, and a granny would've helped, but it was minor). Couple of cool little rock slab and hop ups on this climb, and a nice view coming around the corner maybe half way up.
After that, it t-bones into Mrazek. Mrazek is just a kick ass 12 mile descent. There are bermed sections, lots of mini-jumps, a log ride or two, and perma-grin sets in for sure! This is one of those trails, where you could really really fly, and it's darn good that the trees are quite tight in spots (watch those handlebars!), as you could probably get yourself in trouble in a big ring. This is a truly well done trail, just so damn much fun. There are a couple tiny rocky bits as you come into Shevlin park, I wish there was more of that, but still great. It made me think of sort of a combo of Fruita's 18-Road and Tahoe's Rim Trail.
Down in Shevlin Park, I refilled in the river, as I was out of water, and then it was basically a few miles back to the car. I took a little bridge across to some switchbacks to avoid the road on the way back, and had my one true crash. I don't even know what happened, but somehow on one of the switchbacks, I just fell over and scraped the crap out of my arm and leg. One of those tired-at-the-end-of-the-ride crashes I guess. There were even a few raindrops falling as I pedaled the last few miles to the car.
All in all, a really superb ride, and I was stoked to get in such mileage and fun. Came home and gorged myself, feeling pretty nice now.