bluekat's Journeys

I was in Corvallis for a class this morning (and I mean early morning - how did this night owl get roped into a 7:00 am class???) So after an hour of tweaking and contorting into all manner of impossible positions, all in the name of personalized core conditioning, I was off to explore a corner of McDonald-Dunn Research Forests. I'm particularly fond of Dunn because it seems like the steep climbs are not quite so intense as those found in Mac Forest. (Well I know of one, but I can avoid it.) It also seems to have more sections of pleasant rolling terrain that are fun to ride. And it has plenty of new (to me) roads to explore. Trailhead The drive out was both foggy and rainy, not a promising start, but at the trailhead blue skies prevailed.  Today's ride was a combination of old familiar roads and unexplored territory. And we're off! The last time I biked here this was a forested hill. North Berry Creek and requisite bike porn. Me thinks I'll be ...

Saturday is skinny tire day. We had a pleasant, short ride from Jefferson to Aumsville. We were to early for lunch, so second breakfast I guess. Smile! The climb is over.  Recumbents. I had a chance to ride a recumbent (bent). Scariest thing ever! Sunday To round out the weekend nicely, I guess we need some fat tire time. We hauled the bikes to Sisters, Oregon for some sweet central Oregon dirt. Rode some trails. Dodged the climbs. Got lost a couple of times. Good stuff. I love mountain biking in Central Oregon. Sweet Central Oregon Dirt Riding Peterson's Ridge Trail system outside of Sisters Oregon Weekend over, Back to the grind...

No epic rides this week. No special scenery. Sometimes it's good just to hang out in the local area. I took Sam for a ride looking for inspiration for a post. Not much inspiration, but it was a nice ride before the hot weather set in for the afternoon. Local icon: Larwood Bridge I love the smell of mint in the summer! Have some more corn, Honey? Sam is, as of yet, blissfully unaware of the new gas coming to a pump near you.  Riverview  meeting hall. Saturday Saturday is skinny tire day. We had a pleasant, short ride from Jefferson to Aumsville. We were to early for lunch, so second breakfast I guess. Smile! The climb is over.  Recumbents. I had a chance to ride a recumbent (bent). Scariest thing ever! Sunday To round out the weekend nicely, I guess we need some fat tire time. We hauled the bikes to Sisters, Oregon for some sweet central Oregon dirt. Rode some trails. Dodged the climbs. Got lost a couple of times. Good stuff. I love mountain bik...

My best guess is about 16 miles. The garmin battery died on the ride. I kinda miss the old days/old school wired bike computer that ran flawlessly forever. Ah well. We started at Peavy arboretum. Rode up to the 5-way, out on Nettleton, across the saddle and up to Dimple Hill. We stopped to enjoy the sunshine (with a nice crowd of bikers and hikers doing the same), before heading down Dan's Trail. The switchbacks have me intimidated again. I had to walk two, and unclip for all the rest. Back to the saddle and return to Peavy via Davies Road. No single track except for Dans Trail. Took a few pics. I'll try to upload them later. cheerio!

With a terrible weather forecast and still feeling weak from the latest round of colds we opted to skip the club ride and do something shorter, something that would be easy on the legs and everything else. Fun factor was the chance to explore some new roads. The forest was sloppy wet, and got wetter while we rode. Every drainage was running with water and creeks were overflowing their banks, but the roads were more or less clear, if you don't mind all the fir boughs and a bigger limb or two. I had read online that the 140 was closed, but we didn't see any signs of closure, so we opted to ride. Looks like there is some logging activity going on, but the road was passable. Once past the clear cut there is some nice riding under the trees, and plenty more run off from the rain soaked hills. The last time we were up here it was foggy. Today we had views to enjoy. Clear cuts aren't lovely to look at, but they do open up scenes of the valley floor. It was a short ride and we were...

The cold and rain have continued from yesterday, but at a much calmer rate. Ron wanted a quick ride just to spin out a little and work out the kinks in his legs. I wanted to ride up to Dimple Hill from the Oak Creek side as there is a small section we have yet to ride. This will finish out the total route for us. We started at busy Oak Creek trail head. No matter what the weather, the trail head is always busy with hikers, dogs, bikes and runners.It's a steady but easy climb for about 3.5 miles to the intersection. The bad thing about the weather conditions is the extremes from being too hot when climbing to freezing when descending or stopped. Once again I don't have a good ride and have to suck up another gel pack. Ticks me off, because I should be capable of doing this ride with no problems. I think it's a nutrition/fueling problem, but that is the stuff of racers, and I'm not that knowledgeable about nutrition for cyclists. After the gel I feel pretty good again and...

The cold and rain have continued from yesterday, but at a much calmer rate. Ron wanted a quick ride just to spin out a little and work out the kinks in his legs. I wanted to ride up to Dimple Hill from the Oak Creek side as there is a small section we have yet to ride. This will finish out the total route for us. We started at busy Oak Creek trail head. No matter what the weather, the trail head is always busy with hikers, dogs, bikes and runners.It's a steady but easy climb for about 3.5 miles. The bad thing about the weather conditions is the extremes from being too hot when climbing to freezing when descending or stopped.  Our turn around point was at the big intersection just short of the top. We hadn't planned to ride all the way to the viewpoint, and we were wet and cold, ready to be back in the car. Shortly before arriving at the top we hit a skiff of snow. None on the road, but you could find it along the hillsides and just off the trail. C-c-c-cold.   It's...