As the snow melts I get to head higher and higher to ride. We rode along Tumalo Trail, up North Fork and then across to Mrazek and Farewell. There was only one spot we had to work through snow (about 6 steps) and then there were about 8 trees down on Metolius Windingo. The weather was hot and sunny and the sights were remarkable. Flowers, snow capped mountains and beauty that can't be described. Summer is sure shaping up to be a whole lot of fun.

Change of Pace

One of the best things about Bend is you are so close to everything outdoors. After work the other day, I met some friends to paddle. We packed up the car and were up at Sparks Lake in no time at all. Kayaking until the sun sets and then enjoying some beers. Good times.

Derek and I rode in Oakridge on Sunday - well worth the 1.5 hour drive. The trails in Oakridge are steep and varied. Some sections have steep rocky switchbacks, some are smooth with a jungle feel. This ride ended up being a bit over 4 hours with lots of great views and plenty of heat and climbing.

View down after the first climb. The trail actually started down at that water.



HUGE trees everywhere.




Here is one of the rocky steep switchbacks I'm talking about.



Can you pick out Derek?

Helens

Last week a big contingent from Bend packed up and headed to the Mt St. Helens area for a few days of mountain biking and camping. It was PERFECT weather and I had a really fun time. I lived in Washington when the volcano blew back in 1980 but I was a little girl and was amazed at how much things had grown back. The trails were very different from Bend and we enjoyed the variety of terrain.




Mt St Helens big and bold.



That's the trail along the ridgeline!






That's Mt Adams in the background.

It has been a long time since I've written anything here. Summer is in full swing and I've been incredibly busy riding, spending time with friends, washing my bikes, and enjoying life. We started off summer on the wrong foot with daily thundershowers and sometimes giant hailstorms! I've ridden in the rain more times this past 30 days than in my whole riding career I think. Trail conditions are really nice right now and I'm writing this after having just returned from an evening ride. Here are a couple shots from my past rides. Darn camera batteries having been playing tricks on me lately. Everytime I go to take a pic the battery is dead. Grrrrr - I've missed a lot of good shots because of this.











I can't go overwhelming myself with all these words so I'll save some for another day.

Sometimes Life is Real

Thursday night was girls ride night but we were cut short by an unfortunate incident. We came across a man that was unconscious on the trail. It looks like he was riding his bike up Phil's Canyon and just collapsed because when we came upon him the bike was still between his legs and he was on the ground. CPR wasn't able to bring him about and he never regained consciousness. I can't say I've ever had that kind of hands on experience with death. RIP Ray.

On a happier note, Friday night was the First Annual Bend Bicycle Film Festival and it was sold out! I love the cycling community here, everyone is so fun and supportive and the movie submissions were great.

Today was trail maintenance day so I helped out on a crew that worked on a section of the new trail Funner. It was tough work in the hot sun and we were treated to Phil's Trail Ale and a BBQ afterwards. Yet another chance for friends to hang out and enjoy life.

Saturday was my first ride up to Bachelor this year. Derek was doing the bike leg for a PPP team so I rode my bike up to the mtn and then flew down. Along the way I caught up to a guy who was down from Seattle for the weekend to visit some family so we rode together and chatted. It was good to get out on my road bike and grind away.

Sunday I got a little lesson on fly casting at a park by my house. I definitely don't have it down yet...I'm using too much power and not enough finesse. No fish were harmed during this activity since we weren't even using hooks and not near any body of water! I don't know if I have enough patience for fly fishing but we'll see.