Mountain Biking in Oregon

Thom and I took off for a few days to do some riding on the North Umpqua Trail.

http://www.tandemhearts.com/umpqua-2...umpqua-009.jpg

The first day I destroyed my chain, derailleur hanger and derailleur five miles into the ride. I have a few bruises, but mostly my pride was hurt as I was a mere 5 feet from the top of a tough climb. The rest of the day was spent driving 100 miles each way to get the parts to fix the bike.

The second day was way better! We rode the same section of trail - really a fire road called River View. Then crossed the river and did the Mott and Panther sections of the Umpqua Trail, about ten miles of single track. The Mott section is in the picture.

The third day we did the Dread and Terror section of the trail. Last year I had a hard time on this section. I walked a lot of ups and downs. This year was much better! I didn't walk very much at all. About 8 miles of singletrack, very steep, lots of rocks, roots, loose scree... And I had a blast!

http://www.tandemhearts.com/umpqua-2...umpqua-010.jpg

This one is from the Dread and Terror section.

There are more pictures on our website and a little bit of commentary.

V.

Great pictures! And you look downright skinny!!

That looks fun, fun, fun. :D

Great photos! You look great!

Great photos! Glad you had a good trip. When does school start??

I start a week from today. The kids start in two weeks.

V.

Wow - another week! Nice! Em starts Thursday. She's very excited.

Yeah - today I'm getting a new dishwasher installed and doing groceries. Tomorrow I'm volunteering at school for 3 hours in the afternoon. Thursday, I'm volunteering for another hour. It's what we call our Kick Off days. Parents find out who their kid's teacher is and hopefully fill out all the paperwork that's required at the start of the year.

Friday is a play day with SK. :D

This weekend the man wants to rototill the front yard and put in sod. You know, we've only been redoing our front yard for like two years.

So, this last week will go fast. Plus there are all those books that I wanted to read for work...Kids' books and professional books.

Still... it's been a fantastic summer.

V.