Sadie Kate and I just got back from a way-fun mountain bike trip last night. She's posted her account of our days on the Amici Veloci website but I thought I'd relay my version here under "Adventure Stories".
Now I'm fairly new to this mountain bike thing, so I was--frankly--a wee bit nervous about making it through the trip without any broken bones or gashes that may require stitches. Thankfully SK brought her soft tail Litespeed for me to use...the rear wheel of my pig-of-a-bike weighed more than the entire Litespeed!
On day 1 of riding, the relatively mild Deschutes River Trail, I fell no less than about 8 times. I got really dirty and really bruised but no blood and no broken bones. SK coached me on the "tank traps" and found that once I got in them I became enamoured and she had a hard time getting me out of them. We did about 21 miles this day, I think.
The biggest mistake of day 1 is that we didn't go have martinis at the Bendistillery. I kind of needed it when we got back to ChezPetunia (HQ of the Oregon chapter of Amici Veloci) and saw that my lovely hyper Lab had destroyed a window screen. At least she didn't shatter the window.
Day 2 was the ego-booster day up around Sisters. I did not fall AT ALL! The downhill was fast! There was only a little "sand" and at no time did it grab my wheel and flail me across the trail! I made it over the "canal" hump without going over the bars! Whoopee!
It was at the end of this day that the molasses cookie craving began. Again, no martinis. What were we thinking?
Day 3 was a "drop run" in that we got dropped at the "top" by Petunia's shuttle bunny DH and got to ride mostly downhill for about 20 miles. Piece o' cake, right? This is the day that saw my greatest blood loss.
It was a root. Right next to (right of) a 10" lodgepole pine. On a pretty narrow section. With another tree on the right side of the trail. I made it over the root with my front wheel and then slowly fell into the lodgepole. They have kind of rough bark. They were really only minor scrapes and cuts but shook me up quite a bit. That and the fact that it took me a while to get unwedged from between the trees. Think "Winnie the Pooh in Rabbit's hole".
We ate a good portion of a bag of molasses cookies this day. And that night, we had martinis. Good thing.
Day 4 was the bestest. We did an "epic" ride of 24 miles, though it was only supposed to be about 20. We did a bunch of climbing (about 3000' total) and fun descending. The scenery was incredible. We ate a bunch of molasses cookies. We looked at rocks and plants and laughed and smiled a lot. I rode over a bunch of roots without incident. Nothing like being forced to confront your enemies.
It was such a great trip that now I'm depressed that I'm home. And I like being home. But I'm looking forward to the next one!
Oh! and I have some photos here on my Yahoo! site (choose the Bend folder).
