It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Green

It’s been a really long haul, but we’re finally at a place where some bits are starting to feel close to “finished”. We just finished texturing the master bedroom and attacked it with the first layer of paint. Of course we didn’t go with a nice sedate canvas or beige, we painted it really bright green because neither of us like bland. We need to get some trim pieces and we have a really awesome idea for the top of the wall so stay tuned.

On top of the bedroom, we also got the inside and outside of the area around the front door mostly finished, the inside still needs some kind of trim. But it’s starting to come together nicely.

The kitchen wall is coming together as well, we still need to get a finish coat and there are big holes where the cabinets are going to be, but you can start to see what the final will look like.

I’m pretty proud of the kitchen island, the curves came out nicely and the laminate top should serve nicely until we can afford to drop a nice solid surface counter replacement. The sink and faucet we picked up on Craigslist for dirt cheap.

Dishwasher is here just not installed, the rest of the cabinets and appliances are going to have to wait until spring when we have a bit more cash for another big expense.

The full shot of the bedroom wall with Fiona painting the lighter accent color on the bathroom wall.

It’s a bit crazy how long this is taking, but when you can only put in a few hours a day and aren’t willing to give up on the things you enjoy in life (like mountain biking), progress can be slow.

Add the OTT to your Bucket List

Took advantage of a lay-off with generous severance to get a lot of work done on the house. A couple weeks ago I finally buckled down and started job hunting and landed a spot at a local shop. So asked for a delayed start date and took advantage of the time to get a summer’s worth of riding crammed into 9 days.

Last weekend I did the Oregon 24 with some friends then spent the rest of the week doing a well supported ride on the first 80 miles of the Oregon Timber Trail. Then I finished off this weekend with MBO. All of the past 10 days has been fantastic, but the Oregon Timber Trail ride is a notch up.

Continue reading Add the OTT to your Bucket List

S2R Coltus to Waldo

This post is part of a multi-post story about a 1 week trip we, started in Bend.

After another cold night I was just starting to figure out how to best deal with sub freezing temperatures and slept the entire night without having me feet go numb. I work up early again and was treated to another awesome sunrise, this time over Coltus Lake.

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Breakfast was French Toast again and we headed around the north shore of Coltus and caught the Metolious Windigo again as it wound it’s way towards Lake Waldo. The Metolious Windigo is a lot less volcanic here without the rocky road texture which made it so fun between Sparks Lakes and Lava Lake. This section has a lot of deadfall and we cleared a couple trees along the way.

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After curving around Lake Coltus, we passed Deer Lake and Coltus Mountain, eventually leaving the Metolious Windigo for good and climbing towards Charlton Lake and Lake Waldo. (Photo is Jerry shortly before Charlton Lake)

On the leg just before we turned off of Metolious Windigo, a branch snagged on my rear tire and snapped a spoke. I finished the ride with 27 spokes on one wheel.
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Kevin above Lake Charlton

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This leg of our trip had a lot of climbing and only a few really good downhill legs, but the section approaching Charlton Lake has some of the only really challenging technical terrain before we get to Fuji and Bunchgrass later on. (Pictured is Gabrielle just below a tight technical S-curve)
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Lake Waldo is always beautiful and Shadow Bay campground was quiet due this late in the season.

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We had propane bowl heaters to keep us warm and they were definitely appreciated as it was quite cold most of the time when we were at Waldo. (Pictured: Jerry, Dan, Scott, Davey, Al, Lee, and Gabrielle)
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There wasn’t a ton of partying on Tuesday night as we were all quite beat from a long day with a lot of climbing. Since it was Tuesday Dinner was of course Tacos! (Pictured: Ken, Kevin, Ogre, Andrea, Josh, Jerry, Dan, and Scott)

With 28 miles of riding which felt like mostly climbing, it’s hard to pick out a highlight. The section before Charlton Lake and a couple of the downhill sections along East Waldo were quite fun though.

We woke up to a light rain in the middle of the night which was a bit of a blessing. It knocked the dust on the trails down a bit and kept the temperature a bit warmer.

(Continued on next post)

S2R Sparks Lake to Coltus

This is a continuation of a multi-post story about a multi-day trip. Refer to the first story for context.

On Monday I work up early as I usually do when camping and was treated to some spectacular skies. Breakfast was French toast, bacon and sausage.

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After breaking camp, we got back onto the Metolius Windigo and headed for Lava lake. This section of the Metolius Windigo contours down slowly and has lots of little ups and downs with bits of lava rock poking out of the sandy soil. It was super fun riding this section on the single speed.

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Lava Lake is disappointingly not made of actual lava, but is pretty spectacular regardless.

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We cut between Lava Lake and little Lava Lake on a road and caught a short section of singletrack which cut over to the highway. From there we followed a power-line road and some forest roads to Coltus Lake.

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After setting up camp, some of us headed over to the resort for some ice cream and shenanigans. To celebrate his successful jump, Al bought us a gallon and a half of huckleberry ice cream for desert!
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Coltus Lake is isolated and quite beautiful, particularly with the cloudy sunset we were treated to.

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Monday’s riding was short and had a fair amount of transit along roads. The section of Metolius Windigo between Sparks Lake and Lava Lake was easily the best part of the ride, but camping at Coltus was an unexpected treat. The lake was idlic, there was almost nobody in the campground aside from us and aside from some winds in the evening it was a great place to camp.

(Continued on next post)

September to Remember (S2R) Wanoga to Sparks Lake

Since I’ve been so busy with the house build this summer I haven’t had the chance to get any really significant road trips in, so when the opportunity to go on a week long camping trip along the Oregon Timber Trail popped up, I jumped on it. It was appropriate that adding me to the trip made it a proper Baker’s dozen riders.

We were originally going to hit the first 130 miles of the Fremont Tier, but fires along the route caused a last minute re-route. Instead we rode from Bend to Oakridge, following much of the Timber Trail route, but adding a bit more single track where possible.

Breakfast
The first day we spent dealing with logistics and driving to Bend. We set up camp at the Wanoga snow park then did a short afternoon ride before dinner. Dan, Scott, and myself rode up to Dutchman to hit Flagline and the rest of the group rode Tyler’s Traverse. We got back just in time for a fantastic dinner served up by Charlie and Vic.

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On most mornings we woke up, broke camp, ate breakfast, then hit the trail. The first morning was a bit chaotic as we were just getting used to the rhythm of things, but we managed to get out of camp by 10 am.

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Our route took us up to Swampy Shelter, down South Fork and up North Fork to Tumalo Falls and to Happy Valley. From Happy Valley we jumped onto the Metolious Windigo Trail. At about 29 miles, this was one of the longer days.

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Tomalo is actually a bunch of linked falls, a fantastic ride and likely a great hike.

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Charlie (Our awesome Chef), and Albert rolling through Happy Valley.

Davey Sproket
Davey was one of the primary organizers of our trip…

Ken
… and Ken was the other.

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After Happy Valley, we caught the Metallica’s After about 29 miles we made it to Sparks Lake which had… fantastic views.

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At sunset and after the sun went down, things just got better, smoke from this summer’s fires has fled the Sparks Lake area and the stars were fantastic.

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Sunday nights dinner of lamburgers was almost as good as the Fish dinner we had on Saturday and company at the campfire was great.

The highlights of this leg were the fantastic views along the north fork climb past Tumalo Falls and the fun/ fast descents down South Fork and the Metolious Windigo. Camping at Sparks Lake was also fantastic.

It was damned cold though, I wasn’t quite prepared for sub-freezing camping. (Continued in next post)

Ape Canyon, Mt St Helens

One of my all time favorite rides. The views are fantastic and the riding is great. So far every time I’ve been ride here I haven’t scheduled enough time to ride the full loop but even as a 13-15 mile out-and-back this is an amazing trail. Make sure you get all the way to the top though, the Plains of Abraham are spectacular with unparalleled views of St Helens and views of Pikes, Mt Hood, And Mt Adams.

If there was any downside to this trail it’s the heavy traffic, even of a Friday afternoon I encountered about a dozen hikers and cyclists on the climb up and a few on the return trip. The other slight bummer is the descent isn’t very technical…. but you are so busy soaking in the views you hardly notice.

If you are planning a PNW trip, Ape Canyon and the Plains of Abraham should be on your short list.

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