Singletrack Yummm!
I had an Amazing Ride Today at Red Hills. I spent the last half of the ride fighting to urge to stop for photographs and the other half chasing the fading light and trying to get back to the car quick enough. The result was just an absolutely amazing sunset ride. Glad I got out there!
Recently there’s been an effort near Santa Cruz to add a wildlife crossing and protected adjacent property near highway 17. Often highways split animal ranges and cross areas with critical food and water sources which all animals need access to. These highway crossings are particularly important for species with large ranges like mountain lions but they help almost all species living near the highway. The Laurel curve crossing will increase wildlife mobility and decrease dangerous vehicle-animal collisions which kill animals, damage vehicles, and injure or even kill people.
For a good idea of how these work, here’s a video of which talks about the effects of a similar program in Wyoming which added 41 crossings on a section of highway which significantly reduced the amount of road kill and increases human safety in the region.
My favorite post-ride recovery drink ->
2 shots worth of espresso strength coffee (I use the AeroPress).
2 scoops of chocolate whey protein powder. (or from Trader Joes)
About 4 ounces of whole milk.
Just add it all together and shake it up, keep it cold (not hard this time of year). It’s almost like thick mocha milk and slides right down. The whole milk and whey powder give your body plenty of fat and protein which it craves after a ride. In a pinch, it also serves as a decent breakfast drink. If you don’t like coffee, I’ve found orange juice mixed with vanilla whey protein powder works nearly as well, but the orange juice has simple sugars rather than fats.
Looking back at 2014, it was a good year for riding. Not my best ever, but the last couple years I’ve been off the bike a lot so I feel like I’m getting back into the swing of things. Compared to 2013, I rode 30 more days, 250 more miles, and was on the bike 33% longer. Total distance ridden in 2014 was over 1,587 miles (versus a bit of 1250 in 2013) including rides in California, Oregon, and Washington. Highlights included some amazing rides in Bend, a really fun day revisiting the Iron Horse trail and the 2+ mile Snoqualami tunnel with Fiona, and an amazing day climbing up Ape Canyon Trail to the Plains of Abraham on the back side of Mt. St Helens.
Not my strongest year ever, but a big step up after a couple years of slacking off. For 2015, I plan on riding even more and seeing more new amazing places.
Quite simply, add this ride to your bucket list. The views are amazing and the riding is incredible. I rode this as an out-and-back, but you can also ride it as a big 26 mile loop connecting it to Windy Ridge. Either route is amazing and worth your time. This is a tough ride for beginners, but intermediate riders should be fine. It’s a bit out of the way (I’ll pop back with mapping or send me a message and I’ll hook you up), but well worth it.
I suggest doing this ride on on a weekday as it’s a popular destination, I encountered 15-20 people on a Friday morning/ afternoon in the off season and it’s certain to get busier during the summer and on weekends.
Ape Canyon trail climbs up through a beautiful, lush forest only feet away from the blasted run-off field which is still recovering. The climb feels like a typical west coast forest trail except for the occasional glimpses of prior destruction. It’s only when you reach the top that you really appreciate the unique nature of this ride.
As with many of the rides along the Columbia River Gorge, views are spectacular near the top. Mt. Adams is seen here off in the distance over the Clear Valley.
This is the end of Ape Canyon trail and marks the beginning of the Plains of Abraham. The “Plains” are much more barren and feel more like a moonscape then a typical mountain bike ride. The trail flattens out a lot and the character of the trails is alien. Sharp broken up volcanic rocks and gravel and vegetation where it is is stunted.
The trail continues well past the Plains of Abraham where you get to see some spectacular views of the blasted western slope of Mount St. Helens. This is the side of the mountain that exploded and basically turned into a semi-gelatinous blob of liquid earth.
You can continue beyond this point, eventually the trail becomes Windy Ridge trail and you take a separate Canyon downhill and back to the car. I was short on time and pretty tired so I returned across the Plains of Abraham and down Ape Canyon which is itself a pretty amazing downhill. This is a ride, or the full Windy Ridge Loop belongs on everyone’s bucket list, it has the perfect combination of uniqueness, challenge, and spectacular scenery that makes it one of my all-time-favorites.
I had an amazing day riding some of the great trails on the east side of Mt. Hood. My route started at 8 Mile Campground and took me upcreek to Knebal Springs Loop. I rode both Loops clockwise, but I suspect most people ride Knebal Spring Loop counter-clockwise. Knebal is a great loop either way, but I highly recommend riding riding 8 Mile Camp Loop in the clockwise direction.
My route was an 18 mile double loop with about 3,100′ of climbing, there are long sections with fairly challenging climbing with 2+ mile sections at 8% grade which really wears on you, but the payoff is well worth it. Views are amazing, the trails are primarily fast buffed single track with a few short sections of choppy rocks mixed in to keep you alert. If you’ve ridden the trails at Phil’s trailhead in Bend or Boggs Mountain, you have a good idea of what to terrain-wise. The big exception being the steeper climbing and elevation which take a disproportionate toll on a rider so expect to cover a bit less ground. The views and the ripping downhills make it all worthwhile though, I highly recommend both 8 mile camp and Knebal Springs Loop.
The trails are well signed and fairly easy to navigate, I used the directions on MBPost plus a bit of help from some folks I ran into at the trailhead to get me onto Knebal Springs Trail. Once you get to the intersection of Knebal Springs and 8 mile camp loop, it’s signed well enough that most anyone can follow it. If you are taking Knebal Springs counterclockwise, you will ignore the first sign for it and stay on 8 Mile Trail until you get to the second sign.
What you can expect if you ride these trails.
Four Wheeling is strictly optional on this ride, but not discouraged.
… and Mt. Hood to the West. Take the bonus climb up to 5 Mile Lookout for the best views.
My day was done, I slammed a bunch of food and pulled out the mattress in the back of the car and took a good long nap before heading up to Seattle.
When I arrived in Bend yesterday I’d planned a short evening ride but it turned into something a bit bigger and wound up clocking about 20 miles though surprisingly less than 1000 feet of climbing. The trails off of Phil’s trailhead have fairly gentle climbs and are super smooth so you can really make time up them and downhills are fast and super flowy with uncommonly good sight lines.
I love the trails off of Phil’s trailhead because they are fun for pretty much any level of rider. Downhills are flow-filled and mostly smooth so beginners can really get a kick out of them but expert riders can challenge themselves with ridiculous speeds. They had some problems with the faster riders coming head on into climbers so recently they switched two of the main in/ out trails to one-way which makes speeding down a bit safer (but limits ride options).
Higher up and further from the mail trailhead, trails get a bit more technical and challenging which is what I was after. My goal was a particular section of Voodoo trail and getting to it turned out to be a bit longer than I’d planned. My 5-10 mile quick ride turned into a 20 mile journey, but it was a blast. Unfortunately, I didn’t prepare quite well enough and made a bad turn near the end of my ride and wound up riding about 4 miles in the wrong direction after sunset. I got a bit of assistance from a fellow rider (I poached his light) and I finished the ride going down some rather tame forest roads. Bad Ogre…. great day.
Heres the better pictures from the ride, click for the full sized versions, this first panoramic is particularly awesome embiggened.
After yesterday’s sunset ride in Hornbeck trail I discovered I could just overnight in the parking lot so I crashed there for the evening and did a morning ride. My plan was to do a quickie 5-7 mile ride then head out. Instead I wound up riding almost all the way to Shasta dam along the upper Sacramento Ditch trail. It’s a very nice, low key trail of which hugs the contour of the hills. The climbing is gentle and while there are switchbacks, they are wide ones which I’m confident even beginning riders could handle.
I saw some rather large bear prints which followed the trail for a couple miles which was kind of cool. The gentle trail and great views, turned my quick ride into a 15 mile spin so by the time it was over I was starved and ready for my coffee.
