Go John Go: October 2005

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everybody! also wanted to confirm that today is the last day for total gluttony, like eating at fine establishments like this:

oh yea, adventure points for eating at a BBQ joint in a storage facility last Saturday. not quite as good as the sausage sandwich I had earlier this month in Sisters, but good BBQ none-the-less. plus you can't beat the character of this place.

anyway, the off-season training regime begins tomorrow, November 1. I actually can't wait to get going and get back in shape... yee-haw!!!

we have a winner!

we have a winner!
Originally uploaded by johnny72k.

Aunt Missy and Uncle Jim came through with Travis's first bike. it's still a little big for him, but not for long! soon he'll be out there tearing it up with his dad.

Alfalfa

Alfalfa
Originally uploaded by johnny72k.

did a ride earlier this week out to the booming metropolis of Alfalfa... this is downtown... seriously.

and I think this was the post office

with towns like this clearly central Oregon is a contestant for "riding mecca". the middle of nowhere... complete with no traffic aside from the occasional gun-rack equiped pick-up. it's beautiful!

MTB crash video

check out the link at the bottom where you can download the video.

http://mountainbikebill.com/MilesCrash.htm

Lesson is always evaluate the "penalty for failure" !!

weather

holy cow! now it says "Rain/Snow" for Friday!!! oh my, the seasons are changing! it's like new to me again!

the 10 day forecast here

it's been 60s/70s and sun since we've been here so it hasn't really been an adjustment yet. my California sissified blood is going to have to thicken up again.

McKenzie River Trail

so I did this ride on Saturday and I've been meaning to post on it since then, so sorry for the delay. my newest MTB friend Cookie invited me to Vinnie's birthday ride on the McKenzie River trail. there were a ton of people there and I knew no one, but I was anxious to check out this trail and meet some new folks so I picked up Cookie & John and we hit the road for the hour long drive to the trailhead in the midst of the Cascades. I only had time to do half the ride, but it was rad... more than I can really type. I'm going to have to go back and do the whole thing, but it's definitely a day long 25 mile ride!

anyway thanks for getting me out there Cookie, showing me the trail and letting me meet a bunch of cool people.

of course being the new guy on the ride, I also had to be the guy with the broken bike. 2 minutes into the ride I broke my chain. but after a quick fix (good-bye stupid broken link) we were on our way. here's Cookie rolling through the thick forest:

after some cool bridge crossings and other waterfalls we rolled past Koosah Falls:

cool stuff!

after regrouping we stopped at Blue Hole

Blue Hole is where the McKenzie River comes back above ground again... it's the cleanest, bluest water I've ever seen.

then things got really technical:

we all tried this section a few times, and nobody made it!

unfortunately I didn't have time for too much more, so I cut out with some others at the halfway point where there was much yummy food and beer?! yes guys were drinking beer in preparation for the second half of the ride! I think I would've been bouncing off of every tree and rock I saw if I had done the same. but really it was a testament to the cool atmosphere of the ride and the great group of guys that were out there.

there's a bunch more photos added to my cycling set on flickr too, but I at least wanted to get something up... it was yet another super cool ride. with two waterfalls, an underground river and plenty of lava rocks, how can you go wrong?!

Local paper

Local paper
Originally uploaded by johnny72k.

we started getting the local paper, which I love by the way because I've never been into reading the paper, but since we're new to the area I'm all about getting the scoop on what's going on around here, which is quite a lot actually so I'm stoked, and now I'm just trying to see if I can make this run-on sentence any longer! anyway, I turned to the local section to get the scoop and this was the front page... gotta love any town that has MTBing on the cover of its local section, right?!

riding mecca

so yea, this is it, riding mecca. I always used to say Indiana, PA was it, but I'm sorry guys, it rocks out here! did another MTB ride today, unfortunately I had to cut it short... I think it would've been a 6 hour loop otherwise. there is over 300 miles of singletrack here. it's going to be a while before I've done it all (especially as winter comes and the snow level drops)... not that I won't be trying! anyway it's totally amazing, seems like I could ride forever and not be on the same piece of single track. here are some photos from today's ride:

covered bridge near the start of the trailhead... you always get bonus points when you can ride through a covered bridge.

when I realized there was no way I was going to be able to finish the planned loop I cut off the singletrack onto this dirt road. you can see Mt. Bachelor in the distance... and there's nothing paved between where this photo was taken and Mt. Bachelor, just endless miles of trails!

but then I was so close I had to take a detour to see Tumalo Falls before heading home... good stuff!

so yea, come to Oregon, we'll go for a ride!

Tacoma at night

Tacoma at night
Originally uploaded by johnny72k.

...well 5:30am really

Tacoma

Tacoma
Originally uploaded by johnny72k.

Day Two

Day Two started with some great scenery

but after a food stop in Redmond

it turned into a slog into a stiff headwind home. we were pretty miserable when we finally got home after 60 miles or so... more than enough for October!

check out all the photos added to my cycling set here.

sorry for the brevity... it's late. must sleep now. here's to posting directly from my phone from now on, instead of having to post a backlog when I'm tired! if you need more, Mandy's posted a nice summary of our first week over on our Knottsville blog.

Carl's Visit - Day One

Day One we headed out of town and straight up the Cascade Lakes National Scenic Byway

after 18 miles of climbing, we made it here

best sausage sandwich... ever!

best sausage sandwich... ever!
Originally uploaded by johnny72k.

gotta savor the off-season!

my mountains

my mountains
Originally uploaded by johnny72k.

no, I haven't gotten the chance to climb them all yet, but I have already taken to calling them "my mountains". they're calling to me... can you hear it?!

my daily walk to Starbucks

my daily walk to Starbucks
Originally uploaded by johnny72k.

in case you couldn't tell, I really love the mountains!

since we still don't have a fridge, I walk to Starbucks for breakfast. there's Starbucks, then Pilot Butte close up and then Broken Top and the South Sister in the distance.

first road ride

first road ride
Originally uploaded by johnny72k.

so I got out on my first road ride in my new hometown. after being late and having to chase I hooked up with a small group ride (there were five of us!) it was me, Ian, Dave (also a newcomer to Bend, a great guy who I had met on the MTB trails on Wednesday, and who told me about this ride) and these two. after Dave and Ian turned back, it was just me and these two who were hammering like crazy! I was just sitting wheels praying to be home soon! I'm all begging for mercy, "hey guys, it's October remember?!" then Steve Larsen is all, "I'm training for an Ironman next week." and Conrad Stoltz is all, "I'm training for the World Championships in a couple weeks." that's right, I've been here 6 days now and on my first road ride I end up with these two. as Conrad said, "didn't take you long to find a good ride!"

no it didn't. not long at all.

technicalness

technicalness
Originally uploaded by johnny72k.

oooh, steep up between the lava rocks! didn't quite make it... maybe next time.

so yea I finally got out on the bike. there's radness aplenty in the woods here. went up Kent's and Phil's trail then came down the Whoops trail giggling with glee! mucho fun!

which way is up?

which way is up?
Originally uploaded by johnny72k.

holy cow there's a lot of trails here! I had to stop and check my map like every 15 minutes. good stuff. it's pretty awesome!

The smallest bike I've found

The smallest bike I've found
Originally uploaded by johnny72k.

...so far anyway. This still puts us over a year out before Trav is on a bike. If you can find a smaller one, let me know.

we're here!

As I'm sure you all can tell from the slew of moblogs cronicling our journey, we've made it to Oregon and are getting settled. I have to say it's pretty rad up here and I'm stoked to have a whole new set of roads and trails to explore on the bike. I'll finally (it's been two days!) get out on the bike today and will keep you all posted on my finds...