CPR 2012

This is the year of the "rides."  I've never been one for large organized rides or races.  The C2C is the "biggest" I have organized (that and the weekly Thursday night rides and Saturday morning rides), but for some reason everything is falling into place.  The 2012 "season" so far includes the Beaver Freezer, CPR, MDE, TOE, and C2C.  Others on the schedule are the McKenzie Trail, Mary's Peak and Black Rock.  I would also like to do the NUT, Oak Ridge and Sandy Ridge.

This past week it was the CPR.  This is a great local supported group ride that is put on by Michael Jacob and his supportive team.  I don't know how many years they have done it, but I heard rumors of it and finally got on the mailing list.  This brought together many of the local hard core (meaning dedicated year round riders) and visitors from other cities.  I'm terrible with names it was so great to see 25+ riders (men and women) and try to put names I've heard about with their faces (making the BBQ would have helped).

The ride started at 9:00 a.m. at PV and wound through Mac and Dunn forests for 34 miles and 6600 feet of climb. It had been raining off and on all week, but Saturday's weather was dry and overcast.  Perfect for along ride.  First peak was Vineyard Mountain going down the Tower Trail, then down Beta to the first aid station at Sulfur Springs bridge.  Then the second peak was the top of Stick n Eye, from there it was a wild slick ride down Shout, and I was the first rider down. It was more wild as the progressed.  Then it was up to Lunch Counter for a well deserved rest (and lunch).  The fourth peak was a long haul up to NW Passage.  I was feeling it then, but had a great time riding new trails (Vince's and Tin Can) and All About Frank (Chuff).  Then it was time for the "Signature Climb" up to Forest Peak, this one did finally really wear me out (I hike a biked about 100 yards to my legs under me again at the top).  We went down the Ritz trail system (Tunnel Vision, Viagra, etc) and out to the final aid station.  By now it is about 2:45 and I promised Janet I would be home at 3:30 so we could head to "Food Cart Fest" in Portland.

This is wear I made my mistake of the day.  I didn't rest my legs for the final climb up "poison" a long step gravel road climb to the 5-way. I should have some great treats at the aid station (loved the potatoes and potato chips and salt drink) and added water to my Camel Back, but we pushed on.  For the first 3rd of the climb I was okay, then the "wheels" fell off and my head took over.  When that happens I can't make myself push through, so once again I found myself hike a biking the middle part while I recovered.  I was the 3rd rider over the top, but it wasn't pretty.

Got to the car at 3:30, and by my computer I was at 32 miles and 4:58 in the saddle (I didn't go down Bonzi, but when straight down the road). I got to the car with my knees shaking trying to get my heart rate down and covered in mud (but a big smile). The only real incident as the hug cramp I got in my left calf as I tried to step up into the Explorer. It was also humorous watching Wayne almost drop his bike as he tried to lift it onto his car rack on top (I as glad to have a rear rack or I would have done the same thing).

Made it home at 3:45 and we got on the road at 4:10 for a 6:00 p.m. start at OSMI.  It was great, I could eat everything I wanted, but I did miss the after-ride BBQ and swag give-away, but I have the pictures, t-shirt and memories of a great event. I only got a mosquito bite of poison oak on my arm and one on my leg. I think all the mud protected me, but the blackberry's on Little Frank got me good.

Smiles, Clean and Happy at the start

First Aid Station

Lunch Counter for Lunch

Lunch Counter and 1/3 complete

Log Crossing on All About Frank (Chuff)

Coming Down Beta

Aid Station #2, should have ate, drank, and waited longer - Poison Oak Protecting Mud

A T-Shirt to prove it

Cross Training - Beaver Freezer Triathlon

I needed something to motivate me through the winter months of "road" riding.  So I signed up for the Beaver Freezer which is put on by the OSU Triathlon club (it happens to be the largest indoor, because you swim indoors, sprint triathlon in the country). This was their 20th year and they have almost 500 racers. I trained for about 10 weeks (swimming twice a week), running on the treadmill and riding his mountain bike. I never did them all in a row, but I would combine two (bike then run, swim then run). This is a very easy race to do, and I enjoyed the fitness the swimming gave me. Here is how it went:


They cap at 500, and this year they had 481 finishers (256 men 225 women). They run relay, road, and mountain bike divisions with age groups. Average time was 1:26:11 for the road and 1:41:47 for the mountain.

I was in the Mountain Bike division with a 7:35 a.m. start time. Start times are determined by swim time, you have to put down a time in advance and I put 15 mins, which is a slow time, so I went off in the second set of swimmers. They try to match you to similar swimmers and you go in 5 second intervals with a max of 5 to a lane. I turned in about 12 min times for the last week of practice, and I swam this one in 10:38 (including getting out of the pool and running through the doors (you are wearing a timing chip), and I could have been even faster I think.

I realize now that time is lost or gained on your competitors in the transitions. I wasn't that fast (though it seemed like it to me), with an average of about 3:30 minutes (again the timing chip tracks that). I road my 29'r with my tubeless mountain tires at 60 lbs. Slicks would have been much better, something for next year.

So here are the mountain bike results:

The mountain bike winner did it in 1:15:47, I finished in 1:28:06 (average time was 1:41.47 for the mountain bikers). That gave me 17th overall, 15th in the men, and 3rd in the 50-59 age group (winner was 1:20:52 in the 50-59 group). Sunday night Monday morning is when I felt the stiffness in my legs, and you get great permanent marker tattoos on both legs and arms to prove it. Now 3rd sounds great (and I'll take it), but the mountain division only had 72 riders (32 men and 40 women) because we are tougher it scares everyone to road bikes.  So there was not a big pool compared to the road division and to be total transparent, there were only 4 in the 50-59 group. The road bike riders had 409 participants. The male winner of the road ride did it in 55:12.

Here are my stats and the mountain bike winners stats:

Swim: 10:28 (8:44)
Transition 1: 3:36 (4:02)
Bike: 45:17 (39:09)
Transition 2: 3:34 (1:29)
Run 25:10 (22:21)
Total 1:28:06 (1:15:47)

Great fun and I would recommend it to anyone.

http://people.oregonstate.edu/studentgroups/triclub/freezer/

Before the start with gear laid out

Cool Tattoos

Does he know what he is doing?

St. George Riding

The advantage of having a son who lives in St. George, is that when the weather is wet and cold in Corvallis, you can go visit him.  That is just what I recently did. While the Saturday ride group were finding rain, mud and snow on Forest Peak, I was in clear blue and 65 degree weather in St. George.  Started the trip by riding the Green Valley trail system which is just south of St. George in Bloomington.  This is a great system of rolling trails and a great way to get acclimated to the riding style needed for this area.

The next day, we drove about 30 minutes from Hurricane to the Gooseberry Mesa trail head.  We then climbed the dirt road up from the first parking lot and had one of the best rides ever coming down the North Rim trail, the Practice trail system, Drops and Ledges, and finished with the Windmill trail (this is a bucket list).  Coming from the Northwest where you lots of fire road climbs and sweeping downhill runs through the trees, this was more rolling terrain over "slick rock" (sand stone) that worked through the natural obstacles and along the North rim. The interesting thing is that a lot of the trail is marked by white dots on the rocks. You can't climb the rocks in Oregon like you can in St. George.  It was all it is advertised to be and more.  Just a great event.  Like riding in Bend, when you can hit these trails about a 5 days after a rain storm, the trails are in perfect condition and no dust.

The final ride is the Jem loop, which starts at the Over The Edge (OTE) bike shop in Hurricane (http://otesports.com/locations/hurricane/) which is a great place to get supplies and your bike fixed.  They also have an espresso machine. This is about a 20 miles loop with a little double track.  It is a very exposed ride, so it a good morning or late afternoon ride.

St. George also has some great bike shops like Red Rock (Specialized) and Bike Unlimited (Trek).  Pick up one of the great color trail maps at any of the bike shops.

Balancing Rock on the Green Valley Trail

Painted Hills - Green Valley Trail

1st Parking Lot sign

North Rim Trail as the sun is coming up, looking over the valley

Breath taking views - Gooseberry Mesa North Rim

Windmill Trail Head

Go Beavers!

Night Rides

If you live in Corvallis and want to ride year round, you have to invest in some good lights (see my "Things I Use" tab for some great cheap lights). With good lights you are not limited by the sun and you can see the trails by a "whole new light." (I know, I couldn't resist). Two recent events have brought this home even more to me.  The first was the first annual (I hope) "Phantom of the Woods" ride at Halloween.  The was an even put on by some of the riders from Peak Sports. You showed up at the ride (many in costume) and were given a map and the check points you needed to find.  At each check point, there were glowing pumpkins, strange decorations, and a task you had to perform before you could go to the next stop. There was also a large bag of candy at each stop to provide "fuel." There were about 15 riders who showed up, and the rest of you missed out! Stops included getting a tattoo and picking a bloody finger for a prize number!

The second event happened last Thursday on our weekly night ride. We left about 9:15 from the Oak Creek gate and climbed to the "Dan's" junction (where the roads meet on top). As we came to the top, Maggie the trail dog started parking at what seemed like a bear.  There were 6 of us, and you should have laughed at the conversations.  No one turned to leave, nor did we want to change our route (which required us to go by the "bear" who run and hunkered down about 10 yards off the road that we wanted to go on), because in reality we all wanted to see it. So we decided to go as a group and then the "bear" jumped up and charged on two legs! Again that split second of "fear" before two other riders came out of the woods and the bear took his head off.  It was just some of the other regular riders waiting for us with a gorilla suit. Well done and had us all laughing!

Night riding (with good lights) opens up a whole new avenue of adventure and experiences. We've climbed by a full moon to the top of McCullough without lights, startled deer, heard the coyotes, seen owls, and trapped rabbits in our headlight beam. Things you just doing get to do in the daytime.  And with good lights the riding is just as good and as fast (you drive your car 65 mph at night don't you?). Especially with bears in the woods and goblins in the trees.

Mary's Peak in the fall

It has been a good October for mountain biking. The rain has helped the trails be tacky, but not muddied out. Plus the rain hasn't come and knocked the leaves down. On the peak, going up the East Rim trail was awash in yellows. We started about 7:30 a.m. and it was about 50 degrees. As we climbed to the parking lot, the clouds rolled in and it wasn't really raining, as much as just being in a storm cloud. The 4 of us surprised the group of workers who were all bundled up standing by their cars as we punched through the trees.


All the downed trees (but one new one) have been removed from trail and it is fast and flowery. Some of the roots were moist, which made for a few slip outs. A few bumps, bruises, and bent finger, but most of all there was a lot of smiles and whoops. One of the best rides around and the sun broke out as reach the suburban. Perfect.

James climbing into the color on the East Rim trail

Ofer at the 2nd switchback on the East Rim climbing into the clouds



Ofer at the 3rd switchback "the Stairs" on the East Rim trail

Ofer on the North Rim trail



Corvallis to Coast (C2C) 2011

This year's C2C was on Friday, July 8th and was one of the best ever. While it has been raining almost all of June, the skies were clear and not to hot.  6 of us left the Bald Hill parking lot at 5:45 a.m. with a temp of 42 degrees (it was 65 when we arrived in South Beach).  The late rain made everything green, so there was lots of over growth on all the trails.  This was particularly true as we road down The Nettles trail.  It was very soft and muddy in parts and very over grown.  The Tunnel and the Tank Trap trails were also close in with some great mud bogs (especially The Tunnel).  At Harlen, we met up with Darin who had road in from Burnt Woods (because of a work emergency), so 7 of us climbed the Randall Saddle and dropped into the coast side.  The first few years we did this we had all full-suspension bikes, now we have 29's, 1x9, hardtails, and even one crazy impressive rider (Frank) who did it on a single speed full rigid (amazing). We took all the right turns this time and only had one flat. Stats are:

Time: 5:45 to 2:45 (9 hours)
Miles: 60
Saddle Time: 6 hours
Elevation Gain: 6000
Ave Speed: 10 mph
Bike Specs:
3- 29r
4- Hard Tails
1- 1x9
1- Single Speed

At the finish, time for a BBQ

Enjoying the flowers before the "Tunnel"

The Nettles Trail

Picture Point - looking at Yaquina Bay - all most there

Just a nice moring ride

All kinds this year - single speed front and center

Mary's Peak - Another reason to live and ride in Corvallis

I have mentioned several times what a perfect place Corvallis is for mountain bikers.  There is year around riding and within about an hour, even more of the best riding in the country. But the best part is the variety, from Black Rock groomed obstacles to the high desert riding in Bend, to the forests of the McKenzie Trial or Oak Ridge.  One of those gems close to us in Mary's Peak.

A group of us said good bye to the rain, the snow, and June by hitting Mary's peak.  We started at the Woods Creek parking lot and road the watershed road to the East Rim trail head, then climbed the East Rim to the parking lot and up to the top.  We finished by coming down the North Rim trail, which was in perfect condition, except for 15 large trees that were down across the trail (most in the top half).  This was a week before the 4th of July weekend, so I hope they get cleared soon. 

This ride has it all, spectacular views, great climbing, technical descents, even a log ride at the bottom.  It is a special place that is shared by hikers and bikers (and no horses).

Climbing the East Rim

Near the East Rim Bench

What a view

On Top

Riding the Roots on North Rim