Tuesday, May 31, 2011

We Are Free - Another Escape from Bellingham to Bend

Ahh it's Memorial Day weekend and that means it is time for a road trip. This year was no different, so we loaded up the truck and went to Bend. Bend, Oregon that is. Brew Pubs, Moutain Biking, Sunshine and Snow. Snow? This time of year. Yep. Crazy but true. A little snow storm snuck in and gave us a little chill, but that did not stop us from getting some nice mountain bike action.
I'd already posted some pics (here), but thought I would put together a little video. This video is in HD, so go ahead select 1080p and set it to full screen mode.


Saturday, May 28, 2011

Bend Mountain Biking - A Nice Little Ride Called Woops

Hola everyone. We decided to escape the gloom in Bellingham and head out to Bend for little sun and fun. Well  the sun show up every now and then, but we are also getting a bit of rain and even snow. Crazy.
Today we did a ride that had it all:: Sun, rain, hail and even a bit of snow.
We went riding just west of Bend in Deschutes National Forrest. The trails here are specifically built for mountain bikes with all kinds of twists and turn. Super fun and fast. The destination trail was woops and we had to climb over 1000 feet to get there. After living for half my life at a mile high, I found the slog at 5000' to be kind of a bitch. It took me a good hour to finally get my breath working.

 The Climb up Phil's Trail was Sunny

The climb was worth it although it started snowing just before we got to the top. Big wet nasty globs of snow. It's almost June, so what gives?
I could feel my calves starting to tighten up in the cold. When we finally got to the top of Woops, the sun came out and we started to thaw out. From there we headed down Woops, stopping once to thaw our hands out. Woops is a blast, a nicely engineered ride with little jumps, table tops and nice big banked turns. You can go about as fast as you want on this trail.


Snow. End of May. Really?


At the bottom of woops, we picked up Ben's and headed back down to the car, stopping a couple of times to thaw out and try out some of the stunts. We were rewarded with a clear blue sky and a dry trail. Did it even really snow?


Sunny again. Shawn riding a log


More Photos



Thanks for taking the photos Shawn!