Photo Dump #3

Been pretty busy, but have thrown in a few adventures over the last couple of months. Been on the bike more than I'd like though. Here's the proof.

Punchbowl Falls

This was an urban adventure of the boozy kind. I mean this was a work trip...

Ghost Bar - the Palms

Doing a little fly fishing on the Rogue

A little cyclocross action with Andrew

The pain cave 

Spent a lot of time muddy

Deschutes River Trail - Turkey Day 2012

Have to announce that I found an un-opened PBR on the ride. Sometimes you get lucky!

Another urban adventure - Holiday Ale Fest

Deschutes River Trail - The Gorge Section

I've wanted to do this ride for a few years now, but the distance from Portland always turned me off. That combined with not know which bike to bring. Cross or mountain. What pushed me over the edge though was the recent birthday present of a fly rod and waders. Now I had two excuses to head out to the Deschutes River.

I finally settled on the cross bike with 32x700 tires. In the end, this was more than enough. Definitely should have brought a little lube since the trail was so dusty. The only thing I was worried about once I got on my way were goatheads. The tire poppers from Hell! Luckly, I didnt get a flat till I pulled my bike outta the car that evening. Those are the best kinds of flats.

My goal was to ride out to the Harris Homestead then turn around and do a little fly fishing when I got back. The trail/road was in very good condition. Mostly doubled track, but only one track was used significantly so it was pretty much singletrack :)

Lots of rafters, drift boaters, power boaters and fly fisherpeople out on the river. I would love to come back in the spring and do a bike packing trip and fly fish.

Another thing to note is that since this section of the river is very popular for raft-in/boat-in camping. There are a hand full of pit toilets along the ride. One came in very handy!

Here are my photos.

Lots of groups camping along the way

One of two abandoned rail cars and the stead

Got a little bumpy, but most people appeared to ride in the center, which actually worked out pretty well.

Harris Family Homestead with Orchard. Early 1900s

Same view years and years later. 

End of the road for me. Water tower for the trains. Fed by a natural spring up on the ridge

Racing Cyclocross - Barton Park

Barton Park

This fall season I decided to try my hand at cyclocross. During the prior year, I started following cyclocross events online and watched a few vimeo and youtube videos and came to the conclusion that it was something that I would like to try. I also wanted to get into road biking as a good form of cross training. With that in mind, I purchased a cyclocross bike from my LBS, and also picked up a extra set of rims equipped with road tires. Not the ideal set up for road biking, but it would work for the mean time, but as a cyclocross setup, it would work great.

With very little time on my cross bike and very little training ( yes I tried a few mounts, dismounts and barrier hops), I signed up for a race in the local Blind Date at the Diary series. I raced in Cat C because I couldnt make it in time for the beginner race. Overall, it was a rough introduction into cyclocross as the race takes place in the evening under the lights of the baseball fields and other pop up lights, but not all of the course was lit so it was a little nerve racking sliding around in the dark amongst many other like-minded individuals. I soon realized that I went out way too hard and was cramping and exhausted by the time I crossed the finish line. In the end, I placed well, 18th I think in the C's, not bad for my first event, and I definitely knew that I wanted to race more.

A few weeks later, I signed up for my first Cross Crusade event at Barton Park. The Cross Crusade needs little introduction for those pugged into the cross scene. Once again, I raced Cat C because I didnt want to get up super early to make the Beginner race. I described the cross as a little muddy, but I later read that it was the driest Barton course they'd ever seen. Oh well, it was a good excuse to try out my new tires. I took this event at a much slower pace early on as I did not want to blow up like I did in my last race. I also did not know the course so I took the first lap and a half to get comfortable. Somehow during the first two laps, I failed to recognize where the finish line was and hammered hard on the third lap only to realize that the finish line was not where I expected and I had half a lap to go. So once again, I bonked hard and wasnt able to hold off the people that I had passed during my surge. However, I finished the race very happy and was glad that I came out to race. I look forward to next year and getting a group of friends together to race and maybe...... put together a team. We'll see.

UNT

Bryan

PS. No pics from the Blind Date, only Barton Park.

Oh this is where the finish is...

Saltzman Cross Loop

Last week I finally gave in and purchased the cross bike that I had waiting on layaway for me. I had been waiting almost 4 months to get it because I wanted to do the financially responsible thing and wait till I had a salaried position before dropping the cash. Well… things were/are looking good from that standpoint so I made the plunge and picked up my new Fuji Cross Pro from Performance bike.

My goal is to use it primarily as a fitness tool, but I plan on trying out some races this fall as well. The Cross Crusade looks like a hell of a lot of fun. I will buy some new road tires soon and eventually get another set of rims to make the transition between road and cross tires more smoothly and time efficient. The gearing on the bike is a little different than typical road bikes so my bike isn’t positioned to be a excellent hill climber. But oh well, more fitness for me!

I plan to ride the bike on Leif Erikson Dr. a lot and do loops from my house (like the one below). Still trying to find out which firelanes are the best for riding on, but I am really enjoying riding on Leif. It’s nice to get off the main road and cover some ground all while staying in the comfort of forest park.

Look for more upcoming post regarding how I am adjusting to ramping up my training. Stay tuned.

Cross loop

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