Day 7: Bend and then Home!

On Monday night Thor had a great idea: that we drive 8-hours straight from Downieville, CA to Bend, OR so we could squeeze in one final day of riding before heading back home. So! Off we went at 6PM on our way north, and at 2AM we rolled safely up to our 'regular' campsite nears the Phils trail system in Bend. Success! Tuesday morning we were up early, and after a quick breakfast at Chow we hit the trails.   We have wanted to ride the Bend high country for a long time - so we were very excited to link together the following route: North Trail --> Upper Mrazek -->Metolius Windigo-->Flagline-->South Trail (at least...I think these are the trails we linked together...I have a hard time remembering after the fact even though I'm trying to get better about reading the map!).    This was our chilliest ride of the trip by far - and both of us were excited to have our long-sleeve jackets with us.  Check out our pictures from the ride (I actually had a couple more - but I can't figure out how to post them right side up! Every time I upload them they turn upside down. So only two pictures it is!)

We drove home post-ride and ended the trip with a tasty pizza dinner with Mom at Apizza Scholls. A fine way to end the vacation!

p.s. I know I haven't posted pics from Days 5 or 6 - but all the good photos live on cousin Erica's phone and she is still on vacation. =)
p.p.s. Check out Ralph's recap of the first couple of days of our trip on his blog - it's much better descriptive writing than you will ever get from me!

Tumalo Falls - much larger and more beautiful in person than the photo makes it look.

Thor at the high point in the ride. Look at that snow - brrr!

Day 4: Cheering the Pro - Tara Ilanes Classic Day 1

On Saturday we rolled over to Northstar Tahoe to watch Erica in the XC
race at the Tara Ilanes Classic - a two day event serving as a
fundraiser for people with paralysis. Erica had a great ride and came
in 2nd overall - it was fun to get to watch her ride!
For Babe fans out there we also saw a hilarious liscense plate in the
Northstar lot.

Day 3: Tahoe!

We got up early on Friday morning and drove the final 250 miles to
Kings Beach. We arrived to lovely, warm weather and a fun afternoon of
splashing around on the beach! Thor and I tried paddle boarding for
the first time and discovered it's trickier than it looks (especially
with two people on the board!) but still a lot of fun!

Later in the afternoon I took off for a quick leg spin with Erica
which was a treat! Erica just needed to get an hour of moving her legs
so we wove around the neighborhoods near where we were staying - it
was fun just to go on a low key ride and chat.

Day 2: North Umpqua & Crater Lake

We spent our second night camped at Lemolo Lake and woke up to
brilliant sun on the lake shore - it was an excellent place to enjoy
our morning coffee!

While Ralph headed off to do the Tokatee Falls hike Thor and I rode a
portion of the North Umpqua Trail - the Dread and Terror section.

We capped the afternoon off with a trip through Crater Lake National
Park - it was beautiful!!! I would love to go back to stay for a
couple days and hike around, and would highly recommend driving
through if you're ever in the area!

Day 1: Oakridge

We rolled out of town late Tuesday night after a last minute trip to
the hospital to visit good friends Margi and Scott and their new
little one: Spencer Allan.

We got into oakridge about 11:30pm and immediately lit a campfire and
popped open beers - vacation had started! The next morning we got a
real treat when Ralph pulled out a little box of pastries from Petite
Provence for breakfast - yum!

Ralph, Thor and I headed out on a lovely, leisurely ride on Moon Point
- and then finished up the ride with a ~5 mile section on the Middle
Fork of the Willamette. I learned the importance of shock settings on
this ride! I was just feeling TERRIBLE on my bike - getting bounced
around, riding everything like it was my first time - ugh. It wasn't
until we got to the bottom of the downhill that I remembered Thor had
borrowed my bike and we'd forgotten to reset the shocks afterwards. I
couldn't believe what a difference it made!

We wrapped up the day with a brisk swim in the river, and then piled
in the truck to head over the top of FR 2134 to drop into the umpqua
river valley.

Hooray for vacation!!!

Thor's Harvest

Look at this crazy carrot Thor pulled out of the garden this
afternoon! It has been a real bust of a year in the garden this year.
We were late getting things planted and then kind of neglected plants
for a bit mid-summer. We were super surpised to find this carrot
lurking in the corner of the raised bed!

Just Another Evening Stroll

Cousin Erica Takes 2nd Place in PCP2P!!!

Our cousin Erica is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! She got 2nd place in the Park City Point 2 Point last weekend - that is a BIG DEAL!  She beat some big names in mtn. biking (like Rebecca Rusch) and was only behind endurance biking phenomenon Amanda Carey!   Anyhow - Thor and I are super excited for her - and I just wanted to share the news on our blog so everyone can cheer for her from afar!

2011 Oregon Super D Finals

I just realized I loaded all of these photos up last week and never posted them!  Last weekend (9/4) was the final race in the Oregon Super D series - and both Thor and I started the race.  I won mine (yay!), but Thor had a spectacular crash that resulted in broken handlebars, his saddle sheared off at the rails, and a mild concussion. Poor guy has been nursing a joggled brain all week and is looking at lots of rest, water, and limited biking for the next 3-months to ensure his brain is back functioning full speed.

I was able to find one picture of me on the web from the actual race (3rd row down, 3rd pic from the right) - looks to me like I'm having too much fun and not working hard enough here! Overall my race went pretty well.  I had a slow start up top (the uphill section) and was behind ALL of the pro women by the time I got to the first split spot.  *Note to self that these women are not just fast riding downhill!* Overall I thought I rode a very clean run for me....until I got to the bottom third of the course and managed to get the worst chainsuck I'd had in ages!   I tried to just relax and pump my way through the rollers, but no amount of jimmying with my feet was getting the chain to break lose, and I was slowly losing speed - so I finally just decided to stop and get off my bike to jerk the chain out!  I was soooo annoyed and as soon as I got off my bike I was cursing like a sailor as I tried to break my chain lose.  I was finally able to jerk it out (maybe 20 seconds later?) and as I hopped back on my bike I realized there was a photographer sitting right there who had listened to me the whole time. Oops.  My most lady like moment!   Anyhow - i was able to get cranked back up to speed pretty quickly, but was convinced when I got to the bottom that I would be off the podium because of my mechanical. Not true!  I was able to squeak out my first win of the season in the Cat1/2 women's category - which put me in 2nd place overall for the series. Very exciting!

There were a couple big names in bike racing on the start list (Brian Lopes, Eric Carter, and Jill Kintner to name a view).  I managed to snap a couple pictures of them coming down in their pro race later in the afternoon - and Jill put up a post on her blog about the race here.  

Me - right after winning my race. I'm still smiling because at this point Thor hasn't crashed his bike!

Cat 2 Mens 19-39 series podium. Thor was thrilled to end up 5th  overall despite two DNF in the series!

Me on the top step of the Cat 1/2 Women's U35 podium for Sunday's race. I'm absolutely frozen! I need podium coaching from cousin Erica!

Yes - I know i'm on the 3rd place block here - but i really did end up 2nd overall! The 3rd place girl climbed onto the 2nd place block, and I didn't think it was a big enough deal to make her move. :)

Jill Kintner - 3 time world champion in 4x Downhill racing!

Brian Lopes - just an amazing blur as he flew down the course.

Thor with his banged up bike post race. Notice missing grip and  seat!

2011 Sandy Ridge Super D — More Mountain Bike Photos