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I finally took Little Joe’s slicks off. They’ve been on since just before Reach the Beach, and they’ve served their purpose well on the road, but it’s time to hit some single track.

I just threw on the knobbies and switched over the bike computer and adjusted my mileage on the computer; I figured that since I had to reprogram the wheel diameter, I should at least get a more accurate mileage (I rode a little over 100 miles before I moved my computer from my old road bike to LJ (Little Joe)).

El Cap and I are heading to Bend for a Men’s Weekend Getaway in Sun River. It’s a yearly event for the guys in our church’s Sunday School class. Saturday is always the day for the ride, and it’s where I first hit single track. It’s the Deschutes River Trail.

The Trail

We start from Sun River and ride through the labyrinthine paths to get to a single track trail whose name eludes me. Before long we make it to the DRT (Deschutes River Trail). It winds through dusty, rocky, and pine needle-ey trails until you cross the Deschutes at the Boat ramp. Before long you reach the descent at the head of Benham Falls. It’s a fairly crowded serpentine set of switchbacks, but once you’re past the viewpoints the traffic lightens up dramatically.

From Benham Falls to just before the Slough Trailhead, there is a fun set of bumps and rolling jumps. I never could take advantage of them with the Lumbering Rhino, but with the nimble Joe (complete with clipless pedals and shocks), maybe I’ll tap into my more adventurous self and see what LJ can do.

The trail then levels out and it’s more or less a scenic ride until you approach the Lava Island Trailhead. The mile before the Meadow Picnic Trailhead finally gets a little techical and hairy over some more steep and rocky tracks. The Meadow Picnic Trailhead is the best place to take a rest before turning back. I highly recommend laying down on the riverbank and dunking your head in the river.

All in all, the Deschutes River Trail from where we hit it until The Meadow Picnic Trailhead and back is about 25 – 30 miles, and with our preliminary approach through Sunriver, we estimated the ride totals close to 35-40 miles (El Cap, correct me if I’m wrong here), which on single track feels more like 50 miles or so by the time you’re done.

Note: These were all estimates, but when I post on the post ride, I’ll let you know what our computers say.

Wise Old Bike Guy has another unstolen bike in the works. It will be a 16″ mountain bike frame. He tells me he is still looking for a bottom bracket spindle. If you have had a bike stolen and a 16″ MTB would fit, contact the Wise Old Bike Guy.

For more information on unstealing bikes, go and Ask the Wise Old Bike Guy

Heading out to Hagg Lake

We survived the MS 150 ride. In our case, it ended up being the MS 138. That’s because we rode the 86 mile option on Saturday and 52 miles today (52 miles wasn’t technically an option, but we trimmed 23 miles off of the longer option). I was thinking that I would ride the 104 mile option on Saturday, but El Cap was recovering from a knee and hand injury, so we took it easy.

To view more pictures, visit my new Flickr photo album and TriGuy’s Flickr photo album

Saturday’s Ride: The Wine Country

George Hincapie: Lance Armstrong’s Lieutenant

The ride started off with much fanfare. George Hincapie, Lance Armstrong’s “lieutenant” on the Discovery team, graced us with his presence on the ride. He took off while Cap was having the great guys from REI look at his front wheel.

TriGuy on the move

Triguy was actually uni-guy for the beginning of the ride. He began with his tall unicycle. We turned a lot of heads at the starting line. On several occasions, people told him it was going to be a long ride. Even George Hincapie gave him a long stare. The secret is that Triguy’s Bianchi (aka Lorne) was waiting in his car 1/2 mile down the road. We took a few photos of Triguy and took off.

I’ll give you a lowdown of the 86-mile ride in bullet format:

• Started from Pacific University and rode to Hagg Lake
• Looped around Hagg lake.
• Rode through Gaston and took Spring Hill Road
• We took Spring Hill Road to North Valley Road and rode through — I can only assume — North Valley. This was, in my opinion, the highlight of the ride. The valley was gorgeous, and the weather was cool
• North Valley Road took us to Newberg, and ran into College (Hwy 219)
• We had lunch at Jacquith Park
• Headed out of Newberg and took Wilsonville Rd (very dangerous, we had to ride single file)
• Headed up the hills to Sherwood
• Took Sherwood to Scholls (via Elwert, and Scholls/Sherwood Hwy)
• Passed Scholls and took the Scenic Washington County road to Head towards Oak Knoll Winery
• Headed back to Forest Grove via the golf course and the water treatment plant
• Had a great dinner, shower, and massage ($1/hour)

Sunday’s Ride: The Woodlands of the Coastal Range

As was typical of years past, no one officially planned to ride the full Sunday ride until Sunday morning. In our case, we didn’t officially decide our route until we were 26 miles into the ride. We wanted to ride more than the short course (only 25 miles), but El Cap’s knee acted up enough on Saturday and was stiff enough on Sunday to discourage us from doing the full 75 miles (Triguy wasn’t too fond of saddle soreness either). Looking at the course, we had two options for a shorter course: turn around at the crest of the big hill to Vernonia or ride past the crest and descend to rest stop number 3 (before McDonald Rd).

We got to the top of the hill (by this time both El Cap and TriGuy’s knees were bothering them). We all decided that one, we didn’t need a rest stop in 3 miles, and two, we didn’t need to have to climb back to the crest of the hill after descending to rest stop #3.

We headed back down the hill (I tried getting my top speed, but I could only manage 36 mph on the mountain bike even while pedaling my hardest). We crossed highway 26 (probably the most dangerous section of both days), and we headed back towards Banks. We picked up a new rider for the next 12 miles or so. We then headed up one last hill to the last rest stop.

I must comment on this stop. It was right across the street from two horses in a field. When I set my bike up on the fence where the horses were, a great looking brown horse stopped by to see me. He checked out my bike then stuck his nose over the fence. I petted him then headed across the street to the rest stop. While there more riders set their “steeds” next to the fence. Before long the same horse began licking the saddles and handlebars of various bikes. He even knocked over one of the bikes.

We soon finished the last 8 miles by descending a short but steep hill. I hit my top speed of the entire event at that hill. I reached 44 mph, which is nothing for a road bike, but something for a hardtail mountain bike like mine.

We finally wound our way around some hills and corners and ended up at Pacific University, our start and finish line for both days. We had the best reception yet, all the “sprockets” (our kids) really whooped it up when we rode across the finish line.

I’m only a little stiff, but I feel this year was a success. So far, our team has raised over $1,000. Note: if you visit our team page on the MS 150 site, it looks like we’ve raised only $650, but both El Cap and TriGuy handed in donations during registration.

Goals for next year:

• Get more riders on the team
• Get a team jersey printed
• Raise more money ($1,000 per team member)
• Possibly have one or more ”sprockets” ride a section

While on assignment, my second task was to journey to Arizona, where we were to visit family and old friends. We started in Peoria, where my mother lives. After a few days, we were to move our center of operations to the south (The Pointe at South Mountain to be exact).

How shall I describe Phoenix, Arizona? In one word: dangerous! Yes, you heard me: dangerous. Phoenix is no longer for the faint of heart. I grew up there, and I have all the love in the world for my hometown, but I am glad we moved out of there. First of all, there’s the weather. On our first full day, the high was 118 degrees. On the second full day, my bride and I hiked Camelback mountain. We started at 5:00 am and it was already 105 degrees (and it was still dark).

Phoenix also still has an element of the wild west. You would think that out in Ventana Lakes, a retirement development, that life would be serene and peaceful, but only a few years ago, a disgruntled former resident shot five people at a homeowner’s association board meeting. Apparently, it’s difficult to attract members of the board.

Also, it’s dangerous to be a cyclist in Phoenix. As if the overall weather conditions and heavy traffic weren’t bad enough for cyclists, Phoenix now has two [strike that] three serial killers on the loose: the “baseline killer” and the two “serial shooter[s].” The baseline killer is a complete nutjob who has been responsible for the malicious deaths of eight people (at least). The serial shooter — now proven to be two shooters — have been targeting animals, pedestrians, and bicyclists in the wee hours of the morning from Mesa to Avalon — mostly along I-10.

Fortunately, for at least half of our stay, we were completely out of the standard range of the shooters. We were in Peoria, on the opposite side of the Phoenix Metro area (Peoria is on the north-west corner of the 101 (outer loop) freeway. Unfortunately, The Pointe at South Mountain was at the heart of all three killers. I knew that if I were to have the best chances of surviving a bike ride, I would only ride on the streets of north Phoenix.

Breaking News: The two serial shooters have been caught

This just in. It turns out that just this morning (Friday, August 4, 2006), Phoenix nabbed two men in the serial shooter (now shooters) case. They are certain that these are the guys who were basically hunting down animals, pedestrians, and bicyclists in the Tempe – Phoenix area.

I don’t care what some of you may think, but in this situation, I for one am glad the death penalty still exists in Arizona. If ever there was a justification for it, this would be it. Between the two of them, they were responsible for 36 shootings and 8 deaths. Call it retribution or pragmatism, I prefer to call it poetic justice (it’s just too bad Arizona no longer uses the firing squad).

Cyclists, you are now free (mostly) to move about Phoenix, just don’t stop to talk to any African American male wearing a fishing hat or fake dreadlocks (that’s the description of the Baseline Killer), and you should survive (that is unless a car gets you, but at least that would most probably be an accident).

I went on special assignment to Southern California and Arizona during the past week and a half to be the Fellowship of the Chainring’s ambassador of goodwill. Actually, we took a family vacation, and I brought “Little Joe” for the ride. I only had time for one ride in So-Cal because we had to take the family to Knotts Berry Farm one day, and the other day, I had to figure out how to put the spd-styled cleats on my new Addidas shoes (you would think that they could include a little note with the shoes that told me to cut out the rubber plug).

Anyway, on the third and last day, I finally got to ride along the coast. It was beautiful. The temperature was around 100 degrees inland, but with the off-shore breeze, it felt like a cool 90. I was worried about the breeze slowing me down, until I realized that all I had to do was ride parallel to the beach, and I would only have to deal with cross-winds.

I started at Bolsa Chica and Warner (only about a mile from the beach). I took Warner to Highway 1 (at Sunset Beach). I headed south-east along the beach. Highway 1 has a great shoulder, but they are doing construction, and I had to be routed to the bike path along the beach. The bike path is great for cruising, but not for training for the MS150; the speed limit was 10 mph. I pushed the limit, but I didn’t want to go more than 14 mph. I was somewhere on Dog Beach before I realized the construction was over (a cyclist on his road bike tipped me off).

I headed back out to Highway 1 just in time for the Huntington Beach street parking section. This was interesting navigating this section. You have cars driving about 35 mph and just enough room to ride next to the parked cars comfortably (as long as no one opened their car doors). I made it through that whole section without smashing into any car doors, so I was pretty pleased to get that nice shoulder back.

I had one of two goals with one main restriction. My goal was to either explore the Santa Ana River bike path or see if I could make it to the Newport Jetty to see the world-renowned surfing at the Wedge. My restriction was that because the kids were napping and we were supposed to eat fish tacos at Wahoos before seeing a movie, I was to ride out for 1 hour and then turn back.

I crossed the Santa Ana river bike path with about 10 minutes before I was to turn back. I took one look at the path and kept going. I don’t know about the “source” of the bicycle trail, but by the “mouth” of it at Highway 1, it was simply a glorified canal, and the beach was much more scenic to look at. Besides, I really wanted to see the Wedge, even though I knew I couldn’t get there in 10 minutes. I opted to continue on Highway 1 to Balboa Ave and continue until I could find the jetty.

Here’s a shot of the Newport Pier at about the spot where I turned around

I pressed on even knowing full well I would be late in returning. After all, as long as I rode at a faster pace on the way back, I could go a little farther. Right? Sure! I took a right at Balboa and continued looking for the jetty. I passed some guys on low rider bikes, and they gave me some what are you doing in our territory type looks. I feigned disinterest and acted like I wasn’t nervous, but I soon decided I would rather ride on the 10 mph bike path with a large crowd than accidentally wind up in a bad neighborhood or something. You may be laughing, but you must understand that I know nothing about Newport, and I would rather find out whether it’s gangland territory or not by researching on the internet than by experience.

I fought heavy traffic to get to the beach path because I was right at the Newport Pier where there were many shops and crowded parking lots. By the time I got to the path, I headed further south for a few hundred yards before I realized that I still couldn’t spot the jetty. By this time, I had been out for almost 1 1/2 hours, so I snapped a picture with my cell phone (see above) and headed back.

Here’s the sign to Huntington Beach during my return trip

I made better time heading back even though the cross winds were fighting me a little more directly. This was mostly because I knew exactly which way to go to return and I was determined to stay on Highway 1 as much as possible without taking the detour until absolutely necessary. I cruised on Balboa and then joined up with Highway 1, and made good time passing both Huntington beach and Dog beach mainly because I didn’t have to contend with parked cars (they were only on the side of the street where the beach was).

I made better time, that is, until I got a flat. I noticed it almost immediately after having to take the detour. It was a slow leak, so I rode until I got to some shade by a snack bar or something that was closed. It turns out that I ran over a small screw. After I removed the screw, I could still see the hole. I could have switched with a new tube, but I thought a patch would help with the hole provided I made sure I repositioned the tube in the exact spot. This was easy enough since the hole lined up almost perfectly with the valve stem.

18 minutes later (hey! I had to let the cement dry completely), I was on my way back. The rest of the ride was uneventful, but I had a good time. I was ready to apologize to my bride upon my return, but only one of the kids had awoken from her nap. After all was said and done, I rode a total of 26 miles and averaged 15 mph.

Bottom Line

I recommend the ride. My main advice is to give yourself enough time to fully explore the area. I recommend sticking around long enough to do 2 or 3 rides with different goals (one to explore the beaches, one to check out the jetty, and one to journey along the Santa Ana). The beach path would be great for a romantic cruise with your loved one, but don’t expect to get much training out of it unless you stick to the streets. The jetty would have probably added about 10 extra miles to the ride to make it around 35 or so. The Santa Ana ride could be up to an 80 miler or more (one site described it as being almost 40 miles one way). It’s a there and back ride, so the mileage would be up to you.

I finally got around to finishing my post on Reach the Beach. Since it was a big event, I thought I should at least finish the post, but I faked the date so it appears as if I posted it last June. If you’re interested in seeing a few pictures or if you’re interested in doing the ride on your own or joining the event next year, check it out.