TandemHearts

Fresh off Veronica’s crash while riding her mountain bike, we had 5 days lined up for some spectacular difficult single track riding in Oregon. The North Umpqua River trail is a wonderful trail that we’ve ridden parts of in the last couple of years. We planned to stay at Steamboat Inn for a couple of nights and then shift to camping. We fixed the problem on Veronica’s bike that contributed to her crash and figured we would start with an easier section of the trail. None of the trails are completely easy. Any given trail segment varies from easy, smooth, narrow and safe, to steep, rocky, narrow and dangerous. There are sections where the trail is less than 18 inches wide, with a steep - often vertical - drop to one side. The plan was to ride the easy parts and walk the tricky parts for at least the first day. What was that line John Lennon has about plans? (more…)

In early June, Veronica heard about an organized bike ride called the Tour de Blast, that goes up the highway into the Mount St Helens National Volcanic Monument. It sounded like it would have spectacular views and a lot of climbing - right up her alley. We decided we would take ten or twelve days, stopping on the way to Washington to ride in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, do the ride, then go back as far as Oregon to ride the North Umpqua Trail again and ride around Crater Lake.

So, we loaded 2 road bikes on the roof of the car and 2 mountain bikes into back of the car, along with all our camping gear and set off the Pacific Northwet. Whiskeytown NRA is one of the few parks in the National Park system that allows mountain bikes on trails. We picked up a trail book and headed for a ride that had a lot of climbing and good views. This would be a sort of shake down ride, since Veronica hadn’t done any mountain biking in several months. Thom had been making good use of his time off to ride local trails, so he and his bike were ready. A few miles into the ride, we missed a turn and had to head back down a steep, paved road to get the the trail head.

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” - John Lennon (more…)

We spent a couple of days camping at Grover Hot Springs State Park near Markleeville, CA, just south of Lake Tahoe. We wanted to do a short “test” camp out to work out the bugs in our equipment and figure out what else we needed to buy. Of course we also had to do a little bike riding. On the drive up we passed some guys riding out of Placerville. They were headed up a huge climb and were taking a break. We stopped to make sure they were fine. (more…)

On June 2 I rode the Eastern Sierra Double Century. This ride features some of the most amazing scenery and the worst roads I have ever ridden on. Out of the five double centuries I have completed, it was the hardest for me. This ride starts at 4,000 feet and climbs up to 8,100 feet. Most people notice the thin air above 8,000 feet. The area is also extremely dry. I thought where we live was dry - 30 - 40% humidity is our norm. But in the Eastern Sierras the norm is 10 - 20%. The low humidity and the elevation really made this ride difficult for me. (more…)