The KZ2 was designed and built as a dual slalom frame, so it’s pretty sturdy. I’ve ridden this bike thousands of offroad miles, aside from a few rock dings and scratches, it’s still in great condition. The drivetrain has been upgraded from the original 7 speed Shimano Deore to 9 speed Shimano XT and the Mag 21 fork was replaced by a Duke 100mm. No disc brake tabs so the original Deore cantilevers are still on there. I recently put a WTB seat, new handlebars and grips on it, so it’s back to being a dependable ride. The rear rim is a little out of shape, but they are 36 spoke Sun RhynoLites, so it’s still got a few miles left on it.

Took it out today for a shakedown ride; it was easier to pedal uphill than the Trance X, but I’d forgotten how harsh the ride on a stiff aluminum hardtail can be on bumpy singletrack. It was faster than the full suspension bike in many areas, mostly because the cantilever brakes did not do a very good job of slowing the bike down. Disc brakes are really a great improvement to mountain bikes, for sure.

I’ll be riding the hardtail on the rides that are mainly on pavement and backroads, using the worn out tires from the full suspension bike, which can now be reserved for singletrack with tires that are not worn down from riding on pavement.

Got the kayak rigged up and got ready to get out there and do some fishing

Got out on the lake and caught a couple rainbows before looking to the west and seeing the early morning light on Mt. Hood

Best news of all; the fish were biting! Caught plenty of rainbow trout, all released to fight another day

Here’s a video of some of the fishing action

Looks like a bit more wind tomorrow, so it’s back to the bike.

You can see the mist coming off the water due to the 60°F water temp and the chilly 42°F air temperature.
The May “supermoon” was still pretty bright, even a day or two after the full moon.

Best news of all is that the fish were biting. Caught at least fifteen fish, all released, and lost another ten. Even caught a pikeminnow, which was worth $4.00, but I wasn’t signed up for the rewards program.

Most important, especially in this part of the country, is that there was no wind. Glassy water is something you rarely see around here.

Spearfish Lake is an easy place to go kayak fishing; easy to get to, free parking and launch and easy to get your kayak in the water. It’s a small lake and can get crowded at times, but if you hit it early, it’s a pretty good place for an easy day of fishing. There are actually two lakes at this location; Spearfish Lake, the lake in the photos above, is the larger and deeper of the two. It’s stocked with rainbow trout, check the WDFW trout stocking schedule. If you hit it within a week or two of the lake being stocked, pretty sure you’ll catch plenty of fish. Little Spearfish Lake is smaller and connected to the Columbia River by a culvert, so whatever is in the river will be in the lake, mostly smallmouth bass. A good place to try if the water is over 56° or so.

They are racing on the other side of the highway tomorrow, big time action for the swinging metropolis of Dufur, OR!

Here’s a short video clip of the Fir Mountain stage. I didn’t shoot too much video, I spent most of my time taking photos.

It rained most of yesterday and again last night, but today the sun actually came out and there were blue skies above.

Hopefully, we’ve rounded the bend and are on the home stretch to summer.

We’re not the only ones out on the road here. The Oregon Trail Rally is this weekend. These roads are fairly sketchy as it is, after the last couple days of rain, there are slick, muddy sections and chuckholes filled with water that can do some suspension damage, for sure.

As I said, plenty of roads through the backcountry

Up one mountain and down the next, that’s the way it goes around here. Below is a one-way elevation profile of todays ride; 2200′ elevation gain in 15.8 miles and nearly 43 MPH top speed downhill on wet, gravelly mountain roads.

Fun.

It was a sunny weekend and my friend Dan’s birthday, so he and a bunch of his friends came out to the Gorge and went for a ride on the Twin Tunnels Trail between Hood River and Mosier.

Stopped in Mosier to have a look at Mosier Creek Falls.

Most of the gang headed over to Everybody’s in White Salmon for beers and lunch, we headed home for beers and BBQ chicken, hot off the Hood River Hideaway grill.

Wrapped up the weekend by rebuilding the ultalight spinning reels so as soon as the rain slows down and the wind stops blowing, we can get in the kayak and go after the trout.

Keeping the fingers crossed for some decent weather.

It was looking like full-on summer on the trails that were exposed to the early afternoon sun.

It wasn’t all good news though. That infamous ice storm that blew through here a few months back did some serious damage to the forest. There were large trees down everywhere, closing off one of the main trails up the mountain.

The only way up was to use a trail that is normally exclusively a downhill route. It is probably the best technical downhill on the mountain, going up it is not nearly as much fun.

There is good reason this trail is called the “Triple Bypass Trail”, it is steep and twisty. Fun coming down, but it loses all it’s charm if you have to ride up it.

There were downed trees and branches as well as piles of debris from the ice storm everywhere.

It’s all worth it when you get to the top, take a few minutes to take in the spectacular view, then head back down the hill.

Looks like rain is coming, will it get here tomorrow or wait until Wednesday?

I was hot and Mandy did a lot of running to keep up with us and she did what everybody should do on a hot day; drink a lot of water.

Hardly a cloud in the sky, terrific riding with great views of Mt. Adams.

We rode a little over nine miles, with all of Mandy’s side trips into the woods, she probably did closer to ten.

We hadn’t ridden this part of the trail so far this year, there was another new section of trail as well as some new trail hazards courtesy of that major ice storm this past winter.

On the way home, there were some fantastic views of the Hood River Valley fruit orchards in full bloom. Not many places you can see something like this.

The fruit trees are in full bloom, by next weekend most of these flowers will be gone.

Another hot day tomorrow, then maybe some rain later in the week.

Got our 2012 fishing licenses, Discover Pass and Northwest Forest Pass so we are all square with the various government agencies. Have some plans for trout fishing next week and maybe try to sneak up on some unsuspecting walleye.