Stopped in White Salmon to pick up the mail and went for a ride at my old stomping grounds. The trails have dried out and gotten a little hard at the lower elevations and nice and grippy up higher. No mud anywhere, even the cattle mud holes have dried up. Even at midday, the summer sun barely shines through the forest canopy
The forest trails, especially in the upper parts of the mountain are in really good shape
The high mountain meadow grass is lush and green and dotted with summer flowers. There were a lot of deer grazing that took off running when a bike rider goes by.
When you near the summit, you can see blue skies above. A few more pedal strokes and you will be at the top.
On the way down the hill, you have to stop and appreciate the vibrant green of the Cascade foothills
You can’t spend too much time checking out the scenery, one false move on an off camber trail and you will be kissing a tree.
Near the bottom of the mountain, I ran into a patch of loose dirt and rocks on a very steep trail, locked up both the front and rear brakes, which didn’t slow me down at all and had to lay the bike down to avoid hitting some trees. I hit the end of the end of the handlebar with my thigh, no blood, but it is going to be black and blue tomorrow.
Which is a great thing, because Mountain Bike Oregon is this weekend, so I am packing everything up and getting ready to head to Oakridge, Oregon tomorrow.
The blogging is going to be a little slow for the next few days while we are up in the mountains outside Oakridge. Be back with you all on Monday.