More Fun Than I Could Handle

When my wife approached me about camping with her folks at Clear Lake--which is near the beginning of the McKenzie River Trail (MRT)--it didn't take a whole lot of convincing. I believe that the conversation went something like this...

Wife: My parents would like to camp along the McKenzie river and would like us to join them.

Me: Do they mind if I bring my bike?

Wife: Nope.

Me: leaves to go pack and make sure lights are charged.

It was like a dream come true. All the riding I could handle... and some I couldn't.

Clear Lake is such a nice spot. The trail around the lake is 5 miles. The water is very clear (hence the name) and very cold. 34 degrees Fahrenheit most of the year. Since our camping coincided with hot temperatures, the cold lake was refreshing to wade in.

On the first day, after getting camp set up, I rode around the like twice. Once clockwise and then counterclockwise. It is much easier clockwise. There are some nasty rock sections that are much easier to descend that to climb.

Like this one:

I had plenty of time to take this picture, since I ended up walking this section.

The next day, I decided to the MRT proper. I left from camp with the plan to ride down the trail to Trail Bridge Reservoir and then turn around and retrace my route back up. I could have continued, but after Trail Bridge, the trail turns more mundane and I was interested in riding the technical bits both directions. The last time I rode up the MRT I was training for riding the North Umpqua Trail in a single day. Fitting, I suppose, that I have plans to ride the North Umpqua Trail in a few weeks--but taking two days, this time.

The ride started as planned, albeit a tad later in the day. The weather was warm, but not too hot. I had a full 70oz hydration bladder on my back and a bunch of energy gels. I felt on top of the world.

My first stop was Sahalie Falls. If you've ridden the MRT, you've stopped to look at the falls. They are beautiful.

As I continued on, my next stop was the Blue Pool. Such a... blue... pool.

By now, the day began to be hot and I realized that I had not been drinking nearly enough nor eating enough. I was starting to feel the ride.

I usually don't ride alone, and after this ride, I realized that when one rides alone, one does not stop as much as when one is riding with a group.

I downed some water and an energy gel and pushed on. I wasn't far from my turn-around point (2 miles) so I didn't want to stop long here. Shortly after the blue pool, the trail gets technical. This is what I was on the trail for. It was awesome, but really took its toll on me.

I was feeling the bonk coming on.

I continued to my turn-around point and turned around. By the time I got back to the technical section near the blue pool I was feeling wasted.

I sucked down even more water and energy gels--as many as I could stand. I knew that it wasn't going to help. I had ignored the warning signs; I had let my energy deficit get too large. There was no recovering while I was on the trail. For the next hour and a half, I had to slowly ride--sometimes push--my bike back toward camp. My legs began to cramp about 2 miles from camp--just below Sahalie Falls. I was in a world of hurt and the only way out was to continue slogging up the trail.

I ended up making it back. I didn't--but I thought about--hitch a ride the last mile to camp, though I did bail out onto the road after crossing back over the river upstream from Sahalie Falls.

What should have been a simple out and back turned into a death march. Next time, I'll drink more and eat more--sooner and more often. I'll have to plan for the hotter weather better, I'm too used to riding in the cooler temperatures that, until fairly recently, have been the norm.

I am happy to report that I recovered enough to do a night ride around Clear Lake before we broke camp and headed home. What a long weekend that was. Very fun, and very frustrating at the same time.

Exploration, Part 2

A quick recap... I went exploring on the road bike, ended up on STEEP gravel hills. Clearly, the wrong bike.

I decided that what I needed to do was head out again, but this time armed with the 'cross bike.

It seems like a yearly ritual. Every summer, I get to shed the fenders from my 'cross bike, making it look like a lean machine, rather than a sedate commuter bike. This summer's de-fenderization coincided with this exploration, making a follow-up ride to last weeks road-bike-on-gravel-roads jaunt doubly sweet.

I started by heading back up the hill that caused me so much pain before. From the other side, the climb isn't nearly as bad. Before dropping down onto the closed road, I took a look at the hillside surrounding me. Some of it had been clear cut. While an eye-sore, this time it was just what I was looking for. You see, they had to get the logs out, which meant gravel roads... and lots of them.

Sure enough, after a brief stint on asphalt, I found my road.

As is typical around here, it went up.

And up.

And it was steep. often surpassing 20%. But, that was why I was on the 'cross bike, after all. So I climbed. Whenever the road branched, I chose to go up. All of my effort was not in vain. Once I reached the top of the ridge, I was rewarded with views of Mt. Hood, Mt Saint Helens, and Mt. Ranier at once. Pictures do not do the view justice. Especially pictures taken with my phone. But, since it was all I had at the time...

(Hood is to the far right, Ranier is to the far left and Saint Helens is a little in on the left.)

Now, I just need to find some local singletrack.