Monday, September 17, 2007

Devil's Gulch Ride - 09/15/07

Another early Saturday morning, and Mike, myself, and the ‘Nug’, are heading off to our next objective: Devil’s Gulch, outside of Cashmere, WA. Most who ride it claim it is one of the top 5 descents in the State. I was looking forward to it. It was a beautiful, cool morning to ride the 12-miles of forest road to reach the trailhead.

Mike set what I thought was a brisk pace, but I discovered minimal problems pushing slightly taller gears to match it. The ‘Nug’ was keeping up, so far. The first few miles are pretty moderate, climbing slowly. Soon, the road rears up, and the real meat of the approach starts. Conversations ceased as we all bent to the task. After a break, we continued on and reached the trailhead; the ride up took two hours.

Geared up, once again, we took off down the trail. It was pretty dusty, but still sweet. The trail, in the upper section, is smooth and fast with tight flowing turns. It was a lot of fun. Pretty soon, we were at the junction of the Mission Ridge ride. We re-grouped and then headed out again. This second section was still fast, but with tighter switchbacks and sandier edges. After a creek crossing, we took off again. The trail just continued to be fun, flowing, and smooth. Each section seemed to have slightly different characteristics, which kept it interesting.

We had hoped to ride Mission Ridge, as well, but ran out of time. Next time.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Little Bald Mountain - Turning a Frown Upsidedown

Little Bald Mountain, 25 miles East of Chinook Pass, has been on my radar screen for about a year. Mike and I had heard good reports about the ride, and the scenery was supposed to be stellar. People call it an 'epic' ride; as climbers who have had a few epics between us, we were braced for a memorable day.


I picked Mike up at 0515, in North Bend, and we headed out. Mike mentioned he was not feeling well, but we both hoped that it would pass and we could complete our objective. The twists and turns on 410 took their toll, and we took a "medical rest stop." Thankfully, after vomitting about seven times, Mike felt better. We were back on the road. The day was dawning crisp and clear, and Mt. Rainier was out in force. We continued over Chinook Pass, and started looking for the starting point for the ride. In preparing for this ride, we had found little in the way of good, concise information. We had a map from one source, a trip report from another, and a guidebook description - none of them fully jived. We missed the turn, found the turn, and drove around confused by too much information. We finally made a decision based on instinct, and the surrounding terrain, and went for it.

The 3,500' elevation gain is absorbed over a 15-17 mile ride on a very well-graded Forest Service Road. We both jacked in to our iPods, put our heads down, and made time. We took a few breaks and kept moving in the cool morning air. It was the first weekend of elk season, for archery hunters, and we saw a lot of rigs on the road. We made it to the start of the trail in about 2 hrs 30 minutes. We took time to eat and get Mike's new helmet-cam setup rigged for action. With out gear sussed, and a plan in place, we took off.

I took the lead and Mike followed with the camera. I dropped into the trail and found it loose, rocky, and dusty; quite different conditions than we found on Kachess. after the first 200-m, we took a left hairpin turn and started a sidehill descent towards a talus field. I was carrying a lot of speed, since Mike was behind me, and this proved to be my undoing. I bounced through a few rocks, and then got bounced into the uphill side of the trail. The brief airborne experience, which followed, included neither beverage service nor a complimentary magazine. I got tossed over the bars and landed on my shoulder. I got composed, checked for major damage, and started off again. We soon started pushing our bikes across a big talus field.

In a short rideable section of this talus field, Mike's derailleur got bashed by a rock, trashing his rear dropout. His derailleur was now smashed against his rear wheel. One half mile into a 12-mile descent, and we had a wreck and a major mechanical. The sun was shining, but not on us. We worked for about 15 minutes, and turned Mike's bike into a singlespeed. Mike chose a descending gear, not a climbing gear, so we pushed our bikes on the uphill sections we encountered. This negatively affected our impressions of the "flowability" of the ride. It also made us realize that, hiking is overrated.

After some nice twisty sections, we broke out onto the edge of the plateau for which this ride is known. Bumpy and dusty, we trucked along hoping for more exciting terrain ahead. We found it. The trail pitched down, and we entered a continuous series of flowing, banked turns. After that, we pushed for a bit, and found cougar tracks heading up the trail, very clear in the deep floury dust of the trail. We started dropping the remaining 900' of elevation in short order. Conditions warranted a bit of caution due to the rocky nature of the trail.

As if to exact one final toll on us, before spitting us back into the civilized world, Little Bald Mountain's whip cracked one last time. Dropping down final slope, onto the forest road, I heard Mike yell something. I looked ahead and decided to start braking. Not soon enough. My tires didn't bite well enough in the soft dirt, and I knew I was about to go down. I popped out of my pedals, and tried to land in the safest spot: right in-between a stump and a boulder. What's one or two more scrapes among friends? In all, we had a good time, despite the misinformation and misadventures.

On to the next objective.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Washington Mountain Biking

I took a good part of the summer off from mountain biking to focus on MMA training. I got some good Spring riding in but, training five days a week was kicking my ass for doing anything on the weekends. With Mike, my main riding partner, back in town, we set some serious goals to take advantage of the remainder of the riding season. So far, this late season onslaught has been about discovering new trails and riding some epic descents. Our plan is to hit as many 'big alpine' descents as possible; we've done the 410 Corridor, pretty much, it is time to move farther afield.

Close to town, Eric and Scott showed us the key to unlocking the sweet flow to the trails in the Tokul Complex. Our previous attempts in the area had shown us limited potential, at best. This time out, we were treated to some sweet singletrack: switchbacks, root drops, rocks, and buff forest floor.

Thanks to Eric, who supplied us with good beta, we did two awesome laps on the Poach Next Door. The admission price was worth it, both times. The first time around, we weren't even sure we were in the right place. Steep, buff, and tight, with nice drops and quick maneuvering to keep you on your toes (and poised over the brakes) all the way down. I had trouble getting into the flow on the first lap but, I made up for it the second time around.

Kachess Ridge
Time for an epic descent in the beautiful Central Cascades. The original destination was Little Bald Mountain; a ride I had been wanting to do since last year. Unfortunately, I had trouble getting my rear brake to bleed properly, and we had to wait until Singletrack Cycles opened up in order to set it straight. Well, that blew our original plan so Mike suggested Kachess Ridge, off of I-90. As a 20-mile loop, the eight miles of singletrack are accessed by a 12-mile uphill grunt on Forest Service roads. Mike had ridden Kachess Ridge the week before; he called me on the road home from that ride and told me the price of admission was worth the payoff. I knew it had to be sweet. The climb gains about 3,200', all in the last five miles. It was good training for some bigger rides we have planned.

We left the road at a beautiful saddle looking down into French Cabin Basin. We dropped into the basin and traversed across to another saddle. I dubbed this saddle "Flat Tire Pass", as I got a flat tire during the last hike-a-bike section to reach it. Immediately, the trail drops away and deposits you into a series of beautiful sub-alpine meadows, followed by beautiful forests. Drop after drop, bermed sweepers, sweet root sections, and awesome Cascade forests continue to deliver for eight mindblowing miles. 'How can this trail continue to deliver?', you will ask yourself. At each break, Mike and I were grinning ear-to-ear. The final mile, or so, has been pretty chewed by horses; it just forces you to use different skills to get it clean. Awesome ride; I'm sure we'll do it again this season.