MTB'n in Austria on "The Knife's Edge"

Mountain Biking in Austria. I believe the trail is called "The Knife's Edge." BTW, no thanks.

Why I Wear a Helmet When Biking

HT: Brian Visser

Maia the Mountain Dog II

I took Maia the Mountain Dog out to explore a new trail today. The trail is a part of the Sage Hills trail system and is a wonderful addition to an already great place to ride. Here are some pics if you are interested.

Snomobikin'

We just had to give it one more try, but instead of mountain-biking, we wound up snomobiking. Have a nice winter Horselake Mountain Road. So-long Stairway to Heaven. Bye-bye Bermuda Triangle. See-ya Suspendend in Paradise. It's been real, Road Rage. See y'all next spring!

Maia the Mountain Dog

Taking Mondays off works well for my weekly routine, but it usually means that I'm riding alone in the foothills of Wenatchee. But, it looks like I might have a new mountain-bike-buddy: Maia the Mountain Dog.

The first time I took her with me, she waited for me as I chugged uphill and I waited for her as we zoomed downhill. Maia's FTFPD (Full-Time-Four-Paw-Drive) is much more efficient than my OMOWD (Old-Man-One-Wheel-Drive.)

But today, Maia led both uphill and downhill. Even at the very end of the three-hour ride she still had enough energy to chase "squirrels" off trail, bounding through the brush like an antelope . Here are a few pics if you're interested.

Tronson Ridge Trial

My son Jason dropped Doug and me off at the Mission Ridge parking lot at 6:30am. From there we biked west on the Liberty-Beehive Road, north along the Tronson Ridge Trail, up and down Sand Hill, up Peavine Canyon and then down No. 2 Canyon to Wenatchee. Thirty-seven miles of breathtaking vistas, a gain of 5800 vertical feet, one gi-normous rattlesnake and 8 1/2 hours of good company and edifying conversation.

This was definitely a "bucket-list" ride. For several years I've been admiring Tronson Ridge from the east and wondering what it would be like to ride down the trail that follows its spine. About half-way down Tronson Ridge, Doug and I agreed that we would encourage some of our friends to ride this trail, but only the ones that we don't very much like.



As we were descending the east side of Sand Hill Doug was (as usual) a minute or two ahead of me. As I zoomed down the track I had to stop suddenly to avoid running over a rattlesnake that was coiled up in the middle of the two-foot wide path. The serpent showed no signs of moving on so I hiked my bike through some sticker-bushes to get around him. I caught up to Doug a few minutes later he asked me why I was delayed. When I showed him a picture of the rattler he grinned and said, "Oh yeah, I just bunny-hopped* that." (Sheesh!)



If you're interested you can see the whole buncha pictures here.

*Definition of "bunny-hop": Some mountain-bikers (like Doug) ride clipped into, i.e. attached to, their pedals and can, by throwing the weight of their torsos upward, "hop" their bikes one-to-two feet in the air as the hurtle down the trail.

Red Hill Trail

The Red Hill trail just north of Cashmere, WA is one of the best trails in Chelan County. The track itself was not in the best shape, but the vistas were breathtaking, the ride was challenging and the fellowship was sweet. Thanks Jas, Tillys, Strahms and Lanes!

"The Notch" at Moab

Here is a video of some MTBers going down "The Notch" at the top of the Porcupine Canyon Trail. We went down the same section with an inch of snow on the rocks and a little later with 4 inches of mud on the ground.

Blecchh-Toosh!

Warning: All the beer and ale sold in the state of Utah, by law, cannot have an alcohol content exceeding 3.2% (in Washington and Idaho the same brews will have an alcohol content of about double that.)

The local breweries try to cover up this travesty with cool names like "Polygamy Porter" (ad slogan: "Why have just one?"), "Full Suspension Pale Ale" and "The Devastator Double Bock" (ad slogan "Utah will never be the same"). But the sad truth is these ales are just plain lousy.

The modern day prohibitionist-prissies have even suceeded in requiring ales brewed and bottled elsewhere to have the same lo-alcohol/lo-taste restriction. Brian finally gave up all together on the Utahoovian near-beers and was reduced to ordering 7-up with dinner. As we say at home, "Blecchh-toosh."

Moab Day Three (Continued)

Here are a few pictures from Terry's camera taken on day three, coming down the Porcupine Canyon rim. As I wrote earlier, when I went over my front wheel I somehow got the crotch of my cargo-shorts wrapped around the rubber grip of my handlebar. So I was "attached" to my bike, and my bike was pinning me against the ground. Very awkward, somewhat embarassing and quite funny to my fellow MTBers.

Moab Day Four

Today we drove north out of Moab to a place called "Sovereign Trail." It was a nice single track with lots of "doable" technical sections. We experienced three seasons of weather in four hours of riding: hot sun, rain and even a little bit of snow. Again, the fellowship was sweet and the riding superb. "All this and Christ too!"

You can see some pictures of the ride here.

Moab Day Three

Today we took a shuttle to a trailhead somewhere near the top of Porcupine Canyon (elev. 7200 feet). We began our descent just above the snow line. Not long after we began cruising down the hill we had to negotiate "The Notch", a muddy 100 yard "hike-a-bike" section that was nearly vertical. We all made it down (barely) except for Terry who got tangled up with a tree branch whilst slip-sliding down the narrow rock-strewn trail (see picture.)

The Porcupine Canyon Trail is a wonderful mix of technical, jeep and "exposed" tracks. "Exposed" means that the trail is often right next to a one-to-two-thousand foot cliff. Scary, but rather exhilarating.

Terry did two "slo-mo-endos" (an endo is when you flip forward over the front tire) one of which we got some good pictures. I also did my own "slo-mo-endo" during which I got my handlebar grip firmly lodged in the crotch of my cargo-shorts. I think I'd still be up there if the guys didn't extricate me from my own bike.

All in all, a great day. Great fellowship and a great ride. You can view the pictures here.

Moab Day Two

On day two we went to Slick Rock just outside of Moab. You can view the pictures here.

Moab Day One

On Thursday, April 29th, I flew down to Salt Lake City where Brian Visser (Josiah's father-in-law) Mark Filicetti, Chip Gallagher and Terry Pape picked me up at the airport amidst a mild snow-storm.

From the airport we drove south towards Moab, Utah and stopped on the way for a short ride out to the Klondike Rocks. You can view a Picasa web-album here.

Check out the dinosaur tracks too!

Rattlesnake Springs Ride (Part 1)

This was a nice little ride with breathtaking vistas. You can read more about the trip here.

Horselake Mountain Road Report

Good news Wenatchee MTBers: As of today, Horselake Mountain road is ridable to the meadow and beyond. Between the second gate and the meadow there is one small patch of snow that is not rideable going up. But everything is rideable coming down. The bottom of "Suspended in Paradise" looks dry, but I didn't ride up the trail. Enjoy!