Well, as it turns out our svelte young rider didn't get much riding in on his Western tour. He
finally managed to rent a Specialized FS (that appeared to weigh as much as him, but I didn't check)
in Portland. We headed out west early to beat the heat (record-setting heat wave today).
I offered up a couple of trail choices, and he picked the trail behind door number one - smooth
blazing singletrack.
We took a chance and climbed up an unknown fireroad, and in no time we were swooshing a 3-mile
downhill run. It was a great trip down, but seemed to go awfully fast. Probably even faster for Jon,
as he was flying at a pace that was a lot faster than I was comfortable riding. This trail is
perched on the side of a several-hundred-foot hill, and has loose edges that have caused several
ugly crashes over the past few years. I saw his tracks REALLY close to some of the loose spots, but
he made it out unscathed, which in itself is an accomplishment.
The next stretch we rode as an out-and-back; lots of climbing this time (for which that Specialized
was REALLY poorly set up). It was a little rough for me - first, I leaned out a bit to miss a
branch, only to have it jam up inside my Camelbak and hang me like a piece of wet laundry (I have a
nice big welt across my back). Then a big branch jammed up into my derailleur and bent the hell out
of it. We never did get it working right, but it was rideable.
Dust was all I saw of that young'n most of the ride, but we still had many opportunities to stop &
chat & enjoy the scenery. It was a fun time on some great trails.
Sorry, no pics. Both of us thought about bringing a digicam, but neither
did.
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-BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)