Yeah, I was gone for 10 days - didja miss me? (Shut up, JD.)
So, I wasn't going to take the bike, because I didn't think I'd get a chance to leave the Portland
metro area, and didn't fancy just riding the paved paths. But I took the bike anyway, just because -
well, who knows when an opportunity would strike?
I get over to the OR coast, and it pretty much had rained the entire week, but Fri and Sat were
beautiful and warm. The trails were a little soft, as I came to find out...
I wuz in the family truckster, rooftop box, bike and all, and we got into Newport early in the day.
I went down to the Rogue Brewery to check and see if they had anything fun going. As it turns out,
some surfing thingy was going on during the w/e, and the parking lot was filled with all manner of
vehicles, each sporting a board or four. With the rest of the family on the beach for the next
couple of hours, I figured to score a morning beer and then hit the beach with the rest of the fam.
After knocking back a nice barley wine (Old Crustacean), I head back out to the car to grab a couple
of things, and there standing by my car are a couple of guys right out of a Dew commercial.
"Hey, what's up?" says I.
"Nice bike," says one of they.
"Thanks," replies me.
Turns out that these guys came for the boarding thing, but had MTBs and wanted to check out some
trails they heard about. Now I had come to the coast with very little thought of actually riding,
because I didn't know any trails, and didn't know of any bike shops to ask about trails. But these
guys were semi-local, and knew some stuff. We make arrangements to meet back in the afternoon, then
cruise up to a trail not far from the brewery. Well, 10 miles or so, but that's not too bad, LOL.
The trail wound through some relatively flat terrain (compared to Loon Lake and where I ride
normally) in mature second-growth. No views, really, just the fresh smell of damp forest. The two
guys were riding FR rigs, and hucked just about every ripple they could find in the trail, and were
generally just being Dewds, but with restraint, and sticking to the trail. There were some areas of
mud, and the flat chainstays of the Fango did pack up a little, but it wasn't too bad. It wasn't the
clay-like [censored] we have on the East side, but it did make for some spectacular mud-freckles. 🙂 A
short ride, and a nice way to stretch my legs and get away from the HWY 101 traffic and crowds. Sort
of the true essence of why I ride, which I forget sometimes when I am not actually on the bike.
Didn't get a chance to ride any after that, but I did have a couple of other dewbies sneeringly quiz
me on the bike as I wiped it down in the parking lot before I put it back up on the rack. I guess if
you don't ride free-ride, you aren't a mountain biker. Hey, I have a skate-style lid - doesn't that
score any dewbie points? Come to think of it, strapping a bike to the top of a station wagon sort of
erases any cool points I might score for my rad apparel or ride. 😉
So, I get back to PDX, and the extended family is having a party, just because. I am approached by a
guy who I think came to my wedding, but that I have not seen since. "Hey, I hear you fix stuff."
"Uhhh, yeah, I have been known to fix a thing or two - whatcha got?"
"Well, I have this digital camera..."
I stop him and tell him a story about a Nikon Coolpix 800, an error message, and weeks of repeated
disassembly and reassembly. He reaches into a bag and hands me...a Nikon Coolpix 800. "Ahhh, [censored],
you don't want me to try and fix this thing do you?"
"Nikon wants $250 just to look at the thing, and that can buy a new camera," says he. "Take it, and
if you fix it, great. If you don't, no biggy - I'm not out anything."
As it turns out, it had the same error message as Penny's camera, and after disassembling, cleaning
and reassembling, the thing works like a champ. And he wouldn't take a dime for it. [Aside: J.
Pace's computer and printer were equally easy to fix. After he gives me a place to crash, he sends
me off with $1000 or so in used computer gear. Some folks are just about as nice as they can be.]
Hell, I'm just glad if I can help people get a few more years out of the stuff that they use. And I
don't mind lending a hand. [scratches head]
Well, it wasn't a spectacular vacation to the SW and dawn-to-dusk MTBing, but it was a change from
the normal grind. Good to be back,
innuendo. BTW, Bill - do I get that you live in or near San Dog? Got family in the Navy down there,
and will be there next spring. Do you drink BEvERages?
Spider