Before we were racers, we were riders. I guess we are still just riders that like to race. Tim and I are fun hogs, so since we were going to take the plunge and drive all the way to the Spring Thaw for the first time ever, we made it a weekend by riding the North Umpqua on the way home.
The race was great. Big kudos to the organizers. I show up to register and get handed $5 refunded for the on line service charge. I get $5 for the Brewery and a free lunch ticket for race day, along with a printed schedule for the days activities, where things were actually on time. The course was, well, good for a race. 7 miles of climbing from the gun on road, then a couple more on singletrack. Then a long hauling sort of flat road for 10 miles or so, then 6 miles of descending on singletrack. My plan of trying to put time on Lizzy on the climb to pad my downhill skills did not work. She was my rabbit the whole way. But the road on the top I got lucky. I finally caught her group, flew by and never looked back. I had some great groups of guys to work with and then with my small mishap heading down the gravel road instead of singletrack (forgot which color arrow I was supposed to follow), I powered back up, got back on course and tried to just let it flow. Holding up some of the guys and trying to let them get by w/o losing too much time, I won by over a minute. It is good to have some new fresh fast ladies to actually race against.
The race was great. Big kudos to the organizers. I show up to register and get handed $5 refunded for the on line service charge. I get $5 for the Brewery and a free lunch ticket for race day, along with a printed schedule for the days activities, where things were actually on time. The course was, well, good for a race. 7 miles of climbing from the gun on road, then a couple more on singletrack. Then a long hauling sort of flat road for 10 miles or so, then 6 miles of descending on singletrack. My plan of trying to put time on Lizzy on the climb to pad my downhill skills did not work. She was my rabbit the whole way. But the road on the top I got lucky. I finally caught her group, flew by and never looked back. I had some great groups of guys to work with and then with my small mishap heading down the gravel road instead of singletrack (forgot which color arrow I was supposed to follow), I powered back up, got back on course and tried to just let it flow. Holding up some of the guys and trying to let them get by w/o losing too much time, I won by over a minute. It is good to have some new fresh fast ladies to actually race against.
1st place not the easy way!
Tim had a great race, finishing 2nd, but was beaten by some guy from Reno.So, with the racing part of the weekend over, we raced out of there to get to the house I rented on the N. Umpqua. The pictures had looked amazing, so I was excited to get there. It was not disappointing. We had a nice evening, chilling on the deck, drinking wine, making a nice dinner and listening to the rapids right below our deck. If you ever need a place to stay, you should check out River Vista.
Relaxing on the deck.
The view of the narrows.
Yep, it was cool.
Tim attempting to grill with charcoal. He did a great job!
Playing on Turtle Rock in the morning. The view to the right from the deck.Then it was time to hit the trails. We were woefully unprepared, very unlike us. We had forgotten our maps, info for the trailhead to the Dread and Terror section and there was no cell reception, so couldn't rely on the old iphone to save us. Whatever. We went. How hard could it be? On our first try, we ended up riding the Panther section. Then we saw a map that showed that we were not going to be riding to the Dread and Terror section from there. It was a great way to start. 10 miles (5 out and back) of pretty awesome singletrack. But then it was time to move on. You would think we would have remembered the name of the trailhead after looking at the map, but after driving 15 miles or so down 138, we had no idea. One area was closed so there was no access, but we finally made it to the Toketee trailhead, which gave us an extra section, the Hot Spring section, to ride prior to D&T. It was great, but I think the whole NorthUmpqua trail is great. You may be wondering why we were in search of a section called "Dread and Terror". Well, we had ridden it in '04 or '05, and remembered it being spectacular. And the name is fitting. There are some extremely technical sections, and a lot of fun, swoopy riding, but when not riding by the river directly, you are on a trail about 2 feet wide on a cliff that falls to the river, hence the name. Unfortunately we had enjoyed coffee on the deck a bit too long in the morning and with our Texas alpine start, we did not get the entire Dread and Terror section ridden, but the over 26 miles of singletrack we did ride was amazingly fun, challenging and hopefully we did a good enough job of using Tecnu afterwards that we will be free and clear of poison oak. And now I can just dream of the trail and look forward to going back. We discussed it and eventually we will do the fun hater event and ride from one end to the other in one day! A 79 mile adventure. That day will come.
Tim on the smooth Panther section.
Beautiful rock formations.
Finally.
Small rocky section on Dread and Terror.
Towards the end of the ride.
Weeping walls. Like riding through a waterfall. The section prior was so much cooler, but there was no stopping. It was too fun to ride!
Loving it.
One last slippery, steep waterfall to ride down.
Dirty bikes are happy bikes. Now the long drive home.
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