Gorge Games

The Gorge Games returned this Summer with new promoters and event planners and a bunch of new events to attract athletes and spectators. I raced the Short Track mountain bike race on Friday morning. There were a bunch of big names present, including Mark Weir and the whole Santa Cruz team from California. It was a short and brutal race, with an unfortunate bottle-neck at the beginning that strung out the field early. After the morning race, Shawn Hanka and I decided to go pre-ride the Super-D course out in Post Canyon. It was being held on a trail called Borderline, which I rode a couple months ago with Todd and Laurie and Linda and Pete. The trail was fun when it was hard-packed and firm, but as the Summer has progressed the whole Post Canyon area has gotten very dusty, blown out, and downright dangerous at high speeds. We decided to save our money and go watch some events and ride elsewhere.

One of the more interesting sports was the skateboard slalom which was staged on Columbia Street, right in front of the Full Sail Brewery. There were two sets of pylons lined down the street that the skaters tried to maneuver through as quickly as possible. There was also the introduction of a Riverboarding competition over on the White Salmon River in Washington. It was a downriver race where participants jumped in the river on an inflatable boogie-board, decked out with helmets, pads, and flippers. They raced down the river as fast as possible, through freezing whitewater, rapids, and eventually dropping over Husum Falls. Crazy...

There was a great concert at the Marina on Saturday. Pepe and the Bottle Blondes got the crowd dancing as the sun set at the West end of the Gorge. Then the March Fourth Marching Band from Portland dazzled the crowd with their acrobatics and exciting rhythms.

Todd and Shawn and I loaded up the truck and headed over to the Siouxson Creek Trail by Mt St Helens on Sunday. I hadn't ridden out there for many years, so it was exciting to return to one of my favorite singletracks in the NW. There was a bunch of blowdown and snow, unfortunately, so we were turned around before the top of Huffman Peak, but we still got in plenty of riding and climbing. It was the perfect way to wrap up another epic weekend in HR.