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.

Rossland, BC

Jonas and Anna have owned a small house up in Rossland, BC, for the last few years. Unfortunately, they decided to sell it this Summer so, before the new owners moved in, I joined them for a quick bike vacation up there. I drove up right after work on Saturday, arriving at about 4am when it is already light out so far North. I had a quick nap, then we went exploring the trail system on Red Mountain. The town of Rossland is very quiet in the Summer. I think most people visit here for the skiing in the Winter. We happened to be there on Canada Day, so most businesses were closed for a few days. There are no traffic lights in town, and only one small, expensive grocery store. But it is also known as the mountain bike capital of BC. The trails are definitely challenging, and are more technical than most of the singletrack back in Oregon. There is even a skills park in the middle of town for folks to practice riding skinnies and teeter-totters and wall-rides and tabletops.



We packed in many kilometers of riding in the next few days, including an epic trip up to Nelson, about an hour to the North. The folks at the shop in town suggested we ride Paper Bag, a classic ride in this area. There are steep slabs of granite and long ribbons of continuous rock to ride, plus the occasional man-made feature off to the side. The weather was pretty hot. I don't remember sweating so much while riding. I was soaked more so than I had ever been in Moab or even in Baja! Maybe it was because of all the lush trees and flowers and the lower elevation. The country up here is beautiful, with steep canyons and dense forests and scree fields and tons of wildlife. We never saw any bears, but saw their tracks and scat quite frequently.



The snow was melting pretty quickly on the higher peaks, and by the last day of our trip we were able to ride the entire Seven Summits Trail. We trudged through a few snowbanks, but it was another clear and sunny day and we could follow the trail pretty easily. This route is one of IMBA's Epic Rides, and you can see why with stunning views off both sides of the ridges that connect these peaks. We rode to the trailhead from town, then added a bonus descent down the Dewdney Trail at the end of the route. We were barely able to walk all the way to the fridge to finish off the Deschutes beer we had brought with us. Certainly packed in a bunch of rides that week...