Bike Vacation II

The second part of my bike vacation involved driving up to Oregon to join two buddies for Mountain Bike Oregon in Oakridge Oregon. This economically defunct logging town has been reinventing itself as a MTB destination for at least the last ten years and the work that they've put into it shows in the 300 or so miles of single track trails that they've developed. I dropped my car at Steamboat Inn and my pals picked me up there late on Thursday. We ate at the Inn and drove around to Oakridge, sharing two bottles of tasty sake on the drive. They had set up tents earlier in the day so it wasn't much of a hassle getting settled, though it was a short night as the heavy rain showers awoke me at 5:00 after only four or so hours sleep. MBO is a full service event with food and drinks included along with guides, shuttles and demo bikes if you want. the first day we opted for the fairly easy Middle Fork trail. This was rated a 2 out of 5 technically, but it was difficult enough for me as I hadn't been on a mountain bike in 12 months. To say it was a shaky start would be an understatement, but I mostly kept the wheels under me and only collected one small scrape. I took it easy in the afternoon while my cohorts hit other trails. The next day we signed up for Alpine - known as the gem of this area. We resolved to take it mellow - bringing 3 liters of rose along with us didn't hurt. This was one of the nicest afternoons I've spent on a MTB. Truly this is one of the great rides. the sections through old growth Douglas Fir were truly amazing. We cruised this trail and then rode back to town and the campsite in 5 hours. That evening was the bike toss and pixie bike crits - much hilarity! The next morning we set out for the point to point back to Steamboat Inn and the Pinot Conference. This was basically a one hour warm up followed by a 2.5 hour climb, then a 45 minute downhill, and finally an hour slog into Steamboat. We were whipped by the end of it, but there's something satisfying about long point to point riding that no other type of riding provides.