RR: The Commander on Tour

Well, as it turns out our svelte young rider didn't get much riding in on
his Western tour. He finally managed to rent a Specialized FS (that
appeared to weigh as much as him, but I didn't check) in Portland. We
headed out west early to beat the heat (record-setting heat wave today).

I offered up a couple of trail choices, and he picked the trail behind
door number one - smooth blazing singletrack.

We took a chance and climbed up an unknown fireroad, and in no time we
were swooshing a 3-mile downhill run. It was a great trip down, but seemed
to go awfully fast. Probably even faster for Jon, as he was flying at a
pace that was a lot faster than I was comfortable riding. This trail is
perched on the side of a several-hundred-foot hill, and has loose edges
that have caused several ugly crashes over the past few years. I saw his
tracks REALLY close to some of the loose spots, but he made it out
unscathed, which in itself is an accomplishment.

The next stretch we rode as an out-and-back; lots of climbing this time
(for which that Specialized was REALLY poorly set up). It was a little
rough for me - first, I leaned out a bit to miss a branch, only to have
it jam up inside my Camelbak and hang me like a piece of wet laundry (I
have a nice big welt across my back). Then a big branch jammed up into my
derailleur and bent the hell out of it. We never did get it working right,
but it was rideable.

Dust was all I saw of that young'n most of the ride, but we still had many
opportunities to stop & chat & enjoy the scenery. It was a fun time on
some great trails.

Sorry, no pics. Both of us thought about bringing a digicam, but neither
did.

--
-BB-
To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)

On Tue, 29 Jul 2003 17:50:10 -0700, BB wrote:

Well, as it turns out our svelte young rider didn't get much riding in
on his Western tour. He finally managed to rent a Specialized FS (that
appeared to weigh as much as him, but I didn't check) in Portland. We
headed out west early to beat the heat (record-setting heat wave
today).

Heh...good thing you didn't head east. A couple of us almost barfed on PC
today.

It was a little
rough for me - first, I leaned out a bit to miss a branch, only to have
it jam up inside my Camelbak and hang me like a piece of wet laundry (I
have a nice big welt across my back).

Oddly, my new riding buddy did the same thing today.

Glad you had a good time & the 'svelte young rider' got some biking in.

gabrielle