blog log

BLOG LOG

So, its been a few days since we blogged. Well, here it is...the blog log. That tree is a doug fir, I have never seen a doug fir so big. We rode through this big clear cut that made out trail hike back in McCall, Idaho look like a walk in the park. We have found some good riding and conditions lately. We Kind of had to go on the run on Memorial Day Weekend. We have been in 3 states trying to find a spot to settle down for a few. I had no idea Americans camp as much as they do on this Holiday weekend. We could not find a place to stay. Not paid campground, not a state or national campground, no boondocking and not walmarts. its all full! So we had to go to a safe place. I thought about going up to Canada, seeing they dont celebrate Memorial Day, but we did not.

THE UNDERSIDE

This picture gives you a clue as to where we are...That is Hollie and our team mate Luke, from the Sonic Cyclocross team. The weather has been really good and the riding has been GREAT! Yesterday Luke took us on a little journey on some logging roads bisected by single track it was a blast. We could not escape the sound of 2 stroke engines and gun fire. The motos were like swarms of insects and the guns...it was like a bad old western. I guess Alcohol, quads and guns are how a lot of families celebrate the holiday?????? to each is own!
Anywho, we are kind of recovering from our whirlwind last couple of days and settling in for some good times! We will be racing and swilling bavarian beer this weekend in Leavenworth, Washington. Beer and bike racing!

we split boise to Sun Valley...and split again

Was SUN VALLEY SUNNY? NO!

Take a peak at the fresh snow on Borah Peak. We were very cold. We boondocked out on Warm Springs road, which has great Mountain biking right at the doorstep, but Damn it was cold. Snowing everyday...In between riding and sleeping hollie and I did a fair bit of reading, to stay warm and all. I read The Perfect Storm in about 12 hours!

SELF PORTRAIT (no nostrils)

I took this pic where Imperial gulch and green horn gulch meet. It was up a pretty loose moto'ed out single track which took some serious concentration, and traction just to keep moving up. Lucky for me, there was a table and chair at the intersection and it was not snowing.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

This is way out there, I was so happy to take a seat and have hollie snap this photo. But, the wind picked up and the cold poured down the mountain bringing snow. we moved on!

MORNIN'

Hollie getting the dogs food ready before the ride...note the Down Jacket! It was cold!

Boon Docking!

Dont be fooled by the sun light. It was short lived and the flurries of snow followed. It was a great place to camp out though. Just the sound of the river running in front of us...great sleeping...or that might be attributed to the 3 moose drools I had before bed.

Biking

Bundled up in May. We are still having a great time. In fact todays ride was one of my top 3 rides of all time. I have been riding a bike since I was 4 or so, so that is pretty real. It looks like Hollie is having fun here too!

I could stay in Sun Valley for a long time and ride. There is buffed single track in places you cant imagine. The bummer is that Sun Valley is for rich folk who dont liver there. The people who are there, whom might not be rich, have lost sight of the land they live in and kind of focus on "hating the tourist" or "the Californian" Everywhere we have been on our trip so far people have been so cool, especially in Idaho. I think the Hailey, Ketchum, SV crowd need to get back to the goodness of where the are. (RANT)

So, because of the extreme cold and Hollie being miserable we headed out of town today and drove the wrong, long way to Missoula. Wrong and long are accurate, but what a great mistake we made. We drove over some massive 10,000 foot dirt road at 15 miles an hour for 1.5 hours. The road had some crazy "moonshot" exposure to the river floor. It was unreal. It led us down into the Challis National forest, a beauty of a place, that we would have never seen if the GPS had not been so anal about the shortest (line of sight) route! I was stressed out for awhile, but I got over it fast! The country we saw today took my breath away!

So where are we now? Missoula, Montana. I dont think we will be here long. Perhaps one ride and split to Spokane...

hollie kicks ass again

HOLLIE STRIKES AGAIN

Sorry, no pics from today. We both raced the Coyote Classic Mountain bike race just outside of Boise, ID. What a hard race. I am glad that it was not hot, or I would have cracked for sure. Anyway, Hollie was the winner of the expert class again and she beat several "pros" She must have pushed herself very hard today. I pushed myself quite hard today. For some reason I decided to start the Pro Mens race. note to self: If you are going to race with the pros, you need to train.
I killed myself to stay with the top 8 guys and I hung tough. At one point I thought my eyeballs were going to pop out of my head i was straining so hard! In the end though, my famous luck got the best of me. 3 flats in the last 5 miles. I walked it in.
I am pretty excited for Hollie. She is riding well. This race was in a national points series of some type. I think she should upgrade to semi pro...i better see what is required to do that!
(I want LOONDOG to know that Hollie was rocking the TR2 jersey again.)

So now we are sitting in an RV park in Boise, I was too tired to drive too far after the race. Besides, we needed water and a hook up. Depending on weather we are either going to Sun Valley tomorrow or Stanley, ID. A kind female racer today gave us a guide book to all of Idaho mountain biking...i wish i caught her name. How cool is that, hollie and her were talking about our trip and she was excited and hooked us up! Good people exist everywhere!

Larry and Hollie enjoying the Payatte river

C AND H

THE CAPTAIN IS BACK

Some folks might know that my code name is Captain Flapjack. The captain is back.

FLOWING

Hollie snapped this shot on or nice easy ride the other day with our dear friend Larry Swan.

all the above photos were taken in McCall, ID. We like it there.

loon lake loop

SECESH RIVER

We knew we weren't lost when we found the "white bridge" This was an amazing piece of construction to see...We were out in the middle of nowhere (read below. EVERYTHING IS OUT OF ORDER!)

YUP, THATS THE TRAIL!

this is what hollie and i went through today to ride...read below...sorry the pics are posting funny, so things are out of order...

DONT SCREW UP!!!

seriously, I took this photo from the waters edge. If you miss judged this section, you would be going in the drink. And the Secesh is running!

GROUP SHOT

I am finally getting better at taking the self photo with the digital...no more nostril view....still have that dumb look on the face though..."we are taking a picture!"

HOLLIE RIDING THE ROOTS

I cant believe we got around that damn LOON LAKE LOOP today. We were warned that it might not all be ridable because of downed trees after the winter. But, being spoiled NOR CAL riders we thought...no big deal, so we move a few branches!

Well the ride started off good, the trail was a little soft, but there was another track in front of us so I felt like the loop must be ridable. We went about an hour on some fun double track that went up and down and around and around. Then we came out of the woods and onto the moon. There were burnt and dead trees for as far as the eyes could see. We hopped a few and climbed over a few hoping it would be clear around the next bend. We kept being hopeful but no luck. Now I was moving anything that I could lift just to get the trail crew party started. this went on for about an hour. No riding, just clearing and or climbing downed trees. as we followed the willow basket creek I thought it would never end. But then we saw green. the forest started to come to life.

We could ride again! Knowing we could not turn back, and hoping the worst was behind us we headed on. The riding was great. There was even a couple of MOTO tracks, so I knew the trail had to be clear!

We got out into this meadow just above Loon Lake. It was worth it in my opinion just to see the beauty of this place. The solitude in this forest is crazy. I mean there is this raw nature everywhere. Its not like the Sierras or the Wasatch, I dont really know what to call it, its just solitude. We saw, elk, bear, moose, deer, and wolf prints. this place is truly wild.

THIS IS JUST A FLOODED MEADOW

We made it to Loon Lake and we rode most of this last section. I continued to remove trees and limbs from the trail but it was much better than the willow basket creek section. What do you think of that view? I dont think a lot of people get back in here to see this beauty. I am sure the locals do, but not joe tourist. I feel lucky that we got to see it on such a beautiful day.

I dont know where we are headed next. I am a bit worried about heading further east...are we going to run into the same low snow and downed tree syndrome we have here? I dont know. Tomorrow we will make some phone calls to some friends in the Sn Valley area.

we ran into a couple today that are on a 2 week bike tour: round trip from Missoula Montana. They were in the grocery store here in McCall getting some food for their stay tonight. They were fixing a flat, so I hurried over with my floor pump and struck up a conversation. They were nice folks and seemed to be having a great time. some day..............................

la grande...i dont think so!

hollie: chris, get your ass in the kitchen!
chris: I cant, I am all the`way up in the bedroom

I thought Paris Hilton was in Jail...nope!

we found this sweet little`park to do some relaxing

I AM GIGANTARD.
what happened, i used to be tiny!

Hollie making good use of her granny gear

Riding through the hills

Nice trail work, bridges keep the toes dry

i dont know why...but the bolg wont upload images...(got the photos up.)

la grande was kind of lame. we did the 2 hour ride (as per the local shop) and it took us 34 minutes. we rode a lot of circles...
we also went by th Eagle Cap Factory to show them our camper and the great work their #1 dealer did on it...they were drop jawed.
There were also millions of mosquitoes, so it was easy to leave. We pulled up stakes and headed to Mccall, Idaho. We drove straight to Poderosa State park, the venue for masters worlds nordic racing for next year, and were bummed to see the park was closed. We pulled in a stayed the night in the parking lot and took the dogs for a big walk. This morning we headed into town to do some wash. I hung out with the clothes and hollie went into town to get the info on the local riding.
Apparently we are too early as none of the trails are ridable. SHIT! so now I dont know what we are doing next.
oh well

bend, the heart breaker

CHILLIN'

home sweet home in the camper. we had a nice meal and wine in a coffee mug. That is living large.

ROUGHING IT

I am pretty sure you could travel on roads like this for a year and never leave Oregon. We zigged and zagged across many roads like this one today. And we were really in the middle of what seemed like no where

The ROUND ABOUT

The flaming chicken as it is called by the locals, is an actual piece of art in the middle of a round a bout...a round about linking 6 single track mountain bike trails...wow, that is a dedicated trial crew!

HOLLIE SHREADING

These trails we rode today were so much fun and very well marked. COTA, is the organization responsible for the creation and maintaining the network of trails. They are also growing the number of miles of trail and linking up existing systems for some EPIC rides.

THREADING THE NEEDLE

Hollie getting it right, ripping through the dead woods. All day long, you can ride this kind of stuff.

Its bitter sweet that we leave Bend. We have no time line to leave, but we felt the need to get out of there. Bend has grown WAY UP! everyone is speeding around like they are late to somewhere! The hard part about it it that the access to the outdoors is second to none, but Bend is a major city...not just a little ski hamlet. SO we bolted after having some fun this morning.

After about 5 hours of WINDY driving, we stopped for the night in La Grande, OR. I dont think we will be here long. Tons of mosquitoes

we made it to bend

TR2 game face

Hollie had a good time and a good result at the Chain breaker mtn bike race. We got in around 5 pm to Bend and quickly made our way to the race course so we could pre ride. The course was mostly on private land and national forest land. We also found a killer camp site right by the start of the race.

RIPPING

So, as you can tell, the course was awesome and tons of fun. Hollie laced up the techie course like a pair of steel toed boots! there was one section that traversed a wash that went back and forth 18 times!

IS THAT PRO?

That is the web cyclery bus. They put the race on. That mobile unit is one sweet ride. There is actually an area to do physiological testing in there.

START VEHICLE

I had to shoot a pic of this vintage retro scooter...sweet 'eh?
While Hollie raced, the dogs and I went for a really sweet trail run that lasted about an hour...just long enough to tire the pups out and get back to snap some shots of Hollie. By the way, Hollie won the expert group and was 3rd women over all including the pros. I guess it is time to upgrade from expert to semi pro.
After a nice lunch and warm shower we headed into town to get fuel and groceries. We also found out the "must ride" ride in Bend. So we headed out to Phils trail head and we found a ton of trails and a great spot to camp. As Hollie put together a fine diner, I went out to scout some single track. I went out for about an hour on the mountain bike and had so much fun!
Anyway, we are going to ride this morning and head out of Bend. I think North on 97 to east on 84 to La Grande, Oregon.

ready...set...go!

CUSTOM DOG PLATFORM MOD

I built a 60" x 30" platform for the dogs and Hollie made a one piece durable pad for them. She used upholstery foam and ripstop camo fabric sweet. There is just enough room underneath for some storage as well. The bench flips up completely for access. By taking the rear bench seat out of the truck, we gained 12" of additional room for the pups. SPOILED!!!!!!

We are taking off on our trip tomorrow morning, ready or not! The first leg of the trip will be the only planned, rushed leg. As we need to get to Bend, Oregon as early as possible. Hollie is racing The Chain Biter mountain bike race on Sunday! Bend is a great place, so we should have a good time.

LOADED UP

I still have quite a bit of work to do before tomorrow, but I am not going to stress over it. I just dont want to forget anything major, like tools or cook ware. I still dont have a good solution for the poop tube storage either or a solid place for the bike work stand. I think this extended trip will be a great insight to "how to" live in a camper. A lot of note taking and drawing will be done I am sure!

THERE SHE IS...OUR DIGS!

We plan on staying in contact as much as possible...mostly through the blog. We will have internet as long as we have cell reception. So I will try and update everyday...but you never know. Wish us luck and dont be surprised if you see us out in your driveway with our dirty clothes and an extension cord!

glasses? CHECK!

6 days and counting until we take off for our trip...we have got our shades!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AUDI ME!

SPRECHEN SIE DEUTSCH?

Dad, i cant believe you told Ed to have me pick this sucker up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have you lost your mind?

SAFE IN THE DRIVEWAY

Rest assured and enjoy Spain. the Audi is tucked in neatly in front of moms garage door!

my dogs are so damn cute!

UDO ASSUMES THE FETAL POSITION

I guess we know how UDO spent the start of his life in his mommys tummy! either that or he wants to be a sailor and is practicing his knots

IS THAT A SQUARE KNOT

THE WILD CHILD

That is my wild girl, FOXY, aka the fox hound. does she look comfy or what?!!!!!!!!!
We love our dogs, they are so damn cute!
to think someone sent me some link to a time share for pets! who could time share a pet?! you should not own a pet if you think time share is a good option. that is just my opinion