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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!