Earlier this month I met some friends (in from Boston (Dan) and Denver (Brady), along with Brady's friend James) in Eugene, OR for a few days of MTBing in Oakridge and to the north along the McKenzie River. The group is getting old...er and not so keen on camping, so we rented a house in Eugene within walking distance to many funky eateries and whatnot. Got in midday on Saturday, stashed our luggage in the VRBO and headed out in search of food. Grabbed some food at the Tacovore and then wandered up the street to Ninkansi Brewing. We turned in early as we had a lot of riding planned for the next three days.
After coffee and breakfast at 'home', we headed east into the rising sun to Oakridge to get our rental bikes, at the
Willamette Mtn Mercantile, before meeting up with our
shuttle (Oregon Adventures, OA) to ride the Alpine Trail. Dan, Brady and I rented three bikes and traded off each day: a SC carbon Nomad, and 5010 and an Ibis HD3. James brought his own bike.
Life got in the way of my preparation for the trip, so early on into the first days ride I realized I'd should stick to the main Alpine Trail route while my friends did the Apline-Tire Mtn-Cloverpatch-Alpine (A-T-C-A) alternative, which added another 10 miles and 2000 ft of climbing. Both were AWESOME!
After a short climb from Kate's Cutoff we entered a small meadow and unfortunately I don't have any more photos till the end of the ride when I met back up with the others. Brady (front) and Dan (rear).
At about 6 miles in, the others peeled off to ride Tire MTN-Cloverpatch (T-C). Very bummed I was not in good enough shape to pull this off based on what everyone said. That said I rode another two miles of super fun trail to the rendezvous point where T-C meets back up with Alpine. From there it's another mile or so of descent before it flattens out a bit before the final drop. Dense forest and ferns all along the flatter bits.
A little creative photoshopping makes a crappy pic into a watercolor-ish image. Dan.
Hanging out at the bottom, drinking beers, we chatted with another rider from Eugene. Was funny when we asked about places to eat he mentioned a place a friend of his owns-Tacovore. We ended up eating at a pizza joint a few blocks away from home, Whirled Pizza. Cool little place, only several tables inside and a cozy patio out back. The entire staff was stoned. Really stoned. Good mix of beers on tap and absolutely delicious pizza-the italian sausage and anaheim chile pizza was the best.
The next day was our XC day, the McKenzie River Trail north to south, and it ended up being even more pedally then we anticipated. I'll say it at the beginning. While great, he McKenzie River Trail is not one of the best MTB trails in the US for intermediate/upper intermediate riders. It is ridiculously scenic and there are sections which are super fun; but.....
Near the top one can go around the west or east side of Clear Lake. Having talked to multiple people on which way to go we conceded to the majority and took the west side. After getting to the junction on the south side we decided to back track up the east side as an out and back. Do the east side if you're ever up there and like more technical riding (think Stairway to Hell on Noble).
Here are some pics from the west and east sides of Clear Lake.
Brady and Dan.
James.
Dan and Brady.
Clear Lake.
There are warnings in nearly every trail description regarding the danger of jumping into the river given how cold the water is. They're not kidding. After the ride, we grabbed a six pack at the local general store and went and soaked our sore legs in the frigid water for as long as we could. If the water was tolerable I'd recommend this trail for the combo of a little fun techy riding, lots of flowy easy riding and multiple opportunities to jump in a river. As it is, it's not quite there.
We ate at
Falling Sky Brewing Sunday. Definitely recommend it- great food, service and vibe!
Our last day of riding was a day of shuttling Four for the Money with OA. We did Heckletooth, Aubrey Mtn, Flat Creek/Dead MTN, and Larison Rock. My favorites were Heckletooth and Flat Creek/Dead MTN. Heckle tooth was a skinny little backcountry trail, steep fall lines, steep switchbacks, loose, made all the more fun given my seat post clamp bolt broke at the very beginning when I tried to adjust it.
Dan on Heckletooth.
The top half of Flat Creek/Dead MTN is a fun intermediate flow trail with a bunch of berms, small table tops and tiny step ups. Just my speed. Must do trail when in the area. We told our shuttle driver they should have an option to shuttle this trail multiple times. No pics from the top as no one wanted to stop.
The bottom half was a super fun flowy XC trail.