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PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 1:34 am 
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It was time for a break as our legs were shagged from riding over 80 miles in 2 days. Leaving NUT, we drove up to Oakridge which professes to be the MTB capital of the NW. The statement is a bit conceited, but we scheduled to spend two days checking out area trails. Having not gotten much sleep in the past few days, we all slept in past 9am and woke up to this.

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Upon arrival at Willamette Mountain Mercantile, which incidentally will sell or rent you an Ibis Mojo at $75/day, they were flabbergasted that we were spending just two days. Self-conceit confirmed, but they do have a well stocked bike shop and were extremely helpful in pointing out area trails to ride on a large wall map that you can purchase. There is a shuttle service in town, but I was put off when trying to contact the owner for pricing. The printed brochures in town do have some pricing between $10-50/pp depending which trails you’re getting dropped off at with a minimum of 5 riders.

We decided on Alpine trail, Oakridge’s equivalent of Noble. Straight out of the starting gate the trail goes into a granny gear climb, some 1,000’ in 2.5 miles which we didn’t expect. For most of us it takes a while before our legs start do what the brain is telling them.

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We feel small

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Then begins a second but shorter 300’ climb.

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Then levels out somewhat on some upper meadows

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The grass was surprisingly thick and reminded me of sawgrass in the southeast part of the US.

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View of Hills Creek Lake in the distance

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Evdog feeling the trail

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Deno opens the throttle

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Evdog pitches it into the berm

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And 406 leans into it
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More short climbing

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Followed by the best flowy section of the ride

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Bermed and loamy

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One last climb top us out at 2,300’ for the ride. So much for a light day.

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The views at this point in the ride made it all worth it.

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Brian with multiple snow covered volcanic buttes in the distance

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James steadfastly focused on the narrow trail in front of him

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Then it’s time for nearly 3,000’ of descent in 7.5 miles
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This section really burned up some brake pad material but wasn’t conducive to taking pictures due to lighting and thick vegetation. It wasn’t until nearly the end that it opened up again.

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We check out the covered bridge at the bottom trailhead parking, just one of several around the area.

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With some 2,316’ of climbing and 4,770’ of descent in 16.5 miles, it was time to retrieve the shuttle van

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and head to the one and only local brewery for grub and pints.

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But Brewer’s Union Local 180 is not your typical brewery.

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As all cask conditioned ales are hand-pumped from the bottom of the pint glass, it was definitely a unique experience. This would be a nanobrewery among microbreweries. No huge tanks of fermenting yeast, hops or grains. Just small casks, slightly larger than 5 gallon buckets, quietly ages until ready and the cask on tap is pumped dry.

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And so was the rest of the place, resembling a British Public House (pub) and is also a sister to the Hardknott Brewery & Woolpack Inn in England. Both locals and travelers frequent the establishment. Food was good, but the portions were a bit on the small side if you come with a voracious appetite after biking all day. Just order up a side of bangers & mash if your fish & chips doesn’t satisfy you.

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With Oakridge completely surrounded by National Forest, the tempo and vibe of SoCal are distinctly, and complete absent in this backwoods region of Oregon. Staying well into the evening, we headed back to camp and checked out McCredie Hot Springs (aka Trucker Springs) just half mile up the road. Soaking in several pools of water ranging from 104 to 98 (and less) was another experience unto itself, and helped loosen the remaining muscles & joints that the beer didn’t. Another great day of not being in the office.


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The following 14 users would like to thank GP_pilot for his or her post:
bajamtnbkr, Brian, Canaan, deno, evdog, Gman, kreechan, Ray Dolor, Red Hot Sloth, Robo, rodster, singletrackmitch, TCB, tfitz
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 10:16 am 
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well, you're still here. how about some more pictures :mrgreen:

started the day off checking out the LBS to forage for intel
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nice diverse little shop
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danner boots. made in oregon.
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somehow our shuttle turns into a granny gear climb straight off the bat. cold legs were to suffer.
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up to some remaining snow patches
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but the reward was near. James breezes through this opening before entering a bermy loamy slightly squishy downhill roller coaster
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rally time. this section was awesome. just fling it into the corner until you hit a berm lip and get fired out. not many pics from me though, was too busy smashing through!
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quick little FR section to link up the next piece of trail
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words go here
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down we go! from here on out it was an exposed, narrow, fast as you dare descent.
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to the brew pub! Mark orders another pint!
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got bloomers?
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bajamtnbkr, Canaan, evdog, GP_pilot, kreechan, mealsonwheels, Red Hot Sloth, rodster, sierragoldens
PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 8:48 pm 
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I've got to stop reading these -- I'm hating you guys more and more with each post.

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PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 9:06 pm 
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Today was a well-deserved late start. I still got up early and got in a walk, some reading, and all my bike mtce before anyone was up. Then it was off for some home-cooked breakfast and a stop in at the local bike shop.

Nice swimming hole 100ft away....check
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Coming to Oakridge I suddenly felt this strange to urge grow a beard
deno wrote:
started the day off checking out the LBS to forage for intel
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Shuttle complete, we were ready to ride. Seems the trail is open to all users, no problem here
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The only problem was legs. Some people could still climb
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Others could not. The climbing right off the bat was definitely a rude awakening.
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Offroadie cruising after the first climb ends
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GP_pilot on another short pitch
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Cool broken cedar log
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Land of big trees
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James cruises past a scenic meadow
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Offroadie grits his teeth and cranks out another climb
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This one wasn't as long or as steep
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Stang prepares to tackle the next rise
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Things are lush here too
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And the trail could not be more buff
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Brian tears up the meadow. It had a couple unexpected drops to throw at us, however
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Deno with camera out
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Offroadie looks to be in race mode
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Definitely in race mode
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Riding the ridgeline
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James enjoys the turns
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406 carving switchbacks
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GP_pilot next down
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I have a momentary singletrack acid flashback
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Deno on yet another berm. Hate those berms.....
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Offroadie cruising
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Deno right behind
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James round yet another berm
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GP_pilot rolls past a nice view
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James stops to take it in
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Flowers are out
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The view is worth taking in
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406 likes it
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James does too
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Dammit James, get out of my panorama :lol:
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It was one fast descent
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Just watch out for this switchback
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The exit took us underneath the Amtrak bridge, just in time for a train
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Covered bridge
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Like it was meant to be
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This was posted up in the restroom. The importance of knowing the thermal conductivity of SPAM cannot be understated.
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Alpine is definitely a fun trail, a little bit of everything. The bike shop suggested climbing this which was a retarded 15mi or something of climbing. If you don't have a shuttle, I guess. The only positive would be riding down some of the climbs we did then linking back into the descent, but with the sweet scenery the climbs weren't that bad. Definitely a must-do trail, and very photogenic (as you can tell).


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 9:09 pm 
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The trail on this TR looked friggin' awesome. Definitely some great pix here. I can't comment on all the TR's because they all looked so good. I especially loved the pic of all the purple flowers :)

So.... when's the next Oregon trip??? Haha.

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PostPosted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 1:40 am 
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badkittyjing wrote:
So.... when's the next Oregon trip??? Haha.

Next time someone else can drive all the bikes & gear up & back while the rest of us fly in like rock stars.


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 10:25 am 
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definitely a fun trail. I heart burms!
Although the highlight of the day might have been a shitfaced evdog almost falling into the lap of 2 naked truckers.

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 12:47 am 
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It is GOOD to ride among trees so big that they make us humans feel small, no?

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