Ride day! Woohoo! Really looking forward to it! Not an early start, because it’s COLD out there! Got to the trailhead around 10:15, and got on the trail around 10:40. We’re at Phil’s Trailhead, and are going to go up Ben’s Trail, then take the double-track parallel to Lower Whoops, so we can come down Lower Whoops, then meet up with Phil’s Trail, which will take us to Kent’s, then to KGB, and finally Marvin’s Garden back to the trailhead. Phew! Yeah, I’m looking for about a dozen miles.

The ride started out pretty glad, but weaving back and forth (as all good trails do, it’s part of the fun of mountain biking!), so Ben’s had some nice climbs, but nothing too terrible. I had thought that this was where we were going to head back, but NOoooo … it’s the route I outlined above. Oh, well. The next almost two miles were ALL uphill, but gradual, so not too bad, and we got to the top of Lower Whoops, where there was a bench of sorts, so we took some time out and sat for a bit, to eat an energy bar and have some goo. A couple came up a few minutes later, so we chatted with them for a bit … for a bit over an hour! Really nice couple, but sadly I neglected to get their names. Bummer. But they did tell us of a WONDERFUL place to mountain bike, about two hours North … hmmmm … we’ll have to investigate!

The day was quite cool, finally hitting about 71 or 72, so shade was almost nippy. Then, time to start the descent – almost all downhill to the trailhead, though there were a couple of … good sized … ok, one of them monster-size for the area, and I had to stop at it twice to catch my breath. Here’s a shot of The Bear climbing it:

At some point in there, we got to see The Chicken:

Back at the truck by almost five o’clock, so five hours on the trail! Ok, one and a half was a stop, but we were still out there! Total tally? Nineteen (!) miles! And 2,000 feet of climbing! Pretty good for an “easy” trail! But we felt good about it!

Afterwards … BEER! Went to Redmond, OR, to the Seventh Street Brew House, and got some dinner. I had Doug’s Ultimate burger, patty, bacon, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, pickle, peperoncini, and an EGG! Mmmm – Good! That and a Monkey Face Porter, and I was set! The Bear had the Chicken pot pie, which I ALMOST had, and the same to drink. Yummy! Only bad part was a group with some kids, and the little boy (maybe 4 years old) would fairly regularly let out a blood-curdling scream, for no apparent reason other than wanting attention. Not a peep from mom or dad. GREAT parenting there! And kept ignoring the kid. Thanks.

We checked out the place the couple mentioned, and it looks pretty good, bu tit only has about 15 miles of trails, so we don’t feel it warrants a four-hour drive (2 out, 2 back) for such a little bit of trail. When we return next year, we can hit it, now that we know about it.

Tomorrow? Easy ride somewhere, because Saturday we have a tour guide who is going to shuttle us (or we’ll pay Cog Heaven, whichever) and guide us down from Dutchman Trailhead – should be about a 25-mile ride – woohoo!