I've been racing STXC in Grants Pass on my Niner One 9 single speed. There have been five single speeders in the series. My usual rival, Vern, has been off his game and not a factor, until the last race. Usually I'm faster than him on the uphills and he's faster on the downhills. In the last race of the series he passed me on one of the uphills and I never could quite catch up with him. The only other notable happening during the series was when I crashed twice at the third race. Once during warm up and again during the race. Different corners, same ribs. One month later I'm finally able to sleep without pain. My mountain biking buddy, Brian, did the series and finished second overall in Cat 3 riding his single speed. Before he bought a used single speed he couldn't understand the attraction. Now his full suspension geared bike sits in his garage most of the time.Last month, August, Brian, Ethan and I took a road trip. We hooked up my trailer and drove to Sam Brown Campground near Grants Pass between Hwy 199 and the Rogue River. We met Steve Law who guided us. We rode the Jedi trail and the Briggs Creek trail. It was great fun.
We camped at Sam Brown where Brian learned that he likes red wine. We drank my red wine allotment for the whole trip the first night. We stopped at Safeway in Roseburg the next day to replenish our supplies.
We drove to the McKenzie River where we camped at Paradise campground. A nice spot. A different experience from Sam Brown where we were the only campers.
We were right on the river.
The next day we drove to the upstream trail head and rode about 21 miles back to our camp. I had hooked up with a guy from San Francisco on one of the forums who camped and rode with us and provided a shuttle back to my truck.
The upper half of the trail is really scenic.
It's really rough, though. If I ride there again I won't do the upper half.
The lower half is just as scenic and a lot easier to ride. The upper half took 4 1/2 hours and the lower half 2 1/2 hours.
Now it's time to get ready for cross season. I'm racing in Klamath Falls this weekend. I'll be racing the same old Blue cross bike. I'd love to get a new bike but I can't afford it. I haven't been working lately and I'm broke.
