Well, since this is my blog, I’m taking some creative license with this adventure. Although I didn’t take an official Mountain Biking Class, I did get some amateur lessons and lots of practice! As with many of the items on my list, I didn’t actually have to plan anything for this particular item. My dear friends Kari and Kristen had seen the posting of a Shuttle Day at Sandy Ridge Trails. This is series of mountain biking trails that are West of Portland on the way out to Mt. Hood. They are well used and the Shuttle Days are a fundraiser to help raise money to maintain the trails. Kari had intended to volunteer to shuttle, but the broken leg put a hamper on that idea. We’re hoping to join her for some biking when she is healed! Kristen signed us up for shuttle passes and Chris made sure that we had the right bikes to rent for our adventure. As the day got closer, the weather forecast started to make a turn for the worse. Waking up on Saturday to pouring rain had us adjusting our attitudes and attire. With Andy McLennan joining us, we had two cars and figured worst case scenario, if we hated it we could leave the boys to the trails and go enjoy hot toddies! At Otto’s Snowboard shop in Sandy, we picked up our studly rides for the day…. Ricky Lee Jones and Joni Mitchell. Adrian, our (female) bike mechanic, was full of fantastic advice and when I told her about my 50b450 list she mentioned she’ll be turning 70 in just a few weeks!! And she still goes out and rides the trails regularly, she was amazing. When we finally got to the trails, the rain had set in for the day. This was no normal Portland misty rain…this was a steady down pour. While we were getting the bikes ready and everything set up, I was afraid I wasn’t going to last because I was so cold. Luckily as we started riding and the nerves ramped up, I warmed up! There was pretty easy trail at the bottom called Homestead Trail and we all decided to do that as a warm up loop to get used to the bikes. Although it was pretty easy overall, there were a few tricky parts like a very wet wood bridge and one particular tree and root area on a curve that had you fishtail as you went around it. Needless to say, the nerves had me very tense and the first go round, I totally ate it around the tree…I even drew blood, on my pinkie! Kristen and I decided that we would build up our confidence on the easy trail and let the guys take the shuttle passes to go higher up the trail system. We did a few rounds of the loop and then decided to head up further and try another “green” trail. Although we had gained a bit of confidence, the next step up was still a bit much for us. We did it once, and now know what we need to build up to! After about another 45 minutes of getting faster and more confident on the lower trails, we were about as thoroughly wet as we could be and decided to be done for the day. Andy joined us, but Chris was like a kid in a candy shop and wanted to keep going. We got into our dry clothes and headed into town where we finished our amazing day at the Trout Pub which had great cider and amazing onion rings. If you go make sure you ask for Tiffany, one of the best waitresses I’ve had in a long time! I loved mountain biking and can’t wait to do it again…maybe in the sunshine next time!
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