Heading North....

We had a few days between Paradise Royale and the Mackenzie river of noteworthy but not blog worthy riding, one was a pre-ride of a course we opted not to race, the other was a short ride through a section of the beautiful but poorly timed/planned (on our part) North Umpqua River Trail.

Our last day of riding was a spontaneous trip out to the McKenzie River Trail 1.5 hours east of Eugene, Oregon (where we were staying with my fantastic cousin John). The trail is 27 miles long and (similar to the North Umpqua Trail) was built by the BLM as a multi-use trail. We started out halfway up the trail to climb up the more technical section. The trail started on river-level buff singletrack that wound around and through a beautiful mossy forest for several kilometres before starting a gradual climb.

The climb brought us into a lava field that had been overgrown by moss. The lava field was technical but the lava rocks were grippy making the climb challenging but completely rideable. The climb topped out at a lookout over a brilliant blue pool surrounded by bright green moss.

From the pool lookout I took the lead--the further into the trail we got the harder I pushed...the momentum made the twists and turns around trees and into burms smooth and rhythmic. The trail may have been developed for hikers...but it is beautiful to ride on.

A patch of snow here and there turned into snow piles that blocked the trail and forced us to hike. We hiked until we realized it wasn't going to disappear and then started to descend back towards the car. The only disappointment for the ride was that we weren't able to make it to the waterfall...so when the decision came to head to the hotsprings and back towards Eugene or north to the waterfall and around the scenic route to Portland we opted for the latter (see photo below!).

We arrived in Portland, showered and relaxed...then headed to an amazing dinner at The Melting Pot. The next morning we got up (still full from dinner!) and headed out with coffees on a walk around the city to rustle up some hunger before heading to (we were told) THE spot for breakfast in Portland--Mother's. Once we found Mother's we discovered that they are closed on Mondays....so we kept walking and discovered Bijou Cafe. A woman outside told us that the food was delicious--and organic! (Dawn and Tanya I thought of you!) The breakfast was amazing! All the ingredients were local, organic, and the combinations were amazing...definitely a keeper for pre-USGP meals next winter!

After breakfast it was time to head back to the hotel, pick up the car, and head to Drew's tattoo appointment for winning Single Speed Cylocross World Championships. The appointment was at Atomic Art Tattoo Studio with Roll Hardy. Roll is an amazing artist...we got a chance to glimpse some of his paintings he has done in between anecdotes of working in the tattoo industry.

An hour later and we were on our way home, hoping for light traffic through Seattle and the border so that we could jump on the ferry....we made the 9pm boat and finally settled into our own bed after a pretty amazing 5 day adventure! To view all the photos from our trip click HERE and HERE and HERE!