Chasing Summer

The forecast calls for rain later tonight. While there will certainly be nice days yet to come, it is the time of year when Oregonians cherish dry days. They won't last forever.

I took the mountain bike out to Banks, Oregon to the trailhead for the Banks-Vernonia State Trail.
The sky was blue, but Fall was in the air.  The low this morning was 37 degrees, and the high would only reach 69, despite the blue sky.

I pedaled along toward Vernonia, never planning to ride that far.  I hoped to get to Tophill.  Obviously, it is the high point, and more importantly I was hoping it would get me enough miles to break 100 for the month.  Hardly a worthwhile goal, but it was the best I could hope for.  At least the view was nice as I pedaled along.

I came along a little piggy, who hadn't gone to market, and was not quite ready to go "wee wee wee, all the way home".

After a few minutes, and some coaxing from me, he did squeeze back through a nearby fence and rejoin a few other piglets and 10 or so adult hogs.

I continued along my way.

Soon after crossing the LL "Stub" Stewart State Park boundary I saw a sign for a view point, and a dirt/gravel path leading away.  I figured it had to be worth a measly two mile round trip to see what there was to see.

After less than 100 yds the gentle grade turned a corner and headed UP. I've got slicks on my mountain bike, a left over from when I used it on the Furnace Creek 508, for the very rough Kelbaker Rd section.  They weren't the best choice of tires for this little side trip.

 The single track would tip upward steeply. I was standing on the pedals in my lowest gear when suddenly my rear tire lost traction.  Not fun to have forward momentum stop dead as my pedal drops to the bottom of it's revolution.  After a couple of times of that happening, I decided that walking the steeper sections wouldn't be that bad.

The trail had a few forks that were unmarked.  I reached a dead end with no view.

I didn't have enough time to take all the choices so I rode back down the hill. That was another crazy thing to do on slicks.  The back tire was sliding most of the time, and I didn't dare pull the front disc brake on too hard for fear of sliding the front tire. (not a good thing when trying to remain upright)
I eventually got back down to the much more secure feeling paved path.


This is a rails to trails pathway, so the gradient was gentle........ for the most part.  One of the trestles has been removed so the pathway must drop into the valley and climb back up the other side.  Grades in that section reached 11%.  Even with the low gearing on my mountain bike, it was noticable, but at least the slick rear tire maintained traction!

I reached the top then turned around. The air was getting noticeably cooler.  I put on my windbreaker over my long sleeved jersey.  It was still a cool ride back down.  I was rolling along at 20-22 mph without pedaling.  I felt better about my slow ride up there! After a few miles the gradient become more shallow, but I was still easily maintaining the high teens.

I got back to the Banks Trailhead and noted some big puffy clouds had rolled in across the previously all blue sky.

I loaded my bike, grabbed a drink of water, and read a sign board.  Before I left, rain drops were falling. Not a lot, but I wasn't going to hang around to find out.

I thought I easily had enough miles to get 100 for the month, but as it ended up, I was lucky to get just enough to do the job.

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ..........0................0.................27.......................0............27
Jan...............0................0...................0.......................0............0
Feb..........124...............0...................0.......................0...........124
March......277................0..................0........................0..........277
April......559................0..................0........................0..........559
May.........414...............0..................0.......................0...........414
June........337...............0..................0.......................0...........337
July........310...............0..................0.......................0...........310
August.......40.............0....................0......................0............40
Sept..........73..............0...................27......................0...........100
YTD...... 2171.............0..................27.......................0..........2198