After a good nights kip we headed out for a day on the road back to rainyville BC.
The Cali coast is pretty nice round these parts
crappy picture of pretty lighthouse
as we're in the neighbourhood, we decided to take in San Francisco enroute. I've wanted to go there for ages - it seems like the 2nd most interesting place on the West coast - after Vancouver that is
Because of the hills of San Francisco, the roads are a little more twisty than the regulation chess board you get elsewhere over here.
Unfortunately it was all a little too much for the Otter Bus and she suffered a small injury at the hands of a Toyota truck - she survived though - she's a tough ol' van ;-)
We managed to find a park overlooking the city - here's Rich and Jenn giving the Asian salute - Kiyoka would be proud :)
itsa big place
It was cool to see the trolley buses - and drive up and down the hills - we didnt catch any air though ;)
Sushi! They say its an acquired taste - my question is where do you acquire it from? If you dont like it the first time why would you like it more the next time? Curiously I dont know the answer to this but I have actually acquired a taste for Sushi myself. I dont like the crabby or shell-fishy stuff but the fishy stuff is good eatin'
Any while on the subject of food - let me tell you about American Milky Ways...
They're frackin' Mars Bars!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway, back to the story - we - well I - wanted to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge while we were in town so thats exactly what we did!
Here's the view from Marin county looking back at San Fran. I cool place - Marin county was supposedly the birthplace of mountain biking. I used to have a rock someone (Libby) at work brought me back. It sat on my telly for years but now I'm actually here! Coolio.
So with California behind us we headed up the I5 towards the rain and an appointment tomorro with our old friends - The Pink Bike crew - to ride Hood River, Oregon.
After a couple more hours driving we met up with everyone in Hood River - thats a town, not the water you understand - only to discover the Pink Bikers had decided to drive home today. Ah well, their loss. I was full of life and raring to go....well actually I was full of a cold and dying to sleep but that doesnt make for amusing anecdotes!
Here's Rich over a baby gap - a jump, not the shop.
Our guide for the day - Mike - buy a Brodie from him - he's a great guy
He showed us the local trails which were actually a bit soggy with overnight rain - in fact we'd driven through the rain for about 8 hours yesterday! - almost feels like home already!
There were also some skinnies - even with a raging cold I wasnt going to miss out on the fun - I somehow managed to ride this despite feeling dizzy!
In the afternoon we headed across the river - the Hood River - into Washington State to try the trails on the sunny side. Mike again kindly took point and a few others joined the party
here we see me compensating for the old gas struts on the Otter Bus - standing with a door on your head was a regular feature of our day
This was a big feature of the Sincline Trail - a few hundred foot cliff that skirted perilously close to the trail - or should that be the trails was perilously close to the cliff - anyway the story goes some guy came up here in the fog once and they only found his bike.....
Seriously - he went over. And I can understand why as we ripped down the singletrack that wiggled to a from the edge - for some reason all my left turns were much slower than usual!!
A super fun trail though - the clayish soil here gives fantastic traction so you can really carve the corners - when there's not a cliff next to it anyhow!We even had our own photographer - he's Jenn playing for the camera - "your a tiger baby! Grrrrr!"
ahhh, more enless singletrack. such a chore
lots of lovely corners like this one
This one got a proper session after someone flatted just out of sight
I decided to get a better view of things and climbed up this crag to look straight down on the singletrack
Jenn again - no stranger to bridges!
and again
check out the singletrack in the bottom of the picture - there was miles of this stuff - really smooth swoopy fun
Before we knew it, it was time to head out. With yet another steller days riding we hit the road. Only 6 or 7 hours to home but I dont remember it cos I bought some good drugs and spaced out with my cold in the back of the van - the only thing I remember is going through the border and them not seeming very interested in us at all. Home sweet home about 4am and then to bed - ahhh my own bed at last.It was a fantastic trip. One I'll always remember full of some great riding and some fun times.
Maybe we'll be back next year.....maybe :)
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