Oregon Trail

After nearly 2 months in California, I’ve finally hitched up my wagon and crossed over into Oregon. Okay – so this isn’t The Oregon Trail, but it is the trail that I’m taking through Oregon.

Greetings from beautiful Bend, Oregon!

I’ll be here for the next 3 weeks. Why Bend you ask?

Let’s start with the fact that this once small town is fast becoming known as a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts. In the greater Bend area you’ll find 26 golf courses, whitewater rafting and fly-fishing in the Deschutes River, more than 1,000 rock climbing routes, and 3,600 skiable acres at Mount Bachelor.

The city routinely hosts the biggest staged bike race in North America. In the past it’s also hosted the fly-fishing nationals and snowshoe nationals. The climate is a high-desert environment that provides an average of 300 days of sunshine a year. If that’s not enough, Bend is also ranked as one of the best mountain biking towns in the U.S.

Good grief – somebody put me on the board of the chamber of commerce!

I spent a couple days checking out Phil’s Area. A complex of over 200 miles of single track trails. On day two I tackled the 13 mile Funner-Tiddlywinks loop. After the exhaustion of a nearly 5 mile climb I’m rewarded with descending the Tiddlywinks trail. A fast, fun, and flowy downhill ride.

After 5 years of mountain biking I also had another first. What I consider to be my first official crash!! It was after I stopped filming and I was coming to the end of the trail. I was descending the last section of large boulders. I was going slow but my front tire locked up on a rock. I went over the handle bars and I went down – hard!

I landed on my shoulder, my knees bashed into the rocks, and I cut my finger which was bleeding pretty good. All things considered it wasn’t too bad. My knees were scraped, bruised, and swollen for a couple days but I was able to ride away. Almost wish I had filmed it.

I had planned to do something more significant my first weekend in Bend, but after my crash and being sore, I thought better of it. So I did a couple of short easy nearby hikes.