| Bike ride from hell |
[May. 2nd, 2004|09:08 pm]
Brad Fitzpatrick
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My mom recommended a "trail" for my brother Cole and I to bike today. We all somehow assumed "trail" meant "bike trail". Big mistake.
In summary: Worst bikeride ever.
The idea was to do ~8 miles of off-road from Cannon Beach to Seaside along the coast/cliffs.
Lowlights include:
-- incredibly severe climbs on gravel for miles
-- Cole's tire going flat at the top where it might've got halfway fun
-- Me carrying Cole's bike down since I felt guilty for dragging him into this hell
-- Cole's bike weighing 200 lbs
-- Cole riding my bike and crashing
-- Steps for hikers throughout the trail, most of which weren't bikeable
-- lifting our bikes over downed trees
-- Me deciding it was either ditching his bike (which Cole was in favor of from the beginning) or attempting to ride on it without a front tube or tire.
-- Me going downhill over big rocks and bigger tree roots on the metal wheel directly, with only back breaks which sucked
-- Me running straight into a rotting tree due to aforementioned lack of breaks (harmless, but could've been worse)
-- Getting passed by hikers while Cole was on the ground after crashing, right before a big "No bikes on trail" sign, which we only saw ~5 miles into this "trail".
So yeah, fun.
To give the trail a bit of love, the beginning was kinda fun. If I do it again, I know at which point to turn back at least. |
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| Comments: |
you're riding off-road and not bringing a patch kit/spare tube/pump? tsk-tsk...
![[User Picture]](https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/54541970/2) | From:  brad
2004-05-02 09:31 pm (UTC)
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I was expecting a casual ride, bringing along my little brother and all.
I think it's actually little brothers that cause those random accidents. I cary a pump, patch kit and tools to fix anything that could break on my bike every time I ride, and it only adds a little weight to my camelback. Of course, I was a boyscout, so I'm conditioned that way.
My second serious mountain biking excursion was with a friend of mine that forgot to mention that he was a serious rider and that we would be riding 8 miles out and 8 miles back. I was using clips for the first time and did not bring enough water for the entire run. I seriously thought I was going to pass out at about mile 10 from extreme dehydration. I wiped out on rocks, a tree stump, and had a tree branch almost knock my helmet off. THANKS FOR BRINGING BACK MY POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS!
u road the bike with the flat all the way back? would that we all had brothers like you...
peace!
HAHAHAH I was thinkin the same thing- "sorry bro, it's only 30lbs- carry it you puss"
ugh, dude. A couple of summers ago my friend dragged me out to Sisters to go for a ride. It was ~20 miles, but we thought it was gentle grades the whole way. It started with an 8 mile uphill climb. And while it was a gravel logging road, it was probably a 3 or 4% grade. Death. At the top of the initial climb, we switched bikes, so I was riding his old Specialized FSR full-suspension half-ton monstrosity. Except we weren't actually at the top. By the time we got there my legs were trashed.
We turned off the logging road at the top and started the actual trail, which ended up being pretty much like you describe. Not fit for bikes. At one point we had to go under a tree across the path. The tree was probably 5 feet in diameter. Jeez. When we finally hit the bottom of the trail, we both just threw our bikes in the truck and got the hell out of Dodge. Worst ride evar.
I was looking at picking up a mountain bike. Any suggestions?
| From: brad
2004-05-03 09:25 am (UTC)
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I'm happy with my Trek Fuel 90, but I'm no bike expert. | |
