by Kevin Axt
Took off from the Ranger Station at about 3:30pm and drove up a fairly steep winding mountain road for almost an hour. When we finally almost got to the trailhead, our leader took a wrong turn and led us into a small USFS camping spot. This camp spot is way in the middle of nowhere and you should have seen the looks on the peoples' faces when five vehicles' worth of mountain bikers drove up and turned around. You'd have thought that the Hells Angles had just come into town!
We didn't have very long to ride because we had to be back into Oakridge by 7:00pm to officially register for the Summit. We decided that we'd ride for about 2 hours total time. I knew I was in trouble when almost immediately upon starting to ride, the trail turned upward and started to claw for elevation.
One of the locals that was leading the ride, was up front spinning like a mad fool as I tried to hold onto the little bits of lung that I had left. Surprisingly, I was able to ride significant portions of the trail. I was seeing more green on this ride than I'd seen in 3+ years of living in the Tri-Cities. The trail surface was delicious forest dirt with a lot of granite and roots mixed in to make things interesting. It had rained the day before so there was no problem getting traction ... I just kept running out of gears and legs. At one stop, I gasped out something to the effect that I needed a 22x32 gear. The "mad fool" just grinned and proclaimed that was what he was running. Well, no wonder the MTB Gods were punishing me for not riding offroad in a long time. I was trying to climb this stuff with a 24x28 gear! Brother, let me tell you, I ain't no "Deadly Nedly"
Blair Lake is a fun trail to ride on despite the fact that we started out on the steeper portion of the ride. The beargrass grows so tall and thick up here that in some places I couldn't see the trail. I just had to keep riding and be real loose for anything that my tires might hit. The trail description said that whole meadows worth of trail couldn't be seen for the beargrass ... Cool!
After climbing for about 1 1/2 hours, we pulled up at a clearing and waited for everyone to catch up. We decided that we probably shouldn't go any further since we had to get back into town soon. The views from up there were SPECTACULAR to say the least. The locals told us that spread out below us was 450 miles of trails, much of it singletrack. The Oakridge Fat Tire Fest must be one heck of a fun time. I just wish that I had my camera with me. I'd left it back in the truck, like a dummie.
It's now time for the reward for all this uphill work. Time for a little "gravity assist". I'm taking it a little slow for a couple of reasons:
1) I'm not that great of a downhill rider
2) I'm the only one out here with no suspension other than my arms and legs.
Anyway, we're cruising down the trail when all of a sudden, the guy in front of me get his front wheel in a bind and, quicker than an eyeblink, tried to implant himself into the middle of the trail ... head first. It happens so fast that he doesn't even have time to roll. SPLAT! No large amounts of blood or anything but he did break his nose (at least he felt he had). Hurts just thinking about it.
The downhill fun was over way too quickly (as they always are) and we rolled up to the vehicles where we stood around eating bagels and shooting the breeze for a bit before getting back into the cars. A couple of hours of riding and a thirst for more. I'd definitely come back and do this trail again. (Gotta see that lake <G>)
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