A Snow Day!

No School Today Due to a snow day.  Perfect opportunity to ride my bike.  Took off right as it was getting light and had an amazing picture of the sun starting to rise over the hill.

 It was the first snow ride of the year.  The snow was dry and there was plenty of traction.  Rode though about 2 inches in a few places.  Great Ride!

I have been riding fairly regularly now.  Just nothing too blog-worthy. 

Panther Gulch and new singletrack

Great day for a ride today.  Beautiful weather. 

We parked at the junction of East Fork and Panther Gulch Rd.  and did about a 10 mile loop.  There is a section of single track that we haven't ridden in a while.  There is actually quite a bit of single track overall on this ride. 

It has been some time...

I haven't blogged for quite some time.  I'll probably go back in time and say a bit about the ride we did up Grayback for my Birthday Ride.  I have ridden a lot throughout the summer.  Lately though it has been hit and miss.  (mainly miss)  Got out on the bike on Friday Morning and Sunday Morning.  Even though it has gotten cool, I still enjoy getting out in the morning.  I made it to the point when I could get up Findley in 28 minutes!  I have lost most of that and work an entirely different set of gears to get up the hill.  Looking forward to an Epic ride with Dan soon- we just need to get a little bit more prepared for it.

Grayback birthday ride

Every year we try to do some sort of a challenge ride.  This was a challenge ride to celebrate my birthday. I created the tour in google earth after I exported the google earth file out of Garmin Connect. I used screencast-o-matic to make a screencast of the tour.  I reccomend viewing the video in HD.  Look for the gear.

Pipe Fork and Glade Fork Loop

I have been riding a lot but not keeping the blog up to date.  Today we went out early and met up with Mike and headed up to the end of East fork road to park.  3062 vertical feet and some great trails.  I'll get the video posted soon of some of the single-track.
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Diamond Lake and Mt. Bailey Attempt

We were camping this weekend at Diamond lake.  I noticed on my Tread maps app that there was a trail that connected from the Diamond lake loop trail to the top of Mount Bailey.  I knew that there was going to be too much snow to make it very far but I gave it a try.  You start on what is Silent creek, right before a arched bridge.

Turn Left here up the creek

This is a pretty fun trail with a lot of bridges as you follow Silent creek.

You then enter an intersection where you find the Mt. Bailey trail-head.

The Mount Bailey hasn't been maintained yet so I had to hop quite a few logs.  I went until the snow was too deep and turned around. 

The trail around the lake is pretty but it is paved- not my thing but some great views.

Wipe out today.

I don't remember the last time I wiped out on my bike.  It is just something I don't do.  I was coming down findley and noticed a Deer and then a fawn along with it.  I started to slow down, the mom deer quickly dashed off the road and the fawn continued to move down the road.  I continued to watch the fawn, not really paying attention to where I was going.  As all of this was happening I was going through a section that had some deep ruts.  I fell into a rut and my tire slid out.  I was still going too fast for a wipe out just before I was going much faster, maybe I should slow down.

Quick youtube clip of the wipe out.  It probably would have looked better if someone was filming it besides me.

Panther Gulch Loop

Josh and I have been riding together a lot.  I haven't posted much of our rides here other than the Lost Creek Lake ride.  Here we drove out to Panther gulch and did a 6.25 mile loop.  Pretty fun!  Video of the singletrack section below.



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Josh likes the song so I put that to his downhill.

Findley Ridge am

Dan and I headed out about 6:30 am this morning for a Findley Ridge ride.  Great morning for a ride and took some footage with the new cam.  I thought I'd try the camera pointing the other direction.  Next time I think I'll take some footage forward as well.

My birthday present

I'm pretty excited about my new birthday present- a go pro hero cam.  I headed out early this morning to get a test ride with it before work.  I called it my "favorite" ride probably because I used to not like it.  Now it is fun but I don't "not like it" anymore.  Findley Ridge ride- a short ride to the ridge that is a great workout. I made pretty good time 31 minutes.  My cardio is still what is holding me back on this ride.  I just need to go more often. The video turned out pretty good, you just need to fast forward to 1:19 to where the fast stuff starts- I should have cut that out.

Josh and Dad at lost creek lake

We went camping this weekend at Lost Creek Lake.  I've been wanting to try some of the trails out there.  I've been on the paved trails on the east side of the lake.  I always wanted to to try out the trails on the west side of the lake.  Today Josh and I spent some time on both sides of the trails today.

On the way over on the south side of the lake it is old broken up pavement and some gravel.  The scenery is great, the trail isn't.

I have no idea why someone would put pavement on such a great trail!

Here is another neat section of the trail on the south side of the lake:

As we crossed the dam, we noticed there was a huge spray next to the power plant.

Once you get to Takelma park the trail is really nice.  All single track and dirt!  By the time we got to the nice part Josh was getting tired so we had to phone for a pickup.  Lots of fun and I can't wait to get back there.  I think we will park over at the Takelma Rec area and do an out and back over there.


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Findley peaks to Panther Gulch via Layton Ditch

Back the opposite direction from last time.  I wanted to get a little more vertical in this time.  This first pic is my quick rest to the top of Findley Ridge.  I still haven't gotten faster than 30 minutes from the bottom of Findley Road.  I was about 31 minutes to the top of the ridge today.

First I climbed to the east peak.  Not much of a view from this peak but it is actually higher than the other one.

On your way down the trail to the saddle between the two peaks there is one nice view towards East fork in Williams. 

Then I climbed over to the west peak at findley, as always a great view up here.

Then I made my way down to the layton ditch trail on a road I haven't tried before.  It is a fairly new road put in a few years ago.  It is in pretty good shape with some sections of minor ruts.

The trail was cleaned up since last time.  The manzanita that was in the way was cut out and I was able to move a rotten log that was blocking the trail too.

Still a lot of poison oak and it is growing like crazy.  Here are a few shots of the trail:

The old jeep road that parallels Panther Gulch road has been cleaned up on the bottom, a few of the logs that blocked the road are gone.  The upper portion still has a lot of branches and some brush to force your way through.  Great Ride!

Google Earth View:


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Garmin Map:

Panther Gulch to Findley via layton ditch mine trail

Another AM ride.  The weather has been great in the morning.  I little chilly so I started with the jacket, about where the pavement ends on panther gulch I had to store it in the backpack.  Ran into a down Manzanita on the trail and a whole lot of poison oak.  Neither of us get poison oak so we weren't too worried about it.  Nice climb on the way up to the ridge.  Surprisingly there is less vertical on this ride compared to Findley peak.  We should have just made a quick climb to the peak before we headed home.

Findley Peak am ride

Headed out a little after 7 am for a nice ride up findley peak.  Unfortunately it has been too long since my last serious ride.  My 11 year old and I have been riding a lot together which has been a lot of fun but not the same workout. 

Findley Upper Ridge

A nice evening ride up to the upper ridge via Findley road.

The Supermoon!

We had to enjoy the supermoon so we headed out about 10:30 pm and rode up to the peak up findley.  Great view of the moon.  My iphone can't take pictures in the dark...  I'll post it anyway though...

Findley Ridge am

I have decided that the morning rides are pretty nice.  I'm going to try to get a few more in throughout the rest of the spring/ summer season.  Quick ride up to the ridge on Findley.

Findley Ridge Finally...

Haven't been out on the bike enough lately but happy to get out today...  Here is the map/ stats...

A bit of rain and a new trail up Findley Peak

Headed out this afternoon for a ride and unfortunately was solo again.  A nice sunny day this Sunday but by the time I was able to get out on the bike the showers started.  Luckily it was only showers and was actually plesent on the climb to keep me nice and cool.  The consistent showers began to make the road a bit too wet- where the tires will start to pepper you with mud...  A nice climb up findley peak.  There is a quick little deviation off the main findley road just as you start up.  I took it on the way down.  An old road, that no one travels anymore.  It is just a shortcut off the corner on the flat portion of the road.  My Dad told me that my Grandpa actually made the side road with his bulldozer quite a few years ago.  A great view on the top:

Snow and hail

Another quick workout tonight. After the last few days being very busy it was nice to get a good workout in.  After about half-way up Findley there was some hail.  I continued up the road and it turned to snow.  I think that I missed the worst of it because when I got back to the house things were really wet.  I guess I got pretty lucky with the weather this time.  Lucky other than it was really cold!

Findley Road- There are a few sections of road that will run through private land.  You will see the signs.  Please respect the property.  The landowner has allowed people to use this road.  Please don't use the road with a motorized vehicle when it is wet.  Through passage only, is the stipulation on the sign.  No hunting or firewood cutting.  Also, the landowner is not liable for any injury to you or your vehicle that you may sustain while using the road.  It is a privilege to use the road, please remember that.

It really is nice to get a good workout in after (or before) the times of life's stresses. 

Early Morning Ride up findley

I was the first to get up in the house this morning and woke up wanting to get a ride in.  A beautiful morning with lots of sunshine.

A quick workout

Dan and I were hoping to get another ride in this week but there has been some serious rain lately.  We had just enough time to get a good workout up to Findley Ridge and back.  We actually went just a bit further to where there used to be a gate that blocked access to a fairly recent logging operation.  Someone must have hooked the gate up to their hitch and drove down the hill because the gate was bent up and ripped out.  I don't understand why someone would disrespect another person's property like that.  Not cool!

Down findley in the slick section.

Findley Exploration Ridge Route

I have been watching the weather very carefully this morning.  Looking at the forecast, I was thinking that I was going to ride in the rain today.  Somehow we got very lucky.  I wanted to continue on the ridge that I took last time and see if I could find a different route or possibly connect back with findley road.  We knew there was a pretty good chance that we'd have to hike-a-bike for some of it-  we were right.  We ended up coming out on BLM road 38-5-26.  It is an unmarked road on most maps.  There was probably 1/4 to a 1/2 of a mile we had to carry our bikes until we hit the road.  I should have took a few pictures because the trail was pretty nice most of the way (until we had to walk).  Wasn't a lot of miles but a fun adventure.

A new out and back route.

It has been raining all day.  There has been a few times where there was light rain- which is always fine to ride in.  Either way, all I knew is that I was going for a ride.  It was raining pretty heavy when I left with some serious wind gusts.  The weather calmed down once I hit findley road.  It wasn't too rainy for the climb- there is basically a creek running down the road though.  I had been thinking about a ride that I used to do when I was a kid.  It used to be a loop and some people bought the property and blocked it off.  It is the Whiskey gulch area which connects in with Findley and what I used to call "Smith Lane".  Just like Findley road, you have to cross through Private land to get to the public land.  Just make sure you stay on the road ridge road.  The owner of the land is OK with people respectfully crossing his land using this ridge road and assumes no liability or responsibility for what happens while you are crossing the road.  In fact, I don't recommend, promote or suggest that you try this or any of these routes on this blog.  If you decide to give them a try, you will assume all liability for whatever may happen- and anything can and will happen.  Did you see the wipeout with my riding buddy?

The rain picked up so I guess I wimped out.  I went to the top of the ridge on the road and then turned around.  I brought a few extra layers because I knew I'd get cold.  I also put on my balaclava for the downhill because with the combination of rain and sweat, I was getting chilly.

The creek here was really flowing.

A creek here too, not as pretty.  The only reason I stopped here was because I lost traction.

Nice view up on the top of the ridge.  Not as high as the other "Findley Peaks" I ride to.

So I am rethinking my "no fenders" philosophy.  Especially when it is raining.  I'm ok with mud in my face, not really OK with a deluge of water and mud...

I thought I stopped the timer, I looked at my computer later and it was still running.  I think it was about 1:20 round trip.

Two in a row

Yesterday was beautiful.  Today was snowing off and on most of the day.  I didn't think there was much of a chance to get out on a ride.  Thankfully, I was wrong!  About 5:00 Dan, Mike and I headed out just at the right time.  The snow, hail and rain stopped and it was partly cloudy with an occasional glimpse of the sun.  It was quite cold- my thermometer said 41.  I don't know it felt a lot colder than that.  We had a pretty quick ride up panther gulch to the lower road and then down the single track near the old rock quarry.

On the way up the lower road, we caught a great view of the valley with the sun peaking out.

Here, Dan is heading down the steep section of the trail that hooks up with a BLM road that eventually comes out on East fork road.

There has been some water running down the trail so it's rugged.

Panther Gulch and Jeep Road Downhill

Headed out this afternoon about 4:30.  Was hoping that Dan and I could ride together but ended up going solo today.  This route is a pretty easy climb with a fun downhill.  Quite a few road miles.  The weather today ended up being amazing.  Partly cloudy skies, some sunshine and not too chilly. 

On the way up I had a bit of trouble- a flat.  I have been running pretty low pressure lately and I think that it finally caught up with me.  Replaced the flat and I was on my way in about 10 minutes (maybe less).

It is good to be prepared.

Here you can see the turn off from the main road it follows a short portion of the Layton Ditch Mine trail and then you connect with an old jeep road. 

Take this trail then make a sharp right.

The downhill is actually quite technical with the ruts and down logs that you have to navigate.  Was a bit muddy with all the rain we have had lately.  Looks like a river has been running down the old road.

Good ride other than the flat:

Findley West Peak

Unfortunately I haven't been riding enough lately to keep up the fitness level that I would like.  The last two "real" rides that I have done I could really notice my strength and stamina was lacking.  The west peak up findley is a pretty good climb.  It took me a lot longer to do this ride compared to the last time.  About 10 minutes slower this time.  I ran into a lot of snow in a shady section up there- actually had to walk through it.  There is a pretty steep section the last push up to the peak, today I couldn't make it up without walking.  It is steep but add some slick conditions and it is near impossible.  Not to mention my legs were pretty tired.  Great view up there today.  Here are a few of the pictures: 

My stats for this ride are a bit discouraging but I can gain back my strength pretty quickly.  I still feel like I have a pretty good base.  Lots of extra daylight now and hopfully some good riding weather will help in that process.  I need to train for my Birthday ride this year.  I'm planning to ride in the hills above applegate lake.  Stein Butte, Squaw lakes and possibly little grayback mountain area.  Shooting for around 40 miles of intense singletrack and a lot of vertical.  It will take some definite training for this one.

A serious ride

It has been a while since I have went on a ride other than Cathedral Hills.  Today I ended up riding solo on probably what is one of my favorite rides.  I headed up Findley Road, wondering how much strength I have lost since my last charge up this hill.  It turned out that it wasn't too bad.  I worked pretty hard to get to the top of the ridge in 34 minutes.  If I would have headed back home at that point my legs would have been in pretty good shape.  I kept heading up to the top of the Eastern Findley Peak.  I started feeling it the last 1/2 mile or so.  It was easy to notice that I had lost some of the strength in my legs- I was getting fatigued.  Before I climbed over the tank trap I ate a Gu hoping for a charge to get me up the rest of the way.  There was still some snow at the top.

 This is looking back down the peak.  There was actually pretty good traction heading up.

There is a view up here but it is hard to see out with all the trees.  This area hasn't been logged for a while like the western peak.

This is looking down the trail, pretty fun section to follow.

On the way down to the Layton Ditch trail I took a picture of the beautiful day and the beautiful view.  Once I hit the Layton Ditch Mine trail, it was fairly easy to the point where it connects with Panther Gulch.

This is the sign at the trail head on the Panther Gulch Side.  Rather than heading down panther gulch road, you continue across the road and follow the ditch trail.  There is a sharp cutback down the hill that is a great downhill trail.  A very old road that has grown over.  There are a few sections you have to get off the bike and jump over logs.
I realized today that for some reason I hesitate to take pictures.  I guess I think that I am wimping out by taking a "break".  I really enjoy pushing myself to going as fast as I can up the hills.  Today I most definitely did that since I haven't been out on tough ride for a while.  I have had to dial back my speed on the downhills after I saw Dan's horrific crash.  It was just under 15 miles and just under 2 hours.  About 2000 vertical feet.  A great ride!

Cathedral Hills

Josh and I headed out this afternoon hoping to beat our record of 1hr 16 minutes.  Josh just scored some new gear from the Pearl Izumi store in the Woodburn outlet mall.  He was set with a nice pair of shorts and some leg warmers.  It was a beautiful day.  We came in at 1hr 6 minutes a real fun ride with only 1 minor wipeout...

Heading up the backside trail.

Cathedral Hills ride

Josh and I did the same ride as last time.  There is a pretty nice climb on the hogback section, I did it twice again- well maybe 1 and a half.  Josh is really gaining on his climbing/endurance.  It was a lot of fun and we took about 13 minutes less than last time.  No crashes though...

Cathedral Hills

Josh has been wanting to get out on the bike more.  A great chance for us to hang out and have some fun!  Today we had a little more time to ride.  We headed out after school today, the weather was a little cool but no rain.  We road up the backside trail up hogback(which is pretty steep) and then around outback.  Here is the map for Cathedral Hills.  I rode the hogback up two times for a little extra fun.  Unfortunately Josh had a wipe out on a tough climb section.  At least he wasn't going fast and thankfully he wasn't hurt.  Regardless of the mishap he still had fun- and so did I. 

Cathedral Hills- Outback only ride

Today my family headed  up to Cathedral hills.  My wife had the two younger boys and Josh and I decided to do a fairly quick ride around the Outback trail.  The last time we rode up the backside trail, and then came back down and rode the outback trail.  Today, we just rode the outback trail. 

Standard Findley Ridge Ride

Yes, another ride up Findley. I haven't varied too much from many of my standard rides lately.  The amount of daylight available can make it a challenge to get out on the bike for longer rides.  Today, Dan and I got out on the bikes Sunday afternoon.  Surprisingly Findley is in pretty good shape.  The heavy rains of late actually revealed the few small bits of rock embedded in the heavy clay soil.  It seemed that the route was in worse shape when we only had the light rains.  We actually rode up to the green gate and then turned around (one more small climb after the big landing with the boulders...

Medium Findley

I've done a Findley "short" ride lately, today I wanted to go just a bit farther- I'll call it the medium Findley.  Pretty nice weather after all the rain.

On the way to Findley road, looking to the East

The first section of Findley is the most challenging, steepest part of the ride.  A great deal of it is 20%+ grade.  It took me about 40 minutes round trip.  It is a great workout without a lot of time investment.  Nearly 1000 vertical climb- in a very short distance.  I took it nice and easy on the way down- probably no faster than 30 mph. 

Cathedral Hills Trails

The last two days my 11 year old son and I went mountain biking over at Cathedral Hills trails, just outside of Grants Pass.  It is a lot of fun singletrack-  We stuck to the outer, Outback Trail that is pretty wide and only a few sections that are steep.  It is a fun place to ride.  Here is a pretty nice map of all the trails.

Heading up one of the hills

I think he is starting to figure out why I like mountain biking so much.  It took us right at an hour to do this complete the route below.

View Cathedral Hills- outback trail in a larger map

Findley East Peak

It has been a while since I've been out on the bike unfortunately.  I was able to get out about 4:00, knowing that it would be getting dark soon.  I packed my light and some extra cold weather gloves and my balaclava.  There is a fun little loop that is east of the "Findley Peak" ride that I have done before. I made it up to the ridge from the bottom of Findley in 32 minutes- a decent time considering.  The only part I don't like is the tank trap you have to climb over.   Here I'm at the top of the Peak, it look much darker than it is, I missed sunset by probably 10 minutes.

I forgot to restart my computer after I stopped to clip my light on my handlebar so it looks like a went cross country for quite a few miles.

I have the map below that focuses on the ridge area and the peak to the east.



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Findley Short Ride

This is a quick little ride that still is a great workout.  It was getting dark soon and I didn't want to do any  solo night riding .  You still get to "enjoy" some of the steepest parts of Findley Road.

First ride of the new year

This afternoon I headed out solo planning for about a 1.5 hr ride.  It has warmed up today and I quickly found myself with the jacket in the backpack.  I tried to keep a pretty strong pace all the way up.  Most of the ride I had my bike in the middle chain ring.  Headed up Panther Gulch to the lower gated road (that is always open) and loop around back to East Fork.  On the way up I took a few photos of the valley.

Looking towards Grayback

Once you reach the Clearing on the top of the ridge you have basically two options.  First you can head down to East Fork Road (which is what I did this time).

Option 1- towards East Fork Road

There is a small mound of dirt that will lead you to a jeep road/ mostly single track downhill.  This old road will tie in with a BLM road that hooks up with East Fork Road.

Option 2- up to the upper Panther Gulch Road

This one turned out a little blurry.  There is a single track trail that will take you to the upper Panther Gulch Road.

Here is the Google Earth Map Below:

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