Saturday, April 11, 2015

Bending the Gorge....


Our typical Easter week-end has always involved a spring snow trip into a remote corner of BC. Realizing the reality of the high snow-line was limiting the possibility for access so we decided to head south and take advantage of early season riding and micro brew swilling in my favourite Cascadian state.

 
We packed up our brand new 2015 Norco Range Carbon 7.1s for their inaugural ride in Bend, Oregon.

           
After an 8.5 hour drive we arrived in the land of the free, Bend Cyclery....Bend, Oregon! That afternoon we headed over to Phil's Trailhead and did a 2 hour rip to get the driving cobwebs off the legs.    


The next morning we met Eric (Bend Cyclery ring master) after an evening of at least 6 breweries under our belt. He agreed to show us the goods on the lower slopes of the Mt Bachelor area.          


We flowed up the juicy central Oregon single-track trails and had some fun along the way.      


Eric got loose on the way up....


Buttery berms anyone....


This community has a dialled and organized trail network!  


We passed some big-old Pine trees enroute...  


And made it top the top of Tyler's traverse. This is one of those trails you ride when it's a crime to take the camera out and take away the flow. Tyler's should be on the bucket list of any West Coast rider.        


We headed back to Bend Cyclery and Danielle discovered a photo of her and Juneau on the side of the shop....    


The only thing better than riding a Norco Carbon Range is pouring a pint of 10 Barrel out of one!      



Bend Cyclery has Bikes and Beer absolutely figured out!  

That evening Shauna and Mike joined us and we killed a few more breweries.


The next morning we decided to show Mike Tyler's Traverse so we headed up the hill again....          


This time I needed to capture at least one shot.        


And Danielle snapped one of me....



That afternoon we made the 2.5 hour drive to Hood River and made our way through their local brewery scene.    



On Sunday morning we met up with the owner of Discover Bicycles Kurt who showed us the golden single-track zone of Post Canyon. The ride was fast paced and exceeded all of our expectations.

See you soon Oregon Single-track!