Bend Weekend

I did a bunch of mountain biking in Bend over the 4th of July weekend. Here are some pictures and words.

 Day one was COD, on the southern edge of the Phil's Trail complex. The plan was to head west on COD to Storm King, then north to connect with Grand Slam before swinging back south to the start. Unfortunately, a misleading  fire road derailed my plans and brought me back to COD early. Still a good ride.

View from the Deschutes River trail. This was my jumping off point for the first ride of the weekend, COD.

The Battleship, looking tough.

I didn't ride it, but it sounds good.  It's hidden away on the back side of the Phil's complex near Storm King.

On Day 2, I wanted to cover the ground I had missed the day before, but I attacked from the north. I started on Kent's Trail from the main Phil's trailhead, then took it to the junction with the actual Phil's trail and followed it to the north end of Storm King via the helicopter pad. From there I descended Storm King to Grand Slam and headed back west to the start.

The so called "helicopter pad" at the top of Phil's. You couldn't really land a helicopter there.

Grand Slam. This is my new favorite trail at Phil's. Part of it parallels a spine of rock that makes for some fun and interesting situations.

More fun and techie bits on Grand Slam.

Day 3 I rode Mrazek, a super fun out and back that runs along the ridge north of Tumalo Creek. I started at Shevlin Park, and climbed 1500 feet in 11 miles. The climbing was mostly gradual enough that it didn't feel like a chore, and the trail was twisty and fun, with many berms. Of course, 11 miles of climbing means 11 miles of descending.

On the way back down, you get a choice of difficult or intermediate.

Unfortunately, this is as good as the view got. Looking south towards Mt Bachelor.

Suck it horses! Getting ready to descend Mrazek from near the top.