Gregor bikers reunite! (Oct. 22, 2006)

Another bicycle adventure update. Two weeks ago, the ol thanksgiving turkey ride, the little one (Manda) and I went for a bicycle adventure up at the ol woodlot unfortunately the camera batteries were dead and we didnt not get any pictures. :( Although the ride was great. Last week I had a camera ready but no one to help document the ride. This time I managed to convince the ol beardo himself to join me: my dad. Destination: the Woodlot...again.

We decided to make the long trek up to the power lines of Blue Mountain ,where the Woodlot resides, and start the descent on "Crazy Carpenter". Ironically, my dad is a crazy capenter so I think he is just naturally drawn to this trail whether he likes it or not. Well we huffed and puffed our way up to the top of the mountain pushing our near 50 pound rigs up the rocky forest road and began suiting up in our protective armor preparing for battle against the trail.

We begin riding along some elevated planks once we enter the forest before riding off a small drop and then onto a long sloped logride before coming to a combination of steep technical trail and amazingly handcrafted bridges all cut from fallen cedar on the forest floor.


Here is a picture of the obstacle that made the Woodlot famous. It is a large old growth stump that has a bridge spiralling down it from the top and then goes thru it! The stump has been hollowed out. It is an amazing feature. Here my dad is taking the route on the left, which bypasses the tricky section.

Here is a view of the same section from another angle, now I am actually standing on the ol stump.

After "Crazy Carpenter" we continued on with "Toad Stool" an oldie but thanks to the hard work of the trail builders is still a goodie. Once a the bottom of upper T.S. we had planned to move on to "Giant Killer" but we noticed some new trail work on lower "Toad Stool" and decided to check it out. A new line had been cut, bypassing a very erroded section, and a few little gaps and hip jumps thrown in for good measure. I got a little overzealous and over shot the gap jump but no harm done. Near the bottom of the trail we came a nice creek crossing that had been renovated just a couple years back.

Toad Stool manages to stay out of the way of major biking traffic and much of its features tend to stay great riding condition. Here's my ol man flyin across the bridge!

After blasting down T.S. we hit up "Heckle and Jeckle" a once killer trail that was shut down due to logging and was reborn just a year ago into probably the finest trail on the mountain. I hit the first little step up gap a couple times then we moved on to a wooden platform up in the trees that descended down a log ride and ending in a kicker into a banked turn. I had a little too much speed doen the log ride and launched the kicker into the corner! Luckily I stopped just short of flying over the bars and into the bushes however the sudden impact did do a number on my ankles, but not enough keep me from finishing the ride! The two of us raced on through huge smooth bank turn after bank turn, carving our way through the forest. What an unbelievable feeling to move like that through the trees.

Finally the two of us finished off the bicycle adventure with the lower half of "Shotgun" and popping out of the forest into the parking lot. Another great ride in my ol stompin grounds.