I went down to Hood River to do a little riding and shoot the the third race in the Fluidride Cup series.

On Saturday we went out and rode some of amazing singletrack that circles Mt. Hood. The weather was beautiful and the trails were in pristine condition. I have yet to find another place with XC trails that are as good as those outside Hood River. The climbs are perfectly graded to keep you legs screaming, while not so steep that you can’t turn your crank over and are forced to hike-a-bike. Finally after cresting the climb, you are treated to 5 minutes of pure bliss. The sweeping curves on the descent are wide enough to ride wide open and there isn’t a death cookie to be seen.

On race day, the weather took a turn for the worse and by lunch it was pouring rain. I was forced to shoot in the trees to stay somewhat sheltered, but it was really dark and balancing the strobes with the ambient was challenging. In any case, it was a great race. You can check out the result on Skibowl’s website.

I finally made it back to the mountains this weekend and found a great stretch of singletrack. Since this was a solo mission I didn’t grab my camera and get any pictures.

The Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie is a multi-use trail and I was afraid it was going to be overrun with Seattlites trying to escape the city on a sunny weekend. Fortunately, I made it up there pretty early and only ran into 3 bikers and 4 hiking groups in 15 miles of riding.

All the pertinent details can be found on the BBTC’s wiki.

I didn’t ride the entire trail system. My crank started coming loose about 7 or 8 miles in from the TH. But, I loved what I did ride. The first 3 miles are pretty techie–it’s completely ridable, but you need to be comfortable popping up over logs if you want to stay clipped in over the endless trail retainers. After the first couple bits of climbing, the trail turns into pretty flowly singletrack. And all those little step ups are super fun on the descent.

(For the lower 8 miles)
Tech: 3/5
Grunt: 2/5

Definitely worth the hour and change drive. Just make sure you go on an odd day so that you can actually ride the trail.