Good Weather in Bend

After a weak start, the climate in Bend has improved significantly. It's been sunny and very nice. The skies here are really blue.

Is he not cuuuuuuuuuute? I had to stalk him a little, but he held still long enough for me to get close to him. The chipmunks are everywhere in the trail system. They're so dumb, instead of running across the trail, they run down it, right in front of your bike.

Today I was tired. We parked on a fire service road 5 miles uphill from where we usually start riding. We had the intent of exploring a new trail that we could see on the map, but we could not actually find it. I think we're going to have to start at the other end, which we can find, and ride it backwards to where we think it should start (note the use of a conditional in that sentence). Here is Jim at the Helicopter Pad, which is a high point in the trail system. We contemplated going back down from there, but .7 miles of the trail are signed double black diamond, so we decided not.

Does this look like a killer rock to you? Well it is. I approached it from the uphill side, and just buried my front wheel in the dirt at its base riding off of it. Apparently I did something wrong, not sure if my weight on the bike was wrong or what. It's difficult to learn from mistakes made mountain biking. One second things are fine, the next you're laying on the ground. I landed well, I hit the ground with the full length of my left side, and then rolled on to my back; it's good not to stick wrists or elbows in to the ground.

Tomorrow morning we'll see how much damage has been done, at the moment it doesn't seem to bad. I will say that arm and knee pads are my friend.