What I did on my Summer Vacation. (5 days on the Umpqua River Trail, Oregon)

Dear Readers,

My name is fatmarc vanderbacon. I just had perhaps the most amazing one week of my life. Monk and I jumped on a big ole jet plane and headed to the west coast. We did a weeks worth of riding and it was awesome. This post will be a small collection of thoughts and memories from the trip, I'm sure if you ask me about it I'll have lots more. This post will also a little bit longer, and I realize that looking at vactation photos and selfies can be lame. Indulge me a bit. I write this to remember how awesome the trip was before heading back to work and the real world. So get a cup of coffee, or a beer and I hope you enjoy the following recollections.

Northern California is Rad. So Monk and I had a day before the tour started. The town our hotel was in was a little bombed out. I blame walmart. I mean all the small shops and the center of town were all abandoned, but the new Walmart was jumping. But I digress by taking needless shots at a fine retailer and homogenizer of the world. We jumped in the car and headed south. South to California. It was amazing. Bucket list stuff for me.

The Red Wood Forrest was breath taking.

Diane photo bombs her own shot.

Mountains in the background of the beach. awesome.

Ashland, Oregon was pretty rad too.  We ate here when we first got into Oregon, and hung out in a super sweet small book store for a few hours. It didn't suck. It did make me realize that I'm not a barnes and noble fan. Fun little college town, lots to see and eat.

Ashland...

Destination Rides: One of my favorite things about this tour was that we rode from campground to campground. We worked out way down the 80 mile Umpqua trail over 4 days, plus a fun ride around Lemolo Lake. It added to the sense of adventure. We got in the van on Monday and not again until Friday. The complete lack of cell phone and internet access in the mountains was also a giant plus. Map time each morning detailed our route and any hazards we may face in route.

Our Guides were Awesome.  I know this is their job. And damn are they good at it. Great time, funny and they love to ride as much as any of us. The weird part was that they did all the set up, all the break down, loading the van each day. It felt weird not to help, but they were always like, "we're working this is your vacation" and were super cool. The Food was amazing. Frankly, having John and Lucy as guides was a lucky break and amazing stuff. All we had to do was focus on riding, eating and taking it all in. They also did an outstanding job of making sure we didn't miss important stuff on the trails like water falls, as we rode.

No waterfalls like this in Fairhill.

John on the left, Lucy on the right.

Swimming Holes:  At the end of each day's map time John and Lucy would explain that there was an awesome swimming hole. With no showers during the week the swimming holes would be how we would clean up. The water was freaking cold. Each day the guides would explain the route and follow up with, the swimming hole is rad, and the water should be warmer. We all laughed.

Russell:  Our actual tour group was very small. Diane and I and Russell. Russell was a really strong rider from Oklahoma. I was stoked to meet him, and get to hang out with him for a week. He was brutally funny, and was by far one of my favorite things about the trip. I hope to lure him, and for that matter the John and Lucy, out east to share a weekend of Fairhill riding...

Monkey: As regular readers of Fatmarc.com know, Monkey has been battling a knee injury for about 6 weeks. We had concerns that she might not be able to ride at all on the tour. I had a rope packed in my bag in case she couldn't pedal, and I was prepared to pull her around the tour. All that said, and Diane did wonderfully. Now I know she'll protest and say her fitness is a disaster, and clearly her knee is not right yet. That said, she did amazing. The first day, we climbed 3+ miles right off the bat. 40 minutes or so. The longest climb timewise of her life. I had to remind her to be patient. She was. That first day she was stoked, and in the end, she rode 4 days. Now to get that knee working correctly!

Dread and Terror: is the namesake trail of the trip. John explained that the name has very little to do with the trail, and everything to do with the canyon it is in. The firefighters gave the section it's name because if it ever caught fire there would be no way to control it. Now I have entire different theory on the name. At the end of the trail, there are some hot springs. The hot springs have become an attraction for the lots of naked dread locked hippies. I came flying into this final section and into a nice little techy section which I proceeded to totally screw up. I said something like, "Fuck me" as I narrowly avoided throwing myself on the ground." Being that we hadn't seen another soul in two days on the trail imagine my surprise to look up and see naked, and half naked hippies everywhere. I collected myself and said, "err, sorry" jumped on my bike and got moving again...

Deer Leap: You know when you look in the Bike Magazines and they show these incredible lush forests of the North West? Well, that was pretty much standard course for this trip, but no more so than on the Deer Leap trail. It started with a 3+ mile rolling switch back climb that could only be described as riding through the forest moon of Endor. Words will not do this section justice. This section, this day was one I will remember for a very long time.

Russell Gets Some.

Compression Socks: Okay, not really. As we came down in elevation, poison oak became more prevalent. In an effort to protect ourselves we wore some damn sexy knee highs. I make this look good.

I make this look good.

Local Lines: There was a gnarly lava rock step up section that I wanted to clean pretty badly. I took 4 shots at it and came close, and by close I mean maybe a half pedal stroke from cleaning it close, but ultimately didn't get it. John was watching and I asked him, "hey man is there a local line, or any beta you can give me to get this?" John smiled at me and said, "well, you seem to have the line, here's your local line- get a full suspension bike buddy!" we all laughed as John flew into the section and almost cleaned it before getting bounced off line. "Karma, my friend" I said to him. We all laughed. That's really a flavor of the fun, and friendly smack talk we had going all week long.

John killed this wet series of step downs to a wet bridge.

Bob's Butte:  All week long Lucy and John had warned us about the last day and what would be the two toughest climbs- Tioga and Bob's Butte. While I didn't show it, I will admit I was a little nervous. Fatmarc isn't a name that screams "good climber". We got over Tioga, and it was tough we rolled into Bob's Butte, it kicked up right away, and had a series of maybe 10 switchbacks. Near the top the trail came out into the open and in the sun. At this point I was full euro with my jersey unzipped as we covered another pitch and entered the woods.  We stopped to regroup remembering the map and that there was one last pitch in my mind. Lucy came up and told us the climb was over. Russell and I high fived. The toughest climb of the day was behind us. Sweet.

Get in the Van:  We rolled into Swiftwater and wrapped up the trip. I felt a sense of accomplishment, and joy, but was also bummed. This had been a really special and fun week. Diane rode 4/5 days and didn't have any additional issues with her knee. We met some really cool, skilled, and fun people in Russell, Lucy and John. As we stopped at the gas station, we all grabbed some fresh beef jerky from the local butcher that was next door. We traded different flavors and joked as we rode back into cell/internet service areas as our phones began to ping, chirp and sing as the reality of the outside world crept back in.

I'm glad to be home. My bed was awesome last night. I'm stoked to have slept in it. I also know that if I get a chance to get in the van again. I'll jump at it...

thanks for reading.

best to you.

respect
Vanderbacon.