Cog Wild

Ice Crit 2010!! Winter Blog update…

Rewind to 1983 and Hutch’s Bike Shop in Bend. A bunch of employees came up with the idea of riding bikes at night, in winter, up at Swampy SnoPark. There are many more details there, but if we fast forward to now, last night was the 17th annual Ice Crit. Hutch’s no longer puts it on and currently Cog Wild is taking on the task of organizer. On the occasion it has not snowed the day of the event and cement is showing, ice and snow are blown on the road to create epic crit standards. Whew, hard work too!!

But enough of those details. Ice Crit is all about riding bikes through snow, ice and cold cement in costumes, being cheered on by your peers and seeing what sillyness we can all get up to. Last night was no exception and fun was had by all! In our opinion, this is one of the best events of the year and for those who missed in, bummer for you! Good thing it happens every year!!

Enjoy the photos and we will see you next year!!

Fremont – remote riding…

Whew, my legs are tired. Not so much from the riding, but the snow that made riding so hard and slow and punishing. Lots of pushing the bike while thinking, damn.. if only the snow was not here this would be fabulous riding!!

Cog is always looking for new and exciting places to take people riding. The Fremont National Forest is an area we have always wanted to share with our guests, but a HUGE forest fire in 2002 made that impossible. Now that years of trail work have taken place to make it worthwhile we went out there to check it out.

There are still miles of trails stopped up by downed dead trees, but other areas were cleared and ready to ride. Thanks to  a freak snow storm we got last weekend our bike trip had the makings of some epic-ness, but it all worked out. Redesigning our routes to include South facing trails, we were able to ride sections with steep climbs, great views and fast & zoomy downhills. There are huge Ponderosa Pines out there, and thanks to seeing tracks in the snow – even some bears.

We will be sharing more details as we get a trip together, but the plan is for the first multi-day trip for Intermediate and Advanced riders to take place next year. In an area with no other mountain bikers since if you do not know where to find the trails you will never find them, it is remote, beautiful and great riding.

Enjoy some photos! And then come ride!

Women’s Weekend trip a success!!

This past weekend was Cog’s first Women’s Weekend which was a huge success. Although I normally do not go on the multi-day weekend trips since it means being gone out of the office most Fridays, I chose to guide this event since I was so excited about it. I have wanted to have this tour for years, designing the weekend to include great riding, yoga and massage, three things I love and felt many other women would enjoy as well.

We spent three days riding local and less-known trails outside Bend. The first two days we saw hardly any riders and were able to enjoy solitude while taking in the beautiful scenery. The trails were a little dusty, but everyone was able to spread out and ride at their own pace. On Sunday, our last day, we split into two rides on Bend’s close to town trails. There were a few spills and tumbles, but most of the dust was washed away by a short dumping of rain towards the end of the ride.

A huge thank you to the women who joined us this past weekend. Both Lindsey and I enjoyed getting to know everyone, shared some funny stories and trying to stuff everyone with yummy food. We thought the weekend was great, although the mountain biking was hard at times but with an amazing massage therapist along and camping along a beautiful lake the good definitely outweighed the hard!!

Can’t wait for next year!!

North Umpqua Trail: Labor Day weekend tour

North Umpqua Trail, the “Crown Jewel” of the northwest? Pictures only show so much. You should come ride with the CGC (Cog Guide Crew) and see it for yourself. Cheers!

Ellsworth Rides Weekend – Huge Success!!

This past weekend was the first annual weekend of its kind with Cog Wild. We had 17 riders join us including Tony Ellsworth, Chevy who welds all the frames and Dave who manages the bikes being built. It was a blast and we can’t wait until next year. Here are some photos:

We rode three days: Mt Bachelor to Lava Lake, Charlton Lemish Loop and Flagline back to Bend. The second and third ride were perfect – beautiful climbs through huge trees dripping with moss and long downhills that went on for days and days. Some riders did the hike to the top of the twins and enjoyed the screaming downhill.

Evenings around camp had some fun surpises that all will have to join a multi-day tour with Cog to find out about. Thanks to Deschutes Brewery we had some great beer to enjoy after a post-ride dip in Little Cultus Lake and our chef Paul made sure no one went hungry.

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend! We are already planning new routes for Friday and thinking of what we can do better. Hope to see you there!!

Umpqua 3 Day Adventure

Riding in the Umpqua National Forest is a treat in itself, sharing it with people who have never been there is the icing on the cake.

Over the past weekend we had the pleasure of guiding 11 eager mountain bikers along the slithering trails that parallel the spectacular Umpqua River. Unfortunately there was a fire in nearby Glide, OR so we were unable to experience some of the lower half, but the infamous Dread and Terror section had the guests whooping for more.

After three days of epic riding, hot springs, bridge jumping, delicious energy food and beautiful scenery, everyone had a weekend to remember!

Allyson and her husband Peter from Napa were ecstatic, especially after Allyson expressed she pushed herself beyond what she thought was possible and is now committed to continuing her mountain biking adventures! Greg, Darren, Darin, Aaron, Kasey, Sherri, Ed, Steve and Billy all expressed their excitement and personal triumphs over the weekend. The North Umpqua Trail is awe-inspiring and leaves most people feeling accomplished and happy. Even the photos will inspire you… enjoy…

Guide Lindsey Voreis loving the singletrack

Lower trails plagued by smoke...Bummer

Back at Camp, Greg, Darren, Ed and Kasey are happily exhausted after a great day of riding! Sipping delicious Deschutes Brewery beer helps regenerate those legs!!

Top of Dread and Terror! The best day!!!

Ahhh, the weeping wall...

Darren hoisting his bike over the giant fallen tree...

Peter rounds the bend to see the falls directly across from him...

Creek running down the trail...

Allyson, Lindsey and Sherri... Ladies in the house!!

Mega Avalanche & Mountain of Hell race recap

I am still trying to recover from the last two weekends of racing. Sven and I went to the Mega Avalanche in Alpe de Huez, and then across the valley to the smaller, but crazier Mountain of Hell in Les 2 Alpes, the following weekend. Both races start on glaciers way the hell up at crazy altitudes where it hurts to breathe, and both of them have mass starts with loads of riders hurtling themselves down massive amounts of elevation.

At the Mega, they have the women start separate to the men, because there are so many people – about 3000 entries of which 80 of them were women. The track was 32km long and it took me 1h15min to finish – ending up in 7th place overall with Anne Caroline Chausson taking the win. I was super happy with this result, as the competition was tough with loads of big name pro’s out there trying to get on the box, and I beat quite a few of them!

As if doing one of these races a year isn’t enough, we drove across the valley to Les 2 Alpes to race another one – The Mountain of Hell. This race was way smaller than the Mega, but it really lived up to it’s name. Sven had to cover the race for Dirt, so we had no choice, but to throw ourselves down yet another glacier at warping speeds with hundreds of people flailing around you.

Our qualifying race was cancelled due to a large amount of snow, which meant that there would be no seeding for Sunday’s big race down the glacier. They lined up the women in row 15 – which is far back from the front line and any hopes of getting down the glacier in a straight line with no people around was thrown out the window. Because this event is so much smaller than the Mega, the women have to start with the 500 men, and it is pretty much just survival to get to the bottom of the mountain. People were crashing and sliding everywhere, elbows were flying, T-bones were had, Frenchies were swearing, it was chaotic and you just had to try and stay with your bike and get to the bottom. Another “entertaining” detail about this event, was that you couldn’t practice riding down the glacier until race day, and you couldn’t ride the last 5km of the trail until race day – they were only the hardest, most technical two sections of the entire track! Nothing like racing down a sheer cliff – blind and on a snowy track with 500 other people!

I ended up finishing in 3rd place, after getting held up by so many guys on sections where passing was impossible. I managed to get by about 350 guys to end up 179th overall. Not too bad for starting in the 15th row!

I still can’t quite comprehend the craziness of the last two weekends. The abuse on our bikes and bodies. The altitude. The mountains & trails that never end. Two feet of snow in July? The amount of people out there loving life and just riding their bikes because they love to ride their bikes. It was amazing, and after swearing that I’ll never do 2 of these events back to back again, I think I’ll be back for more next year.

O, and by the way, my NOMAD is the sickest bike EVER!

Cheers!

Anka

At the start of the Mega – getting ready for some elbow action at the startline

Graceful glacier sliding

and then piling up

Endless perfect singletrack

Endless perfect views

The top section of Mountain of Hell track – sooo rough & barren – was covered in snow on race day

This was the top of the glacier – Mtn of Hell, trying to get a feel for ice at 6am in the morning!

More endless singletrack

We all survived the crazy race – Sven & I with the Dirt Mag crew

Stoked to get on the box!

Bike and Brew Tours

Although we offer multi-day camping weekends in super scenic locales, our most popular multi-day tour is the Bike & Brew. Guests stay at the Phoenix Inn in downtown Bend, ride all day and visit a different brewery every night.

According the Seth, one of the guides, the Bike & Brew of 7/10-12, 2009 was the best one yet! When asked about the weekend, he said , “We were all so comfortable together that I dressed down this day.” Yeah, we see what you mean, Seth:

The clients agree. Tim, a client on the best yet Bike & Brew, writes; ”The weekend was top shelf. From all of Melanie’s work behind the scenes to Erika’s, Seth’s, and Jackson’s expertise and patience on the trails. Lev has a great crew working with him. Cog Wild deserves a big “thumbs up”= 0 and I recommend them to all.”

Heidi emailed the pictures shown here and wrote; “Loved the “epicness” of Bend.  Haven’t done that before and now we know we can.  We explored the Newberry Crater area (per your recommendation) on our way south and checked out the trail. Would like to do that with camping.  So many doors have opened on this adventure.”

Erika, girl guide extraordinaire,is currently in Whistler B.C. and cannot be reached for comment, although I think she would agree that the tour was the best one yet.

So folks, come on back for more and bring your friends, we’ve got way more adventure in store. Thanks for being a fantastic group.

Group shot at the top of Vista Butte with Mt. Bachelor in the background.

Ochoco Adventure

Kirin blogging here: being a new mom I spend more time with my baby and less time guiding or being on trail at all. Regardless, I still need to get out for the occasional adventure. So, last Thursday Erika, Lindsey (both Cogwild guides), Jodi (from Sunnyside) and I headed east to ride Lookout Mountain.

Getting out of town is part of the adventure. We left early in the morning and drove through Prineville to the Ochoco Ranger Station. From there we rode the road up to the saddle and hopped on single track up to the Independent Mine Trailhead. Next, the four mile singletrack up to the summit of Lookout was spectacular. There were so many flowers they were growing onto the trail. I accidentally ran them over, oops. Penstemon, Lupine, Mule’s Ears, Oregon Sunshine, Columbine, Larkspur, Buckwheat, the flowers changed as we gained elevation until they carpeted the summit. Lower down there were Western Iris throughout the meadows.

At the top, we took a break to check out the view and regroup before the gnarly descent. Erika cleaned the rock garden! What a stud. I get all tense with the exposure and chicken out early. I prefer the lower sections that speed through the Ponderosas and the meadows.

Although trail work had been done on the uphill, the downhill still had about 10 big trees down that we had to climb over or crawl under. They weren’t a big deal, I like the opportunity to stretch and catch my breath before the downhill resumes.

Jodi took a digger on an off camber rocky section and split open her elbow. We were able to practice our first aid skills, which was fun. We butterflied her wound closed and she later got stitches at urgent care. The incident moved the ride to the epic adventure category.

On the way home we stopped for ice cream at the Tasty Freeze in Prineville. The day  reminded me what I like best about riding: just being out there.

Photographs by Lindsey Voreis

Cruiser Crawl’n

Bend is not only great for mountain biking, but evening cruiser crawl’n. Thursday night has turned into the night that folks meet, with costumes or funky apparel if possible and cruise the streets.

Of course 80’s music piped through an old school boom box from an iPod shuffle sets the tone. Last night, cruising downtown with Michael Jackson’s Thriller pumping seemed very appropriate, people hooted and hollered and of course stopped to dance as well.

Join us next week – 7pm at Riverside Market. Bring some brews, funky attire and be ready to ride the streets!!

The important factors: boom box, brews and funky clothing!