NSR TR: Oregon MTB Goodness

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Dates: Friday, July 23rd – Monday, July 26, 2021

Locations: Ashland & Oakridge, OR

Riders: Enginerd, Mike, SchralphMacchio & UCL

Photos: Enginerd, Mike, SchralphMacchio & UCL

Synopsis: This is a super belated trip report, but I figured better late than never! The overall plan was Mike, Enginerd and I would leave from the Bay Area super early on Friday, driving all of the way to Oakridge, OR to meet SchralphMacchio – where he would have a camp set up for up and we’d enjoy two days of mountain bike shuttling. It’s a super long drive, so we split it up going up and coming back by stopping in Ashland for some mountain biking on the way.

Overall, it was an awesome trip – great riding with good buddies.

Day 1 – Bay Area to Ashland to Oakridge

As noted, we hit the road really early and started the long drive to Oakridge with the plan to stop in Ashland near the CA/OR border to hit some afternoon riding. The challenge was it was going to be SUPER hot at that point, so we couldn’t get involved in any super long rides.

So we settled on hitting up Bull Gap to Missing Lynx trails, which were great.

Shasta was looking dry as a bone on the drive up.



Welcome to Oregon!



Enginerd gearing up for the hot climb up.



After the climb up the road, we were treated to dry, but fast conditions.







It was a great series of trails and all went smooth, other than some quick bike repairs. Was better to get this out of the way today before the shuttle riding up in Oakridge the next two days.









We headed into Ashland and grabbed a beer and some food. Mike about to chow down.



It was super hot that afternoon, but fortunately we stopped just past Medford and jumped in the Rogue River. That was awesome!



After the plunge, we continued up with the long drive to Oakridge. SchralphMacchio was super cool and got there early, setting up a sweet camp for everyone right off the river by Wesfir. We got up there very late, found him by headlamp, had a beer and got to bed.

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Day 2 – ATCA Shuttle

Huge day today with a mega classic in Oakridge! Everyone got up early and was pumped to gear up for the day. Could actually check out the spot SchralphMacchio snagged by the river too.







Rode a couple of minutes over to Westfir to gear up for the morning shuttle.







Overall, it was just a sick day! Incredibly long ride, amazing sequence of trails, and parts so green it was like being on the Forest Moon of Endor!













After some quick views up top, back in the canopy.



















After the very long ride, we rode back from Westfir to camp and hit up the river for some beers and listening to some tunes. A great way to apres an awesome shuttle day.





That night we headed into Oakridge to hit up the pub for dinner, then walked over to the distillery for live music, and headed back to camp for a very late night sitting around. We had an 11 AM shuttle the next day, so a late night was in store. And yeah, it got late and loud….

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Day 3 – Lawler Shuttle

After a super late night, we finally rolled out of camp for some breakfast sandwiches in Westfir before going back to camp to gear up for the Lawler shuttle. I was feeling justttttt a bit tired.



Fortunately unlike ATCA which has some big climbs in it, Lawler is 100% downhill. So we knew we were in for an awesome day.







Once again entering the Forest Moon of Endor.

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Day 4 – Ashland to Bay Area

Similar to the drive up, we wanted to split the drive by stopping in Ashland for some riding. This time given we were coming from Eugene, it was a shorter drive to Ashland so we could get there early. As a result, we rode from the town up to the mega classic -> Lizard to Jabberwocky trails.

These were amazing! Just endless flow forever – ending right back in town. I can’t recommend enough.

[406]

Nice,

[east or bust]

I needed some dirt stoke, thanks

[Iowagriz]

Nice trip! I remember that Westfir trip from when I did the Cascade Creampuff (maybe 01 or 02?). We had to do 3x33mile loops (or similar). The downhills were just as tiring as the up due to the constant fun factor, braking and arm pump. I would like to go back some day.