Seattle & Portland

After getting over the separation anxiety from dropping Libby off in Vancouver, at a backpackers downtown, we continued on our travels south towards the border.

Always an interesting experience going through the border with Kelly, as he quite often is a contender for secondary questioning, however with our van loaded up and with our tickets booked back home to NZ on the 1st of November there wasn't much more than the normal questions and we were on our way to Seattle.
We arrived in the city at night, so it was cool to see the Seattle skyline with the needle all lit up, but didn't get out into the city itself as we were pretty beat after the drive and the rain didn't provide any encouragement.

After a fly by visit to Raleigh/ Diamondback to pick up a spare DH frame for Kelly, an oil change at Jiffy Lube and a new SIM card for our phone, we continued South to Portland to go see Jay & Jill who we met through Kellys bro Matty.

The drive down was VERY uneventful, rainy and only the view of the highway, it was a bit of a drag really.
Arriving at Jay & Jills place, we then headed to the Lumberyard Bike Park, http://www.lumberyardmtb.com/, where we all had a play on the wooden indoor bike park.
Rather stoked at my slowly but surely improvements in my bicycle riding, I learnt more jumping and finally was able to transition between the take off and landing.

Dinner afterwards was at the Fire on the Mountain, notorious for having the best wings in Portland, and they brew their own beer on site.
With promise of mountain biking out in Sandy in the morning and then our drive out to the coast, we called it a night.





Waking up to more rain, meant we were about to get muddy, so we loaded up the bikes and headed out.
It was a 3.5 mile bike uphill Sandy Ridge to get to the start of the trails, plus some more cross country up hill on the trails, so I was actually very thankful for the rain to cool me down.

We rode Rock Drop, Two Turntables & a Microwave, then Flow Motion which went into Hide & Seek. As a fairly beginner rider, any new trails I ride have things about them that I really haven't dealt with before, this time it was slippery mud. The trails were super fun and flowy, so much better for me as a newbie cause I didn't have to sit on my brakes as much as what I do in Whistler.

On the way back to Portland, we stopped by at the Multnomah Falls which are the 2nd highest falls in the USA.

Now we are back in Portland, deciding our next move, we want to get to the coast and start driving however there just so happens to be Typhoon Pabuk, a typhoon that brushed the coast of Japan.
So now, the stunning coastline that I've been so looking forward to seeing, is now feeling the effects of this typhoon and is expected to get 5 inches of rain & strong winds over the next couple of days :(

Its going to rain whether we go tonight or tomorrow so I think we will just go to the coast tonight, camp up and see what we are dealing with in the morning. Unfortunately its looking like we will have nothing else to do but keep on driving, but at least we will get some decent driving days out of the way so we can spend more time where its sunny and hot!

Road to Rampage Begins Today...

We are about to head out on the road, South towards to deserts of Utah, destination Virgin, for the RedBull Rampage.
http://www.redbull.com/us/en/bike/events/1331580418791/red-bull-rampage

Over the next 10 days we will be travelling down the West coast of the USA, from here in Whistler to L.A, where we will then turn our journey to the East and and away from the coast.
Last year we did this road trip inland, down through the big sky states of Montana and Idaho, so I'm very excited to check out the coastal route this time.
Have heard amazing things about the Oregon Coast, and also looking forward to checking out the bikinis and high waisted denim shorts rollerblading along the boardwalk of Venice Beach, along with the muscle men like Arnie working out on the outdoor gyms beachside.



Hoping to catch some waves, and looking forward to enjoying morning coffee on our camp stove a beach-side campsites along the way.
Stay tuned....