Half ass trip plan not half bad.

Fall is upon us which means it's about to be dreadfully dark and rainy for 5 months straight. Which  means it's time to get out of here and squeeze in one more biking trip. 

We half ass planned a trip to go ride the rest of the Oregon scenic bikeways on our tandem and van camp in between. Since the trip was planned half ass planned -we threw a bunch of random shit in the van without a real plan including our mountain bikes and  a bunch of camping chairs that were totally in our way that we used once.  Because if you  have less of a plan more shit can compensate for that. Really it was less than quarter ass planned, but no one uses that terminology so for simplicity we will stick with half assing with a lot of things packed into that van. 

Our asses started on a trail dubbed Tualtin Valley Scenic byway. Our "plan" was to camp at a campground near the middle and ride out and backs over two days to cover the 100 mile route. We had a real campground planned- maybe the only thing actually planned but about 20 minutes away we started seeing a lot of free dispersed camping options that we couldn't resist. For those of you who know our asses, in addition to being half assed planners we are also tight asses. So saving $20- yeah- that's our style. After deliberating for 1 minute(s) we pulled off at the next pullout and found a "great" camping spot. While backing in, Brandon backed into a bush with the tandem - upon inspecting the bike he immediately stepped in a pile of dung, the TP nearby indicated it was person dung.  Even after leaving those shoes outside, our van still reeked of people poop, that smell engrained in our brains for longer than we'd like to admit. But we were $20 richer, so we were victorious. 

We road our trail, mostly car-free, we let a nice lady follow in our draft on the second day and felt pretty good about ourselves. But, quickly we realized that not only did we half ass plan this trip but we also half ass trained for this trip  and  tandem road riding is actually a lot of work. We were ready for a rest day after two days of riding.

So we decided to mountain bike the next day where we realized that we only half packed my mountain bike and forgot my front axel deeming my bike unusable . The bike store in town didn't have the part but had free ice cream (still a win). We ended up taking turns mountain biking on Brandon's bike while the other went strider biking with Annabelle on the trails. I always thought Brandon's bike was part of what made him fast- but his bike is actually a giant fat pig and it is Brandon who is actually fast.  Who knew- I still had a good time mountain biking in Banks on Brandon's stead. 

Where do we go next- looking at google maps with a thousand tabs open on the phones-spinning our wheels-we headed to the Oregon coast by default. There we road the coastline for a few days and stopped at the Tillamook creamery because we love free cheese, and they serve ice cream too.

Annabelle had a good time strider bike riding around the coastal campground and playing swamp monster in the sea foam at the beach. She consistently reminded us "this foam looks like poop but it's not poop". Brandon bought "Annabelle" some kites which "they" flew on the beach.  We checked out the 4x4 dune riding on the coast where Annabelle wanted to eat nothing but pretzels. Arriving at a playground we told her we were all done with pretzels but quickly binge ate them while she was on the swings like  pro-parents. Coastal riding complete. 

Our previous summer bike packing trip took us through Sisters, Oregon to the best brewery we've ever been too. Their beer wasn't on the coast so we decided to head to Sisters for the Chocolate Porter like a moth to light for a rest day because we were still tired. 

At Sisters- we  bought 4 six packs of chocolate porter and stopped at the bike store where they had the necessary axel for my mountain bike and a bunch of other treasures that were on sale. By 4:00 on our rest day we were so bored we decided to just go for a quick mountain bike ride as a family before we went out for pizza and beer. The mountain biking was awesome- perfect for us. The trails were fast to ride, not technical at all, flowy banked turns and Annabelle was all smiles.  She ate it up on her shotgun seat like a little blonde bad ass. "Daddy-o hit that bump! Daddy-o go faster. Daddy-O should I stand for that bump or lean back with my bottom?" 

We quickly arrived at the conclusion that tandem road riding is actually a lot of work and mountain biking is a lot of fun.  Annabelle was slaying it on her shot gun seat for hours on end. Holy Hell we've arrived and are mountain biking as a family. Like really mountain biking. Like two rides a day totaling 25 miles and 3500 feet of gain actually summiting something riding. Brandon having a 35 pound handicap I can almost keep up with him and Annabelle, but not really. 

The rest of the trip was spent drinking chocolate porter and mountain biking in Bend. We tore it up at Greengate, Phil's trail head and randomly ended up biking trails at a dog park near the river. 

The next trip we'll just the scrap the road riding plan and go straight to Bend- possibly without the camp chairs. Yeah Fall.