The World According to Don

When I was about 50 years old I had a scary crash on Lookout Mountain in the Ochoco Mountains near where I live in Bend, Or. I sat myself down and had a talking to. I told myself I was getting to an age where being careful and prudent was more important than getting better. It was good advice, and I have followed it, but another couple of things have happened since then. One mountain bike have gotten better. New bikes go down steeper, rockier more difficult terrain, two I have done two vacations with Bike Verbier in Switzerland. I'm now 66, I still tell my self to be cautious but I found myself riding trails I never thought I would do even earlier this summer. In Switzerland there is, to put it mildly, a lot of terrain and a lot of vertical. A day with 10,000 feet of descending is common, 14,000 not unheard of. A 5000 ft descent in one go not unusual. 30 switchbacks in a row not unusual, all of them harder then anything we have around here. Rocks, roots, exposure are par

We have an Eclipse coming up in a few weeks and I am surprised how may of my friends don't understand what is going to happen. I am reading a book called American Eclipse. It is not about the one coming up but about one in the past, in 1878. The book is not just about the Eclipse but about the Science behind it and how this event helped put the United States into the forefront of scientific research. The author, David Baron, described his first Eclipse in these words," For three glorious minutes, I felt transported to another planet, indeed to a higher plane of reality, as my consciousness departed the earth and I gaped at an alien sky. Above me, in the dim vault of the heavens, shone an incomprehensible object. It looked like an enormous wreath woven from silvery thread, and it hung suspended in the immensity of space, shimmering. I felt something I had never experienced before-a visceral connection to the universe" I have seen Total Solar Eclipse. It is the most ama

My friend Russell and I rode McKenzie Pass yesterday. I can't recall how many times I have over but it must be close to a hundred as the first time a rode it was 37 years ago. Back then I probably knew all of the Bend riders who would ride it regularly. We used to do a loop, over Santiam and then return via McKenzie. 86 miles, it was a highlight of the year. I've raced it, toured it, ridden in the snow, the rain and the blazing sun. I've been there close to tragedy ( a rider on a ride I was supporting crashed and died of his injuries), humor, a tourist fully loaded stayed with a break during the Cascade Classic for a mile or so, feeling strong and feeling weak. As Bend has become a cycling Mecca, McKenzie Pass has become one of the to do rides in our area. The state keeps the road closed well into the summer so cyclists can enjoy it car free. Not many do the loop as the traffic on Santiam is quite busy, and why would one not go out and back on a road closed to cars. I do