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Bend, OREGON
Trails: Funner t → Storm King → Whooooops→ Ben’s → Slalom Play Loop → town…
Distance: 19 miles?
Words & Photos by Chris Sullivan
Though it’s been soggy and on many recent spring days… snowy, I knew that today, the upper trails of the Phils’ Trail network would be well-drained and tacky. We wanted to shuttle up to the Wanoga Trail Complex and check out the recent work done in the area by the fantastic members of the Central Oregon Trail Association. Since the start of 2010, COTA volunteers have cumulatively worked 2,200 hours on the area’s new and existing trails! Dedicated riders and passionate volunteers have created progressive trail “park” features, blazing fast singletrack and everything in between which make Central Oregon such a fun place to get your cycle fix.
The most recent work has been done about 15 miles outside of town as you head up towards Mt. Bachelor, on a couple of trails named Funner and Tiddlywinks. Ridden as a loop, these two trails will peel back a smile on your face as you bank from berm to berm for about 13 miles. But today, we’ll be going for a little longer ride, known as “Funner to town”.
Though we could’ve picked up a ride from our upstairs neighbors at Cog Wild cycle tours, we were on our own schedule so we ditched our pick-up vehicle at the shop, and jammed up to the trailhead in my truck. Pulling in, I remembered the last time I was here — the notorious Ice Crit Race was raging on and I was slammin’ a Pbr’ shin deep in snow… ahh good times… But today, we are just below the current snow level, and the dirt looks dee-licious!
Right out of the truck, my riding partners and roommates, Joe and Carly, took off toward the top of Funner. Now, don’t let the name fool you. There is a LOT of fun to be had on Funner, and as I chased them down, we soon converged at the first of the new “trail passing lanes”. These are a really cool feature that is being added all throughout the new trail system. It allows riders to hopscotch or pass each other on short offshoots of the main trail.
We’re cookin’ down the trail now, and we get to the first of many 2-3 foot rock drops with plenty of speed to sail us smoothly onto the landings. Carly left her hardtail at home, and was rallying one of the shop’s demo squish bikes through the freshly-packed pumice berms. The trail was living up to its’ name as everyone was feeling pretty confident, gaining speed even as it’s turns through the trees were getting tighter, and the air a bit more lofty. Pullin’ in hot, we convene at the Storm King juncture, and take a breath to settle some adrenaline.
Regained, we make our way down the trail toward the Cascade Lakes Hwy where we cross to the other side of the forest. Watching a couple of roadies make their way up the big hill, I think about this highway as one hell of stretch of road that can take a person on damn near any kind of adventure they might desire.
Storm King is a great trail to really get a good flow going even as it meanders uphill. It’s slightly technical, but keeping a smooth rhythm as we crank our way uphill doesn’t seem to be a task… until we start to near “Helipad”. Only then, do I notice my breathing start to get a little heavier. We meet up again at the next trail juncture and bee-line it to the start Bend’s infamous “Whoops” Trail. Bombing down the service road, we rolled up to four other groups of riders gathered around the T.H., swapping sandwiches, dropping seatposts, and talking good dirt.
Leaving the other riders, Carly took the lead and said she would pull camera duty as we cinched our packs down tight. Right off the service road, you can start to pump your way through the rollers as you gain speed, tossing tires from side to side. I loosen my grip just before taking flight. The trail is fast today!! And no need to pedal if I don’t speed check, so I’m letting the berms do their thing, and they’re doing it well! No sluffing speed as my rubber grips the pumice like its sandpaper and… you gotta let out a whooooop!!!!
Skidding sideways as we pull onto the “300” road, we see a couple of other riders and one kid sitting on the tailgate of his truck with a broken wrist. He’s the shuttle D.D. for his friends that can still ride, but he says he’ll be back on the trails in a few weeks.
We keep the juice flowing as we descend down “Ben’s” trail. While this trail isn’t at all tricked out or technical, it is a dragstrip for flowing in your top gears. It’s a fantastically sustained rally race towards town as we play catch-up with each other. I don’t know about my partners, but I’m definitely laughing my face off! Pulling onto Skyliners Road for a few pedal strokes, we decide to roll through the Slalom Play Loop and see what those nutty trail-builders have been up to
The Play Loop has been an ever-expanding course. In the six years that I’ve been here, it just keeps getting bigger and badder every time I come down it. It’s fast, it’s big, and it’s intimidating. As I gaze down the course and take in the radness of all those perfectly sculpted jumps, I spin down my gears a few and drop in. Never too graceful on the track, I clear a few of the doubles and start to feel confident… until I case the next set… doh! Humbled, I shoot for the smaller section of the course as it splits and continues on at least 4 more berms, and 6 more jumps than the last time I rode here. There’s still about a ¼ mile of open corridor that someday might be packed with more features as we pedal through toward the Phils’ Trail parking area.
Super-stoked, we roll the double-track a couple of miles back to town and make it back to the shop just as the Pine Mountain crew is closing down. It was damn good to be riding a bike and not wrenching on a bike today!
