Rumble on the NUT! Pure pain, and Prednisone

So this last weekend I was invited to the first annual Rumble on the NUT! The NUT is the North Umpqua Trail and is a continuous 70 plus mile trail maintained by the USFS and the BLM. It has been on my to ride list for years and this seemed like a perfect occasion to rip down the trail with
 some friends. 

Dave Roth from Portland put together this great event and it included beer, bikes and softball and kickball. About half the participants were from Portland and the other half from Eugene. For Riding we had a bus to shuttle us up river and had two options approximately 25 miles or 50 miles. I choose to ride the shorter ride. I wanted to make sure Julie got to ride also and not be stuck watching Odin all day. This split the group down the middle half for the long, and half for the short ride.

Lewis and Clark Discovery time

Riding with new friends is always fun

Just a little climbing......Not

Deer Leap Fun

Just a little exposure near the trail

At first I was bummed I wasn't doing the longer ride, but it only took a few miles to be happy that I choose the shorter ride. Riding my singlespeed 33x20 was rough with the climbing as in the 28 miles that I covered I climbed 6,500 ft. That a lot for riding down a river. Also this trail is super exposed to big drops so I recommend that you check your brakes before riding as I rode with an almost non functional rear brake the whole way.

The views were out of this world and make me want to go back and ride the other sections. This is a true Oregon GEM. I ran the trail also the other direction and it is a great trail for running just keep your eyes peeled for Poison Oak. I got back and got rashes all over my body, that I don't believe are PO but required me to take a 5 day course of Prednisone and max out on Benedryl to deal with the itching. I looked like twitchy crack head on Monday at work between the itching and steroids.

Camping with a few bikes