Spring break

Here are pics. Perhaps I'll fill it out later with some description.  But perhaps not.
The place: Orcas Island.
The people: Rory, Alex, Jon.

Jon leading.
Trails were in great shape. I was expecting more mud. But as everyone told me, Orcas is in a rain shadow. There were a few moments where the scenery and flora resembled some of the Nat'l Forests around here.

Kona waiting.
This was the end of the descent on day one, which was mostly non-technical single track. Fun stuff. 

Jon pondering.
I took this from the lookout tower at the top of Mt. Constitution.
Yes, we rode to the top. Part road and part trails.

Rory photo'ing.
I didn't do a very good job of capturing the severity of this section. The "severe" part would be hitting this turn too hot. It's a cliff.

Alex climbing.
On day two we rode fire roads up to Mt. Pickett.
There were a couple mighty steep sections of this road that were satisfying to climb... in that slow and painful way.

Rory gazing.
This is the road up to Mt. Constitution. If you tell any bikey person that you are going to Orcas Island, they'll tell you that you MUST go to the top of Mt. Constitution. Done.

Kona posing.
The signage in Moran St Park was great.
Mountain biking is only allowed on the fun trails from Sept 15 to May 15, and the signage was super clear about which trails were open to which kinds of vehicles.

Jon climbing.
You can see a bit of ocean there. Taking the ferry from Anacortes is about $40 a car +  $12 a head. So we left Liza's truck in Anacortes and packed into Rory's bitchin Westy. That was a good plan. 

Rory approaching.
While the single track we rode at Moran St Park was non-technical, there is a section we didn't ride that is a bit technical. Generally: there's not a ton of trail here and from Spokane, this is a huge trek. But I say it's worth doing. And the next time we do it, we'll stay an extra day. I'd advocate for a daily routine that looks something like this: doing the Mt Pickett loop (~1.5 hrs)  in the morning; back to camp for giant breakfast; chill; fishing; hanging; light lunch; Mt. Constitution loop (~3.5 hours); dinner; beer; bed -- repeat that three days.

Rory and Alex sitting.
Bikes congregating.
Bike stats:

• 75%  had internally geared hubs (of which 66% were Rohloff)
• 75% were shod with 26" (559) wheels
• 25% were made of titanium
• 100% were hard tails with suspension forks (50% Rockshox, 25% Fox, 25% Marchozzi)

Alex slowing.
This was the end of the Pickett descent. Even though it was only about 5-7 minutes, it was my favorite section of the trails. Lots of long roll-outs down smooth swoppy trails. It was so much fun that I was all aflutter for about 20 minutes after the descent.

Alex and Jon wishing.
After we got back to Seattle, Alex took Jon and me out on his boat, where we  wished for wind. Alex was able to eek out a couple knots from the slightest puffs of wind.