We made pretty good time up E.Dunne (for me
) - just a little slower than my
PR (which was on a much faster bike). The climb goes so much faster when you have someone to chat with!
After a break and water refill at HQ, we ripped down Manzanita Point Rd - so fast on CX with the brilliant conditions out there at the moment! Diesel pointed out that the real beauty of CX is making otherwise boring fire roads fun! So true.
Straight down China Hole Trail - again. a fantastic descent for CX, especially the upper manicured part. Diesel cleared the final switchback, impressing the hell out of me!
Brief stop at China Hole - there was a thin layer of ice across the water which I didn't realize for a while! Had to take this photo - just seems so out of place
Diesel had a brake problem so I passed him and began the climb up China Hole South, fully expecting him to catch me up. I did manage to beat him to the top, but I'm pretty sure there was some soft pedalling involved
Again, the fire road was fun as we climbed up and over Mahoney Meadows Rd. Predictibly, on one of the descents, I hit a small rock and pinch-flatted - 2 CX rides in Coe, 2 flats.
At Coit Rd, we debated extending the ride over to Wasno and drop down JDT. That would have been fun, but I was a little unsure about my fitness for that and, most importantly, I had to keep Diesel away from the Wasno Wall to protect my KOM!
So we dropped down Coit a way, then Diesel had the bright idea to descend Cross Canyon down to Coit Springs Rd - so we climbed back up Coit and made our way to Cross Canyon. I was a little worried about the final descent, as I've OTBed there before! In the end, it wasn't a problem.
Coit was a very fast descent, my Garmin saying 53 mph, amusingly, but it felt like 40 mph (Strava says 33 mph, so who knows
Up Grapevine Rd to Anza - I was having trouble keeping grip on the steep parts of Anza, and my legs were definitely feeling it now, so I was careful applying torque (ie plodded up
At the top, however, the Star Wars descent was before us and we let fly! Enjoyed it so much we missed the sharp right at the crates! That was fun!
Out at the Coyte Creek entrance and sad to put Coe behind us. We ran into knobs on the road and chatted briefly! We saw familiar cars & trucks in the Hunting Hollow lot - too nice a day to not be out in Coe! We stopped at the Cal Fire station so I could refill water - the faucet was on!
Diesel powered us along Gilroy Hot Springs Rd to the Coyote Lake turnoff and we began his suggested addition through Harvey Bear County Park. Unbelievable, in hindsight, to think my route wasn't going through here! A steep climb at the start setup a hugely fun rollercoaster ride down a new trail (whose name escapes me) that seems purpose built for CX - fairly smooth, lots of fun reversals to jump, and wide to distribute the impact of horses, etc. And it seemed to go on forever. If there was a place to shuttle for a CX ride, I think this might be it!
A few horses on the trail so we slowed and/or stopped for them as the riders wished.
Back on the road, a 4 mile ride into the wind awaited us to get back to our cars. Diesel, living up to his monicker, took the lead and steamed us home. It took all my reserves to just stay on his wheel (and my reserves ran out at the end!).
I was so excited about this ride that I dreamed about it the last few nights. This just has to be done again!
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