Went to skeggs last night and the dirt was perfect. All of the cool foggy nights have set up conditions for maximum grip. Might make a trip down to demo on sunday, will have to see how it goes.
started my weekend with an out and back night ride up to the headlands and back to the city.
funny thing happened on the last leg home...i saw an animal that didn't move like a deer and was too curious about me to be a coyote. i stopped and shined my headlamp at it for a while until whatever it was disappeared into the bushes.
then, while resting at the gate at the bottom of the coastal trail, i noticed two sets of glowing eyes in my headlamp beam slowly coming closer to me. my suspicions aroused, i started gloving and strapping up whereupon two sketchy looking figures suddenly materialized out of the shadows about twenty five yards away, walking directly towards me. i wasn't happy about having some possibly felon methhead cretins creeping up on me out of the darkness and i let them know about it in no uncertain terms, clipped in and climbed up the first part of the coastal trail as quickly as i could.
these guys might have only wanted to share stories and sing kum-bai-ya with me, but the marin headlands are located very close to a major metropolitan area having its share of ne'er do wells. my city dweller instincts (and spidey sense) told me to get the hell out of the area with all due speed.
better safe than waking up in the headlands at four in the morning with dog bites, lumps on my head, no bike, no wallet and no phone.
other than that little creepy incident, it was a good ride!
Did my first ride around UCSC. strava was my friend in finding a good route. Started at emma mcCrary trail. Up around some trails by the painted steel canisters and then over parallel to Wilder. Had a slow speed OTB at the bottom of a steep rock garden. Local guys were nice enough to make sure I was OK. Good times.
Friday night, slithery critters were partying on St. Joe's. I did some loops and while heading over into the Pit of Despair on the Novitiate side saw a tiny snake right in the middle of the trail. It was about as long as my shoe. Gopher snake, I think (saw a big one last week across the trail by the dam). Then about 150 yards down from the top on the Lexington side there were two pretty big Tarantulas in the grass just off the trail.
Yesterday I went to Santa Teresa for dabbing practice. I'm quite good at it. I was able to dab about six times in a row on one of the switchbacks on Stiles, before blowing the streak by clearing it. I also dabbed many times going up Rocky Ridge, though only once before the switchback, less than my usual. Reverse Stiles was no dab, first time I have done that.
Yesterday - Tilden test riding new hardtail, then a night ride at JMP and Redwood. Saw one coyote and several groups of hikers without lights (yes, shekky, some people do like to hike at night without lights = not creepy at all).
Today - China Camp backside, hit most of the skinny stuff and survived and thrived for a change! It was a great ride.
Not much so far this weekend saddly, just a short loop through Santa Teresa park on the cx bike this morning. It was very nice to make it out before it got too warm
Terrible weekend riding pretty much every trail in Ashland, Oregon - it rained and hailed while I was there, so the higher elevation trails were all super tacky loam so I couldn't do my kick outs and rooster tails. I was forced to find and ride a bunch of new tacky trails instead of just the good ol' super D race course which is all blown out pumice the way I like it for my roosts and there was almost nobody on most of these trails so I didn't have anybody to talk to - just a bunch of stupid deer and birds and bears (I did see 2 cubs on the trail!).
The temperature during the days was between 60-75 not 62-74 the way I like it. The views were distracting to my riding. Among all the local farm-to-table restaurants there was no Arby's - and we all know that Oregon has no good beer. Now my legs are tired because I probably rode over 100 miles of mostly singletrack over the past 4 days - thanks a lot, Ashland!
^^ It looks like you took a left and did the traverse at the bottom of Time Warp. Too bad. The trails on that side of the mountain really suck. You should have just stuck to the bike path.
Skyno...sometimes it's cappy rides like yours that make you appreciate the good times ahead.
As for this dude, rode 4 days inarow.
Friday hit some trails for which cannot be spoken.
Saturday, rode up El sereno for a workout.
Sunday, hit up Toro with FC and Randy. Super Sandy conditions and hot weather made for some super suffer ups but the dh was pretty awesome.
Today, waited for it to cool down a bit and hit overgrown and St Joes for yet a little more exercise...there was some fine looking humans out there this evening.
Took Friday off for an epic long weekend of N*/Martis/Graegle/Downieville/Toads goodness!
Note to self, take some Fridays off next summer for N*. They're open till 7 that day (this past Fri was the last day they're open late) and there's nobody there. I think I started riding at like 1:30 and probably still got in like 20 runs because there was zero waiting in line.
Stats:
Climbing: a little
Descending: a lot
Air: was had
Fun: a sh1tload
Mechanicals: 1 broken derailleur cable
Sketchiest moment: Getting into the pool at Sierraville Hot Springs with a bunch of after-burners!
Some random pics
Just Another Sh1tty View Of Tahoe
Some air was had
Random truck at N*, love the UC sticker!
Mills peak, never been there before. Pretty awesome!
Shuttle mania! Mills peak plus 2 Dville shuttles makes for a pretty damn good day.
How I never made it into 49 Wines in Dville until now is beyond me. Headed in there Sun night before heading home because I was curious with that being pretty much the only place open. Hung out with some of the guys from Santa Cruz bikes, I guess they were all up there for a dealer event. Will, the owner, is a super cool guy! I was also stoked to find out that he owns the parrot that used to always be out there making fun of people walking by. Definitely will be back there!
Breaking in Dave's new truck... with some shuttling!
Tahoe rocks
Glacially carved seat
Not sure what's going on here, but it was pretty funny
One bike to rule it all!
Even got to try out wake surfing for the first time. So much fun! Too many sports, too little time... and too much gear...
Um... nope. I mean, I enjoy a good sufferfest as much as the next guy [*], but if a shuttle is available I'm on it. If I were an Enve rim, I'd be an M70/30.
[*] It depends on who the "next guy" is. I don't think I enjoy a good sufferfest nearly as much as most people on here! Props to everyone who did Rose to Toads etc. I thought about doing that... but then I thought about that M70/30 thing...
What?!? Nobody told me that! But seriously I was just happy to get up. My last attempt at a water sport involving a boat and slidey things on my feet (like 20+ years ago??) resulted in bouncing halfway around the lake on my ass at high speed. I'm still working through that trauma.
Great post! Nice riding. Will at 49 Wines is awesome. He brought out some Pliny for us when we were there for the North Yuba Trail Day a few weeks ago.
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