Los Gatos Turkey ride pics

[zorg]

This was my first Turkey ride, and boy was it a blast. As you can see, K-Max was totally pimping today.

In the parking lot.

[zorg]

1) Sung and his posse
2-5) First stop at the trailhead.

[zorg]

1) BigLarry was hurting today due to some kind of virus, but still looked like he was having fun.
2-5) more climbing

[zorg]

Party at the top. Gotta love the gas powered blender. Now, that's the way to start Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

[tsimbu]

Nevermind....I guess my sister's computer is toooooooo retarded!

[EliseAckerman]

Hi, it's Elise Ackerman, the San Jose Mercury News reporter who joined the ride today. These fact-checking questions are going to sound dumb...but here goes: we rode to the top of St. Joseph's right? Which has an elevation of 3000 feet, correct? Also, was the entire ride, start to finish, 8 miles or twelve miles?

[EliseAckerman]

Actually, I looked at a map and know I think we climbed Mt. Sombroso? Anyone know for sure?

[zorg]

The whole ride was 14 miles and 2500' of climbing.

[Rumpfy]

THE Francis:


Aussie Bob and his buddy:


My riding buddies Chip and GeoffSS (with boxed wine):


My coworker on his first mtb ride. Suckerrrr!


Jon and Gregg:


I think he said his name was Ron...correct me on that if I'm wrong. Sweeet early 90's Bontrager:


Chip with the Steelman CX, cleaned the last section. Stud:


Don't know but she might ride for the LG HS team...or a Jr. Syndicate member? She passed me to the top though.


My next door neighbor who, after living next to them for a year, I just now find out she rides for LG HS. Cleaned everthing but the final climb!


Shanedawg and Rensho dishin' out turkey:




Keg thanks to Mr. Beavers. (Curtis, what was your climb time up with that thing?)


Lots of people this year. It was a mad house:


My buddy Kurt's full M900 Klein Attidute:


I don't even know what to say about this thing except I want that front wheel!

[RC JonB]

Best.mtbexperience.ever

but damn are my legs TIRED!!!

[francois]

Originally Posted by EliseAckerman

Actually, I looked at a map and know I think we climbed Mt. Sombroso? Anyone know for sure?

Hi Elise, great to meet you.

The climb was up Kennedy road to to the top of Kennedy trail. 'Top of Kennedy' is how everyone knows that ride. It climbs from 250 feet to 2500 feet for a 2250 elevation gain.

If you want more information about us and mtbr.com, there's a good article written here:
http://www.mtbr.com/author/mountainbiking/

regards,
Francois

[jeffh]

Mt. El Sombroso would be correct, But most people that ride the from Kennedy Rd side just call it Kennedy Trail. The party happens at about 2600 ft in Elevation up the trail at the intersection of Kennedy Trail and Priest Rock Trail. (the summit of El Sombroso is at 2,999 ft.)

[cmdrpiffle]

So like, where were you? Me and GeoffSS were spouting forth about our supreme climbing prowess at the top.............

I had to bug out about an hour after I got to the top. (girlfriend was threatening to keep me out of the dirty martini action if I stayed any longer.................wwwwwwwhhhhhhiiiiiippppp'ed !)

GeoffSS says to look for the Tioga Disc on the way down. Y'all switched to a more modern accrument' for sure. Was looking but no disc.

Had a friggin blast. Francois: Said hey a few times but realized I never introduced myself.
Next year......gas powered blender action for sure.

Tsimbu.....thanks for the pull. I'm used to Buzzard's. This was the same except it never ended

Cheers all, thanks for sharing the pix

Mike

[BigLarry]

Originally Posted by EliseAckerman

Actually, I looked at a map and know I think we climbed Mt. Sombroso? Anyone know for sure?

Hi Elise, nice to see you made it down the hill OK. Don't know if my advice helped. Remember, your legs are your suspension, especially on your hard tail. So you need to be light on the seat. Your bike is more stable than you imagine. You'll get used to it.

We climbed Kennedy Trail in Sierra Azul, part of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD)

My GPS log from repeated rides there says the party was just over 2600' altitude at the intersection of Kennedy and Priest Rock trails. (N37 11.771 W121 56.070)

You can see El Sombroso (2999') from anywhere in the valley - it's the peak with the power lines on top. It's to the right of Mt. Umunhum (3486'), that has the cube radar building on it. Here's a picture of Mt. Umunhum from El Sombroso with my bike against the power lines.

As others said, we were almost to El Sombroso in altitude, but it's tough as you got to climb these nasty rollers in the other direction, where the climb is more like repeated big vertical walls. And after you get through this set of rollers, there's a few more.....

I've got lots of nice pictures from today which I've processed. But I won't be able to upload until after dinner.

[BigLarry]

Here's some pictures of the climb

[CheapWhine]

Hi Elise,

I hope you had a great time like everyone else.

Here is an elevation profile of my ride. I rode up Kennedy Trail (like everyone else) and came down Priest Rock, Lime Kiln and Jones trails to return to town.

You might also be interested this link to a Google Earth file with the data for my ride.

Finally, my hat is off to the guy who pulled a "fountain beverage" to the top in a trail. I was working hard to pull just me and my normal gear up the hill, but he put in the effort to bring something to share with everyone at the top...just ask Francois!

[BigLarry]

Was that Thomas or Francois pulling the turkey up that first wall in the first photo below? (They swapped bikes a lot.)

Also, Kyle and others also pulled up turkeys. ... And they STILL beat me up the hill. (but not by much)

[BigLarry]

Here's pics of the crowd at the top, and the spread.

[BigLarry]

Yes love was all around.

Some was good.

Some was not.

[BigLarry]

A couple views from the top where we partied.

And a couple views on the down hill. But it's dangerous to tourist and ride on this downhill.

[BigLarry]

So what are these guys saying that's so intersting?

Well, Elise from the Mercury News wrote down every word from Francois and Kyle. Read it there. It was amazing she could shorthand as fast as they could spew.

Now we're in for it.

[BigLarry]

1. Dan (Captain Kana), Carmen (ibikergal), and JeffH
2. SungChang, Andy (crashmaster), and Dan51
3. Kyle (K-max) and Sean (smw) and ??

More pics later - gotta go...

[K-Zero]

Thanks everyone for the great food & company! I don't usually have formal Thanksgiving dinner because my family is all over the place, so the ride is a great way to spend the turkey day

Oh, and sorry if I happen to got in anyone's way during the climb...I couldn't get myself to stop weaving and later found out that my headset was loose

K-Zero (Keijiro)

[jrm]

Ive GOT to hang next year. take care..

[obionespeedonly]

From the posts, it looks like you all had a blast. I finally got home at around 5am, the wife got in at 7...ohhh the life of retail managers. When 6:00 had rolled around I seriously was considering whether to just goto bed and pass out, call Zorg for the ride offer, or head for Coyote Hills. I took a 25 minute shower, and hustled my butt over to Starbucks for a large caffeine injection, then grabbed two excedrin to bolster myself further. Only two other riders showed, and we decided to just do our own thing. I rode up to the towers, and back to Patterson Ranch road, went home, and slept/crashed out until 6:30pm. Man, what a waste of a day, I gotta seriously wonder about staying in retail. I never get to join all you on the fun weekend stuff, with the exception of a few things like Otter. I should've scheduled work differently and gone with you all!

All in all I just wanna convey that I am thankful for knowing all of you here, and always look forward to talking and riding with you all, even ther times we have to take rainchecks.

Thanks for your friendships!!

[MtnBikerDan]

I'm a little worried that after being highlighted in the media the Kennedy T-giving ride is gonna get squashed by open space....

[Prettym1k3]

I know her... I've seen her sing karaoke!!!!

[BigLarry]

Originally Posted by MtnBikerDan

I'm a little worried that after being highlighted in the media the Kennedy T-giving ride is gonna get squashed by open space....

I talked with Ranger Ranger here. He looks pretty relaxed about the whole thing. (see pic)

I mentioned to him that last year I rode up the day after Thanksgiving (coming the other way over El Sombroso) and didn't find so much as a millimeter scrap of trash to photograph. (Search for last year's pictures for my discussion of that.) The ranger said that's what they like to see and he thought the event was a blast.

[BigLarry]

Here's Kat or Kathline, mtbikermom

[BigLarry]

Dan, Captain Kana

[BigLarry]

I'll have to do this next year... if someone would only pull me up.

Edit: That's Uncle Bri (Brian) and offspring Ray. Second seat in the Burley provides room for family expansion next year.

[BigLarry]

Aussie Bob was already at the top when I arrived. Unfortunately my lens got some of the party on it, smudging some of the latter pictures at one spot in the middle.

[BigLarry]

Portola Vince, who kept on riding over El Sombroso to get back home in mid-San Jose.

[BigLarry]

I won't admit to knowing this happy guy.

[BigLarry]

Yep, one of the essential pieces of gear on a tandem MTB is the Champaign Holder.

[BigLarry]

But at least this guy picked a good place to endo, right on the beer.

[BigLarry]

Many people brought a friend to share in the agony.

Francois brought a couple dozen (besides all us MTBR regulars).


They were a cheerful rowdy bunch. One guy even brought giant spring rolls.

[BigLarry]

Say hello to my little friend, who came along for the ride.

That's the end of my pictures for now.

[Portola Vince]

Originally Posted by BigLarry

Portola Vince, who kept on riding over El Sombroso to get back home in mid-San Jose.

I was a little apprehensive about riding an SS up Kennedy. Answer/Manitou has been slow with the SPV for my shock on my geared bike. So I called Trailhead Wednesday night. They gave me a Specialized Epic Pro with a Reba shock and disc brakes to take up the hill yesterday at no charge. So thanks Trailhead and sorry about bringing you a bike to sit in your shop for so long.
I never had ridden a full suspended bike before yesterday. It was a couple minutes slower up the hill (or I was). It was really nice to take down the long downhill to Hicks Road and then the Quicksilver Mine Hill downhill to the junction and the Mockingbird entrance (thanks for the directions Larry). All in all a very smooth downhill experience. Maybe it was just the extraordinary traction yesterday but I was able to clean more of the bumps on the way to El Sombroso than I ever have before as well. Of course I missed the road bike after hitting the road at Mockingbird for the 12 or so miles back to my house.

[Velodromed]

Originally Posted by BigLarry

But at least this guy picked a good place to endo, right on the beer.

Sweet, Curtis. I haven't seen a keg stand since... hell...since long time! Oh, Curtis, I made it down the mountain finally. Lost ya there right before hitting town, but made it, stupid drunk as I was ... Thanks for the hairy, scary lead out man.

[Velodromed]

Originally Posted by zorg

Party at the top. Gotta love the gas powered blender. Now, that's the way to start Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

What a rush! My first Turkey Ride and won't be my last! Damn do my legs hurt today. Head too. Maybe Jager, beer and wine was just a bit... much Can't believe I made it down with only one minor mishap. Shizzle, can't hardly remember making it down period... I know I followed Curtis for a bit. Him and his empty keg

Hey Francois, nice meeting you again (didn't even realize I already knew you!).

And Kyle, love your Liza glasses! See you Saturday in Santa Cruz .
See some of you other dogs up at Demo this morning...
Doug

[geoffss]

Originally Posted by BigLarry

So what are these guys saying that's so intersting?

Well, Elise from the Mercury News wrote down every word from Francois and Kyle. Read it there. It was amazing she could shorthand as fast as they could spew.

Now we're in for it.

Page 7B of Friday's Merc News

[Speedub.Nate]

Hey, it's only a 4-mile ride? What a bunch of wusses!

Link here to the Merc piece (may require a subscription... I dunno):

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/16088171.htm

[AL29er]

Originally Posted by BigLarry

But at least this guy picked a good place to endo, right on the beer.

Yep, that was the only successful keg endo of the day. I recruited sean and curtis to lift me, but only got half a pull off of it before the keg officially met it's end. That was a great ride/event. Nice to meet new friends and hang out with some old ones. Thanks to all who hauled the goods up the hill I offered to help a few, but for most it kind of turned into a test of strength to see if they could pull their load all the way to the top

[francois]

more photos:

http://sports.ph.groups.yahoo.com/gr...99?b=1&m=f&o=0

http://weekendrider.multiply.com/photos/album/23?mark_read=weekendriderhotos:23



more here:
http://niel.smugmug.com/gallery/2166193/6/112500268

This is the great Pro Downhiller Curtis Beavers re-creating his college days. Curtis climbed from downtown to the summit in 1:20 on his downhill bike... towing a keg.




This is Gabe Palacios with his future olympians Kylie and Yvonne. They made it up the climb smiling. Near the end of the downhill, Kylie's (the little one) hands got numb and she couldn't brake any more. So like a pro, she laid the bike down. She took a breather, dusted her hands off and jumped back on.


fc

[Speedub.Nate]

A bunch more shots.


Mad Pilgrim Props to one of the original turkey draggers...





What motivates Jack to run up that hill? Loyalty? Boundless energy? The smell of turkey?


My four favorite bikes I remembered to take pictures of...

Internal cable routing nightmare. Sport drink to match the color scheme.


Good luck finding a sport drink to match this color scheme.


Powered by Nexus (that had to be a long grind up).


Comin' atcha!


The (defunct) Stan's/Armadillo Willys crew I rode up with, an early team sponsored by MTBR.
Scott, Lisa, Mike, Joe and Paul.


More shots of the margarita makers! Cheers!




The MTBR crew has arrived and wastes no time setting up...


Francis knows that presentation is EVERYTHING!


Nice dessert spread.


Coupla more of the wall. They might be smilin', but that's 'cause the end is finally in sight.


Mmmmm... beeerrr...

Helmets off for hefting that beast up the hill. Weight estimates ranged from 30 to 50 pounds.


Random crowd shots.

I swear this is worse than in front of the MTBR booth at Sea Otter at raffle drawing time!

The crowd thinned earlier than normal -- probably due to weather -- but the number of riders continues to grow each year.







I need more photos like this to convince the wife we NEED a tandem.


"Hey mister can I buy you a drink?" Poor kid shoulda been wearing a tux.


Yours truly and a pre-downhill toast to another festive turkey ride!

[elsaltamontes]

K-Max in the house w/ his Lindsay Lohan sunglasses! Nice!


Rensho and Francois with the dangling turkey teaser.


Curtis Beavers and K-Max...


with the Beer and the Bird.


The sun started to burst through the fog


Blue skies came upon us.


It's on!


K-Max rollin'.


One of the sweetest rides of the day. A Klein Attitude! circa late 80s?


Finally, the Bird brought to you by K-Max.


Let's not forget the Gravy, complements of K-Zero.


The Beer is unleashed.


Sac Brew makes an appearance.


Let's not forget the desserts! Thanks to everyone who brought them up. I know it wasn't easy to carry the extra pounds on that horrendous climb.


Then it started getting nutty...


This is getting big.


The riders are getting younger and younger. Or are we getting older and older? Good work girls!


We ate, we drank before you know it... it was time to head back down. Note to self, take more pictures during the party!

The descent.


We packed our garbage out.


These guys were hauling ass. The trailers were going sideways at times...


The 3 trailers at the bottom.


And their load.


Ride back to the car. All safe, no incidents... thank goodness!


Trying to shoot this was almost an incident!


Thanks for the food guys. I counted 3 turkeys up there. The original group(1) that started it all, the mtbr group(2) and a new Filipino crew(3) brought up a 3rd turkey this year! What's next? I heard roast pig was on the menu for next year. That was a nice kick off to a great Thanksgiving day.

elsaltamontes

[grrrah]

Originally Posted by Rumpfy

Don't know but she might ride for the LG HS team...or a Jr. Syndicate member? She passed me to the top though.

Thats my buddy Elizabeth. She's a bit older than her looks. her fiance, John was the team manager for the jr. syndicate, but now he rides for comencal.

Hi Liz!,

-Rafael

I'll add more pics on monday.

[TahoeBC]

Looks like Dr Evil on vacation, scary Kyle

[EliseAckerman]

Hey there, to everyone that I asked to post photos to Flickr, the Mercury News Web team is not linking to Flickr photos because of copyright issues. They're asking people to post photos on our site, www.mercurynews.com, directly. If you'd like to do this, I'll see if they can pull them alongside the story. Thanks for the fun and encouragement yesterday!

Best regards,

Elise

[Fast Eddy]

Uncle Brian and offspring. Cheers mate!

[Fast Eddy]

Originally Posted by grrrah

She's a bit older than her looks.

My morals sigh in relief.

[mtbikermom]

I have 67 pictures from Thursday and posted them to yahoo photos. I am not sure how to enable people to read them except with an e-mail. Please e-mail me if you would like to view them at
mtbikermom@yahoo.com

Thanks to everyone for such a great time!
Kathleen or Kat is ok too

[Rumpfy]

Originally Posted by elsaltamontes

One of the sweetest rides of the day. A Klein Attitude! circa late 80s?

That's Kurt's ride.
1992 Attitude with full 1st gen. M900 XTR. Dope bike, nearly flawless.

[BigLarry]

Originally Posted by Fast Eddy

Uncle Brian and offspring. Cheers mate!

And you didn't meet them up on top because.....?

That morning, I was lying in bed just beginning to recover from a real nasty month long cold, thinking that if Ed can do Kennedy with jet lag, I should be able to crawl up the mountain with a cold.

Hrrrmmmpf

(OK that, and the thought of Carmen's cookies got me up the hill.)

[francois]

Originally Posted by BigLarry

You you didn't meet them up on top because.....?

Hey man, thanks for the bottle of gatorade! I was halfway up the hill when I realized I had no water!!

fc

[zorg]

You can make your Yahoo photos folder "public" and then everybody can see them.

[francois]

Originally Posted by mtbikermom

I have 67 pictures from Thursday and posted them to yahoo photos. I am not sure how to enable people to read them except with an e-mail. Please e-mail me if you would like to view them at
mtbikermom@yahoo.com

Thanks to everyone for such a great time!
Kathleen or Kat is ok too

Here are some of Kathleen's aka mtbikermom photos.

1)big larry
2) geoff and chip
3)frank and ranger ken (the coolest ranger in the nation)
4)shlachter bringing on the hard liquor
5)Niel

[francois]

1)k-max is the sultan of style
2)one of the ride founders, Mike Matthews
3)sungchang, grrrah and zorg
4)jeffh with a keg of brew on his handlebar
5)classic mtbr jersey

[francois]

1)sabine and michael
2)schlacter and beavers
3)vicki
4)mmmmmmm....

[francois]

Emily and Jennifer... now famous from the Mercury News article!

[BigLarry]

Originally Posted by francois

Hey man, thanks for the bottle of gatorade! I was halfway up the hill when I realized I had no water!!

fc

I was almost 2/3 up the top when I realized I shouldn't have brought the bottle. I was fine with my camelback on the short trip. So I'm glad you called out and it went to someone that needed it.

[mtbikermom]

Originally Posted by zorg

You can make your Yahoo photos folder "public" and then everybody can see them.

I was able to make the folder public but not sure is this is the correct shortcut...
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/mtbikerm...60762350202076

try it.

Kat

[Stripes]

I will actually be in town next year for turkey day (first time for me). I really hope to get out there next year with you guys. Looked like tons o' fun!

[Ecchymosis Baby]

Ill give her five chilis she is smokin

Originally Posted by Prettym1k3

I know her... I've seen her sing karaoke!!!!

[jrm]

Originally Posted by Speedub.Nate

Hey, it's only a 4-mile ride? What a bunch of wusses!

Link here to the Merc piece (may require a subscription... I dunno):

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/16088171.htm

thats real cool..

[Uncle Bri]

Sorry Larry, the other seat in the Burley is taken by Ray's brother next year!

That was a long pull up that hill, but he didn't complain at all, and had a fun time at the top eating cookies and drinking the other Ray's root beer. Not to mention watching his buddy Curtis do a keg stand!

I might have been going too fast on the downhill since I had to stop twice to do a diaper change.

Brian

[mtbikermom]

whose diaper needed changing?

[RC JonB]

mine.

[Notawheelsucka]

Hey Rumpf, Geoff !

it was nice to meet you Francis, guys i have to say i had a blast on my very first MTB ride ! looking forward to do it again... time to shop for a mtb bike ! haha !

some pictures from thursday hope you enjoy.!








Jaime

[mmerll]

So, as I understand, Obi bagged on you guys due to healing injuries/family.

Anyone ride up on a SS this year?? SMW?? Anyone?? Pics Please??

[francois]

Originally Posted by mmerll

So, as I understand, Obi bagged on you guys due to healing injuries/family.

Anyone ride up on a SS this year?? SMW?? Anyone?? Pics Please??

Rensho and JeffH rode their singlespeed Niners. JeffH had a gallon of contraband strapped to his handlebars even.

Rensho took a turn at pulling my Burley. It would have been all good except I had to ride his SS up the hill.

fc

[francois]

Sometimes, a ride just goes right. Some rides just go to hell and then some rides go better than you could imagine it.

The Turkey ride of 06 was an epic event. It can never be duplicated. It can only be remembered.

Ok, if you stayed home because of this and that and wa-wa-wah, then you missed it. If you went down from the hill before 10am, I personally yelled at you to 'TURN AROUND!' I mean, what could be so important?? You got 4 days to hang with your in-laws!

But if you stayed to hang out with mtbr at the top of the hill, you were rewarded with a whole lotta smiles, old friends, new friends, a truckload of food and a touch of alcohol.

Everywhere you looked, everybody was happy. That's what mountain biking is about. Mtbr is about sharing. Mountain biking is about play. We shared and we played. That was a good day.

So the gang could not pull together the roast pig aka 'lechon' but we did bring in another Filipino tradition. It's called 'rushing the camera' (aka kodakan). The object is to gang up in front of any camera in sight and get in the photo!
sample
sample
sample
sample
sample

So there it is. I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving Holiday. People have already started talking about Turkey ride 07.

francois

[rensho]

Originally Posted by francois

Rensho took a turn at pulling my Burley. It would have been all good except I had to ride his SS up the hill.

fc

Someone at the top of the wall yelled out, "I heard it was possible, but had to see it with my own eyes." Traction was so good, clearing the wall was easier than past attempts.

Pulling the trailer was pretty cool; sit and spin. I forgot how nice gears felt.
Not enough to go back, but it was a nice trip while it lasted.

I'm waiting for my turn on that RIP9, without the burley.

Also, what a good way to start T-day. Good friends and food, and exercise.

[beaverbiker]

That was so much fun, I don't even know what to say. I just can't believe some people had better things to do than that. Oh, and I weighed the whole setup. 48lbs for the keg(beer and shell), and 13lbs for the trailer. I just wish I rdoe a bike with 3 chainrings on it.

I'm glad my efforts paid off and everyone enjoyed the beer on tap. I'm just trying to give back to my community who's given me so much. RIDE ON.

Sidenote: UncleBri and I did a 2 hour ride on Friday that made my knees gobble wobble like a turkey.

[Uncle Bri]

Yeah we did. Awesome. Awesome vacation -- four rides? I don't even remember.

I had to help my dad move, including a piano, on Saturday, ouch.

UB.

[grrrah]

Originally Posted by mmerll

So, as I understand, Obi bagged on you guys due to healing injuries/family.

Anyone ride up on a SS this year?? SMW?? Anyone?? Pics Please??

I tried to, but had to cheat and hike up the wall and a small section in the middle.

great times! and can't wait til next year!

[justme]

I'm one of the so called Pinoy Mafia who joined the fun and our second year joining the ride. We have a splinter group but Francis' is a friend and fun to be with as with other MTBR guys and gals. We are of the same passion, so we'll be back for more. Thanks to all who bring food, booze and fun. Also thanks to everybody who makes that day a blast.Turkey Ride 07 is already in our calendar and yes we'll bring more food and drink. To those who didn't make it, it's only 11 months 26 days left for the next one. Be there.

[sweetjumps]

I just liked all the jumps that everyone got to see me do.

[Rumpfy]

A few more pictures from the ride. Next year I need to take more pics.

[Genshammer]

Some pix from Thursday.

#1 Dr. Brice Renshaw, Brock "Chopper" Dickie, and Bob "Easy" MacIntyre.
#2 Mike Matthews drools over Rumpfy's Mountain Goat Whiskeytown Racer complete with Tioga Disc.
#3 No beer can left behind!..an MTBR policy.
#4 Joe "Not the Eagle" Walsh, and the infamous knobby tire tale teller and proprietor of buy-cell.com, Timmy C.
#5 Bob Mac and unknown accomplice.

After missing this in years passed, I had such a killer time! Thanks to all those people who gave me props on the Klein. Made me feel special!

Kurt G.