Mountain Bike Bill, The Dirt on the Dirt

Category: Trails

Trails in General

Summer is Here – Midweek Stoke

So I started the mid-week stoke out on Tuesdays with a ride out at Sycamore Canyon and boy was it hot.   The heat has always been my nemesis and it takes me what seems like the better part of summer to acclimate to it.  I took the UZZI out here mainly because that was what ended up in my truck.   There is no reward  to speak of for riding a 7″ travel bike out here.   It was however a good workout and it was a good test for figuring out how the bike would work me over in an XC enviroment.  Overall the bike will git-r-done but it is going to make you work for it.    I was good and pooped by the time I finished up the ride.  
Wednesday, I met Steve out for some Alpine Action and it was even toastier.   It was 92 when we started from the bottom which mean some of the “dead air” zone on the climb were more like 95-97.    We were shocked to see some organ donors on this climb.    No helmet, no water and rocking an old-school Wally World bike.   There was some water donated and some “best to turn around now” advice was given before we continued onward and upward.   
Now that Steve had an audience, a clown bike show was in order.   This was when I whipped and my 4lb DSLR to realize that my battery (that is good for 1,500 pictures) was completely dead.  This is only second time in a handful of years of toting around a big camera that this has happen.   The mental result was still the same, a 4lb camera with a dead battery in your pack feels like a 10lb camera.    Ahhhh, yes the stupid shall be punished!
The rest of the climb went well as far as climbing in the heat goes.  I have certainly suffered much harder out here in the past. None the less, I was feeling worked at the top.   I did not feel particularly comfortable through the first set of features as things were just not clicking.    I think getting worked over on the climb took some “snap” out of my reflexes.
That was not the case with Steve as he had the juices flowing and hit the “Garth Gap” for the first time on the black clown bike affectionately known as “Shoniqua” (named because she is Big, Round, Black and Sticky… just like his…..)
This was Steve’s last shot from his camera before his battery went dead as well.   The rest of the ride went well.   I made really good time on the final run down the hill but there was some scary turns here and there and the summer conditions are pretty much set in now that offer some “exciting” corners traction wise.     The post-ride chatter included tasty beverages at Alpine Beer Company along with a tasty pulled pork sandwich.    (FYI for you Hop Heads, The Pure Hoppiness double IPA is Da Bomb!)   Bottom Line — I have had far worse Wednesdays.
 
 

The Local Stuff — Week in Review

This past week was such that I could get out a little more often but for not as long.  They were the kind of windows that you don’t want to burn up too much of your time driving far to get to, you know, maximize your time on the trail and minimize your time on the road.

 Monday was a spin through the Black Mountain Open Space Preserve.   I started off on the east side of the preserve and did some tough climbing and a bit of hike-a-biking to get up onto the East Ridge.  From there I did a sizeable loop that had me pretty pooped by the end of the ride

 The loop included the  Miner’s Ridge and Liliac Canyon trails as well as the service road up to the peak and some more trails back over and down the East Ridge.

 Wednesday evening was the monthly San Diego Mountain Biking Association (SDBMA) advocacy meeting so a group of us met up and did the La Costa trails prior to the meeting.

 I was able to get out a couple of hours before the rest of the usual suspects so I did a couple of loops out there before the group ride.  I was feeling pretty worked by the time I finished up the last loop.

Friday afternoon after work I squeaked in spin out in Santee near Mission Trails and Sycamore Canyon.    Normally I am a stop and smell the flowers kind of guy but I have to admit that I somewhat enjoyed the pressure of having to be somewhere later and the “push” it forced me to do on the trail.   Charge a hill here, push a harder gear there and general keep the engine rev’d higher than I normall would.  It was a short ride that ended up feeling longer on fatique and quad burn at the end.

The weekend was pretty awesome as well, but it did include any biking.   Hockey and quality time with boys were the story of the weekend.  I took them to thier first concert Saturday night which was simply epic.  Rush on thier Time Machine Tour.   I have had a lifetime of missing Rush shows and this was my first time seeing them as well.  They blew the place down and both the boys and I were completely stoked.  It was a good way to finish off the week.

How Many Bike Does One Need?

How many bikes do you have?  How many bikes to you need?   Well now, those are a couple of serious questions that simply can not be answered simply.  Yes these are some of the things that keep me awake at night.  Don’t ask me why.  I don’t why. These are just some of the stuff that floats around between my ears from time to time.   There are a multitude of sects in the tribe of bike riding tribe.  I think the largest group is the one bike – because well I got one bike crowd.   These folks are not really tied to having just one bike, but that is what they have.   There may of course be “The Old Bike”  (or part of it) hanging from the garage rafters but for the most part they are the one-bike folks.

Then there are the one bike purist camps.   I’m not even going to go into the the sub-group of the one bike – one gear folks.   It is not that they could not have another bike in the stables, they only want one bike.  I have to admit that I like the concept of one bike and the simplier (and often more challenging) experience of riding in a one bike world.   I even know a guy who rides a rigid singlespeed fixie.  He even rides it on some gnarly trails, bottom line is the guy has mad skills to do such a thing.

Me, well I think I am in the more reasonable group (okay not more reasonable, let’s go with more common).   I have multiple bikes.  There is the XC Full-Suspension rig, the hardtail, the singlespeed, the old long-legged bike, the new long-legged bike, as well as a couple of frames waiting to be pressed back into service.    Yep, plenty of bikes in my garage.  Bikes are like a good handcrafted beer.  There are plenty of great ones out there and what kinda of person would not like to enjoy all different types of the them.     I mean I love a good IPA, but you know I also like Imperial Stouts,   Porters, and all sorts of other yummy beverages.     Some days I want reach for that Lagunitas Little Sumpin Sumpin Ale but then there is the Dogfishhead Squall IPA.  Or maybe its the Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout, ohh I know the Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale.   They choices go on and on and on over the tasty dark malt beverage horizon.     A couple months ago Bicycling Magazine did a piece on Sam Calagione, the owner of Dogfish Head Brewery, discussing his love for brewing and cycling.   He made a comment about the microbrewing competition out there that I thought was really awesome.  “…I embrace it. Craft-beer drinkers are promiscuous–I drink plenty of other beers.”    Well I think mountianbikers much like craft-beer drinkers (amazing how many mountainbikers are also craft-beer nuts) are a promiscuous bunch as well.   If we can get away with it, for the most part, we will have more than one bike.

Such was the case this past Sunday,  not just about beer, but about bikes.   Sure I have a brand new UZZI that I am complete digging, but Santa Cruz was having a demo day out at Lake Hodges so I felt the urge to see what the new stuff was from these guys.   Santa Cruz and BikeBling were putting on the event together and when I got there they were doing some hustling to keep the 30 demo bikes rotating with sizable of pool of folks looking to get onto the latest two-wheeled Santa Cruz creations.

Of course with any such kind of MTB gathering in San Diego County, some of the usual suspects were on the scene and lots of chatting occurred about bikes, trails, potential roadtrips and even some of the latest craft beers to hit the market.  It would have been a good morning of socializing even without the new shiny bits to galk and paw over.  So how many bikes do I need and how many bikes do I own?    Well the answer that question in the simplest of terms in I have have one more bike than I need and one less bike than I want.

Getting some Iron in the Diet

I needed to get some iron in my diet so the Saturday morning ride was Iron Mountain and Ellie Lane.

 This place is well known as a serious chunkfest and I was looking forward to seeing how the UZZI would feel in this stuff.

 Steve was the usual suspect today out playing on the clown bike.

I was pretty effing stoked about how well this bike was handling in the goods out here.   Both and the fork and the shock were responding nicely with not bucking or squating in the travel.  I certainly optested out the bashguard a handful or so of times.

 Steve playing in the chunk.  That is a 3.8 tire on the front if your wondering.

 Another chunktastic section of trail.  Steve accused me of cheating with this bike.

 This drop into the switchback was not the problem.  It was turn afterwards that took me nearly a dozen attempts to get.   Geez, I really need to work on my happy face,  I look way too serious in these shots.

See now this clown looks like he is having fun!

Some stairstep chunk

Playing on the rocks.   We did not do many miles today at all but the terrian certainly made for a pretty high effort to mile ratio.   Good stuff.

Japanese Gulch – Washington State

I’m catching up on some of pictures and such from my recent Washington trip.   One of the places I could hit up right easy from work was Japanese Gultch located in Mukilteo. Plenty of singletrack right in town and a good way to burn off the workday stress.

One of the things I like about this area, is minutes onto the trail and it seems like you are far away, even though you are right in town.

Yep there is narrow singletrack to be had.

Both hardtails and long-legged bikes can be enjoyed out here.

One nice thing about this right is that just a quick jaunt from the bottom trailhead is the Diamondknot Brewery which has some mighty tasty creations to finish off the ride with.  The Industrial IPA is mighty yummy and always ask if the they have a seasonal batch of the Shipwreck IPA brewed up.   It is not to be missed.

Shaking down the UZZI

So I got my brand spanking new UZZI out for a shakedown ride recently.   The orginal plan was hit up Iron Mountain and Ellie Lane but with early moring rain, the plan shifted to Anderson Truck Trail in Alpine.

 The boys at BikeBling did a mighty fine job with the mechanicals as it was shifting flawless right of of the gate and even under tension.   (A feat which I often miss the mark on a bit requiring lots of trailside tinkering on the first ride) I was bit leary about going to the 10 speed drivetrain as I like the idea of having only one drive train type to worry about (9 speed).  Between mine and the kid’s bike it good to have some commonality on the logistics side of the house.  Well it did not take long into the climb to notice the marvels of the 36-tooth cog in the back.  I’m sold on it already and I did not even have to try out the 22-36 granny ring setup yet.  

 

My last two longer legged bikes had Fox 36 TALAS (160) airsrung forks up front and I really liked being able to adjust the travel down to make long or steep climbs easier to deal with.    This bike has the Fox 36 Vanilla (180) coil sprung fork without the travel adjustment.  It will take a bit of getting used on some of the climbing bits with this longer slacker frontend as a bit more body positioning is going to be required a steeper bits.    It was so freaking nice to have a VPP suspended bike back under the saddle.  This bike climbed exceptionally well for it weight without any of the dreaded energy sapping “bob”. 

When it was time to turn the bike down the hill that was when this bike really came alive.  The bike is so stinking plush and it only took a few rock rolls and drops to get sold on the coil fork.

 

 I stuck to only the small air bits while getting acquintted with how this bike handles.  This bike is pretty confidence inspiring so I got a feeling I’m going to get myself into trouble with this rig at some point.   It’s gonna be great!

The trail overall was in about as good as shape as it ever gets so it was an absolutely great day to be out testing a new bike.

My the time it was time to head back down the main run, I had a pretty good opening day feel for the bike and I had one heck of fun descent back down the hill.  There was some hooping and hollering on the way down.   A mighty fine shakedown run with the new rig.

Views Off The Bike From The “Away From Home Office”

So I have wrapped up my work project in Everett Washington.  It took a bit longer than expected and I’m glad to be back home.   I did get in some tasty miles of singletrack during my stay but between the work, weather and a nasty bit of crud I had for a while,  I did not get my dirt fix as often as I would have liked.     So why do we ride our bikes?   Geez there will be just about as many answers to that question as there are folks who decide to through a leg over a bike in the first place.    I believe that is part of what mountainbiking so special in the first place.    One pursuit with countless permutations of living life and generally having a good time.     

One of those “answers” for me is seeing beautiful scenery and the occasional critter or two.    I was extremely fortunate to score a pretty awesome place to stay during my visit.  It was a quint little beach house on Possession Sound that simply was fantastic from an experience standpoint.   It made coming home from the “office” everyday seem like a mini-vacation.   When the weather was cooperating there was some incredible views to be had right from the dinner table and deck.   By the end of the first week I had adopted a routine getting up a couple hours earlier than I really need to just to enjoy the views and a few relaxing cups of coffee before starting my day.   In the evening the place just begged you to crack open a bottle of one of the Pacific Northwest’s tasty microbrews.   The views were often a daily dose of “answers”  if you will.

Whales…..Yes I said whales.   Whales were a common sight right out the front windows.   A few gray whales liked to come into the shallows and feed on whatever tasty critters where on the bottom here.   They would swim sideways and use their tails to stir up the bottom and then spin around and scoop up and filter out all of the tasty snacks.

They would work down the shoreline and eventually head back out to deeper water and off to the wherever the next buffet spot was located.  

They made plenty of noise with all of their activity and sometimes the sounds be the first thing that would draw my attention their “visit”.    Seeing these majestic critters was certainly a life enriching experience.

The tidal shift is pretty dramatic in this area.  The lines of  “puddles” you see in the photo above are the divots created by the whales when they are feeding at high tide.  They are typically 6-8 feet long each.  

It was quite a trip to walk out onto the beach at low tide and meander around where the whales were at less than 24 hours ago. 

Even when there were no critters close by, the views were often of the quality that many us pedal for miles to seek out.

I kept my camera nearby all the time as you never knew what was going to pop up on the beach at any moment.  This pair of otters were in hurry to get their take-out order home before it got warm.

So while I did not get in as many miles as I would have liked on this trip, I got of wealth of “answers” that I typically only find along quite singletrack of the backcountry.

Fort Ebey and Kettles Park

The weather reports were calling for clear skies and a warm day (that would be above 50 by Seattle standards this time of year) on Saturday.   In the coastal Pacific Northwest one should pay attention for such musings from the weather folks.  

 Saturday morning was indeed amazingly great looking and I wasted little time in getting packed up and headed out.  The destination today was Fort Ebey State Park combined with the adjacent Kettles Park.   After some nice scenery from the ferry over to Whidbey Island and a pretty ride through the countryside I parked at one of the trailheads at Kettles Park.   The plan was to ride some of the trails westwardly through Kettles Park over into Fort Ebey State Park.   I would try to do all of the Fort Ebey stuff and then work my way back through the rest of Kettles Park on the way back.  The trails of Kettles were mostly buff goodness with a combination of quick flowliness and tight twisty stuff that required a bit of shoulder tucking here and there to avoid the trees. 

The fun singletrack continued after crossing into Fort Ebey State Park.    I intentionally tried to stitch together the most serendipitous route possible to get onto as many trails as I could without too many loop backs.   The trails I took as I worked my way up to the west coast of the island and the Fort’s old gun battery were Grade A forested goodness that were a real cross country pleasure. 

Fort Ebey’s original purpose was to serve as gun battery defending Puget Sound during WWII.  Construction began in 1942 and the two gun batteries were placed in service in 1943.  In 1965 Fort Ebey started being converted to a state park.  Today visitors can walk through the bunkers and the foundation for the turrets now make a nice bench in which to enjoy the views.

The most popular and  iconic trails here is the Bluff Trail.   Its proximity to the edge of the bluff and stunning views offered of the Strait of Juan De Fuca and the Olympic Peninsula on clear days is truly an incredible thing to experience. Unfortunately bicycles are not longer allowed on most of the trail.  There are a couple of sections to the south of the battery that are still open to bikes and they should not be missed. 

I rode the open sections of the Bluff Trail in both directions just to get the full experience.       

At the south end of the park is the Cedar Hollow loop which also offers more of the killer views.   It is well worth some of the grunt work involved to get to the views.

After I got done looping in all the Fort Ebey trails I made my way back into Kettles Park and enjoyed some really nice singletrack through the forest.  I was feeling pretty pooped at this point, but the temperature had climbed to 68 degrees so it was pretty easy to keep on going despite complaining legs.  I pretty much rode all the trails of Kettles which brought the mileage up to a little over 20 miles before I called it a day.   A day that I call simply awesome!   Expect more information on this place the site in the coming weeks.

A return to the dirt in Anacortes

After a week full of mostly rain, chilly breezes and general ickiness, the skys started to clear up a bit on Saturday afternoon and by sunset I was optimistic for a bike ride the following day.

The Whistle Lake area of the Anacortes Community Forest Lands was the destination.   I had ridden here a couple of times in 2009 and I was really looking forward to getting back onto the flowling singletrack goodness of this place.

This was my first time back on the bike since the truck accident three and a half weeks ago and boy could I feel it.   The opening climb was steep and there was much more huffing and puffing than I had expected.     It was a quite brisk 47 degrees for pretty much the entire ride and the cool air felt really good.   While we SoCal weather weenies consider that cold, after a week of typically Seattle area weather, this was no where close to bad.   There is something about being out in nature of a trail that meanders through the forest is good chicken soup for the soul.   I am especially fond of the series of trails going around the lake with its numerous twists and turns coupled with short up and downs.   The trails on the north side of the lake is often perched well above the lake and sometimes is downright near-cliff like just off the trail.  

I did pretty close to the route I did in 2009 and by the time I was done I was pretty spent and my legs were complaining.  Obviously way too many tasty beers and no miles on the legs were issue.   I was nearly finished with my ride with the sun came out for good and the day was getting downright awesome.   I had plenty of time left in my day and I did not feel like leaving the trails just yet.

There is a also a series of trails in the Heart Lake area where I had parked.   I just had to go out and get some more time in the dirt even though I was “done”.   I liken it to having a yummy Thanksgiving dinner.  You are plenty stuffed already but you just have to have that extra slice of pie to finish things off.   So I headed off to do a loop around Heart Lake.    I ended up worked over and sore over the “extra slice of pie”   but it was well worth it.   

 

Less than a mile from Heart Lake is Mount Erie and there is an access road up to the top as well some viewpoints.  The views were quite amazing.

It was certainly a great day to be out on a bike and a particularly good day to be getting back on the saddle.

Basecamp Puget Sound, Washington

I started this week with a shift of basecamp up up to the Pacific Northwest on the east side of Puget Sound for a work project for the next five weeks.

This is certainly not the most optimal time of year for riding in the Seattle area and the descent down into area look like I expected to.

Luckily all the luggage made it (not always the case).

With the slow economy and the it being the off-season coupled with the length of my stay and some crafty negoitating skills I was able to score a sweet beachfront rental.

Bald eagles are frequently see from the dinner table and it pretty easy just set back and watch the sound.   During this few days I have seen Bald Eagles, Otters, and Whales.

Good stuff to see from the deck.


The view from Day Two.  I should be able to work under these conditions 🙂  This was the last sunny, dry and generally non-icky day of the trip so far.

The steed is ready to go and there is some ridinging my future.   Either the weather will get better or I am going to start sacking up and deal with the ick.   

More to follow……