News and Notes

Troy always does a fantastic job of taking pictures on our big Saturday group rides and I just now remembered to check for new pictures. Sure enough he had posted some good pics from our recent Laguna Epic ride.

Some of my favorite pics:


(Andrew is a tough guy ...)


(This is actually a really technical section. Too bad you can't see the other "lines". No one else even tried to clear this.)


(Because it's me ...)


Of course the biggest news has to be the fire. I would normally write about the long ride we had on Saturday, but I just don't feel like it. The fires have kind of thrown everything into chaos.

Not only did I have to evacuate my home but now I'm learning that all the trails near my house are burning. Whiting is already toast and now the fire is moving towards O'neil. The Luge and STT are apparently ablaze as well. I think I read Blackstar is toast in some areas and I know for sure Limestone Canyon is done for.

I had three rides planned that I was really looking forward to and they are all cancelled now. Two were night rides in Limestone and one was a Sho-Air clinic. Oh well.

The fires will force us to find a new place to ride. Maybe San Juan/Los Pinos or Coto again. I really want to stay away from El Moro and Aliso because everyone else is going to have the same idea - ride near the beach to escape the fires. Those places are crowded enough on the weekend without fires.

The bad news this week is that the normal Tuesday and Thursday rides are also cancelled for me. Tuesday because my house is still in danger and I have to unpack from my evacuation and Thursday because of a birthday party.

A week off the bike? Whiting burned down? Santa Claus isn't real?!?! It's been a bad week. =(

Why do the good die young?

I will miss you my precious Pearl Izumi shorts. You were taken from me before your time. You had so much ahead of you. I mourn for those who never knew you.

(My shorts after getting ripped on the Holy Jim-Horsetheif ride. Not sure what caused the initial tear, but once it started it would not be stopped.)

A Journey Through the Mind

Limestone Canyon:



I had a lot going through my head on the ride last night in Limestone Canyon and figured I'd write down some thoughts. We'll go from start to finish - a journey through ... THE MIND!

First some context. I had actually been in Limestone once before. I was poaching with some friends and I think I've already written about that ride. It is still remembered as the "ride of shame" in my mind. So I had some idea of what the area was like before starting the ride last night.

Unfortunately only Matt and Mike showed up, so out of about 24 riders, I knew only two. One cool note is that the guy that parked next to me in the staging area had the exact same singlespeed as me. Well, almost the same. He had a fork with suspension and was running 34-19 (I run 34-20), but otherwise the same. Team Kona! Haha.

The ride started out easy with a slow ride up a paved road. Matt and I were out in front and I was trying to evaluate how good the other riders were. It was an odd group that looked like it had a lot of good guy riders in it. I single out the guys because the group actually had 5-6 girl riders which is really rare for docent led rides. In fact this might have been the only guided ride I've been on with girls.

Eventually we reached a turn where a fire road started off the left side of the pavement. We'd be on this fire road for quite some time.

It was still daylight when we started the first climb and I could see I was going to be challenged on the SS. I slowly made my way to the front of the group after starting in the middle because while people started to gear down I started to stand and hammer. It might look like I'm attacking or racing, but the reality is that if I want to ride (and not walk), then I _have_ to stand and attack.

I ended up settling down after the initial part of the climb and talked with my Kona brother for a while until we reached the top of the first climb. My heart rate had gone through the roof, but I felt ok once I got to the top. There were only one or two really steep sections and plenty of flatter spots to rest on after pushing hard to clear a climb.

I will say that this climb induced something rare in me. Right before I started the first climb my heart rate shot up in anticipation. I didn't know the climb and I realized that by going to the front all the other riders would be watching. All that to say I got a little nervous and it made my heart rate go up. I wanted to clear everything and not have to walk in front of other riders. This theme continued throughout the night.

Anyways, back to the end of the first climb ...

From that point we waited a very long time (20-25 minutes?) for the rest of the group to finish the climb and then for the head docent lady to talk to a guy that had started late and rode up to join our group. (Thanks guy. You were late and came out anyways.)

The docents said that two major climbs were coming up from that spot. They called the first one the "Pseudo Wall" and the second one "The Wall". Great. I had visions of the real "Wall" on Main Divide right before Horsetheif and began to get a bit worried.

The first climb was nothing. It took some energy and a little push here or there, but it wasn't anything to write home about. The lead group was able to pull out ahead at this point and I was left a little behind. I just can't keep up on the flats or the downhill.

The second climb was murder. I really think this was the hardest climb I've ever cleared on my SS. Second place is this steep climb on the Coto Valley Loop. I'm trying to think of how best to describe how difficult it was for me and I settled with a machinegun analogy.

So imagine my legs, arms and body are a machinegun firing bullets. Right before the steep section I try to gather momentum and I attack. I get my legs pumping as fast as they can go and pushing as hard as they can to try and carry some speed into the climb.

My body starts out like a machinegun ... *POP* *POP* *POP* *POP* *POP* *POP* *POP* *POP* ... very fast bursts one after another.

Then I start getting into the climb and things start to slow down. *POP* *POP* ... *POP* *POP* ... *POP* *POP* ...

I start to realize that my quick and short breaths are not supplying my body with enough oxygen. My muscles need more than I can take in.

*POP* ... *POP* *POP* ... *POP* ...

I can feel my legs moving slower and slower. My legs and arms are burning. I can literally feel my body slowing down - and not just due to the stress. It feels like I'm underwater or in slow motion. Every pedal motion takes everything I can give.

*POP* ... ... ... *POP* ... ... ...

I'm running out of bullets. Eventually I reached a spot where I could sit and spin a bit, but I was spent. When I caught up to the lead group resting on a flat section I couldn't stop sucking in air. My heart rate went to 198bpm and my body was furiously trying to take in enough air to keep my muscles happy.

I had to rub out the cramps from my biceps and I can't ever remember putting so much stress on my upper body during a climb.

We ended up waiting quite a while for everyone to catch up after "The Wall" and then continued quickly to a singletrack that dropped us into a canyon. The singletrack had a few rocks and some very small drops, but nothing I couldn't handle - even on the rigid fork.

I was pretty mad though because some guy was riding right behind me most of the way down and I hate it when people ride my tail on a descent. It was funny though because at some point I lost him and he backed off. It seems I was able to ride it faster than he was even on a rigid fork. Haha.

The singletrack pretty much killed the ride for about 30 minutes. It seemed like an eternity as we waited for everyone to finish riding down it. I really hate rides like that when you cool completely down and start to go into recovery mode while you wait for other riders to catch up.

From that spot I don't remember much. We rode up a little, down a little and stopped at "The Sinks" to look at the Grand Canyon of Orange County. It was cool. I'm sure it's 100 times better in the day.

Eventually we made it to the top of the last real climb and were ready to start the singletrack home. I was happy about that because my upper body was hurting and I was starting to lose energy on the climbs. It was a funny trend all night though ... 5-6 people go out ahead of me on a downhill or a flat and then I pass all of them on a climb.

I made Matt follow me on the singletrack out because I didn't want someone I didn't know pressuring me from behind. If I'm going to get it from behind I want it to be someone I know. Hahahahaha.

Anyways, Matt and I had done this singletrack before and it was much like I remember it. Tons of fun and very flowy. Not a lot of loose rock and nothing steep or technical. It takes you along a ridge so that you can look down on Santiago Canyon Road and runs for maybe 3-4 miles.

There was one spot though that the docents warned us about. They told the group that everyone should walk it and no one should attempt to ride it. I remembered this section from the last ride I had done on this trail. Last time I walked it in the day on a full suspension bike.

The entire time I was waiting to come up to this daunting technical section. Finally I came up to something a bit steeper and thought, "Ok this is it. Time to walk." Then I looked down at the bottom and saw the two riders that were ahead of us waiting at the bottom. I thought, "Oh this can't be it then. They rode it. I'm sure they'd wait for other riders to warn them. Obviously they rode down this, so I have to do it."

Well I made it, but it wasn't pretty. I was skidding down and holding on for dear life. Ok, maybe that's a bit dramatic, but with the V-brakes and a rigid fork ... it makes for an adventure on steep, technical trails.

When we got to the bottom the two guys ahead of us seemed to be impressed. As it turns out that was the technical section everyone was supposed to walk. SWEET. One of the two guys said he walked it, so I think only three people all night rode it. Me, Matt and this other guy on an Intense.

We waited at the bottom and watched people walk down it and one or two guys try to ride down. I will say that Mike would have had no problem riding down it except that one of his grips on his handlebars came _OFF_ during the descent causing him to eat it.

Once the majority of the group had hiked down we continued on back to the parking lot.

Overall it was a good ride, but it was punishing. The climbing took a lot, a lot, a lot out of me and mentally I got a little worried going down the one tech section. But still it felt good to get out and stand up to the challenge.

I was happy to ride up all the climbs (except for one short very loose rocky section that I ran my bike up) and ride down all the descents. I would say I cleared 99% of the climbing and 100% of the downhill. Also I almost hit my goal of 10mph with an average speed of 9.7mph.

I will say though that I could have down without the lecture at the beginning of the ride about how there had been a ton of very recent mountain lion activity in the canyon. The pictures of the lions in the canyon that were passed around by the docent didn't help either. Ha.

Bad Day

I'm really not complaining about Saturday. Really. Any day I can ride and not crash and have some fun is a good day. But sometimes things happen over the course of a day that out weigh the good times. This was the case Saturday.

Bad things on the ride:

- I wake up super sick. Takes me 20 minutes to crap everything out. Felt like I was going to puke while I was relieving myself.
- Show up late to the ride just in time to experience pouring rain.
- Right before setting out a flash flood washes across the trail. No way around, so I get soaked at the start of the ride.
- Felt weak and slow for the entire trip up Holy Jim.
- Ripped my favorite shorts in half going down West Horsethief.
- Filthy bike that needs cleaning and a Garmin that temporarily stopped working.

The route itself was actually a great route (up Holy Jim, down West Horsethief) and under better weather conditions it could be a good time. Also it does make me feel cool to ride during bad weather and tough it out.

The real kick to the crotch happened after the ride.

I went to a dinner birthday party for a guy I don't know that well and when I showed up one girl in particular stood out. One of the main reasons I went to the party in the first place was to maybe meet a girl. So I was obviously excited to see a cute girl.

Time went by as we waited to be seated and I started to find this one girl really familiar. I knew her from somewhere but couldn't put my finger on it. At this point I still thought she was single.

We get seated inside and she sits across the table from me - fairly close. Still excited. Then I realize she is married and her husband is sitting next to her. Oh well. No big deal. I'm still wondering where I know her from though.

Then it hits me. It's Kristin. It's a long story, but I went on a blind date with her years and years ago and she is the only girl that has ever stood me up for a date. Not good memories.

So the bad day of riding ends with a humiliating experience at dinner where I get to watch Kristin have a great time while I'm miserable. Oh well.

If you're wondering what she looks like, it's something like this ...



Actually the only similarity is the eyeliner. She is a little ambitious with the makeup. Haha.

Manifest Destiny at Night

When the settlers moved West centuries ago it was called Manifest Destiny. Their expansion was inevitable and there was a sense of entitlement. They simply took whatever was in front of them and claimed it as their own.

In the same manner my buddies and I seem to be claiming every legal trail that can be done in 3.5 hours or less as night rides. First it started with the ambitious Blackstar-Motorway ride and then quickly opened up to Maple Springs, Santiago Peak, Skyline, Harding and eventually even Joplin.

Last night another trail was taken care of. Holy Jim is the latest trail to be raided at night by our little night riding group.

Matt and I parked at the Albertsons near Tijeras Creek last night and then rode down to Trabuco Creek Road and ultimately up Holy Jim to Main Divide.

The ride as a whole was nothing special. I did clear one tough section on Holy Jim before the switchbacks that I had never cleared before. It's a very rocky part and I was able to hammer up without having to get off to walk.

If I had to grade myself I would have given myself a 'B' for climbing the switchbacks and an 'F' for descending them. I just couldn't get into a rhythm on the way down and I wanted to keep up with Matt.

I really enjoy Holy Jim (up or down) in the daylight, but at night it's a bit creepy. I've gotten much better at dealing with the possibility of running into some large cat, but it still gets to me at times.

In the end though I never regret doing the night rides as they always bring a significant sense of accomplishment and adventure.

(P.S. I _HATE_ Trabuco Creek Road)

Joplin Again

Sometimes I just have to smile when I think back on a ride. This last Tuesday triggers a smile for sure. Two nights ago I did a night ride with Steven, Matt and Andrew down Joplin. We rode up Harding, down Joplin and then went from Old Camp back to our cars via Santiago Truck Trail.

For the longest time I've held Joplin up as the ultimate in technical downhill trails. The first time I ever bit off more than I could chew on a descent was Joplin. In fact it might be the only downhill trail I've ever turned around on (I hiked back up it on my first attempt).

Combine the existing mental barriers with a general reputation in the biking community as a difficult trail and you can see how I've let the word JOPLIN intimidate me.

The reality is that I've done much harder trails and rides since the first trip down Joplin earlier this year and going down it the other night was not that bad at all.

However it still makes me smile ... we did _Joplin_ at _night_.

The ride up Harding wasn't the fastest, but it was a good night to be riding and I felt pretty fresh the entire way up. It got a bit chilly towards the top, but it wasn't "knee warmer weather".

Matt ripped the sidewall on his rear tire and that allowed Andrew and I to catch up. Doug House was also on the ride but I didn't see much of him because he took off like a rocket up Harding. He has been in training mode lately and has become pretty freaking fast.

The trip from Four Corners to the start of Joplin was no big deal, but it was starting to get colder. On the way to the start of the trail two pickup trucks passed us with amazed 909'ers inside. They couldn't believe we were out riding at 9PM at night close to Santiago Peak. I have to admit ... you could tell they were impressed and it made me feel pretty awesome. Hahaha.

The trip down Joplin was fine for me minus one small biff. I walked the same sections I walked the first time I did it and did a few small drops that I walked the previous time. If you toss out the loose part at the top of the singletrack, it's actually a really fun descent. Very manageable for my skill level right now - meaning I don't have to walk the majority of it.

My favorite moment from the ride was when Steven was coming down a rock garden on his rigid singlespeed screaming, "HELLLLLLLLLLL YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" Hahaha. Just one of those moments where you realize how awesome a ride is.

The trip from Old Camp back to the cars was uneventful. I have to say that after climbing Harding and descending Joplin that the ride from Old Camp is really a grind. Not a lot of enjoyable sections at all.

This ride beats Blackstar-Motorway at night for the first time for sure.

I'll never forget this ride.

Accomplishments

Quick notes:

1. This is my 100th blog post. Yikes.
2. I passed 2,000 miles for the year on Saturday.
3. I signed up for Vision Quest today. Hooray!
4. I cleared 100% of Rattlesnake and Canyon Acres Saturday.

War and Peace

War and Peace is a long, long book (1,424 pages) and this post is going to be long as well. I figured I'd do a "play by play" of the ride Saturday since I haven't done that in a while.

Saturday was an IRLR (Irvine Ranch Land Reserve) ride with Matt and Andrew. IRLR means that we were led by a few docents through areas of Orange County that are normally off limits to bikes. The majority of the ride ended up on public land, but it was still fun to see a few areas that I've never been on.

The Ride:

There is good and bad with IRLR rides. The bad is that usually riders show up that stink and they slow the group down. The good is that riding with slow riders makes me feel better about my own riding ability. We had about 16 guys on the ride on Saturday and even though some of them were slow, no one really fell apart or totally bonked.

We started at Quail Hill and rode through what I think was Bommer Canyon for a bit before coming to a singletrack that was new for me. Even though it was early in the ride a few riders had started to distinguish themselves at the front and at the back.

I was a little nervous going down the singletrack because it was new and we were told that it had some pretty technical rock drops towards the botom. Only one guy in our entire group actually cleared the entire thing and he was on a big downhill rig. In fact only two people actually tried the drop at the end, so it was definitely gnarly. In retrospect if you knew the section and had ridden it before you might have a good line down it, but it's really hard when you go down a trail for the first time to pick the right lines.

After re-grouping at the bottom we climbed a bit before getting to a tough singletrack section. The trail was narrow, steep and very soft. No one cleared it (that I know of at least) and everyone had to get off and walk. I tried _really_ hard to make it, but ended up tipping over on my side. I couldn't get up and had to have someone else help me get my bike off me. Haha. (As a side note I bruised my left calf pretty good due to this "crash").

From this point we cruised down some more new singletrack in Bommer before coming to "The Challenge". The Challenge is a super steep (40% grade) short climb that runs along a few telephone poles. Long story short, tons of guys tried to climb it all, but no one was able to do it - except for Matt. Is this really a surprise at this point to me? Not really. I am convinced I could do it if I had tried more than one time, but I didn't want to wear myself out. While Matt was climbing I remember 3-4 guys started yelling/cheering and I kept looking around to see if some mountain lion was around or if someone had broken an arm or something. It was that kind of response. Haha.

We finally got going again and climbed out of Bommer into Laguna Coast Wilderness Park (LCWP) and then went over to El Moro.

In El Moro we did Missing Link and Fenceline and then headed over to Rattlesnake. Now a quick note about Rattlesnake ... I was convinced that I had done this trail before but after talking to Corby I had started to wonder if I had indeed done it.

I can say now that I have for sure cleared 100% of Rattlesnake. I never put a foot down and I never stopped to walk. There was one section where I thought I was going to go over the bars for sure, but I somehow saved it. I'm starting to get used to going over little ledges and planting the front wheel in the dirt _hard_. The end of Rattlesnake is actually really fun and challenging. I enjoy riding the rock garden stuff.

Some guy riding down Rattlesnake:


From Rattlesnake we headed down Mach One and then up I Think I Can. I started to feel a little fatigue for the first time on the climb up I Think I Can. My favorite part of this section of the ride was when one of the docents (Keith) told a guy that he used to ride up I Think I Can in his big ring. He was explaining why he made the transition to a singlespeed 29er. The second favorite part was when a guy on a rigid singlespeed running 34-18 took off after talking to me for a bit. He didn't even need to stand to accelerate. He just went for it and was gone. Amazing.

We then rook the ridge over to another new trail for me called BVD. It's about halfway between the top of I Think I Can and Missing Link. It was really fun and not technical at all - just maybe a bit steep in a few sections and loose on a few corners.

After getting to the bottom of BVD we climbed out of what I guess is called "Emerald Canyon". I just love the word emerald. It conjurs up images of green trees and happy woodland elves. Oh and maybe some good singletrack or something.

Anyways the climb out of Emerald Canyon was tough in a spot or two, but overall not bad at all. I really, really, REALLY want to get back to this section of El Moro (or whatever it is) to do some exploring. We missed riding up "Erection" and I definitely want to try out that trail on the way down or on the way up. Doesn't matter which.

From the top of the ridge we tried cruising over to "the tennis courts" near Laguna Canyon Road, but got lost. We ended up riding down a long loose fire road only to find out we were at a dead end. We had to climb back up (which sucked) to get back to a trail called "Laguna Bowl". This whole area was new to me and again - I can't wait to get back to it to explore and see what's up.

The ride down Laguna Bowl was nuts. It was very steep and loose and this is the only time I've ever smelled burning brakes. Someone (I hope it wasn't me) had their brakes on fire and I smelled the carnage all the way down. I was actually looking around for ash in the air because I thought the canyon was on fire the smell was so strong.

From the bottom of Laguna Bowl we cruised over to Starbucks for lunch and a quick break. The break went longer than I wanted it to, but I felt fine afterwards so I guess it was ok.

The next part of the ride was what I had been waiting for. We were going to be climbing up Canyon Acres and then going over to Stair Steps. Canyon Acres has a reputation for being a very tough climb. I was mentally preparing for the toughest climb of my life.

Out of the entire group only Matt and I cleared the entire climb, but that's not to say we were the only ones who had the ability to do it. The three guys on singlespeeds could have done it easily if they had been on geared bikes - and I'm also positive on a different day that Andrew could have finished it.

It was very satisfying to finish the entire thing and it felt great to have Keith and Calvin cheer us on while they walked next to us on the climb. It's funny that they walked only a tiny bit slower than we were riding. Haha. Andrew also had the great idea of doing slow circles on the flat sections of Canyon Acres in between climbs to recover. Genius.

I remember when I got to the top I asked Keith maybe 3-4 times if we were at the top because I didn't want to get off the bike until I knew I had cleared the entire climb. I wanted to be able to say "I've ridden all of Canyon Acres without getting off the bike".

From there we went over to Stair Steps where I ended up riding maybe 80% of it. I was really excited to ride lots and lots of sections that I walked the last time I had ridden down it. I'm not sure how I'm going to "solve" a few of the tougher sections, but overall the trip down did a lot for my overall riding confidence. It still sucked though to see Calvin clear all of it on his rigid SS. Haha.

After Stair Steps we headed up Willow and then went back into El Moro to hit Missing Link and Fenceline again. Finished by riding up to the back entrance to El Moro and then back under the freeway into Bommer and finally back to our cars.

I felt really strong on Willow and really strong towards the end of the ride as I was able to hammer in my big ring for the last few miles of fire road. Even though I felt good for most of the ride and only had to walk one small section of all the climbs - I'm not satisfied. I realized that Vision Quest would essentially be two laps of this ride elevation wise. That scares me.

One final note before I forget ... there was this one "headcase" on the ride that I got pretty mad at a few times. He was riding some old crappy hardtail and even though he was slow on the climbs he was a madman on the descents.

Normally I wouldn't care, but he almost took me out TWICE. Two different times I was going down a fire road at about 25mph and he came flying up behind me at 35mph and almost clipped me and my bike.

The first time he came up really close behind me and then passed in a bad section and almost cause me to crash. The second time he passed BETWEEN me and another rider on a fire road. There was no room for him, but he made room. I never ever want to experience that again. A real jerk that guy.

(I tried really hard to find pictures of Canyon Acres but couldn't ...)