2008-09-20 Sycamore Canyon Group Ride

I know Ron. I know that Ron is always late. I'm usually late because I know Ron will be late. But for this ride, I got to Ron's house at 7:15 even though I told him I'd pick him up at 7:30, because it wasn't just the two of us who were involved in this ride. Bill R, Jake and Chris were also going to show up to ride, and a last minute addition, which I didn't know about until we got to Santee, was Gardner.

With a fire under Ron's cute little ass, I drank a nice cup of coffee and waited for him to finish all the stuff he needed to accomplish before we could leave. When all was finished, we were only 10 minutes late leaving his house. We jumped on the freeway and I did my usual of staying in the right hand lane and setting the cruise control at 90 km/h, and we chitted and chatted all the way to Santee.

When we arrived at 8:15, Jake and Gardner were already there, and comments were made about posts I had made about getting there at 8:00 sharp so we could be on the trail by 8:30. Yeah, yeah, at least we weren't getting there at 8:45...

We quickly went about getting bikes put back together and I changed my clothes and we were actually ready to go at 8:30. But Chris still hadn't arrived. Apparently he had called Jake when he woke up at 8, but was on his way.

When Chris arrived, he was quick to get moving since everything on his bike was ready to go after getting fixed up and tuned up over the past week. Well, everything except for the cleats on his shoes hadn't been swapped out after getting the new pedals. So, with a little bit of help, he was expeditiously clipping in to his new pedals and we were on our way.

Since I seem to often ride by myself, or ride with one other person, I'm not used to all the conversation that takes place on the trail. With six people, all at different skill, speed, fitness, endourance, and awakeness levels, there is a lot more time spent waiting at turns and at tops of hills to regroup (and to allow the tail of the group to recover) than I'm used to. It's not bad to socialize, but it does eat up a lot more time. But, since Ron's husband had been told he'd be back by noon and he carpooled with me, there was a certain level of unease on my part of knowing he'd be very late but not wanting to make it any later than necessary. After listening to all of my married riding partners 'complain' about how they can't just go off riding whenever and wherever they want to, or for as long as they want to, I'm starting to feel a lot better about being single.

This area is Gardner's back yard, so it was good to have someone to ask when I zigged us instead of zagging us. We quickly (although at the expense of energy reserves) returned to the correct trail and proceeded onward. After the power lines and the creekbed, we made the correct left turn and found ourselves climbing on the switchbacks up to the top of the ridge.

At the top of our first climb, I waited by myself for only a short time before 28 year old Jake summited. It's good that he showed up second, being the baby in this group of 40-50-somethings. I watched as the rest of the guys made their way up the switchbacks.

As soon as everyone had made it to the top of the climb, it became obvious to me that we were not going to do the ride in the 2 hour range that I'm used to doing it. But the conversation was pleasant, so I was enjoying myself with this very nice and growing group of guys. I must say, it's also nice to ride with a group of gay men because there isn't the expectation that I either "leave my sexuality at the trailhead and just ride" or that I make the guys feel uncomfortable by making statements about some cute guy.

Gardner, being the only straight guy in the group, may have felt out of place, but he certainly didn't show it and it felt very comfortable. On the other hand, he has a very fun-loving personality, so I hope he enjoyed himself as much as I was enjoying myself.

After continuing along the ridge road, we hit the singletrack that jogs around the side of the hill rather than requiring what looks like a less than exciting rocky climb up the fire road. From there, zipping around the hill we finally came to the singletrack that goes back down into the canyon via a large number of switchbacks. It was a lot of fun, and given that I'm now much more familiar with the trail, I'm able to do it a bit faster than the first couple of times.

At the bottom of the hill, I had the opportunity to look up and see the herd of riders slashing back and forth along the side of the hill. As the last riders in our group were approaching the bottom I spotted a rider at the top who was descending very quickly. He made it down the entire hill in the time that it took some of our riders to do two or three switchbacks. As he zoomed past our chit-chatty clan, I noticed it was Claus. He was engrossed in his music and almost didn't notice me. But, when he picked me out of the croud, he came to a screeching stop, pulled an earbud from his head and we talked briefly. Then, like a married man who needed to be home in a very short time, he zoomed off.

We took off, following Claus, but he was gone before we all got around the first turn. We stayed on singletrack until we got to the gate that marks the entry into Sycamore Canyon Preserve. At that spot we met up with three guys who knew Gardner from SDMBA, and also ended up losing Chris and Bill R. Bill had to get to the lumber store (we all know what kind of wood he was looking for) and Chris was complaining about having arrived on a plane at 1am (instead of 10:30pm). So, now our little group of seven took off past the old ranch and ranger station until we got to the road we'd take up to the east ridge of the park.

When we got there, Gardner was nowhere to be found, but someone had heard he was stopping over at the ranger station. I wasn't sure if that meant he'd be coming soon or if it was a cue to leave him behind, but I assumed the former, so we waited. Just as we were getting impatient, he ambled up and we continued on our way up "cardiac" hill.

Ron was the speed demon on the hill, followed by Doug, one of the guys we picked up at the gate. I came in third, and the rest followed at various speeds. When we were all finally at the top of the hill, we took off northward down the big dirt road. I zoomed ahead until I tried to change gears and something wasn't working right. I looked down and it was immediately obvious that my P-Spring tension had been lost.

Jake stayed there with me while the rest of the guys raced ahead. I have one of those SRAM chains with the nifty quick link, but to be completely honest, I've never been able to get them to come undone. Putting the link on is easy, but the other way around just doesn't seem to work. If there's a trick, I don't know it. So after fussing for a while, I got out the chain tool, broke the chain and fixed the P-Spring tension.

I put everything back together (fortunately, the right way the first time out!) just as Gardner and Ron came flying down the hill towards us. I packed the tools away and we all started the climb back to the trail that leads us to Martha's Grove.

The descent to Martha's Grove is always a fast, fun flying experience with a few ruts and sand traps added in to keep a rider's focus. Doug, Jack and their friend apparently had gotten lost and found us just as we were coming into the parking lot at the north end of the park.

We continued on from there, with me in the lead again, doing the fun that is Martha's Grove.

At one point I looked back and didn't see anyone behind me, so I pulled out the camera and waited until riders started to come around the corner. I snapped several pictures until I found myself near the end of the group. I then jumped on my bike. I saw Jake at the top of the left-hand branch of the trail--the one that goes to the ridable but eminently scary rock drop off. I called out to say I was coming through as it is definately not a place you want to stop and look. So I vaulted down the rock face, giving Jake an idea of how to handle this particular messy spot. Seeing me do it made him realize it could be done, and as he told it, he backed up quite a ways and took a run at it, but didn't stay far enough to the left of the face and had to jump off the bike. The only casualty on Martha's downhill was Gardner who had a nice looking scrape on his knee.

We jetted out of Martha's and made our way back to the gate that lets us out of the preserve and back onto the Marine Corps land. At the gate we encountered the park ranger and trail maintenance worker. I introduced myself and explained the patrol to them. They were both very enthusiastic about the idea which was nice. It was also rather nice that this really cute guy with blond hair spiking through his helmet came along giving us all a nice trailside fantasy for the way back.

Gardner bid us farewell at that point, leaving just Ron, Jake and myself to pedal back to the cars. Ron was worried that Oscar wouldn't talk to him for a week as a result of him not being on time, so we had to bypass the switchback climb and descent, instead rushing back by the easier route. Just about the time we got onto the fire road, past the jumps, my chain broke. But rather than deal with fixing it on the spot, I just ran and coasted until we got back to Mast Blvd. at which point I told ron to come along side of me, and I grabbed ahold of his seat and he pulled me down the road.

We loaded up, and drove back to Cardiff, Jake following in his Jeep. I dropped Ron off and Jake and I headed to Mozy's for lunch. The conversation was fun and the food hit the spot. We then went back to my place to chat, drink some ale, pray to the virgin Mary and just relax. I had so much fun that I can't wait to do it all over again.

2008-09-13 Daley Ranch Ride.

Daley Ranch was covered with a low misty cloud. It was cool and perfect riding weather for the four of us (Jake, Brian, Chris and myself) to be riding in Escondido.

Jake had scheduled this ride for a 7:30 trail head departure. We had to wait a little while for Chris and Brian, but then they were joining us from San Diego, so they had a bit more of a commute. I didn't look at the time when we departed on what ended up being a 4:05 ride, but I don't think we were too late.

The other three guys had only ridden out there a few times, so I was able to show them a lot of cool runs that they had never been on, and I even took the single track that I recently heard about, making the trip novel to me as well.

We climbed up to the top of Stanley Peak and we rode, in actuality, almost the entire park from South to North and East to West. There were only a few missed trails.

Chris ended up having some mechanical issues, namely, he blew out his rear derreilleur and we needed to break his chain and set him up with a single speed for the last big climb from Bobcat up Cougar Ridge and then the rest of the way back to the car. He did great, actually improving his technique and riding abilities.

We went to lunch at Jimbo's in Escondido, spreading out hard earned money around town. Chris and Brian and I then went to Performance Bikes in Oceanside to pick up the parts that Chris needs to fix his bike. A bunch of money later, Chris was set with his replacements and parts and tools. I'm glad he sees the benefit of carrying tools now so that he can fix his own bike.

It's is really nice to ride with a group of guys who are fit and fun and love to bike.

San Clemente Singletrack 2008-09-07

I had spread the word wide that there was to be a group ride at The San Clemente Singletracks, complete with carpooling and a lunch at a brewery/pizzaria near the ride site. SDMTB, Dirt Treaders and Gay Outdoors along with several friends all got messaged. With this much coverage, I expected that I wasn't going to be riding alone. Rodney RSVP'd from SDMTB, Jake and Chris from Gay Outdoors and "Danimal" from Dirt Treaders along with two friends.

I had set up a couple of car pooling sites along the way. The first was at the La Costa Park & Ride near my house. I got there, but no one had RSVP'd that they were going to meet there, so, it was more just an exercise to see if someone would show up. At exactly 7am, I departed for the Oceanside train station where I was going to meet Rodney and "Danimal" and the two friends. As I was driving north I got a text from "Danimal" saying that there was some feelings of ill and a over abundance of training and work and that there would be no "Danimal" on the trails with us today. I guess the two friends couldn't ride if "Danimal" couldn't ride. But I was still expecting Jake, Chris and Rodney.

I sat at the train station, waiting, and when it got to be about 7:20 and no one was there, I started to think I'd be riding by myself after all. I called Rodney first, and he said he was just in a different parking lot from the directions I had emailed him, and he'd be right over. Jake sounded half asleep when I called, but told me he was planning on meeting us at the trail head. So, Rodney and I took off at 7:30 as scheduled, and headed north to San Clemente.

The ride was filled with new acquaintance communications of what and where and when. As a result, it seemed like we were in San Clemente in short order and navigating the back roads to get to a place I'd never been to before. Jake called for directions to the trail head which I read from my PPC. A soupy marine layer was shrouding our surroundings in a gray, moist cloud. It was too late to turn into the parking lot by the time I noticed the sign. I drove past the entrance to the parking lot did a loop at the end of the median and we were quickly parked and getting the bikes off the rack and oiling chains.

My phone rang and I answered it to hear Jake explain how he had left his shoes at home and would be back in 40 minutes (putting our ride about 20 minutes past schedule). Rodney and I agreed to wait. We checked out the kids riding Razors in the skate park, doing all sorts of cool tricks. We cleaned our bikes. We fiddled and focused on passing the time with activities instead of conversation. Jake and Chris finally arrived, a bit later than they said, but we could go on our ride so I was excited.


The Ride:

Elevation Profile

We started off the ride by stopping and chatting with someone who was just finishing his ride. After lamenting the loss of the secret status the trails had apparently held for the past 20 years, he gave us a quick idea of the layout of the park and a direction to head, even drawing a map in the dirt. Following what I remembered of his map, we zipped along on a fire road until spotting what I assumed was the singletrack he had mentioned. We veered left, grabbing the singletrack and immediately had to pull over because other cyclists were coming in the opposite direction. After they passed, we continued on our way, zipping through some really nice singletrack, over a bridge, through some gullies, and finally being redeposited onto the fire road we had started on, just further west. We rode the fire road down the hill until spotting another singletrack. I slowed to make sure everyone was still with me, then jetted down the singletrack. It was fun and fast, but not terribly challenging or scenic.

Along the way I got to watch someone recover, somewhat gracefully, from an endo. We both made it to a wash at the same moment. The wash had a nearly vertical slope requiring attention. Unfortunately, the other rider looked up, expecting to see me descending, but I stopped before entering. As usual, those moments in Mountain Biking that requires our attention and don't get it, are the moments where we discover more slapstick. Fortunately, the rider was unharmed; but we came to learn that this group saw the posting and could have come on the ride with us but chose to ride on their own.

After riding "No Turns" which was mostly a sandy trail at the bottom of the park, we ended up at a road and gate to the military base.

We took a trail we spotted in a wide graded area. Upon arriving at the top of this little climb, Jake was feeling the effects of youth and unfortunately succumbed to a headache and hamstring issues. He and Chris decided that they were going back via the road while Rodney and I headed down some singletrack that took us up a hill we both kept thinking must be primarily used in the opposite direction. We continued on this trail until it spit us out at the spot where we had originall stopped to ask for directions.

Rodney was a good climber with many years of experience on his cleats, and the sound of the bear bell clanging away right on his back tire made short order of the hill and we figured that we had probably made it up before Chris and Jake would be up. So, we decided to drop down the road and meet up with them. I knew about 100m in that there was no way we were going to see them, but I kept going until we got to the bottom of the hill and then turned around and went back. It was just to grab a bit more hill climbing on my part, but Rodney wasn't far behind.

When we made it back to the car, there was Jake and Chris sitting on the sidewalk, stretching and searching for some sort of headache relief. Of course, I had something in my first aid kit, so even though I was ridiculed as usual for having so much stuff in my pack, it sure was helpful. :)

After putting everything away and changing my clothes, we all headed off to Pizza Port in San Clemente for pizza and beer. We got a nice pitcher of Shark Bite Ale and a yummy pesto/artichoke heart/feta pizza. (The rest of them had it with small hunks of chicken flesh that they appeared to enjoy.)

We sat and talked about bikes and this and that until the mood struck us to depart. Rodney and I bid Chris and Jake a safe return, started down the interstate.

It was a nice day with non-technical singletrack and some nice well packed trails.