Sycamore Canyon 2009/1/1/ - First SDMBA/NMBP Patrol

So, the DirtTreaders were riding on New Years day. And not only were they riding on New Years Day, but at 9am. That meant, at least for me, an early night on New Years Eve. I know myself. I know that it will take me an inordinant amount of time to get ready and get out of the house. I know that once I get to the ride site that it will take me a good amount of time to get everything organized since I bring the kitchen sink with me on a ride.

Clothes are no problem, since I have my riding clothes anal-retentively organized into sacks. It makes it very easy to just grab a bag and go since each one already contains everything I need to wear. On top of that, there's the helmet cam to set up. Then there's the still cam to hook up to the camelbak. Then there's the iPod and headphones. Then there's the elbow and knee & shin guards, heart rate monitor with chest strap... The wheel needs to be put on the front of the bike... You get the picture.

I decided it was a good time to put the SDMBA/NMBP into action with the first patrol activity ever. So, I left at 7:45am for the ride. The drive out of Leucadia was a bit sketchy with deep pockets of fog all along the freeway. It wasn't until I got south of the hump at Del Mar Heights that it started to clear up, and by the time I made over Mission Trails Summit it was bright and sunny.

I arrived with about 40 minutes to spare, got myself together and by the time the ride was ready to depart, I was just putting on my helmet. :)

There were 13 riders in total, which is a pretty big group to manage. I had an interesting observation resulting from seeing another rider, Rob, with a brown Mojo SL with red linkages. I haven't seen too many Mojo SLs, or for that matter, Mojos at all here in San Diego. Rob had added a few nice upgrades from my ride, with a Talas fork over the RLC and some very nice wheels. The observation I had was how funny it is that a bike can create a connection between two people that I didn't experience with anyone else. It's almost that, at a minimum, the brand of a bike someone owns, but even more so, the brand and model can generate a bond between riders that riding itself doesn't necessarily do. The Specialized people recognize each other and the Trek people have something to chat about. And I've seen how the the river of component difference slakes single-speeders off from geard bikers on a group ride. Anyway, the group took off before I was quite ready to ride, but I jammed on it, and with some effort caught up with the leaders of the group within 2km from the car. Oops, I forgot to lube my chain. I was hoping that it would have had enough from the last ride at Palm Canyon. (It turned out OK. It was only at the end, after going through a bunch of mud, that the chain had any issues.)

Almost immediately after the ride started four riders were missing. At the first regrouping, we learned that one rider was waiting at the parking lot for someone who was late arriving. The two of themadded to the other two who zigged while at the front of the group while the leader and remainder of the group zagged. It wasn't long before we were all herded together, and off we rolled. Our ride organizer demonstrated a new route which took us up a very scenic stream bed. With many crossings, I'd be amazed if anyone had dry feet. When we got to the bottom of the first serious climb, we regrouped. This took much longer than the first regrouping, but we good naturedly stood around talking and enjoying the beauty that was surrounding us.

After climbing the hill which was soggy, loose and off cambre the whole way up, we regrouped again, this one taking much longer. We then made our way down a road, until a well hidden singletrack presented itself to our guide and we were soon zipping our way downward on a cobble-lined ribbon. The downhill was fun but a bit bumpy. Our guide and another rider were out in front. I was trailing a bit further behind, the remainder of the other riders staggered well behind me.

After some technical drops and slides that proved to be too much for the vast majority of us, resulting in muddy shoes as we hopped and slid our way down, we regrouped again, and then continued on our way toward the switchbacks climb and descent. At the break-off for the western switchbacks, we waited again for the group to catch up. At least one rider decided at this point to head around to the spot where the eastern switchbacks rejoin the main trail. The rest of us proceeded at various speeds to climb the western switchbacks. Rob, the racer, was the first to make it to the top. I was in hot pursuit, but once again, I've proven to myself that I don't need to pay money to find out that there are some people faster than me and some people slower. At the top I grabbed the camera and snapped pictures of everyone as they crested the ridge.

I made my way down the eastern switchbacks behind Steven and Rob. When I got to the bottom I looked up and it was an inspiring scene as so many riders were descending the switchbacks at once. I thought to myself that it would be quite a site to see so many riders with lights at night.

We regrouped with the riders who had avoided the climb and waited for everyone to get to the bottom of the eastern switchbacks.  Then, off we went, riding on the east side of the creekbed. At some point I managed to get out in front and rather than take my usual trail toward the gate at Goodan Ranch, I swooped in on another track and was so completely overjoyed. Fast, swervy singletrack that tested and encouraged good turning skills. There were a few stream crossings too.

We regrouped again at the gate, and then hit the double track leading up to the ranch house and then continued on the singletrack that runs to the west depositing us at the 4-corners of the main road. Several of us headed up "Cardiac" so that we could ride the downhill on the backside of Martha's Grove while the majority headed up the more direct route that doesn't have any payoff other than getting you to Martha's Grove trail faster.

We agreed to meet at the start of Martha's Grove Trail, but when our little group of four riders got there after a fast and fun downhill, no one was waiting. We didn't think that there was any chance we could have reached the gate before the other riders, but we waited a few minutes anyway. A family with small children took off hiking up the trail and then another large group of riders that was resting at the gate took off. Rather than have the hikers make way for two separate groups of riders, we followed on the tail of the other group. Once at the top of the first climb, we encountered two of the other riders in our group who informed us that the rest had gone on ahead. We continued the ride down Martha's Grove Trail and rode without stops, except for a brief moment at the gate at the south side of Goodan Ranch.

We hit the high trail on the west side of the creek, but there were a few spots where trees had fallen onto the trail. None of us had more than a nail file and the trees were too big to move by hand, so we climbed over the obstacles (none of us being trials riders), and continued on our way. By this point my legs were starting to cramp, probably as a result of the New Year's Eve drinking I did. By the time we made it back to the parking lot, my legs had cramped so bad that there was a stretch where I needed to walk because I couldn't power through the pedal stroke.

Once back at the parking lot, bikes and gear was quickly stowed and people departed for points unknown. Our two-and-a-half-hour ride had taken almost 4.5 hours and covered over 38km.

Props to Cal Coast Bicycles

Over the years I have dealt with several local bike shops as well as national chains and web merchants. Some of the LBS' have been very hard to deal with. The national chains offer great prices and adequate customer service and the web merchants, well, they're web merchants and have ranged all over the place. But my experience this past year with Cal Coast Bicycles has been extremely positive.

I went to Cal Coast because they are the only local dealer for Ibis, and when I was looking to buy my Mojo SL, I didn't have much of a choice. The entire purchase experience was great. The bike was built up and ready in a day, and they have supported me every step of the way.

When my XTR rear derailleur went out, they offered to give me an XT swap while they were waiting to hear if Shimano would cover it or, when I suggested that they replace it with an XTR and I would pay them and they could just refund me when positive news came from Shimano, they said OK, but would only charge my CC if they heard back from Shimano that the part wasn't covered.

Then, most recently, my Crank Brothers Jopelin-R seat post died. In the period between sending it off to Crank Brothers, they gave me another Jopelin seat post so I could keep riding. When I went to pick up the repaired seat post on 24/Dec, they were actually closed, and had been for about 2 hours, but someone was there and was kind enough to go through the trouble of turning off the alarm, unlocking the store and exchanging the seat posts.

Finally, yesterday, I returned to the store because I was uncertain how to adjust the seat post cable as well as pick up the new Lopes Link for the bike. I decided to just have them install the Lopes Link, expecting to pay for the service. But, when I got the bike back, there was no service charge! Awesome.

Cal Coast also price matches, so I'm never going to pay more than I would at one of the web merchants. And even though I don't get the "10% back" on top of the price match that I would get at that big national chain, the fact that they didn't charge me for the service will keep me coming back for years to come.

Way to go Cal Coast.

P-Springing My Way Down The Freeway.

Early last week, I called Cal Coast to ask about the P-Spring issue. The mechanic told me to bring the bike in and they would probably just swap out the derailleur and I'd be on my way. Well, since I was also having an issue with the handle bars coming lose on every ride, I thought I might as well have them give it a once over before I go to Moab. So, since I was going to be in the area from Friday night to Sunday evening, I thought I'd just drop if off at the beginning of my time in San Diego, and pick it up at the end of the workshop.

Well, the best laid plans are often ruined by other people, and in this case many different plans were sabotaged to the point of being useless. First, my carpooler couldn't make it early enough for us to get to the bike shop on Friday, so I had to take it in on Saturday. They took the bike in and sent me on my way, mentioning to stop in on Monday evening to pick up the bike.

So, tonight I headed down the freeway, ready to get my bike with visions of riding tomorrow evening after work because I wouldn't be able to commute on my road bike because I need to drop it off to get new tires. So, I skipped work about 20 minutes early and the freeway was empty. I dashed down to Adams Ave. in no time, walked into the shop and saw my bike still in the stand, the chain dangling from a string tied to the stem.

The bad news was relayed to me...They couldn't get in touch with anyone at Shimano because everyone was just coming back from Interbike. So, they had no authority to swap the part out as a warranty issue and weren't about to eat the cost of a new XTR Shadow rear derailleur if it wasn't covered. I was guaranteed that it would be resolved by Tuesday, and could I come back then...

What really sucked is that I was then right in the heart of rush hour, 25 miles from where I wanted to be, and I didn't have a gym kit or a book or a computer or anything else to occupy my time for 90 minutes. Then, to top it all off, I will need to go down there again tomorrow, which really sucks! Oh well, I just hope I don't get a call tomorrow telling me it's not covered! Then I'll really be pissed!.

2008-09-11 Peñasquitos ride with Andreas

Andreas, or Andy as he goes by now, and I met many years ago as Scuba Divers. I was just starting out in diving and so was he. We dove together several times at La Jolla Shores and probably a few other places too. One zig for me and one zag for him, and it was like going swimming on opposite sides of a big kelp plant in coastal waters--you'll never find each other again. So, we fell out of touch for several years, mutually forgotten, until, that is, he pulled up behind me at Joe Lawwill's BikeSkills clinic. We saw each other again on the Indian Creek Trail while I was on the Mt. Laguna Great Outdoors camping trip. I was riding by myself, but had hooked up with a good rider, and he was riding with the DirtTreaders.Com group. After some mishaps with email, I was finally able to get registered at DirtTreaders.com and that's where I saw the info about the Peñasquitos after work ride.

I decided that instead of commuting on my road bike between home and work, I would instead drive to work, bringing my MtB and ride with him at Peñasquitos in the evening. After all, I have been saying that given the opportunity to ride for pleasure, I'd take a MtB any day over riding on the road.

We met at the agreed upon location and we were actually on the trail no more than a minute later than our 5:30 departure time. We rode to Wagon Wheel Crossing, crossed the creek and continued on the road until the first climb. Since I was in the lead, I took control of the route and headed up the hill. It's not an easy climb and Andreas' heavier bike and lower endurance level showed, but he made it to the top. He did comment though that he hated climbing. As we rode on, I asked him whether he wanted to go up further or down. He chose down. What I had failed to mention was that the uphill was about 30 feet and would have left us on top of the mesa, whereas going down meant that we had another longish climb to get back up to the same elevation.

That said, the downhill was fun. Once we got back to the main east-west trail, we continued until we hit Powerline and headed up to the mesa. From there, Andreas asked me if I wanted to do "Rocking Horse". Not knowing realizing that the name "Rocking Horse" was the tunnel trail that had an old rocking horse at the top of it. So, we zipped down. Andreas, far more familiar with the ride than I was faster on the downhill through all the twisted and slanting trees. I still get a little freaked out by how close I must be coming to hitting the handlebar on a tree. There were points, however, where I really felt like I was one with the bike and the trail and the trees and I was zipping through, keeping up with Andreas, and probably pushing him a bit.

We did a couple of loops through Tunnels and then headed back. By the time we got to the top of Shits, it was time to put on the lights. After a long fiddling around with putting the light mount onto the helmet, I realize how much faster it is to mount my light because I leave the mount on the helmet all the time.

We zipped through Shits and back to the car. I tried to do the jumps, but wasn't feeling positive about my skills so I didn't hit the launch with enough force and just rolled over the top. Maybe I'll take a class out in Moab on jumping...

All in all, a nice ride. I would probably have finished the ride faster than we did, but Andreas is a good strong rider who is only going to get better. With only 7 months of riding under his belt, he's very proficient. I hope we ride together more often.

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.

31/August/2008 La Costa Solo Ride

After this morning's abbreviated ride with my son, I was still in the mood to pedal. The bike was still on the roof of my car, a fresh riding kit tucked away in a duffel in the back of the car, and my energy was high. I got in the car for drive over to La Costa. Everything seemed to be ready. After about 20 starts and stops as I fiddled with this and that, I jumped on the bike and was riding up the hill.

The temperature was cool enough and even though I was working hard something about the ride was very easy. There were technical sections of the trail that I seemed to be able to just climb like I never had been able to do before. I was on my Mojo and filled with it too. It was awesome.

I had forgotten my heart rate monitor, which usually means that I'm off my mark, but this time, I just listened to my body as it told me how much I could push and when. I don't know how long it took me to get to the top of the hill. It both seemed like it took a long time and like I was there before I knew it. I rode past the kiosk, down the singletrack to the swirly, swoopy trail that crosses the road and then continues zig-zagging around until it finally ends at the road, just primed for the downhill.

Before I crossed the road the first time on the singltrack, I came zipping over a rise and around a corner and ran smack over the neck of a rattle snake. It didn't hurt me although it must have hurt the snake, but it sure did startle me. Since there wouldn't have been much I could do to help the snake if I'd injured it, I just continued riding.

When I got to the downhill section, I lowered my seat and hammered the hill until I got to the bottom. Then, something got into my mind and I lost a lot of motivation. It wasn't physical because I did the climb back up the hill without any problem. I think I was lamenting the way the morning's ride with my son had turned out and wishing again that I wasn't riding by myself.

I rode down past the old green waste site, past the trail marker and continued down the road that eventually just dead ended. I had hoped I'd be able to find a trail out, but there was nothing that looked like it had been used by bikers. I turned around, headed back the way I came--up the fire road climb, back to the singletrack, crossing the road in the reverse of the way I'd come down. I was looking for the snake, which I never found. I figure it either slithered into the grass to recuperate or a hawk saw it and had a tasty snack. Either way, what ever happened to the snake will never be known to me.

The way down the hill was as fun and swoopy as ever, although I was less speedy then I usually am because I didn't wear my guards (the trail rash on my elbow from the morning's escapade would have made wearing elbow guards a bit painful!)

23-24/August/2008 Mt. Laguna Rides

On Friday (22/August/2008) I started off the day thinking that I might not be able to go on my camping and mountain biking trip to Mt. Laguna with the Great Outdoors group. I woke up with a fever and a really bad feeling in my stomach. I worked from home and then fortunately, by about 3pm, I was feeling better. I loaded up the car, determined to ride even if I wasn't feeling 100%.

On the drive to the mountains, I called Bill R. who was supposed to be meeting me on the trip. But, as I almost expected, Bill was still in Monterey and wasn't going to be making it on the camping trip/rides. I assumed, although I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised, that none of the other guys on the trip would be bringing a bike or if one or two did, the likelihood that there was a similar fitness and skill level was pretty slim. So, when Bill said he wasn't coming, I assumed I'd be riding alone. I called Ron, who had mentioned that he might be interested in coming up for the day to ride, but as always, I got his voicemail, and didn't expect to hear from him because I had no cell reception once I got away from the freeway.

By the time I got to the camp site at the Mt. Laguna/El Prado Group Campground, my stomach was feeling much better and I was excited to meet all of the guys who were on the trip. Just as I arrived the group was going out on a hike. Not being a hiker, and needing to get my tent set up, I declined the invitation to join them and went about setting up my tent. One other man who was still in the camp offered to help me get the tent up, which greatly simplified the task of getting the tent in place. I then inflated my air mattress, and went about setting up my stuff. Michael, the guy who helped me set up my tent, was a really friendly and kind man and we hit it off instantly.

As I expected, I was the only one there with a bike. I still held out hope that Ron would show up on Saturday. When I got his voice mail, I left him a message telling him to meet me at the campground at noon. While I say I held out hope, it was a very slim hope, and in reality, I completely expected that I'd be riding by myself.

On Saturday, I waited for Ron until about 1:30 in the afternoon, and then I got myself ready and took off on the ride. My plan was to do a quick loop around the lake and then down Nobel which is exactly what I did.

The ride down Nobel was a blast. I shot video through the whole thing although it would have been so much more interesting had there been someone in the video. When I got to the trailhead I saw a couple of riders stretching and thought maybe they were going to be riding up. But, they were just finishing their ride and they seemed a bit surprised when they found out that I was parked on the top of the hill and had to ride back up. I was nearly out of water in my camelbak although I had another liter of water in a bottle stashed inside. I figured it would be best if I rode over to the store in Pine Valley and bought a bottle of water and some energy bars which I had forgotten to bring on the ride. (I remembered them about 20 minutes into the ride, but figured I could do the ride without them.)

The ride to the store was significantly further than I remembered it from the first time I rode Nobel Canyon and we drove the car from the trailhead to the store. After I got there, I chatted with a fellow who was waiting for his girlfriend to pick him up after his ride from Chula Vista. Then, after organizing my camelbak and all the cables and wires from my camera and ipod, I brought my bike into the store, leaned it against a freezer and grabbed a gallon of water and a couple of protein bars.

I sat outside and chatted with the fellow from Chula Vista for a while during which time I ate the bars, refilled my Camelbak and drank the water remaining in the bottle. When I got to the point where I felt like I was sloshing, I popped some electrolyte caps and decided to take off for the climb ahead.

At first the road was relatively easy, almost downhill from the store to Pine Creek Road. But Pine Creek Road and Deer Park Road have some very steep sections, and the climb up Laguna Meadow Road was no easier. By the time I got to the top I was pretty tired, but I got energized by the ability to get back on singletrack.

The ride back along Big Laguna Trail was fun and swoopy and by the time I rolled back into camp, I was feeling really jazzed.

The Great Outoors guys were just finishing up eating when I rode into camp. I had dinner, or rather the remnants of what remained that was vegetarian. I'm glad I brought my own food since the only thing that was available was some spaghetti with a tiny bit of sauce. I added some baked tofu and wished I had some vegetables, but enjoyed what I ate.

After eating, I decided that I couldn't wait any longer for a shower, so I grabbed some clean clothes, my shower kit and a towel and walked over to the shower. When I got there I discovered that the showers operated with quarters and I didn't have any with me. So, I had to walk back to camp (about a half mile), rustle up some quarters and then walk back. (I suppose I could have driven, but that's not like me...) I got clean and shaven and was feeling good. When I walked back to the camp, it was dark and everyone was sitting around the fire chatting about this and that. I listened for a while before Michael offered me a return to a big flat rock in the meadow from which we could look at the stars. We hiked out there and enjoyed the view of the Milky Way and a clear sky. Unfortunately, my legs started to cramp, and after several very painful bouts of cramping, we started to walk back. My legs instantly started to feel better as we got moving.

Once back at camp, Michael was so sweet and gave my legs a very thourough and sensitive massage. I felt wonderful after that and we curled up next to each other and I fell asleep.

I awoke on Sunday morning determined to ride earlier rather than later. Of course, for me that means getting my ass organized and in gear earlier than when I did. So, when I finally rolled out of camp it was almost 10am. I was originally thinking that I would ride out Highway 79 to the trailhead that I rode from with Dana and Claus a month or so earlier. But when I actually got on the bike, I headed toward the meadow. Once in the meadow I saw two guys riding and took off after them. It wasn't long before I was on their tails and then passing.

I got on the Nobel Canyon trail and rode past several other bikers who were looking like they might have been a bit out of their league, even with the relatively easy singletrack there at the top. I continued powering it out, practicing skills and reminding myself to stay fluid on the bike. I wasn't wearing my guards, so I was a bit more hesitant than if I had been wearing them, but I was still jamming down the trail. When I got to the Indian Creek trailhead, I decided I'd ride it up to the Pine Mountain trail and then turn around. Once I got to the bottom where the creek is located (actually not much more than some greener plants at this time of year).I stopped to make sure the video was recording and that the track function was enabled on my GPS. I had my earphones on, so I didn't hear it when the two guys I passed back in the meadow jump the creek. I made some poor excuse about being an itard, but then since I was riding alone, and off to the side of the trail, I figure I was OK.

These two guys took off up the hill without being friendly, but they were on big heavy downhill bikes and I was on my Mojo SL, so I easily passed them. When I got to the top of the hill at the point where Pine Mountain Trail comes in, I waited for them to finish coming up so I could head back down. One of the guys showed up and we started chatting while waiting for his buddy. He mentioned that they were going to go down the other side of Indian Creek Trail, then up some part of East Mesa to a "secret" trail that would take them down into Pine Valley. I mentioned that it sounded like a great ride. The guy offered that I could go along, and even said they'd offer a shuttle up from Pine Valley when I said that I didn't think I wanted to do two climbs in as many days. So, once his buddy got to the top we headed down the hill.

The trail was gnarly. There were rocks all over the place that looked like razor blades sticking out of the trail. The left hand side of the trail was a steep slope and the trail itself was narrow. I really wished I had my guards, and so I took it a bit easier than I would have. As a result, the two guys, with their 7" travel bikes, zipped down the hill much faster than I could or would. When I got to the bottom of the hill, where the trail meets up with East Mesa Fire Road and Deer Park Road, they were no where to be found.

I encountered two other guys, David (a really cute guy from Carlsbad who was riding an Ibis Mojo) and Peter, his friend from Germany. We chatted a bit and then I decided that probably the best thing was for me to just head back the way I came. So, I let the two of them head up the trail and then I followed. Peter was the slower of the two, and I quickly passed him. David on the other hand was really fast, even with a caliper problem on his front disc brake. I guess if I didn't carry such a big Camelbak and all the shit I have in it, as well as if I didn't have the pack around my belly, I'd be much faster. But such is as it is, and I still do better than most.

At one point, I was right on David's tail when he had one of those uphill momentum losses and I almost crashed into him. Unfortunately, in trying to not crash, I went over the side of the trail and ended up going down the embankment doing a cart wheel on some rocks before landing in the dirt. I was fine, and handed my bike up to David who said something about how I probably wouldn't continue to follow so close.

We continued the ride to the intersection of the Nobel and Indian Creek Trails at which point I decided I'd head down the Nobel Canyon trail until I got to the paved Laguna Meadow Road and then I'd take that up to Big Laguna. David and Peter went up the Nobel Canyon trail. I zipped down the trail, faster I think than I did on Saturday's ride. It seemed over too quickly and even though I wanted to continue down the Nobel Canyon trail, I opted to head up the paved road.

Except for a couple of nice fast descents, the road is mostly uphill from the lower intersection of the road and the Nobel Canyon Trail. There were some pretty steep sections that got me a bit winded, and how my legs kept spinning I'm not certain. Just as I got to the spot where the Nobel Canyon trail crosses the road at the S curves near the top of the climb, I encountered David and Peter again. Peter let me pass, and I followed David, seemingly pushing him to go faster as we made our way to the Penny Pines watering hole.

I refilled my Camelbak and headed out toward Big Laguna. At one point I found a trail that said "El Prado Campground" and I decided to take it. I don't know if it was much of a shortcut, as it had a lot more of a hill than if I had gone the longer way, but it got me back to the campground and just in time for a late lunch.

15-August-2008 Cuyamaca Night Ride with San Diego Mountain Bike Association

I had ridden in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park only a few times before. The first time was many years ago when I first started riding and my friend Alann took me up to ride some singletrack and fire road around Middle Peak. That was before Alann got heavily into his running addiction and dropped out of the MtB world. The second time was just a few months ago when I rode with the San Diego Mountain Biking Association (SDMBA) on a new moon night ride. On that ride I was joined by Claus and Dana and about 40 other riders. Last night, neither Claus or Dana could make it, so I was on my own along with 40 other riders.

In the run-up to the ride, I had helped the organizers by 'doing the paperwork' -- extracting names, lighting requirements, and ability levels from emails sent to the ride coordinator and entering them into a spreadsheet. Nothing flashy, but probably helpful. I had also been in touch with the organizer to discuss meal options -- being mostly vegan I was hoping to avoid the horrible feeling in my stomach that followed the previous ride's pizza dinner. Remarkably, a vegan option would be added to the menu which was well appreciated.

I had posted a car-pooling notice to the other riders who were scheduled to come on the ride. I figured there'd be more people coming from the Torrey Pines area where I work, but only one person responded that he would like to carpool. So, after a few email exchanges, we agreed to meet at my workplace, and leave from there.

My company had their "annual day at the races" so everyone had left around 3pm to go to the Del Mar track. I used the time between 3 and 4:30 (when my car-poolee was scheduled to show up) to get my bike cleaned up, aired up, and lubed up.

Last night's ride was on a different route than the previous SDMBA Cuyamaca ride. There were some elements of the ride that I liked better and some things that I didn't like as much, but that's to be expected. The route started out on some singletrack which was a lot of fun. But we quickly got onto a fire road the had us climbing for some distance. We were pretty much on fire road until we got to Granite Springs where we hit some singletrack for a short period of time. We eventually got to some fire road again, (East Mesa Fire Road) which was actually more like singletrack because of all the fallen trees. We road that trail to a stand of trees and then returned. When we got back to the turn off for Oakzanita Peak trail we met up with the Intermediate group who were just returning from their ascent. It was pleasant to see all the lights streaming down the trail coming toward us, but one thing I've noticed, and it's something I remember teaching my Scuba students to avoid, is that people with head lamps don't consider the brightness of their light as they look at people. So, once the blinding got too bad, several of us decided to take off. 

As we started the singletrack climb, I was second or third in the group. It was a fast and fun trail although it was a bit sketchy at times as there were lots of trail side branches and bushes. The guy in front of me caught a hold of a branch that snapped back toward me with considerable force and speed. I'm just glad I saw what was going to happen because I was able to duck rather than getting smacked in the head. At one point the trail had a slightly increased incline and I didn't notice that the edge of the trail was a bit sandy. Somehow I hit the sand and lost momentum so fast that the next thing I knew I was laying on the ground. Of course, the only rock anywhere to be found on this section of the trail was underneath my leg, giving me a nice scrape and pain that remains now, over a day later. I pulled myself out of the trail and allowed another rider to pass.

The switchback climb up to Oakzanita peak was difficult, especially with the pain in my leg. There were several sections with rock steps right in the switchbacks, so I had to dismount several times and do a few short hike-a-bikes. Even though I was significantly slowed in my ascent, the fellow who had passed me while I was down wasn't making very good time even on his hardtail. I caught up to him with ease and then rode right on his back wheel until he let me pass him, but then we were at the top already. The view from the 'peak' was pleasant, with the full moon mid-way up in the sky and the lights from several riders still making their way up the trail looking like fireflys zig zagging closer to us.

When the 'sweep' made it to the top he offered us all Oreo cookies, though they were a bit on the stale side. I grabbed one and started my descent. With my leg throbbing, I took the descent easy. It seemed like there were moments when the bike just didn't want to move regardless of how hard I was trying to push forward. I think I might have sabotaged myself slightly by grossly under inflating my tires. In the past I had been inflating them up to >3.5bar (>50psi), but after several suggestions, I dropped it to ~3.0bar (40-45psi), but this time I dropped it to 2.4bar (35psi). While the ride was much smoother, I felt like I lost a lot of momentum from the bouncy, squishy tires.

When I got back from the Oakzanita Peak singletrack to the East Mesa Fire Road, I met up with my carpoolee, Sol. We took off together and continued our way down the hill. I hadn't remembered the ascent being as long or steep as the descent seemed, but that could have been my leg, the general fatigue, the fact that now I had to watch my speed on the curves else I could end up in a ravine, or the large amount of dust in the air thanks to Sol's and another rider.

Just before East Mesa Fire Road meets up with highway 79, I took the single track that runs parallel. Again, at some point I felt like I was unable to maintain momentum and came to a complete stop. Fortunately, I didn't fall. But another rider passed me--it was the guy on the hard tail again. Once I got moving, I was again right on his rear wheel. We made it back to the parking lot fairly quickly.

Throughout the ride I was very glad that I had brought my 'Buff' because I was able to put it over my nose and mouth and avoid breathing all the dust. (I didn't bring it on the last SDMBA ride I went on and ended up coughing up dust for two days after the ride.)

We sat in the parking lot and ate dinner. I enjoyed some organic lentil soup with tortilla chips and some very tasty beer. I talked with some old acquaintances for a while and with some of the people I rode with. When we finally left for the drive home, it was around 11:30. By the time I  made it home it was 1:15.

Buying a New Mountain Bike.

As I have mentioned in my previous post, I hadn't bought a new bike for myself since 1999. Everyone I have been riding with over the years was tooling around on a new Turner or Ellsworth or Trek. Everyone had at least 120mm of travel on the front and about 80mm on the rear while I was forced to set the pressure in my 80mm front and 40mm rear so high so I wouldn't bottom out on the smallest of bumps. Sure, these once were state of the art shocks, and sure there are still those out there riding hard tails, and sure there are still those who don't understand why anyone why anyone would put any suspension on a bike; but I was longing for a smoother experience. After all, just because riding a mountain bike is my main form of meditation doesn't mean that I have to be uncomfortable doing it.

So I set about doing some research. I had no idea what to buy beyond knowing that I wanted LOTS of travel in a light weight XC bike. There is just so much hype, and so much hype about the amount of hype. Most of the magazines aren't any help because they have been focusing on the 29ers or bikes that didn't fit my needs. Plus, it's definitely not like it was in 1999 where there were only a handful of major players to choose from and there wasn't the proliferation of blogs, websites, magazines, forums, etc. Also, currently the majority of the discounters only carry a few brands aimed at the mass market. While they may have a high-end bike or two at Performance, there's not much in the way of choice--with GT being about the best they have to offer. Some shops carry only one brand (e.g. Trek Superstore or Specialized boutique shops). And most of the other LBSs are spread out requiring long distances in the car just to visit and see what they have. So, bottom line--too much subjective information available to get a good idea of what to buy; not enough concentrated physical inventory in the proximity of where I live to get a hands-on experience.

So, I went to Google as my first stop. I entered "Top Rated Mountain Bikes". That didn't help too much, but it did point me to mtbr.com. Once there I found a page with a huge list of bikes that riders had rated. I started off with the criteria that I wanted a bike that had been rated by at least 30 people and that had an overall rating as close to 5.0 as possible. Given a rudimentary understanding of statistics, I recognized that a higher sample size (e.g. the number of people who had rated the bike), the better the confidence interval. In other words, more people rating a bike, the more realistic the rating value would be.

I looked at a few different bikes with lots of reviews, like the SC Blur LT, but I was under-impressed with the bike after reading what people where saying. I kind of stuck to just scanning the "Weakness" area because I figured that is where the real truth would be stated. I checked out a few more "well known" bikes and followed leads from one to another. I can't remember all the bikes I looked at now, but I read about 1000 different reviews.

One bike that I ran across while reading a review for a completely different bike really hit me. It was everything I was looking for: super light, 140mm travel front and rear, super sexy, over 70 reviews and a total rating of 4.92/5.0. The biggest weakness to the bike, according to a very large number of reviewers, was the rider's abilities. I decided to look deeper into this bike; the Ibis Mojo SL.

I searched the web for reviews by pros and magazines. Here's what BIKEmagic had to say about the ride: "We've ridden a lot of bikes, and while most of them are really rather good these days it's been a while since something actually blew us away. But that's exactly what the Mojo did. Whatever you think about the looks or the price, this is a stunning bike to ride. Somehow it manages to feel both light and stout, have both less and more travel than it actually does and combine high-speed stability with low-speed manouevrability." That's a pretty good endorsement. But then I came across another review, this time from one of the legends of MtB.

Here's what Brian Lopes had to say at bikemag.com, the web arm of Bike Magazine: "I'm thrilled to be riding what in my opinion is the best looking and best riding bike on the market. I personally tested numerous bikes and the Ibis Mojo has won hands down as the best all-around machine. Which was the main driver for my decision, shortly followed by the like-ability of the Ibis owners, their future products, heritage and long-term commitment and vision to make the ultimate working bikes in the market. To me it was a perfect fit."

So, the next step was to find one. I came to learn that the bike was available in two models, the Mojo and the Mojo SL. The SL, standing for "Super Lite" was available in three colors: clear, gray and brown. On the web sites, the clear carbon really struck my fancy, but apparently it does so for a lot of people because when I tracked down a dealer in San Diego, they didn't have a clear in my size. The gray just looked too much like primer coat and the brown looked absolutely ugly. Still, I decided to check out the bike in person anyway, even if I would have to wait for a frame to be ordered.

So, I drove to Cal Coast Bicycles in San Diego after work last Wednesday (the 23rd of July) to give the bike a test. They didn't have any Mojo SLs built, but I got to test out the Mojo. The bike felt good. I mean, it felt really good. Alex and Charlie convinced me that for my size, I needed the medium frame even though my old M4 was a large. At first, it was a bit awkward because the smaller size altered the way my body interacted with the bike, but after just a few minutes in the sadle, I felt like the bike and I were one. There wasn't much in the way of a real test of the bike; just jumping curbs and running on some dirt next to the freeway, but the experience was awesome.

I went back to the store, hopping another curb, and just as I rolled into the shop, the rear tire went flat. Nice! I had decided that I was going to get the bike. The question was, wait a week for a clear frame to come in or go with the gray or brown. The gray still looked like primer coat to me, but the brown was actually kind of sexy. It didn't look anything like the brown I saw on the web sites. I debated, brown now or clear in a week...Now won. Of course, "now" isn't "now" when all you have is a frame on a wall and a shop that needed to order some parts for the build kit. So, I made my order, swapping this part for that, getting exactly the bike I wanted. I wasn't terribly concerned with weight, even though I got an SL. I figure the platform pedals (Time Z Control), a Joplin R Seat Post, and Ergon GX2 grips with carbon bar ends. Most everything is from the XTR build kit. I got the Fox RP23 rear and the Float RLC front. I got an XT cassette because the number of XT cassettes I'd go through in a year was costing me serious bucks--I keep bending the 3rd chain ring because I use it for climbing a lot of times. Anyway, the end result, with all the changes and my bear-bell, light mount and HRM holder is 12.8kg (~28.2 lbs.) When it came time to pony up my credit card, I popped the question: I'm a member of the San Diego Mountain Bike Association and as such I am supposed to be entitled to a 10% discount. At first Alex said that he didn't think they could give the discount on these bikes since they were so new and in such high demand. For the amount of upgrades or cash we were talking about here, I figured it was in my interests to pursue it a step further. So, I asked him to ask Charlie (the owner). When he returned he asked me if I had my membership card (which of course I did) and rather than earning just over 6100 airline miles, I earned about 5500 miles. I hoped that there was a sliver of possibility that the bike would be ready by the next day (Thursday) for a ride with the San Diego Mountain Bike Association. Of course, my hopes were dashed because there wasn't time to order the missing build kit parts until the next morning, but on Friday, I got the call to come pick up my new sexy machine.

I must say that the experience at Cal Coast was very good. Of course, in my opinion, when you're laying down about $6K for a bike, the experience should be very good. Alex took the time to make certain that everything was set up correctly, that the shocks were just right, that everything worked, except...as I rolled out of the store it became very evident that no one had actually tested the drive-train, and the rear derailleur was all out of whack. They had it fixed in a jiffy and I tooled around a bit on the street before loading it onto the top of my vehicle. I was giddy. I wanted to ride. I wanted to show it off. I wanted to experience a trail with this new bike under me. It was almost like a sexual desire. But it was late. I didn't have time to ride that night and didn't have anyone to ride with. I needed to be someplace early on Saturday morning. I was chomping at the bit, but I'd need to wait until Sunday.

I'll cover the first ride in the next post.