Sep 23

Mountainbiking the North Shore and Whistler

Alaska07, Friends, Geekstuff, MTB, Music, Travel No Comments »

This update is long overdue, but here it is!

Blue River to Whistler

After leaving Blue River BC I headed to Whistler to meet up with Dave, Jody & Nik to do some more riding. Its pretty much a days drive between Blue River and Whistler but there is plenty to see! Nothing really stood out on the drive other than the scenery and I was tired from being “Last Man Standing” Sunday night. My new Canadian friends harassed me all weekend about not being able to party like they do. I can, I just prefer to be in good riding condition!

I arrived in Whistler around 5 PM and parked in front of the condo.  Then, not even 30 seconds later the gang rolls up with huge smiles on their faces after a great day at the park.  This was going to be a great week!  We all got cleaned up and walked over the Splitz Burgers.  Man, those are delicious.  Everything is super fresh.  We ended up eating here twice during the trip it was that good!  The condo is a funny story in itself.  We all thought it was going to be bigger than it was.  But, hey, the price was right and we had a roof over our heads.

The North Shore

Go Nik!

Go Nik!

The plan Tuesday was to head down to Mt Seymour on the Vancouver North Shore and do some riding.  I also had to head into Vancouver to drop off my rental so it worked out great!  The North Shore is one of the mountainbike mecca’s in North America. The natural and man made features are outstanding!  It was a completely different riding experience than any of us had ever had.  On the way we stopped by the Cove bike shop.  For some reason bike shops up there carry massive inventory in both bikes and accessories.  It was like being in a candy store.  Once we had directions on where go we parked my rental at the bottom and drove the van with all of us up to the top.  It was maybe a 20 minute drive up for an awesome 2-3 hour down.  My helmet cam was on its last legs but I did get some footage.  I wish I had some of the later stuff we got to ride.  Then you’d get to share the whole experience!!! We got some great pictures as well!  Check out the photoalbum to see them all!

Just incredible riding.  I highly recommend anyone going to Whistler to not miss this place.  I think it was just as good if not better than the park.  During the ride I had another SRAM failure.  The Matchmaker that holds my shifter pod on the bars just snapped off.  No damage, no crashing.  Just snapped off.  So, the last third of the ride I got to do single speed style!  Still a good time none the less.  Afterwards we stopped by the Cove Shop again to see if they had replacement parts, and they did.  But they couldn’t cover it under warrantee since my bike was bought in the USA.  Weird policy.  I’ll send SRAM the bill.

Dropped off the rental car at the airport.  The drive there was entertaining as Vancouver has no belief in highways.  I think there is one.  And half of it is on city streets.  Then, we went on down into downtown Vancouver to see what we could see.  Had some great Schawarma!  Wandered around some.  Interesting street performances.  And even walked into the more seedy part of downtown.  Good times.

Whistler

I was really excited about the bike park.  The rest of the gang had already been a few days prior. So, we started out easy on Crank it Up.  Easy is relative. Haha!  The first run down this trail my jumping muscles were tired!  I had never hit so many consecutive jumps in one run in my entire life.  I know there were more than 30 at least.  By the end of the trip this was my favorite trail.  We did some all mountain exploring.  One run down Freight Train I tried to roll a drop I should have dropped and managed to fall/slide down about 16 feet of ladder ramp and dirt.  Kinda shook me up and pretty much finished my day.

Thursday we took a day off and wandered around and did some window shopping.  Everything up there is way more expensive.  But, they have a ton of stuff in stock which just amazed me.  Bought a few presents.  Got a couple of things for me.  Dinner, drinks etc.  Then off to bed for another day in the park on Friday.

Friday it was spectacular out.  I knew Luis and Gracie from JensonUSA were going to be up riding with Candace so I made plans to join them for a bit in the afternoon.  Dave, Jody, Nik and I got to the park earlier today than we did on Wednesday.  Did a few of our favorite runs and then we made our way to some of the tougher stuff.  Dave picked Dirt Merchant.  I don’t know if this was a black or double-black.  I just know some of the stuff was way over my head.  I got about halfway down and caught up with Dave and Jody and said “Hey guys, this is way over my skill level, I’m gonna find a bail out.”  Apparently I wasn’t the only one.  Nik was behind me and took a pretty bad spill.  We got him down to the bottom but he was done for the day.  Nik headed back to the condo to get some rest and I broke off to meet up with Candace, Luis, and Gracie.

Riding with these guys was much more mellow, at the start :-)  We did a few runs, then at the end we met up with Candace and then she broke off to ride with some friends.  We later rendevouzed with Candace and her friend Jeff for one last run down the mountain.  Jeff is a coach from another mountain bike camp.  At one point they decided they were gonna school me and I was between them going down the trail pretty fast.  Jeff saying “Follow me!” and Candace yelling “GET OFF THE BRAKES!  ROLL THROUGH THE CORNER!”  So, I did!  What a blast!  I said farewell to them and waited at the bottom of the lift for Dave and Jody to do one last run.

After we wrapped up the day we went to check on Nik.  He was pretty stiff and it appeared that his neck took a brunt of the impact.  Kept the evening low key.  Saturday morning Nik headed over to the urgent care to make sure it wasn’t serious.  Fortunately it wasn’t, but its not good either.  (2 weeks later he’s still stiff).  Since Nik was down we took the day off and packed up the bikes and gear.  Did some more bike shop pass throughs and watched the UFC fight that night in a local bar.  I had one last thing to accomplish this trip.  I had to have a Caffrey’s.  The finest Irish cream ale ever made.  You can’t get it in the USA.  So, I sought out the Irish pub and Dave and I shared an awesome beer to cap out and awesome trip.

The Journey Home

I’m not going to elaborate on this much other than to say read my post about the travel industry.  Alison picked me up at the airport in her car, cause she used my truck to Monster Truck Dan’s Accord (Its actually pretty damn funny).  Had a great steak at the Turf Club and got home safely.

Sum it up

I’m pretty glad I took the trip even though it was expensive as hell.  But, already I remember how great the trip was rather than how much it cost me in surprise expenses.  And, I got to practice my newly refreshed skills for nearly a whole week.  Thanks for the good trip guys!

Sep 08

Dirt Series Mountain Bike Camp at Blue River

Friends, MTB, Travel 2 Comments »

This past week I attended the Dirt Series Mountain Bike Camp at Blue River up in British Columbia, Canada.  This is the second camp I have attended and it rocked!  The first camp I attended was in Corona California and you can read about the adventure if you like.  The Blue River camp was a specialty camp as it had a really neat extra feature.  A helicopter drop into the alpine.  I’ll write more about that later.  I planned this trip back in May and originally was only going to attend the camp, visit Whistler for a day, then fly home.  As it turned out Dave, Nik and Jody were going to be in Whistler all week.  So I extended!

The Journey Up

I flew into Vancouver on Thursday afternoon and picked up my rental car.  This didn’t go so well.  Online I had rented what was supposed to be a Subaru Outback but they had a Toyota Corolla waiting for me.  Big Problem!!!  I had a huge case which contained my mountainbike and there was no way this was going to fit into the Corolla.  I feel the rental company mislead me and was a little pissed.  The only ‘available’ vehicle they had which could carry my bike was an Explorer.  At three times the rate.  I bartered with them and got them down to two times my rate and settled at that.  Just an additional blow to my budget on top of replacing my front fork.

After I got out of the airport with my car I had to decide what to do with my afternoon.  I figured since it wasn’t too far away I would go check out Vancouver Island and the provincial capital of Victoria.  About 20 minutes from the airport I got to the ferry terminal and the attendant said “That’ll be $60.25.”  I thought I misheard her and asked “$6.25?”  She replied with “No, six zero and 25 cents.”  It turns out it is about $60 each way on the ferry.  I opted for the u-turn and headed back to Vancouver.  Now what?

The rental company gives you these coupons for free attractions.  So I looked through the options and decided to check out the aquarium for the afternoon over in Stanley Park.  Its was raining pretty hard so the park and aquarium weren’t crowded.  Fun diversion.  They had giant catfish, sea lions, otters, crocodiles, and beluga whales to name a few.   Walked around until I was soaked.  Then got lost trying to get out of Stanley Park.  Its a big loop and if you miss a turn off you get to drive the whole loop again.  At least its pretty!

Afterwards I debated staying in Vancouver or heading NE to Blue River.  I opted for the later and drop until I was getting tired.  I stopped in Abbotsford and grabbed a hotel room.  I figured getting someplace outside the city would be cheaper.  I was wrong.  Grabbed some food at a restaurant next door to the hotel.  During casual conversation with the bartender I found out that I was hanging out in the third most likely place to be shot as an innocent bystander within Abbotsford.  As I looked around, I had to agree.  There were a bunch of young wannabe gangsters all hanging around.  I figured I’d get out before I increased my odds.

I got up early and hit the road to Blue River.  The drive through this area is beautiful.  I had been through this region on my trip to Alaska last year.  Its a high desert much like inland California with similarities to Colorado.  I stopped in Kamloops to stretch my legs and check out a few of the bike shops.  Really nice shops!  Really expensive prices!  I learned later that bringing some things in from the USA is expensive with all the middle-men.  Unfortunately it makes them price domestic items at the same levels.  Much more expensive than back home.  I arrived into Blue River mid-afternoon after driving most of the day.  Nice village, nice people, nice views!

Friday night we were on our own.  I took a walk around town and ate at the only restaurant I could find.  When I got back to the room I went to put a sandwich in the fridge and it was magically full of beer!  Turns out my cabin mates had arrived fully prepared for a fun weekend.  I met Terry and Colin to be shortly followed by Paul and Ruben.  Candace had specifically put me in this cabin as she thought I would get along with them the best.  I have to agree, I think I’ve made some life long friends.  :-)

Camp - Day 1

Ruben on the Drops

Ruben on the Drops

Saturday started with a buffet style breakfast and getting signed into the camp.  This camp was going to be different than the last one.  We had three sessions in the morning then a trail ride in the afternoon.  Sunday would be no sessions and primarily focused on a helicopter drop into the alpine.  I had chosen Braking and Descending, High Speed Corning, and Drops.  I figured all three would be appropriate to refresh and improve my skills for the rides ahead.  (Honestly I took High Speed Cornering because its a blast!)  That afternoon we broke into ride groups.  My group was the downhill group.  Composed of Terry, Colin, Ruben, Amy and I with our instructors being Geoff Gulevich and Lorraine Blancher.

Quick note for those who don’t know our instructors.  Lorraine is an phenomenal rider.  Very skilled, great coach, and she won the Women’s division at Crank Works in Whistler the prior week. (Congrats Lorraine!!!)  Geoff is a very talented young man.  I say young man because he’s 21 and does stuff that is just incredible.  At the same time he’s super cool, very humble, and a blast to hang out with.

The Camel Toe Gang

The Camel Toe Gang

Now back to the ride.  The downhill ride was the most difficult trail I have ever ridden/walked/slid down in my life.  It was wet, rooty, STEEP and very difficult.  One the way up the hill I was actually getting a little sick after hearing Geoff and Lorraine say how hard and step this trail is.  I thought about chickening out but I knew that Terry and Colin wouldn’t allow it and I’d get endless crap because Amy did it and I didn’t.  So, I was in.  I’m not even sure I can describe the trail other than how I already have.  So, I’ll let you enjoy the helmet cam footage from Terry and I.  (It doesn’t not do a good job of showing how steep it really was.)

Camp - Day 2

Alpine Rider

Alpine Rider

Day 2 was all about the helicopter drop.  We got our bikes up to the sport shop by 8 AM so they could load them into the net and fly them up to the alpine ahead of us.  Then every 15 minutes or so they would take 3-4 people up to the top and come back for more.  I was pretty excited about this part of the trip.  I don’t know anyone who has done this before other than the people that were up there with me.  And riding in the alpine is a free ride heaven.  Just about every level of challenge you can think of and then some.  Our group was pretty much the same as it was the day before.  Ruben was swapped out for Jonathen but the rest of us were still together.  Kevin Wood was our guide/instructor for the day.  We had about four hours to ride where ever we wanted and try whatever we liked within our skill limit.

Unfortunately my helmet cam started to die within the first hour of the trip so I didn’t get as much footage as I would have liked.  I missed some hilarious crashes.  And some georgeos riding.  The last section of the ride was some really awesome singletrack which dumped us onto a fire road which we bombed down hitting jumps along the way.  Here is a sampling of the pictures.

You can see the rest of the pictures at my Flickr gallery

Now you can enjoy the little helmet cam footage I did get.

I can’t even express how much I enjoyed this trip.  I made some great friends, had some great rides, and definitely took my riding skills up the next level. If any of you have the opportunity to attend a Dirt Series class do so.  You will not regret it.   Check back soon for my North Shore and Whistler write ups!

Aug 15

Blown Lyrik (front fork) and leaving for Whistler in 2 weeks

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Last weekend riding at Mammoth my Rock Shox Lyric fork blew out.  Literally hemorriaging oil out the top just under the compression damping setting.  I didn’t think much of it at the time other than to call the shop that day to get on their schedule.  Last night, I drop by the shop to get an update and Morgan gives me this “You’re not gonna be happy look.” and proceeds to tell me that SRAM doesn’t have any replacement parts nor a replacement fork for me for weeks.  Yes, I am indeed not happy.

A little history on this fork.  I bought the bike at the end of March for my birthday.  While they were going over the bike they notice that one of the mounts for the front brake is stripped out.   Two options were provided; 1. They chase the threads and put a longer bolt in, 2. They put a Fox Talas on the bike.  I being the nice guy chose option 1 as it was easier for the shop.   Strike One!

A couple of days after I bought the bike I dropped by the shop to dial in my suspension.  Its a lot easier to do this with someone else than by yourself.  And, the shop offers this as part of a new purchase.  At this point we discover that the rebound damping is shot.   I have to assume that it was like that from the factory.  Strike Two!

Now with the compression damping hemoriaging oil and offering no damping we’re at Strike Three!  Its basically unridable in its current state.  And apparently unfixable as the bike industry is between year models.  I’m not sure why they don’t have inventory to fix last years model.  I can understand why they don’t have any 08 inventory to give me a new fork.  So we’re at an impasse.

Bicycle Warehouse is doing an outstanding job of trying to find a solution.  I spoke with SRAM support this morning and they said “We’ll call the shop, maybe we can figure out some miracle.”  I have a possible Plan B worked out but I’m not pleased about having to do it as it will cost me more money out of my pocket.  I’m also unhappy as I have been riding 2-4 times a week and I’d like to keep that up as I’m now down to 171 lbs from 195 lbs back in March.  And, I’d like to be in the best shape I can be for this trip to BC Canada.

Oh, and my BMW is  out of commision at the moment as well.  So I somehow managed to break all my toys at once.  Arg!

Update - 8/15/08 2:20PM

Spoke to the shop.  SRAM can’t get my fork fixed before the trip.  They (the shop) are going to give me a deal on a Fox Talas and we’ll fix the Lyrik when the parts come in then I’ll ebay it.  Very dissappointed in SRAM’s inability to support their top of the line equipment.

Update 2 - 8/28/08 9:15AM

Just a final update on this issue.  I had to buy another fork because SRAM/Rock Shox couldn’t supply the parts to fix it or another fork.  Bicycle Warehouse did an outstanding job of supporting me.  They gave me a good deal on a Fox Talas 36 and went out of their way to buy the replacement parts for the Lyrik (At no cost to me) so I could Ebay it and recover some of my costs.  Like I said. Seriously dissappointed with SRAM and Rock Shox.  It will be a long time before I buy their products (if ever).

Aug 12

Mountain Biking Mammoth

MTB 1 Comment »

Last weekend Dave, Scott, Kris, Nic and I hit Mammoth Mountain for some riding.  Got some great pics, found out where the hot springs are, ate some awesome pizza, good beer, camped, rode, and got some good helmet cam footage.  I’m not feeling too wordy so take a look at my photo album and the rough cut teaser of the video. (I’ll have a fine cut done later this week)

Aug 07

About sums it up!

Funny, MTB 1 Comment »

Cyanide and Happiness, a daily webcomic
Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Jul 08

Kernville and the Cannell Plunge

Family, Friends, MTB, Travel No Comments »

For the 4th of July weekend Dan, NJ and I went up to Kernville to camp with the family.  There are a bunch of things do up there.  Fish, hike, mountain bike, tube, raft, sit, drink beer, etc…  Since there was a descent sized group of us I decided to bring the toyhauler (the camper trailer) so we’d have an extra bathroom and shower for everyone.  My parents bought one after seeing mine.  Fortunately for them its been awesome.  For me, I liked the idea but since I’ve had issues with it I’m not so in love with it anymore.  More on that later.  Dan, NJ and I loaded everything up Thursday afternoon and drove up to Kernville.  It took 6.5 hours to get up there.  Longer than I wanted or estimated but we arrived just before dark.  We got to see my Mom and Ted and have a nice relaxed evening. :-)

Cannell Plunge

Jason on Cannell PlungeFriday morning I walked around Kernville looking to see if I could find some fellow riders who were planning a ride that day.  Walking out the front door of Mountain River Adventures I came across Ryan, Seth and Paige looking like they were getting ready for a ride.  As they say, if you don’t ask the answer is ‘no’ so I approached them and asked if they were going for a ride, and if I could join them.  It turned out, they were trying to figure out logistics on how to get to the top of Sherman Pass with three bikes and two cars that could only carry two bikes each.  I said “I have a truck! If you can give me a ride to it after the ride I can put everyone in the truck.”  And a deal was struck.  I rushed back to the campsite to get my bike and gear.

On the way up to the top of the pass I got to know the gang a bit better.  Seth and Paige were out on vacation from Colorado visiting their daughter in San Diego.  And Ryan is from Lancaster.  It turns out Ryan is an adventure monster.  For fun the guy rides a bicycle from Lancaster to Santa Monica.  At this point I started to think “Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into.”  Paige fortunately informed me that her and Seth were not quite so extreme.

Seth Jason Ryan PaigeOur ride started at the summit of Sherman Pass at 9200 feet.  The air up that high is pretty thin and I was feeling it on the climbs.  The first 18 miles or so was a bunch of up and down.  Through the forest, meadows and a little bit of fire road.  Its a generally well maintained trail but sandy, kind of like this kitty litter sand.  Going down, not much of a problem.  Its a little squirrely but you get used to it.  But on the flats and climbs it was pretty tiring.  Not all of the trail is like this, but there was a fair amount of it.  We only ran into three other people on the trail.  It was a small group of three guys attempting the same ride we were on.  I didn’t have good hopes for them as one was without a helmet, and another was saying he was toast, just an eighth of the way into the ride.  Not good!

Along the ride we got to see some really neat stuff.  You’ll have to take a look at the pictures to get an idea of it all.  Highlights (and lowlights) were the Cow Poop Swamp, Big Climbing Rock, Lord Seth’s Throne, Sandrock Pile and the Plunge itself of course!  The top part of the ride is in the woods and meadows.  Very green and lush.  Stream crossings every once and a while along with some rocky technical sections.

FireOnce we hit the top of the Cannell Plunge we do a 7000 foot descent in 9 miles.  At two points there are climbs which are very technical and steep.  The second climb I couldn’t even ride it was so steep.  This is what Ryan called “Up-Plunging”  I preferred the term “Suck.”  It is a pretty awesome ride if you are in great shape and like a challenge.  The riding varies significantly and you get to apply your skills and fitness level to the test.   We finished off the day with a BBQ and watching the fire come down the mountain on the southside of the lake.

If you’re in the area, go for the ride.  I recommend taking munchies and plenty of water.  And be physically prepared.


cannell21

For more pictures of the ride: Cannell Trail Photo Album

Tubing and Rafting the Kern River

On Saturday we did some tubing and rafting.  From my prior experience at the Kern River I discovered that tubing and I don’t get along.  Seriously, this is one of the most idiotic things a person can do.  You sit in a tube, which has no directional control other than your futile paddling.  Most people wear no life jacket (myself included) nor a helmet.  Rafting the KernYou ‘flow’ down a rapid moving river over rocks and logs.  And hope you don’t get tossed.  Everytime I’ve done this, I’ve been tossed.  This time I was cruising down the river trying to avoid the first eddie and I ended up right in it.  There I was, stuck, and trying to figure out how to get unstuck.  I paddle some, try to bounce, and finally I get dislodged and tossed over a rock off of the tube.  Now, I’m being pulled downstream rapidly over rocks and branches trying to figure out how to get back onto the tube before I drown.  At some point, I thought it would be a good idea to try to stop myself with my feet on the rocks.  Bad idea.  I ended up smashing my left big and second toes.  Finally I got to the calmer area with Ted and Danny there and I said “This is just f%$#ing retarded” and stormed out of the river.  I had thought I broke my toe but it just turned out to be jammed badly and the nails were torn off their beds.

Rafting however went much better!  I had be kayaking on the Kern before and enjoyed it alot.  Even though I had be tossed on that trip too.  But, you at least have a paddle and some far fetched notion you are in control. (HAHA!)  This time, I decided to do the raft with the rest of the gang.  Six people + the guide can ride in the raft.  We had eight, so Carmen and Jerry took the inflatable kayak (IK) while the rest of us piled into the raft.  The most important thing they say to do is keep your hand on the T-handle on the paddle.  Apparently having one of those swing around can be very bad and give you summer teeth. (Summer in your mouth, summer in the raft, summer in the water).

They start you out by teaching you how to work together, for about 60 seconds.  Then they just go for it.  For the most part, if you do what he says, and do it together you’re good to go.  Paddle forward three means everyone paddle forward three times.  Paddle back four means paddle backwards four times.  Or, if they just say paddle forward you keep paddling until he says stop.  Along with following the front left persons pace, and some other tips you’re pretty much ready to go down the river.  Until you hit the first rapids.

The first rapids was an entertaining experience.  Jerry and Carmen were ahead of us in the IK.  The guide yelled to them “Follow the other kayak in front of you down!”  The look on Jerry’s face was priceless.  It was the look of “Are you f$%#ing kidding me?!”  They did as told and bounced through the first rapids and pretyt much aced it.  Then, it was our turn… Dan was front left, I was front right.  Behind us were the two boys, Jimmy and NJ.  Then Rob and Norma were in the back.  The first rapids we dipped hard forward and it basically turned into Dan and I paddling with screaming kids on our back and everyone all over the place.  We probably got spun around two to three times as we were pretty much flailing all over the place.  The guide is yelling “Paddle forward!!!! Paddle backward!!!!” Pretty hilarious actually.  After that, it was much easier.  There were a few more rapids but pretty mellow compaired to the first one.  We mastered the “splash your neighbor” skills as well as paddling in unison.

Giant Sequoias

Carmen Beatric Jerry and SequioaRob and Jimmy with rootsOn Sunday we took a short road trip up to see the giant sequoias.  I can’t even explain their magnificence and just encourage you to take a look at the photo album.

You can find more pictures of the forest in the Photo Album

As I mentioned earlier I had brought my trailer.  I wanted to bring it because it has a real bed, a shower, power, a fridge, and some other nice things.  Unfortunately everytime I’ve taken this trailer out I’ve had problems with it.  I’ve reached a point that I just plain done with it.  I bought it for two reasons.  1. Dirt biking in the desert and 2. Alison.  Well, I don’t have dirt bikes anymore and I don’t have Alison.  I can’t see any reason to continue to drop money into it anymore.  This last weekend both the generator failed to work and the fridge died.  These are things that have happened before and cost me a fair sized chunk of money.  Currently its in the shop and its already cost me $350 just to see what’s wrong with.  That’s not even including the cost it will be to fix it.  Like I said, done.  I’m going to get it working and get it sold.

Not to end on a negative note.  I had a good weekend even if I was a little baked from the sun.  At some point Sunday afternoon I decided I was just done with 95 degrees plus temperatures, dust, and the relentless Sun.  With smile and fond farewells we packed up and hit the road to go home.  It only took us five hours to get back home opposed to the six plus it took to get up.  I attribute it to driving ‘down’ the map.

Good weekend, fun adventures, and loving family members.  Love you guys!

Photo Albums:

Mountain Biking Cannell Trail
Giant Sequoias
Danny’s Photos (He has alot)

Jul 01

Noble Canyon Rescue Ride

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This past Sunday Dave, Scott & I met up to take a ride through Noble Canyon located up by Laguna Mountain outside of San Diego.  I have not riden Noble in at least 10 years.  Back then, it was a on a hard tail mountain bike with 1.5″ of travel.  I was also 10 years younger!  Since we were starting out at 3 PM we dropped off Scott’s truck down in Pine Valley and drove mine up to the meadows right off Sunrise Highway.  The first part of the ride takes you through Big Laguna trail which I’m very familiar with after the last two camping trips.  You start out peddling up a decaying paved road and then get to ride down Los Gatos Ravine.  Very fun downhill, and this late in the day there was nobody out there.

Scott Dave & IIt is getting dusty and dry up there.  Most of the lake is now gone, and the grass is turning green.  But there are plenty of cows to be found!  After taking the east side of the Big Laguna trail we met up with the beginning of the Noble Canyon trail.  I have to admit, I’m not completely happy with my current fitness level, but I’m a hell of a lot better than I was two months ago.  Scott says he only gets to ride once a week, but he’s in awesome shape.  And Dave must have a turbo system installed or something.  The trail is in way better shape than I remembered so it was a total blast.  Once getting done with the climbs the three of us stopped and put on our pads.  Safety is generally a good idea up here. Which, we’re going to find out about 15 minutes after we donned our gear.

The top of Noble is a fast section that crosses back and forth over an access road.  Total blast.  Towards the end of this section we hit some switch backs and then cross over the road one last time dropping into the trees.  This part of the trail I remember being a total rock garden and very hectic.  Not so much anymore.  As we dropped into the tree area I heard Dave in front of us yelling “WHOA WHOA WHOA!!!”  Since that usually indicates something isn’t right, we slowed down.  As we came around the corner we saw Dave with two people, one of them a young woman on the ground holding her leg up.  She had crashed further down the trail and her front chainring had gashed her leg open.  I personally think that was an understatement.

Our new friends were Cong and Amanda.  They had wrapped her ankle up in a hankerchef to cover it and slow down the bleeding.  Scott and I both had first aid supplies on us.  I always carry a pressure dressing with me, a habit I carried over from the Army.  We started to help unwrap her ankle and it became apparent this was a pretty bad gash.  It was about six inches from just above her ankle bone down to her foot.  And bone and tendon were fully exposed.  My first reaction was “I better just talk to her and keep her distracted.”  Scott and Cong applied some gause, and I showed them how to use the pressure dressing while making small talk with Amanda to keep her mind off of what was happening.  Amanda said “We don’t have any money or anything to give you guys.” I replied with “Bah! I hope someone would stop and help me.  If you feel obligated, heal up and go for a ride with us and we can have beers after!”

After getting her ready to move Dave and I headed back out to the road to get some help while Scott and Cong worked together to get her out to the road.  Dave and I got up to the road, and realized it was late and very unlikely anyone was going to be coming through here.  We yelled back down to the crew and told them we were going to head to the highway to get some help and they should wait where the trail crosses the road.  That little road has a huge hill that is no fun to ride up.  It was like climbing the hill that heads north out of Qualcomm Stadium.  Once out on Sunrise we waited for a while for anyone to come by.  I heard some voices back on the trailhead so I shot over there to see if it was someone who had a car nearby.  It turned out to be Tim and two others we ran into when we were getting ready to ride.  Their car was back with ours.  Meanwhile, Dave was trying to flag people down and people just drove on by.  Finally a man with his whole family in their minivan stopped to help.  (Sad state that people will just drive on by someone who is obviously looking for help).  Since he had his family we asked if he could go down to the volunteer fire department and let them know about the situation.  Then, 30 seconds after he pulled away a CalFire truck came by and we flagged him down.

We went the Calfire truck off to help Amanda, then realized after he pulled away we should have told him to have Scott start riding out towards us.  DOH!  So, we pedaled in to find Scott.  Just after we came down the huge ass hill we run into Scott. Haha!  The truck with Amanda and Cong caught up with us here.  The fireman said he could take her out to the road but we’d have to find transport from there.  Scott Dave and I made our way out to Sunrise Highway (climbing the huge ass hill again!) to find Amanda now had about 15 guys all there to take care of her.  They splinted her up, made sure she was ok, and gave her and Cong a ride to my truck.

Big Laguna LakeThe three of us hopped back on our bike and cut back through Big Laguna Trail to get to the truck ASAP.  At some point the sun was in my eyes so I was keeping my head down to keep from going blind.  I thought I was cruising along at the same pace, but after we got out of the sun Dave and Scott were waaaaay ahead of me.  After catching back up with them (and they riding a little slower) all of a sudden Dave screams, throws his legs up and bails off the bike.  Then, I hear then see the rattlesnake.  All I could think was “Oh shit, he got bit!”  Fortunately, it turns out Dave is just deathly terrified of rattlesnakes, and he wanted to warn us with the utmost fanfare.  I was very relieved to find out he just ran it over and he wasn’t hurt.  I don’t know if the snake was hurt, I hope not, but I wasn’t going to go up and ask him.

We made it back to the truck to no Amanda and Cong.  Fortunately they had found a ride back to their car and left us a note.  “Hey guys, we got a ride.  Please call us.  And forget the beers, you guys deserve a whole keg!”  Knowing they had made it back we packed up and headed on down to the Liar’s Club in Alpine for delicious hamburgers and beer.  The first thing we saw walking in the door was the New Belgium beach cruiser.  Which, I must now have one.  The burgers and beer were great!  Satisfied, we made our way home pleased with our ride and our good deed for the day!

New Belgium CruiserCruiser

Update!

Cong called me last night and let me know Amanda was heading into surgery.  Due to the exposed bone and a lacerated tendon they needed to do a deep cleaning and stitch things back up.  Should be a minor surgery, but she’ll be off the bike for a while.

May 16

Bike to Work Day!

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Well, I guess I should have said something yesterday.  But, today is Bike to Work day.  So, I biked to work!  Hope you did too!  I went a little out of the way to check out one of the sponsored checkpoints at the Institute of Art off Mission Center.  Pretty nice, I was the only guy on a mountain bike, and a long travel mountain bike so the faculty played around with it some.  Nice stop, they had fruit, juice, and baby Clif bars!

Have a good day!

Apr 29

Dirt Series Mountain Bike Camp

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Over the weekend Alison and I attended the Dirt Series Mountain Bike Camp in Corona CA hosted by JensonUSA and Rocky Mountain Bicycles. The camp is a super skills clinic broken into two days, then further broken down into classes and rides. They limit the number of registrations so there is a healthy balance between the instructors and students. I signed up for the class for a couple of reasons; I’ve had some bad injuries that make me gun shy, I haven’t seriously ridden in five years, and mostly I want to be a better rider! Alison signed up for the class with me to become a better rider herself (She’s one of the best new riders I’ve ever seen. I probably wouldn’t have gone if I hadn’t paid for this a few months ago given current circumstances.

Day 1 - Saturday

We got up early on Saturday and headed up to the Jenson USA Corona store. I had checked the weather and it said it was going to be high 90s for the day. That’s fricken hot! We arrived at the store early and wandered around a little bit. Around 8:30 things started to get in order and we signed our wavers and met a few of the other riders. They announced there was demo equipment available in the back corner. Things like Raceface pads, Crank Brothers pedals, and the coveted Crank Brothers Joplin! I was standing there looking at the seatpost sitting benignly next to the pile and asked Cassandra ‘Is that a demo?’ And she said ‘Why yes it is.’ SCORE! Erik, who we had just been talking to seconds earlier exclaimed ‘GAH! I wanted that!’ (He got to check it out on Sunday) Within five minutes I had the new fancy gadget mounted on my bike and I was ready to go.

Alison practicing rolloffsJust before departure Candace introduced our coaches. With us we had Penny Cameron, Cassandra Boon, Lorraine Blancher, Tera Card, Andreas ‘Dre’ Hestler & Wade Simmons. I apparently have been living under the mountain biking rock as I had never heard of anyone. (More on this later) Candace then got us all motivated to head out to the training site in Fontana. I think the only complaint I had about the camp was the distance between the shop and the class/riding areas. Oh, and the heat. :-) The training area was a nice grassy park allowing for soft cushy crashing should things go wrong. The morning consisted of four classes. The initial warm up class getting people comfortable on their bikes and emphasizing Bike Body Seperation. Then there were three classes with smaller groups. Mine were; Downhill Braking and Rolloffs, Wheel Lifts & Jumping & Straight Line Riding. (I feel like I’ve forgotten a class, oh well)

Erika showing braking skillsThe first warm up session was fun. It got everyone into the groove and people comfortable with their bikes in the environment. They emphasized that you are in control of your bike and how good bike body separation gives you more control. (I’m not going to give super details, if you’re interested I highly encourage signing up for one of their courses) Following that we broke into our first smaller groups. The first class my group had was Downhill Braking and Rolloffs. Penny and Dre were our instructors. We were coached on how to control our bikes on downhills and small drop offs. As well as the importance of our brakes and proper brake control. The biggest pearl of wisdom from this class for me was how to get off your bike on a steep descent without become an tangled mess and tumbling down the hill with your bike. I still need to practice that more but its much better than my usual downhill dismount technique typically composed of falling over and my bike beating the crap out of me. Its funny how you can ride for 15+ years and not learn certain things.

Jason JumpingThe next sessions was wheel lifts and jumps. This was a bunch of fun! Lorraine (our instructor) asked ‘Who here can do a wheel lift?’ I raised my hand, no one else did so I got called out. So, I did what I considered a wheel lift and she said ‘No, that’s a manual, we’ll learn that next.’ Haha, ok. So we learned the difference between simple wheel lifts, manuals, and how to lift our rear wheel. On platforms, that is a challenge. Following this we got to do manuals off of the boxes to practice. I think riding up the 2×6″ plank was harder than dropping off the box. But, as long as you kept looking ahead it was all good! Growing up riding BMX bikes jumping was something programmed into my head from when I was a child. Everything that I could jump, I did. So I was a natural at it. Lorraine asked me to be the demo jumper at the end of the session to show people what it looks like when done correctly. (I know, self promotion, but I am a good jumper when I don’t crash) So far, the day has been awesome!

During our jumping session I was watching what was going on over at the straight line riding course. This is a skill I haven’t worked on much and was a little nervous about. And, it was our next session. Apparently I wasn’t the only one nervous which made me feel a bit better. As it turns out, if you keep your head up and eyes forward, its not as tough as it looks. I think its more of a mental state. Teeter TotterWe rode planks, then elevated planks, then planks with drops and finally, the teeter-totter plank. I had never ridden one of these, and somehow got to be the first in the group to go over it. Very weird feeling. You’re going up, then you’re going down really fast. Candace coached us on how to manage that. The subsequent runs were far more controlled and way more fun. Then, she made the big teeter-totter which was twice as high off the ground. What was the difference? Nothing really, a bit steeper. Same rules apply, keep your head up and eyes forward and control the rate of the drop using the techniques she showed us. Once again, we were shown some bail out techniques. One of the reasons I would get off and walk some obstacles is because I did not have good bail out skills, nor knew how to develop them. This was my second pearl of wisdom for the day. Knowing and practicing these skills are invaluable. Having this knowledge in your head leads to greater confidence on gnarly terrain.

We broke for a short lunch after these sessions having some tasty food from Qdoba Mexican Grill. After swapping the pedals from the platforms to the clipless we did some socializing and met a few other people who live pretty close to us in San Diego. During lunch they showed us the class options we could sign up for the following day. Basically, you could choose two classes and focus on the skills you wanted to improve on the most. The plan for the afternoon was to break into different groups based on what you wanted to work on. I had signed up for improving my downhill skills. With lunch over, the bikes prepped we headed out.

Saturday's GroupThe afternoon groups were smaller. I think there were just five of us. Tera was our torture master for the ride. :-) She made us tow her up the hills, it was brutal! (Ok, she didn’t, but she’s a prankster so I was trying to perpetuate this lie to harass her) Tera is a spectacular coach. She managed the group very well (As ‘diverse’ as we were) I had decided when I signed up for this course I wasn’t going to chicken out of things. That’s not to say I would do something stupid. But, I would take what I learned, apply it, and improve myself. I feel the biggest improvements I had were during this short ride. We rode some difficult terrain, nothing world class, but difficult for someone just getting back into the sport like myself. I really felt the gained confidence and improvements in my riding having some of the additional knowledge and skills from the prior courses. Most if it, was in my head somewhere, it just needed to be brought back forward and applied.

Tera Julia Erik Luis Duc Air Tera

After we all finished our rides we headed back to the shop for dinner and some bike workshops. I signed up for a bike fit by Wade Simmons (Again, I’m clueless about this guy at this point) and sat in on a suspension clinic by Luis. Alison took the tire changing class (Now she can change my tires!) It turned out, my bike was pretty well setup for me as is. My bars are a bit higher up than Wade would suggest, but otherwise he said I was good to go. Off to sign up for the Sunday classes! I already knew I wanted to do High Speed Cornering but I wasn’t sure what other class I wanted to do. Tera was there taking sign ups and said “Oh, you didn’t get to do the riding over obstacles, you should totally sign up for that!” I figured, sure, what the hell! With that out of the way we had a couple tasty adult beverages, socialized some more, and went off to the hotel for the night. The hotel was marginal. The bed was eh, and the shower had two temperatures. Lava and Magma. After a hot day a super hot shower is not preferred.

Day 2 - Sunday

Alison and I got up early and got breakfast at IHOP. Better for you than a Clif Bar and a Dr Pepper (I still had my Dr Pepper, not much of a coffee drinker). We rolled over to the shop around 8:15 and made sure we were all set to go. We got Lise’s bike loaded up, we had transported her bike on Saturday too. While getting ready to load her bike she had bought a brand new one!!! Congrats! A new Rocky Mountain bike was getting prepped to be sent back to her home in Michigan. Driving to Aliso/Woods was waaaay longer than I expected. We left the shop and arrived at the class location about an hour after we left. Alison wasn’t feeling too well. She had been sick the whole week prior so she did the smart thing and took the day off. I don’t blame her, it was fricken hot. And Sunday was hotter than Saturday was. I wussed out and took the shuttle up. I think the riding group had left already by the time we got to the site anyways.

The Riding Over Obstacles class was actually something I was already generally proficient at. As a matter of fact Candace and Tera gave me a hard time about it. But, I told them I was there because ‘this is where all the pretty women are!’ Which, ensued another round of harassment. I didn’t mind though, it was nice to hone some skills especially on the new bike. (And, I did get to hang out with the pretty women rather than the mob of sweating guys following Wade around)

Vroom!High Speed Cornering! Wow! What a fricken blast!!! This is one of those things that most people won’t commit to doing because well, its really easy to crash while you’re doing it. Wade and Dre were our instructors (Again, I’m still totally clueless about these guys). They set up some corners using the rope and cones and then demonstrated. Holy crap those guys are good. Then, they demonstrated the turn like you were racing and they both raced through the turn together. Yeah, I’m not worthy, haha! Erik and I were in this class together. After we had a few solo runs at the high speed chicane Dre and Wade told us to pair up with someone and choose alternate lines to see how it feels. We had done our afternoon ride together yesterday and found were pretty compatible. Man, this was probably the most fun I had all weekend. I couldn’t stop smiling. Erik is a good rider, very strong and I had a hard time keeping up with him or not getting passed by him. The next step in the high speed cornering was handling tight turns while coming at them with speed. Wade called it a ‘cutty’. Basically, you come into the turn and use your rear brake and your body to slide the bike around to align for the turn. Again, a total blast! (See picture above)

We broke for lunch and the prize give away. The sponsors for this event are great. There was a prize for everyone. Fox, Sugoi, Dakine, Luna, Kicking Horse Coffee, Brave Soldier, Giro, & Addidas all had stuff for them to give away. The full list of sponsers is on their site. I plan to write a personal letter to each of these sponsors thanking them for supporting the Dirt Series, and encourage them to continue to do so. I can’t express how awesome it was that Rocky Mountain and Jenson USA made this event possible. Thank you!

Smiling WadeAfter lunch we split up into ride groups. My ride leader was Wade with Kurt from Rocky Mountain as our sweep. Riding with Wade was incredible. Well, as much riding with Wade as I could do. He’s just awesome to watch flow through the terrain. If I didn’t know better I’d say that Rocky Mountain added some magical dust to his bike or something.  We rode up the road from Canyon View Park to the top of Cholla.  From there we rode down Lynx.  I have probably doubled my downhill speed using some of the techniques from the two days.  I wouldn’t say I’m blazing fast, but I’m definitely not a total slowpoke now either.  At the bottom of Lynx we climbed back up Chollo.  At this time, I’m wishing I had put my clipless back on the bike.  I made it all the way up with only one spot I had to get off.  There was a 12″ or so lip I just didn’t have enough momentum to make it over.  Awesome trail though!  We headed over to Meadows trail from here passing through some residential areas.  When we got to the trailhead Wade lead out, Kurt followed, and I was right behind them…for a little while anyway.  I didn’t know the trail, and with all the greenery so high it was hard to see where the next turn was.  Eventually the lost me, but the time I got to ride behind them was great!  Meadows dropped us off not too far from the vehicles so we pedaled on over finishing off our ride.

The post ride activities were great.  I’ll refrain from posting any incriminating evidence but lets just say much hilarity ensued.  After an hour or so of socializing with the gang we all had to head our own ways.  Alison and I had dinner with Erik at In and Out (My favorite post ride eatery).

Now, back to me being clueless about our instructors.  Every coach has an awesome and impressive resume.  They are all wonderful people and very talented.  I personally had no idea I was riding with legends.  I have been out of the sport for a few years.  The legends I grew up with like Ned Overend, Tinker, Missy Giove, etc.. are out there but I have no idea where.  Sunday night, Alison and I were flipping through some magazines a local shop had given us and we started reading an article in Decline and there was Wade and Dre!!!  I told a new mtb friend of mine about the class and said who our instructors were and his response was “You rode with Wade f%#&ing Simmons!!!???  And Dre Hestler?!?!?”  Honestly, everyone who coached is now a legend to me.  Thank you all for putting on such an amazing class!  Hopefully see you guys in Blue River!

Note: If you want to improve your riding skills, I highly recommend this course.  I’m already working on getting signed up for a second one later this year.

Apr 24

Unemployed - Day 12

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Today, I slept in!!!! Well, until someone called at 7:30. Gah! It was a recruiter calling about another position which resulted in an interview scheduled for 9 AM Friday. Today, I had another two interviews. The first one was great! I’m actually really excited about it. It is a contract but the timing would work out great as it would be wrapping up right around when I’m looking to take off three weeks. The second interview was a phone interview and it had to be the weirdest interview I’ve had in a long time. I was being asked questions that seem to be from a pre-defined script that the interviewer may or may not know the answers themselves. It was very awkward.

Before all of that I did get to eat lunch with Tim and Chris. Tim has landed himself a contract gig that starts up next week. Sounds like a neat company. They do some stuff with video for the military, and they make a bat-gun. It sounds like a pneumatic gun that fires a grappling hook. I want to see if he can get us one. I don’t know what I’d use it for, but it sounds fun!

Post interviews was Dart Night! Mellow night, had fun. The games are getting closer now instead of one person completely stomping everyone. Makes it far more interesting. But then, winning isn’t the reason we do it. Its an excuse to hang out and spend time together.

As a follow on to the mountain biking death ride into the abyss. I’m worked. Pretty sore but its a good sore.

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