So No Mas

What with Northstar, work and a bit of much needed R&R it's been a good 3 weeks since I last rode cross country. Might not sound like much, but bike fitness is measured in dog years. A couple of weeks out of the granny gear can make a big difference to bike strength. This, I found out in style, at So No Mas this Sunday. Organised by Bike Monkey, the race is a 35 miles (or 50k depending on what side your bread's buttered) romp around Lake Sonoma. 35 miles is a fair old slog. Times it by 8000 feet of climbing and you wanna be in tip top shape to even fill out the registration form. But I was up for it. As was Rosson (riding singlespeed!?!) and Spangles. I spent the whole week leading up to it knocking back electrolytes and looking forward to a full day's shredding in the sun.

Come Sunday, we got up at ridiculous o'clock and drove to the race meet. To quote Spangles, "bike monkey? more like brass monkey!" Yep, it was cold and foggy. Like Howell a few weeks before, the fog began to burn away as we took shape for the mass start. The race website boasted the race was "35 miles of get tough." This was bolstered by the pre-race briefing. The course was to be hilly, steep and unpleasant. Sipping coffee and eating free oatmeal, it was hard to put any tangible meaning to this. Skip ahead a few hours and the Bike Monkey's solemn warnings were echoing around my frazzled head.

We started, en mass, at 8:00am. Contenders were due to finish around the 3.5 hour mark. I reckoned on a solid 5 hour finish time. That, I'd be pleased with. The first couple of miles was a road climb to the trail head. I felt pretty good. Bike felt solid. A mile or so into the dirt however and things weren't right. My heart rate was jacked a good 10bpm over the norm and I was pretty sure I was about to spray my bars and Garmin with oatmeal. Everything felt like a much bigger effort that it should have. Shades of the Tamarancho race, except I had over 30 miles to go. After 8 miles or so, things settled down. My heart rate dropped below the red line and breakfast decided not to hit eject.

For the next 3 or 4 miles I felt pretty strong. I hit a few of the steeper climbs that had others bike hiking - no problem. The descents were also fine. A couple of spills over ruts but nothing major. But it wasn't to be sustained. Sometime around mile 12 my body started to suffer. The familiar stabbing cramp pain took hold of my quads and my energy levels kept hitting zero. The climbs were brutal. Frequent, steep and soul sapping. My legs were getting no chance to recover on the flat or downhill reprieves. It didn't take long before I resorted to frequent rest stops to either try and settle my squirming thighs, neck more sugary goop or just recover mentally before the next assault. The scenery was epic. Quartz lake far below and beautiful blue sky. The singletrack too was fantastic. But I couldn't appreciate it. Each fleeting grasp of flow was met with an immediate series of punishing, anaerobic climbs.

My mind was willing, but my body wasn't. Me and a few other poor souls gradually spent more and more time out of the saddle pushing, than spinning. On more than one occasion I looked down at the granny convinced I was grinding the big ring. No such luck. Each gear shift down made it even more remarkable that Rosson was somewhere far ahead with just the one cog! By the time I hit the late twenties, I was totally done. Each rest longer than the last, each spurt of cranking less than before. Finally, I hit the home stretch. Crossing the finish line I was glad it was over. A hollow victory and, pushing the 6 hour mark, hardly a convincing performance. Spangles did a great job having finished an hour before. Rosson got somewhere around 4:30. Sterling work!

So, I'm not sure what went wrong. Too much food in the morning? not enough the day before?.... Not enough rest? Too long out of the saddle? Probably. Who knows. I'm in two minds about doing the race again next year. Yes, they said it'd be tough. That's the apeal. But it has to be rewarding too. So No Mas left a bitter taste and a sense of set back - especially after Howell where I felt pretty strong. Still, we have Annadel in 2 weeks. A chance to get back some pride. Until then, I'm living like a vicar and hitting some steep dirt to get set.

Garmin info HERE. I think the tree cover clouded the Garmin's little brain as it measured 6000ft of climbing, not 8000ft. Also, you can see how jacked my heart rate was for the first hour. Urgh, not fun.

First of the Northstar

This weekend, it was time to try something a little different - downhill at Northstar. I'd always planned to ease myself gently into a trip like this. First, I was going to do one of the skills courses on offer at the park and then segue into a nice weekend's riding - probably on the Nomad. Well, that plan evaporated when Rosson idly talked of taking a trip up there this Sunday to join his buddies Rich and Derek. No sooner was the seed sown and I was online, booking myself a lift pass, armor, full face helmet and a bad-as-you like Giant Glory! With dual crown forks and 8 inch coils this bike is built for one thing : Going downhill... Fast! With Spangles also onboard, the 3 of us met up at ridiculous o'clock in the am and made our way to the mountains.

We parked up and met with Spangles' mate, In Soo. We then took the gondola to pick up our rigs and hit the slopes. The Giant Glory is an impressive beast. It's clearly built to run on the right side of gravity and take anything mother nature can throw at it. It aint built for anything like climbing though. We decided to warm up on some blue runs. Coupled with the armor and high altitude, riding the Glory up the slight incline to the trail head was no mean feat. I wouldn't be suprised if the double butted frame tubes were reinforced with concrete. Point it downhill though, and suddenly it all makes sense.

Our warm up blue run started with some nice, sweeping burms and technical singletrack. But it ended quickly. With either black diamond routes or green trails (read : fireroad) back to the lifts, we opted for the red pill. Our trail of choice was FlameOut. Nice and technical with big boulder sections and drops, it was a great way to get a feel for the new rides. We rode the chairs back up, and sessioned FlameOut a couple more times. To the casual observer, downhill might seem like the lazy man's version of mountain biking. Have all the reward of the descent, and let the ski lift take care of the ride back up. However, keeping some sort of control over a 3 stone rig, whilst trying to soak up what an 8 inch spring can't - is one hell of a workout. After a few runs it was time for lunch and re-group.

The afternoon was spent riding Northstar's finest roller coaster - Livewire! Irrigated to keep the dirt tacky, this rolling, insanely burmed bobsleigh run has one speed - fast. Taking this at anything other than break-neck speeds simply results in fried trigger fingers. And that's exactly what happened. At run's 2 and 3 I hit the sweet spot where growing confidence met enough endurance to ride fairly hard. I was clearing a few table tops and even had Rosson in my sights for most of the time. But my last couple of runs destroyed what grip I had left in my withered arms. I was beat - but buzzing!

After a full day's riding we returned our gear and headed back to the city. I'd had a couple of spills and scares but without doubt we'd had a fantastic day's shredding. Downhill is a very different aspect to the sport and one I'm keen to keep my hand in. Rich had told me once that it's great for skill's training and he's not wrong. You can't fight gravity. So dealing with speed over sketchy terrain is something you have to get used to very quickly. It also sharpens your wits - like when to bail when you're well out of your depth on a double black diamond run! All skills I'm keen to develop and take to the trails. The next day I woke feeling like I'd been beaten up. My whole body has been punished and one of my feet feels like it probably needs medical attention. The mountain demands a price for all that vertical fun. Still, totally worth it. In fact we're already planning the next Tahoe trip. Livewire withdrawals are hard to fight ;o)

Howell Mountain Challenge

No sooner had the excitement of Downieville mellowed and it was time for another race. This time we were on familiar ground. The Howell Mountain Challenge took place in Angwin, Napa, the same place as the Napa Valley Dirt Classic (see April's blog entry for that one.) The difference this time was the course was set up as a multi loop race (2 x10 mile loops for cat 2) rather than the NVDC's 22 mile circuit. But it took in much of the same trail network. Me and Rosson were hoping for much sunnier, dryer conditions than April's race. But as we drove along a cold, drizzly 101 deja vu started to make itself apparent. Spangles had planned to join us but it turns out last weekend's ride had broken his carbon stumpy frame as well as his face. So he had to bail. Hopefully he'll get himself sorted for the So No Mas race at the end of this month.

I'd decided to change tactics a little on this race and experiment with my setup. At previous race meets I'd taken note of other's little tips and tricks for lighter, seemingly more race friendly kit. Given the Howell' challenge was only 20 miles, with water stops, I decided to ditch the camel sack in favour of a bottle and have a seat mounted pouch for essentials. I even taped Gu to my crossbar for ultimate efficiency (although a steep switchback malfunction ripped this clear and sent it into the wilderness.) I'd previously tested the seat pouch to make sure the gravity dropper still worked fine - which it did. The pouch held a tube, co2 canisters and valve, tyre levers and a cool little multi tool. The water bottle was a trickier problem to solve. I didn't trust using jersey pockets, and the Nomad is too bad-ass to rock bottle cage braze-ons. So in the end (and after much 'net research) I decided on a headset bracket on which to bolt the cage. I figured it wouldn't bias weight when steering and should be pretty stable given it uses the headset thru-bolt.

In truth, I'm not 100% convinced the change in setup improved my performance that much. I didn't get the sense of freedom I expected from not carrying a camel sack. I also felt slightly distracted by the big grey bottle in my peripheral vision. But it all worked fine and survived the few scrapes and crashes that I had. I might use this setup for Annadel, but I'm definitely using the 'sack for So No Mas....

So, the actual race. By the time we'd cleared the hike a bike section and hit the first loop proper, the mist started to burn away leaving a clear blue sky. Conditions were perfect. Dry and dusty but loose enough in sections to test the mettle. The course took in many of the highlights of the Napa Valley Dirt Classic but seemed to be much easier on the climbs. A true XC race, the ascents - although at times steep and challenging - were well spaced out and gave way to some outstanding descents. Nothing too steep, just long and flowing. A good mix of rutted fireroad and sweeping singletrack. One section I remember clearly from the NVDC has rider's hitting a 3 dip roller coaster. I'd previously ridden these - albiet tentatively - on the Orange. Now I wanted to hit them hard with the Nomad! Steep and rocky on the descent and equally so on the immediate climb... I elected to keep in a high gear to prevent my chain coming loose and just crank up the opposing face as far as possible. Great fun - a lot like the flumes at China Camp, but much much wider so you can really let the bike fly and enjoy the grin!

Results have yet to be posted, but according to my Garmin friend, I came in around the 2:15 mark... something I'm extremely pleased with as it shows clear progress over races earlier in the year. There's definite room for improvement, both in terms of skill and fitness, but I'm heading in the right direction. I hooked the Garmin up to it's website to check out the stats. This is a feature I haven't used up to now, but its cool to see the course and how I dealt with it - in terms of pace and heart rate. I rode the Howell' with pretty much the same sort of stats as Downieville. Looking back at Tamarancho its clear something was not quite right that day. Pace was slow and, more significantly, my heart rate was jacked way higher throughout the whole race. Some lessons to be learned and applied for sure. The link to the Howell race Garmin stats is HERE.

'Rancho Night Ride 8510

Went over to Fairfax with Rosson last eve to meet up with Rich and Derek for some nocturnal Tamarancho adventures. I always seem to forget how disconcertingly difficult night riding is until I'm there, wide eyed, trying to negotiate technical dirt with a couple of lamps for guidance. I had one or three topples on the tight switchbacks and rocky sections, as is usually the case with me. It's especially frustrating as the very same sections in daylight are cleaned without drama. Still, its all good skills training. Hanging out with these fellas is also good incentive to ride that little bit harder and faster too, even if that means a few knocks and bumps along the way. And there's always the post ride Brewco session to look forward to :o)

Downieville 'Ratzied

I'm normally behind the camera so don't get to post many pictures of my fizzog on here. However, Rocky Arroyo Photography were snapping at the Downieville XC race this year and I couldn't help but grab a copy of this one. Look at that beautiful frame contrasting with the searing white rock .... (the Nomad, I mean) ;o)

Pine Mountain

Its been a couple of weeks since I headed out in search or dirt. I did the SF Marathon last week. I've been guilty of putting riding before running. But as it turns out bike fitness can get you through 26.2 miles of pounding pavement. Still, I was itching to get back onto the fat tyres so, this first weekend in August me and Spangles hit Pine Mountain. Seemed fairly straightforward. No tricky singletrack or technicals to contend with. Just a fireroad slog in the Cali' midday sun. We have the So-No-Mas ride on the horizon so wanted a hot, exposed ride with grueling climbs to help us prepare. Pine Mountain took our request and raised it. We were soon to discover she's a vicious beast indeed.

We decided on the classic Pine Mountain loop. This part of Marin is steeped in mountain biking lore. It's where the pioneers of the sport first realised that bikes + dirt trails = fun! Those early shred enthusiasts clearly liked the rough stuff. The loop is fairly short at just over 13 miles but you hit a lot of steep, rocky climbing. Its so loose under foot that a couple of particularly technical sections have earned the nickname "The Bitches." But this was ok by us. This is what we came for. The descents were pretty much more of the same - steep and loose. There's no single track here, its all fireroad. But its fast, sweeping and, in one memorable section, a total roller coaster. This was fun!

Once we hit the San Geronimo trail it was time for another beastly climb. Both me and Spangles are getting fairly strong at the climbing but the heat - and maybe residual marathon fatigue - took its toll on me. It wasn't long before Jase pulled ahead and out of sight. The next time I was to see him is an image I won't forget in a hurry. At around the 8 mile mark the trail gives way to a fairly steep, but insanely rocky descent. Big baby head rocks constantly shifting under the Nomad's tread. The long travel and slack head angle soaked up any nerves and left me enjoying the ride. Forcing myself to keep my eyes ahead and let body and bike deal with the immediate vicinity, I spotted Spangles waiting patiently halfway down the trail. "That's a weird place for him to let me catch up, his bike is parked all funny, man this suspension is plush, that rock looks like it'll give me some decent air, hey Jase what's occurri.... HOLY SH*T!"

"Ere mate, do you have your first aid handy?".....

Luckily, I did. And the poor fecker needed it. Standing, dazed and wild eyed, staring through a T-zone caked in bright red ooze. Moments before, on his much lighter S-Works Stumpy, Jase had buckarood himself, orbit first, into one of Pine Mountain's finest skull crushing rocks. We both kept calm and went through all the proper procedures ; assess damage, clean the wound, apply dressing, take a picture for Facebook... Ah, exposure not quite right, take another picture... Now try one with a thumbs up... Smile! Within 10 minutes he was back in the saddle claiming "ah, its only a face..". What a trooper!

A few miles left to go and then we were back to the car. Leaving Pine Mountain with some much deserved respect and a little DNA. After a couple of hours in A&E Jason was right as rain. Plus he'll have a scar to prove his mountain biking stripes. A couple of lesson's well learned though. We're planning a Northstar trip in the very near future. Suddenly those nice full face helmets don't seem overly extreme after all..

Tubeless Tinkering

My good friend and riding compadre, Jason Spangles has been busying himself making all kinds of useful bike kit out of spare bits of metal. In preparation for our upcoming races he's gone all tubeless using an antique extinguisher to pump his rubber. Check it out....

... Here!

Annadel - 71810

Bike Monkey Magazine recently announced they’re organising a XC race to be held at Annadel in September. Another race on home turf! We decided to prepare by hitting Annadel State Park this past weekend. We, being myself, Jase, Aaron and Scott. We also bumped into our old riding compadre Jaime in the car park who joined in for a while. Our last ride here was a complete wash out – literally. We hit the top of Marsh and the heaven’s opened. Our riding gear was totally inappropriate so we cut the ride short. Skip forward a few months into the baking heat and the whole place is dried to dust. Perfect!

We started out climbing Canyon towards the base of the Marsh trail. A relatively gentle climb made tough by the blistering heat. We continued up Marsh and made our way to Lawndale. A varied trail with a good mix of technical, rocky sections but always fast and sweeping. We had to spread out from each other to stop the dust clouds masking jeopardy. As Jason put it “at one point all I was doing was chasing dust and a shadow.”

After the grin inducing Lawndale we hit some more technical climbing towards Ridge. It’s been long enough since I’d ridden here to notice I was hitting these sections with far more confidence and skill than before. I put that down to time well spent climbing Tamarancho’s technical sections. Ridge trail was, once again, epic and sweeping. Very rocky in sections but the Nomad, as always, ploughed through where a delicate line couldn’t be threaded.

We finished the ride with a spirited blast back down Marsh and Canyon towards the carpark. Always a great way to end a day’s shredding at Annadel. One of the many things I love about the trails here is the descents. They’re long, fast and rocky with plenty of up-ahead visibility. You can hit the cranks and leave off the anchors with full abandon. The climbs are satisfying too – blistering heat aside. They never get that steep and the payoff seems to go on for miles. I’m coming to really appreciate the all-mountain geometry and set up of the Nomad too. It’s made for trails like this and eats them up when I have the confidence to let it.

The day’s riding was satisfying and fun, but not without its casualties. Scott’s front tyre was near to disintegrating the whole time. Haemorrhaging tubeless goo we slipped a tube in there, but he still had to ride with caution. Which pretty much meant the Trail Genie rode at a pace closer to us mere mortals. Aaron’s bike switched to single speed halfway through as his derailleur cable broke. I too had gear issues, but a quick lesson in bike maintenance from Spangles and they were good as new. I did get heat stroke though. A wicked combination of not quite enough water in the camel sack and the Santa Rosa sun cooked my brain to a medium rare. Still, good conditioning for the upcoming So No Mas ride….. 35 miles and 8000ft on shadeless trails in 100 degree + heat!??!? In a sick way, I can’t wait!

Thurs Night Ride 71510

Another cracking night ride in the bag. This time it was me and Aaron catching the dying rays of the evening sun whilst shredding around 'rancho. Aubrey had been riding in a dirt crit the evening before, and I was still somewhat Downieville fatigued. But tired legs were soon forgotten as we put rubber to dirt. Great fun. And a fine prelude to this coming weekend's Annadel ride!

Catchin' the Zeitgeist

Check out Eric's Downieville race report over on the Zeitgeist blog. I've ridden with these fine fellas on occasion. They're always knocking around the race scene in their fetching bunny outfits:

Zeitgeist Downvieville Race Report

Up in Downieville

This could be a very short blog post. I could summarise my Downieville XC race experience with one word - Incredible. And that would be almost enough. I'd pop a few black and whites on here and that'd be that. But I feel compelled to expand. If only to serve as a reminder to myself of how amazing this past weekend's adventure really was. PS.... I didn't get many pictures during the race. Normally I grab a few shots whilst hanging onto a tree, trying not to faint and/or vomit whilst forcing more electrolytes down my gullet to satiate the cramps. However, during this race, I simply didn't have the time :o)

So, on the Friday me and Spangles hit the road with various choices of cycle wear, scooby snacks and painstakingly detailed rides. We arrived in Downieville, grabbed some carbage and watched the town get set for the next day's event whilst we ate. The town had been transformed into a race village with banners and sponsor tents covering the streets. The atmosphere was near electric. We all knew we were in for a treat the next day.

Saturday, we got up early and took the short ride to Sierra City for the race start. After a bit of warming up and chatting to like minded folks, it was time to saddle up and jostle with the other sport category dudes. 9:35 arrives - and we start the epic 29 mile Downieville Classic Cross Country Race! Now, I'd been looking forward to this race for quite a while. More importantly I'd trained for it. Up to now, I've enjoyed the racing as an extension to my regular riding activities. They've been a good opportunity to ride harder and longer on trails I wouldn't normally hit. But I've been resigned to the fact that my skills and fitness would always mean the rides were extremely hard and that I'd never really be competitive. And that's been fine. Perfectly enjoyable and satisfying. But for some reason I wanted this one to be different. I wanted to see if I could get over the self imposed plateau and actually do well. So we've been doing rides specifically targeted at weaknesses and riding harder to build up some racing grit. Did it pay off? As we started the 3000ft, 8 mile ascent, I was about to find out.

Mile 1 is paved road. Mile 2 - you hit dirt. By mile 3 you're pushing your steed uphill with everyone else. Fortunately the pushing was shortlived. Back in the saddle and spinning the granny gear we snaked our way through the beautiful Sierras. But something was different. My pace was no longer being set by my fitness. It was being set by the throng in front. When opportunity presented I tapped into my plentiful reserves and overtook. Mile 4 came and went with water and goodies - I declined and kept on. Before I knew it, we were being offered bacon and margheritas (?!?!?) at the 8 mile aid station. This wasn't an exhaustion induced sight either. I was fine. The climb had taken place mainly in the shade - which helped. But putting mileage into climbs over the last few weeks clearly helped more.

The first section of singletrack is a rolling, bermed track through felled trees. Some neat technicals, switchbacks and jumps warm the kung fu up a treat. Next, its onto the famous baby head rocks. Now, this section is almost a blur. Partly because the vibration renders you senseless, but also because it was so... much... fun! I exclaimed - out loud - on more than one occasion "this bike is awesome!" And the first time those words escaped me was here. The baby head section is so freakin' fast. Big boulders, drops, ruts, loose shale.... What the Nomad didn't plough through aggressively it would skip over with amazing grace. A raking head angle, 6 inches front and back + loooong fast rocky sections of trail = ENORMOUS FUN!

Once you hit Gold Valley and cross the creek its onto the Pauley Creek trail. 17 miles of blissfull singletrack. Fast, at times sketchy and full of huge drops and hurdles that come out of nowhere. But you don't have time to plan a route or strategise. You're going way too fast and having too good a time. So I let the Nomad do its thing and employed some confidence to hammer the cranks and push on. I really only stopped a couple of times. The first one, a steep drop, I could've easily taken but for the two dismounted dudes picking their way down on foot. The second, a blunt wall that appears immediately after a blind bend. Doable if you're prepared but impossible for those of us without Jedi reflexes. But everything else I tackled with ever growing confidence. Looking ahead of the sketchy stuff, trusting that my brain had done the maths and my rig would fill in the blanks. Getting giddy everytime I skipped by some other dude who'd balked and decided to dismount. This was awesome!

After this epic trail, it was time for some more climbing. Up to the Third Divide trailhead. A full on downhill section covered in magic carpet to help with the sketchier sections. By now my brain was overloaded with riding joy. Blissed out at what had been - by far, my best ride ever. After this final descent, we hit the road into downtown Downieville to be greeted by a cheering crowd and a well earned beer!

The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying the festival, sun and spectacle. My time? Based on past performance I was expecting anything up to 5 hours. Definitely over 4 hours. I pulled into Downieville just shy of 3 hours 38 minutes. The longest race I've done and the quickest time I've ridden by quite a margin. It's added fuel to my already burning passion for the sport. I still have a ways to go. Next year I want to finish in less than 3 and a half hours for a start. But I'm feeling the rewards from hard work - and a few hard falls. I can't wait to keep hitting the trails, working hard, and seeing what next year's race brings.

July 4th Weekender

I did think about calling this post “Return of the Shredi” but I need to nip these lame film puns in the bud right now. However, I would’ve had good reason. As we approached a particularly Endor-esque trail Jason turned to me and exclaimed “if I don’t see any Ewoks on this trail I’m gonna be pissed!” Yep, it was a three day weekend and whilst our American hosts were off celebrating their independence, we decided to escape foggy SF and hit the trails!

I'd taken my Nomad down to Santa Cruz on the Saturday to get a pre-Downieville tune up sorted out. On Sunday me and Spangles decided to hit Skeggs to get some pre-race training in. In fact this was my first time riding there with the new bike so I was excited to hit the technical trails and fast descents with 6 inches of plush suspension at my disposal. Also, Skeggs has some brutal climbing so we knew a good training session would be achieved. We weren't wrong.

We took our, now usual, route of Fir, Resolution, North Leaf and South Leaf. We also looped back to hit Giant Salamander. A great mixture of challenging technical descents, ascents, singletrack and some epic fast double track. South Leaf is becoming my preferred trail of choice. Its full of jumps and whoop de doo's and nice railed corners but its reasonably wide and has grassy banks either side of the trail so you can safely allow the mental mist to cloud you and haul ass! ..... Great fun.

The price for all this fun? The climb back out. We took Timberview to Salamander. Man, Timberview is a cruel beast. It's steep, almost too steep to keep pedaling, but then it will level out just enough to pull the heart rate back from the redline and allow for a little recovery before the next assault. Yep, this trail is nature's own Divisadero Street. However, we were once again rewarded at the top with the Giant Salamander. I'd ridden this trail before, but the other way - ie climbing it. This time we were taking the fun route. Salamander has some really nice big, rolling jumps. But it also has an equally big abyss to one side of the trail. So caution, or at least the brake, has to be applied every now and again.

The fun was short lived however. We still had the climb out. For some reason we ignored the relatively forgiving Methusela and took the Fir route out. This trail is a fun descent, but a brutal climb. Steep and rutted it tests both cadence and patience. Once out, we took the short, fun Sierra Morena section back to the car. A lasting reminder of how great and varied this place is - and why it won't be the last time I'll be taking the Nomad south for some dirt.

Monday I met up with Aaron and Scott for a late afternoon session at Tamarancho. The weather was beautiful. Sunny, but not stifling. The light was great. Trail - bone dry. An epic ride was forecast and we were not let down. Well, Scott's tyre was. It flatted halfway round. Other than that we had a great ride. We took 'Rancho counter clockwise. This is fast becoming my new favourite way to ride the place. I'll always love hitting the B-17 trail descent, but climbing it means you get to descend Serpentine. Also, the Wagon Wheel rock garden is a goood challenge on the climb. I also had the pleasure of Scott riding my tail - making dog/mountain lion noises to inspire me to ride harder. All in all, a great way to spend the penultimate weekend's riding before traveling North to Downieville. Stay tuned!

Night of the Living Shred

Went for a ride to Tamarancho with Rosson and his buddies last night. Jase, Sam and Rich are all Cat 1 demons so I knew it would be a tough ride. It didn't help that I had mechanicals to deal with either. So for the most part I didn't see them - except for the sections where they'd graciously wait for me to catch up. Or I'd catch a glimpse of twinkling helmet light off in the distance. These boys ride hard and fast. But it was a great training ride. We started up Alchemist and straight up the B17 extension, took a left up the fireroad and climbed a little way to a great lookout point to briefly catch the dying embers of the day's sun. Then it was time to fire up the nightlights and tear back through Tamarancho.

Night riding is such a great experience. Its a totally different way of riding. You can't help but be wide-eyed and super sensitive to the terrain, the movement of the bike, bats flying at your full tilt.... everything. Its great for skills training. Especially at Tamarancho which is such a technical track. And riding with these fellas is a hard lesson in bike fitness too. Hopefully we'll get another nocturnal session in before Downieville.

Tam' Slam...

....Well, not quite a slam. But we did get slammed by the heat. As Scott so eloquently put it "I feel like a bug in a jar right now..." Yep, it was the weekend and time for more dirt riding. I met up with Aaron and Scott in Mill Valley, mid Sunday morning. Our plan was to replicate a ride we'd done a few weeks before and climb Mount Tamalpais. Its been a while since I've ridden with these lads. Aaron took a school trip tumble a while ago and popped his shoulder so has only just started riding again.

We ended up taking a different route to last time. The heat was killer so we needed to find fun without so much of the climb. The vertical itself isn't so brutal, but when you're breathing from an open oven door it tends to deplete the energy and spirit. En route we passed one poor soul "calling to dinosaurs" - (copyright A.Aubrey 2010.) Still, we hit the very top of Mount Tam and headed on our giddy way back down to the railroad grade trail.

don't recall what trails we took. But I do recall the speed we took them at! Scott is like a genie on the trails - all you see is a puff of smoke (or at least trail dust) and he's gone! The trail started out full of baby head rocks - made me appreciate the plushness of 6inch travel - and eventually evened out to steep rutted fireroad. Great fun. Made more so by my recent addition to the MTB arsenal - eyesight! Yep, I wore my contacts for the first time and it made a big difference. No longer was I focused 3 feet in front of the front tire. Now I could confidently look down the trail and let the bike and body instinct do it's thing.

We finished our ride with a spirited run back to Mill Valley and then onto the Marin Brewco for burgers and beers. Perfect. I'm already looking forward to the next Lemurian Brother's reunion ride!

Over the Bridge

Its the countdown to Downieville, so in anticipation me and Spangles decided to get some mileage and footage under our wheels this weekend. Downieville starts with a brutal climb. I'd been googletubing videos in the week and simply watching was enough to make my legs tremble. Fun shredding would have to wait. We needed to feel some pain!

With this in mind we decided we should hit the Marin headland trails. I'd heard good things about this area and, on paper, it looked like a good, long ride with some nice steep climbing. Its also very close to home so we could roadie style it from my place. After a quick fuel up at the Chestnut Bakery (great coffee) we were ready. Riding over the GG Bridge is made a little more technical by dodging all the tourists and road bikers. But its a good way to warm up. By the time we hit dirt we'd already covered 8 miles.

We took the coastal road down to Bunker road and hit the Rodeo trail before bearing right onto the Bobcat trail. The first of several long climbs taking us back up to 1000ft or so above sea level. From there we rode to the Tennessee Valley Trailhead and picked up the Coastal Trail. The flavour of the day was to be climb, descend, climb, descend - and repeat. This was perfect.

The Coastal Trail is closed to bikes on certain sections which is a shame - but understandable given the number of pensioners and toddlers en route. That kinda technical I don't want to deal with. So we took the coastal fireroad to bypass (and add some more climbing) and then re-connected near Muir Beach. This short section of the Coastal Trail gave a cruel taste of how fun it COULD be.... lots of ruts and whoop de doo's .... but lots of families and rogue dogs. So we had to exercise restraint. Maybe a mid-week or early morning session is in order to really take advantage of this place...

Once we hit the trail to Muir Beach, we peeled off to the Green Gulch trail. Through the Zen centre and then onto a nice, steep technical climb. This one caused my all too familiar cramping and burnout to kick in. But a couple of minutes rest and some Sharkies later I was good to go. Before it gets really brutal, the terrain levels out and the heart rate goes back to normal. Once we cleared Green Gulch, we stopped to sort some mechanical issues and scoff scooby snacks before the climb up Coyote and on to the Miwok trail. Now, Miwok is fuuuun! Deep ruts, lots of jumps and - thankfully - few hikers. It even throws a few tight switchbacks at you to keep things interesting. My technique was a little less than fluid on a few of the jumps and I hit a few smack on the front side. But it was no bother to the Nomad's stride. 6 inches of travel will do a lot to smooth out shabby trail riding. Speaking of which, with all the climbing we were doing I really noticed how great the pro-pedal is. Its only once you unhinge the Nomad's plush suspension do you realise just how firmed up the arse end is by the pro-pedal. Impressive stuff. But I digress.

So, we'd had our fun. Back to the meat of this ride ; climbing. Our descent had taken us to the Tennessee Valley trail head. Now we needed to head back up to the Bobcat trail. A quick before and after Garmin check verified my guestimate - we had a good 1000ft of straight climbing ahead. No worries. By now, we were 25 odd miles in and feeling pretty good. I'd been playing with a new pedaling technique all day which seemed to be reaping rewards. I normally just huff and puff and stab my feet south to get through the climbs. But the Nomad is an unforgiving beast when it comes to climbing. She's no slouch, but she aint no mountain goat either. So better technique was called for. I focused on using my upper legs to "kick and scrape" through the pedal cycle. It feels a little strange, but works a treat. Every time I nailed it, my cadence got faster, smoother and less strenuous. But its not quite hardwired yet. I need to work on making it my default stroke - especially when the going gets tough and steep.

Anyway, all these thoughts of technique and analysis are going through my head as I spin the granny gear up the climb. Like all the ascents that day, the grade wasn't steep enough to warrant resting - "no one got stronger from stopping" I kept chanting to myself. But it was long enough and intense enough to lay down some solid foundations for Downieville and beyond - I hope.

We hit Bobcat and rode back to Rodeo and onto Bunker road for the climb out, back to the bridge. Just in time too as my camel sack was run dry and we'd finished the last of the scooby snacks. Riding past the tourists gathered at the look outs, I took stock of all the epic views we'd seen that day - A fringe benefit of enjoying our sport and something I'd otherwise miss out on. Another good reason to get out and ride :o)

After five and half hours, 36 miles and 5500ft of climbing, we arrived back in the city. Confident we'd reap the rewards of our graft later. But also aware that we'll need to get a couple more sessions like that under out belts to make Downieville as pain free and fun as possible.

Orange

No "real" riding this weekend. Just a treck around San Fran on my trusty Orange hardtail. The P7 really is the perfect city bike. Yeah, its a bit heavy but it climbs the hills of this place no problem. And those lovely big, flat DMR V10's are a great platform for urban riding. I finished up riding on the trails near the Golden gate Bridge. Gentle single track, but great views. I did briefly consider kitting the P7 out with some panniers or a rack to add some practicality to these city jaunts. But then I remembered the countless trail miles I'd ridden on this bike, including a few races, and decided she wasn't ready to be put out to pasture just yet. ;o)

6610 : Tamarancho Dirt Classic

The weekend of the 6th June saw me, Spangles and Rosson head to familiar territory for the Tamarancho Dirt Classic race. Car mechanicals and sunburn conspired to halt me and Spangles in our pursuit of dirt but thanks to Rosson giving us the keys to his truck, and aloe vera, the day was on! Now, I've said this (to myself) time and time again ; always, always carry a spare pair of gloves in your camelsack. Always. That was a lesson well learned at Napa. Not going to make the same mistake again. Nope, this time I won't bring ANY gloves with me instead. What a fool. I left all FOUR PAIRS of my gloves in the truck. Something I realised 20 minutes before the start and after 2 miles of climbing from the carpark....... My lizard skins were already dripping with sweat. This was not a good start. Luckily, lady MTB luck decided to step in, or at least Jason's mate did, and handed me a pair of fingerless gloves for the duration. Sorted.

After limbering up in the gorgeous sunshine and chatting to a few locals (including a fellow Sheffielder who, at 49, didn't look a day over his mid 30's - a great advert for riding and Cali' weather) we were all set! The race was to take in most of the regular Tamarancho loop with a few additions. The direction of travel was oppposite to what I'm used to riding which threw up a few pleasant suprises. The tough, tight switchbacks normally tackled on the climb are great fun on the way down. And the infamous Rock is far more manageable when riding down it's imposing face. It shone new light on an old friend, but I still had enough local knowledge to know when to keep my kung fu wits about me.

The main difference between the race and the regular Tamarancho loop was the inclusion of the Dead Heffer climb. I'm not entirely sure were it got it's name. But, it feels strangely appropriate. Your, once nimble feeling, bike soon feels like a hellish dead cow when you're at the pushing stage which - for me, was not long into the race. I did have a decent ride though. Really had my wits about me and enjoyed the flow of Tamarancho's perfectly groomed single track. The switchbacks were especially satisfying... keep off the front brake, let the bike track through, use momentum, point the bike and it'll go, use the back brake to skid out the rear a little - nice!

But the climbing killed me. Especially as we had to do the Dead Heffer climb 3 times. Three!?!?! There's a special place in hell for the person who thought that would be a fun addition to the race. The first climb was a "warm up!" After that we proceeded, heads bowed and panting, to push our steeds up it's unforgiving fireroad. Well no amount of sugary goodness in my camelsack could save my legs from fading fast. And then the cramps kicked in...... So any chance of a decent time was screwed. But this didn't stop me enjoying the course and the general atmosphere. There really is no better way to spend a sunny Sunday than riding hard in the company of fellow MTB enthusiasts. Although the day wasn't without its casualties. Navigating tight switchbacks and baby head rocks with the flutter of a rescue helicopter's blades in your ear is a visceral reminder of the dangers of this sport.

Still, we finished the race, a little more sunkissed, tired and happy. Spangles did a great job. The times haven't been posted as I write this, but he finished a good half hour ahead of me. A cracking job for his first race. We're doing Downieville next month. I think we (ok, I) need to get some conditioning in to cope with the climbing. Maybe a Mt Diablo ride is on the cards....