Saturday, January 26, 2008

RR: Daley Ranch

So today had my first ride at Daley Ranch, in Escondido, CA. I had heard about that trail several times, and had been really looking forward to riding it. I had been told, however, that it involved a lot of climbing. As I've mentioned, this is not my strength. However at the urging of others, I decided to give it a try.

Turned out to be a mistake.

Now I should say this: the views (when I could lift my head enough to see them) were beautiful. Also, it's pretty close to home, and very close to work. It wasn't too crowded, even at mid-morning on a Saturday. And the people I did see were unusually friendly. It was a beautiful day. However, and I can not stress this enough, I'm just not in the cardiovascular shape to handle a ride with the kind of climbs that are at Daley.

I've mentioned that I want to get in better shape. I've mentioned that the reason I want to get in better shape isn't my overall health, but because I know I'll have more fun biking. Today was a prefect example of what I meant by that. It was a beautiful trail, but I couldn't enjoy it because the climbs absolutely slaughtered me. They started virtually from the parking lot, and meandered for more than two miles, climbing more than 1,000 feet over that span.

What bothered me most was that the others in my group seemed to have little problem with the climbs. I'm happy for them, but humbled and a little embarrassed that I couldn't hang. I also felt like an anchor, and that's never a fun feeling. So for all of those reasons, Adam and I bailed out about a third of the way through, at the Daley Ranch House.

The best part of the ride was that when we got back to the car, we drowned our sorrows in Pibbs in cans. And when we got home, Adam gave me two 12 packs he brought back from Sac this weekend. So that eased the pain somewhat...

(Adam, by the way, did really well at Daley. He's in good shape because of the Academy, and rode really well on my Iron Horse. I was impressed. I hope he'll try another ride with us that doesn't involve as much climbing.)

Anyway, my failure has been eating at me all day. I know it shouldn't: that biking is a hobby, and should be fun, and I can't take it that seriously. I just hate having the physical limitations that I do, and they gnaw at me. I'm even praying it doesn't rain tonight, so that I can get a ride in somewhere else to get the bad Daley taste out of my mouth.

So I'm not crossing Daley off my 2008 ride list yet. I feel like I haven't earned it. Which disappoints me that much more, because I was really looking forward to crossing one of the rides off my list. But it is what it is.

Perhaps fortunately, I brought my camera but forgot the memory stick at home, so I don't have any pictures of this ride. That's probably for the best, since this is not a memory I want to stick with me for very long.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 4.75 miles
Total Time: 108:19
Ascent: 1013 feet
Average Speed: 4.2 mph (ouch)
Top Speed: 24.5 (down paved road to parking lot)
Route Map: Click here for Google Map
Bike: Specialized FSR XC Pro

Thursday, January 24, 2008

2008 MTB Goals Part II: General Goals

Welcome to Part II of my post on my 2008 MTB goals. Part I dealt purely with what specific trails I want to do in '08. Here I'll discuss some other general goals I've developed for myself.

  1. Ride Noble Canyon: This trail gets its own general goal because Noble is the only SD County trail on the IMBA's epic trail list. For 2008, I actually don't care whether I shuttle Noble or ride it some other way, I just want to experience this much talked about trail for myself.
  2. Do a ~50 mile/all day-type ride: I want to do at least one all-day ride. It doesn't have to be exactly 50 miles, but I want to do one ride that starts in the morning and goes until late afternoon/evening on one trail or multiple connected trails.
  3. Do a Multi-Day ride: This goal may be combined with the one below, but not necessarily. I want to do one ride where I all day one day, then camp or stay in a hotel, then ride all or most of the next day.
  4. Do an Out of Town Ride: I want to do at least one trail outside of SoCal this year. I have some general ideas of places I want to go, but nothing concrete yet. Maybe I'll have a chance to ride somewhere in Sacramento when I go up for Adam's graduation in July. Or maybe I'll go somewhere with friends when Rachel goes back to visit her family.
  5. Do a Ride in the OC: There are several trails I'm aware of in Orange County that I could drive to, ride, and get home from in a day. It could be Aliso, SJT, San Clemente Singletracks, or something else.
  6. Do a Night Ride (w/Light): I read about a lot of night rides, and have always been interested in doing one. They seem like a great idea for both winter, when it gets dark really early, as well as summer, where it can sometimes be too hot to ride during the day. I don't have a light, so I'd have to borrow one for my first ride. But if I like night riding, it could open up a whole new world to me.
  7. Clear all of Martha's: I want to get to the point by the end of '08 that I can ride down all of the techy section of Martha's Grove at Sycamore without dabbing or walking. I've only been down it once, and had to walk two spots. This is the spot where Joel demolished his knee, so I have some added psychological incentive to clear that section as well.
  8. Clear all of "the ****": There is a section of trail at LPQ that I enjoy that has a scatological name that is not fit to post. It's not that tough of a section, but I've ridden it a couple of times and have not been able to clear a 2.5 foot waterbar near the end. I want to conquer that before the end of the year.
  9. Climb Bernardo Mountain: Lake Hodges is basically a neighborhood ride for me, and I've never climbed Bernardo Mountain on the North side. In fact, I really don't even know how to get up there. But I know there is a way, and by the end of '08, I want to climb all the way to the top.
  10. Improve my climbing skills/general fitness: I saved this one until last, because while it is the most general, its also the most important to me. I'm saving the whole, "why I love to mountain bike" discussion for another post, but suffice to say that physical fitness is NOT one of the top three reasons. It's a nice by product, but not a driving force in why I bike. That being said, my general lack of fitness and climbing ability greatly impedes my overall enjoyment of biking. Right now, when I come to a section with a big hill, I'm intimidated and stressed. I get enough of those feelings at work, I don't want them on the trail. I want to get to a point where hills and long climbs don't scare me, and even if I don't fly up them, I can manage them without wanting to die. This may be my most important overall goal, because if affects my overall enjoyment of biking in general.
If I ever get to a point where someone reads this blog, I'd be interested in knowing your MTB goals for the year if you have any. Feel free to post a comment.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

2008 MTB Goals Part I: Trails

I've been meaning for a few weeks to post my list of MTB goals for 2008 on this site. After continuing to think about what I want to achieve this year, I decided to make two lists; one for the trails I want to ride, and the other for personal achievement-type goals.

Today's post will be a simple list of the trails I want to ride in '08. Some of them I have already ridden. Most I have not. Those that I've ridden in the past will be marked with an asterisk, but I still want to ride them again this year to say I've done each trail in the list in the same calendar year.

I'm also going to try to post each trail on the list on the sidebar of this blog, so that I can cross them out and monitor my progress throughout the year.

Here's the list, in no particular order:

  • Lake Calavera
  • Daley Ranch
  • Elfin Forest
  • North Lake Hodges*
  • South Lake Hodges*
  • Santa Margarita River Trail
  • Anderson Truck Trail*
  • Black Mountain RB
  • Los Penasquitos Canyon/Del Mar Mesa
  • Mission Trails/Spring/Oak Canyons
  • Santa Luz Loop*
  • Sycamore Canyon w/Martha's*
  • Tri Canyons
  • Sweetwater Lake
  • Noble Canyon
  • Big Laguna Trail*
  • Lake Morena

Sunday, January 20, 2008

RR: Santa Fe Valley Local Ride (First Ride of 2008!)

I finally had my first ride of the year, and in all honesty, it was a horror show. After not being on a bike yet on 2008, I was desperate to get some kind of ride in, so I decided Saturday afternoon to just do my local ride through the Santa Fe Valley.

I rode my Iron Horse hardtail since the shifters on my FSR are still broken from the New Year's Eve ride at Anderson TT. After today's ride, I've never loved the FSR more. I particularly appreciate the clipless pedals on the FSR, since my feet were all over the place using the IH's platform pedals.

Climbing, which is far from a strength of mine on a good day, was horrendous. Between my lack of conditioning, and the flat pedals, and heavy bike, I was dragging. The Black Mountain hike earlier in the day may also have played a role in my struggles.

At one point toward the last third of the ride, I was so lightheaded and nausous that I called Rach to come get me at the Boys & Girl's Club. After resting for a few minutes, the nausea passed, and I quickly came to my senses and called her back to cancel the sag wagon. I'm not going to lie, the prospect of having to post that I wimped out and bailed on a 6 mile ride played a big role in me sucking it up. Arrgh.

I limped the rest of the way home, and actually felt ok during the last fire road climb. But it was a humbling, even embarrassing ride, particularly since it is one that I regularly flew through a few months ago.

My performance also has me re-thinking whether I can do the Skyline MTB ride at Daley this weekend, and has also renewed my urgency to fix the FSR. We'll see.

Anyway, here are the final stats (without a map because it is doorstep to doorstep):

Total Distance: 5.88 miles
Total Time: 107:32
Ascent: 713 feet
Average Speed: 5.2 mph (ouch)
Top Speed: 25.0
Route Map: [Undisclosed]
Bike: Iron Horse HT

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Kind of Anticlimactic...

I was all excited to start my new MTB blog for 2008. The problem is, we're a week in, and no rides yet.

There are two reasons for this; the first is because I broke my bike on the New Year's Eve Anderson Truck Trail ride. An endo about half-way through broke the rear shifter and I have not fixed it yet.

I was, however, willing to ride my Iron Horse hardtail while waiting to fix the FSR. But rain has intervened, and I will now have to be satisfied with posting 2007 rides on my new blog, since I don't have any 2008 ones to write about.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

First Post

Greetings one and all. After several failed attempts at blogging, I've decided to try again, this time with a limited focus: mountain biking.

I had been wanting to start biking for a couple years, and in July of 2007, I finally bought a mountain bike. Since then I've become pretty active, averaging about a ride a week, and my interest and enjoyment of this hobby has grown immensely.

This blog will serve as an online journal of my rides, equipment, experiences, and other stories from mountain biking. At this point, I'm not sure how widely it will be published, or if anyone will even care to read it. But I wanted a place to catalog the rides that I've done, along with any impressions or pictures that I will want to remember.

So thanks for visiting, and feel free to leave a comment or send me an email.

JMG