Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Archipelago Ride Part I (b)

Doug called me last night to ask if I wanted to ride Hodges with him and Mark this afternoon, and I jumped at the chance. I figured that I could ride the first half with them, and then ride the route that I had hoped to ride in Part 1(a) of my Archipelago ride last week. After spending some quality time with google maps after last week's debacle, I thought I had found my error in navigation and had plotted a new route that would successfully connect the SDRP trails with the Santa Luz loop.

I dropped my car in the soccer mom lot at South Hodges, and rode across the overpass and down the onramp over to the parking lot near the self storage on the north side where Doug was waiting. He had already done one lap of the north side, and was resting in his car waiting for me and Mark to show up. Mark arrived about 10 minutes after I did, and we were on our way.

We rode the upper portion of the North side, which I usually only ride when I'm going to include Bernardo Peak. Doug found an interesting rock roller that we stopped to do.


We continued along the north side, and made our way past the boat launch parking lot and over to the singletrack. About halfway through, Doug pointed out another neat rock roller just off the trail, and we spent a few minutes sessioning it. Doug did it a few times, and I even was able to successfully negotiate it as well. Mark, not satisfied with rolling it, also decided to both huck it and ride up it as well.

After that, we continued to the turnaround at Hernandez Hideaway, and parted ways. I headed up Rancho Drive and started down Del Dios like I had the last time. I rode down Del Dios, across the closed bridge, and through the (still closed) section of the San Dieguito River Park trail.

Eventually I once again made it to the switchbacks, and made it quickly up the first set using my swing/pivot technique on the handrails. It also helped that this time I had not spent the previous half hour bushwacking looking for a nonexistant trail before heading up.

The second set of switchbacks were another matter altogether, and I once again suffered during the HAB climb up. I reached the top of the switchbacks and rode up on to the mesa as daylight was fading.


Unlike last time, this time I rode the fire road along the top of the mesa, and then made a right on to Artesian Road and headed west. After about a quarter mile, I switched over to a dirt frontage road that paralleled the paved road, and started to take that down the hill into the canyon.

On the way down, I spotted a coyote in the middle of the road. As I approached, he ran off a little bit, then stopped and turned around to watch me. I took a picture, though its a little tough to make him out. He was really only about 75 yards away. Look for the small black dot in the middle of the photo:

From there I continued down the Artesian frontage road, and did a little exploring as I reached the bottom. After realizing there was only one way out, I headed east on a different fire road and quickly saw the turn I needed to take to get out of the canyon and up to the Santa Luz loop. I crossed a small stream, and began the climb out of the canyon.

I had to start HABing pretty quickly, but started riding again near the top and grinded out the finish where the fire road intersected San Dieguito Road. I had finally done it: I had connected SDRP to Santa Luz, and the first section of my Archipelago route was complete.

After marking my position on the GPS, I rode the short distance up San Dieguito Road and hooked up with the trail that leads through Lusardi Canyon toward home. The Lusardi Canyon ride was uneventful, but I was cooking in an effort to make it home before dark. I rode down into the canyon, under Camino del Sur, and crossed the river to the north. From there I rode through the nursery and up the fire road that would take me up to the mesa near home. As I rode up the fire road, darkness fell, and I stopped to strap on my Niterider TriNewt that I had bought just recently. It went on pretty easily, though the strap for the light itself was too short to attach anywhere on my bars except for right next to the shifters, which meant that my light beam was off-center.

I rode up the fire road in the dark, and strained to see where it forked at the top. I guessed correctly in the darkness, and made my way across the mesa and through Del Norte High School construction area to the last short portion of paved road that would take me home.

I arrived home near 9:00 PM, and was once again completely spent. But as exhausted as I was, I was extremely happy to have found the correct route for Part 1 of my Archipelago Ride, and was looking forward to doing Part 2 soon.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 22.49 miles
Total Time: 3:02:51
Ascent: 2415feet
Average Speed: 7.3 mph
Top Speed: 33.1 mph
Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Archipelago Ride Part I (a)

This post is part 1(a) of a series of posts on what I'm calling my Archipelago Ride. The name of the ride was stolen from MTB Bill and describes my attempt to link together several of the local rides that surround my home into one huge loop.

This morning was part 1: From home to Hodges to San Dieguito River Park to the west end of the Santa Luz loop. Or so I hoped.

I had looked for hours on google maps and google earth and topo maps and trail maps to plan out the best route. As I prepared for this first leg of my journey, I wasn't sure what detours I would have to make or even exactly where I'd be going. But I was excited at the possibilities.

I started out from home, went down 4S Ranch Parkway, and cut through the Commons to the north side of 4S ranch. I rode through some newly constructed roads with half-finished houses down each side, and spotted the gate that lead to a fire road that I had seen on google maps. I could see from my online scouting that the fire road connected to South Hodges, but didn't know how steep it was, whether it was accessible, or exactly what it would look like from ground level.

The gate leading to the fire road was completely open, so I innocently rode right through and headed up the fire road. I was pretty nervous, worried that someone would come by and yell at me for being on private property, but I had a little story planned out and figured I could always just turn around and head back the way I came if someone stopped me.

As I headed up the slight incline, I spotted several figures off in the distance. I couldn't tell at first what they were, but figured they were people who lived nearby, and stopped for a minute a safe distance away. After a minute, I gathered myself and continued riding up the road, my story ready if they stopped me. But as I got closer, I realized that the figures weren't people, they were horses. The horses were just off the road, and were grazing on the dry grass that surrounded the entire area.

Feeling foolish, but not wanting to spook them or draw unwanted attention, I rode slowly by and didn't make eye contact. I took this picture over my shoulder as I rode by:

They tracked me closely as I rode, but didn't spook or run off. Relieved, I continued up the fire road toward the northeast, hoping I wouldn't see anyone else on this part of my journey.

As I rode along that section, images of last October's fire were still evident. The morning was deadly quiet, and it was strange to ride along and see the path the fire took through this area. There was no evidence of any homes that were burned, but there were some farming vehicles and a trailer that didn't fare well.


I continued riding along, and began a short gradual climb that split a saddle between two larger mountains to each side of me.

The climb was short and sweet, and as I reached the top, I could see Hodges below me as the fire road snaked to the east. I stopped for a minute to check out this rock, which had been burned by the fire. The heat was apparently so intense that it caused the rock to flake and crack, and I walked around on the pieces that crumbled beneath my feet. Amazing.

The fire road continued past the rock, and as I rode down I could see the other fire roads that make up part of South Hodges below me, so I knew where I was. I had to hop over a chain link fence, and after doing so, found myself at South Hodges.

I rode down the fire road toward the Poblado trailhead, and made my way along the South Hodges trail over toward the North side. I stopped on the way to take this picture at the waterfall. I also should note that I did successfully negotiate the switchback right above the waterfall, which I hadn't been able to do before.


From the waterfall I rode the trail along the south side, up to RB road (because the bridge is still closed), through the ball field, and over to the main south side trails. As I started the clockwise loop near the (closed) bridge, I passed a group of riders. I recognized Dan (OldDogDan) from our SMaRT ride a few months ago, and stopped to say hello. We chatted for a minute, and I gave him and his group directions on how to get over to the other part of the south side to Piedras Pintadas. Then we said our goodbyes and I was back on my way.

I made all of the rocky sections along the south side without dabbing, but did stop to take this picture of an egret. It was beautiful and the backdrop was really neat.

From there I finished up the singletrack along the south side, rode up to West Bernardo Road, across the 15, down the onramp, through the construction site, and hooked up with the North Hodges trails.

I did the basic North Hodges ride, including the upper singletrack and the section I found during the Tour de Hodges ride near the parking lot at the launch ramp. I then continued along the fun section along the west end of the lake, and made it over to Hernandez Hideaway.

From there, I began my second scouting portion of the ride. I couldn't tell exactly how to get from Hernandez Hideaway to the Dam, but had heard that there used to be some singletrack that had been closed off due to construction. As I passed HH, I saw a road that seemed to parallel the lake, and started riding down it. I hadn't gotten 200 yards when a security guard in a white Ford Ranger stopped me, yelled at me, and said that the road was closed. So I doubled back to the paved section of Lake Drive and rode up Rancho Drive to Del Dios Highway. On the way up Rancho Drive I rode a few other streets, looking for another way down to a supposed trail by the lake, but had no luck.

I rode up a short climb in the bike lane along Del Dios and then began descending. I kept looking over to my left at the lake, trying to see when I could pick up a trail, if at all. I passed one opportunity that looked like it simply ran into a construction site, so I decided to keep going along Del Dios. But as I continued, I could see that the turn I had ignored led to a fire road that paralleled the lake. After hesitating, I stopped, crossed Del Dios, and doubled back. I took the road down to where it snaked along the lake, and saw portions of Hodges I had never seen before.

I rode that road along all the way past the Dam, until it climbed back up and re-connected with Del Dios.

After just a few hundred yards on pavement, I hooked up with another fire road that parallelled the riverbed after the Dam.

That road also quickly rejoined Del Dios, and after another short pavement ride, I spotted the bridge I was looking for off to my left. The bridge, which had been completed shortly before the October fires and then subsequently burned and closed down, was below me on my left. I had to HAB down a short steep embankment, and then hesitantly crossed the bridge. It was technically closed, as was the next section of the San Dieguido River Park trail. But I wasn't going to worry about poaching today.



I crossed the bridge and began a fire road ascent that proved a little tough in spots. Halfway up the climb I looked over to my right and saw these tracks in the mountain along side Del Dios.

I couldn't tell if they were ridable, but they looked really neat. I completed my climb, and took a right along the SDRP trails. Before this ride, I had no idea these trails existed. But before the fires they were clearly well maintained and frequently used. Since the fire, the entire section has been closed pending the rebuilding of several newly built (and subsequently burned) bridges. I continued along the trail, a section of which looked like this:

Shortly thereafter I reached the first burned out bridge.

I simply hiked around it, careful to watch where I stepped. Apparently the bridges are not able to be rebuilt until late fall because the area nearby is used as a nesting ground for some species of bird. I saw no birds or nests along this section of trail however.

I traversed a couple of burned-out bridges, and continued along my way. To my right was a lush pond area, which was pretty neat.

To my left was the Crosby golf course, which was also scenic.

I continued along the SDRP trail, and soon reached my next point of exploration. On his Archipelago Ride a few months ago, MTB Bill had told my about having to climb a series of brutal switchbacks at the end of this section of trail. It was his opinion that there was a better route through the canyon floor that would allow riders to avoid the switchback climb/HAB. He didn't know exactly where it was, but sent me a map with his best guess.

I reached the base of the switchbacks and spent about 25 minutes thashing about in the knee-high weeds, looking for anything resembling a trail along the canyon floor. After getting thoroughly scratched up and finding nothing, I resigned myself to the switchbacks.

This picture is of the area I explored, looking for a trail. It was shot from above, about halfway up the first series of switchbacks:

There was no trail.

This picture is a wider angle of where Bill thought the canyon floor trail would go. As you can see, any trail is blocked by the pond.

I completed the first series of switchbacks pretty easily. By grabbing the metal fencepost at the apex of each turn, I was able to swing myself through each switchback without having to dismount. Without the posts, I would have been HABing the entire thing, because each switchback was ridiculously tight.

After the first set of switchbacks, there was a short descent, and then another set of longer, more brutal switchbacks that lacked the convenience of fenceposts. That section was extremely steep and loose, and there were 12 agonizingly tight switchbacks. I hiked to the top, exhausted, and was greeted with this sign:

From there I was faced with some additional exploration, because I had failed to ask MTB Bill what the rest of his route had been. I had counted on finding a trail along the canyon floor, and had scouted a connection from the canyon floor to the northwest portion of the Santa Luz loop. But as I rode along the mesa above the canyon, I couldn't immediately spot a trail taking me back down the the canyon floor. I rode around for about 15 minutes, looking for a way down, but there didn't appear to be one.

From there I took my only option, a fire road that headed east. I figured somewhere along the way I would find a trail that would take me down to the canyon floor, and I could then hook up with the Santa Luz trails or the trails I was familiar with through Lusardi Canyon.

The eastbound fire road was steep, and I was experiencing significant fatigue by this point. I was also frustrated by my lack of options and the fact that I was essentially lost. I finally got to the top of the fire road, and saw another fire road that seemed to head down into the canyon. I rode down it, worried that it would be a waste of time and precious energy, but determined to take the calculated risk. It didn't pay off.

The offshoot fire road ended up being a dead end, and I hacked my way through some brush to get back to the main eastbound fire road. I continued to grind along, looking for a trail that would take me south into Lusardi Canyon, but had no luck. Eventually, out of options, I continued along the fire road, hoping to eventually hit Camino del Sur and reorient myself. The fire road alternated between steep climbs and flat sections, cutting through construction sites and new home developments. Eventually I hit a paved road (which I later discovered was Artesian Trail Road) which took me to Artesian Road, which led back to Camino del Sur like I'd hoped.

By this point in the ride, I was completely exhausted, and unbelievably hot, frustrated, and annoyed. The first section of the ride had gone so smoothly, but the last section was a horror-show. Between the bushwacking looking for a trail that didn't exist, the gnarly switchbacks, and getting lost along the mesa, a great ride had turned into a nightmare.

I finally hit Camino del Sur, and briefly considered riding south for a half mile and taking the Lusardi trails home. Doing so would have allowed me to finish the ride mostly on dirt, but I was out of energy and pretty pissed, so I elected to just ride Camino del Sur to the northwest toward home. I had to stop once on the short paved climb just before home out of sheer exhaustion. I was cramping and lightheaded, but determined to finish. I dragged myself the rest of the way up the hill and made it to my driveway with virtually no energy to spare.

My goal for this ride had been to essentially ride the route I rode, but I had intended to successfully link up with Santa Luz so that I could pre-ride this section before riding the whole thing. With my problem connecting to Santa Luz, I'm going to have to scout a new route.

At the end of the day, the ride had some successful elements. I now know how to connect 4S to Hodges, and Hodges to the Crosby area. I just need to figure out how to connect SDRP/Crosby area to Santa Luz, and part 1 of my Archipelago Ride will be complete.

Here are the stats. This ended up being the longest ride of my short mountainbiking career thus far.

Total Distance: 28.01 miles
Total Time: 4:24:38
Ascent: 2793 feet
Average Speed: 6.3 mph
Top Speed: 29.8 mph
Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite

Friday, July 11, 2008

RR: Ted Williams

For the second time in a week, I had an opportunity to do a ride in a spot that is considered "confidential" for most local riders. Doug once again invited me out to an afternoon ride, this time at a spot known as Ted Williams. TW is generally considered a downhiller's ride, and some even shuttle to the top and bomb down. We would be climbing, and for me at least, there would be no bombing. But the downhill was a lot of fun.

I met up with Doug and Sean (GP Pilot) after work after a little trouble finding the trailhead.

They were just finishing their first preliminary run when I arrived, having gotten to the trailhead about an hour earlier. I got geared up and we headed up the main trail toward the top of the mountain. At the bottom of the hill, we passed a large section of jumps and stunts that looked pretty hardcore. Halfway up the mountain we stopped at an outcropping of rock, and could see where some of the maniacs would launch from. Ridiculous.

The climb itself was steady, but not too technical or crazy steep, and while I hiked a couple of short sections (10 feet or so) it was mostly ridable. The views were impressive.

We could even see Black Mountain off in the distance.

We made it to the top, and spent a little time playing around on the concrete launchpad that is there. I jumped off of the sides, which were about two to two and a half feet, but never went off the end, which is closer to three. I wish I had, since it wasn't a particularly big deal, so I'll be taking care of that next time.

From there we did a short downhill section, and then traversed over to the south side of the mountain, where we wrapped around and began another long climb back up towards the top. That one did get to me, and I ended up HABing about the last third. It wasn't techy at all, just steep and sustained. Sean flew up it, and Doug was able to ride the whole thing as well.

Once we finally made it back to the summit, we headed back down again, this time on a less-traveled trail that looked fun. It was, but had several sections that each of us elected to walk down because the penalty for failure was substantial.

Doug did huck one medium drop, which was pretty cool. He did his own RR here.

I had a great time, and was able to cross another new trail off of my to do list. While this one wasn't specfically on my 2008 Ride List, I did add it later in my Q1 State of the Union, so it was nice to get over there. Its very close to home, and was more cross-countryish than I had expected, so I intend to get back there soon.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 5.72 miles
Total Time: 1:45:41
Ascent: 1266 feet
Average Speed: 3.2 mph
Top Speed: 20.4 mph
Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite
Map: [Undisclosed]

Saturday, July 5, 2008

RR: LPQ

The 4th of July weekend was almost upon me, and while I had some time off, I had no idea where to ride. Then Doug gave me a call, and the perfect situation presented itself.

I had been following with some interest a series of discussions on STR about a mythical new tunnel out at LPQ that was something of a secret. I was one of the people on the outside of that little circle of trust. Until today.

We met at a trailhead I had never seen before, and were making our way up Powerlines almost out of the gate. It was me, Doug, Evan, and Scott, which made for a great group. Evan was on his singlespeed, which was impressive.

Evan led the way for the early going, and took us all over the singletrack that is up on top of the mesa above the tunnels. There were some really fun sections, including one that had some moderate exposure that got my attention, and we wound our way around for a while up there. All of the singletrack we rode made me miss the intestines a little less, since the terrain and style were very similar.

We skipped Rocking Horse completely, and went down the main tunnel over to the tunnel with the bike at the entrance, thenwent up the fire road and back down the fun downhill section back into the tunnels.

After a short regroup, in which we were regaled with Evan's Canada stories in his accent, we took the traditional climb out of the tunnels and went back up to the mesa for some more upper singletrack.

At that point I became totally lost, which may have been everyone's intent, because all of a sudden we were dropping into the mysterious new tunnel.

It was a lot of fun, and was clearly somewhat less traveled than the others. I caught my camelback on a branch halfway through, and also slipped my chain at one point, so I fell a little behind. Fortunately, Scott waited for me at a juncture, and we caught up with the rest of the group at the base of a pavement climb that took us back to Del Vino.

The pavement climb was steep but not too long, and I made it up relatively well. From Del Vino we went down Cobbles, through the fun up and down section at the end, and then along the canyon floor back to Powerlines. We went up powerlines a bit, then headed back to the car.

It was an interesting ride for me. It felt great to be included, and I always like being "in the know" about new trails. The pace of the group was interesting: when we were riding, the pace was pretty fast, but we stopped relatively often to take breaks. I never felt like an anchor, which is my only real goal for any group ride.

In any event, I really liked this group of guys, and look forward to riding with them again. I won't be posting a google map of the route due to the sensitive nature of the trail, but if anyone reading this wants a tour, I'm sure we can work something out.

We did miss going over to the new section that has some newly built stunts and jumps, which I would have liked to have seen. Maybe next time, if I can find them.

Total Distance: 13.88 miles
Total Time: 2:45:04
Ascent: 1494 feet
Average Speed: 5.0 mph
Top Speed: 20.0 mph
Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite
Map: [CONFIDENTIAL]

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

State of the MTB Union Part II (Q2, 2008)

Back on April 1, I posted a first quarter State of the Union address for the blog, detailing the progress I had made on my 2008 Ride List and Goal List and projecting the likelihood of meeting the remaining goals on each respective list. I enjoyed the chance to evaluate my progress and hypothesize about how to achieve the remaining achievements, so I figured I'd do it again at the end of the second quarter (Q2) of 2008.

2008 RIDE LIST:

If I count July 1 as part of the second quarter of 2008, I have ridden 13 of the 17 rides on my 2008 Ride List. In the second quarter alone, I rode Black Mountain, Daley Ranch, Santa Margarita River Trail, and Sweetwater. I also rode the full Noble Canyon shuttle, which I had not done at my first trip to Noble in the first quarter when I bailed out on the last portion and rode the paved road back. I also rode the Cuyamaca Grand Loop (twice!), which was not on my ride list but is a popular San Diego county ride, so that was a good one to get.

Even though I rode 9 of the items on the Ride List in Q1 and only 5 in Q2, the five I rode in Q2 were generally tougher rides and required more planning and creativity to get to. For that reason, I'm prouder of the 5 I did in Q2 than the 9 in Q1.

The remaining rides on my 2008 Ride List are Big Laguna Trail, Lake Morena, Elfin Forest, and Mission Trails/Spring/Oak Canyons. Skyline MTB has a ride planned at BLT in early July, so that is attainable. Elfin is a tough ride, but is in Escondido, so I have no excuse but to get there sometime this year. And SDMBA is having an organized ride over at MTRP in mid-July, so that will take care of at least part of the Mission Trails ride. Lake Morena remains a wild card, because it is so far away and apparently quite a challenge. But I think I'll get there. STR member Chip has offered to show me around the next time he goes, so that is one option.

2008 GOAL LIST:

As for my more general 2008 Goal List, the results are less impressive. For a full description of the goals themselves, check out that entry. Below is the list, with comments on my progress thus far (or lack thereof) and prognosis for completion by the end of the year on a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being unlikely and 10 being already done):

1. Ride Noble Canyon: (10)

I did the full Noble Shuttle, and am satisfied that this goal has been met. As I predicted in the April State of the Union, I rode the full Noble trail from top to bottom at the Skyline MTB weekend, and generally had a lot of fun. The portion of the trail that I skipped on my first time out there was the best part of the ride, and I'll never bail out on that section again.

2. Do a ~50 mile/all day-type ride: (5)

This one I haven't done, and haven't even really gotten close. In fact, at this point, I probably couldn't ride 50 miles in a day, unless it was pretty flat and I had all day to finish. I heard rumors of an Archipelago/Islands ride in early April, where they'll ride La Costa --> Elfin --> Hodges --> San Dieguito River Park --> Santa Luz --> Black Mountain --> LPQ, which should be about 50 miles. It would be awesome to be a part of that, but its not gonna happen for me this time. Hopefully they'll do it again later in the year and I can join that one.

3. Do a Multi-Day ride: (5)

The likelihood of attaining this one has diminished with rising gas prices and my failure to do it at the Skyline MTB weekend in Laguna. I still want to, but traveling to go biking doesn't seem likely in the near future, so I have some doubts.

4. Do an Out of Town Ride: (4)

I initially thought I accomplished this goal when I rode at the Santa Rosa Plateau in mid-June, and then I went back and looked at the description of the actual goal and realized it referred to a ride outside of SoCal entirely, so I'm back to square one here as well. Like the above goal, gas prices and time play a major role in whether it will happen. I'm not going to Adam's graduation in Sacramento, so that option is out. I may go visit Joel in Sacramento in August or September, but I doubt I'll be able to afford to drive, so biking while there may be a stretch. I have concerns about whether this one will happen.

5. Do a Ride in the OC: (8)

I obviously haven't done this yet either, but I am interested in shuttling San Juan, riding Aliso, or maybe even doing San Clemente Single Tracks. Again, with the sheer volume of STR rides in those places, it shouldn't be a problem doing one of them. I really want to get out to San Juan, which I've heard is a lot of fun.

6. Do a Night Ride (w/Light): (10)

This is one of the three goals I met in Q2, when I did the SDMBA Cuyamaca Night ride. It was a whole new experience riding at night, and I enjoyed night riding enough that I picked up a NiteRider TriNewt from Performance when they were on mega-sale, so I'll be doing more night riding in the future.

7. Clear all of Martha's: (9)(No Change since Q1)

I'm so close on this one, and I already basically did hard part with the downhill, so I just need to clean climbs and one tiny part. Its close to home and I ride there pretty often, so I'm pretty confident about meeting this goal.

8. Clear all of "the ****": (10)

Did it. And it was kind of a cool story, since I went and rode the S**** the night before SDMBA went and did trailwork on it and changed its landscape forever. You can read the ride report here.

9. Climb Bernardo Mountain: (10)

I accomplished this one as part of perhaps my best biking experience in Q2, the Tour de Hodges. I'll talk more about that day below, but I did ride Bernardo Peak, and while there was definitely some HAB, I accomplished the goal of getting to the top.

10. Improve my climbing skills/general fitness:

This one is still hit and miss. I've almost completely abandoned the stationary bike, but have been on the trails much more in Q2 than Q1, and have been running quite a bit as well. I had some good days and bad days in terms of fitness in Q2, but overall I've seen real improvement. I'm still HABing more than I'd prefer, but if I compare my Daley Ranch ride on July 1st with the same (attempted) ride on January 26th, there's no question I've come a long way. Other good days included Black Mountain, Cycle Eastlake, the first time through the Cuyamaca Grand Loop, and the Tour de Hodges.

Bad fitness days included Sweetwater, a basic North/South Hodges ride, and the Cuyamaca Night Ride.

HIGHLIGHTS OF Q2:

I met and rode with some neat new people in Q2. After multiple emails and blog comments, I finally got to ride with Doug at SMaRT, which was great. I also met and rode with Dave G., Sol, and even local MTB celebrity MTB Bill, which was awesome. I was actually a little starstruck, but Bill is a really neat, down to earth guy who was a pleasure to ride and chat with.

I also bought a new (to me) bike in Q2. The jury is still out to some extent, but I generally like it a lot, and don't regret the purchase. The additional suspension travel is a huge plus, and as I get in better shape the additional weight will be less and less of a factor.

I did my first organized MTB event in Q2, Cycle Eastlake. It was a poker ride, not a race, and was generally a lot of fun. I enjoyed the "event" aspect of it, and would like to do more things like that in the future with friends.

In the beginning of Q2, I was in a bit of an MTB rut, and wasn't enjoying riding as much as I used to. Then I went on a tear, riding six new trails in less than a month, and I was back to enjoying riding and looking forward to being on the bike. The lesson there was that its important to mix things up every now and then and ride new places. I also learned that a large portion of my enjoyment in riding is exploring new trails and navigating unique locations.

I also developed a new local ride in Q2. I linked up the 4S Ranch trails with parts of lower Black Mountain and put together a fun loop that I can do in less than an hour. The loop also includes the Canyon Rim trail that I did trailwork on in late March, which is a challenging, techy downhill that has really improved my confidence on other difficult trails.

Probably the top overall highlight of Q2 was my Tour de Hodges ride in late May. It was by far my longest ride to date at 27.43 miles, and was an awesome experience.

For the second quarter of 2008, I rode a total of 254.75 miles on my mountain bike, as opposed to 133.63 miles in Q1. While rain and weather did factor into the lesser mileage earlier in the year, I did step up both my frequency and duration of my rides, and I think that its paying off in my enjoyment and conditioning.

Those are my thoughts on Q2 of 2008. I'm pleased with my progress and look forward to checking back in in September to see what new experiences I'll have to write about then.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

RR: Daley Ranch

Today was redemption day for me, as I decided to attempt to do a full ride at Daley Ranch more than five months after I had tried to ride out there and couldn't finish because I was so tired.

After struggling somewhat at Cuyamaca on Friday night, I had some concerns about how I would do at Daley, so I elected to ride it solo. Armed with Doug's suggested route, and a trail map I found at the Daley Ranch website, I figured I would go at my own pace and do as well as I could. By riding alone, I didn't have to worry about holding other riders up or taking breaks when I wanted to.

I left work a few minutes early, and was at the trailhead a little after 5 PM. I gave my chain a quick lube and got underway around 5:15.

Here was the map that I was using:

I started out on Creek Crossing trail, which I had ridden back in January. As I spun up the climbs, I actually felt pretty good. My pace was generally slow, but I was keeping a consistent speed and not stopping to rest as I made my way over to the East Ridge trail and started up Sage. It was a grind, and I was feeling the ascent as I climbed up Sage, but I wasn't blown out and wasn't even tempted to HAB. I even had a chance to enjoy the views a little as I rode along.

I continued to climb Sage past the connector to Coyote Run, which I had ridden back in January. The ascent continued another mile or so, including this section which briefly went under a neat canopy of trees:

Just past the tree canopy I saw the sign for Diamondback trail, and I made a left. That section included an awesome singletrack descent, with small bumps in the trail that enabled me to get a little air as I swept through the turns. After a little less than half a mile on Diamondback, I made the transition to a section of Coyote Run that I hadn't ridden before, and it was a blast as well. After just over a half mile of awesome swoopy singletrack, I reached the junction of Coyote Run and the East Ridge trail.

I took the East Ridge trail to the right, and rode that fire road for about 4/5 of a mile until it joined Ranch House Road. On my left as I rode by was the Ranch House itself. After passing it, I decided to double back for a quick picture:

Then I turned around and headed north, to the Jack Creek Meadow Loop. I had read on other sites that the Meadow Loop was just a flat spin across the meadow and is essentially a connector to some of the climbing sections in the far northwest part of the Ranch. I agree that the Meadow Loop is not a destination portion of this ride, and I would not consider it a highlight. It seemed to go on forever, and despite the advertisements, I think the northbound side had a slight incline the whole way out. Here's what it looked like as I slogged along:

I rode the entire east side of Jack Creek Meadow Loop, made the turn at the end, and approached the right hand turn for Hidden Spring fire road, better known as Cardiac. Here is what it looks like from the bottom of Hidden Spring;

Not that bad, right? I started my way up, with no idea what was in store for me. That quickly changed as the road morphed from graded fire road to rocky trail in the blink of an eye.

Any designs I may have had on cleaning the whole climb disappeared at the first rocky step-up that I couldn't handle, and it was HAB for me from there on. I did stop to take a picture of the Palomar mountains to the northeast:

The rockiest and most difficult part of the climb ended after about a quarter mile, and when I reached what I thought was the top of the climbing, I stopped for a short break. I ate some Clif Shots and gathered myself, and after three minutes or so re-mounted the bike and continued the ride.

What I didn't realize at that point was that the climbing had only just begun, and the rocky section had been but a preview of coming attractions. The next 3/4 of a mile alternated between moderate to significant climbing, and I was able to ride all of it except for one final steep, short, rocky 100 yard section that I had to HAB. I was also feeling pretty fatigued by this point, but was actually pleased with my overall performance. After having to bail out at the Ranch House back in January, I was chugging along pretty well today.

The climb up Hidden Spring finally ended, and I made a right turn onto the singletrack at Burnt Mountain trail. My legs were a little fried at that point, and I actually had to walk a tiny uphill at the beginning of Burnt Mountain because I lost momentum making the turn and didn't have the strength to get clipped back in and power up the brief climb.

After that I rode the rest of Burnt Mountain, which was a fun downhill singletrack with some short drops and rocky sections that kept me on my toes and provided a nice contrast to the miles of fire road climb that I had been doing. After about 1/3 of a mile, Burnt Mountain intersected Engelman Oak trail, and I made a left at the "T " intersection.

It was back to fire road as I rode along Engleman Oak, but the views were scenic. There was some tree cover alongside and over the trail, and on my right was the "Old Water Tank."


Off to my right was also an even better view of the Palomar Mountain range than I had seen before:

I rode along Engleman Oak for about a half mile, and then made a left onto the Bobcat trail, which was once again a fun and challenging singletrack descent. Bobcat was more difficult than either of the previous singletrack sections, and a couple of times I had to grab fistfulls of my brakes in order to stay on trail or keep from getting more air than I wanted on a particular drop. It was also pretty rocky and rough, and by the end of Bobcat my hands were actually a little sore from the vibration. Nonetheless, it was a fun section, and I had a great time flying downhill and taking the turns as fast as I was able.

Bobcat dead-ended at Cougar Ridge trail, and I took a left at the point of intersection of the two trails. What I didn't know at that point was that the next mile and a half of the Cougar Ridge trail was a steep, rocky uphill climb that for my money was even more difficult than Hidden Spring (Cardiac) had been. Cougar Ridge was not as rutted or rocky as Cardiac, but it felt longer and steeper. (My GPS graph of the elevation of the ride informed me that I am mistaken about that, and Hidden Spring is slightly longer but Cougar Ridge climbs a little higher in less time, which is probably why it felt so difficult.)

I'm not proud of it, but I HAB'ed most of the Cougar Ridge climb and just tried to keep going as the trail unfolded in front of me. I did stop to take a picture of the views to the south, which were expansive:

Eventually, the death march mercifully abated, and I enjoyed a short downhill section of Cougar Ridge before making a left onto the Crest trail, which I believed would be the final singtrack of my ride today. Here is what the early section of the Crest trail looked like:

Crest trail was another fun downhill singletrack, with more short bumps to get air over and sketchy downhill spots that required getting back over my seat and skimming through and over ruts that seemed to be everywhere. I almost got out of control at one particularly rutted section that led to a short drop, but reduced my speed and rolled the drop without stopping or crashing, which was good.

The Crest trail was a mile and a quarter of downhill fun, which I needed after the slog that had been Cougar Ridge. When I reached the bottom of Crest, my directions told me to take a left and ride a very short section of the Boulder Loop trail until it connected with the Ranch House Road, which I would then take back to the car.

I was pleased with myself that at that point, I was on pace to make it back to the car in about 2 hours and 5 minutes, which was only five minutes more than the suggested ride time of 2 hours that Doug's directions had indicated. Even with my HAB(s), I had kept a decent pace and had not fallen too badly of the projected ride duration, which made me feel pretty good.

It was only 7:05, however, and I figured I had at least an hour of daylight left. I was fatigued, but not exhausted, and I was not entirely ready to go home. However, without detailed knowledge of any of the other trails nearby, I decided not to risk getting over my head, and made the left turn on to Boulder Loop trail and quickly turned right on to Ranch House Road to do the short paved ride back to the car.

As I started down Ranch House Road, however, I had a change of heart. I had ridden well today (for me), and still had some gas left in my tank. I could tell on my map that the Boulder Loop was less than two miles long, and had a singletrack section in the middle that looked like it would be fun. After consulting the map for another minute, my mind was made up, and I turned around and rode back west on the Boulder Loop trail in the direction I had come.

I passed the turn for the Crest trail that I had ridden, and continued along Boulder Loop to the west. I turned a corner, and then I saw the first climb. It was steep. I downshifted and spun away, doing my best to keep my cranks turning despite my fatigue and the ascent. After about 2/10 of a mile, I was cooked, and the remaining 3/4 of a mile uphill climb constituted my final HAB of the day. And defintately my slowest.

I stopped a couple of times to rest, and each turn of the trail revealed another uphill section. I finally hauled myself and my bike to the top, passed the turn-off for Cougar Ridge that I would have taken had I not ridden the Crest trail, and continued along the Boulder Loop.

I pedaled away, spinning an easy gear even on the flats, and willing myself up the short moderate climbs that punctuated the north side of the Boulder Loop. Just as I was finally questioning my decision to do this bonus loop, I spotted the sign for Rock Ridge trail. I made the left turn, and rode up two short medium climbs that wound their way along the singletrack. After the climbs, it was all downhill, and I was glad I had decided to ride this section. It was less rutted and rocky than Crest and Bobcat had been, and had some fun bermed turns and up and down sections. I rode the Rock Ridge singletrack until it re-connected with the Boulder Loop, and I made a left turn.

The Boulder Loop continued downhill, and ended with a gnarly fire road descent that was particularly steep and rocky. I was on the brakes the whole way down, and had very little traction as I bumped along the rocks and ruts all the way to the bottom. From there I hooked up with the Ranch House Road, and rode the final half mile section of paved road back to the car.

I had an awesome time on this ride, and left Daley with a sense of pride and accomplishment, particularly in the face of the debacle I had experienced back in January. This time, I had ridden the entire beginning section without major difficulty, whereas I had HAB'ed almost all of it in January. And despite the fact that I still had more than my share of HAB's on today's ride, I think most of them would have presented problems for many riders, and I did significantly better than I could have done in the past.

I had a great time experiencing a new trial, and was aided tremendously by Doug's directions and the Daley trailmap that I brought with me. And despite the brutal climb at the beginning of the Boulder Loop, I was glad I chose to do the bonus section at the end of the ride. I had the time and the legs to do it, and despite the difficulty, it was fun and gave me a sense of accomplishment. But now I totally understand why it wasn't part of Doug's regular route.

I'm also glad I made the decision to do today's ride alone. I'm planning a lengthy post about my feelings on solo vs. group rides, which is inspired by my preliminary thoughts posted in the last portion of my ride review of the Cuyamaca night ride last Friday. But as far as today's ride, it felt great to go at my own pace, take pictures when I wanted to, explore new trails for myself, and HAB when I couldn't ride a section without worrying about holding someone(s) up. Someday I'm sure I'll do a group ride at Daley, but at least now I'll know what I'm getting in to.

Here are the stats from today:

Total Distance: 14.46 miles
Total Time: 2:28:55
Ascent: 2592 feet
Average Speed: 5.8 mph
Top Speed: 25.9 mph
Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite
Map:

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