LPQ/Tunnels Night Ride

I did my first ride with the regular Tuesday Night LPQ crew tonight, and it was an eventful one. I had mentioned this ride to Dave G. last week, and thanks to some midday scheduling efforts, was able to get everyone to agree to a 7 PM start time that allowed him to come along.Dave and I hadn’t ridden together since the Hodges ride earlier this year, though we had emailed back and forth several times since then, so it was nice to ride with him again

I picked Dave up at 6:40 at his house and we drove over to the Park Village trailhead. We met Dennis, who I had never ridden with before, and we spent a few minutes getting acquainted while we waited for Sean M. to arrive.

We set out right around 7:30 and Sean led the way. As we rode up powerlines, Sean and Dennis pulled away, and eventually Dave did as well. We quickly regrouped at the top of powerlines and then headed for the singletrack around the mesa. We did a lot of the mesa trails, including one that I know had some decent exposure off to the left that we couldn’t see because of how dark it was. I was riding in my customary spot at the back of the pack, but was hanging pretty well. The pace was a little slower than the last time I had ridden here with Evan and Doug and Scott, but we were still going faster than my usual speed when I’m solo. Throughout the ride, my bike was continuing to ghost shift like crazy, and it is definitely time that I have that issue addressed once and for all. Every time I’d try to pedal hard coming out of at turn or up a short steep section it would shift, which was extremely frustrating.

We spent some significant time up on the mesa singletrack, and then rode down the main tunnel entrance and through some of the tunnels. I found myself falling farther and farther behind at that point as I gingerly picked my way through the low-hanging limbs and tight turns. Sean had promised to stop at each junction, but I did come to one spot where I wasn’t sure which way the group had gone. The foliage is so dense down there that I couldn’t see their lights, but I was pretty sure I knew the route Sean was doing, so I made the turn and continued along, hoping to catch up at the next junction.Being alone in the tunnels was a little disconcerting, so I tried to pick up my speed and push it a little bit to catch up. All of a sudden, my world was plunged into darkness and I slammed at a pretty good speed into a tree branch. I managed to keep from falling over and stood there for a minute feeling stunned. I knew immediately what had happened; my light battery, which had been strapped to my down tube with Velcro, had fallen off, disconnecting from the handlebar light. It was absolutely pitch black all around me. Like, “can’t see my hand in front of my face” black. I groped around on the ground for a minute, looking for the battery on the trial, but couldn’t find it. Fighting a little bit of a freak-out, I took off my pack and felt around inside for the keychain LED flashlight that I keep in there. I found it and turned it on, and immediately started to feel better. My battery lay in the middle of the trail a few feet behind me, and I picked it up and began trying to reconnect it to the cable attached to the headlamp. After a minute of fiddling with it, I got the two connected and turned the light back on. Sweet beautiful light flooded the area, and I was almost ready to go. I firmly strapped the light to the downtube again, double checked it, and began pedaling up the trail. Just as I was getting underway, another group of riders rode by in the opposite direction, and mentioned that my group was waiting for me a little ways up ahead, which was a relief.

I hooked back up with the guys a minute later, and after explaining my mishap, we continued through the tunnels. I was able to stay closer this time, and followed the group as we rode through the stream crossings and out the tunnel with the bike at the entrance.From there we rode up the fire road, then over toward Carmel Mountain road and did some more of the mesa singletrack.>We then dropped down into the Rocking Horse tunnel, down to the main trail, and then did a short section up on a ridgeline above the tunnels that I hadn’t ridden before.

While on the ridgeline trail, I was continuing to ghost shift like crazy, and Sean took a few minutes to try to adjust my rear derailleur. Both he and Dave looked at it, and couldn’t see any visible problems. The chain was aligned, the hanger was straight, and neither of them had any idea of how to fix it. Discouraged, but grateful for the help and understanding of my fellow riders, I soldiered on with my annoying bike.

From the ridgeline trail we dropped back down into the tunnels, then through the main tunnel trail and out the main exit. I began to fatigue pretty hard toward the last ¼ of the climb out, and even had some HAB for the first time in that section in a long time.

From there we rode across the mesa for a minute, then down into Tunnel 5.About halfway through Tunnel 5, I ran over a tree branch and immediately heard a hissing sound. A second later the hissing was followed by a thump thump thump sound, and I knew I had gotten a rear flat. I yelled ahead to the other three guys, and pulled over to start to fix the flat. As I was digging through my pack for my spare tube, Sean immediately got to work changing my tire without me even asking. He basically acted as my one-man pit crew, quickly and efficiently changing the tire in less than 5 minutes. My role was limited to handing him the tube and the pump and watching intently as he worked. When he finished I thanked him repeatedly, and we were once again under way. (As a side note, I officially can not figure Sean out at this point. He did a tremendous time organizing the Kernville Sequoia trip, and I thought I expressed my gratitude and appreciation both during the trip and afterward, but he never seemed to receive it. Tonight, he did an amazing job leading this ride through the labyrinthine trail network in the dark and helped me with two mechanicals, but when I tried to thank him, he barely seemed to acknowledge it. I wasn’t mad at his reactions (or lack thereof), just confused. Maybe he just doesn’t like me. This is a mystery to me.)

In any event, after we replaced the tube, we finished the rest of Tunnel 5 and rode through the meadow at the end. The rest of the group saw some deer in the meadow, but I missed them. We then rode up the paved road to Del Vino, then down Cobbles. The ride down Cobbles was maybe the most fun section of the night. I stayed off the brakes and held Sean’s wheel the whole way down, flying over the little jumps and taking the turns with speed. It was awesome.

We reached the bottom of Cobbles and just before the fun roller coaster section, my front wheel dropped into a small rut while my rear wheel stayed up on the trail. I saved myself from crashing and was able to keep going after a short dab, but was now in the third position after Sean and Dennis. Then, just as I was riding up the fun steep section that leads to the steep drop off in the roller coaster section, I stalled out right at the top. I had tried to pedal hard at the apex of the steep uphill portion when my drivetrain ghost shifted, causing me to stall and almost become a hood ornament for Dave, who was right behind me. I really need to get that shifting fixed. Pronto.

After that we spun through the main LPQ canyon trail, then back up the lower portion of powerlines and back to the cars.

I’m really glad Dave was able to come along, he’s a neat guy and I enjoy riding with him. It had apparently been 15 years since he had ridden at LPQ, so it was fun to be able to show him some of the trails that I enjoy so much. I remember my first few times through the tunnels, and how much fun they were, and it was neat to watch Dave experience them for the first time tonight.

It was also nice to meet Dennis, who is apparently a Tuesday night regular.

Sean remains an enigma to me. After thinking about it more, I don't think he likes me, but don't know why. He is an extremely helpful and resourceful person, and I really appreciate his leadership, expertise, and helpfulness, even if he is annoyed by me for some reason.

I didn’t take any pictures because it was dark. My TriNewt light worked great for its second outing, and was bright and projected a wide beam. I may try it on my helmet next time, which would alleviate the problem of strapping the battery to my downtube. LPQ is a fun trail, and is pretty different at night, though having some course knowledge helped. The temperature was also unseasonably warm, in the 80's I think. All in all it was a fun ride, even with the mechanicals. I continue to wish I was in better condition, which would have enabled me to keep up with the group a little better. Having a well-functioning bike wouldn’t hurt with that either though.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 12.28 miles
Total Time: 2:23:24
Ascent: 1385 feet
Average Speed: 5.1 mph
Top Speed: 18.8 mph
Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite
Map:

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RR: LPQ with Rachel

It was a gorgeous Sunday day today, and since we stayed close to home for church, Rach suggested we go on a bike ride together. She had suggested we ride a couple of times over the last few months, but something kept getting in the way. I was thrilled at her interest, and committed to stay on target this time and get out on the trail together.

Rach made peanut butter sandwiches before we left, and we planned to stop at the waterfall mid-ride to eat lunch. Rachel would be riding the Gary Fisher Napa that we had bought her last year. Its kind of a hybrid mountain bike/cruiser, but it has a front suspension fork and knobby tires, and she had done fine with it at LPQ a couple of times in the past.

We started from the Canyonside Park trailhead and were on our way. I encouraged Rach to ride around the parking lot for a few minutes to get re-accostomed to being on the bike after not riding for several months, but before I could finish my suggestion she was 30 yards away and heading up the dirt trail. So much for a pavement warm-up.

We spun along the first fairly flat section of the trail that goes through along the canyon floor. I encouraged Rachel to shift as we came up to small hills, just to make the ride easier, but she preferred to stay in one gear. I'm not sure whether it was because she was uncomfortable shifting, or just liked pedaling in a harder gear, but she seemed to do just fine using her method so I resisted the urge to over-coach her. All I cared about was whether she was having fun, and she seemed to be. I took this shot over my shoulder early on in the ride:


As we rode along the fire road/doubletrack that makes up most of the canyon trails at LPQ, I noticed Rach migrate toward a singletrack offshoot that paralleled the main trail. (I don't mean one of the closed singletrack trails that goes in the trees near the creek, this was just a small, 30 yard parallel trail that had probably been created by people avoiding puddles in the main trial last winter.) In any event, I was excited that my wife would choose singetrack over fire road without being told, and I mentioned to her that I was proud of her choice and that she was thinking like a true mountain biker. Her response brought me back to earth, however, when she replied, " Oh, this little trail just had less rocks than the big trail, so I thought it would be easier." Hard to argue with that logic...

We reached the waterfall after about 20 minutes, and sat for a while enjoying the scenery and eating our sandwiches. After a little while we hiked down closer to the water and took a few pictures. Here's one:

It was a beautiful day, a little warm for the end of September but with a nice breeze. We briefly contemplated riding down to Wagon Wheel crossing and riding the trail on the south side of the canyon back to the cars, but decided not to push it on Rach's first ride in a while.

After a half hour or so at the waterfall, we packed up our remaining food and headed back the way we came. The ride back went smoothly as well, and I was proud of Rach for powering through a small section of babyhead rocks that made her a little nervous. She also successfully rode up a semi-steep drainage ditch that I thought she would have to walk, which was impressive. All in all, she seemed to enjoy herself, and I definitely did.

I was excited that my wife would suggest riding today, because its such a big part of my life that its a blessing to share it with her whenever I can. I'm not sure she'll ever enjoy it as much as I do, or want to do more advanced trails and whatnot, but I'll take what I can get and appreciate the times we do ride together. Hopefully it won't be seven months before we ride together again like it was this time. I have a feeling it won't.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 5.88 miles
Total Time: 1:15:14
Ascent: 220 feet
Average Speed: 4.7 mph
Top Speed: 13.0 mph
Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite
Map:

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RR: Spring/Oak Canyons

I grew ever closer to completing all of the rides on my 2008 Ride List today with a really fun ride through Spring and Oak Canyons over at MTRP. On Friday I had noticed a post by Doug on STR about riding Mission Trails today, and after some emails back and forth, convinced him to let me tag along.

After some uncertainty about the status of the Clairemont Mesa trailhead, we decided to meet at the horse park off Mast at the north end of MTRP at 9:30. Because neither of us had a specific route in mind, last night I gave Billy a call and asked him if he knew of any good trails we could do. He said that the MTRP trails were mostly steep up and downs and not a lot of fun, but sent me a GPS file of a recent loop he did through Spring and Oak Canyon, which sounded like fun. I downloaded the route to my Edge, though I wasn't sure how it worked or if we would even ride those trails.

When I arrived I saw that Doug and Sean were already there, as was Evan. We geared up and were regaled with the tales of an older gentlemen who was there with one of his horses while we waited for Jeremy to arrive. We set out shortly thereafter, and after a quarter mile or so stopped to discuss our route. Since nobody had really ridden here before, and the consensus was that the trails over on the west side of MTRP were steep and hard to get to, I was able to convince the group to give Spring and Oak Canyons a shot.

We started back on our way, and took a right on the fire road that would take us under the 52 freeway and north to Spring Canyon. As we made the turn to the north, my Edge chirped at me, and notified me that I was "on route" for the trail I had downloaded. I had actually forgotten about downloading the trail to the GPS, and was pretty pumped that it was working without any effort on my part.

We continued under the 52 and into Spring Canyon. I stopped at a short singletrack offshoot, and Sean decided that it looked more fun than the fire road through the canyon, so we headed that way. We meandered through the singletrack, which was basically flat with a few dry stream bed crossings entertaining S-curves. Apparently there had been a car fire on the 52 recently that had ignited the canyon, and evidence of the burned areas was clear. Luckily the fire was quickly contained, and the damage was limited.

We continued along the singletrack for a bit until we reached another fork in the road. Continuing left (northwest) would lead us into a saddle between two hills, and presumably toward Oak Canyon. Heading right (slightly northeast) would allow us to continue through Spring Canyon. The GPS was a little difficult to read, and I suggested we continue through Spring Canyon for a while to see what was up ahead. There were no dissenters, and we took a right.

From there we rode a mix of fireroad and singletrack north through Spring Canyon. While it looked pretty flat, I found myself getting fairly fatigued as I spun along, trying to keep up with Sean and Evan who were leading the way. We rode along for about a mile or so, until we reached another intersection at the base of a steep fire road. We stopped there for a minute to rest, which I think Doug and Jeremy appreciated.

Rather than climb the steep fire road to nowhere, we beared left and rode along another singletrack section that continued even farther up the canyon to the north. Eventually we reached a steep climb that involved some HAB on the way up. As we reached the top, we had a neat view of MCAS Miramar and the firing range to the northwest.

I joined Evan in getting out of the line of fire as we waited for the other guys to finish the climb, and then we had a decision to make. We could either head back the way we came and do the fun downhill section we just HAB'ed, or take a fire road that headed southwest to parts unknown. Always a fan of exploring new trails, I favored the fire road. Others wanted to get some payoff for the climbing they just suffered through, and wanted to double back. Fortunately, a compromise was struck. We decided to ride up the fire road for a short distance up to a point where we could see how far it went and whether it looked like a good way to connect over to Oak Canyon. We made it up the fire road and quickly saw that it would be more fun to double back the way we came and take the trail that cut over to Oak that we had bypassed earlier. Here was the view from the top of the fire road looking south:

We bombed back down the singletrack through Spring Canyon, and as I flew along the sweeping turns and entertaining bumps and mini-jumps, realized why I had been struggling going the other direction. Apparently, there had been a slight but significant incline to the trail as we rode north, which I was enjoying considerably more at this point as I headed south.

We quickly made our way back to the Oak connector, and started west. If I had followed the GPS route at the outset, we would have gong this way in the first place, but our extended northbound detour was actually pretty fun, so I had no regrets.

After a short distance along the connector trail we were climbing again, and the fatigue crept back in. Sean and Evan were having no problems, despite Sean having been stricken with the plague earlier this week and Evan coming off a gnarly knee injury he suffered at LPQ that had kept him off the bike for the last month or so. They did stop about halfway up the steepest portion of the connector trail, which I appreciated. After a brief rest, we were back under way.

The connector singletrack eventually lead to a fire/utility road, which involved some brief HAB, even for our intrepid ride leaders.

We reached the top of the fire/utility road, and saw Oak Canyon below us to the west. We stopped for another short break to wait for a rider who was climbing up the singletrack that we would be descending. During the break, we saw something on the side of the trail a short distance away, which I thought looked like an old, rusted tank tread. Sean disagreed, saying it was too small to be from a tank, and I figured with his military and technical background he must be right. After the rider made it up the climb and we chatted with him for a few minutes about directions, we headed down the singletrack into Oak Canyon.

On the way down the singletrack Sean and I stopped to check out the mystery item. Tank tread. Ha. He took a pic, which I hope he'll send to me.

The descent into Oak Canyon was a lot of fun, with several tight switchbacks, some of which I cleaned and some I didn't. We reached the bottom of the downhill and regrouped again. Here's the trail as it continued south through Oak Canyon.

The rest of the ride through Oak was very comparable to the trails through Sycamore Canyon, which I consider to be a good thing. It was largely fun, narrow, undulating singletrack, with lots of fun turns and berms. We were through Oak in no time, and quickly found ourselves riding back under the 52 and into the MTRP trail network. We had a couple of steep fire road climbs that required some HAB, and when we reached the top we could see how to get back to the parking lot.

It was at this point that we regrouped and got a brief report from Evan about the LPQ land use meeting last week. The conversation took a decidedly historical turn as Sean waxed eloquent on the relative success of the doctrine of appeasement and how that worked for Poland. I think he was trying to make an analogy to the SDMBA policy of agreeing to close a bunch of LPQ trails in order to keep others open. Nicely played, Sean.

Before we got back under way, I shot this pic looking back the way we'd come. I remembered seeing these fire roads when driving on the 52, so it was neat to finally ride them.

From there it was a short downhill ride back to the trailhead, and I had to take off almost right after we got back in order to make it home as close to on time as possible. I had a fun time on this ride, and am excited to have gotten to do it with this particular group, who I really enjoy riding with. Also, the Garmin was an awesome tool, and made navigating much easier and the ride considerably more enjoyable than if we had just been guessing on a good route. I plan on using the upload feature again in the future of possible.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 12.46 miles
Total Time: 2:40:25
Ascent: 1506 feet
Average Speed: 4.6 mph
Top Speed: 25.3 mph
Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite
Map:

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The Spider Box is Opened

So some supplemental income checks arrived today, and it was time to finally open the box and lay eyes on my new Spider frame for the first time. It was worth the wait, the thing is beautiful.

I don't know how soon I'll be able to get it built up, but after finally holding it in my hands, I'm getting antsy...

RR: Elfin Forest

After the Kernville/Sequoia trip, I was fortunate enough to have the following week off from work, and after taking Monday off to recover, I figured I'd better get a ride in before the week got away from me.

I decided it was important to make good on my pledge to try to ride more and improve my fitness, and what better way to do that then head out to a close by trail that was one of the few remaining on my 2008 Ride List: Elfin Forest. I had been putting off this ride for a while because I was intimidated by all of the stories I had heard about the Way Up Trail. A two mile climb out of the gate, climbing about 1,000 feet in around two miles, the Way Up is a pretty gnarly start to any ride.

I figured it wouldn't be too crowded on a Tuesday morning in September, and I was doing the ride solo so I could go at my own pace and HAB if I needed to without guilt. I got to the trailhead at about 9:00, and was surprised at how close the trail was to my work. I figured that if I liked this ride, maybe I would do it regularly considering its proximity.

I parked at the main parking lot, made sure I had my map, and headed up.


The first little bit wasn't that bad, and it felt good to be riding near sea level after riding at elevation all last week. As I started the climb, I was a little surprised that my legs weren't sore or tired from Kernville/Sequoia, but was glad about that.

The trail turned steep quickly, and I lost momentum and spun out on a loose section pretty early on. I HAB'ed for a couple yards, and the re-mounted and grinded on.

The rocky trail and tight switchbacks had me on and off the bike pretty consistently the entire way up, and I didn't perform as well as I had hoped. I ended up riding a significant portion of the middle of the climb, but was HABing far more than I wanted to. The views of Escondido and the Cuyamacas to the east were beautiful though, and I tried to enjoy the climb up as best I could.


There were a couple of "false summits," and since I'd never been here before, I was pretty discouraged a couple of times when I thought I'd reached the end of the climb, only to be confronted with another switchback or steep climb around the corner. Eventually I did reach the top, and headed over to the Ridgetop picnic area to get my bearings and consult my map.

I decided to do the eastern section of the ride first, which meant heading up the Quail Trail. I did take the short Quail Alternate Trail along the way, which was a fun, .2 mile singletrack section that paralleled the Quail Trail itself which was practically fire road.

At the top of the Quail Trail I lost my way a bit, and inadvertently went through the Boundary Gate and north for a bit into some trails that were not well marked. I realized my mistake, and reversed course back down Quail Trail to the east and soon found myself at the Escondido Overlook.


From the Escondido Overlook, I had a beautiful view of the Olivenhain Reservoir and Dam, and it was an incredibly scenic spot. To the east was the Lake Hodges Overlook Trail, and to the south was the dam itself.

I decided to make the trek over to the east side of the reservoir to ride the Lake Hodges Overlook Trail. From the Escondido Overlook, I rode the fire roads for about a quarter mile until I saw a singletrack offshoot and a sign directing me to the Lake Hodges Overlook trail. I stopped for a second on the fire road along the way to take this shot of the dam from closer to the water level.

After connecting with the Lake Hodges Overlook trail, I negotiated some downhill switchbacks and started up another fairly steep climb to the ridge above me. It was tough in spots, and once again I was on and off the bike frequently trying to get my lungs and legs to cooperate.

Eventually I reached the ridge, and made my way along an up and down section of trail that eventually led to the actual Lake Hodges Overlook.

I could see all of Lake Hodges below me, including most of the north side trails and Bernardo Peak directly to the east. This entire area had burned during the wildfires last October, and there was still plenty of evidence around me.

After stopping for a minute at the Lake Hodges Overlook, I was faced with a choice. To the south was the Lake Hodges Overlook Loop (I think we need some more creative trail names at Elfin Forest by the way), which consisted of a mile and a half loop that had been recently built by the SDMBA. I considered skipping it, but since I was alone and not on a time schedule, I figured I'd go for it and slow down or rest if I needed to.

Turned out I needed to.

The loop itself was very scenic and all singletrack. It wound around near the reservoir, then back up the mountain toward the ridgeline. There were some fairly significant elevation changes, and fatigue began to set in about halfway through the loop. I sucked it up and rode most of it, but like most of Elfin Forest so far, there were portions of HAB for me.

I finished the Lake Hodges Overlook Loop, and then made my way back through the Lake Hodges Overlook Trail, which led me back up to the Escondido Overlook area again. Seriously, people, what's with the trail names.

I was already pretty exhausted by the time I rode back up from the Escondido Overlook to the Ridgetop picnic area at the center of the trail network. I considered riding the Cielo trail, which apparently goes all the way down to the dam and then climbs back up, but I didn't think I had that in me. Instead, I decided to do my best to rally and do the Equine Incline Loop Trail, a two and a half mile trail that is one of the main trails at Elfin.

Even with my map I was unsure how to get to the entrance of Equine Incline Trail, but I had seen a sign for that trail right at I crested the Way Up Trail earlier in the ride, so I headed that direction. I ended up riding a short section of the Me-xal Trail which connected to Equine Incline, and was on my way, riding the Loop counter-clockwise.

The first part of Equine Incline Loop was a fun descent, but as I shed elevation I knew I'd be gaining it back eventually. And did I ever. The trail itself was mostly singletrack lined by standard California scrub brush and chaparral, and as the morning turned to midday, the heat became a factor. I quickly felt as though I was climbing way more than descending, and the ride became a grind. I was off the bike more than I was on it, and was becoming pretty discouraged and frustrated as the ride wore on. As I (mercifully) reached the end of the Equine Incline Loop Trail, I saw signs for other short trails that I would have liked to have incorporated into my ride, but I simply didn't have the stamina or endurance to do them.

I made my way back to the Way Up Trail, and prepared to enjoy the descent back to the parking lot. The downhill was a lot of fun, and after negotiating a couple of tricky sections and the first few switchbacks, I made it a goal to not dab once on the way down.

I built some momentum, and was carrying some decent speed as I rode down the trail. I cleaned a few more switchbacks in a row, and was feeling pretty good about myself when I took one switchback too wide and had to slam on the brakes to avoid going off trail and down the side of the mountain. The quick stop forced me to put a foot down to steady myself, and my mini goal for the descent was officially a failure. I was able to make it the rest of the way down without dabbing, and at least ended the ride on a good note.

I did have some fun on portions of this trail, but I'm not sure I'll be back any time soon. I'm sure people who love climbing and ride for the workout love this place, but I am not one of those people. The nearly constant ascending required throughout this ride made it more work than fun for me, though some of the views were incredible. I'm glad I was alone, because I would have held up anybody else I was riding with for sure.

I could be convinced to come back to Elfin Forest at some point, maybe after the Spider is built and I've improved my conditioning. Until then, if I want a nearby ride with some scenery, I think I'll stick to Hodges.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 10.15 miles

Total Time: 2:35:00

Ascent: 2300 feet

Average Speed: 3.9 mph

Top Speed: 20.5 mph

Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite

Map:

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Kernville/Sequoia Trip Day 4: Camp Nelson

After the five and a half hour epic that was the Bear Creek trail yesterday, I thought I would be tempted to skip the last ride of the trip and relax before the drive home later today. But I woke up feeling fine, and heard a lot of good things about our final ride of the weekend: Camp Nelson trail.

It was billed as mostly downhill, with tons of bypassable stunts and some of the best scenery in the area. Apparently the trail wound through some amazing sequoia groves, and there was even a section where the trail went right through the trunk of a massive sequoia itself. There was no way I was skipping this one.

We started out right from camp, and the trail lived up to its billing. It was mostly downhill, and though we did stop to session several stunts and log rides, there was also more flow to this ride.

It was the scenery, though, that made the trail special. Bear Creek was extremely scenic in its own right, but Camp Nelson was even more gorgeous.




The trees lined the trail and stretched to the sky, and it was so quiet and peaceful that I couldn't believe it.


One of the coolest parts was the sequoia that was bisected by the trail. It was surreal riding right through the middle of this massive tree.

Right after that, there were even two log rides that I tried, but after being so tentative all weekend, I locked up on both and didn't clean them. I know I could have made both if I'd had a little more confidence and another shot, but I spent the whole time at the back of the pack, and didn't want to fall behind.


Sean, on the other hand, had no such problems. He cleaned this drop, along with some hairy portions of the trail right before it, with no problem.


Others in the group got even bigger air on the jumps further down the trail.



The whole ride was under two hours, and was definitely a highlight of the trip. At the bottom of the trail, we all piled into Art's pickup and shuttled back up to camp. We had packed everything up earlier in the day, and pulled out of Quaking Aspens around 3:30.

It was an amazing trip of riding, and I had a tremendous time for my first out of town trip. I can't say enough about Sean and what he did to make the weekend a success. From planning out the entire itinerary, to handling all of the logistics, to buying and making all the food, to doing all of the driving, to providing the RV, to playing bike mechanic for me on the trail, he was a phenomenal blessing.

I was sorry Doug had left us early, but after getting a text from him during our drive home, it sounded like he made the right call. I also had hoped to get to know Brent and Sean a little better on a personal level, but it seemed both guys were relatively private, and there wasn't a lot of personal chatter throughout the weekend. They were certainly friendly, and I enjoyed talking riding and hearing a little about the work they do together at GA. Maybe as we ride together more I'll get a chance to get to know them each better. I hope so, because they were both really quality people.

At the end of the day, thanks mostly to Sean and his planning, the trip cost me about $250 total. Amazing. If someone had asked me to describe my perfect vacation for this time in my life, I couldn't have painted a better picture than this trip turned out to be.

One thing I would change lies totally with me: I would have had a much better time if my conditioning had been better and my riding skills were more advanced. I was riding above my head most of the weekend, and while I never felt like too much of an anchor, I'm unaccustomed to being at the back of the pack with anything I do. I know time and experience will help fix some of that, but I want to be generally continuing to work on my fitness level as well. Sean mentioned some winter trips, maybe to Flagstaff or Sedona, and several of the guys I ride with do a Moab trip every spring. If I want to go on some of those, and enjoy them to the fullest, I need to improve my endurance and bike handling skills. So I'm going to get to work on that.

Here are the stats from the Camp Nelson Ride:

Total Distance: 5.29 miles

Total Time: 1:54:31

Ascent: 2066 feet

Average Speed: 2.8 mph

Top Speed: 25.1 mph

Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite

Map:

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Kernville/Sequoia Trip Day 3: Bear CreekTrail

Saturday brought the marquee ride of the day: Bear Creek. It was billed as an epic ride, with sweeping views and an amazing downhill that descended six thousand feet in only a couple of miles. Sounded great to me. The only problem was the beginning. Which was billed as two hours of solid climbing. And that was a concern.

I spent the morning a little anxious. We had a group of nine guys, and the last thing I wanted was to be the anchor. There were no stunts on the way up, so it was going to be solid riding all the way to the top. I had hung pretty well so far on this trip, however, and was determined to keep a good attitude, ride as hard as I could, and not stress about the rest. And once I got riding, that worked.

We got a bit of a late start, but with the altitude and the fact that the trail was mostly under tree cover, heat wasn't really an issue. It was the riding uphill that was the problem.

We started out from camp, and the uphill began almost immediately.

One of the rider's sisters was thoughtful enough to drive down earlier in the day and drop a shuttle vehicle at the bottom of the trail so that we could drive back up to camp. I began looking forward to seeing that shuttle vehicle very early on in the ride.

I actually handled the climb OK for the most part. I HAB'ed literally 70% of the trail on the way up, which meant I hiked about 5 miles pushing the bike. I tried to get back on and ride several times, but my legs and lungs would have none of it. I was at the back, but could see riders ahead of me almost the whole time, except when we were in a section of trail that included tight switchbacks or dense trees.


The scenery was universally beautiful, and despite the fact that I was dragging my bike up a mountain, I kept a pretty good attitude. It was just too pretty around me to allow me to get upset. And I was on my first vacation in years, a fact that I kept reminding myself.


I didn't take many pictures during the climb, because I was too busy pushing the aforementioned bike up the mountain. But about halfway up the entire group stopped at a lookout for a short rest, and I snapped a few shots while trying to get my heart rate to return to a healthy pace.




Eventually, after about two hours and 25 minutes of climbing/hiking, we reached the top. I was tired, but not wrecked, and was looking forward to the downhill. We had a snack and most of the guys got geared up in preparation for the features to come. This was the view from the top.

I had been warned that there were several stunts and jumps on this trail as well, but there were generally bypass trails that people like me could ride. That turned out to be generally true, but since we stopped to session almost all of the trail features, the bypasses were irrelevant. I always stopped to watch the show, so there was little flow to the downhill. But the show was impressive.



Sean once again exhibited his courage and ability by taking on several of the stunts. He cleaned this one, and most of the others. He also had a couple of nice crashes.


Eventually the stunts became less frequent, and the trail began to have some flow. I had to watch my speed in several sections, but generally had a blast flying down the portions that I could handle.



As we descended, the scenery became even more beautiful, and we started seeing some giant sequoias.




We did stop at one ridiculous wall ride/drop that no one in our group elected to hit. Good call.

The last 3/4 of a mile or so of trail was the most fun section of the day. It was just the kind of riding I enjoy most: tight quarters, lots of tight turns, slightly off camber with switchbacks and small drops. I didn't stop for any pictures, as this was the most flowy and enjoyable part of the ride by far. After not enough time, the fun section ended and the trail section of the ride came to an end.

After regrouping for a minute, we rode across a cool log bridge and made the short pavement ride back to the truck.


This was definitely the "big ride" of the weekend, and I was almost totally spent at the end. I ran out of water in my pack right at the end, and was getting pretty hungry by the time we hit the truck. There were times during the ride that I wanted to be off the trail and back at camp, but for the most part I tried to enjoy myself, even during the difficult sections. I never felt like too much of an anchor, and enjoyed the camaraderie and socialization of riding in a big group.

As I rode in the truck back to camp, I felt a sense of accomplishment and joy, knowing that this was "real" mountainbiking. And I was on vacation.

Here are the stats for ride #4, Bear Creek Trail:

Total Distance: 11.56 miles

Total Time: 5:30:06

Ascent: 4597 feet

Average Speed: 2.1 mph

Top Speed: 25.9 mph

Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite

Map:

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