Back on April 1, and then again on July 1, I posted quarterly State of the Union addresses on this blog detailing the progress I had made on my 2008 Ride List and 2008 Goal List. As September wound down, I found myself looking forward to writing this post because its always fun for me to look back at the last three months to review what I've accomplished, how I've progressed, and where I want to improve.
2008 RIDE LIST:
As far as rides on my 2008 list, I finally rode Elfin Forest and Spring/Oak Canyon this quarter, as well as unofficial 2008 Ride List trail Ted Williams. Elfin was a rough one, with tons of climbing. The views were spectacular, but I'm not sure they were worth it. Spring and Oak, however, were a ton of fun, and that was a trail that I would gladly do again in the future. It was a lot like Sycamore, but I enjoyed seeing some new trails and learned more about the capabilities of my Garmin Edge 205 during that ride, which was cool. Ted Williams was fun as well, and turned out to be more cross-country than I expected. I'll probably go back there again at some point to explore a little.
Even though I rode nine of the items on the Ride List in Q1, five in Q2, and only two this month, I'm still happy with my progress. I only have two official rides from the list left to do this year, as well as one unofficial one. And as I will discuss below, I made some significant progress on my Goal List items, which I'm proud of.
The remaining official rides on my 2008 Ride List are Big Laguna Trail and Lake Morena. I also would like to get to La Costa Canyon as well. Skyline MTB will probably ride at BLT before the end of the year, so that is attainable. 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, which is a weekday in October so that is one option. I may also see if I can find a GPS route of the trails out there and plug them into my Edge and go by myself if I can.
2008 GOAL LIST:
As for my more general 2008 Goal List, the results are mixed, but I did make some progress in Q3. 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 back at the end of April, 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: (8)
This one I haven't done, but I've gotten closer and have a definite plan for how to accomplish it. My Archipelago Ride, which I've ridden 2/3 of already, will be about 60 miles and will satisfy this goal if I can do it. I am continuing to plan this one out, and have been considering doing it in the opposite direction than I had originally planned. If the weather cooperates, and I step up my training, I should be able to accomplish this goal and have an amazing ride summary to report here sometime in Q4.
3. Do a Multi-Day ride: (10)
This one was attained in Q3 via my Kernville/Sequoia trip at the beginning of September. Over four days I rode a little over 40 miles, and had an awesome time.
4. Do an Out of Town Ride: (10)
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 at the beginning of Q3 I was back to square one on this goal. However, the Kernville/Sequoia trip changed that, as I spent four days riding the in Kernville and the Southern Sierras. The ride reports and pictures tell the whole story, but it was an outstanding trip for my first real out of town ride.
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 in the Q2 State of the Union post, 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 got back on the stationary bike more regularly in Q3, but the amount of riding I did diminished significantly. In addition, my poor fitness level was really a factor in Kernville/Sequoia, where I was consistently at the back of the pack. I'm still HABing more than I'd prefer, and I'm hoping that my new Spider may help improve my climbing skills as I progress to a more XC-oriented bike.
HIGHLIGHTS OF Q3:
The quarter started out well with a fun ride over at Ted Williams with Sean and Doug. It was my first ride with Sean, whom I would eventually meet again on the Kernville/Sequoia trip a few months later. It was nice to finally ride the secret TW trails, and as close as they are, I figure I'll get out there again soon.
Another highlight of Q3 was my planning and partial execution of my Archipelago Ride. In an effort to hook up several local trails into one epic loop, I began scouting connectors and possible routes online early this quarter, and then began executing that plan over several weeks. The plan was to start from home, ride over to South Hodges, to North Hodges, through the SDRP trails, to the Santa Luz loop, to LPQ, back to the Santa Luz singletrack, to Black Mountain, to home. My first ride started well, with a successful connection from home to Hodges, but ended in frustration, as I was unable to hook up with the Santa Luz loop. After doing some research I figured out where I went wrong, and made the connection on my second attempt.
My efforts at scouting Part II of the Archipelago ride went pretty well also, though that section proved to be an absolute grind, putting my ability to complete the whole route as planned in doubt. I still haven't ridden Part III, which will include Black Mountain. At this point, I'm considering doing it in reverse, which would mean doing the Black Mountain portion first. We'll see. In any event, the Archipelago rides were a lot of fun, but hard work, and were the longest of my mountainbiking career thus far.
I also sold the FSR in Q3, which caused me some minor seller's remorse. It was a great bike, and it treated me well. At the end of the day, it wasn't light or efficient enough to be a great XC bike long-term, and I was riding the Enduro almost exclusively, so it was a good idea to sell it. I was also proud of how I handled the proceeds.
Part of what really softened the blow of selling the FSR was the purchase of my Intense Spider XVP frame in Q3 as well. The frame has sat in a box for the last two and a half months while I earn the supplemental income to pay for it, but once it is built, its going to be a dream machine.
August 3 to August 24 brought the longest riding drought I had experienced since I began riding last July. Between a crazy work schedule and other obligations, I was off the bike for three solid weeks. My fitness suffered, as did my overall attitude, and I was glad to break the slump with a local ride at the end of August.
Probably the biggest single event of Q3 was my Kernville/Sequoia trip. Four days of riding in some of the most beautiful areas I've ever seen was an amazing way to start my first vacation in three years, and I had an awesome time.
The two rides from my ride list that I did in Q3 were also memorable. Elfin Forest was a climbfest, and it will be a while before I go back, but the views were impressive. Spring/Oak Canyon on the other hand were a ton of fun, and I hope to get back there soon.
Q3 ended with two back-to-back trips to LPQ, one with Rachel and one at night with the Tuesday Night LPQ crew. It was nice to get a couple of extra rides in as the quarter wound down, and each of those rides brought some good memories and excitement.
For the third quarter of 2008, I rode a total of 171.65 miles on my mountain bike, as opposed to 254.75 in Q2 and 133.63 miles in Q1. This was a little bit of a disappointment. About 40 of my Q3 miles was from the Kernville/Sequoia trip. To date, I've ridden 560.03 miles this year. I didn't have a total mileage goal at the beginning of 2008, but I'd like to finish strong. So I am thinking of setting a goal of at riding at least 175 in miles the 4th quarter. With the holidays, weather factors, and general work busyness, we'll see how that goes.
Those are my thoughts on Q3 of 2008. I'm pleased with my progress and look forward to checking back at the end of the year and doing a review of not only Q4, but a look back at the whole year of riding in 2008.
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