RR: Big Laguna Trail (w/Extras)

This morning was a ride I've been looking forward to for a while: Big Laguna Trail (BLT) with the Skyline MTB crew. BLT was one of two rides left on my 2008 Ride List, and while I thought I would have gotten up there before now, it was worth the wait.

I left home early, and met up with Nate at the park and ride at Los Coches. We carpooled up the rest of the way to the BLT trailhead, and had a great time catching up during the drive. We had technically ridden together a few weeks ago at the Spring Canyon ride, but I hadn't seen him much, so that didn't count.

We made it to the trailhead first, but were soon joined by Michael, Billy and his family, and a new Skyline MTB rider, Amy. We milled about for a bit at the trailhead getting ready, and had a short time of prayer before we set out.

We immediately split into two groups, with Billy and his family heading out to do the basic BLT loop around the lake, and Nate, Michael, Amy and I heading up a fire road to the south so that we could work in some bonus trails before meeting back up with Billy and company at the benches for a devotional time.

The fire road wasn't too bad, and actually made for a good warm up.

We inadvertently missed the singletrack turnoff for the trail they call "Little Noble," so we actually climbed the fire road all the way back to 79 near the Laguna Lodge. From there it was a short road ride over to Red Tail Roost and our first taste of singletrack this morning.

We started with some rolling climbs through narrow singletrack, which gave way to some really fun descents. The weather was flawless, and I was having a blast on my new Spider. The turns were a little loose and sandy because of the lack of moisture, but the trail itself was in great shape overall. Nate and I were out in front a bit, and had a chance to stop and enjoy the scenery during a regroup.

Michael and Amy were not far behind, and we got back under way after a short break.

From there it was more beautiful singletrack, including some more swoopy descents. I had not ridden this particular section of trails before, and won't make that mistake again. It was awesome.

We then came to another short climb, and then started down a fire road marked Agua Dulce. It was a short, fun fire road descent that dumped us in to our next significant climb of the day.

As we spun along, I was actually feeling pretty good. The pace was not super-fast, but we were moving along and I wasn't getting tired really at all. At the top of the climb, we made our way through a singletrack cutover that involved a little HAB over some obstacles, and then took a minute for Michael to huck a nearby rock.

After seeing him nail it, I decided to give it a try, and rolled it. [Not pictured]. From there it was another short climb, then over to Chico Ravine.

This was probably my absolute favorite section of trail today; an awesome twisty singletrack descent with some techy stuff near the bottom to make things really interesting. The Spider ate it up, and I was particularly thankful for some suspension changes Nate had helped me with before the ride started.


We took a minute at the bottom of the singletrack to regroup, then rode over to main BLT trail to the benches, where Billy and his family were waiting. Our timing was almost perfect because they had only been waiting a few minutes, and we had a neat time of discussion.

I led a devotional from 1 Kings and Psalm 42 regarding being still and listening to God, which seemed to resonate with people. After we were done sharing, it was time to complete the BLT loop and we got underway as a whole group. I took this shot blind, over my shoulder:

I have ridden around BLT a couple of times, and always really enjoy it. The scenery is beautiful, the trail is fun and varied enough to be interesting, and the last section is always a lot of fun in particular.

Nate and eventually got out in front, and rode at a little faster pace than the rest of the group. This also gave me a chance to get ahead and shoot some pictures of almost everyone:

Michael-

Amy-

Helenka-


Willie-


Billy-

Amanda-

After taking the pics I caught up and rode ahead of most of the group and railed the last section around the north side of the lake. Billy calls that section the roller coasters, and its the most fun part of the BLT loop itself.

Amy did really well for just her second or third time on her new Specialized Myka, and stayed close behind us.

We finished up back at the trailhead at the cars, and hung out for a bit talking bikes and enjoying each other's company. It was an awesome morning of riding, and I'm really glad I went. The new trails we rode other than the BLT loop were a ton of fun as well, and I won't ride up here without hitting them next time.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 15.02 miles
Total Time: 2:09:37
Ascent: 2015 feet
Average Speed: 7.0 mph
Top Speed: 25.0 mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:

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Goodbye to the Enduro

I said goodbye to another bike this morning as I sold off my Specialized Enduro. I bought it back in April, and was a little iffy on it from the get go. Before I bought it, I thought I wanted something with some additional travel, and while I did enjoy the plushness of the ride and the leeway that comes with that extra travel, I never fully warmed to this bike.

Perhaps that was because it was pretty heavy. Perhaps it was because the slack geometry didn't fit my riding style. But at the end of the day, this just wasn't the bike for me, and I feel fortunate to have sold it for pretty close to what I paid for it. Essentially what the Enduro did was take my biggest weakness in mountain biking (climbing) and magnify it, while taking one of my strength's (descending) and make it even easier. This was a formula for disappointment, and so far I'm liking the direction I'm going with the Spider, which has significantly helped my climbing while proving not to be a hindrance on most descents.

The buyers were a nice father and his 13 year old son, who said they would be using it to ride some trails outside their home in Wildomar. The son seemed to really like it, and I was glad to see it go to a good home.

I was tempted to hang on to the Enduro for rides like Noble and Anderson, but at the end of the day, the build for the Spider got pretty expensive, and I felt like I needed to offset the significant cost that the new bike required. Besides, the next time I ride Noble I want to do the full Tour, and I can't see riding the Enduro for all that climbing. My riding style is clearly more XC than DH, and the Enduro was just the wrong fit.

So another bike leaves the stable. For those keeping track at home, since July of 2007 I've gone from an Iron Horse Warrior 3.5 to a Specialized FSR XC Pro, to a Specialized Enduro Elite, to my current new Intense Spider XVP. With what the Spider cost, that will be my last bike for a very long while.

Archipelago Ride Part III (Final Pre-Ride)

After a few weeks of trying to find time to pre-ride the final leg of my Archipelago ride, I finally made it out today. I headed out from home around 8 in the morning and started over to Black Mountain. I had been vacillating about what route to do, and had decided to ride this route clockwise because I was leaning toward doing the Archipelago route that direction as well.

I rode through the 4S trails and stopped for a minute to take some pictures of Lusardi Canyon. It was beautiful that morning.

Ahead I could see my destination: Black Mountain.

From there I rode up Carmel Valley road to the paved road that goes up to the Black Mountain trailhead. From there I rode up the trail to the beginning of the Miner's Ridge Loop, and decided to try riding it counterclockwise for once. Bad call.

The switchbacks at the beginning of Miner's (going clockwise) are brutal to climb, and I ended up HABing almost all of them. From there it’s still pretty steep going until you reach the top of the main climb, then it’s up and down as the loop heads east. Around the midpoint of the loop, I stopped yield to another rider coming the other direction. As we passed each other and said hello, the other rider asked if I lived on “XXXXX” street. Surprised, I responded in the affirmative, and learned that he lived just a few doors down from me. Apparently he recognized my bike from the times I’ve had it on the workstand outside my garage when I was cleaning it and doing repairs. His name was Scott, and he is apparently an avid rider with ties to the MTB industry, which is cool. We chatted for several minutes, and he gave me his email address. Hopefully we’ll be able to ride together soon.

On a side note, he mentioned that he’s watched my progression of bikes over the last year as I went from the FSR to the Enduro to the Spider. Since I am constantly outside my garage working on my bikes, it shouldn’t have surprised me to hear that people have seen me and noticed, but it was still eye opening to hear that my neighbors have noted my succession of bikes. It makes me wonder if I shouldn’t move my wrenching to the backyard, just to be cautious. I have no problem talking bikes with Scott, but what if a less-scrupulous neighbor takes a shine to one of my bikes and decides to help himself someday…

In any event Scott and I rode together for a little bit, until I split off to ride the cutover to the main Black Mountain fire road and he continued down Miner’s. I rode almost all of the cutover without dabbing, including the tricky G-out that I had flubbed on Wednesday with Dave G. I made it over to the Nighthawk Trail, and instead of immediately doing the HAB up to the main fire road, I headed southeast to check out one of the trails I hadn’t ridden before. I only rode it a little way, and when I could tell that it dropped down into Mount Carmel High School, backtracked and made my way up the fire road to the summit.

At the top, I paused for a minute to take some pictures of my community beneath me.


From there I rode down the Gorge Trail, and cleaned the entire short climb that followed the rutted downhill. At that point, instead of taking the singletrack connector back to Miner’s like I had on Wednesday, I did some exploring to the west on some singletrack. I was hoping to find a trail that would take me down the west face of the mountain and spit me out near the paved road leading into Black Mountain Community Park. As I explored, I found myself at the glider port where hang gliders take off on windy days. There was a narrow singletrack trail that spun away from the glider port launch area, and as I rode it I realized I had found my western-face route off the mountain. The problem was the trail down the mountain was extremely steep and loose.

Here's a picture of the launch area:

I was also able to take in the views to the northwest:

At that point I was faced with two parallel trails down the mountain to choose from, and I initially chose the one to the right. Just a few feet down I realized it was too steep and loose to ride, and decided to try the other one. As I started down the trail on the left, I started to skid and slide sideways, and elected to HAB down several yards to a more ridable section. I eventually re-mounted the bike and proceeded to skid and slide the rest of the way down the side of the mountain, arriving safely at the bottom in one piece.

From there I rode a short fire road out to Carmel Valley Road, then crossed the street and rode up to Black Mountain Community Park and the entrance to the Santa Luz singletrack, marking the entrance point for the next leg of the Archipelago Ride. After that I rode up to the park to refill my water bottle, then took the paved road back to the 4S trails and home. As a side note, going down the Gliderport Trail was the first time I’ve missed the Enduro since I started riding the Spider. The more slack geometry of the Enduro would have helped on that steep downhill, as would the extra travel. But the penalty for climbing the mountain on the Enduro would not have been worth it.

I took this picture from across the street at Black Mountain Community Park. The trail on the right in the picture is the one I rode down.

After completing this ride, I have pre-ridden each leg of the Archipelago Ride. I’ve definitely decided to ride it clockwise from home, which should be much more fun now that I think about it. Going counterclockwise, I have two significant climbs up the switchbacks at the end of the SDRP section, as well as a climb up the fire road at the end of Artesian and two rough climbs across Santa Luz. I then have the brutal climb up the back entrance to LPQ, and then the climb up the Santa Luz singletracks. If I was to continue counterclockwise, I’d have two monster climbs to get to the base of Black Mountain, then the fire road climb up Black Mountain to finish off the majority of the ride.

Going clockwise, I start with the Black Mountain climb, which is a little tough but manageable, as I proved today. I then ride down the Santa Luz singletracks, down the biggest hill at LPQ, and have a much easier time going that direction in the Santa Luz loop. I’ll have to climb Artesian, but will be able to now ride down the switchbacks near Crosby. I will also have to climb Del Dios, as well as the SDG&E road that’s now at the end of the ride, but I think this direction is definitely better overall.

I’m hoping to do the full Archipelago ride sometime in the next few weeks. I’m not sure I’m in peak conditioning, but it was never intended to be a race anyway. I know it will be taxing, and there will be parts that are very challenging, but I’m really looking forward to it.

Here are the stats for today’s ride:

Total Distance: 12.39 miles
Total Time: 2:20:39
Ascent: 1979 feet
Average Speed: 5.3 mph
Top Speed: 35.8mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:

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RR: Black Mountain Night Ride

I had the chance to do another night ride tonight, this time with my friend and neighbor Dave G. I left from home, and tried a new route down into the 4S trails that provided a little variety. We didn't have a clear route in mind as we set out, but I had some thoughts on what route I could handle and I’m happy with the end result.

We rode through the 4S trails, then up Carmel Valley Road to the paved road up to the Black Mountain trailhead. Dave usually rides up the rutted trail on the north side of the mountain, but I was worried that if I tried that climb right out of the shoot, I’d be baked for the rest of the night. So he agreed to take one for the team and do a little extra paved riding at the outset, which I appreciated.

At the trailhead we rode the main trail over to Miner’s Ridge Loop, and at my urging decided to ride it clockwise. Dave usually goes counter-clockwise, but I convinced him to go the opposite direction and we planned out a large loop that would include a trip to the summit and a downhill portion that I had never ridden from there.

The climb up Miner’s counter-clockwise was decent, but challenging. I had a few HAB sections where it got particularly techy, and also had some trouble with my light coming unplugged. I had gone with the TriNewt on my helmet for this ride, after having some trouble keeping the battery strapped to the bike with the light on the bars during my last night ride. Having the light on my helmet, however, was clearly a mistake. Not only did I use the wrong (short) cable to run from my helmet to my hydration pack, but having the light only on the helmet proved to be brutal with respect to depth perception and distance of beam penetration. The cable connecting the batter to the light came unplugged about seven or eight times during the ride, which sucked, and I also spent most of the ride either going slow or making last minute corrections because I could only see two to three feet in front of me.

With the amount of money I’ve spent on bike stuff recently, there’s no way I can afford a second light, but someday that may be the solution. Until then, I’m going with the light on my bars.
We made it up Miner’s to the cut-over trail, which I always enjoy. It is very narrow and a little overgrown, which was interesting at night, but we quickly made it over to the Nighthawk Trail. From there we had a short HAB up the steep, loose, rocky section that led us up to the main Black Mountain Service road. I remembered that climb being more difficult the last time I did it, and was pleased to be improving in either my fitness or bike selection. Likely the latter.

We made it to the summit, and were treated to almost 360* views of the county. It was a gorgeous night, and visibility was clear. At the top, Dave led the way down an unnamed trail that dropped off the northwest part of the mountain. For some reason it isn’t marked on the Black Mountain trail map, so I’ve decided to call it the Gorge Trail, owing to the massive rut that approaches gorge status which parallels the trail and crosses it near the bottom. The descent down the Gorge Trail was a little treacherous, especially at night. It’s pretty steep, and very rutted, and I dabbed several times, cursing my poor-penetrating light beam the whole way down. After a couple-hundred yard descent, the Gorge Trail then climbs briefly and then connects with either the Gilder Port Trail to the west, to the Miner’s Ridge Loop (via some singletrack) to the east. We went east, and hooked back up with Miner’s. From there we made a left and continued down Miner’s clockwise, which was one of my favorite parts of the ride. The switchbacks at the end (or beginning) of the Miner’s Ridge Loop are a blast to ride down, and I took the lead for the first and only time that night through that section.

After we finished Miner’s, we decided to head over and give the Canyon Rim descent a shot. That trail is a mess, with brutal sandy spots and horrible ruts that are filled with loose dirt and rocks. Even so, we elected to go for it, and I would live to regret that decision. There weren’t any big crashes or horrible incidents, but my decent was a mess. I almost went OTB at the very first tough turn, and it was a dabfest the rest of the way down. For a trail that I can usually clean without dabbing at all, that was discouraging. The trail conditions and the fact that it was at night played a huge role in the debacle, but I was annoyed anyway. Dave did better than I did, but also mentioned a few dabs, which made me feel a little better.

Because we had only been riding an hour and a half or so at that point, we elected to ride back up the paved road to the Black Mountain trailhead, and then ride down the rocky trail on the north side of the mountain back to Carmel Valley Road. The descent was uneventful, though both of us took it a little easy because we had both suffered brutal falls on that section recently. From there we rode along the 4S trails and home.

It was a fun ride, even with the light issues and some tricky descents. I think Miner’s Ridge Loop is an excellent training ground for technical riding, especially technical climbing, and I’d like to get over there more often to get some practice.

There were also several spots of warm or cold pockets that we rode through over the course of the ride, which was interesting and a little creepy. Overall though, the night was beautiful, and I was amazed at how balmy it was for mid-October at night.

I also am beginning to recognize the differences in bike geometry between the Spider and Enduro now. I almost went OTB several times tonight, and I hadn’t even come close to doing so on these trails on the Enduro. That’s not to say I’m complaining, I wanted a more XC ride, but I’ll need to adjust better to the more aggressive, less slack geometry on the descents.

I really enjoy riding with Dave, and am glad we’ve been able to get together more recently. Although he’s a much stronger rider, he doesn’t seem to mind going at a less aggressive pace and makes for good company.

I hit the Jacuzzi when I got home, which was awesome. The entire ride only took about two hours, and I felt great afterward, so I may try to do more of these night time Black Mountain rides in the future.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 9.97 miles
Total Time: 2:13:45
Ascent: 1885 feet
Average Speed: 4.5 mph
Top Speed: 19.7 mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:

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RR: Cuyamaca Poker Ride

Today I took part for the first time in the annual Cuyamaca Poker Ride. I heard about the event earlier this year, and had signed up for it well in advance. Despite the fact that I had ridden this particular route twice before in the last four months, I was still looking forward to it because of the event atmosphere. I was also excited to see how the new Spider performed.

The day began with an early wake up, and I was on the road around 6:15 a.m. to meet Billy and Bill P. at Grossmont Center. I had some excitement on the drive down that I won't get into here, but regular readers are free to email me for the whole story. It's worth it.

I met up with the Bills at about 7:00, and we carpooled the rest of the way up to the Cuyamacas. We parked on a grass field near one of the campgrounds, and I got in line to check in. Ironically, the line for those who had pre-registered was 10 times longer than the one for same-day registration.


I eventually got signed in and received my t-shirt, and went back to the truck to finish getting ready to ride. The temperature was in the low 30's, and when the wind blew, it was extremely chilly. I had my arm warmers on under my long sleeve jersey, and Billy let me borrow a fleece hat to wear under my helmet, which was a tremendous blessing. We got underway about 8:30, and were part of the first wave of riders, even though there was no "official" start.

The route today was almost exactly the same as the Cuyamaca Ride I did with Billy in mid-June, with one exception which I'll get to later. We rode up the fire road to the Soapstone singletrack, where we encountered our first poker stop.

I don't remember what card I received, but I think it was a four of clubs. The stop wasn't too crowded, and we were back underway, up the Soapstone single tracks, in only a couple minutes.

As much as I don't care for the Cuyamaca Grand Loop, it was actually very fortuitous that I had ridden it twice previously in the last few months. My recent experiences on this trail allowed me to compare clearly how this ride felt on the new bike as opposed to how it felt on the Enduro. The differences manifested early on, as I was able to complete the entire singletrack climb up Soapstone without stopping. At the Cuyamaca SDMBA Night Ride, I had bailed out even before the singletracks due to fatigue. Before that, with Billy in June, I had been forced to stop two or three times on the climb to rest and recover. Today, I did experience some fatigue, but didn't stop, and wasn't even dead when I reached the top.

From the summit we rode the fun swoopy singletracks around the north side of the mountain. Toward the end of that section, I heard riders ahead of me yelling about bees, and saw a woman hiker frantically swatting herself and hopping around. At that same instant, I felt a sharp pinch just above my waist. My jersey had ridden up, leaving a small sliver of exposed skin at my lower back, and I had been stung. I'm apparently not allergic, but it hurt like crazy.

I pedaled on for about another half mile, then stopped at the next climb to asses my wound and take a break. I felt fortunate to only have been stung once, as several riders who also stopped nearby complained of multiple stings, especially on their head. I was particularly thankful at this point for the fleece cap Billy had lent me, which probably saved me from more stings.

I did take an opportunity during my rest period to shoot a picture of Lake Cuyamaca in the distance.

From there it was a quick ride through the next singletrack section, then another poker stop, and then some fire roads which led back to the Sunrise Highway. After a short road ride, I began the climb up Milk Ranch Road.

Once again I was thrilled to have the Spider instead of the Enduro, as I was able to spin a pretty good cadence almost the whole way up Milk Ranch Road. I started to fatigue toward the very top, but made the entire climb without stopping.

From there we began the last significant climb up to Azalea Springs, which was a little rough. I didn't clean the initial steep uphill section, but neither did anyone else near me. After that short HAB, I was able to clean the rest of the climb without stopping, though my pace had slowed significantly. Not having to stop to rest, however, was an accomplishment for me. I did stop briefly at the very top for this picture, which I thought was beautiful.

At the top of Azalea Springs I met up with Billy and Bill, and we started down the fire road descent. I took it a little easy after nearly going over the bars early in the descent, as I was adjusting to the less slack geometry of the Spider. I didn't notice a huge difference between my bikes as far as travel, but the more XC-race geometry of the Spider had me more forward than I was used to, and I found myself almost going OTB a couple of times during the downhill.

Even at my cautious pace, the descent was over way to quickly and I found myself back at the Sunrise Highway. Back in June, Billy and I had ridden the road back to the campground, but this time I was directed by trail guides to an awesome singletrack section across the highway that I had never ridden. That was probably my favorite section of the entire ride. It began with a neat descent down some stair-steps, and included several switchbacks, some fun up-and-down portions, and even a little technical stuff that I enjoyed.

The singletrack ended near the entrance to the campground, and the ride was over. I met up with Billy and Bill at the truck, and all of us commented on how much we had enjoyed ourselves. After a few minutes getting changed, we headed over to the lunch line, where we had spaghetti and salad which wasn't too bad.

We hung around for the next hour or so, meeting new people and waiting for the opportunity drawing (raffle) to start. With only one ticket, I didn't have high hopes of winning, and it was good I didn't get my hopes up.

They had some decent swag, including an XTR wheelset, but the raffle dragged on forever, and we eventually decided to leave a little early. Mostly empty handed. I did end up with two water bottles, one from the Specialized demo booth and one from the volunteers who were throwing them into the crowd. So between the bottles and my t-shirt, I feel like I did OK. Billy got a bottle too.

As we headed home, I thought about the day. Considering the events of the early morning (which I did not describe in detail here), the day could have gone quite differently. As it was, I had a fun ride, on a great new bike, and enjoyed myself thoroughly. I'll probably do it again next year, and I'll definitely do Middle Peak.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 19.49 miles
Total Time: 2:38:20
Ascent: 2304 feet
Average Speed: 7.4 mph
Top Speed: 25.6 mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:

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RR: Spring Canyon w/Rachel and Skyline MTB

I had a lot of fun the last time I rode at Spring Canyon, and today had a chance to get back there with the Skyline MTB group. It was billed as a beginner ride, and I thought it would be a good chance to have Rachel come along and get a few more dirt miles in at a place that was close to her speed. It was also a perfect place for the maiden voyage for the Spider. I wanted my first ride on the new bike to be at a place where I could familiarize myself with the new geometry and make sure that all of the parts were assembled properly.

We arrived early and parked at the Father Junipero Serra campground. Billy was already there, and I was surprised to see that Nate decided to come along as well. Nate is an excellent rider, and usually wouldn't do a beginner ride, but it was nice to see him and I hoped the pace wouldn't frustrate him.

After a few minutes showing off the new bike, we got underway. We rode through the meadow, under the 52 freeway, and into Spring Canyon. We stuck to the main doubletrack/fire road through the canyon in order to make sure Rach was comfortable, and she did awesome. She made it through several dry stream crossing strewn with babyheads and powered up a couple of short steep climbs with ease. I warned her that the ride north through the canyon was a subtle but significant uphill, and she still did great. Our pace was social, and Billy was gracious enough to stay close and enjoy an easy spin as we enjoyed the morning.

Eventually we reached a good rest spot, and Nate decided to explore some of the singletrack to the northeast. Billy tried to give him some directions:

Rach was still doing great at this point, and I was glad to see she had a smile on her face.

After parting ways with Nate, we continued up the singletrack toward the north end of the canyon. About half a mile from the end, Rach was starting to tire, and we spent a few minutes hanging out and catching our breath. I used the opportunity to take a few pictures of the new bike for posterity. Its pretty.



After our rest, we decided that heading back was the best option for this time, and began the ride back to the cars. Rach was a little nervous on the downhills, but shouldn't have been, because she did great. She had two nice saves that kept her from crashing, and negotiated several turns and short climbs perfectly.

We made one final rest stop toward the south end of the canyon, where the foliage nearby showed some signs of fall approaching.


After our final rest, we headed out of the canyon and back toward MTRP and the parking lot.

It was a fun spin through the canyon, and I was so glad that Rachel was willing to come along. I was also really proud of her for how well she rode. She said she was nervous, but I couldn't tell from watching her. She made good decisions and fought the instinct to dab whenever she started to get wobbly. As a result, she cleaned several sections that I thought she would have trouble with.

I was also appreciative of Billy and his willingness to hang back and give instruction and encouragement. This was clearly a beginner/social ride, and he seemed content to go at Rach's pace, which I appreciated.

As far as impressions of the Spider, those will have to wait until after the Cuyamaca Poker ride tomorrow. We didn't do any climbing or real technical riding today, so all I could tell was that it felt lighter to pedal and the geometry was very different from the Enduro. There was one instance where I stopped to take a picture, and then pedaled hard for a minute to catch up. At my first hard pedal-stroke, the bike leaped forward, something the Enduro never did. So that was nice...

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 6.76 miles
Total Time: 1:35:10
Ascent: 917 feet
Average Speed: 4.3 mph
Top Speed: 14.7 mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:

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Spider Pics

I took a few pictures of the Spider this morning before its maiden voyage. It will never again be "brand new," so I wanted some photographic evidence of it in pristine condition before it tasted dirt for the first time.

The more I look at it the more I like it. The contrast of the white fork and white brakes to the midnight blue frame looks great, and the shiny new XT parts are beautiful. I won't get my handlebars or seat until next week, but the pictures tell most of the story.

Picking up the Spider

I picked up the Spider tonight, and so far I couldn't be happier. I showed up at the shop around 5:30, and they had most of the build complete. I'm still waiting on my easton monkeylite bars and Intense saddle, so I'm borrowing some shop parts for the time being until those two final pieces arrive. I also decided to use my old Shimano M505 clipless pedals, because I had them laying around and the build was getting really expensive, so I had to save some money where I could. Maybe I'll ask for new pedals for Christmas.

Here are the final specs:

2008 Spider XVP Frame w/Manitou Swinger 3-way shock, midnight blue color, size medium.
2009 Fox F100RLC fork with 15mm QR thru-axel.
Shimano XT Shifters
Avid Juicy Ultimate brakes (lightly used, purchased from STR)
Easton Monkeylite MX handlebars (arriving soon)
Thompson Elite X4 Stem 100mm
Chris King Headset (blue)
Ergon GC-2 Grips
Shimano XT front derailleur
Shimano XT Shadow rear derailleur
Thompson Elite seatpost
Intense saddle (arriving soon)
Shimano XT crankset
Shimano XT cassette
Salsa flip-off QR rear skewer
Shimano M505 clipless pedals (used)
SRAM 971 chain with powerlink
Custom built wheelset, with blue Hope Pro 2 Hubs (front and rear) laced to Mavic 819 tubeless rims with DT Swiss competition spokes.
Kenda Nevegal UST Tubeless tires

It weighed in at about 27.5 lbs on the shop scale, including pedals. I figure that number will drop a little with the lighter bars and seat when they're installed sometime next week.

I plan on taking it for an easy first ride tomorrow with the Skyline MTB group at Spring Canyon, and then am looking forward to really testing it out Sunday at the Cuyamaca Poker Ride. With all the climbing at Cuyamaca, it should be a good test for whether the benefits of a lighter, more XC-style bike are really worth what I paid.

I have a generally good impression of the guys over at Bike Bling. They seemed to do a good job on the build, and the pricing was very competitive. Its so close to work that I'd love for it to be "my local shop," but I have the underlying suspicion that Kerry is a little bit of a "salesman," and is more interested in profit margins than relationships. In this economy its impossible to fault him for that, but I don't know if I'm ever going to feel at home at this shop, or if I'll always feel like a customer. Time will tell.

The Spider Build Begins

Almost two months after I purchased my new Intense Spider XVP frame, I'm finally going to get it built up. I spent several weeks trying to decide whether to keep the Spider or purchase an Intense 5.5 instead. After a trip to see Alex at World Cycles for a fitting, it became clear that I was in-between sizes for the 5.5, and the Spider was the way to go.

After committing to the Spider, it was time to plan the build. I made an Excel spreadsheet that included every part I would need, and then made a "dream list" of parts I would purchase if funds permitted. I spent several weeks soliciting advice on the merits of particular parts and comparing prices online, and then formulated a plan.

I went to the shop two blocks from my work, a new outfit called Bike Bling. I spent quite a bit of time with the owner, Kerry, and we put together a package that worked for both of us. Essentially, he agreed to meet or beat every price I found online, and I elected to purchase everything from him and have him build both the bike and a custom wheelset. I dropped the bike off today, and should be able to pick it up on Friday or Saturday, just in time for the 2008 Cuyamaca Poker Ride I signed up for last month.

Its costing a ton of money, and I had some serious hesitation about spending that kind of cash on a bike, especially in this economy. But almost the entire budget has been paid for with supplemental income, and if I decide later to sell the Enduro, the entire amount should be covered.

So the next time I see it, my new Spider should be built up and ready to ride...

State of the MTB Union (Q3, 2008)

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.