Year in Review

2008 started out a little ragged, beginning in January with a week of not riding followed by my five mile local ride that almost required a sag wagon.

Things got worse before they got better, and my inaugural trip to Daley Ranch ended with an early bailout and a renewed commitment to improve my fitness ASAP.

So I set some general goals and made a list of trails I wanted to ride in 2008, and dedicated myself to becoming a better rider.

In February I rode the Santa Luz loop for the first time and also took my first trip to the LPQ Tunnels with the Skyline MTB crew.



I also headed back to ATT in February, and once again experienced some mechanical issues. But I did spend some time playing around on the rocks this time, and started to gain a little confidence...

I also made my first trip up to Noble Canyon when Joel and I shuttled it in the snow. I had an awesome time, and was glad to finally experience the trail that so many people talked about.




We bought Rachel a hybrid mountain bike in February as well, and I took her for a spin around our local 4S trail system. She seemed to like it OK.

In March I did my first ride with the Rock MTB group over in the Tri-Canyons area. It was a decent ride, but involved some interesting terrain including freeway overpasses, aqueducts, and even some singletrack!


I also sold my first real mountain bike, an Iron Horse Warrior 3.5, in March. I had served me fairly well as I began my MTB hobby, but I was on to bigger and better things.

I also made it over to North Hodges later that month, and played around while enjoying some impressive views.


I followed that ride with a trip over to the South side of Hodges, most of which had been closed for several months following the 2007 October wild fires.




My Lake Hodges bonanza continued a week later when I crossed off one of my 2008 Goal List items and climbed Bernardo Peak. It involved more hiking than riding, but I still enjoyed myself.

I also rode Sycamore with Joel one weekend...

And returned the next weekend to complete some unfinished business...

Rachel and I also took some time out to do the Silent Ride with the Rock MTB group which was an moving experience and later that day I spent some time on the trails with my first ride over at Lake Calavera. My fitness was not up to par on that day, and I left wishing I had been able to hang with the group better. I did handle a few techy downhill sections OK though.

March also brought about the end of my regular local ride (as well as a painful lesson in the effects of the needles of the wild artichoke.)

I capped off the month by doing some trail work over at Black Mountain (on a trail that ironically would become part of my new local ride route a few months later!).



April started out with an easy spin around Hodges with Joel, followed by my first trip down Canyon Rim trail at Black Mountain, the trail that would become the training ground for my improving technical downhill skills.

After that I spent an awesome day riding all of the singletrack at the Del Mar Mesa the day before it closed. It was an incredibly fun series of trails, and I am both thrilled to have ridden before it was bulldozed and saddened at the fact that its gone forever now.

I bought a new bike in April, a Specialized Enduro Elite, but it didn't last very long. It just wasn't a fit for me.

The next couple of weeks brought a quickie LPQ run with Sean, followed by the Skyline MTB weekend in the Lagunas and a fun Noble ride where I had a chance to improve my downhill skills.

April ended with an aborted local ride that taught me some chain maintenance lessons, but overall things were going pretty well at that point.

May involved a couple of consecutive trips to Black Mountain for my new local ride, followed by a new route over at Hodges involving both the North and South sides with Sean and Dave G.

One highlight of May was my first organized event ride, Cycle Eastlake. I enjoyed it very much, and would love to do more events like it. Less pavement would have been better, and doing it with friends would also have been fun, but I had a great time nonetheless.


Later that same day I did a local ride just to get in some bonus miles, which set a new single-day mileage record for me.

The last week of May brought a ride that may be the highlight of the year for me: the Tour de Hodges. On a whim I ended up riding almost all of the trails that were open on both North and South Hodges, including Bernardo Peak. It was a 27 mile slogfest for me, and one that I'll remember as a great accomplishment.


After the Tour de Hodges, my next ride was also one that I'll remember as I spent a considerable amount of time wandering around the Tunnels at LPQ. I was able to discover two new Tunnels that I'd never ridden, and also enjoyed dropping in from the Camino del Sur trailhead for the first time.


May concluded with a trip through Santa Luz with Sean, where we saw several interesting sights, including bridges...

Strange gook on the trails...

And what wild artichoke looks like in full bloom...

June started with the now ubiquitous Black Mountain local ride, followed by my first trip to Sweetwater Reservoir. I almost didn't make it to this ride, which was hosted by the group from World Cycles, but am glad I did. Sweetwater turned out to be one of my favorite local trails of the whole year.

After Sweetwater, Sean and I tackled the main trails at Black Mountain for the first time. My local ride had included the Canyon Rim trail and some of the smaller trails that descended the north side of the mountain, but Sean and I set out to explore the whole thing, and we succeeded. Despite being a relatively short ride mileage-wise, it was a ton of climbing and we had a great time riding trails in our backyard that we had never ridden.

A week after riding Black Mountain, I went for a ride with Billy at the Cuyamaca Grand Loop. I remember this as one of my strongest rides of the year in terms of conditioning and fitness, and while the trail itself was a little underwhelming and Billy had some severe mechanical issues, it was a fun day up in the mountains. The views and scenery were impressive.

We saw wild turkeys...

A little singletrack...

And some beautiful forest...

The next week I did my first STR group ride at the Santa Margarita River Trail. I met Doug in person for the first time and also met and rode with local MTB legend MTB Bill as well. The ride itself was fun, and it was neat to get to see a new trail that I'd never ridden.

The next week brought another highlight of the entire year; Santa Rosa Plateau with the Wonderminion. The trail was fun and interesting, the scenery was new and unique, and I had a great time showing our intern Kent the joys of mountainbiking. And I finally got some pictures of myself on the trail, which was nice.

June wrapped up with my first-ever night ride, the SDMBA Cuyamaca Night Ride at the Cuyamaca Grand Loop. This was an interesting ride for me, because it started out with me having a complete bonk despite having ridden very well there earlier in June. I managed to finish the ride relatively strong, but struggled so much at the beginning that the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. I did enjoy the night riding aspect, and did several more later in the year.

July brought sweet redemption by way of a return trip to Daley Ranch that went pretty well. While I still had a couple of HAB's, I rode the vast majority of it and did far better than my debacle out there six months earlier.

After that came a fun LPQ ride with Doug, Evan, and Scott where I was able to ride the mysterious tunnel 5 for the first time.

After that ride came more secret trails with my first trip out to Ted Williams. I rode with Sean and Doug, and it turned into a climbing exploration the likes of which only Sean could create. It was fun though, and I was glad to finally be shown this hidden jewel of north county.

Mid-July brought the first of two Archipelago Pre-rides that I did that month, beginning with my initial ride from home to South Hodges to North Hodges to SDRP where I got lost between SDRP and Santa Luz. It was a key first step in what would become a successful epic ride, and some of my pictures from that day are among my favorites.

Five days after my first failed attempt at linking up trails for my Archipelago ride, I was back out there for Pre-Ride 1(b), where I started out at Hodges with Mark and Doug and ultimately found my connector. It was a fun but taxing ride, and I rolled home in the dark around 9:00 at night.

August began with me successfully linking the second section of trails for the Archipelago Ride, starting from home and linking Santa Luz to LPQ and back to Santa Luz. It was a very taxing ride for me, and I ended it wondering if the full ride was even possible.

August also brought some bike shenanigans, with the sale of my first full-suspension rig (Specialized FSR) and purchase of my new frame, an Intense Spider XVP. I'll get into the Spider more later, but as for the FSR, it was an awesome bike and I was a little sorry to see it go. Things turned out OK though.

Despite the revolving door of bikes, August was a brutal time for riding, as work was a nightmare and family was in from out of town. As a result, I went three weeks between rides before I finally worked in a local ride just to taste dirt again.

September started off with a bang, howerver, as I embarked on my first ever out-of-town MTB trip. I joined Sean, Doug, and Brent for a trip up to the Southern Sierras, specifically Kernville and the Sequoias. It was an awesome four days of riding, and the collection of ride reports is available here. My biggest regret was that my fitness wasn't up to par, and the next time I plan a MTB trip, I plan on putting in some serious training miles before hand in order to ensure I'm able to handle several consecutive days of riding. There were a ton of beautiful photos from the trip, but here just a couple of my favorites:

When I got home from Kernville/Quaking Aspens, I still had several days of vacation left, and decided to hit a local trail I had been meaning to ride for a while, Elfin Forest. Despite several consecutive days of riding, my fitness was still a little suspect, and I suffered during most of the Elfin ride. The views were impressive though...


A week later I headed out to MTRP to ride Spring and Oak canyons with Sean, Doug, Evan, and Jeremy.

After that was a fun LPQ spin in the lower canyon trails with Rachel, which was a nice change of pace.

My last September ride was an LPQ night ride with Sean, Dennis and Dave G., who had never been through the tunnels before. Despite some mishaps with my light and mechanical issues, it was a fun ride and made me want to ride at night more often.

October brought the completion of the Spider build, and a new bike was born.

The maiden voyage was an easy ride back at Spring Canyon with Rachel, Billy, and Nate. I was really impressed at Rachel's riding, and started to hope that she'd get on the trails with me more often. The Spider felt great, though the easy trail and relaxed pace wasn't much of a test.


After that, it was time for the Cuyamaca Poker Ride. I rode well, and really appreciated the lighter weight and XC geometry of the Spider. I'll definitely be back next year.

Next up was a night ride with Dave G. at Black Mountain. I was glad to be night riding again and getting some use out of my TriNewt, but miscalculated badly on this ride. I tried the light on my helmet, and it was horrible. I had no depth perception, the beam wasn't bright enough, and it made for a rough ride.

Then cameArchipelago Pre-ride Part III, the final leg of my Archipelago pre-ride series. I had been vacillating about which direction to do the route , and had decided to ride this ride clockwise because I was leaning toward doing the Archipelago route that direction as well. I'm glad I did. I found the gliderport trail down the west face of Black Mountain, and the final piece of my Archipelago ride was in place.

A week later, with my Spider performing well and finances an issue, I elected to sell off my Specialized Enduro that I had ridden since April. This bike and I never really formed a bond, and I wasn't entirely sad to see it go. I was able to get a good price for it, and the "rental fee" for riding it for seven months wasn't too bad.

The final ride of October was a great one, with a trip up to the Lagunas to ride BLT with the Skyline crew. We did some bonus miles in addition to the regular loop, and had a blast. It was actually my first trip up to BLT this year, and I hope to get back up there soon.


November started with a bang. After more than three and a half months of planning, scouting, pre-riding, and (some) conditioning, the morning of the 6th was the day of my full Archipelago Ride. The route was well planned and executed. The company (Doug) was awesome and enhanced the experience. I had some severe cramping issues in my legs, which served as a lesson for next time, but overall it was a day I'll remember for a long time. It was over 42 miles, eight hours of riding, and an epic day. There were a lot of neat pics, but this one was one of my favorites:

The rest of the month was a little anticlimactic, with a trip to Sycamore to clean Martha's and finally ride the switchbacks next on my agenda.


It felt great to clean all of Martha's, but the switchbacks nearly killed me endurance-wise. I blame it on having ridden 42 miles a week earlier...

After a couple week riding drought, I headed over to La Costa (Denk Mountain) to check off another lingering 2008 Ride List trail. It was a decent ride, but the fairly severe nature of the trail (steep climb, then steep descent, then repeat) wasn't really my style. It was fun, but not a place I'd make a habit out of riding on a regular basis. Also, for being geographically close to home, it took forever to get there...

Next came a kind of strange ride out at "lower" Noble Canyon with Billy. We did some exploration on some singletrack near the bottom of the trailhead, and climbed some of the road up to a cutover trail and rode Extra Credit back to the cars. The exploration aspect of the ride was fun, and we did discover some neat singletrack that's off the beaten path. However, I was stung by a bee, and it was a long drive for a fairly short ride, so it wasn't a complete success.


The last ride of November was one of my best performances on a local ride all year. Whether it was the new bike, some better conditioning, or just a unmerited blessing, I cleaned several sections that I usually walk and had a great ride.

December also started strong, with another 2008 Goal List item getting checked off my list. While Rachel back east visiting relatives, I joined Nate for a ride up at San Juan Trail. We rode all the way to Blue Jay and back, and while there were some rough spots for me and the climbing was difficult, it was a great ride.

The next day brought a quick, "training style ride" over at North Hodges. I actually didn't feel like riding, but with an unlimited hall pass and the year winding down, I wanted to ride as much as possible. I negative split the trip to Hernandez Hideaway and back, and felt great at the end.

After a busy couple of weeks, my next ride was back at Black Mountain, and it was a circus. I climbed a trail over on the north section, which was a mistake, and then right at the summit lost a screw in my cleat, resulting in a lengthy trailside hassle and a ride home with no cleat on my left foot. However, what should have been a horrible ride was outweighed by the beauty of the day and the local mountains, which were breathtaking.

Next came a fun solo ride out at Sweetwater, that would have been better if not for some equestrian trail damage that wrecked some of the lower singeltrack. Also, there was just enough mud left on the fire roads to totally gunk up the Spider, resulting in a need for a deep clean the next day.

The last ride of 2008 was a pretty good one. I rode a "secret trail" out in Steele Canyon that was a lot of fun with the Skyline and Rock MTB groups. It was a lot of climbing, and involved some road miles at the end, but the backcountry feel and exploration aspects made it more enjoyable than it otherwise would have been.

It was a great year. I rode a lot, improved some, and delved deeper into a hobby that is truly a large part of my life now.

I legitimately completed each item on my 2008 Goal List, and did each ride but one on my 2008 Ride List. Lake Morena was the only trail I missed, and while I'm disappointed that I didn't hit them all this year, only missing one (reasonably close) trail isn't too bad.

I feel pretty good about making each of my goals for the year. While each of them were measurable and attainable, none were gimmies, and I had to work to make sure that each one was met.

In terms of mileage, I rode a total of 217.53 miles on my mountain bike in the fourth quarter of the year, as opposed to 200.00 in Q3, 254.75 in Q2 and 140.25 miles in Q1. As a result, I rode 812.55 miles this year. I didn't have a goal number of miles to hit, and this seems like a decent accomplishment as well. I will shoot for a little more next year.

So ends 2008. I'll be publishing a 2009 Goal List, that will encompass both my overall goals as well as some specific trails. I've enjoyed writing this blog in 2008, and hope to continue through 2009 as well.

See you next year...

State of the MTB Union (Q4 2008)

Back on April 1, and July 1, and October 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. At the end of each quarter I always found myself looking forward to writing this post because its interesting 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.

I plan on doing an extensive year-end post hitting some of the high points from all of 2008, but in keeping with my tradition of quarterly progress reports, I wanted to do my 4th Quarter review separately.

2008 RIDE LIST:

As far as rides on my 2008 list, I entered Q4 with three rides left on my list. I finally rode the Big Laguna Loop (with extras) and La Costa, which I had been hoping to get to. BLT was an absolute blast because we added in some awesome bonus sections including Agua Dulce and Red Tail Roost. La Costa was decent, with a confidence-building trip down NASCAR coupled with a ton of climbing that wasn't entirely worth it. It was a fun enough trail, but not one I plan on doing on a regular basis like so many other riders in North County.

It looks like I will officially not be completing every ride on my 2008 List, however, because I didn't make it out to Lake Morena. I thought it was going to happen when the Rock MTB group scheduled a ride out there on December 20, but rain forced a change of venue and my last opportunity was squandered. I'm a little bummed to not have crossed every ride off the list, but I'll live. And I'll make sure to get out to Lake Morena in 2009 at least once.

2008 GOAL LIST:

As for my more general 2008 Goal List, the 4th Quarter was a good one. I entered the quarter with only four goals left unaccomplished. To remedy that fact, in early November I finally made it back out to Sycamore to clean all of Martha's Grove (up and down). A week earlier I had already knocked off Goal #2 by doing an all-day type ride courtesy of my Archipelago Ride. And then in early December I did a ride in the OC while riding the famed San Juan Trail. The only other goal left on the list was to improve my climbing skills and general fitness, which I have clearly done, though not to my complete satisfaction.

HIGHLIGHTS OF Q4:

The 4th Quarter was a great one for me, with several awesome rides and a couple of other interesting developments.

The most significant non-riding event of the quarter was the completion of my new bike, an Intense Spider XVP. I bought the frame online for a song back in August, and finally purchased all the components and had it built up in early October by the guys over at Bike Bling. The list of specs is available in this post which I wrote the day I picked it up from the shop. Over the next three months I made some minor additions including my own saddle, carbon handle bars, and finally some new pedals. The bike has been awesome, and though it ended up costing quite a bit, I was able to defray almost the entire cost using supplemental income so I didn't shatter our household budget. I have noticed a significant improvement in my climbing with the Spider over the Enduro, and the bike just seems to fit me better than any of my previous ones. I am looking forward to riding it for years to come.

As far as rides in Q4, I was glad to get Rach out on her first real MTB ride at Spring Canyon in early October. She did great, and I hope to get her out on more rides in 2009.

I also had a chance to do the annual Cuyamaca Poker Ride for the first time this year, and had one of my strongest riding days of the year in terms of fitness. The ride itself was OK, but it was the first real ride I did on the new Spider, and what a difference it made. My fitness and proper bike-fit made the experience much more enjoyable than it would have been if I was out of shape and on the Enduro, and I had a great time.

I also finally made it up to the Lagunas in Q4 to do the BLT ride and I'll remember it as one of the most purely enjoyable rides of the second half of the year. There wasn't any one thing that made it fun, but the trails were new and interesting, the company was good, and the scenery and weather were great, combining for a great day on the trails all around.

November brought my now ledgendary Archipelago Ride, which was a highlight of the entire year in terms of accomplishment. It was 42 miles of riding, and I had some physical challenges during the last third of the ride, but it felt great to finish the whole thing and I really felt like I had achieved something significant by the end. Between the three pre-rides and some google earth scouting efforts, planning the route was almost as much fun as riding it, and I learned that the "exploration" aspect of mountainbiking is one of my favorite parts of the hobby.

I also was glad to make it up to the famed San Juan Trail in December. Nate proved to be an awesome trail guide and de facto coach, and I performed better than I thought I would on a day where I wasn't even feeling my best. Making it all the way to Blue Jay was something I was really proud of, and I ended the ride once again feeling like I had achieved something significant.

My last ride of the year was another interesting one when I rode over at McGinty Mountain with a group of fast riders. The trail was fairly unknown, and while the ride itself wasn't a ton of fun, the backcountry feel and exploration aspect were extremely enjoyable, and I look forward to getting back there and exploring more early in 2009.

For the fourth quarter of 2008, I rode a total of 217.53 miles on my mountain bike, as opposed to 200.00 in Q3, 254.75 in Q2 and 140.25 miles in Q1. As a result, I rode 812.55 miles this year. I didn't have a total mileage goal at the beginning of 2008, but I feel like that number is adequate. I am thinking of setting a mileage goal for 2009, but don't want to be stressed about miles all year at the expense of fun on the trails.

As I said above, I'll be posting a year-end summary with thoughts and pictures from the entire year, but as far as Q4 goes, I feel like I finished strong and look forward to building on the miles I've logged and trails I've ridden this year as I head into 2009.

Spider Build: Final Piece

It's Christmas Eve today and with that came the final piece of my Spider build. I had finally purchased a seat and handlebars of my own back in November when they became available at Bike Bling and forgot to post an update here, but that's not the focus of today's post. (For what its worth, I went with a WTB Pure V SLT saddle and Easton Monkeylite ML mid rise carbon bars, both of which I like very much.)

After getting my seat and bars, the only piece of the bike that wasn't new was my pedals. I had been using old Shimano M505 pedals from my Specialized FSR XC Pro, and while they worked decently they were far from high-end.

I had been researching pedals for a couple of months, trying to get an idea if I wanted to stick with SPD's or switch to Crank Brothers clipless pedals. Early on in my search I fell in love with the CB Acid 2's, thanks to their light weight, decent size platform, and cool white color that matched my bike. The problem was that the best price I could find for those pedals was around $160.00, which was outside my budget for pedals.

I had been combing ebay for a while, and a few days ago spotted the exact pedals I wanted (brand new) with a reserve of $60.00. At that point there were three days left on the auction, and I figured the price would go up to the $150 range eventually, but I put in a bid anyway just in case.

I monitored the auction closely, and was surprised and thrilled when I won the pedals for only $80.00. What was even better was that the seller voluntarily offered to reduce the shipping cost to me because he was just up the road in Lake Elsinore, so the total cost was $85.00.

I was in the office this afternoon working (on Christmas Eve!) when the mail arrived, and was blown away that the pedals came already. They were in perfect, new condition, and the seller had even included a second set of cleats and shims for free which was amazing.

Even better, the boss let me bang out of work around 1 PM, so I headed home and installed my new toys as soon as possible. They went on with no problem, and clipping in and out has never been easier.

I rode around the driveway to test them out, and at first blush I absolutely love them. They look perfect, feel really good under my feet, and are extremely easy to clip in and out of, something I had a problem with while using the SPD's.

I'm excited to take the bike out for a ride this weekend now that its in final form. Building it from scratch has been a ton of fun, and I feel inordinately blessed to have such a quality bike. It has truly been a merry Christmas already, and the big day isn't even until tomorrow...

Here's how she looks in all of her complete splendor:

RR: Sweetwater Reservoir

Rachel is still dealing with the effects of the Fall River Virus she got on vacation, so I decided to head out to Skyline today by myself for church and then head over to my good friend John Nelson's college graduation party afterward. I knew that the party would be wrapping up around mid-afternoon and figured that would be an ideal time to go check out Sweetwater Reservoir again. The first and only time I had ridden there was back in June when I rode with the World Cycles crew, and I really enjoyed the trail, so I had been looking for an opportunity to get back there.

Before I could ride, however, I needed to obtain a replacement screw for my cleat after my mishap yesterday on Black Mountain. After church, on the way to the grad party I stopped at Soul Cycles in El Cajon to see about buying a replacement screw. The owner, Dave, was in the shop and hooked me up with a replacement screw for free, which I appreciated tremendously. In less than a minute I was in and out of the shop and able to ride that afternoon. Awesome.

The party was winding down around 2:00, so I headed over to the Steele Bridge and got underway. During the ride back in June, I arrived a few minutes late and had to fly to catch up with the group. It was nice today to start the ride at an easier warm-up pace, and I really enjoyed the first section of singletrack as it paralleled the Sweetwater river and made its way through several fun, techy spots.

At one point early on I passed a hiker and his large yellow lab who was walking off leash next to him. I waved hello and rode on without thinking much about it. About a half mile later, however, I came upon a large coyote just off the trail. The coyote was huge, almost the size of an adult German Shepherd, and it ran off slowly up the hill as I approached. I waited a minute as it retreated further up the hill and then decided to wait a minute or two more to warn the hiker and his dog. I knew that the coyote posed no real threat to a dog his size, but the size of the coyote itself and how slowly it ran away made me at least want to warn the hiker about its presence. The hiker was grateful and elected to leash his dog for the time being, so I felt good about staying to issue the warning.

From there I continued through the singletrack to the fire road that paralleled the river. There were one or two muddly spots in the middle of the fire roads, but I had no choice to just pedal through and not worry about it. At least the singletrack so far had been mud-free.

It had turned out to be an absolutely breathtaking day, and with the rain earlier in the week keeping me off the trails and another series of storms forecast for the next week, I was thrilled to be getting two rides in this weekend.

After the fire road I began the steep climb up the main hill. It had been my undoing back in June, and while I did significantly better today, there was still some HAB about 2/3 of the way through as fatigue set in. I was on the bike pedaling about halfway up when I experienced a "burp" in my rear tire for the first time. I have been running tubeless tires with Stan's sealant since I built the Spider, and I had heard they sometimes burp when the tire pressure gets low, but this was the first time it had happened. The tire was still far from flat, but I stopped and put some air in it anyway with my hand pump just to be sure. I took this picture from near the top of the climb where I stopped, looking back the way I'd come:

I eventually made it to the top of the climb, and then enjoyed the descent down toward the small pond and the short climb afterward toward the Palapa. From there I headed left up the next singletrack climb that would take me over towards the lake.

I made the next climb with no problem, and then came to a decision point. Back in June I had just doubled back to the Palapa from there, while most of the group descended down toward the lake and then did a steep singletrack climb up the back side of the hill to the Palapa. I had some gas left in my tank, and would always rather do a loop than an out-and-back, so I headed down the hill toward the lake.

This turned out to be a mistake, but not for the reason you may think.

The initial descent was very bumpy and rough, which seemed strange to me. At the bottom I made a right and rode along a narrow singletrack that was almost completely obliterated by post holes and clods of dirt. I pedaled as much as I could, but the soil was so torn up that it became impossible to ride. The only culprit I could determine was equestrians who had apparently ridden this trail right after the rain a few days ago. The trail for the next 3/4 of a mile was totally annihilated, with 4 inch deep holes and torn up soil along the entire trail. While there were two climbs that would have been tough if the trail was pristine, riding even the flat sections was impossible thanks to the damage. The scenery was pretty, even if the trail was a mess.

As a result I ended up HABing most of the singletrack between the bottom of the hill and the Palapa, which wasn't a ton of fun. Also, the extensive HAB caused my right cleat to start coming loose, which made clipping and unclipping a problem when I did try to ride a section of trail.

Once I finally reached the Palapa I tightened down both cleats and took in the views before getting back under way. The downhill from the back side of the Palapa was the highlight of the trail when I rode it in June, but there were some puddles on the lower section that I slowed down for today that took a little of the thrill out of it. I eventually re-joined the main fire road that took me back to the singletrack trail that parallels the river, and headed back towards the car.

During the singletrack section near the end I did manage to clean several short steep climbs that felt good, and also nailed a techy rocky downhill that was a lot of fun. The portion of this trail between the Steele Bridge and the fire road is a blast to ride and very scenic, making it one of my favorite sections of trail I've ridden.

I really enjoy this trail, and would ride it more often if it was closer to home. I really want to explore some singletrack that I saw betwee the steep climb and descent down from the Palapa as well. By the end of the ride my bike was a muddy mess from the puddles on the fire roads, but the fun I had was well worth it.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 12.05 miles
Total Time: 2:04:26
Ascent: 1706 feet
Average Speed: 5.8 mph
Top Speed: 20.4 mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:

View Larger Map

RR: Black Mountain

I had an interesting ride this morning that started out rough and only got worse, yet by the end I was still in a better mood than when I started. I must be making some progress in my approach to life.

I had a fairly limited window in which to ride this morning because of some home improvement projects and Christmas shopping that I had to do, so I was conflicted about where to ride. I'm a little bored with all of the regular stuff that I've been riding, and wanted something new. Doug invited me to go with him to explore some Ramona trails which I've wanted to do for a while, but he couldn't start until 10:00 a.m. and I didn't have the whole day available. I had also gone through another unfortunate two week layoff since my last ride and wasn't sure where my fitness would be.

My indecision led to laziness, and I elected to just stay near home and ride my local route to Black Mountain, with maybe a trip to the summit tacked on for good measure. As I started out and pedaled through the 4S trails towards the mountain, I figured that the least I could do to shake things up was to try to climb the rocky trail up the north face of the mountain to Miner's instead of riding Carmel Valley road to the paved climb up to the trailhead.

As I started the dirt climb things weren't too bad, but they deteriorated rapidly. My two weeks of 12 hour work days and no exercise exacted their toll about a third of the way up, and I was off the bike and huffing way earlier than I should have been. The dirt climb was a poor choice for me today, but would have been quicker and more fun than the two road climbs if I was in the right condition. I'll definitely try it again sometime soon, but need to get back on the stupid stationary bike beforehand.

I eventually reached the top and made my way over to Miner's. I was once again beset by more HAB than usual, and I was questioning my decision to even go for a ride this morning. I had done so well on Miner's just a few weeks ago, and it was particularly frustrating to be performing so badly today after having some great success back on November 30th. I was also unable to clean that fun techy section today that I had made a couple weeks ago, which was demoralizing.

As I essentially pushed my bike up Miner's clockwise, I considered just doing the loop and skipping the ride to the summit like I had tentatively planned. I felt like crap, and didn't want to continue to suffer during the limited down-time that I had available today. As I neared the cut-over trail that would mark my decision point, I looked back toward the north and was treated to an amazing view of the snow-capped Palomar mountains.

As I turned toward the east, I could see that the Cuyamaca mountains also had significant snowfall visible from where I was.

The views immediately changed my whole demeanor and attitude, and I decided to make the trek to the summit to see if I could get an even better view.

I rode pretty well through the cut-over, even cleaning the tricky G-out near the end, and then made the HAB up to the main fire road. I spun along the fire road happily toward the summit, where indeed the view were spectacular. I stopped near the top to enjoy the views to the east before continuing to the summit to check out the mountains to the north as well.

As I made it to the summit, I rode toward the edge of the road and planned to stop for a minute to take in the views. As I stopped and tried to unclip my left pedal, my shoe rotated outward but the cleat remained stationary, stuck in the pedal. I unclipped my right shoe quickly before I fell over, and realized that the left cleat was rotating underneath the sole of the shoe while still attached to the pedal.

I played with it for a minute or two, rotating my ankle around trying the get the cleat to unclip, but with no success. I eventually was forced to take the shoe off my foot while the shoe was still attached to the pedal, and spent about 10 minutes trying to dislodge the cleat and shoe from the pedal, frustrated but amused at the situation.

I tried all kinds of tricks, but eventually had to just put the shoe back on try to wrench it free by twisting my ankle. That method finally worked, and after the shoe came unclipped, I discovered the culprit that caused the problem: I had lost one of the screws that held the cleat in place, which caused the cleat to rotate on the bottom of the shoe instead of disengaging from the pedal.

The screw was apparently long gone, so I tightened down the remaining screw and clipped back in, hoping that tightening the one screw down very tight would keep the cleat from rotating. I put the shoe back on and clipped in. I then tried to unclip to test it out, and the cleat rotated inside the pedal and stayed clipped. Crap. I wrenched the shoe free again, and this time elected to remove the cleat entirely, meaning that I would be unable to clip in my left shoe at all. The Shimano M505 cleats that I was using have almost no platform, so pedaling was going to be a little rough, but I figured that was better than being stuck to the pedal during the entire descent down Black Mountain.

Time was also a factor at this point. I had things to do today and my mechanical issues had cost me about 25 minutes that I had not factored in when planning out this ride. I made it down the Gorge Trail without dabbing, but did stop to snap a picture on the way down so that I could illustrate why I have dubbed it the Gorge Trail.

I also almost made it up the steep climb at the end of Gorge but my left foot slipped off the pedal during my final lunge and I stalled briefly, forcing a dab.

I cleaned all the switches going down Miner's, and because of my pedal issues and time concerns, elected to just ride the main trail down the north face of the mountain back to the 4S trails to home. Even with all the pedal nonsense I made it home in less than two hours, which was nice. With the rough start fitness-wise and mechanical issues I would have expected myself to be frustrated at the end of the ride, but the views of those snow-capped mountains really had an effect on me, and I was in a great mood the rest of the day.

One thing that is becoming clear is that my occasional two week gaps between rides really hurts my endurance and sets back my fitness considerably. I need to do something during the week to make sure my fitness doesn't drop as dramatically as it did these last two weeks when I was unable to ride. It looks like the stationary bike may be the only option...

Here are the stats from today:

Total Distance: 8.57 miles
Total Time: 1:59:51
Ascent: 1702 feet
Average Speed: 4.3 mph
Top Speed: 31.6 mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:

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RR: North Hodges

I managed to work in a quick North Hodges ride this afternoon before the Bronco game, primarily out of a sense of obligation. With Rach still out of town my time is my own, and I wanted to get some miles in when I had the chance. I was a little tired from 22 miles at San Juan Trail yesterday, so I wanted to do a ride that was fun but not too strenuous. North Hodges was the perfect fit.

When I arrived at the parking lot near the Self Storage, I realized that there wasn't any water left in my camelback from yesterday's ride like I had thought. So I threw a multi-tool in my jacket pocket and decided to ride without a camelback, something I almost never do.

I rode the basic North Hodges route, under the bridge, up the short hill, down along the lake, across the creek, up the fire road, up the ridge trail, down toward the lake, along the singletrack that parallels the road, through the fun singletrack that lines the west side of the lake, finishing at Hernandez Hideaway. When I reached HH, I realized that it had taken me just over 33 minutes to get that far. I decided at that moment to see if I could achieve a "negative split" for this ride, meaning I would try to take less time to ride back to the car than I did to reach the midpoint at HH.

I was already a little tired at that point, but spun a higher gear through the west side singletrack and along the road in order to try to make up time, and then prepared myself for the short, steep climb up to the ridge. I had not been able to clean that climb during the back-half of the Archipelago Ride, but today I sucked it up and grunted my way to the top. Without stopping to pat myself on the back, I spun through the ridge singletrack as quickly as I could. I did get hung up on the section where you have to get up and over a series of rocks during a turn on the trail, but after a dab was able to keep going. (At some point I really need to get to where I can clean that spot. Its ridiculous that there is a section at Hodges I can't clean...)

As I descended from the ridge and pedaled along the fire road that runs just above the lake, I could see that a negative split would be tough to get. I was also tiring significantly at that point and had one last climb near the end to contend with still. Despite my negative projections, I flew down the fire road as fast as I could, crossed the stream, and turned big gears during the singletrack along the lake. Time was slipping away as I approached the final climb, and I rode up as fast as I could. As I reached the summit of that last climb I was at the one hour four minute mark, meaning I had to make it back to the car in less than two minutes to achieve a negative split.

I flew down the last descent, rode toward the freeway, then under the bridge and big-ringed the last section of "trail" toward the parking lot. As the stats below prove, I made my negative split by a mere three seconds, tired but pleased with my accomplishment.

It was a fun "training" style ride, and I was pretty happy to have made it to Hernandez Hideaway and back in an hour and 5 minutes. I may try to shoot for under an hour next time just to make things interesting.

Once again Rachel had the camera, but I think I have enough pictures of Hodges and the pace of this ride didn't lend itself to photos anyway.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 12.21 miles
Total Time: 1:05:57
Ascent: 805 feet
Average Speed: 11.1 mph
Top Speed: 20.9 mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:

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RR: San Juan Trail

With Rachel out of town this weekend I knew I wanted to do a big Saturday ride, but didn't know where to go. I debated about doing Aliso, Noble, or the San Clemente singletracks, but after a call from Nate Friday afternoon, my fate was sealed: We were finally riding San Juan.

The circumstances were perfect: Billy was out with the flu or else he would have vetoed San Juan (he hates it after a bad experience in July), Nate had been there so he knew the trail, and I had the whole day free. Awesome.

Nate picked me up at a park and ride in RB at 6:30, and we made it to the trailhead by about 7:45. The morning was flawless; cool and crisp but not cold, and the temperatures were ideal for climbing. Which we would be doing a lot of on this trail.

After a short warm-up pedaling in circles in the parking lot, we started up the famed San Juan Trail. The first set of switchbacks came up right away, and I found myself breathing hard from the get-go. Despite how good I felt riding last weekend, I hadn't been on the stationary bike all week, and it appeared that I was going to pay for that.

I made a couple of the early switchbacks, especially those that turned to the left. The right turns were more of a problem for me, and I found myself dabbing fairly often.

The trail was in good condition overall, and wasn't loose, but it was rutted, and I found myself having some balance issues climbing while in the deep ruts in the middle of the trail. I handled the climb OK for the first section, and Nate was nice enough to wait up if he found himself getting too far out in front.

There were a couple of spots fairly early on where the trail had eroded, leaving a narrow space with significant exposure off to the side. I walked two of those sections but sacked up and rode a couple others.

As the climb continued there were a couple of really tough, rocky switchbacks that I also had to hike, and eventually fatigue set in and I found myself HABing sections of ridable trail because I was simply tired.

At one point I fell farther behind than usual, and Nate came back to ride with me. I rallied a little at that point, and rode fairly strongly for a bit before fatigue once again reared its ugly head. Eventually I was riding again, and made it to the top of the main portion of the climb. At that point I enjoyed a really fun flowy section of singletrack that undulated and wound through some scrub bushes. After that it was more climbing, and then suddenly we were at Cocktail Rock. We had hit Cocktail at exactly the two hour mark of the ride, which I realize isn't great, but didn't feel terrible either. On a better climbing day fitness wise, I could have shaved at least a half-hour off that time. Nate could have done it solo in an hour.

Spent a few minutes at Cocktail, and asked some guys there if they knew about the upper loop that Nate had never ridden. They suggested we ride all the way to Blue Jay, which I wasn't sure about, but we decided to go for it. They were riding towards Blue Jay, but planned to split off to go ride Los Pinos and offered to show us where to go as far as they could. We left Cocktail as part of their group, rode down a fun downhill section, through some meadows, and then started climbing again. The trail at that point reminded me a lot of Noble, with brush and trees along the trail and fun rocky singletrack as the main feature.

I began to really feel the effects of the climbing about halfway to Blue Jay, and was getting a little concerned about bonking. After one particularly long climb I caught up to Nate, who told me that the rest of the group had split off to go ride Los Pinos, and had given him directions to Blue Jay. We rested for a minute there, and Nate helped me try to fix my pedals, which had been giving me problems. After a short rest and some bike repair, we started out to complete the last leg of our trip to Blue Jay.

The next section of trail did have some climbing, but was mostly manageable and I was able to stay on the bike and ride the whole thing. After just a short while we found ourselves standing at the Blue Jay campground, tired but pleased with our achievement.

After a short rest, we started back the way we came, eager to enjoy the fruit of our labor from all the climbing we had done. The downhill from Blue Jay to the base of the hill we had descended earlier was a blast, and it was over far to quickly. We then had a fairly lengthy HAB up the steep downhill we had ridden after Cocktail, and once we reached the top we were excited and ready for some sustained downhill as we descended San Juan.

The descent was fun and fast, though I did have a problem descending a couple of the upper switchbacks. On one of them I turned too tight and started to tip, and my left shoe would not come unclipped. As a result I capsized, landing painfully on my left knee and shin, still clipped in. I actually lay there for a minute or two, stuck, until I was able to wrench my cleat free from the pedal. I really want new pedals. I had some scrapes and bruises from the fall, but no serious injuries, and re-mounted the bike and pedaled on.

After that mishap I was a little tentative descending some of the other techy switchbacks, but did manage to clean a couple. We bombed the rest of the downhill in no time, and were back at the car quicker than I expected.

It was a fun ride, and one I'd actually do again. I wish I had been more faithful on the stationary bike in the week leading up to it so my conditioning had been a little better, but as it was I wasn't terrible. I'm very happy we decided to go all the way to Blue Jay. Even though the extra climbing was rough, I finished the day feeling pretty good, and had plenty left in the tank. I hear there is a "lollipop loop" after Cocktail that I'm sorry we missed, since our entire ride was an out and back.

Nate was an excellent ride leader, and provided me with several helpful tips during the climb that helped me pedal more efficiently, take the switchbacks better, and ride in and above ruts more effectively. I appreciated his input tremendously.

We stopped for Mexican on the way home, and then I relaxed and watched college football the rest of the afternoon. Awesome day.

Rachel had the camara for her vacation, and we gave my old one to her sister, so I am without pictures for this entire ride, which is a disappointment. The views from the top of SJT were georgeous, and we could see all the way to Catalina. I won't be without a camara the next time I ride here.

This was also the final "tangible" item on my 2008 Goal List: Do a Ride in the OC. With the completion of this ride, the only item on my List that I haven't crossed off is the "Improve my Climbing and General Fitness goal, which I will evaluate at the end of the year. I was thrilled to get this ride in before the year ended, and will talk more about the goals and my accomplishments in my year-end post that will come in a few weeks.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 21.14 miles
Total Time: 4:46:40
Ascent: 4377 feet
Average Speed: 4.4 mph
Top Speed: 19.0 mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:

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