Archipelago Ride

After more than three and a half months of planning, scouting, pre-riding, and (some) conditioning, this morning was the day of my Archipelago Ride.

By way of some brief history, the name and concept of the ride are not my own, though the route I rode today certainly was. The name and idea for this ride came from San Diego MTB legend Mountainbike Bill, who had hatched the concept of connecting several North San Diego County trails together in a huge loop that he called "The Archipelago Ride." More information on his version, the route, and some exciting future plans he has can be found here.

Since I lived almost directly in the middle of most of the trails included in Bill's ride, I began thinking several months ago about doing my own version. I wanted to start from home and see how many of the nearby trail networks I could link together, Archipelago-style. I began in early July by looking at GPS routes of some of my previous rides at Santa Luz, LPQ, and Lake Hodges on Google Earth. I attempted to locate connector trails that would link those areas together, and even emailed Bill for some suggestions, which he graciously provided.

After mapping out what I thought was a realistic route, a plan began to form. Initially I wanted to connect from my home in 4S Ranch, to South Hodges, to North Hodges, to Santa Luz, to LPQ, to Black Mountain, to home. I decided to pre-ride my suggested loop in at least three sections. This would allow me to scout any problems I was likely to encounter as well and ensure that the connector trails that I thought existed really did.

My first pre-ride was in mid-July, and the ride review can be read here. I started from home and rode through a private (but open) fire road over to South Hodges, to North Hodges, down Del Dios Highway, and through the San Dieguito River Park trails toward Santa Luz. Because this was my first pre-ride, I got lost at one point right before I found the connector from SDRP Trails to Santa Luz, and ended the ride frustrated, discouraged, and exhausted.

That night after my first pre-ride, I got back on google earth with my GPS route plotted and saw where I went wrong. Four days later I rode that same route again, but this time I made the connector. Part I was complete.

Ten days later I found time to pre-ride the second part of my planned Archipelago route. I rode from the Santa Luz/SDRP connector that I had found, through part of the Santa Luz Loop, through a connector to the north side of LPQ, through the LPQ tunnels, up Camino del Sur, and up the Santa Luz singletracks to Black Mountain Community Park. It was a grueling ride, with several nasty climbs, and I was having some serious doubts about whether I would be able to actually do the full ride all together someday.

Life intervened soon after I completed my pre-ride of Part II, and it was more than two and a half months before I found time to attempt Part III of my planned Archipelago route. I had spent some time after Part II looking for a solution to the problem of connecting from Black Mountain Community Park to the top of Black Mountain. The most direct route involved riding a fire road that paralleled Black Mountain Road over to the Laurentian Trailhead, then climbing the main fire road to the summit of Black Mountain and riding down the north side to home. The problem was that the fire road that parallelled Black Mountain Road was an absolute beast, with two massive climbs that I didn't think I could handle after thirty-some miles of riding beforehand.

After mulling over my options for a while, I was struck by a thought: Maybe I could ride the whole route in reverse, starting with Black Mountain and then connecting to the Santa Luz singletracks and riding over to LPQ in that direction, instead of the way I had pre-ridden it. This seemed like an attractive option because I thought I knew of a trail down the west face of Black Mountain that would dump me right next to the entrance to Black Mountain Community Park and the trialhead for the Santa Luz singletracks. The more I thought about it, the more sense that approach made, and I set out in mid October to do Part III of my Archipelago route, the final pre-ride.

It went off without a hitch, and I found that I could ride the Gliderport Trail down the west face of Black Mountain asI had thought. With the pre-riding complete, all I had to do was pick a date for the ride and make it happen.

Normally I would have probably put it off for a least a few weeks to work on my conditioning and try to make everything perfect. But when I heard that the LPQ tunnels were in jeopardy of closing and some changes were being made over at Hodges that could make the connection between the North and South side more difficult, I decided that I needed to suck it up and ride ASAP.

I had also intended initially to ride the whole route solo so that I could go at my own pace and not worry about group ride dynamics, but when Doug mentioned he was looking to be invited on some rides more often, I jumped at the chance to have some company. November 1 worked out for both of us and the date was set.

All of this backstory leads me back to this morning and the review of today's ride itself. Rachel and I were up early, and went and dropped my Tahoe over at what I believed to be the midpoint of the ride. We parked the truck at a trailhead just off San Dieguito Road in the middle of the Santa Luz loop so that we would have provisions during the ride. Doug arrived at my place a little before 8:00 a.m., and after after a few minutes of gearing up we started out from Heritage Park, which is close to my house.

We rode from Heritage over to the 4S trail system which overlooks Lusardi Canyon, heading for Black Mountain.

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[Some pictures I'm using in this RR are from previous Archipelago pre-rides, and are marked with an asterisk to show they were not taken on today's ride.]

The morning was beautiful and the weather was already warming up a bit, even at 8:30. It sure didn't feel like November.

We left the 4S Ranch trails pretty quickly and headed up Carmel Valley Road for a short road-ride toward the main Black Mountain trailhead.

At the trailhead for Black Mountain we noticed that there were already several people on the trails, though we didn't see any other bikes the whole time we were up there. Beneath us the community of 4S Ranch was just waking up.

We climbed up the main trail towards the Miner's Ridge Loop, and made a left to ride it clockwise. I had ridden this section of trail a couple of times in the past, but was already struggling slightly with the moderately technical climb and rising heat. There was some early HAB for me where there shouldn't have been, but I was hurting and didn't want to spin out and wreck myself this early in the ride.

As we plodded along up Miner's, I began to get concerned that I had missed the singletrack cut-over to the main Black Mountain fire road. I stopped, tried to get my bearings, and became convinced that we had missed it. Doug doubled back a little way and didn't see anything, so I volunteered to ride up a ways and see if it was still ahead. I rode up another few hundred yards and the scenery didn't look familiar, so I doubled back to where Doug was waiting and we started to backtrack. After several hundred yards of backtracking, it became clear that I am an idiot. We hadn't missed the cut-over, I had just gotten jumpy. So we trudged back up the trail for another half mile or so until we found the cut-over, and we were back on track. I sincerely hoped this would not be an omen for the rest of the day.

At the end of the cut-over trail, we did the short HAB section up to the main Black Mountain fire road, and enjoyed an easy spin up to the summit. During that section Doug and I had a really neat time of conversation, and I began to start really enjoying myself.

From the summit of Black Mountain, we rode down the Gorge Trail toward the northwest. The picture below shows the section we rode from the summit, which I have named the Gorge trail because of the massive rut that bisects the bottom. (For some reason the trail does not have an official name, and does not appear on the official Black Mountain Trail Map. So I get to call it whatever I want.)

From there we made our way over to the Gliderport via some fun singletrack. After surveying the scene, we elected to HAB a short distance down the Gliderport trail that descends off the west face of the mountain. It was crazy loose and extremely steep and I wasn't feeling up to giving it a shot this morning. As it was I still had a small fall as I tried to ride down a portion of the top against my better judgment.

At the bottom of the Gliderport trail we crossed Carmel Valley road and rode up into Black Mountain Community Park. We cut through the Park, saw some kids score a goal in their soccer game as we rode by, and then started into the entrance to the Santa Luz singletrack. The major climbing was over for the time being, and I had been looking forward to the Santa Luz singletrack descent for a while. So was Doug, even if he didn't show it.

We railed the fun, mostly downhill singletrack descent and crossed through a portion of the meadow in the middle of Santa Luz. From there we hooked back up briefly with Carmel Valley road, then had a relatively short road ride down Camino del Sur to the trailhead into LPQ. Before entering LPQ, we stopped at the Mobil station and Doug grabbed some additional fluids and filled up his bottles.

We then rode into LPQ via the Camino del Sur trailhead, and elected to take Tunnel 4 over to the main trail.
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We rode through the tunnels pretty quickly, even though it was crazy crowded in there. We hooked up with the main tunnel trail and rode that back up to the mesa, where we headed northwest toward the fire road that would take us out the backside of LPQ. We paused for a minute up on the mesa for Doug to get his seat adjusted, and I had the chance to take a picture of where we were headed.

We rode down the first section of fire road that took us toward the northwest side of LPQ and then had two short, steep fire road climbs that I managed to clean without stopping. At the next mesa I stopped and took another picture, this time of Black Mountain off in the distance.

One neat aspect of this ride was that for much of it, Black Mountain was visible from wherever we were. Being able to see where we had started provided a cool perspective on our progress and also served as a beacon as the ride went on.

We had another fire road climb and descent to finish before we left LPQ and started on the trail that would connect us back over to Santa Luz. This picture is taken looking back the direction we had come from.

We left LPQ and began the ride along the connector. We passed under the 56 freeway and saw a couple of interesting sights along the way:

Eventually we climbed a short distance up to Black Mountain Road, crossed over, and hit another fun section of trail that would provide the final link to Santa Luz. In the picture below, you can see the bridge that is on Camino del Sur in the distance.

We rode the connector until it hit Camino del Sur and made a left. This is another shot back the direction we had come from.

We rode northwest on Camino del Sur for a few hundred yards, and then hooked back up with the official Santa Luz Loop going clockwise.

We rode down the fire road, past the horse park, through the DG trails that run through the neighborhood, and over toward the last difficult section of the first half of our ride: the twin *itches.
The twin *itches are two steep fireroad climbs back-to-back that compose the worst part of the Santa Luz Loop. Doug and I were able to actually ride the entire first one, but halfway up the second it was HAB time for both of us. We slogged to the top and then coasted down the last section to my waiting Tahoe, which was beckoning me like a beacon in the night.

We dove into our sandwiches and Gatorade, and enjoyed an about 15-20 minute break at the car. I warned Doug that the most difficult portion of the ride was yet to come, and I think he believed me. I refilled my 3L Camelback (which I had totally drained during the first half of the ride) and ate as much as I could before I started to feel sick from being full. We had ridden about 19 and a half miles at that point, and while we were feeling pretty good, we knew there was a lot of ride left.

After our rest, we left the Tahoe, crossed San Dieguito Road, and climbed another fire road. From there we descended into Lusardi Canyon, and began a sustained climb up Artesian Road toward the San Dieguito River Park (SDRP) Trails.

The climb up Artesian wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, though it was no picnic. It was paved, which made it easier, and the grade was significant but not brutal. I middle ringed it as long as I could and then spun along until I reached the top. Doug was right behind me, and we rode another short fire road section until we reached the beginning of the SDRP trail.

[This picture is taken facing back the direction we were coming from.]

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From there we descended the series of tight switchbacks that marked the beginning/end of the SDRP trail. They were extremely tight, and the fires had burned up all of the guard rails, so I found myself dabbing at almost every one.

We descended the first set of switchbacks, rode a short but steep singletrack climb, and then descended another series of more manageable switchbacks before hitting level ground.

At that point we began riding the main portion of the SDRP trail which had been badly burned in the October 2007 wildfires. Several beautiful bridges which had been constructed just before the fires hit were destroyed by the flames. For today's ride, that meant dismounting and hiking across each of the six or seven spots where the charred remains of the bridge were all that were left.
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After we negotiated the last of the burned out bridge crossings, we were forced to buswhack through a 100 yard section of trail where weeds and bushes had begun to encroach significantly. From there we continued along the SDRP trail as it headed toward Del Dios Highway.

As we rode along, I noticed this new sign that had been posted, and there were new trail markers as well. That was an encouraging sight.

I experienced my first series of leg cramps along this section at the end of the SDRP trail, and they were rough. My hamstrings and quads both tightened up without warning, and I was forced to hop off the bike and stretch them out. It took a few minutes for me to get both legs to stop cramping, and I ate some Cola Clif Shot Bloks and drank as much water as I could.

I was able to continue fairly quickly, and we rode down a short fire road and over toward the bridge that crossed the gorge next to Del Dios Highway.
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We crossed the bridge and made our way up to the longest stretch of road-riding we would do today. We rode up onto Del Dios Highway and began to make our way toward north Hodges. About a quarter mile in, my legs began to cramp again agonizingly, and I was forced to hop over the guardrail and try to walk them off as traffic whizzed by. They were even worse now than before, and I was hurting. I drank more of my water and tried to stretch, and after several more minutes got back on the bike and began to climb again.

I kept the bike in the middle ring for the most part up Del Dios which I think helped some, but as I continued to ride I began to cramp in not only my hamstrings and quads, but my groin and calves as well. I gritted my teeth and powered through it, and was able to make it to the dam without stopping again.
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Seeing the dam helped me orient myself with respect to how much longer I had to go along Del Dios, and I started feeling a little better. Doug had ridden on ahead (with my blessing) during my first fit of cramps, but I could still see him off in the distance. Eventually the roadie death march was over, and I turned right on Rancho Drive and headed for the singletrack on the north side of Hodges.

As I reached the beginning of the trail, however, I didn't see Doug. Looking around I noticed his Niner sitting outside the entrance to Hernandez Hideaway. He had apparently gone inside for a re-fill of his camelback, and I waited for a few minutes for him before he came out. I was anxious to keep going, largely because I was a wreck and didn't want to stop for too long for fear of not being able to keep going. I did try to do some stretching while I waited, and continued to drink as much as I could.

After about 10 minutes we were back underway, and headed for the trail.

We rode fairly quickly through the singletrack along the northwest side of the lake, and along the trail that paralleled the road to the dock.

The lake looked beautiful off to our right as we rode by.

As we got closer to the dock and boat rental area, I headed toward the fire road that I usually ride along the north side. Doug, however, had other ideas. He suggested that we ride the section of trail up to the ridge and take that route instead. I was not excited about riding the short steep section up to the ridge, and favored the more gradual (but admittedly longer) fire road route. Doug was insistent, and I caved.

Just as we were riding the singletrack toward the climb to the ridge, I had my worst set of leg cramps yet, and was off the bike howling for several minutes. I said some things about Doug, his lineage, and maybe his mother that I regret right now, but at the time I was delerious with pain. More stretching, more water, and a short HAB up the steepest part of the climb to the ridge trail, and I was feeling slightly better.

Here's what we had ridden up:

We rode along the ridge, spinning away and trying to conserve energy for the final section of this epic ride. We eventually re-joined the main Hodges trail, crossed the stream, and rode the trail toward the freeway.

They have been doing some significant construction along that part of Hodges, and the dirt area I had previously ridden underneath the freeway to connect North and South Hodges no longer existed. We stopped for a minute to evaluate our options, and I experienced still more leg cramps. Doug did not.

We decided that the direct route would be best at that point, and elected to ride on the freeway (in the designated bike lane) for a short stretch in order to connect over to South Hodges. Doug was on board, but not pleased.

We rode as fast as our tired legs would go along the freeway and over the bridge, then jumped off at the West Bernardo Drive exit, and rode up the road to the singletrack that runs along the north side of South Hodges. That section of trail is usually one of my favorites because its so scenic, has a few fun rocky sections, and is extremely narrow. Today I was trying to survive it, not enjoy it. I dabbed a few times from leg cramps and fatigue, and stopped once to work out a particularly nasty hamstring knot that paralyzed me. While waiting for the pain to subside, I took this picture:

Doug, who had been hydrating sufficiently and was not suffering from debilitating cramps like some people, rode ahead and waited for me around the bend. I stopped about three times in a quarter-mile to stretch and work out the constant cramping in my legs, and even walked the bike a bit as I tried to get my legs loose. I reached where Doug was waiting and we rested a bit. If nothing else, our views were pretty.

We dragged ourselves to our feet and rode on along the south side singletrack. As we crested a small hill, Doug pulled away and I coasted down the other side. Suddenly, both of my legs seized up, and my left leg actually locked in the extended position. I threw myself off the bike, desparately trying to bend my leg as the cramps seized it. I had to physically grab my foot and push on the back of my knee to get myleg to bend, and I sat there on the trail writhing in agony.

Doug was far enough ahead that he couldnt see me, and for the first time I wondered if I was going to be able to finish. I was out of water at this point, and couldn't really even pedal with any force because when I did my legs cramped. After several minutes I got up, tested my legs, and coasted down the rest of the small hill with my right foot clipped in and my left leg stretched straight out.

At the bottom of the hill Doug was waiting, and I told him as I coasted by that I was heading for the area near the dog park where I knew there was water. He followed me over, and I refilled my camelback and stretched for a few minutes. Doug also gave me his last Uncrustable, which had a healthy dose of sodium, and we got back underway.

We rode the bypass over to the other section of the south side of Hodges by riding past the dog park, down West Bernardo Road, and picking up the trail as it wound behind the houses. Eventually the trail contined past the closed bridge and we headed toward the waterfall. As we approached the climb near the waterfall, I had yet another bout with cramps, and walked the switchbacks up to the top. This portion of my ride was strangely reminicent of my Tour de Hodges ride back in May. Doug cleaned all of the switchbacks like a hero.

I took a break at the top to snap a photo:

From there we rode past the trail to the Poblado trailhead and up a short fire road to an SDG&E access road that would take us over the last section of the ride to home. Here is a picture of where we turned, taken during one of the pre-rides:

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From there we began the spin along the fire road toward home. I continued to battle some leg cramps, and even had to stop once to work them out along that stretch. While I was sitting there in the middle of the trail, trying to work out the cramps, I noticed a windmill standing just off the trail. It helped take my mind off the cramps and made me happy for a minute. I love windmills.

I dragged myself up and and rallied, knowing the end was in sight. Doug was waiting a little ways ahead, and we crested a small rise and headed toward the paved road that would take us home.

We hit the streets a few minutes later, pedaled through the neighborhood, cut through the 4S Commons, and made the last short pavement climb up toward Heritage Park. As we pulled into the park (and eventually my nearby home,) we had done it: my Archipelago Ride was over.

We were tired and a little punchy, and Rach brought us some Gatorade as we sat on the front porch and relived the ride. I had a strong sense of accomplishment, though the leg cramps had dimmed some of my actual enjoyment of the last several miles of the ride. That was clearly a lesson learned, and I'll definitely drink much more and eat more salt the next time I do anything close to an epic ride.

Doug was a tremendous ride companion, and I'm so glad he was there. He was encouraging but not too "rah rah," social but not chatty, extremely thoughtful, and our pace seemed compatible. I was hugely impressed at not only how strong he finished, but that he hung in all day while having no idea where we were going or what was ahead. At least I had pre-ridden the route and knew what to expect. Even though almost every turn was a surprise to him, Doug didn't complain or stress a bit. Impressive. His RR is available on his blog here.

I was thrilled with the Spider's performance, and can't imagine having done this whole thing on the Enduro. My climbing was actually well above average over the first two-thirds of the ride, but the cramping killed any climbing efforts I had near the finish.

I am also very thankful to Rachel for her role in making the ride a success. She didn't bat an eye when I told her I wanted to spend an entire precious Saturday riding. She helped me drop the Tahoe at the midpoint, and also went and dropped Doug's supplies at the truck after we started the ride. She made me a great lunch, which I would have been dead without, and a great dinner when I got home as well. I have a great wife.

So the Archipelago ride is in the books. It satisfies one of my 2008 Goal List items (Do an All Day/~50 Mile Ride), leaving me with only two goals left to accomplish before the end of the year. It felt great to finish, even with adversity, and I'm glad I did it. I don't want to give away anything from my 2009 Goal List, but I think doing this ride in reverse (counterclockwise) is going to be on it. I may be crazy, but I need something to work for, right?

Here are the final stats:

Total Distance: 42.23 miles
Total Time: 7:57:48
Ascent: 5662 feet (Doug's Edge 305 put us at 4,572 feet, which is apparently more accurate because it uses a barometric altimeter.)
Average Speed: 5.3 mph
Top Speed: 32.8mph
Bike: Intense Spider XVP
Map:

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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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