Weekend MTB Rides

[Artista]

Another fun, 1 1/2 hour ride today. I easily managed two, new, downhill switchbacks without having to stop and evaluate them first. I chickened out on a third, steeper, switchback, though. I'm certain that I have the skill to handle it, just not the confidence yet. It's on my "to-do" list for this season, along with "ankle breaker hill".

This was my last ride until 7/15 Going to Washington DC for a business conference, which is one of the reasons that I chickened out on that switchback. I attended an out of town meeting three days after breaking my ankle last fall. That did not make my list of favorite business trips.

I'm already going through bike withdrawal!

[Becky]

20 miles yesterday on my rigid singlespeed, 16 of which were with friends. I threw down a singlespeed challenge (no shifting!) to one of my friends, who's a pretty strong rider. He accepted, cursed me the entire time, and loved it so much that he's now shopping for a singlespeed!

I love my singlespeed- it makes me feel like a total bad-@ss

[Artista]

I love my singlespeed- it makes me feel like a total bad-@ss

Twenty miles on a singlespeed?! You ARE a bad@ss! I've never gotten the singlespeed thing. I figure the bicycling gods gave us gears so that not-so-young-women like me can get up hills

[Becky]

Twenty miles on a singlespeed?! You ARE a bad@ss! I've never gotten the singlespeed thing. I figure the bicycling gods gave us gears so that not-so-young-women like me can get up hills

Thanks Keep in mind that I live in a coastal area that's rolling, not mountainous. Also, the trail system that I use my singlespeed at most often (including yesterday) isn't terribly technical.

For me, singlespeeding is another way to introduce some variety into my local trails and to get stronger in the process, all while feeling like a kid again. Believe me, I have a full-suspension geared bike for the hiller and more-technical rides!

[Artista]

Thanks Keep in mind that I live in a coastal area that's rolling, not mountainous. Also, the trail system that I use my singlespeed at most often (including yesterday) isn't terribly technical.

For me, singlespeeding is another way to introduce some variety into my local trails and to get stronger in the process, all while feeling like a kid again. Believe me, I have a full-suspension geared bike for the hiller and more-technical rides!

You're still a bad@ss

[indysteel]

Ugh; I should have listened to my gut and stayed home. DH and I couldn't hit the trail until about 10:45 because I had an eye appointment first thing in the morning an hour away from the park. By the time we started, it was already terribly hot and humid.

I didn't feel great during a short road ride we did yesterday, so why I thought today would go any better, I don't know. I started to overheat about halfway through. It was rough going from there. At several points, I really thought I might throwup. We finally made it back to the car and I forced some food and hydration down. Catrin and Limewave, to the best of my knowledge were at another trail and I was originally planning to hunt for them. But I really just wanted to go home.

I cannot wait for this heat wave and drought to end.

[Catrin]

Indysteel, sorry to hear you were feeling so bad - it was HOT and this level of heat is just brutal - my body appears to tolerate trails much better than roads in this heat but hot is hot. We got started shortly after 10 on Limekiln. There was a 6 year old with us so we took a good number of breaks along the way and at the turn around. We finished about 11:15 - which is pretty good time for ~5 miles, especially with all of the breaks.

I had my first half-azz endo. I am not sure, but I think I got distracted by something on the edge of the trail that I didn't remember and wound up grabbing a handful of front brake while, of course, riding at the odd dip in the trail. Unsure, but that is the only reason I can think of why my bike stopped moving and I didn't

It wasn't a full going-over-the-handlebars but I did get airborne and landed on my right side. As I fell there was a shooting pain across the middle of my back and I made enough noise that Limewave and the other woman we were riding with heard me and came back - at that point I was taking up the rear.

My language would have made a sailor blush briefly at that point for which I apologized - I don't ordinarily talk like that, especially around children. I took my time getting up to make certain nothing was broken (there wasn't), and while I will have some spectacular bruises later I think - and I may have strained my right pectorial (muscular soreness/slight pain in my right breast), there doesn't seem to be any real damage. Yayyyyyyyyy!!!!

The rest of the ride after that was great and I am pleased with how I did. There are certainly somethings I need to work on - one-legged drills on the trainer will help my climbing I think - but I am comfortable riding solo next week assuming I can work out all of the soreness that will likely come

Oh yes, and I managed to ride the entire trail in the middle chain, last year I wasn't quite fit enough to leave the granny

[katherine]

With the kiddos camping with their grandparents I rose to the occasion, and may have overdone it (just a little bit). I did 70mls of the Arizona Trail in the Flagstaff area, which is really gorgeous. Lots of aspens and ferns, elk, the tiniest chipmunks I've ever seen and a gazillion butterflies.
Gotta say, I'm pretty darn exhausted today (I'd post pics, but for the life of me can't figure out how)

[Artista]

With the kiddos camping with their grandparents I rose to the occasion, and may have overdone it (just a little bit). I did 70mls of the Arizona Trail in the Flagstaff area, which is really gorgeous. Lots of aspens and ferns, elk, the tiniest chipmunks I've ever seen and a gazillion butterflies.
Gotta say, I'm pretty darn exhausted today (I'd post pics, but for the life of me can't figure out how)

70 miles on a mountain bike is darned impressive!

[luv2climb]

I've been a bad girl! I haven't gone on a mtb ride since my Fleming Meadows ride in April. The encounter with the equestrian kind of turned me off to mountain biking for a while and I concentrated on road cycling instead, with plenty of climbing, of course.

I thought my recent San Francisco steep climbs on my folding bike would prepare me for steep mtb climbs, but as always the mtb stuff is more difficult than any road climb. The good thing is, for some odd reason I climb better at high altitude. I have no idea why but it's always been that way ever since I got serious about cycling in the early 90s.

As a result, I didn't suffer as much on climbs as I usually do on mtb rides. Even though I love to suffer, it's good that I didn't suffer too bad on climbs on this ride. I needed plenty of energy to navigate my hardtail Trek Wahoo through the incredibly technical singletrack on this famous trail.

This is in the Tahoe-Donner area of the Sierras, near Truckee, CA. I had a bit of trouble finding the trailhead at first. I climbed on pavement on Donner Pass Road from I-80 to the summit. While descending that road I finally found the dirt road turn-off to the snow laboratory. It was a long dirt road climb to the actual trailhead.

This may be the hardest mtb ride I've ever done. I think I set a personal record for dabs, stall-outs, and hike-a-bikes, both up and down! . Most hike-a-bike sections were very short, except for the stairs. There's no way in hell I was about to attempt those on a hardtail!

I rode more conservatively than I normally would, but this was my first ride on this trail. Also, I'd rather ride out of there on my bike, not in a helicopter. The owner of the store I bought snacks at after my ride told me that there have been people helicoptered out of there after they attempted stuff that was beyond their ability and got injured.

Hole-In-The-Ground by freighttraininguphill at Garmin Connect - Details

In spite of my non-daring ride, I did manage to find enough footage for a video.

As with all my videos, this one is 100% natural sound. This means the sounds of effort are clearly audible on climbs and technical sections, so be forewarned!

Hole-In-The-Ground MTB ride - YouTube

I rode the trail in a counterclockwise direction. Here's the start of the singletrack.


Hole-In-The-Ground trailhead (counterclockwise) by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

Views from near the top of Andesite Peak. Normally I try not to stop on climbs, but this view was just too good to pass up!


view from Andesite Peak by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

view from Andesite Peak 2 by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

End of the singletrack, right before the dirt road.


Hole-In-The Ground trailhead (clockwise) by freighttraininguphill, on Flickr

The following weekend I checked out another trail. This one was much mellower though. It's the Sly Park trail that goes around Jenkinson Lake, near Mormon Emigrant Trail (Iron Mountain Road).

After pushing my bike up a short unrideable section, I got stung on the back of the leg by a yellowjacket when I sat back down. It must have landed on my shorts or saddle while I was off the bike.

Twice when I yielded to hikers, they noticed the cameras and commented.

This loop doesn't have a lot of climbing, so I added some by exploring other legal trails after I was finished.

Here's video of the Sly Park loop. It's the quieter helmet cam footage this time. The chest-mounted GoPro recorded the entire ride with no sound, so that footage was useless. I formatted the memory card and the camera has worked fine ever since.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlmtc4sZ62E

Here's a nice steep fire road I found that leads to one of the dams at Mormon Emigrant Trail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTwOsqVzRI8

[phabad]

Hi everyone... Im new and wanna start riding with my partner and we are both doing research. As usual he wants something expensive and I just want something that will do the job at an affordable price. I am considering getting the 2011 Polygon Helios 400 bicyclesonline.com.au/road-bikes/ coz they did some price cuts. Would love to get an opinion or two so that I have an idea of what I am getting into. Thanks a lot and hope to hear from anyone soon

[maiforpeace]

Saturday we rode the fire trail up Gazos Creek Road, from Gazos Creek Beach.

It was so beautiful - walls of ferns along the way, blooming flora and fauna everywhere. It was a little messy from the rain and from four wheelers messing up the road - I was slipping and sliding everywhere, but it was much more fun than scary. The pea soup thick fog lifted just as we reached the top, and the view of the coast was spectacular. The most exciting and edgy part of the ride was the huge population of banana slugs out in force. I have a strong distaste for anything spineless, and banana slugs are pretty high up on the list. So, the ride down was a banana slugfest slalom! I feel confident I finished the race - because I did not smush one slug. For that, I was awarded a huge bunch of the most luscious watercress, along with a bunch of calla lilies, all wild, and picked on the side of the road back to the truck. What an amazing ride, I can't wait to do it again next weekend when the endless wild iris shoots I saw should be blooming.

[thekarens]

Saturday our bike club rode with the Huntsville High School mountain bike race team at Huntsville State Park. Let's see....43 versus fifteen 15-18 year olds, both boys and girls. I learned that A) I'm old and B) not a fan of sandy hills. There was one section where it was uphill in sand climbing roots. I decided a sadist had made that section of the trail. After about 12 miles I had had all the fun I could stand.

On the flip side it's probably a good place for me to hill train. I need that...don't like it, but I need it!

[Anelia]

Great ride today! We did some wine tasting in a village near my home town. The weather was perfect! Pictures

[Catrin]

Hoping my schedule will allow me to at least do some mtb drills this weekend. My schedule is so wild these days that it is sometimes a hard choice between drills (when I can't head south to the trails) and a long road ride. I need the endurance from the long ride, but I also need the drills - and can rarely do both the same weekend

Decisions, decisions - but am thankful that I've no injuries of any kind that is keeping me from my chosen activities