Top of the Morning

Bright and early today I drove over to Twin Rocks in Granite Bay to meet Mark Fellows for a trial ride. It was about thrity-five degrees when we set out. It didn't seem that cold though as the sun was shinning brightly. Quite a contrast to Folsom where the fog looked like a woolen blanket over Lake Natoma.
Most of my riding at this locale has been at night so, just as my last ride with Folsom HS, it looked very foreign to me. We began slowly and stayed on the wider trails at the lower elevations.
The encouragement and support I recieved from Mark made for a great experience. He was patient and didn't mind stopping a few times for me to either catch up or catch my breath. There is no doubt that I'd been on many of these trails before but they just were not recognizable.
After a good warm up, we began heading towards the "Lookout." While I successfully managed to make it up most of the hills, some with added loud grunts just to get up, this one I walked. No worries ... next time we'll hammer up. It is amazing to look at at Folsom Lake and see people and vehicles wandering around areas that are usually about twenty feet underwater. We sure need a lot of moisture.
Heading back down the hill we finally got to at the end of the paved park road. Talked to a ranger there and headed back to Twin Rocks. We did a little more on the single track and then onto the pave back to the truck.
A great ride, a great day, and most importantly a great friend for a riding companion.

Five Degrees Celsius

This morning I joined the Folsom High School MTB Team for their Saturday training ride. In total, about thirty students and parents met at the middle school in Granite Bay. Nice.
The recent rains were good for the trails as they were compacted and for the most part free of mud or puddles. I followed the freshmen out with a couple of other parents and the rolling terrain from the school over towards the Granite Bay mountain biking race course provided a great warm up.
The entire group met and received instruction from Coach Jason McMillen. The experienced (fast) riders took off for three loops of the course. Coach Mac stayed with the younger riders and they also got three laps.
Honestly, all these kids are so fast that I lagged behind, missed a turn and had my own experience out there. In fact, at one point I was pedaling across a sandy area that is usually about ten feet under water. Here is the good news ... kept the rubber down for the entire ride. No issues (I don't consider slow an issue) and headed back to the parking lot with the group. At least that is how it began. Again, I lagged behind but powered up the gentle hills arriving at each crest breathing heavily. The last parent was about fifty yards ahead of me as we negotiated the final couple of turns.
Yes, it felt great being out there. Didn't even notice the temperature at all thanks to all the pedaling. Oh yeah, at the conclusion, the temperature was up to fourteen degrees Celsius.

Winterize the Ride

It's been a couple of weeks since my mishap with the Stumpy. With the time drawing near for Santa's visit I have opted to ride my old school Raleigh in the garage. Riding the trainer while listening to Christmas music, while not like riding the roads or trails, is nice. I can even sing along to some of the tunes without doing irreparable harm to someones eardrum.
This past weekend was amazing. On Saturday, we celebrated grandson Tanner's fifth birthday with a Winter Olympic themed party at his house. Afterwards, we took off for Santa Cruz to ride the Christmas Train. What a great treat it was to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. What a great surprise for Tanner as all on board sang Happy Birthday to him. We got back home about 1:30AM and just passed out into bed. Sunday morning, off to chruch and then dinner with friends. A great weekend indeed.
I should point out that Tanner recently became the proud owner of a Specialized Hot Rock BMX bike. On Thanksgiving Day, Tanner showed me his stuff as he sped up and down our street. Way to hammer Tanner ... you sure are fast.
So, back to the trainer. I've acutally been using it all year when time did not permit me to embark on one of my usual 2-3 hour rides. One thing for sure, you know it is cold when ones breath is visable in the garage with the door closed. The goal is two sessions of about 40-minutes daily. I'll let you know how that goes. If it doesn't rain tomorrow night I'll be out there on the Stumpy once again. No flat tires this time.

Flat's Happen

Tonight after work I joined Alan, Devin, and John for some off road night riding. We left the parking lot and entered the American River Bike Trail just across the street. Over some rocks (oh yeah there are lots of those in Folsom) and on to the paved trail for a short time and then on to the dirt.
I was able to keep up pretty good until we got to Hazel. I cranked it up the bridge and back on to the paved trail. They were kind enough to wait for me and once down the north side of Lake Natoma we resumed the trail riding. Alan stayed behind me and shouted out encouragement when I needed to dig a little deeper to get up and over some tree stumps a couple of times.
After about forty-five minutes on the dirt we arrived at a spot where John and Devin took off for some technical climbs and Alan and I went on the paved trail with the intent to meet them at Negro Bar.
I was riding on the pavement and Alan on the dirt to the right of the pave. I elected to increase my speed and catch up with him. Once I did so I too got on the hard pack. At some point the hard pack narrowed and I over corrected left smashing the front wheel into a 3" hunk of asphalt. The result was the tube blew instantly and the bike and I came to a sudden stop.
So, Alan and I walked a mile or more and then John arrived with his truck. We loaded the Stumpy in and called it a night.