April 30
New Addition
No Beer in it yet. I've just installed it and I'm going to have to wait until Monday to hit BevMo for a Fat Tire Keg and to fill the CO2 tank. I guess this gives you an excuse to come visit.
Did you hear Eki took a spill. He's a tough one, I with him a good recovery.
Hamilton is still fighting his ban.
Joe Lindsay at Mountain Bike has a good article on what he thinks about Hamilton, Lance's retirement, and new stuff seen at the Sea Otter.
April 27
Lion King Retires, Vino wins Liege, and Tommy D. wins Georgia. The Giro is coming in a week or so, warm up the TiVo.
This girl really likes bikes.
There is some whispering about a trip to Kernville. Be on the lookout for more details as it develops.
April 25
St. George, Utah trip page is being developed. You really should go.
April 24
I stand corrected
Ok, I've ridden Pacheco St Park a few times but today I saw it with new eyes. There is a LOT more singletrack than I ever knew about. I met up with John, Scott, and Mark D at 3:30 for an afternoon ride and Mark took me all over the park. We pretty much did a clockwise loop around the boundary of the park. South Boundary trail to Spikes peak down to Whisky flat and out. I've ridden portions of Whisky flat and I've always assumed it was a fireroad, well, it's not. It's mostly singletrack with only section of fireroad. I've you're going to ride Pacheco State Park you need to ride soon. When summer comes it will be a hot hot hot place to ride. You'll have to hit the park either early in the morning or save it for a night ride.
Also, I forgot to mention that Mark Day raced the Sea Otter. Placed 45th in Beginners men 45-49, and Tammy Holliway race women Sport, but I don't see any women's Sport listing.
April 22
Weekend Stuff
Cupertino bike Swap, on Sunday. This supports ROMP.
The Glory Hole MTB Race is also on Sunday.
April 21
Recovered from the Sea Otter
This is what happens when you try to play a friendly game of poker at the Sea Otter Campground. The cop was cool as hell, but the rangers were arseholes. See the guy talking to me, total arse.
Catching up on some news, if you haven't heard, Lance is retiring after the Tour, and Tyler has been suspended for two years.
Floyd is kicking ass at the Tour of George.
Check this weird stuff out. Tell him to stand on his head. Or try this to kill an hour of time better spent doing something else.
Check out the President's bike.
What do you get when a lawyer falls of a bike? A lawsuit that's what.
April 18
Survived another Otter
All in all it was a pretty good Sea Otter Classic. After many years where rain was the norm, the year the sun was bright and the sky was blue. Nary a wind would rustle the leaves. The worst that can be said that it was a little foggy Sunday morning but it quickly turned blue as the day progressed.
Here are some highlights.
On the Podium were...
Fred da Trog placed 4th in the Beginners 50-55 XC... so next time you see him remember to say "Upgrade to Sport you Sandbagger!!"
Impy placed 5th in the women's Single Speed XC.
Matt Nascimento placed 5th in the Sports 19-24 DH
Jennifer Delay placed 5th in Women Sport 19-29 DH
Steve Latronica placed 2nd in Expert 50+ DH
Some other results:
Mellissa Miller placed 12th in Women's Pro DH
Mike Fabbrini placed 55th in Sports Jr 15-18 DH
Jason Taylor placed 13th in Sports 30-34 DH, 11th Clydesdale XC
John Morris placed 7th in Clydesdale XC
Bob Zollinger placed 59th in Beginner XC
Curtis Colaw placed 61st in Beginner XC
Max Mirabile placed 41st in Sport XC
Eric Tinsado placed 61st in Beginner XC
Look up more results here
Pictures soon.
April 14
Off to the Sea Otter Classic. We'll be at campsites 18, 20, and 46... stop by and visit.
April 10
What a race
I don't know if you got a chance to watch Paris-Roubaix today but it was quite a race. Hincape has been trying for years to win this thing and he got as close as you can get today. Boonen is just too much of a man to be beaten. Magnus was almost there again. He got dropped a few kilometers from from the fnished and ended up 4th. Great fricken race.
Well, the Sea Otter is on this weekend. I guess I'll be there. I'll post which campsites we're staying at in a few days. Now I have to organize the Sea Otter Poker Tourney I had talked about. I got chips and stuff, I just need tables.
Speaking of the Sea Otter, I hear the XC course is shit, muddy shit.
April 7
Mark you calendar!
That's it. We're going to St. George. June 3,4,5, that's a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and the main ride planned for Saturday is Gooseberry Mesa. If you haven't heard about Gooseberry, check out this video (47Mb). If you can only show up for one day, show up for Saturday. I plan on being there on all three days and maybe Monday. Either way, show up if you can.
Check out these roadies from Colorado. SMV tried to put a race together, LeGrande-Preston-LeGrande, but it fell through in the end. That race had 10 miles of dirt and it would have been a blast to watch.
Paris-Roubaix is Sunday, you can read the broadcast on Velonews, or wait for the broadcast on OLN.
April 4
Slickrock Swamp
I finally figured out the name of that little trail I rode in Utah. It wasn't much but it's all I had. There is some trail in formation here with a lot of other great trail information if you're planning a Utah trip from www.utahmoutainbiking.com. Specifically, I'd have to recommend visiting the St. George, Utah area. There is so much more riding there, I've barely touched the area.
Dennis just spent a few days riding in Moab, UT, and Fruita, CO. From Dennis.
Well I managed to return from Moab and Fruita with only mild injuries
and had an absolutely incredible time. Here's the 30 second summary tour of the place:
Day 1: Wicked Slickrock... a 14 mile ride around an all natural BMX
playground. Grunt up a short hill, weee, grunt up, wee, grunt up,
weee, grunt up, Oh sh*t... weee? Holy cow you can ride on stuff that
off camber. We saw more people on this one trail than on the entire
rest of the trip.
Day 2: Poison Spider to Portal: Our "guide" got lost and we wound up
rolling around playing on the slickrock on top of the Mesa for 2 hours
until we stumbled in to someone who knew the way. By the time we hit
the top of the Portal Trail most of us had long since bonked. The
Portal Trail was a brutal downhill with a short 500' descent being to
penalty for failure. Lot's of hike-a-bike for me.
Day 3: Rest day, most of our group were dead. We rolled down a scenic
trail called Gemini Bridges which is a hard packed road with little to
offer except cool views. Shuttled to the top to pick up the van.
Day 4: Porcupine Rim Trail - Was supposed to be too muddy and snowy to
ride but it was a blast. Conditions were perfect and the trail was
phenominal. A ripping ride down a technical yee-haw fire road with lots
of drops down to a totally incredible section of singletrack at the
bottom. One of our crew lost his rear derailer at the top and had to SS
it down most of the way. This was my favorite day in Moab!
Day 5: Moving on to Fruita.. Bike shop recommended we start on the
Kokepeli trail area. Moore fun was some of the best Singletrack on the
trip. Tight technical climbing and descending over rocky, brutal
terrain. We even got a few flakes of snow near the top. Then we
dropped down to some incredible cliff hugging singletrack on Handcuffs
and took Mary's loop to Horsethief Bench where we hit some more killer
singletrack. Then I got a pinch flat screaming down Mary's Loop back to
the car.
Day 6: Mutiny !!! Of the 6 of us 4 people decided to go home :( missing
the final 2 days of incredible singletrack near Fruita. The excuses
varied mostly just exhaustion. The two of us left did the Bookcliffs
trails which were a complete blast. There were a couple trails here
which will be perfect for taking the family on, and for more advanced
riders are a complete blast. We voted the the Bookcliff trails the
trails most likely to be mistaken for a rollercoaster ride. Absolutely
fantastic and as we went from Chutes to Joes to Zippity they just got
better.
Day 6 also had a really bizarre - small world - twist. I ran into a
fellow helmet cam geek and started talking to him. I thought I
recognized the Red Intense Spider and when he says he's from San Diego I
say "Bill?" and he says "Yeah Mountain Bike Bill, do I know you". I had
ridden with Bill once before at the Cannell Plunge about 2 years ago and
since we are so far apart we had never ridden together since, but here
in Colorado, 1000 miles from either of our homes we run into each
other. We rode together for a short time and then later met for dinner
and a couple beers.
Day 7: Western Rim trail in Rabbit Valley - Had some confusion over
where the actual rim trail was but eventually found this great gem.
Great canyon views and ripping fast, nearly level singletrack with some
small technical stuff mixed in. Really ripped through the trail because
I wanted to get most of the way home that night. A quick 15 miles in 3
hours but a very memorable, great day.
Overall, this was an incredible trip. I will definitely be riding
varients of it for years to come. Weather was perfect, we got a little
snow one night but no rain and only a few little snow flurries one day
on the trail. By far some of the best riding I have done to date.
-- Dennis (Ogre)
And here is MtbBill's tale of his trip to the same area.
Live Coverage of Ghent-Wevelgem is going to be available on the Velonews website starting 5am our time on Wednesday.
April 2
What a long drive....
Vegas, Zion, and back to Vegas, had to skip the Grand Canyon because I was just tired of driving and the weather was colder than I expected. I got one good ride in Thursday morning near Zion and I took a few pictures. I'm not sure of the name of the trail but there was a brand new residential area being built up very close to the trail. Even out there near Zion, people are building building building.
more pictures
The trail was like a mini Gooseberry, lots of fun no climbing, just a bicycle playground of rocks and dirt. It wasn't a big ride, it was just enough to recharge the batteries after being in casinos for a couple of days. Speaking of casinos. They were good to me, I came away $1500 up. Part of that is going to go toward a new bike parts. Something with some more travel. I just don't know how much and which bike.
Lance is on dope... yeah, maybe, but not because this guy says so. Of course, Lance sues and so it goes on.
Did you miss yesterday's news?
Some sad news, the SF Grand Pix might not happen.
Home