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June 28
Pirate DH photo contest
Voting is still going on so go pick you favorite picture.
June 26
Crandall Peak to Pinball
Well, no pictures, but 4 of us (Lenny, Dave, Ralph, and Me) went for a ride and it's starting to make sense. The last time I went up to explore the Lyon's Dam area Matt, Dennis and I did some exploring in an attempted to link together a longer loop and to incorporate some of the side trails we have seen but didn't really know where they went.
Yesterday I was able to make sense of a few.
I've been mentioning Crandall Peak and the map listed in the trails section. We didn't really follow that loop because it's too much fire road for my taste. We basically did the loop as stated until we reached Crandall Peak. What I didn't realize was that the trail down from Crandall Peak crosses 4N02 and puts you right into Pinball. So, if you're doing the Pinball trail, stay on 4N02, pass pinball for about 1/2 mile until you see the fire road heading right up the hill. Climb that road until you get to the ridge and see a 4 way intersection. Heading up the ridge on the unmarked rocky trail will take you Crandall Peak.
From Crandall Peak head back down the trail to the intersection and then just stay on the ridge. It's technical and soon you'll hit 4N02, cross it and continue on Pinball. Now when you hit the bottom if Pinball continue right on the fire road until you hit Trail 19. Trial 19 is a really fun trail and a great way to finish the ride.
At the bottom of Trail 19 head right on the fire road again and you'll come to a large intersection. Either left fire road will send you back to the lake and dam.
It'll be a few weeks before I could ever get back there but there is still a lot more to explore. Lenny knows a lot of the area from his motorcycle days and was a great resource.
Sylvia's last ride
Dennis has decided to share pictures and tell about what happened to him and his family in Moab.
June 24
Sadness
The service for Sylvia Baker is Monday at St. Michael's, 5882 N. Ashley, Stockton CA at 7:00PM. For those that would like to send something, Dennis requested live plants so his other daughters would have more of a lasting memory and something to tend.
June 23
From Steve,
Hello Everyone! Well, its that time of the year again, the racing season is in high gear and Northstar will be opening this weekend! As usual, we will be making our yearly trip and SWD gathering this Saturday at Northstar. The first DH race of their 4-race series is also this weekend on Sunday. Many of you have said you are going, so we look forward to a fun time up there as always. I am sure that most of you have heard about the great weekend we had at last weeks NORBA National Downhill #1 in Park City Utah. I had hoped for a top-10 result from Melissa Miller to start the NORBA tour, but we were stunned when she qualified in the morning seeding runs in 7th place and then charged down the mountain in the finals to a 4th place podium spot! It was a neat moment to be able to hear her on the cell phone telling me how she had done, she was at the finish and I was walking down the mountain from where I had been watching the action and receiving many congratulations from folks along the way. Funny people tell you great job, when its Melissa who did all the work, hahaha. Anyhow, it was awesome and was for sure the greatest feeling to have seen one of my bikes do well in the Pro class. Matt Nascimento also did his usual thing at the big races, he now has 3 straight great finishes at big events, Mammoth, Sea Otter and taking 1st place at Utah in the 19-24 Sport class by a whopping margin! Great rides were also turned in by Jason Reiman, Jennifer and Mark Cooper as well. Hank Matheson and James Cooper had a few problems however, with James breaking a bone in his hand. Ok then, I have been my usual BUSY self trying to finish up this current batch of frames and wanted to let you all know about the weekend at Northstar, LETS GO! Steve - SWD Bikes
Having said that, Northstar is opening this weekend.
June 17
Chris Horner takes a Euro win. It cool to see the guy who was racing local just last year finally winning a big Euro road race.
Tour de Fat is coming July 30 ..... Beers, Bikes and Bands. It was fun last year, show up if you can.
Did anyone see the new Lance commercial on the Travel Channel. Lance is playing poker and he loses everything and walks away naked wrapped in a towel. I can't seem to find it online but if anyone has a link, please send it to me.
June 11
Hell Ride II
Let's see one of the locals grab it this year.
Photo Contest
The Gravity Pirate's DH photo contest is up and running. Hit their site and vote for you favorite pic.
Here's an interesting article on why T-Mobile fails. Makes sense to me.
More stuff later.
June 8
Beer Golf
Just got a Keg of this stuff for the fridge and while surfing the web site I found a silly little game to play. Nothing special but it's still fun.
Pinball/Crandall Peak
I keep finding ways to make the Pinball trail longer and longer. We used to have to start at at the Kountry Kitchen to get some miles but this new map looks very interesting and doable.
June 6
We're Back
Three days and three trails. (pictures)
Friday
With almost no sleep I showed up in Hurricane Friday in time to meet Steve, Rudy and Mark. Mark had flown to St. George the day before in his own plane and Rudy hitched a ride. How cool is that? We suited up and headed to the trailhead.
Hurricane Rim is three trails.. Gould's Trail, J.E.M. Trail, and Hurricane Rim. It a relatively easy trail with minor climbs. It flows nicely and has some really great views as you ride above different washes, and canyons for a 21 mile loop. The J.E.M. section was my favorite as it was just a slightly downhill with a flowing rhythm to it.
As we started the last section Mark took a spill and it didn't sound good. A thud and a yelp and the next think we knew Mark's weekend of riding was over. He and Rudy took a 'shortcut' out and Steve and I finished the trail. The last section was the most technical and energy sapping with the hardest climbs of the loop. Nothing longer than a couple hundred yards but just enough at the end of the ride to notice.
Mark ended up going to get X-rays and it was a 3rd degree shoulder separation. I worried that he wouldn't be able to fly back home but he was strong enough to fly, just not ride...... that sucks.
Saturday
Late Friday I had conferred with Ron (Crash the Dog) about meeting early Saturday moring to ride Gooseberry. It had been years since I had been to Gooseberry but had fond memories of the slickrock playground. Ron showed up with his buddies Ben, Ben and Jimmy. Steve took a day off of riding, Mark was down, but Rudy was ready to go.
Not only am I out of shape, but my ass is not into multi day riding. As soon as I sat down I felt it and as soon as I pedaled, I knew it. I was not going to be burning up the trail. But I had a blast anyway. Ben and Jimmy kept dropping off ledges, Ron took a nice little spill. I thought I got pictures of everyone but for some reason I never got a pic of the other Ben. They were all nice guys who were fun to ride with. Did you know that Jello was the official snack food of Utah? After the ride we went out and grabbed some burgers while Steve and Mark joined us.
Sunday
Oh, this was day three I was really starting to feel it. I was a little late in getting to Bootleg but once there Erik, Steve, and Jen were there ready to go. Bootleg was obviously built by mountain bikers because the trails take nice lines. Even in my sorry shape I was able to middle ring the trails we hit. We barely touched the trails but it was a fun couple of hours.
It's defiantly something we have to do again, and next time maybe we can get more Trogs to go.
