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May 30
Pinball/Crandall (pictures)
There were 8 of us who showed for an old fashioned Trogs ride. The weather was great and we finally got to do a bit more exploring. Every time I go back there I learn a little more and this last time I learned that I need a new map.
Near Cradall Peak there is a Crandall OHV Staging area with a lot of trails shooting off everywhere. We need to pick up the OHV map.
We started off at the dam and relaxed along the fireroad, stopped at the barn for a bit then continued on. We passed our usual turn up toward pinball and stayed on the lower fireroad to see where it went..... well.... it dead ends and turns into a faint trail that eventually peters out.
We doubled back, climbed up the normal route until the first interesection. Normally we continue on 4N02 to the top of the ridge and pinball, (three of the group did) while the rest of us tried out 4N88 all the way to 4N01.
Right before 4N01 you come across the Crandall OHV area, and you start seeing trial signs going up into the woods. The staging area had a builitin board area with maps, but they were all out of maps.
We continued on 4N01 around the backside of Crandall Peak, both 4N88 and 4N01 are easy fireroads. We saw a side trail on 4N01, but it dead ended and we had to double back again.
Eventually we reached 4N15 which climbs 2 miles to the peak where we relaxed on the slab and enjoyed the view of snow capped Pinecrest Peak off in the distance.
We fought our way down Crandall (Trail 32) and then started Pinball. As most of you know, the start of Pinball has a good section of hike-a-bike. And that's what we did. I'm sure I was being cussed out.
After the hike-a-bike, we ran into the rest of our group relaxing in the shade. We then decended Pinball as a group. It was a brutal as I remember and just as much fun... for me.
Somewhere near the bottom we lost Mark and his son Steve. They made it down on their own. Fred and I finished off with Trial 19 with Ray and crew taking the fireroad back down to the lake.
Mark clocked us at 21+ miles and we were out running around for over 6 hours. I'll post pictures soon.
Next time we may just ignore Pinball and explore the other trails around the OHV area.
May 21
Two weeks of rides. I don't think I'll make any of them but if you show up they'll welcome you.
* Friday May 19, 5pm, Santa Theresa Park
* Saturday, May 20, 10am, Henry Coe, Hunting Hollow Entrance
* Sunday, May 21, 10am, Fort Ord, Creekside Terrace
* Sun-Fri Camping at New Brighton State Beach
* Monday, May 22, 10am, Soquel Demonstration Forest
* Tuesday, May 23, 10am, Pogonip/UCSC/Wilder
* Wednesday, May 24, 10am, Big Basin/Butano 40 mi fire road loop
* Thursday, May 25, 10am, Skeggs Pt, El Corte de Madera OSP
* Friday, May 26, 12:30pm, Rockville Community Park
* Saturday, May 27, 10am, Annadel/Channel Drive
* Saturday, May 27, Camping - Boggs Turn Off
* Sunday, May 28, 10am, Boggs State Demonstration Forest (Campsite)
* Monday, May 29, 10am, Oat Hill Mine Rd
Modesto Crit
Went down to downtown Modesto on Saturday to watch Big John race his first crit. Got to see a few old Merlock/SMV racers hanging out. Kyle, Bosma, John Field...... Everyone is claiming to be out of shape, although Kyle looked pretty good in the crit.
Big John's only goal was to finish with the pack, and he did a good job of that. The winner nipped a guy at the line when the 2nd place guy sat up and raised his arms. It happens all the time. Never quit until you cross the finish line. Not that I've ever been in a spot to contest a sprint finish.
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Pinball/Crandall Peak
Last I heard, a bunch of Trogs were heading up to Lyons to do another exploratory of the Pinball area. It's been raining all day. I talked to Bruce briefly and he said it was sort of a slog fest and that they weren't really set up for the cold and wet. I'm waiting for more of a write up from Ogre and Finch.
I'm thinking about heading up there during the Memorial Day weekend.
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Breaking Away
I've been working as a mentor to one of my students who has decided to take up cycling. This has been his first week of riding and he's been slowly adding miles to his rides.
Since I've been introducing him to cycling, I've been introducing him to bike culture. I picked up "Breaking Away" for him to watch. It's been a long time since I've seen the movie myself and watching again was kind of funny. There were some things I never noticed or never new enough to noticed about the first time I watched it. It's still a good movie but the idea that he was drafting a semi at 60mph or that you turn a spoke 3 full turns to true it is silly.
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May 3
Mid Week Road Rides
I just realized that The Bike Shop in Salida has a web site. Sorry I never linked in before, I added them to the Friends section.
As for mid week road rides there are three that I knew of.
Tuesday: The Bike Shop Ride
Wednesday: Cyclemasters Ride
Thursday: The Bike Shop Ride
Get ahold of The Bike Shop for exact details on they're ride but the Cyclemasters ride has been going on for years. We're still doing the Hawkins Loop.
If someone would like to map out The Bike Shop loops, I'd gladly link them up.
The Canyon Classic has changed it's century route.
I was checking out info on the Canyon Classic and noticed that the 100 mile loop has changed. Instead of going up the canyon over to Livermore then back to Patterson, the century will be up to the top of Hamilton and back. I have no intrest in riding that thing either way, but I thought I'd share the news.
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The Heat is back.
Like I thought, it went straight from winter to summer... no spring. Big John and I have been working on road miles. Not much dirt in a while. Sunday we road a 71 miler and I about died at the end. About 50 miles into it the heat and headwind really started to get to me. I baked a bit out in the sun and have a good farmers tan working now.
After a hot ride I tend to get these awful headaches in the evening and it makes it hard for me to sleep. I've read about other people getting them but I haven't really figured out how to prevent them. I try to get as many electolytes in me as I can, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
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Life interupts
I was planning on getting a quick road ride in Tuesday afternoon to loosen up the legs for Wednesday but when I get home I find this.....
While I was at work, some 14 year old kid thought it'd be cool if he and his friends were to take his mom's car and go for a ride. He got about 1/2 block away before he turned into my alley, floored the gas and lost it. He swipped a big section of my back fence then bounced across the alley, through my neighbors fence, and into his pool shed and then into the next neighbors back yard.
I had to spend all day today waiting for the insurance people to come over before I can even clean up. They said, "Don't touch anything." They caught the kids who did it, and the family has offered to rebuild my fence, but I havne't decided what to do... I'm still waiting for the insurance people to show up.
South Yuba Trail
Looks like Ogre and 'dem had a good ride at South Yuba a couple weeks ago. Some cool pictures.
I need to figure out what's wrong with my Blur before I do any serious dirt miles. I'm really looking forward to the snow melt.
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It doesn't look good. Highland way is out. There is another way to get in if you go in via the ocean side, but that's a looooong drive for Trogs.