Mountain Biking - Your Memorial Day Ride?

I know you were out there today, so come on, tell us about it, and post pics if you got 'em. Even people who didn't have a holiday can post.

This was my first real ride in quite a while, so I was kinda excited but planned on taking it slow. Weather was perfect. That didn't work out. I headed out to Portland's Forest Park and started out with a very steep climb on dirt singletrack. It quickly turned into a long slope of roots and logs with the in betweens too steep to get traction. Turns out I was on a hikers only trail...oops.
After that it was a solid hour of dirt and course rock doubletrack. The ground was just moist enough to still be firm, but force you to accelerate, even on gentle climbs. I tore through it until I hit the end of my endurance, not to far from the trailhead. Then a leisurely ride 2 miles back to U of P. It was a great ride.

Man, it was hot as hell. I was soaked in sweat. I rode at Santos. I almost stacked on one of the dirt jumps.. the wheel came around and I almost endo'd hard. Another time I was pulling a wheelie up over this mound and the bike about flew out from under me. The heat was just so bad I felt kinda sluggish. Not a bad ride, all in all. But I was riding by myself so I didn't really attempt anything new.

Well I finally found a trail that kicked my but. The stunts were straight out of the videos. Insanely steep and insane skinnies way up in the trees leading to 15 foot drops. Although 80 percent of the stuff there was over my level, I rode many of the smaller drops and focused just on getting down the very technical, very steep trail in one peice. After that trail, I drove up the highway with my riding buddy to another trail which was more my level. It too was very steep and very technical with many smaller drops and jumps. During the last 5 minutes of the trail I took a nice and landed it perfectly, but grabbed a little to much brake sending my bike out from under me in the slipper mud. I had just bought a full face helmet the other day, but it didnt work too well given the hard object (whatever it was) smacked my face in the opening of the helmet. At first I thought I broke my nose, but just ended up with a cut up lip. I was lucky I didnt break my teeth out. I think the crash was a good thing for me because I have never crashed that bad, and it was a good thing to keep mental perception of my skills in check even though the jump was perfectly within my level of riding.

Overall, the day was a blast and I have finally found some trails that I can go back for and hone my skills, because theres simply nothing that comes close to it in my area that gives me anything close to the same challenge.

My GF and I went on the Angel Island ferry from San Francisco. She has been wanting to go on that for a long time, so I decided that it was time to go. The bikes were a definite plus, as they allowed us to go around the island completely whereas walking woulda made my feet hurt less than 1/4 of the way through. :p

Here are some pics:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid63/pe6a53ec643760d100d507ad09a59ec83/fc111a16.jpg

Leaving Fisherman's Warf on the ferry.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid63/pf493bef734c20639cbf9d7e612934a85/fc111993.jpg

Crossing the Bay. Say "HI" to the sailors!!

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid63/pf5bd672ffd0ef7c27a42ccd9cfd3e1f9/fc111938.jpg

Me on Angel Island.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid63/pc68a19243f0f47b588b2b01169f0f5c8/fc1118c2.jpg

My GF in an old house, possibly a mansion or a detention center for immigrants. Note the collapsed stairway in the background.

crashed last week on some bullsh** so today i went out myself and didn't want to hit the dirt. went on a route where the roadies usually go, carving through stevens creek canyon rd. usually the route would make me exhausted but today i felt great. my bike was squeaking and stuff i think i got a shot headset, but i made it. highlight of the day was grinding past a roadie on my singlespeed on two small climbs. reward was a gradual and intermittently intense downhill exit at pierce rd. day wasn't over so i went to play basketball for another 2 hours. pure bliss.

hey chi, looks like you had a good time, maybe i'll take my gf out to angel's island someday on bikes =]

pharcyde....sounds like some great trails, where were you riding? sounds like something I want to check out........tom

BTW, took it a little easy today after huge off road ride sunday, took the road bike out instead with my wife and we rode through the green countryside to Orting, beautiful sunny skies, it was VERY cool and a nice change from the thrash we went on sunday!....tl

Originally posted by Chi
My GF and I went on the Angel Island ferry from San Francisco.

Whoa!

Are you scott peterson:D

Tom, they are trails on I-90 on the way up to snoqualmie pass. What kind of bike do you have. If you dont have a big bike youll get beat to death and it would be pretty dangerous.

Pharcyde.....I have a FSR comp, marzocchi fork and stratos shock with long travel kit, sun rhynos, I have done some stuff at snoqualmie, sounds like you found the real deal!!!....tom ;)
ps...I have read a little about your norco bike, sounds great, I want to step up to something like that too....tl

I hate all of you. The east coast was a complete washout all weekend. Got bored as hell and thought about riding my bike around the hallways of my apartment building and riding down the stairs for some excitement. Today should be dry but I'm sure the trails will be pretty wet still.

Had a tough hilly 73 mile ride Sunday so Monday we planned to take it easy for 40-45 miles. Five miles out one of the ladies in the group hit a huge rock in the road. She lost control and hit me. We got tangled, as I rolled along just about dragging her. She went down hard, I stayed up. She has a possible broken arm (looked bad) with hardly a mark on her Merlin. I'm fine but my rear wheel is badly out of true. Not the best ride but it could have been worse.

Rode on Friday night and Monday night. Last night was just an easy ride ~10mi.. I took a bad fall on Friday night. Landed on the end of my handbars with my sternum. Stills hurts pretty bad to inhale, laugh, sneeze, blow my nose, sleep, etc. But I rode last night and it didn't hurt. I must have not used muscles in that area to ride.

Hurts today. Bummer.

I rode Thursday night. Short ride, got there late, but it was good to get out, there was actually a cool breeze and we only rode for about an hour and a half. Rode the closest trail from home, and although very sandy, it's technical and has a few sections that'll put a hurtin on ya! Rode a couple of drops, crashed on the first drop, went back and did it a few more times until I had it dialed.

Friday Night: Went Sailing on a Catalina 30. Friends boat, and we did a small local "fun" regatta. Came in last, but didn't care, there were plenty of beers available.

Sat. Picked up my bud, and headed to the 2nd closest trail. Got there later than I wanted and it was already hot! Rode for a little while and hooked up with another friend. Ended up riding for almost 3 hours. Had a blast, but was definately tired riding my FR bike on a XC course.

Sun. Went kayaking for almost 6 hours. Got sunburned and tired! Saw a lot of nice looking ladies on the beach, and a small pod of about 5 dolphins (porpoise).

Mon. Riding again, trail a little further away, but worth the extra drive. I did one loop and was DONE! My buddy hooked up with some guys that hadn't ever been to this trail, so he went for a second loop while I took a nap.

Overall, had a great weekend!

L8R

Where'd you ride monday, A2? Should have come up to Santos and ridden with me!

I was going to, but I hate driving up 2.5 hrs, ride all day and drive back all in one day. I was planning on heading up and camping, but all my cronies bailed on me. I ended up heading over to Carter Road in Mulberry, only 1.5 away!

L8R

Originally posted by live311
I hate all of you. The east coast was a complete washout all weekend. Got bored as hell and thought about riding my bike around the hallways of my apartment building and riding down the stairs for some excitement. Today should be dry but I'm sure the trails will be pretty wet still.

Hey... I am visiting the east coast from the west coast (PacNW) so I'm in the same boat (almost literally). I didn't get any riding in either... although I hadn't planned on it in the first place. I hope the nice weather in Seattle holds up by the time I get back later this week.

Rode to Broines Park, 4.6 miles from my house. Spent 3 hours riding up and down the killer hills there. Didn't see any other bilers except for some roadies on a short stretch of road, known as the bears, where one trail ends outside the park and I had to ride a mile on asphalt to get back into the park.

Originally posted by BurlySurly
Whoa!

Are you scott peterson:D

Who's that?

Originally posted by a2psyklnut
I was going to, but I hate driving up 2.5 hrs, ride all day and drive back all in one day. I was planning on heading up and camping, but all my cronies bailed on me. I ended up heading over to Carter Road in Mulberry, only 1.5 away!

L8R



Ahh. Let me know when you're up this way so we can ride. I've got a spare bedroom if you need a place to crash.

T'was an epic weekend in Durango, Colorado. We went up for the Ironhorse road ride, and whatever else we could fit in. The road ride went well, I finished it out in 3:15 slightly faster than last year's time, and I beat the train. We grabbed a couple of Horse Gulch rides as well. Constant kudos and thanks to Trails 2000 for the excellent work they have done there.


On Memorial Day proper I woke up with a sore throat, and realized that the funky feeling I had the previous day was not due to the road ride, but was indeed the onset of a cold. Hermosa Creek was on the books for that day. Decision #1, ride or bail.

Of course I rode. Even if you live in Durango, Hermosa is only good to go at certain times of the year. I hardly ever get the chance to cruise this premier trail. I loaded up my system with Emergen-C, advil and Chuck and I headed out the door. We met up with JD and Craig Brossman at the Hermosa store, left a vehicle and drove to Durango Mountain Resort, nee Purgatory. "What's this?", you say, "A shuttle?" "Wimp." True. Usually I try to ride from the bottom, up, then back. But today we were going to go for the gusto. It was only really half a shuttle, as parking at the ski area still leaves a longish climb up over the ridge into Hermosa Park. 8 miles later we were truly warmed up.

The day, the weather, the group. It all came together. At one point there were slated to be 8-10 people on board for this ride. But then there were 4. And it worked quite well. Craig, Chuck and I had all done the Silverton ride, and JD was aboard a Fussy compliant single speed, so we seemed to hang together pretty effortlessly.

Some photos:
http://www.anthonysloan.com/dgomay03/hermosa1.jpg

Chuck and Craig zipping to the trailhead.

http://www.anthonysloan.com/dgomay03/hermosa2.jpg
Poorly composed and exposed pic of Chuck, but when riding Hermoas, it is quite difficult to stop and pull out the camera and take photos, so it'll have to scratch.

http://www.anthonysloan.com/dgomay03/hermosa3.jpg

http://www.anthonysloan.com/dgomay03/hermosa4.jpg
Waders.

http://www.anthonysloan.com/dgomay03/hermosa5.jpg

http://www.anthonysloan.com/dgomay03/hermosa6.jpg
JD and Craig.

The Blur was quite happy with Hermosa. The long descent holds an interesting challenge. I wasn't pushing it hard, but I was letting the bike zip along at a decent enough pace. At that speed the trail presents itself quickly. You have to survey the offerings, pick a line and roll it out, all while planning your next move. This is a fascinating way to spend a morning. Jumps, teeny technical sections, one or two creek crossings (one of which was quite deep...) unfurled under my wheels like some sort of magic carpet.

Of course you pay for the descent twice with Hermosa. Once cranking up to the trailhead, and once more at Dutch Creek. But despite that, and despite the puckish nature that Craig's rear hub was exhibiting that day, it was a great, great day.

Even fighting off a cold, I had a very nice ride. I truly enjoy the feeling of being dialed in to the bike. I don't view myself as any sort of biking expert, in fact I ran across a quote this weekend that neatly sums up my view on my riding. "I am not better than anyone else, I am as good as anyone else can be." I was a good on the bike that day as I could be.

After, we regrouped at Old Timer's for burgers 'n' beer.

Good company, good food and well deserved barley juice.

After that I crashed out. I think I had about a 101 degree fever, and I needed to drive for 15 hours the next day. I racked out for about 15 and managed to drag myself back to Texas in decent enough order. Was it worth it? You bet your bippee.

Originally posted by Chi
Who's that?

He's that guy who they think killed Laci Peterson and dumped her in san francisco bay.

get it?:)

My memorial day ride was the Horsey Hundred in Georgetown,Ky. Been doing this ride since 83. Some years we get rained out at least one day. This year only got rain on the last 15 mi on Sunday.

I met Snake-eyes from this bikeforum. Turns out he's been riding with the local cycle club. I put him onto the rides and my partner met him before me.

There was the strangest accident on this ride. On a very scenic road there is a sharp curve, then an old stone bridge. On the right as you come down there is a little mill with a waterfall. You can't fly down this hill.

Well, when we got to the bridge there was a cyclist in the creek! Somehow, he hit the bridge, went over the stone wall and into the creek. The whole right side of his face was all bloody! No one seemed to know him or how the accident happened.

I wasn't sure if he was alive but others who saw him later said he was sitting up.

We never did find out what happened or how serious the cyclist was injured, but at least he was alive!

Kathi