Category Archives: bikes

bikes, friends, MTB, travel, USA

Up early for a ride

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Somehow managed to wake up to hear the clock chiming five & suddenly remembered that I was to get up in five minutes for a big ride. Stumbled around the house – being the longest day, it was nice & light – getting ready & managed to force an extra piece of toast down & I was on the road before six. Met up at Chip’s house & we loaded our bikes on to the borrowed old Volvo (it has racks). Annoyingly burnt my tongue on the liquorice tea, & we arrived at the trail head (down the I8 again, towards where I rode at Big Laguna last week) fifteen minutes early & waited for the others to arrive. In the end, there were seven of us – me the youngest (easily having less than half the years accumulated as the most senior), a couple of guys on singlespeeds – one a very nice custom titanium 29er.

Started off at 8.00 & it was a little chilly as we cruised along some singletrack not too far from the road. After a while we started to climb a little & I was impressed to see the singlespeeds leading the way – usually the case, I remember having to just go at hills & not being able to cruise. Found a big rock for first rest stop.

The whole area we were riding in was destroyed by wildfires in 2003, so there weren’t a lot of sizeable trees around, but the scrub has had a few years to regenerate. It’s a bit of a blur, but we did a lot of climbing (middle-ring the whole way for me, so not too difficult) on some nice singletrack – quite dusty, but otherwise fine.

I think we started at about 3000 ft & eventually we crossed the Sunrise Highway (~5000 ft) & continued climbing on the singletrack. Stopped a couple of times for a rest & for the tourist to take photos:

By now we were looking out towards the edge of the desert (further north of the one we drove through to go camping last week).

Some of us felt that we should leave the Perfect Cycling Trail & hike-a-bike up to the road. Unfortunately, this was twenty minutes of clambering, pushing, carrying through scrub getting very scratched legs. Probably the hardest part of the day for & somewhat draining. We rode up the Sunrise Highway for a few miles, down a bit & back on to singletrack. What followed was pure bliss – we must have had two or three miles of downhill & it started out nice & dusty (of course) & twisty & then proceeded to get rockier & rockier – it was great fun barrelling down there. The closest I came to riding off the side of the hill was looking up & seeing Billy two or three hundred yards down the trail & trying to work out if I could catch him. I put my head down after that & concentrated on staying on the trail a bit more – the rocks got bigger & combined in some nice chutes, where having suspension soak up the occasional poor line was comforting. Pleasingly, I managed to catch Billy right at the end of the downhill & we sat & waited under a tree for the others to turn up. Those few miles were fantastic & the riding (& perhaps, the) highlight of my trip so far.

Having regrouped & rested we begun the climb out of the valley on singletrack & eventually were riding up & down a meadow. The dust turned quite slippery here – I’m used to dry surfaces being grippy in NZ, but here I’d hit a switchback too fast (as it turned out) & my front wheel would just slide as if on slippery clay – I managed to turn front wheel inside out once or twice, but somehow stayed upright. One final rest stop before we hit the fire road down all the way to the car – it was quick. I’m still not a big fan of the High Rollers, there were quite a few instances during the day when I think the Nevegals would have helped me out a lot more. First puncture of the day for Cliff about ten minutes from the cars; once that was repaired we easily finished the six hour epic – 27 miles all up. That was about the limit of my endurance, up the last little rise (which was nothing compared to what we had already done) I found myself chopping back to easier gears & struggling up the hill. Got home & realised I was covered in dust – a great glove mark:

& it was just as well I didn’t get talked in to having a pedicure the day before – this is through MTB shoes & socks.

Big nap & watched Master & Commander – as I had been on the HMS Surprise a couple of days before. Must pack & plan & organise a few things (rather, everything) for my road trip today.

bikes, city, MTB, travel, USA

SD Zoo & two more rides

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The day off from sightseeing today – I get a bit sick of it & today’s early start hasn’t helped my energy levels (it may have been the three hour well-paced ride this morning). Yesterday I went off to the renowned San Diego Zoo nice & early. I’m not much of an animal person, but it’s a great place & it exceeded my expectations. Particular highlights were the reptile house & all the snakes, lizards & komodo dragon.

Also, was pleased to see a different kind of pheasant (Malay Great Argus) – the photo is a little poor through the netting. And I spent a good while looking at the kiwi foraging in the dark – I don’t remember ever having seen one so close in NZ (that’s not to say it didn’t happen – only I may have been quite young).

The new elephant enclosure was pretty good – but it’s not quite the same as seeing them roaming the streets in Thailand or Nepal or even going for a trek on one. Giraffes have always been a particular favourite of mine, so it was cool to see some tall-tall ones & some short-tall ones (the youngest being only a few months old).

The gorillas were good to watch as well & a special mention must be made of the polar bear. I have never seen one so playful & active – all the ones I have seen in exhibits (or anywhere for that matter) have looked rather bored. This one had oversized ball to play with in its enclosure. It was a big day of walking & some pretty decent hills in there too – so I hopped on the Skyfari cable car to get back to the top – as you can see it’s a big zoo:

Back home & a brief refuel (for me, not the car) & then off to meet another MTBer from mtbr.com . We rode for about an hour and a half on some tracks that are supposedly off limits (“I mentioned it once – but I think I got away with it”) – not that you would know, we must have seen thirty other riders out there. Some nice rocky & dusty trails up a canyon (interrupted by a brief mechanical – Allen managed to bend a tooth on his granny ring perpendicular to where it should be – this in turn caused shifting problems & then broke the chain – just as well I had a breaker & Missing Link), before we went up a side canyon under a pretty canopy. Quite a nice middle-ring climb with a few technical bits to keep it interesting. Reached the top of the mesa & then we hit one of the five routes down. Really tight trail with very low overhanging twisted trees – reminded me a little of beech forest riding in the South Island. The first route downhill went for ever & it was a lot of fun. Reaching the bottom, we went up the same route & down a different one – this one was even closer & more technical – good fun, but a bit shorter & didn’t seem to flow as well.

As if that wasn’t enough, I was up at 5.30 this morning for another ride (the one that got canned on Tuesday). Drove about twenty minutes to meet another mtbr.com mate. After a bit of tuning (my brakes don’t squeal quite as much now), we were riding by 7 o’clock. A few miles of road before we hit Mission Trails, then under another freeway before we hit the outskirts of the same Marines air base as Monday – this time on the opposite side & well away from anything. The riding was extremely hard packed drit trail with a few ruts left over & the odd rocky patch. Hard & fast. A nice long series of switchbacks to climb a fair way & then the switchback went all the way down – some were quite gnarly & very dusty, rocky & rutty. Started to miss 2.3 tyre on the front when I almost lost the second corner, but no problems after that – just fun. Continued winding our way up the valley/canyon for a while with a few pinch climbs. Reached a gate & decided since it was 9 o’clock, it was time to head back. Big chain ring down a lot of the path back down & really starting to enjoy the rocks. With a brief mechanical stop (it turns out the pivot in Chip’s Blur had snapped) & a couple of good climbs, we were home at 10.00.

Popped in to the SDPD Northern District HQ to try & get my stolen money back – apparently I have to wait until Monday 3 pm when we go over the scene of the crime with the DA & detective. Which is a bit of a pain in the butt, as I was planning on driving to Vegas that day – it will be a late night, but which night in Vegas isn’t?

A bit worn out & not wanting to do the tourist thing again just yet – I drove Chris out an hour east on I8 to pick up the van – which has had its radiator replaced. It got back safely & our eventful camping trip can finally be put to rest.

bikes, city, history, MTB, travel, USA, vehicles

A car, a ride & a few museums

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Hopefully a quick update before bed tonight – it was a restless night & early morning. Yesterday was pretty uneventful – read a bit of Mark Twain (thought I better start one day), picked up my rental car – it’s a black Dodge Avenger that easily swallows the bike in the trunk (which is the main thing of course), has some interesting build quality & unfortunately for the size of it, is underpowered (2.4) & mated with a good old jerky automatic gearbox (sure beats riding all over town though)

– & went for another ride. This ride was much closer to home with one of the guys I met on Sunday, generally around Rose Canyon – we crossed railroad tracks, scrambled under the freeway, clambered up & down canyons, bushwhacked where the trail was overgrown, crossed the bottom end of a military base (the Topgun one incidentally) – a good work out for almost two hours & all only five minutes from home.

Monday morning up bright & early (5.30), bike in the car & off for another ride. Surprisingly, it rained a little in the night & I was not expecting that the ride would be cancelled because there was a small chance of rain. Nevermind, there is always Thursday morning!

So the cancelled ride freed up the rest of the day & I was off to Balboa Park to check it & some of the museums out. The park is one of the oldest in the States & 1200 acres, home to numerous museums & the world famous San Diego Zoo. Many of the buildings along El Prado were put up for the 1915 Panama-California Expo (that was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal) & are Spanish themed & are pretty darn cool.

I went to four museums – the San Diego Air & Space Museum (heaps of cool old planes & space stuff – suits, Apollo 9 command module), I quite enjoyed this as it had a lot of modern history in it; the San Diego Automotive Museum, this was OK – too many hotrods, but the old original cars were quite neat (but I rate the old Te Puke Vintage Auto Barn higher); the Fleet Science Center – was OK also, lots of hands on sciencey stuff; & lastly the Museum of San Diego History – the smallest of the lot, but I loved it & finding out more of the history of the people of San Diego.

Booked a room in Las Vegas for the start of my road trip next week. The plan keeps changing, but hopefully two nights in Vegas, two or three in Southern Utah for riding & visiting Grand Canyon (North Rim), a day riding in Mammoth, riding around Tahoe somewhere, a bit of sightseeing in San Fransico & then come back to San Diego down the coast. I’ll just have to see how much I can fit in & how much driving I can take (that’s getting close to 2000 miles).

Bed & hopefully a better night’s sleep calls – off to the zoo tomorrow.

bikes, MTB, travel, USA

Riding at Big Laguna

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Returning to civilisation, I found a message waiting for me about a potential ride the next day. Mountain-biking is great – since posting on mtbr.com a couple of weeks ago I have had many tips & offers of rides around San Diego & further afield. I sorted out to go a fair way back to where we had been camping up the I-8 with a group on Sunday to ride at one of the most beautiful rides in the SD area. Unlike most of the local rides, it has trees. So after a nice sleep in & getting organised, the GT was loaded on the back of another pickup (they make some sense, not much, but at least a little bit) & we were off to meet the rest of the group – I was pleasantly surprised to hear a (slightly Americanised) Kiwi accent from one of the girls.

All up, there were seven of us – Roger (who originally contacted me) was riding his brand new Yeti XC carbon fibre bike. It was very light & very well specced, as one would expect. We started quite high (after about an hour’s drive) at 5500 feet & for the most part were riding around a basin that was meadow & pines. I was somewhat sceptical of the beauty of the sparse trees & general dryness of the place, but it grew on me & was quite pretty in places. We climbed a fair bit & got to here looking out to Mexico:

A nice sweet flowing descent that had tricky rocky switchbacks to start with & then flowing, but was very dusty & loose (almost caught me out a couple of times – also running a Maxxis High Roller upfront for the first time may have had something to do with it). In a new experience for me, I was complimented on my riding style – thanks Gabby . But I was also slightly embarrassed as Roger & I concurrently realise that my rear tyre was on the wrong way around – it must have been like that since the puncture-fest that was Karapoti ’09. Getting back out towards the meadow, we skirted around it & ended up going past the dry Small Laguna Lake & then up a quarter mile climb (the altitude really had my lungs heaving here – much worse than Nepal last year) to Big Laguna Lake, that actually still had some water in to it. There wasn’t really an inlet to the lake (it must come from snowmelt), & the outlet was pretty slow – so it was pretty stagnant. Still it added to the vista. A nice cruisy ride with some neat people & hopefully a few more rides to come in the next few weeks.

I should pick up my rental car tomorrow – will give me a bit of independence for sightseeing & more importantly riding.