Wet, Not Slippery, Little Mud, and Man-euvers

Don (right side of photo), and Tom (middle) a virgin rider to the area we rode today, area #21 at Ft. Lewis, joined Jeff (left), and John on a 2 ½ hour ride on many great trails today. Even though it was wet (and sleeting at times), there was little mud and not much slowing down either! Having them along was great company and a boost in the sense of humor department. (See video) There was one mishap today when a stick jumped out and overly probed Tom’s derailleur, bending his derailleur-hanger in toward the spokes. He finished out the last 2-3 miles just fine yet confined to only a gear or two. (We are all sorry for and regret the “trail-hazing" Tom received. The only thing that makes it better is knowing that we’ve all experienced this in various degrees at one time or another.) As far as finds today? The ride almost climaxed at a point when Tom found a box of Trojans near a trail head at the end of the ride. It was a conundrum (Sp? or, is it condomdrum?) yet Tom proved to be a man of wisdom because he sited to the rest of us that most likely the troops were out on man-euvers.

Meet Noah -- Meet Bruce

Today Noah (at Right)

and a friend Bruce (below) went out with us to some of the trails at the place we usually ride.

Your host can’t speak for Noah or Bruce yet what I can do is show a few pictures.

Brothers Mop Up . . .

Jeff (left of the pic) and his bro' Mark (from Ferndale) joined us for ride today that had everything. Gradual yet long lung-busting hills, steep heart-spiking short hills, sweeping / swooping single track, twisting technical single track, low jumpable, and high groin-busting logs.




The boys mopped up for 2 ½ hours.

Your editor was sucking wind really good today (not a good thing!) after one particular steep hill shown in the video. It took him four tries to finally make it up. (His excuse = not having worked out for three days because of intensive training, late nights studying, and an exam.) Jeff cleaned the hill in the video 3 times just to "encourage" the editor and show him how to keep a steady line. (B.S., it was to keep the editor humble and on the teetering edge of puking or losing it.)

All was well at the end though -- especially with a "good cup-o-Joe" at the end. (Thanks Mark for the caffeine hit afterwards.)

Digital Camera Gone Wild

You are so right.
The digital camera and mount went wild and didn’t prove to be stable enough for the dual track today. We’ll work for better stability this next week.

Barbed Wire, Bleeding First Aid Sign, and a Roadie

Went for a late ride today. No e-mail. No calls. Just . . . quiet. Found stacked up barbed wire along with a first aid sign near single track I was riding. The First Aid sign was bleeding (ink, no kidding).

On the way home in the dark I passed a “roadie” who was pulled off the side of narrow Rainer Road with a flat (sew-ups so no spare). He was “texting” for help and a ride home. Name of Vaughn – road races with The Valley (first year on the team). Real nice guy, late teens, stellar shape, loves speed of the road. Gave Speed Road Racer Vaughn a ride home. The end.

Little Mud -- Great Single Track @ Secret Forest

Little mud today and some great fast single-track at a secret forest.

No Snow Birding or Migrating . . .

We’ve been busy consuming large amounts of single track on the weekends but not at Capitol Forest and most certainly not “down South.” Every weekend since January we’ve been hitting up single track at Fort Lewis and working hard to clear and punch out trails.

But, today was . . . “and now for something totally different” (Monty Python). Today was all about climbing B5200 (very steep road) at Capital Peak just for the endurance – an hour of nothing but climbing (1,400’) from no snow to snow. And sadly, about 10 minutes to descend.

Vail Exploratory and Conditioning Ride

How does a dose of 1,000’ elevation gain in approx. 1 ½ mile sound? A couple of us headed out to do a different ride today by exploring the Vail area - - in the sun no less!. Did you know you can ride from Vail (near the town of Rainier) all the way to Alder Lake (Elbe area) on dual track – logging roads? (That’s not what we were after today.) Today was about exploring a new area for single-track. No such luck. Everything we saw was old overgrown logging roads-- very steep climbing, and great conditioning.

At one point, John swore he saw single-track (he was friggen’ delirious from sucking wind going up hill), and took off riding after it and immediately (yet ever so slowly), plunged over his handle bars. (Hit a hidden rock in the grass he did!) Well, he got up laughing (way to cope with stress and relief he wasn’t injured), and upon getting up, saw a scale for weighing big meat. We didn’t have any big meat. So, Jeff thought it’d be a good idea to see how the bikes weighed in on the matter.

We took a couple of improper turns today. One went downward for about 2 miles appearing very hopeful. Nope, it dead-ended. Up once more. Pound-for-pound a great conditioning ride!

Foghat would be proud: It was a "slow ride" in the snow ride, we had to "take it easy." The Great Northwest Snow Storm of 2008 led to two Kennedy Creek rides of note: The first was a journey of discovery as we left the normal route and found ourselves in a mystical place where distant banjo strums from the Deer Hunter (squeal, HEEEEE, squeal) melded into the background around a half-built log cabin in the middle of nowhere. Just a bit freaky, but an interesting discovery all the same. The second ride was simply a brutal push of time against a short distance in deep snow - see John ride: Ride, John, Ride.

Solo Ride on Single-Track

Rode fairly clean single-track (near the old landing strip) at Ft. Lewis area #23 today for 2 hours. It was a solo ride. The trail was solo. I was solo. And . . . it was so very quiet not just in my mind.

Day After Christmas Ride

Here's a few pics returning from a 2 hour snowy ride at Kennedy Creek. There's video too but don't have the disk yet.

Dog Day Snowy Afternoon

Went for a easier (recovery)
ride today
in the snow
along with
the dawg (Winston).

Truly Downhill Kennedy Creek Single Track

Don’t know what to say, but do know what to do – ride the trail. Jeff (in the video) found a new roughed out, truly down-hill trail today at Kennedy Creek, just down from the “Windy Gap.”

We spent a fair amount of time clearing out baby-head sized rocks. It’s got a number of drop-offs, lots of steep, and speed. Although, it may be a crawl to get up to the start it shows good signs of becoming a great loop for training rides and conditioning.

A Fine Winter Day

Morning found us basking through a sunny ride of sumptuous single-track. A group of four ended up meeting and riding Ft. Lewis areas off of Rainer Road. We had some good times and they’re not gone even with winter here. Today’s ride is proof of that -- and shorts. It didn’t seem like it at all but folks ended up with about 18 miles and roughly 3 hours or varied trail. Dry trail riding! No mud!
Ron joined in the ride today. He returned from traveling though foreign parts of the world throughout the summer. Ron was thankful not to be on a plane for another 40 hour trip. Good to see and ride with you again!

And, John P-R hooked up again with his single-speed hard-tailed bike this time. (It weighs about 21 lbs and has carbon-fiber frame components.) Jeff H. was back riding after having been out from a head-code.

Santa Came Early –
We found a number of new trails equestrians punched in that have a lot of promise. (They just need a little clearing of snags here and there.) There is such a network of trails to explore! We passed by at least two junctions with trails leading out in other directions. Much to look forward to.

Tutu -- Tata

Lots of riding at Ft. Lewis single track up until recently when one of us either tore (or pulled) a hamstring while stepping over a “doggie gate” in the house. Of all things!
(Ungraceful as it was and without a Tutu, one did the splits and heard a "pop" then, pain rang out from all corners.) That was early Thurs. AM Thanksgiving.

By Sunday . . . mustered up some guts and courage to introduce a rider to the domains of Ft. Lewis single-track, John P-R. Here’s John P-R’s pic (on the right).

And a bit of a profile on him:
JPR started riding MTB in '96 and rapidly got hooked. “Riding is like being a kid again, except that I have a way cooler bike and Mom can't make me come in when it gets dark.” Since that time he’s picked up road and cyclo-cross as well. JPR raced off and on over the years, most recently 'cross. “The whole thing's an addiction... All-mountain bike, x-c race bike, freeride / park bike, single speed, 'cross bike, single speed 'cross bike, 2 road bikes, tandem....you get the idea.” As far as pace goes, JPR can hang with just about any group and he’s just as happy to just ride around (JRA) as he is to hammer. "Stopping on the side of the trail to session a log ride is cool too. Fast and swoopy or ridiculously technical, it's all good.”

Tata for now.

Recovery & Trail Maintenance Work

We did a recovery ride on Sunday and conducted some trail clearing at Fort Lewis unspecified single-track area (hint: near old landing strip). Built up a couple of ramps over trees that were too large to move or difficult to sail over without having to slow way down! Enjoy . . .

A Best Birthday One Could Wish For . . .

It happens every year, like it or not -- one’s birthday. This last weekend I witnessed a very positive birthday experience. Not Mtn-Biking Man’s but MTBmistress’s (Jeff H). There were a couple of elements that made it most positive and a standout:

1. Jeff's significant other was extremely supportive and encouraging to go “have a nice ride.”


2. Jeff was riding in his new self-selected ¾ highly waterproof pants and . . . it rained during part of the ride.


3. Jeff was wearing the “right gear” (¾ pants)!


4. Jeff conquered, non-stop, a very steep 1¾ hour ride up to “triple towers” (due West from Summit Lake and across from the ORV park). We’re talking about "front-wheel-popping, sit-on-the-front-seat-edge, leg-pounding" of a ride.


5. It was a great abuse of a ride for the legs! (Could only walk around at the summit.)


6. Great coffee at Blue Huron Bakery after the ride.


7. Wife of Mtn-Biking Man feels sympathy for Jeff's such tough ride and bakes him special oatmeal choc chip cookies.
   
   

   Happy birthday Jeff H!

Riding Beyond Fall

Completely right, totally right, seeing nothing wrong at all . . . riding fall, to its fullest. (The pictures say it all.) Riding up through and above the fog at a Kennedy Creek. A weekend day away from the otherwise bleak. A victorious way to spend the end of the day.

Gilligan's Island Ride -- More Than What You Asked For!

Jeff H's brother, Mark from Bellingham joined us for a ride at Ft. Lewis recently. It was his birthday and this is how he wanted to “spend it” . . . on his new 29 incher Cannondale (nice bike) chillin’ with his bro’ on single track! It turned out to be a “Gilligan’s Island” ride though. The duration was intended for 1 ½ hours but it turned into a “3+ hour tour” due to finding new single-track and taking some countless improper turns trying to return to the start point. Here’s Mark on the (his) “last leg” at 2:50’ish hrs. into the ride and about 2 miles away from the vehicles. Even though it was raining in Olympia, we had only a mist and a light wind throughout the ride – no puddles on the trail and NO MUD!

Yes, Still Riding . . .

Yes!

We're still riding -- on all types . . .

It's been a while since we've last posted. During this lag time we've been finding new riding areas in and around Fort Lewis and Kennedy Creek . . . for single track! We are really fortunate in Olympia. Today, two of us traveled all of 10 minutes away from Olympia and rode single track out at Fort Lewis (areas 22, 21, 19) for 2+ hours -- which left us speechless. Reason being, the trails were all drained with no standing water after the last couple days of rain! We’re not talking about lame single-track here. These are some of the best technical and “puzzle-like” navigational pieces around and the other “J” likened it to Bend’s single track (only a little damper). But, we get to ride it all year around and not have snow to contend with.

On another note, J & J were bad. We’ll have to confess to our wives later as we bought ourselves some new ¾ Venture Endure mountain bike knickers. Check out http://www.wiggle.co.uk/. They have by far the best price. Also, had to try the Strike winter glove. We think we do know what we’re getting for Christmas and Easter, and birthday……. Thankfully, I can deflect any blame to J. “Hey, J was complaining about how shoddy I was looking with all the holes and besides, he got the same thing.” There is safety in numbers.