Gum Surgery Recovery Ride and Nothing to Say

A ride with friends that took John's mind off throbbing pain (in the mouth). [Jeff, Don, Todd, Lisa]

This just in over the AP wire...

Galbraith Mountain, Bellingham, WA. - On a bright, sunny Monday afternoon, two brothers set out to conquer the mountain and did. A nice long burn going up as the elder adjusted to clipless pedals. The younger stopped at one point causing the elder to also stop. This led the elder to gracefully tilt to the left, whilst struggling to unclip, ending with full contact with the gravel road. Much loosening of the pedal tension later, the elder began clipping and unclipping with practiced ease. Upon arriving at the top of the mount, with cell towers pointing to the skies, the descent began. A full vista of Bellingham and the Northernmost waters of Puget Sound glistening before them, the brothers carved up succulent single track like it was so much medium-rare prime rib. With horseradish spicy dips and turns, the trail led first down and then across the mountian. An unbelievable run with only short intervals of gravel road to traverse before the next course was served up. But for a fading sun and a child to be picked up, the two would have stayed for dessert. A four-star day - both the company and the trail. Will look to repeat in June, perhaps starting earlier in the day so that we may repeat the repeat in a single repast. (Sorry no photos - the knucklehead younger left the camera in the car!)

Gum Surgery and Not Really A Ride

Other day one had gum graft surgery. Plus drugs. One tried to ride a bike on flat trail surface tuday and tupid bike wobbled way much side-to-side. So, after hour. One quit. But had to go down steep hill and fall down. No pain though! Happy happy!

Teen Nephews Visit to “Kick-Out-The-Jams” (Ref. MC5)

Jeff’s teen nephews Christian (center), and Eric (right) were up from Redding, CA for a visit, and joined us for a MTB ride today. They did excellent on the single track (well duh, they’re young, and full of testosterone!), and though we sort of got slightly displaced (never lost), they still were exclaiming “at least we’re having fun.”
Today’s jaunt was about 2 ½ hours, 90% up and down swooping, and twisty-turning single-track at area #21 and numerous trails at the power line. “Love the paths off the line."

Have a healthy and stellar week ahead . . . and better than the last!

More Please . . . Cross Country?

Little to say here yet could we have a little more please? Pic: John E, Ron (pointing to more), and Al on Saturday. Sunday, Jeff H. and John S. walked out the door to push for more . . . new single track -- some brutal. John went "man down" two times and another "stupid one" over the handle bars going over a log. (Jeff: "Let go of the front brake dude!")

Riding time this weekend about 6 hours. It’ll have to do. Whoot for more!

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.