winter is here

We ran into these two

Winter is here. There is a ton of snow, pretty low snow in fact. But yesterday was a beautiful day, cold and sunny. Hollie and I went up to Royal Gorge, www.royalgorge.com
After an 18 month break from skiing we hit the trails. IT WAS FANTASTIC. I quickly remembered how awesome our life is!
Off the couch I ski raced today. I did the 10km freestyle event at Pacos fun race. surprisingly I won my age group, MM2 and ended up 12th over all. good times.

In way over my head

Saturday ride. Sam, "The Man" took me on an epic today...and I was in over my head for about 25 miles of it...big time. We did happen upon some awesome riding, weather and views.

This picture was the easy part and does not look as steep as it was in this photo. I got my ass kicked on this steep, first gear, minimal line, ass bouncing around. Loose, technical and unforgiving.

Yes, I was worked. I stalled about 3 times and dumped it twice. I cant believe how tired I was. Good news: I got through it and I think I am a better rider for it. I did a little damage to the bike today. The throttle cable is not working properly, the right fork leg is leaking oil and my headlights are going on and off when I clutch. weird. But the 640 handled everything (including me) and we got another high route done bfore the snow!
Now I am drinking beer and waiting for my soreness to begin!

Taking a longish lunch

Wednesday afternoon, I met up with my bud Sam for lunch...and I never came back to work. We put in about 140 miles on the dirt bikes, and about 110 of those miles were off road. SICK.
The half way point...thats why the pic is half of me and half of the bike. We stopped here for a bit to take in this beautiful spot.
Sam checking out the Sierra Buttes and taking note of what an awesome camp spot we were parked in

Sam and the bikes at Jackson Meadows Res. Here we had to put some more clothes on, we had gained about 5000 ft elevation and the sun was on its way down

That ride was a blast. I am hoping to get out this weekend for something a little longer!

back yard spin

Perfect weather. Fall is coming. It is making for some nice riding. That is Purdon Crossing in the background. The bridge crosses the south fork of the Yuba River.
The KTM 640 Adventure. I am having a lot of fun on this bike. I want to get in one High Route trip before the snow comes...I am thinking this weekend.
The South Fork is looking sad. We need rain and snow in a big way!

Mexico quickie

MEXICO NIGHT LIFE

I dont know why there is a scowl on my face...maybe I missed my nap. But the turtle work must go on...nap or not! The turtle shifts would start around 8 pm and end as late as 4am

BIG 'OL GIRL

This old timer did her thing. Basically we would wait for turtles to come on shore and dig a nest. this could take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour. Once the nest was dug the turtle will lay eggs the size of ping pong balls...50 to 150 eggs per nest. The turtle then hides the nest and goes back to sea. We, then locate the nest and remove the eggs. Making note of the nest location, number of eggs and if any are broken and time. We then renest the eggs in a nursery. This insures safety from the poachers. 45 days later....

BABY TORTUGA~~~

Every night we would release about 200 of these suckers out to the ocean. The little buggers run down the beach towards the white of the waves. In this time they get oriented to their location and the females will return to this beach to nest! The babies have a sack that allows them 3 days of food and oxygen. This allows them to go deep and try to survive. only 1 in 500 make it to maturity.

HOLLIE AND NEGRA

Hollie waiting for a turtle to lay her eggs, hanging out with Negra. Negra was a stray dog who would meet us every night on the beach and guard us during our shift. Sweetest dog!

BEACH TIME

Well that is enough for now. We did get some day time beach too. KILLER.
I will post more about our trip later!

doing some lumber jackin'

JACK OF ALL TRADES AND MASTER OF NONE

BIG 'OL SUGAR PINE

Ran the saw for 6 hours yesterday and this bugger is still not all bucked up. I got all teary eyed running th saw all day yesterday without my chain saw buddy...

CELL PHONE SCALE

Two Wheels and What nots

ALMOST FINISHED

Since NO ONE gave me any feed back on the fork choice on my 29'er I had to go it alone. I can only deduce that no one reads my blog or no one cares about bikes...??? Well, that wont stop me. I put on a Rock Shock REBA and I am stoked. I got a sweet hook up on a new '08 fork with 80 mm of travel. I cant wait to ride it. What am I waiting for? Wheels. I have to wait until I get back from Mexico to get my wheels. The wheelset will be from WTB, Laser Disc Trail with some 2.1 Nano Raptor tires. Gonna be sweet. So what am I riding now? I am using most of my parts off my old 26" bike so I had to get creative.

THAT IS A ONE SPEEDER

I put the Paul moto lite rim brakes back on, dusted off a 1978 campy super record derailleur and made it into a chain tensioner...its now a single speed. I know, I have talked plenty of smack about the single speed sub class, but since this is all I can afford I figured I would build it up. Plus, how can you hate something you have never tried. I have been on 2 rides and I have to say riding the SS is kind of fun. dont tell. I am running a 32 x 17, which might not be the right gear. I am thinking 34 x 17 or 32 x 15...we will do some more riding and go from there.

I need to get this bike built!

THE KULA DELUX 2-9

I Need to get this bike built up and I need some help. I pretty much know what I want to put on it in terms of parts but he fork is a tough one.
There is alot more to consider with the 29er geometry, we know that a standard offset fork will not be good...so what do I do. who out there has a 29er and what are you running?

AINT SHE PURRRRDY

So the build:
SRAM X0 all the way around with grip shift
King headset
WTB Laser disk 29er wheel set, w/ nano raptor tires
Formula Oro disk brakes
FSA 2x9 crank, 44x29
Jagwire der housing, ORANGE
Fizik poggio saddle, orange, in top pic
FSA Flat carbon bars
FSA 99 stem
Thompson elite w/ setback seat post.

I would like to run a Rock Shock fork, cuz i like the folks at SRAM, and all the mechanics at the shop I work at hate the rock shock(dont ask me why, all we ever repair are FOX)

But I am open to your advice. So hit me!

crushing downieville

I dont know what happened, but these photos are all out of order. So story first:
Hollie and I headed up to Downieville this morning. There is all this hype about D-ville, I have never got it, but I am slow, so we went to check it out. Oh, we were the only people who DID NOT SHUTTLE. We rode to Sierra City to get on the trail, that adds 12 miles, and we actually rode up the trail all the way to packers saddle. Everyone else gets in a van and drives to packer. What is up with that? Oh right, its all down hill from packers. From Downieville to packers you gain 5000 ft elevation. Its awesome, its hard, its beautiful...its worth the ride. The other d-ville rule we broke, we rode hard tails. We were the only ones on hard tails, but we were blowing by these guys with 8" travel bikes with sooo much armor on they could have been at the nights of the round table.
What ever! It was still a ton of fun, here are some pics

Hollie coming up to Blue Point

Hard Tail Hollie, V-brakes too

And She Navigates!

Good Times!

And there they rest, all cleaned up, our KONA Kula Supremes. Sweet rigs! D-ville worthy.

Chris Climbing Climbing Climbing

Hollie Zoolander, Climbing

Rocking

Check out the Indian Paint Brush...Hollie did

Cool View.

its been hot and smokey

FOXY IS LOSING IT

I think the smoke is getting to Foxy. She looks to be going a little crazy.

UDO IS JUST CHILLING

Udo is the same as always, he just wants to hang out and sit on mine or Hollies feet. He has this thing where he has to be touching one of us...so I thought i would give him a big old bear hug

AND SHE IS SPENT

After Foxy's little freak out session, she went to sleep.

EDWARDS CROSSING

So I went out for some exploration yesterday. It was too hot and there was too much smoke. I suffered like a dog. Anyway, I rode out to edwards crossing (over the Yuba river) and headed up the dirt rode to the town of North Bloomfield. This is part of the big ride I am going to do to truckee. I got dusted by about 100 enduro moto bikes yesterday, no love for mcgov

I went by this sign.

Checked out mans scars on the earth here

Ah, Mans scars...I started to ride a horse trail back in here and all of a sudden I realized I was not alone. I could hear a symphony of rattle snakes. I hate snakes...I hauled ass out of there back to the dirt road

Wreckage. There are decrepit buildings all over the place up here. I guess when the gold ran out so did the people. I went into the cemetery up in North Bloomfield and I was shocked by the number of children that died up there in the 1850's. I wonder if it had to do with all the mercury the miners used to pull the gold out of all the debris after blasting the hillsides with hydraulic cannons??
I rode back home after getting to N.Bloomfield. I was fried and I couldnt breathe very well because of the smoke. I was smoked!

Meet Stan

STAN THE MAN

Meet Stan Sanderson. I have known Stan for 22 years now and he is responisble for getting me into bike racing. When I was 13, Stan used to make sure I did not get lost on group rides, that I did not bonk and that I treated the sport of cycling with respect. For the last 22 years Stan and I have ridden together quite a bit and I have enjoyed every ride. Stan is a super fan. He loves cycling and has a deep pool of this sports history. There is NO ego with the man and he has a magical way of diffusing many an odd moment. Stan is the man

Great Air Today

Because there was soo much smoke down in our part of the county this morning Stan and I car pooled up to Cisco, hoping some elevation would get us above the smoke. Not only were we treated with clear air, but great weather to boot.

Almost The Top

This is the old bridge on old Donner Pass. It is a great climb and a very popular loop by the local Truckee cyclists. We saw at least 30 cyclist this morning and 1-2 cars. I wonder if the cars felt out of place.

The View

Here is a look down towards the bridge and Donner Lake.

Happy Chris

Stan, thanks for getting and keeping me on the bike. It makes me really happy. You have talked me down so many times and kept me focused and passionate through out my racing days. Thanks. I owe you.

Smoke Screen

LAST WEEK

this is the over look at Alpha Omega Mine, This week it is engulfed in flame. The Whole Yuba River Complex by the town of Washington is on fire. The Air is so bad I have not been riding since Monday. That sucks, because I have had 4 days off of work!

CHECK THE AIR

That is the view from my deck this morning. Its actually looking better than it has lately. My poor little goose looks to be hurting!

A Little Creepy

There is the potential fuel. Of course this is my neighbors property. They dont seem to care that their laziness could cost me dearly. Hollie and I have have worked hard over the years to greatly reduce the fuel around our 2 acres, but right up against our fence is dense fuel. STUPID!

FOXY ON GUARD

Foxy is alert as always keeping me informed on the status of the fires. She seems to have a keen sense of danger. Sunday afternoon when the dry lightning hit she was barking and running around about 4 minutes prior to the strikes. She knew it was coming...so I listen to her. Right now we are safe, but I am truly worried about our home and our county...I have considered loading up the camper with supplies, important stuff and putting it on the back of the truck just in case...what do you think?

RUBY

So Tuesday was our 7th anniversary so I got Hollie a Ruby...no not the gem, the bike! Its pretty sweet ride and quite light. Black and Pink...nice. We went out to Sushi in the Raw and had a great time sitting at the bar swapping drinks with Ru the sushi chef! Good time...here is to many more!