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!

in la la land

Cruising the Flumes

Today I went out for a little noodle on the mountain bike. I loaded up the camelback put on the IPOD and headed out to the pioneer trail. The shade along the flumes was sooooo nice. I was surprised to see bits and pieces of some auto wreckage. This flume is about 50 ft below east bound hwy 20. Someone wasnt paying attention. I can just hear them talking to the cops: "there was this big deer and it just jumped out in front of me..." Geezz at least clean up the mess!

More Shade

This flume trail takes you to a steep dirt / paved road that you have to climb to get up to the 5 mile house. It was nice to noodle along before grinding up the steep climb. I was all warmed up by the time i got to the Pioneer trail. I ran Into Matt Wittler and a friend of his out on the Pioneer trail. I guess I was really out of it with the IPOD on and the noodle in affect, Matt came up behind me and slapped my back before I ever knew he was there. Matt said, "dude, we have been chasing you and yelling your name for like 5 minutes!" I was chilling in the cruise mode!

Pioneer Trail

Up, Up, Up that is the story of the day, climbing up the pioneer trail. I love the trail.

BLISS!

ALPHA OMEGA

So this is pretty much were I turned around. The historical sight for the alpha and omega mine over look. Pretty cool day. I planned on going a bit further down into Bear Valley, but I had to get back so I could leave for Truckee. I went up to Truckee to watch the Tour de Nez crit. I saw so many old friends. I kind of missed it all.

Well, I have a bunch of work the next four days so the riding wont be as fun. Hollie is performing in a little dance. Last night was the first show, she performs again tonight and tomorrow. I will have to get a better report on it, but she wont let me go and she keeps saying that its dumb. DOUBT IT! She has been riding the scooter lately, but a new bike is in her future. I will post pics later!

Rolling around

Is That the biggest bug you've ever seen?

That thing came out of nowhere at me today...I know that I was feeling a bit weird from the antibiotics but come on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I tried to swat that sucker out of the sky. It did not even seem to move...

All that work just made me tired...
I got in quite a bit of riding today. When I left the house I was NOT feeling it. I got to the mail box and wanted to turn around. I was not tired, just no energy. I kept on riding into town and headed up the pioneer trail. I was just noodling along and I seemed to be struggling with the trail. I just had no flow. I kept heading up, like I said, I was not tired...just no mojo. I went up past Skillman camp ground and decided that 3 hours was enough UP so I turned around. Going down is the fun part right.

Going down is usually the fun part...only when things are flowing. I crashed on this drop off and got scorpioned by my bike. I broke the lock out leaver on my fork and cracked my handle bars. DAMN! Luckily it was still ridable. I kept on heading back towards town and arrived safely at the bike shop. Hollie was getting off work at 4, so I timed it to ride home together.

Hollie Zoolander

I think Hollie got some new shades...or perhaps those are the safety goggles she wears to feed the dogs!

Castle Peak in the bag

Today was the perfect day for a hike. Not too hot, not too cold and great weather. Rick Reynolds and I left the Donner Summit Rest Area on foot and headed up the trail in the direction of Frog Lake. Frog Lake was our destination last friday, but this time we headed north west towards Castle Peak.

CLASS 5 Scramble

It was a pretty straight forward hike with the major challenge being keeping the trail as it dipped under snow fields...oh and the Class 5 scramble to the top of the peak. There was quite a bit of exposure but plenty of hand holds. When we went to down climb we found some chains set up for rappel...to bad we did not have any rope, that would have been way easier to get off!

The Summit Shot

The wind picked up on top and we had to get our coats out. We spent about 30 min. up top, had lunch and enjoyed the beautiful panoramic view of the Sierra Nevadas, Mt Lassen, Lake Tahoe, Donner on and on and on.

View From the Traverse

You would not believe all the good skiing there is still to be had down in there....Maybe next time we should bring the boards up and make some laps.

North East Facing Slopes

Wind Blown Window

More view...and I dont mean rick!!!

Proof of the Peak

There is a survey marker up on top...so I took a pic with my foot in it! Also, Hollie actually called my cell right when we summited and my phone worked. Too bad I was not near a grocery store, I could have helped her out!

FUN in the Sierras. Whats next? Just some riding. Scouting my silver route ride a bit more and then maybe next week hike from Sugar Bowl to Squaw Valley, about a 6 + hour houte route but there is beer and piazza at the end!

bloggity blog blog blog

Bridgeport

Staples rocks! They replaced my camera without a receipt!!!! So, its back to snapping shots and throwing them up on the blog.
So, I took some picks on my ride today. It was a drug induced 2.5 hours...I am on some anti-biotics trying to get over this damn cold I have. I think I got it from reading Bart Gillispie's blog, that seems to be his topic as of late, being sick! So i got around my loop pretty well but now I am tired. Down to Bridgeport (pic above) That is one of if not the longest covered bridge around. That is the mighty south fork of the Yuba River below it. Supposedly Bridgeport was home to the worlds first long distance telephone line.?

RULES

Seems like there are a few rules here at the park. PANS AND HANDS> that is the only way I get my gold!

Wells Fargo

As I climbed out of Bridgeport I topped out of the river canyon at French Corral. I think this was the sight of the first Wells Fargo bank too. Why all these firsts? Well, this part of my ride used to be the route from Nevada that brought silver and gold to sacramento and later san fran.
The gold country is ripe with history. I am planning a mounting bike ride of 70 miles +/- to explore other parts of this route that are not paved. The next stretch will be out of Nevada City up to the ghost town of North Bloomfield and over to Jackson Meadow Res. to HWY 89.

After leaving French Corral today, I rode out Birchville road, accross HWY 49 to Tyler foote rd to Oak Tree back to 49 to the town of North San Juan. From there its roughly 20 miles back to the house...about 15 of those miles are climbinmg out of the Yuba River canyon. This ride is a pretty common ride around here. I love it, so I posted it.
For the bike people who read this, you may or may not be interested to know that I shortened my cranks to 172.5's. Why, I dont know, but it felt good today.
Tomorrow a hike from Donner Summit, to Frog Lakes, across the "apron" summit Castle Peak and down the PCT to Donner Summit. PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers