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

news

Its been awhile since I posted anything about our lives so here is a little snippet of what we have been up to. Sorry, no pics. my little camera broke!
The short version is that we have been riding, riding to work and the grocery store and working in the yard.
Its really great to be here right now. the weather is great, the trails are great and the riding has been a blast. Hollie and I rode for about 2+ hours on the Pioneer trail yesterday which was so much fun. The trail was in great shape. I even got Hollie to boost a little air on the way down. I asked her,"isnt it more fun when you are catching some air?" She said, "NO!" i think she liked it.
I have been riding when time allows on my old stomping grounds of Nevada County on my road bike too. It makes me feel really good to be riding again.

Hollie and I are both working at the local Bike shop too. Believe it or not we are the only ones who commute to work on bikes. Everyone else drives in with their bikes??? I dont get that. I guess its just more miles for us!

The yard. We have been slowly working in the yard. Ripping out scotch broom, killing poison oak, watering the trees, and trying to eliminate the red dirt / dust that surrounds us. Things are treating us well right now. Cant complain.

Thats it for now. I hope Staples will replace my camera......

Blown Away!

I rode one of these today...I have never had such strong impressions of a big on one ride. Fit like a glove. Super light, super stiff, but more importantly...so responsive and stable. I want one. I would think after all the years I have been riding and all the bikes I have ridden , it would be hard to blow me away...well Cannondale did it with the Super Six

Nevada City

Pics for Hollie

So ya, I am down in Nevada City with the dogs at our old house that never sold...good thing, because we are moving back in. LONG STORY and not one worth telling here. Its been quite a year. What does the future hold for Hollie, the pups and I back in Nevada City? Who knows. Better weather for sure, and more to do outside. I personally am looking forward to getting back into shape and going on my favorite rides here in the county.
I hope to be back down here 100% by May1st. I am putting a fresh coat or two of paint on the interior of the house, while Hollie is up north filling out here final days of work at the State Board of Health.
That is it