Up the hill

 Brent and I enjoyed the suffering of Sandbar so much that we did it again the next week. We even suckered Lucas and Joe into the fun. We rode form the bottom this time so we we're really tired by the time we got to the good stuff. Here Lucas is showing us that the only way to make this turn/rock pile is to stick out your tongue for ballance.

 I think Joe may have underestimated what I meant by Suffer.

 Joe, Brent, Me, Lucas

 Water was a little high, Brent got his feet wet this time.

 Almost two weeks later they finally opened Crabtree road so I had to take the family out for the first Ridge run of the year. The weather made it hard to believe it's June. Rained the whole time.

Yesterday Sean and I tried out the almost completed CHS. I can't wait until this trail is packed down. Might be the fastest flowiest trail we have now! Grizz you are a genius.

Sandbar Awesomeness!

 Brent and I did our first big ride up the hill for the year. Frasure Flat bridge to Strawberry the Southfork to Sandbar. Then we had the awesome climb out. Great loop if your'e trying to get your climbing legs back.

He actually managed to keep his feet dry. The water was only about 8 inches deep. He should have gotten wet though. The 1:45 climb out was so hot. My Garmin was showing 91 to 99.8 degrees. Both of us struggled towards the end. 

North Yuba

Yesterday I went to Downeyville with Sean, Amy, And Ryan. The upper part of the mountain is still covered in snow so we rode the North Yuba trail below town. The conditions were amazing, never hot never cold. 

 After about two hours of climbing you are rewarded with some amazing downhill.

 Lot's of creek crossings.

 Amy finishing the upper section.

Unfortunately there was a giant washout on the lower section. Sean tried to walk his bike across and fell all the way to the river edge. He was so lucky he didn't actually fall into the water or get busted up in his fall. We had to turn around and go back on the highway. The washout is so big I have no idea how they will get it fixed.

Close to home

Brent and I are lucky enough to have some great trails right out our door. We snuck in a short ride on the Damn trail between the never ending rain storms. The traction was amazing. I'm so thankful we have trails like this close to home. If we had to drive to a trail head I know I would ride less. 

Spring training

 I have been tying to get in shape for the coming riding season. It would be a lot easier if winter would ever end. Scott and I decided to check out the conditions in Deer Creek. Unfortunately I think it was an indicator of things to come this year. Trees down and erosion problems everywhere. 

 Lightning's been getting a lot of action lately.  

 I think we're all jonesing for the big granite up the hill. Bobby was nice enough to show us this new slab on Lightning.

 Jordan getting his fix

 This is the Dam trail. Theres a lot of logging equipment about a quarter mile away. Then I noticed about 50 trees marked for removal. Hopefully they don't bulldoze the ground too much getting them out.

 Hard to see but there's a bunch of red paint.

 Brent and I showed Jordan and Scott trail 32 and Pinball.

 Top of Crandel Peak. Couldn't ask for a nicer day. We probably did over an hour of trail clearing and still didn't even come close to getting it all. 

 It still amazes me how often I get lost at Redhills. Lucas and I always miss at least one turn.

 We are trying to resurrect and old mining trail.

 Brent joined my whole family as we cut in a new entrance.

 Redhills in the dark!

 After Redhills in the dark. Best time for home brew is after a ride.

 A taste of some of the erosion problems we are going to be dealing with this year.

 While clearing Pinball my trusty lopper finally broke. Luckily Fiskars has a lifetime warranty and sent me out a new pair in less than a week.

Brent at Sonora Cyclery  set me up with a new drive train for my Enduro. Look at the size of that cassette! I was able to go to a larger chainring and still have a lower gear. 46x11XT cassette, Sram Chain, Renthal 32tooth chainring $200. That cheaper than the Eagle cassette!

Poor Jeanie broke her Knolly at the end of last season. We've be trying so hard to get her back in the game. Soo close now.

Family day at Tuttletown

 I took the family to Tuttletown yesterday. The weather made it almost mandatory to be outside. They got to see some of the area that they've never ridden before.

Not many better places to be on a spring day like this one, especially with the winter we've had.

New Shock

I bought a new shock for my Enduro a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately it didn't come with bushings. I bought an Ohlins STX22 used off Ebay. I didn't realize that Ohlins used an odd size bushing, 12mm instead of the standard 12.7mm. After an order to Offsetbushings.com and waiting a week for them to get here from the UK I'm finally in business. 

For the first couple miles I thought my bike was broken. I stopped several times to check if the axles were loose or tires flat. Turns out my Cane Creek shock has been so crappy for so long that I adjusted to fork to compensate for the fact that it wouldn't hold the back end up. I had to add over 20# of air to the fork to get it back up to 30% sag. All of a sudden my bike would steer without tucking the front wheel. I only had a couple hours at Redhills, but so far I'm stoked. Made it up Red nightmare without a dab or pedal strike! Never did that with the old shock. Seems like five to ten pedal strikes a ride were the norm.