December rides

 I started out taking my Mom and the rest of the family to Tuttle town for a little xc while the weather was nice. My Mom was excited to finish a ride without crashing.

 The boys were stoked to finally get there new bikes out on some trails.

 Today was the Red Hills Rumble, an un official sort of race. 

 I think overall I got third but it was really hard to figure out the scoring so Dave ended up on the "Podium".

 Rock Podium. Great turn out, good food, fun ride what more could you ask for? 

It's not named Red Hills for nothing. This Enduro is an amazing machine. It never seams to be the wrong bike for the ride.

Gore tex time

 Sean and I went to Auburn in the middle of the pouring rain. Not well planned but it was the time we had. It ended up being a great ride.

No other bikes on the trail.

Winter's not here yet

Lucas said he had group that  wanted to go up the hill. It didn't sound like a good idea after the snow but you never know until you try. There was a couple scary moments on the bonus trail with some ice on the granite but otherwise a perfect day to ride. 

 We ended up with a good group that was actually fairly close in ability. L to R Mark, Me, Lucas, Josh, Zack, Todd, and Dave took this picture.

Second run started down Willow. Other than the ice on the creek crossing the snow was a blast to ride in.

Worst run is still a good day

 The only reason I got a picture of Lucas walking down Granite slide is because I walked first. We rolled over the top and saw the wet granite in the shade and wussed out. It might have been ok but a slide started here would end horribly.

Over all it was probably the worst I have ever ridden the Bell Mt. loop. It was still a beautiful day out on the bike and no injuries so still a great day. 

More time on the Enduro

 Every part of the stock cockpit on the Enduro was weird to me. If I hadn't heard other people complain I don't know that I would have figured out what was wrong quite so fast. I swapped the bars and stem for the BZA 35mm setup from Chromag. I reduced the stem from 60mm to 50mm and the bars grew by 40mm. The extra width is awesome but I think the angles are what makes it feel the best. The grips are the Rethal Kevlar lock-ons. This bike feels like a moto and likes to be ridden like one. I wish I had this bike when I quit riding dirt bikes.

 After watching Lucas put on soft knee guards at the top of every downhill I finally broke down and got a pair. These POC guards disappear while your riding. I wore them for 8 hours and never felt that I had to take them off. POC uses a dough like substance that firms up on impact so they end up with a guard that moves with you until it needs to be tough.   

 Katie and Lucas and I rode PCP this morning. The weather was unbelievable. Lucas uses snakeskin gasses to make him faster.

Last ride?

 Dave from Victory Vello wanted a tour of the local trails. With snow on the forecast I told him it had to be this week. He brought Terra with him and we decided to see how many shuttles we could get in.

 Terra and Dave were all smiles all day.

 It's hard to decide where to take someone new to this area. You want to make them happy they came. Dave already had someone take him out on the hardest stuff and try to make him hate it, so we did kind of a greatest hits. We rode; The Bonus trail, Upper PCP, Lower PCP, Willow, Snakedance, the top of Moraine, and bottom of Ridge trail. Not bad for one day self shuttling. I think everybody was tired enough that we didn't feel like we missed out on anything. Awesome day!

I rode my new Enduro and played with my suspension settings for the first half of the day. By the end the bike just felt capable of anything. 

We picked up a Pair of New York noose chains from Kryptonite. Hopefully this will make life more difficult for the bike thieves. This things are burly! 

More fall riding

 I think Katie may have ran her last ride. I have always hated it when Katie killed squirrels on our rides.  Now she killed something rare. This Pine Marten didn't make it. She found him near the top of Willow. Lucas and I took out my new Enduro on Willow and Snakedance first thing in the morning.

 In the afternoon I took Gage and Wendell for a shuttle down Ridge.

 Looks like my Solstice found a new home. Wendell has a lot of unlearning to do.

 Sometimes trees are right where you need them.

I was proud of him for riding it out after almost falling off the rock.

This is going to be my ride for the BC bike race. I just picked this Specialized Enduro 29 elite up from Victory Vello in Auburn. 

City people suck!

After my boy's did the Super Kids Triathlon we took them to Pizza. We parked in a super busy parking lot in front of Trader Joe's in Santa Cruz. This is what we came out to. You can't tell me that know one saw two bikes getting cut off our rack. There was so many cars we had trouble taking pictures. Santa Cruz PD didn't really care they want us to file a report on line. I watched the people coming in and out of the area and the taxi driver seemed real interested in what we were doing. It wouldn't surprise me if they weren't spotting for the thieves. I guess we have been lucky so far but the kids were totally crushed.

Oakhurst and Auburn

 I would like to have shown you the pictures from riding in Oakherst but I deleted the picture before they were saved. I rode Mary Jane, Willow creek, and three sections of 007. I like the Pinecrest trails way better but if you are near there you should check it out. 

 Before you go you absolutely have to get this map. But don't wash it like I did water proof not washer proof. Stop in to Yosemite Bicycle and Sport on HWY41. www.yosemitebicycle.com. The guys there are super friendly and are more than willing to tell you all about the trails and bikes or anything else. You will however get lost. The map is actually pretty good but there are virtually zero markings on any of the trails and the roads are almost as bad. I almost destroyed this map on the trail unfolding and refolding over and over. I don't think I have ever had to refer to a map so many times in a ride. 

If you do go and you like the Pinecrest area I suggest the Mary Jane/Willow Creek run. 007 has more of a rough jump trail feel to it with not enough flow for me. I will be spending more time over there so I will try to explore more of the system.

 Today Sean and I went up Auburn. We started off with a loop of; Manzanita,Clementine,Tunnel,Mammoth Bar, and Stagecoach on the single speeds. That hurt more than it should have. Then I demoed a Specialized Enduro Epic on the same loop. 

This bike is scary fast! I got yelled at, apparently there is a speed limit on Stagecoach. It is so hard not to let this thing go. The less you touch the brakes the more it will blow your mind. It eats everything in it's path faster and smoother with less effort than my Uzzi DH bike did. I found myself trying to find the    trashiest parts of the trail just to see what it is capable of. As of now it's limits are far beyond mine. Oh yeah it climbs pretty dam good too. But you will forget all about that at the top.

Feeling Fall

 "Dude your standing in Poison Oak." Nothing like "friends" to smile when pain and suffering are coming your way. Sean and Sergio and I met up with Arch to ride Annadel. My first ride in the fog this year.

Lucas and I took advantage of the rain and made a run on PCP. It was so cold we pulled out the wool sock and had to put on jackets for the descent. The sand was sticky and we had the whole thing to ourselves. Awesome day on the upper mountain. I hope we get a few more before the snow hits. 

Kicking off the end of summer

 Dan from Victory Vello came down for Labor Day to ride some new terrain. I took him up to our version of mountain biking paradise. Awesome ride, I just wish I could have kept up.

 After climbing Lupine and Castle peak we descended; Upper Willow, Lower Willow, Snakedance, and Lower PCP. So tired!

 The next day Dan and I took our oldest boys for a shuttle down Ridge. Gage is loving the lava.

 It was Devon's first experience with technical trail but he did great.

 The new section has made Ridge trail much more fun for kids and adults. 

 Last weekend Sean and I ran down to Santa Cruz and rode Demo for the day. It was cool reading MTBR's Enduro Comparo after riding the same trails they used for their evaluations. 

 So many things to ride on, you just have to make sure you can handle the landing before you go off it. this is one of the mellow log rides. 

If you knew the place you could jump this pretty safely. 

New trails and Scary trails

 When I first heard about Lupine and Castle rock trails my first thought was why. They are climbing trails that are easily serviced by existing roads. After riding them with Lucas on Sunday however I am going to have a hard time riding the road ever again. 

 The views we're  amazing and the climb wasn't really that bad.

 There is no way a camera can do justice to the 360 view up here.

Then we rode Hemlock and Juniper, hands down the scariest tech trails up here. Lucas rode way more than I did. I have to learn how to sideline that self preservation gene.  Next time I'm bringing body armor and hopefully some courage. 

Mammoth

 This weekend I had my view of Mammoth Mt. changed completely. The first time I went there with Stoker and Bobby and I thought the trails were weak and the shuttle sucked. This time I took the family and the whole place opened up for me. Every trail that I thought needed to be more aggressive became perfect for the kids. Just hard enough to be a challenge. everybody had a blast, really couldn't have been a better day riding. 

 I was worried that the top of the mountain would scare Ashton and Jeanie but they both loved every bit.

 Ashton was happy to use his DH gear that he got for his birthday, finally.

 Jeanie's Knolly was putting smiles on her face all day. This bike is amazing!

 Gage wanted to ride a black diamond trail so I took him down Seven Bridges. It was our favorite trail.

 After lunch we rode Seven Bridges again.

 This morning we got up early to squeeze one more ride in. Down town and Shotgun.

 "Were riding SHOTGUN?"

 I took Wendel out for his first trail ride. It was a bit of an eye opener but he did well and had fun, I think? We'll see if he goes out again.

If you like mountain bikes I highly recommend taking the family to Mammoth. There is a ton of stuff to do in the village if you have non riders in your group. After your ride stop by Mammoth Brewing for your after ride reward.