Gravel Solo

 I realized it had been over a year since I rode to Camp 9 from my house so I decided to fix that. The day after a rain storm is an awesome time to hit the gravel roads in your area. It doesn't damage the trails and single speeds don't really care how gooey it is.

 I only ran into 1 car the whole time I was on dirt and only three on the pavement. Total solitude for three hours. It's always cool to wander around this area and imagine the gold miners coming through here on foot and horseback. It kind of makes riding it on a single look wimpy in comparison. 

I also wanted to give a long term update in my Lynskey Ridgeline 29. I think this bike is perfectly set up for what I ask of it. It gets the worst treatment and the least maintenance of my bikes. If the conditions suck and I'm afraid of wrecking the shifting or linkage bearings on the other bikes I don't think twice about running the Lynskey through the worst slime or mud. The sliding dropouts  work flawlessly. The handling is more XC than anything I've had before but It's not a bad thing. I have the Fox terralogic fork on it. That was a bit of a gamble for me because I like controlling my suspension. But it has proven to be the perfect addition for a single speed bike. It is always locked when your standing up hammering away and its always open on the down hill. The SKS frame fender is also very nice to have on muddy days like this one, I never had to clean my glasses. If I was to build another one I would probably skip the blingy seatpost. It is cool and it has a lot of give but I think every bike needs a dropper. Over all for a Titanium frame I don't think your can beat the quality for the price Lynskey is asking. Also they are made in U.S.A. and very receptive to questions when you call, can't tell you about he warrantee because I haven't broke it (yet).

The climb is worth it

 It's hard to convince beginners that the climbing will pay off in super fun down hill, especially kids. All they see is the suffering. Gage decided that it was all worth it after just 2 min  of the down hill. He was yelling the whole way.  

Even at the very bottom when he could barely pedal he was still having fun. Thank you Jeanie for picking us up at the bottom so we didn't have to pedal all the way home. 

A month of stuff

 This last Month has not been a good MTB month. I did manage to get some riding in though. This last week I hooked up with Eric from Turner bikes in Carlsbad. We rode an IMBA epic called Noble Canyon. This is the top of a section called "Devil's staircase". I don't think Eric will appreciate me posting this picture. I walked just so you know. It's rideable just not worth it. That's a brand new Turner prototype he's smashing on the rocks.

 Noble is the best trail I have ridden in the San diego area.

 Earlier this month I had a heck of a time finding water for Katie on my local rides. Luckily I found this cattle trough. As nice as the weather has been I hope it gets wet soon.

I took Katie out through Deer Creek today. That storm a couple weeks ago helped a lot. No dust and lots of creek water for Katie.

 I finally wore out the Scrub brake pads that I bought last year to try to fix my over heating Avid's. These pads did all I could ask. They stop great, make very little noise, and most importantly cool the fluid enough that I have not bled my brakes in almost a year. Bleeding was getting to be a weekly chore. Now they run great and never fade. I can't recommend them enough. The cooling fins do come unattached after a while but it doesn't affect the performance and they can't come out on there own. Also they are made in the U.S.A. and you can call and talk to the owner if you have any questions or problems. His name is Chris and he is super "Chill" pun intended.  

I wish I could endorse these Mavic C29SSMAX wheels that came on my Pivot 429. I tried to have these serviced at last years Sea Otter. The tech said that they were not maintained well enough. I call Bullshit. The guy I bought them from is obsessive about his bikes and if anything over maintains his stuff. The free hub is basically a disposable part. It uses a plastic bushing that transfers the load to the outer surface of the drive body. When it wears out the whole cassette wobbles. If you don't replace it in time this is what you get. You can see where the teeth from the free hub were eating into the hub itself. I replaced these wheels with another set of Mavic's. This time I got a set of SLR's. These new hubs are supposed to have a different design and address the issues I had.   

January in Deer Creek

Starting to get a little scared about the lack of weather around here. Might as well take advantage though. 7 of us rode through Deer Creek and the biggest problem was dust. Nathan and Tom are flying down the "improved" trail, smoother but less fun. The Forrest Nazi's like to make everything useable for everyone. Pretty soon there will be handicap ramps.

 I think his name is Chris.

 Jordan and Scott? I suck with names.

"Skinny" Tom. I think every one had a great ride. The down hills were super fast. Hopefully we will get some weather soon and be forced out of these trails soon. 

Miles of dirt

 The forest Nazis were nice enough to close the whole forrest for a winter closure, even though its almost impossible to find water out there let alone mud. I took Katie and enjoyed the silence. I pedaled for three hours and never saw a single soul. There are hundreds of miles of trails and fire roads accessible from my front door.

 Luckily I found water for Katie

Its hard to believe that it's January. There is a little snow, but not much. the only place I had to ride through snow was by Lyons.  

End of year suffering

 Dan at Victory Vello put together an end of year ride combining Round Mt. trail and South Yuba trail. We started with 14 freezing riders. 

This crossing is after Round Mountain. We headed up to South Yuba from here. South Yuba is an awesome ride but you need to be ready to suffer. All together in a little over 30 miles we climbed over 5000ft and pedaled for 5hrs for a total of 5000 calories burnt. I hate being the slowest guy there, but 3 people didn't finish so I guess I wasn't last. Thanks to Dan for setting it up and Sean for dragging me up there. 

Changing seasons

 The cold has moved in for the year. So have the Bald Eagles at Lyons.

 I'm pretty sure Lucas and I got the last ride on Sand Bar this year. The dirt was perfect. What an awesome ride. 

First time I've ever had to worry about snow at Glory Hole. Surprisingly there were a few other riders to look out for. It was fun making first tracks though.