Grouse Ridge with Whit.

Finally hooked up with Whit to go ride Grouse Ridge this weekend. We had tried to make it happen last weekend but some home problems for Whit nixed the plan. We made the plan and executed pretty well, we were on the bikes by 8:30 on what was likely to be a pretty warm day even as we climbed to 7,300'. We did a route that I had done many times but likely not in the last 10 years or so.

We parked at Fuller Lake and went up the road to Loney Meadows and caught the Bowman Peak Trail. This is a very primitive rocky techy trail that certainly tests my skills, Whit looked right at home, it's quite obvious he is a really good rider and he can do his job in cast, unlike me... :)

Loney Meadow

Bowman lake below us as we traverse the Bowman Peak Trail

Whit railing the Bowman Peak Trail

Killing it!

Hey, an actual picture of me, courtesy of Whit.

A decent amount of this takes place, noticed the sweat smeared camera lens, classic!

Eventually we made our way in the Grouse Ridge Lakes area. The Forest Service had finally done some saw work here so it's beginning to open up to the relatively few mountain bikers who like this sort of riding. We did see a few tire tracks and one actual rider out around Island lake, good to see some like minded souls.

Whit popping up into a particularly lush section of trail

Penner Lake

Island Lake

We eventually made our way to the top of Grouse Ridge and dropped the Grouse Ridge Trail down to the Spaulding Lake Trail and eventually the Pioneer Trail. This section always takes more time than one would think, but we made good time and found ourselves at the top of the Pioneer trail in a relatively short amount of time.

The view from the top, towards the Sierra Buttes and the Downieville area, seems so close!

Hey, another picture of me in front of the waterfall on Spaulding Lake Trail. Credit to Whit.

We made our way down the switchbacks of the Pioneer Trail with Whit out front. I had been feeling really awkward all day, like I was going to go over the bars at any moment, not a good thing on trails like these. We were railing along when all of sudden I'm a bit loose and just like that I'm over the bars and slamming into the granite rocks on the side of the trail. I must have made a pretty good thump because Whit stopped when he heard me go down. A quick tally of my body parts reveals nothing too serious, a couple of scrapes and what would turn out to be a pretty banged up knee and left shoulder, but otherwise I dodged a bullet. Come to find out at the bottom that my Lefty had migrated over 50 mm and I was riding what amounted to a really steep road bike on these really tough trails. No wonder I felt so amateurish all day.

We rolled our way down to the bottom and rallied for the hot couple of miles back up to the truck. After getting back to the truck and downing a little ice water we headed for Fuller lake and a nice little swim before we headed back home.

All in all a great day with great company!

Donner Lake Rim Trail and Hole In the Ground ride

I'm still trying to escape the heat of the valley. Unfortunately even going to Donner Summit today gave me little relief, I think it was 90+ degrees in Truckee today and it was very hot by the end of the ride.

It's been awhile since I've ridden DLRT or HNG so it was nice to get out and ride them. DLRT was in great shape since it's seeing fairly frequent attention and additions from the Donner Lake Land Trust. HNG is beat to hell because it's managed by a government agency. I saw a few other riders out on the trail. Of course it's always a race whenever you get near Tahoe so I had guys blowing themselves up trying to get in front of me, only to pull off gasping a mile later, funny really. I suppose they all have a story, the 7 hour road ride I did in 100 degree heat the day before was certainly making life hard on me.

I made my way to the top of the DLRT and had intended to drop down into Euer Valley and go out to hwy 89 and back up through Tahoe Donner and back to the car. After dropping a bit I changed my mind and decided for a Hole in the Ground trip instead.I wandered around the Tahoe Donner trail system before finding my way back to the DLRT.

I dropped the DLRT and made my way back up the other side. HNG rolled out as usual. I passed a couple of other souls out there, but for the most part it seemed I had the place to myself.

Really nice day out there. I ran out of water for the first time in a while, made finishing up the last few miles a little painful, especially given the fact that I cooked myself the day before. I was kicking myself for forgetting the water filter.

Back side of Castle Peak

DLRT goodness

Euer Valley

Euer Valley

More DLRT goodness

Yep, still more

Castle Peak

Dropping off Andecite Ridge

Truckee down there somewhere

Burning up on the Western States...

Mans it's been hot lately, I think we are pushing over 12 days of 100 plus degree temps, some of them in the 110 range. I've been trying to get out early on my longer weekend rides to try and get ahead of the heat. Even leaving on Sat for a 7 hour road ride at 6 am I got killed coming back up Foresthill Rd. at 1pm.

Man I thought I was going to die for sure out there. It's funny, I used to thrive in the heat when I was younger. I could work all week in sizzling heat and just kill it on the weekend rides. Not anymore, it's all I can do to muster enough energy to get in the shower after working for the umpteenth day in the heat yet alone get on my bike for a 3 hour after work ride.

On Sunday I decided to get out early and ride from the house to Deadwood on Western States. The Tevis is next weekend and the trail is never the same after 200 horses race on it, you can't tell them that, but that's a story for another time.

The trail rolled out as usual. I was checking the track for the Trail Race(CSTR) next month and so far it's been spot on which makes me happy.

Not much to add, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Stopping at water was the theme of the day, lots of head dunking.

Escaping the Burn.....

I've been working way too much lately so when the phone rang on Monday morning I was loathe to answer it. Luckily it was John, one of my favorite people. "Hey you want to go to Fort Bragg this weekend?" was one of the first things out of his mouth. I've been told I'm a mellow type A personality, so pulling together 4 day weekends with very little planning is not one of my best attributes. I can do it, it's just unnecessarily stressful for me. It's all me, I do it to myself, no one else is to blame. I love that part of John, he's always doing stuff like this and I hope to find a balance between us at some point.

So I waffled a little bit, told John I probably wouldn't know if I would come till Thursday at the earliest. We had been in the middle of a bit of a record run of 100 plus degree days, I was getting killed at work and the thought of working longer and harder to take an extra couple of days off was not making me happy. Thursday rolled around and I had to make a decision. WTF, why are you making this so hard, just go!

So I loaded up the truck with very little planning and hit the road early. I had a good 4-5 hours of work to take care of before I could leave town  so it made for a later start than I had wanted. Traffic was sucking ass all the way to Vallejo and was not getting any better as I headed up 101 towards Santa Rosa. At the last moment I bailed off at Petaluma and headed for the coast. Goddammit, if it's going to take me all day to get there I'm going to take the scenic route.

The coast was absolutely stunning, crystal clear and no fog which is very rare for this time of year. I rolled into Camp One in Fort Bragg about 5pm, John had also gotten killed by the traffic and was just getting settled in after arriving an hour or so before me.

Beautiful day on the coast

We went for a short ride with the dogs, Tinker and Sasha, and after a wonderful pasta dinner compliments of John we were off to sleep. Luckily I got the top bunk of the Westfalia, no tent for me this weekend. Sleeping in Johns rig brings back memories of countless trips with my parents in their old VW poptop camper.

Our home for the weekend

Saturday morning we decided to do a ride that was a combo of a few rides I stitched together in a hurry on Thursday night, of course my lack of prep reared it's ugly head when I couldn't find the one I wanted to do. We made do with what I could find and were off into town to park at the Caspar Scales. We did a bit of the classic race course, some Giro's playground stuff and a bit of the Woodlands. All in all it was a great day and I think John really enjoyed himself, even if I didn't know where we were at times.

John at the overlook at the top of Manly Gulch

The aptly named Boiler Trail

 We made our way back to the car and a couple of happy dogs. I decided to ride back to camp so John took the truck back via the milkshake place in town. I stopped at the Subway and promptly waited 25 minutes for my turn to order us lunch/dinner. I rolled back to camp with the sandwiches safely stowed in my camelback.

Sasha at the creek running through our camp, I'm sure the Tinker dog is nearby. 

 Sunday we decided to do a slightly different version of the route we did on Saturday. We did a bit more of the racecourse and did a bit more of the Woodlands trails, all in all another spectacular day. The weather was magnificent and the company even better.

John rolling into a bridge somewhere in the forest.

Another bridge out in the forest

John's an excellent rider, so this is a rare occurance.

Monday seemed to come all too quickly. I woke up in a bit of a funk. I've not been to the coast much since Mary and I split. This morning the full weight of the fact that I never will again see these sights and sounds with her seemed to hit me like a wall of bricks. John was eager to get going since BART was on strike and traffic through San Francisco would likely be historically bad. He was going out to the Big River for a short ride with Tinker and I decided to stay a bit longer in camp and maybe see him out there.

After sitting around a while feeling sorry for myself I decided to head out to Big River. John and Tinker were just getting ready to ride so I suited up for a short 10 mile stroll along the beautiful Big River. They made their way back after a bit and I decided to continue. I didn't make it too far before I fely like I just wanted to be out of there. I caught John just as they were leaving and we said our second set of goodbyes for the day and headed out separate ways into the furnace of anywhere not within a mile of the coast.

Big River beach

The very scenic Big River in Mendocino

 

Grouse Ridge revisited

Well, it's been nearly 8 months since I last wrote here. Lots of adventures to write about, not nearly enough time to document them though. I've been especially averse to writing since crashing out of the Arizona Trail Race 2 months ago. I've made a pledge to try and write a bit more, at least I will have something to look back on when I'm old(er).

Sasha and I took a spin back up to Grouse Ridge last weekend, it's been a while since I've done an actual MTB ride there. The last time I was there was strictly an overnight trip out to Five Lakes Basin for the night with Sasha, not exactly an epic journey.

I haven't ridden there much in the past few years mostly due to injuries and strength issues. The riding there is hard and technical and requires a decent amount of upper body strength to actually have a good time. After riding with Jeff and Duane at Barrett Lake the prior weekend it appeared that my shoulder might actually be getting to a point where I can pull off some of the technical moves required of this type of riding.

 I had ridden to Auburn and back in 90 degree heat on Sat. and was really not interested in riding anywhere in the lower elevations.

 Auburn and back by seanallan at Garmin Connect - Details


I had a decent amount of chores to do on Sun morn. but Sasha and I managed to break free around ten in the morning for the 1 hour drive up to Fuller Lake, the beginning of the Spaulding lake Trail. I figured this would be a great trail for Sasha, it's pretty slow and technical and the average speed is pretty low, perfect for a dog to rage along on. Sasha had a great time, there is still a little bit of water flowing in the drainages so she didn't have to go too far between water stops. Mary had run her about 15 miles the weekend before so I was sure she would be fine for this 10 miles or so.

Sasha looking for something to chase like always.

We had a great time heading out to the granite slabs on Fordyce Creek. Sasha did great with the few people and dogs we passed.

Sasha on a nice smooth section of trail

Trying to drink without actually getting her feet wet, she hates the water!

We stopped for lunch at the slabs and set off on the return trip to the truck. It's not really much of a climb to the slabs, but it does go a bit faster on the way back, the trail certainly flows better in some sections. Most of the tough sections you walk both up and down....

Cooling off a bit.

We made our way back to the truck, we passed a couple of dogs out walking their people, but we all made it by each other without any trouble. When we got back to the truck I had to decide what to do. Call it a day at 11 miles with the dog or go for a lap of Grouse Ridge. I decided to at least make the trip up to the lookout at Grouse Ridge, from there I could either drop the South trail or head over to Lindsey/Carr lakes off the top.

I made the 6 mile 2500' climb up to the top of Grouse Ridge without much trouble. This used to be a bitch of a climb back in the day, I mid ringed it today without working too hard. I had forgotten what a spectacular view of the world you get from up there, I really had a great time getting to and enjoying the ride to the ridge.

The view out to the Sierra Buttes. 

The final pitch to the overlook, the lookout is behind me.

The view from up top.

The view off towards the Sierra Buttes.

After sitting for a bit I decided to drop the South trail. It had been many years since I had been down this trail, it used to be a favorite of mine and the folks I used to ride with back in a prior life. I didn't recognize much of the trail, in fact most of the time I was sure I was lost, there were some new signs out on the trail, but none of them seemed to point to any direction I remembered. After spending too much time panning the terrain with my GPS I decided to just follow the trail down to wherever it took me, I'd ridden there enough to find my way out no matter where I spilled out.

Pretty sweet section of trail.

Great view off towards the Sacramento Valley.

The trail was alternately super technical, blown out or really sweet. I had my SPOT, but no one really knew where I was so I tried my best to keep the bike upright with limited success. After about 4 miles, some of it nowhere near rideable for me, I was spit out at the top of the Spaulding Lake Trail for another lap down this gem.

The view off towards Eagle Lakes and Red Peak.

I managed to make pretty good time on the way back, it seemed like it had taken me forever to descend the South Trail so it was nice to be on something that was somewhat familiar to me. Fordyce Creek was still flowing pretty good for what has been a record dry year, so I was serenaded by the sound of rushing water for much of the return back to the truck.

A pretty section of trail(rare on this trail).

 I arrived back at the truck to find a sleepy white dog waiting for me. We stopped down at the Discovery Trail and finished off lunch and made the quick trip back home. I consider myself lucky to have this special place so near to me and count it as one of the many reasons I call this place home.

 Grouse Ridge beatdown by seanallan at Garmin Connect - Details