1 round on bootcamp: first ride of the year and I was rusty.
1 round on step it up: steep banks make this a challenging ride. deserving of its intermediate rating.
1 round on moving on: less banked turns than bootcamp and step it up left me feeling like this was the most natural and authentic pnw trail.
2 rounds on bootcamp: flowed with little breaking in the last sections. felt amazing.
Tiger Mt. was wet Saturday (6/5/10). Really damn wet. It was the first sunny day in few weeks, though, so we had to hit the trails. Apparently cross fitness does exist, as the 30 minute slog to the top barely fazed me. That was about the only positive note on the ride, however. Coming down kicked my ass. I’m not a fantastic rider, so if you throw a few wet roots, muddy ruts, and sloppy corners my way, it will gradually wear at my confidence. By the end of the ride I was spent; that is, I was pusillanimous. (See mama, I’m not swearing anymore!) Given that, this post will be cut short as I have nothing epic or interesting on which to report. Hopefully the weather turns around, so I can ride more… and potentially grow a pair. Out!
Last Saturday I had a sick ride and hike double day. It started at 9am at the Tolt MacDonald Park in Carnation, Washington. My riding buddy Scott and I hit the trails for about 2 hours. For the first time, I had my Garmin Forerunner, which mapped the place very well. Here are some stats of the ride:
- 8.8 miles of riding.
- Max speed of 36.7 mph.
- 3000 feet elevation gain.
I then spent the afternoon at Tiger Mountain. It’s a stout climb.
- 2.5 miles out and back (so 5 miles total).
- Elevation gained is ~2000 feet.
- It took us 1 hour and 6 minutes to get to the top.
I plan on hitting it up a few more times, and maybe with some textbooks in my pack, in order to train for my memorial day Mount Baker climb.
I rode Duthie Hill Park this daylight savings morning of March 14, 2010. I’d like to thank my main man Adam for convincing me that it was worth waking up at 7am on a blustery 35 degree morning to go riding. It was more than worth it.
Duthie Hill Park is a new set of trails located about 30 minutes east of Seattle. There’s a ton of stuff to ride:
- 6 miles of awesome, flowing XC trails
- Some insane freeride drops and features that I wouldn’t dare hit with my abilities
- Awesome practice section of log rides, small drops, and more.
We rode for about two hours this morning on a little bit of everything. We rode all of the XC trails, practiced some super small drops, and went on the beginner freeride trail.
I have a feeling Duthie will become my new favorite place to ride. The freeride and practice areas are better than the Collonade, and the XC trails are as good as any in the Seattle area. I can’t wait to go back… and take some photos. But for now, enjoy this sick video made by one of the Duthie volunteers:
2 weeks ago, before I contracted influenza A, I rode at St. Eds, solo. St. Eds is pretty easy riding. It’s a good place to make yourself feel good about your riding skills. But there is one terrifying move. I’ve done it three times now, and each time has scared me more than the previous.
I wish I’d taken a photo of what I’ll dub “The Rock”, but alas, I’ve not. So instead I will describe it. You begin by peeling off the trail to your left and riding directly at a massive rock. The rock falls off the right, so you need to ride directly at its pointed peak. It is essential you ride at that peak or you risk falling off the side of the rock, about a 10 foot drop. Once you get to the peak of the rock, you make a slight right turn down the lowest angled face of the rock. My guess is it slopes down at about 35-40%. You must sit your ass as far back as possible and ride the 10 foot rock slope down. Avoid the tree at the bottom, don’t get jolted by the rough slope angle change once you hit the trail, don’t skid off the trail in the loose dirt, and you’re safe!
My first attempt went the smoothest. Just scared myself a bit by the loose dirt at the end. My second attempt scared me further as the change in slope almost knocked me off my bike. And my third time was by far the scariest. As a way to avoid the skidding and jolt of the trail right after the rock, I tried to slow myself by breaking down the face of the rock. I immediately started skidding. Started skidding right toward the tree. I’m still not sure how I didn’t hit the tree head on. Somehow I missed it, counted my lucky stars, and rode off.
I went to the Collonade yesterday with my friend Eric for the first time in over a year. It wasn’t a terribly eventful ride, but it was pretty tight to ride at dusk with the blue safety lights illuminating the features.
I made the trek out east on I90 yesterday to Kachess Ridge with some biking friends. It’s a brutal approach, with 5 miles of relatively flat fire roads followed by another 5 miles of steep (steeper than Tiger) fire rode. As always, once at the top, you forget the approach and get stoked about the upcoming ride. On Kachess Ridge, it’s even better as you have amazing views of the east Cascades.
A view of Kachess Lake from half way up the fire road
The ride down begins with some insanely steep, dusty, rocky, switchbacky trail that made my jimmy shrink. You then need to spend another 10 minutes walking your bike up some equally insane trail. Honestly, I highly doubt anyone has ever ridden up that part of the trail. At the saddle I enjoyed a brief PB&J lunch before hitting the downhill madness.
View from the top of Kachess Ridge
A few highlights:
1. The opening trail through alpine meadows was both gorgeous and illmatic as the trail was cut into the grass giving you mini berms to help you rail the corners.
2. Some seriously steep and rocky shit that makes your forearms ache. I took a pounding like I’ve never experienced before.
3. Nasty exposure at the end as you ride along a skinny trail on a steep (maybe 45%) slope leading into rocks, rubble, and a creek bed you don’t want to fall into.
Exposure’s never been my friend and this ride was no different. I pulled the “P Card” in a big way, sadly. Kachess “Clay” Ridge (aka Cassius Clay Ridge) kicked my ass. I’ll be back, though, and I’ll leave the “P Card” at home.
Having to walk the bike up some steep stuff
I’ve written about Tiger mountain before, so I’ll keep this one brief. I dominated the ride last Sunday. A few highlights:
1. Crushing the 3 mile fire trail in one fell swoop. Felt like I was on an XC bike.
2. Crushing the downhill and not getting passed. This included my first attempts of bunny hopping the drops instead of rolling them. Money.
3. Nailing the hairiest, IMHO, part of the ride. A super steep, windy section that ends with a blind roll off a log lying perpendicular to the trail. You have to trust you are pointing in the direction of a rock on the other side of the log, which you can roll onto. If you aim incorrectly, it’s head over heels time. (I’ll take a photo next time, I swear.)
Last Thursday I rode the Tolt McDonald Trail, a series of winding, rooted trails in Carnation Washington. To be frank, it’s not my favorite place to ride, but that might be due to the conditions I’ve ridden in there. This last time was definitelythe most absurd.
I’d packed the wrong shorts for the ride. Instead of standard bike shorts, I’d brought along loose fitting, baggy lacrosse shorts from college. From the beginning of the ride, the shorts kept catching on quick release of my seat post. While it’s hard to believe, the shorts actually made the ride more dangeous. There were times I needed to pop out of the saddle or shift my weight back in order to adjust my balance. With my shorts catching, I wasn’t able to do so. Further, the harshness of the snag often caused me to rebound back into an even worse position. The shorts did cause me to fall off the bike a few times, but luckily in fairly safe spots.
Next time I leave my bike shorts at home, I won’t be riding.
A quick shout out to my new favorite bike shop, Fluidride, underneath the University Bridge in the U-District. They fixed the bike up for real cheap ($38 for rear derailleur adjustment, caliper removal and adjustment, removing the chain protector, and adjusting the alignment on the handle bars). They also caught the misalignment of the handle bars, which I hadn’t noticed. I’ll definitely return the next time I need a repair.
