Tag Archives: mountain biking

Beginner’s Ride?

January
26
,
2015
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Glenn and Michele came down from Portland this past weekend to try “iFly” with me and Darlene, but on Saturday they joined us for their first taste of mountain biking.  They rented some nice, new demo Trek Fuel EX bikes and we set out from the Epicenter bike shop in Santa Cruz to take them on a nice beginner’s course around the middle half of Wilder Ranch.

They took to it so quickly, picking up each new handling skill easily and conquering all the climbing and maneuvering, and always up for more.  So much so that we ended up climbing to the top of Wilder and on over to do some UCSC back campus trails before coming back by way of my favorite descent in Wilder.  So much for sticking to the beginner’s route!  But I think they enjoyed their first time out!

  

And… bonus!! A video of all of us belly-dancing (sort of) the night before at Menara’s, a Moroccan restaurant in San Jose:

 

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Epic Santa Cruz Ride

October
25
,
2014
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It was just one day’s ride… but it turned out to be something of an epic ride: from the bottom of Pogonip in Santa Cruz, up the Emma McCrary trail and the U-Con trail to the UCSC campus trails winding this way and that and up and back around, then all the way down through Wilder Ranch and over via Old Cabin trail, round Enchanted, a short stop for lunch on the bluffs and then down and around Zane Gray’s Cutoff before starting the climb back up Twin Oaks, past the eucalyptus grove, back around behind campus and all the way back down Pogonip.

Mostly single-track but thirty-two miles in all!  Whew!  Who’s idea was this again?? (I had in mind a full day with lunch along the way like doing Hole in the Ground up in Tahoe… but I see that’s *only* 16 miles!  Though, at altitude of course.)  Anyway, we all survived to ride another day!

I put together a little video montage from the ride:

 

Also, check out our attempt to create a new sport: Disk Golf Biking!

Click through below for the full gallery from the day, mostly courtesy of Rick – thanks, Rick!

  

 

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Return to Boggs Mountain!

September
22
,
2014
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Darlene and I joined Richard, Jennifer and Shannon for another awesome mountain biking weekend at Boggs Mountain (north of Calistoga, CA) as part of the Outdoor Adventure Club.  Click through for the the full gallery:

  

And here’s a short video montage from the weekend:

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Riding Lake Tahoe Trails

September
07
,
2014
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Darlene and I went up to Lake Tahoe for a couple days of mountain biking midweek last week.  We did a bit of Sawtooth Ridge near Truckee after driving up on Wednesday – these are some nice wandering trails overlooking the Truckee River and highway 89 – and chipmunks everywhere!

On Thursday we went for a full day’s ride centered around the awesome views of the Tahoe Flume Trail, overlooking Lake Tahoe.  Here’s a two-minute video montage from the ride:

Tahoe Rim and Flume Trails

Richard fell sick and wasn’t able to join us so we caught the shuttle up to Tahoe Meadows (near Mt. Rose).  Our route started with the Tahoe Rim Trail heading south, then catching the Red House Flume Trail running clockwise, then back up the Sunflower Hill Trail, round Marlette Lake until finally getting to enjoy the Flume Trail proper.  Sweet and long 25-mile day with lots of breaks to enjoy the views and even snag a geocache along the way.

Click through for the full gallery:

  

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Darlene is a Pinball Wizard

April
19
,
2014
| 2 Comments

Darlene is a pinball wizard!  We discovered this while out for a mountain bike ride at Ford Ord National Monument, near Monterey, CA on Friday:

 

And here’s a little more video of our ride:

 

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Mud and Poppies in Wilder Ranch

April
07
,
2014
| 0 Comments

Here’s some pictures from another Saturday ride with MBoSC (Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz) in Wilder Ranch.  It was just a couple of us since most everyone else was at the Santa Cruz Bike Festival this weekend.  Lots of poppies in bloom above the Zane Grey Cutoff trail.  Even with the recent and welcome rain, most of Wilder Ranch tends to dry up pretty quickly but I was still able to find a few leftover mud puddles here and there! ;-)

Click through for the full gallery:

 

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Costa Rica – Coast to Coast

February
12
,
2014
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I just returned from a fun and challenging little adventure (arranged through BikeHike.com) where a group of eight of us made our way across Costa Rica from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean entirely under our own human power… and a fair amount of gravity assist!

We started in Quepos, on the western coast, and we proceeded to bike, hike, raft and kayak our way entirely across the country until we reached the eastern coast and the Caribbean.  We mostly camped at sites along the way and a support vehicle carried our gear but we otherwise made our way from one coast to the other.  Along the way, we encountered (or sometimes befriended) caiman, monkeys, sloths, toucans, turkey vultures, frogs, bats, snakes and some biting fish, as well as numerous insects including various spiders, ants, butterflies and a particularly aggrieved, giant grasshopper.

Click on through for my gallery of photos and videos from the trip:

   

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Riding Wilder Ranch

May
07
,
2013
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Just another lovely day for mountain biking in Wilder Ranch, near Santa Cruz.

 

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Winter Ride in Fort Ord

January
15
,
2013
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Some pictures from a lovely winter ride in Fort Ord (near Monterey, CA) with the San Jose Mountain Biking Meetup Group on January 13th, 2013:

  

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Wilder Ranch & Sea Cliffs

November
25
,
2012
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Just some photos from a ride at Wilder Ranch with the South Bay Mountain Bike Group that returned via the coastal trail along the sea cliffs at Wilder:

        

  

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Big Showing for MBOSC

November
24
,
2012
| 0 Comments

A big showing for the MBOSC club ride at Wilder Ranch today:

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More Mtn Biking near Truckee

October
08
,
2012
| 0 Comments

Here’s some pictures from two days of mountain biking near Truckee, CA with Richard on Oct 4-5th. First day was Mills Peak, near Graeagle.  It’s a long but pleasant nearly three-hour climb to the top and the fire lookout tower and a very fun one hour ride back down.  The second day we did the “Super-D” trail from Watson Lake down to the 06 fire road south of Truckee.

        

There’s a great panoramic view from atop Mt. Watson, looking south over Lake Tahoe:

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Return to Boggs Mountain

September
17
,
2012
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Pictures from another fantastic weekend of mountain biking and camping at Boggs Mountain with the Outdoor Adventure Club:

  

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Santa Cruz Blur TRc demo ride

August
29
,
2012
| 0 Comments

I’ve been happily riding my old Santa Cruz Superlight since I got it way back in 2001.  I’ve never been too interested in keeping up with all the yearly new bike tech and I get pretty bored with all the bike talk at many ride meetups.  (nerp derp berp)  I just like to ride on da trails!  So I had yet to try tubeless or Propedal or dropper seats or any new geometries and shocks.  I didn’t even get around to disc brakes until like 2010 – and I had to get new hubs and wheels to do it.  However, somehow the most recent batch of talk about new bikes among friends and other riders finally got me to go try a demo of something a little more… modern.

With a little bit of research, the Santa Cruz Blur TR Carbon caught my interest and I even managed to find an XL available for demo — not the easiest size to find anywhere!  This is their recent “Trail” version of the Blur introduced last year as something between the Blur XC and Blur LT.  Here’s a great video explanation of why Santa Cruz made this bike.  So I took it out on some very familiar trails in Wilder Ranch yesterday….

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Mtn Biking near Truckee

August
24
,
2012
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Pictures from a fun weekend of mountain biking near Tahoe/Truckee with the Outdoor Adventure Club – Hole in the Ground loop, the Sawtooth Ridge area and some riding near Prosser Lake.

Click through for the full gallery:

  

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Boggs Mountain Biking Weekend

May
15
,
2012
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Lots of pictures from another fantastic weekend of mountain biking and camping with the Outdoor Adventure Club at Boggs Mountain:

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