October 26, 2008

  • Coyote Ridge again

    Time to try and organize another Breakfast Club MTB ride.   Most of the crew have more/less defected to the road or other clubs so  I didn't expect may riders.  I knew that Kent wanted to ride so I figured it would just be he and I.  To my surprise,  Mike and Dave were also there after my ride over.  

    We do all the small talk stuff and off we go.   Kent is up front setting a pretty hot pace!   It's a good thing that I was warmed up from the ride over, otherwise I wouldn't have been happy.    Dave and Mike were having a pretty easy time of it, but I was struggling a bit trying to get those 2.35's to turn over.    Finally we are done with that initial double trak and we are on to the single trak.   Kent was still up front with Mike close behind.   Mike looked really comfortable sitting behind Kent and I was thinking that he probably has the most natural strength of everyone in the group....

    Unfortunately my rear brakes were making all kinds of noise so I stopped a few times on the climb to try and fix it but all that did was put me further behind.    Dave had also had chain suck and had to stop once, but he quickly caught and passed Kent to set the new hotter pace.  Looks like Kent was able to hang pretty well, with Mike not too far back. 

    At the summit we regrouped and rode as much of the techy stuff as we were comfy with.   Kent was doing the most aggressive stuff on his old school  Dale fitted with a 130mm  fork.    We did the rim rock stuff where the group split with Kent and I trying the Left route and Mike and Dave doing the right.    I probably should have done the right, cause I wasn't really feeling like climbing the technical rocks, but I figured I would keep Kent company.     It was challenging with neither of us able to clean all of it, despite a few do-overs.

    On to the Blue sky trail but not before doing those nasty steps.  Kent just rolled them pretty easy, but the rest of us didn't.    I was happy to get onto the Blue Sky trail.    I am noticing that Kent and Dave are much better on switches than I am, so I need to go out and practice these.    Dave has gotten alot better with his descending skills and it was evident when he would get some gaps on Kent.

    The Indian summer climb was on us and Dave set a good pace up the climb.    I was wishing for my Trek YSL which would have made this a walk in the park.  I was hemorrhaging watts all over the place and I wasn't sure how long I could keep this tempo.   At least I was warm at this point and the effort was almost welcome.   I did get to rest at the top when Dave flatted.

    The descent from Indian summer was a blast.  Dave, Kent and I were all over that one.   Dave was flying and it was all Kent and I could to to stay with him.   I used to be able to walk away from him with the Yeti on this one, but I have to admit , there's no way I could have done that today.

    Now it's over to the Devils BB trail head where we tried to clean some of the technical sections.    I have cleaned it in the past, but it's gotten more difficult.  Try as we might we couldn't  conquer it, despite way too many do-overs.

    Back down and Dave is setting a good pace over to  the Indian summer loop which we wanted to do in reverse.  I don't know if  Dave was testing us but it was a pretty hard climb.   Kent and I were able to keep Dave insight  until the descent when he just checked out!   Kent was unable to stay with Dave and I made a few bobbles which let Kent get away.    I notice once again, that Dave and Kent can hold much more speed than I am comfortable doing on the switchbacks and they get a lot of time on me.   Dave's descent on this one was impressive, and probably the best display of descending skills that I have ever seen from him...

    We climb towards  Coytoe where Kent amd Mike head back to their cars at the trail head and Dave and I take Blue Sky.    We stopped to make sure that this young woman was OK since she was making repairs....  I let Dave lead on this one since he was fresher than I was.   I hold his wheel for a bit, but I am burning too many matches to stay close.  I figure when we get to the sections where I can pump the bike that I will be able to bring him back, and this was the case.  

    Now it's on to Lory and the trail is flowing nicely.  Dave is setting a comfortable pace and it's a beautiful day.  We make if over to the pump trak where we do a few laps.  Dave needs to spend some more time here, but I don't want to encourage that too much, cause if he learns to pump well I won't be able to keep my advange on some  trail sections. .    

    Off we go and I am getting tired.   We take the road back and I am dreading that climb up Centinnial.   At about the 1/3 way point, Dave walks away from me and I don't even try to go with him.  I find myself wishing for the YSL again.  

    Down the road and over to Maxwell and I follow Dave on this one.  Seems like Dave is getting tired as we are not letting the bikes run as before.  It's all good though and it gives me time to study some of Dave's lines on the couple of switch backs.     I can't say I learned anything on those, but I did see some areas where I think I have better line choices.....

    Finnally out to the road and I am spent.  Well, not really spent but I have had enough riding.   We take it pretty easy on the way back and end up seeing Ron in the parking lot of the FCHS.    Ron says he did 100 miles with a 20 mph avg solo! .   He's still getting close to 300 miles per week!   We bid him adieu and head for our homes.

    A good time was had by all.  ~ 45 miles and a lot of hours!   Only bummer is that my camera didn't save the pics I toook.... Oh well.