Besides going to Pacifica, we’ve had rides recently in Rockville Hills and Joaquin Miller. Rockville Hills was ostensibly with the BTCEB Gala Ride, but we got there a bit late and didn’t see anyone because we ride harder trails than they do.
Corbin found some new trails for us in Pacifica, favorites of the local downhillers. We went over there a couple weeks ago on a spectacular day and had a blast. There was some fire road and doubletrack, but mostly it was a big uphill slog to get to the top, and then supremely fun, steep, technical rocky MUni. It’s the closest stuff we have to what they ride in Santa Barbara (which makes sense, geographically). Bevan took the biggest fall I’ve ever seen him take.
Time to shift into spring MUni mode: Arizona MUni Weekend February 17-20, followed by an impromptu Moab weekend March 29-April 1.
Kevin and Corbin came up to join me and Mike in Joaquin Miller for an afternoon ride. Pretty amazing how much the trails have changed in the past week; the arid, windy weather totally dried them out, and they went from clean and wet to dusty and duff-covered. It’s all good, of course.
Nathan and I, with Grace and Nancy went on a ride/hike in Joaquin Miller on Thanksgiving, and had a bonus ride/hike in Dimond Canyon on Friday. It rained early in the day on Thanksgiving but was clearing up by the time we got up there; had some great light on Big Trees again. Fairly standard rides, just shaking things out and earning our dinners.
Autumn has arrived in Joaquin Miller, with this weekend’s rain weighing down the leaves and dampening the ground. There was still some rain while we were riding, but as usual we were protected by the trees. It’s slippery up there, but beautiful; you can tell the ecosystem was designed to be wet.
There will probably be more riding over Thanksgiving weekend for anyone who’s around.
Cindy flew in to join our ongoing Occupy Joaquin Miller movement on Sunday. Saturday’s rain had changed the trails quite a bit; the roots were particularly slippery. I again won Best Biff, this time in the finishing chute on Cinderella (probably the single most common location for Best Biff in the park).
Mike and I went up to Occupy Joaquin Miller, since Friday is the new Saturday. Beautiful, as always; the wind and rain this week totally changed the feel of the park; there’s damp redwood duff everywhere. Mike cleaned Chaparral for the first time, and I brought TD Jr. down it for the first time (linked it, didn’t clean it, won Best Biff on the rocky section. But it’s Totally Doable).
We took Sinawik Loop on the way back up, which means we’ve hit almost every trail in the park in these last few weeks of riding; the one left is Castle Park, which I can’t imagine attempting on a 29er.
Jimbo’s about to head out to refresh his red, yellow and green wardrobe for the next few months, so we took a trip down to Santa Cruz for a Halloween’s version of Rob’s Ride. We wound up with 16 riders on various cycles (I rode Cyclops), and had a beautiful day down there. We’re counting it as a four-sport day: MUni, eating burritos, disc golf, and hot tubbing.
Mike and I are slackers on Friday afternoon, so we’ve been getting some nice bonus MUni rides in while the park is empty. Mike cleaned Chaparral from the top of the rocky section, and I got the furthest I’ve ever gotten on Two Dollar Hill (about one pedal revolution further).
California MUni Weekend was fun; a smaller gathering than most previous years, something like 20 riders, which is fine with me. Makes it a lot more manageable than the huge groups, and we still had a lot of different skill levels represented, from people riding with other unicyclists for the first time, all the way up to Kris Holm himself.
From the local group we had me, Ashley for a couple days, and Jimbo on Saturday, with Corbin, Aaron, Geoff, Nathan and Grace coming up from Santa Cruz, and Anya from Germany via Burlingame joining in the fun.
Three days of moderately technical riding with some disc golf and a nice swimming hole made for a great weekend.
Best shots: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tholub/sets/72157627771281011/
Everything: http://flickr.com/gp/tholub/9p22v4/
