Somewhere out in the middle of the NV desert we had to decide north to Sun Valley or continue east to Park City.  Both are mountain bike destinations and both are new to me, but we had to pick one.  We stayed on eastbound I80 to PC, UT.  What we found was the mountain bike there sucks.  If you do go there to ride defiantly don’t do Mid Mountain or Flying Dog...just kiddin this place is so where it's at.  Go there now.  Right now!!!  We rode till our legs felt like they were going to fall off.  After 5 days of epic rides we had to force ourselves to leave or we never would be able to get out of town.  The attraction of riding perfectly sculpted, mapped, signed, hardpack trails with great views would be too much to overcome if we stayed any longer.  Like Arnold in Terminator ”I’ll be back.”

"I thought of it while riding my bicycle."  Albert Einstein

This weekend anyone?

 

The Super 8

 

Starting in Tahoe City up to Page Meadows, around Stanford Rock, dropping down through Alpine Meadows, some bike path, onto Western States, past Watson Lake and across to Brockway then the road up to Martis Peak and dropping in Dirty Harry’s, then Martis Valley to town and the Sawtooth trails service roads and singletrack back to the TRT, then down through Burton Creek crossing the Fiberboard again and on to the TRT ending in Tahoe City.  Cold beer, post ride dip in the lake, etc.

 

Mostly singletrack, plenty of places to stop and reload food/water, plenty of places to bailout if the bag of dicks gets full.  On paper the route looks like a figure eight so I’m calling it.

Today’s mountain bike ride turned into a good day for finding some connector trails for a planned Tahoe City-Stanford Rock-Western States-Sawtooth-Northstar-Dirty Harry’s-TRT-Burton Creek ride.  I was feeling a bit bummed about not going to the wheelmen hillclimb TT but after ripping down some new to me singletrack I forgot all about the race that I was missing. The combination of late night and my share of dark beer, mostly Deshutes Porter, at the blues and brews fest last night had as much to with not going to the hillclimb as anything.  Having never biked at Northstar before today I had to wander around for a while, but in the end it was worth it.    

The Stable Quiver is now an authorized dealer for Chris King, and Stans (No Tubes).  King hubs and No Tubes rims are great additions to the custom wheelbuilding options already offered.  I'm also looking forward to my future of pressing in those sexy King headsets.

            We had seven riders in our group riding from Truckee to Nevada City this year to watch the Nevada City Classic bike races.  We were much warmer at the start than last year when we talked about stopping to warm our hands on the guardrails that were heating up in the morning sun.  By Sierravill I had warmed up enough to shed my windbreaker.  Going up Yuba pass we caught up to another group doing the ride as well.

            The downhill was fast into Downievill.  We reloaded water and supplies there.  I was a bit bummed that I couldn’t find any Nutterbutters, which is one of my mid ride favorites, but I had a bagel instead.  A little snow left on the Sierra Buttes made for a nice backdrop to descending beside the river.

            The next refuel was North San Juan.  The climb into town there is a hard one because it’s at that point in the ride where you are beginning to feel the early morning start, the 80 miles you’ve put in, the previous climbs, the heat, but you haven’t gotten over the hump to get that second wind yet. 

            After the snaky descent down to cross the South Yuba we started that last hot, exposed climb into Nevada City. It starts out steep and bites a little bit, but then flattens out to a more manageable grade.  A couple minuets into the climb and I thought that the idea about leaving a car there back by the river, calling the ride, and going for a swim sounded like a darn good one.

            Well we all made it to Nevada City in our various states of fatigue.  The burgers and beer never tasted so good and the race were fun to watch.

I was on a road ride today and a car went by next to me and T-boned a bird flying across the road.  A totally freak thing to see happen in the first place.  The bird bounces off the car is floppily rotating just outside the white line area, probably with multiple injuries, and the little thing gets itself right between my tires as I pass by.  Now there is traffic arround so I can't really swerve, and the bird is moving with no direction anyway.  Sorry to say but I just nailed the thing.  Sad but at least I put them are out of their misery.

Memorial weekend...ridin in Bend!!! nuff said

I did Peavine Challenge this past weekend on my 29er rigid single speed and worked myself into a convulsing comatose state for a couple hours afterwards.

FOX F29 is in!

I did both the Peavine and Geiger hill climbs this past week and rode my bike to and from both.  At Peavine I used my 29er single speed.  I think the 29" wheels really work better on that course. The single speed works good for the climb as long as you have the right gear cause the grade is fairly consistent except right at the end it kicks you in the nuts a bit. 

I did race support for the 24Hr race in Cool this past weekend.  I was crazy busy for a while keepping competitors bikes in the race.  This was my first 24Hr bike event and I had lots of fun.   

The Stable Quiver is now an authorised Fox Racing Shox dealer.  To get the newest Fox shocks or your current Fox shocks serviced call the Stable Quiver.

Be sure to get a coat of wax on your skis/boards before you put them to bed for the summer.  The Stable Quiver is offering summer storage waxes for $10.

+4 hours of mountain biking in Auburn with the bacon strip today.  More fun than being a fox in the hen house.