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.
