|   Mud by the Bay: Sunday's giant chainsuck fest. | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 7:25 AM | | My last chance to share my local riding with the MTBR community drowned in a gigantic mudbath. The views, the flowers and the nice trails - none of it happened. In my five years of riding up there I've never seen it this bad. We followed my route half-way then took the road back as we realized that most of the group's drivetrains weren't going to be able to do Charcoal road. I don't think my drivetrain, even if it was suck free would have made it either. Short, steep sprints are fun on an SS - long, steep grinds are not. The S.I.S.S came passed the feasibility test for horrible weather bikes with flying colors, though.
It was one of those rides that suddenly becomes a lot of fun when everybody is in the parkin lot, laughing at each other and sharing their experience with everybody else. Thanks for showing up, (in no particular order) Bkrgrl, pimbot, laffeaux, wg, BigBoulder, kyezle, jpre, Dane, Patrick, jrm.
BV
"What are we going to do with this BV guy. He promises us nice riding with million-dollar views, and this is what we get. He must work in marketing or something." |
| Saratoga Gap Trail: Kyezle cruising the enchanted forest | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 7:26 AM | | |
| Color coordination I | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 7:27 AM | | jpre and his Rohloff-geared Van Dessel. The only one with suck-free gearing yesterday. |
| what kinda rear fender is that? | [nm]
May 5, 2003 10:55 AM | | |
| re: what kinda rear fender is that? | jpre
May 5, 2003 1:30 PM | | It's a Zefal Cruzader (sp?). The stays are sized for a regular road bike I believe. The Van Dessel mounts that I used to attach the fender are higher than the typical road bike so I had the stays cut, pressed and drilled to utilize the higher attachment point. At low speeds it does an ok job of keeping the mud off your back, but at higher speeds the 29" Nanoraptor just flings it up and past with little effort, as you can see in one of BV's other pics, though overall I may have come away with the least muddy upper torso. I think I was the only one running dual fenders. I kind of like the aesthetics of the fender though. I suppose it's kind of silly to like form over function in a case like this. |
| Color coordination II | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 7:28 AM | | This young lady joined the group for the first part of the ride. Hope we didn't scare you. |
| Color coordination II | Sandy
May 5, 2003 8:49 AM | | Wow! Great pictures! I had a great time riding with you all, next time I will wear more appropriate footwear so my toes won't be frozen after the first half-hour : )
I rode the Gap on Friday as well, but who would have guessed that two days of rain could cause that much mud!? Lots of fun though!
Thanks for letting me glom onto the group at the last minute.
Til next time,
Sandy |
| Mmm - dinner! | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 7:29 AM | | Impossible to catch without a big ring. |
| The smallest deer ever photographed... | kyezle
May 5, 2003 11:27 AM | | BV was able to get pretty close to the elusive Microdeer of the Santa Cruz Mountains. That thing is tiny!
Geir, thanks for the great ride and pictures! Too bad I had to bail out early, but I rode long enough to see you hammer the trails! You're a natural on the singlespeed, and difficult to catch. I predict a Moots for sale soon. He he.
I've got a lot of good mud photos that I'll try to post later when I get some time. I had an excellent time and it was cool to meet and hang out with a new bunch of riders. And pizza and beer after a muddy ride hits the spot like nothing else...
Kyle |
| pimbot and laffeaux | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 7:30 AM | | Still smiling. |
| that was my 'Sign of the Devil, Dude!' pose | pimpbot
May 5, 2003 8:38 AM | | I was pretty punchy that day. I went and did this ride while operating on 4 hours of sleep. |
| thanks for hangin' back with me guys! (nm) | Bkrgrl
May 5, 2003 4:09 PM | | |
| laffeaux | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 7:31 AM | | Way too clean. You could learn a lot from this guy, wg. |
| Muddy ride phase I | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 7:32 AM | | Dane's still somewhat dry and warm and still in the phase where you try to avoid the puddles. |
| Muddy ride phase II | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 7:33 AM | | jpre has entered the phase where it can't get any worse and you don't give a flying shit. |
| Friggin' gearies I | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 7:35 AM | | Dicking with their mud sensitive drivetrains all the time. |
| Friggin' gearies II | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 7:36 AM | | Always in the right gear - that must be why they're still down there. |
| LOL. I have to say it frightens me ... | scorcher seb
May 5, 2003 9:51 AM | | ...to think how fast you probably are on the SS up those climbs.
Nice pics. |
| I can answer that... | kyezle
May 5, 2003 11:37 AM | | F_A_S_T. He rose that SISS like nobody's business. Do I hear a SS Worlds in Norway in the future? I think so. |
| Singlespeeding is pretty small still in Norway. | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 11:46 AM | | It'll be fun to hear the comments when I take the SISS to try out my new local trails on Sunday.
There were points in the ride yesterday when I missed my gears really bad - and I would have been MUCH faster on the Moots climbing out of Horseshoe Lake. It was fun, but I'll still be riding my two other mountain bikes.
Can't beat it for upper body strenght building, though. My shoulders are toast today.
BV |
| Friggin' gearies II | Goose127
May 5, 2003 1:12 PM | | What part of the ride was this picture taken. I don't recognize this spot |
| It's the climb from Horse Shoe lake towards Alpine Pond(nm) | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 1:25 PM | | |
| Kyezle - SS'ing the toughest climb of the day | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 7:37 AM | | |
| A taste of what we could have had. | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 7:38 AM | | This is where I planned to crawl up in the hill and take a picture down at the trail with millions of poppies in the forground and the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop behind the rider. It was not meant to be. At the right time, this picture would be more orange than green. |
| Bigboulder came all the way from Auburn... | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 7:39 AM | | ...to surf, not ride, some peninsula singletrack. Slippin' and slidin'... |
| I think you guys scared him away from the Monday ride... nm | Fast Eddy
May 5, 2003 8:14 PM | | |
| Bontrager's new cleat release patent. | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 7:41 AM | | When the cleat can't release from the pedal, the system solves the problem by separating the cleat from the shoe. Dane was very happy that the system delivered as promised. |
| damn! LOL! | Mellow Yellow
May 5, 2003 8:36 AM | | that's alot of mud! great picture. |
| Done that before....... | celly
May 5, 2003 10:48 AM | | Replace "Bontrager" with "Shimano 747". Result was the same. Another time I had a similar issue with a set of 636s, but the cleat didn't quite come through the shoe. End result was I had to take the shoe off my foot before we could get it out of the pedal. But I still had about 5 miles to go on the trail, so I had to stay clipped in on one foot for the duration of the ride. Included a few stair climbs.
Ahhhhh, gotta love Time pedals. :-) |
| At least it wasn't all muddy. nm | Fast Eddy
May 5, 2003 8:16 PM | | |
| jpre's rear wheel is an artist and... | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 7:42 AM | | ...the canvas is jpre's back. |
| Magazine shot. nm | Fast Eddy
May 5, 2003 8:17 PM | | |
| No matter what the weather was ... | phatlizard
May 5, 2003 8:08 AM | | ... you still managed to take some kick ass pics! Hell mine are never that good when the sun is shining!
Christian |
| Ditto what phatlizard said!(nm) | old OI punk
May 5, 2003 9:35 AM | | |
| great write-up! | francis
May 5, 2003 9:37 AM | | ...of a difficult ride for sure. Thanks for all the epic photos and getting that new camera dirty. Sorry I couldn't be there. But who should really apologize are the weather gods for kicking our ass. It's been so bad that I'm getting tired of talking about the darn weather.
See ya'll at the Downieville Gathering.
francis |
| re: Mud by the Bay: Sunday's giant chainsuck fest. | Goose127
May 5, 2003 10:07 AM | | What was the original route that you were planning on riding. I go up to that area now and then, usually it is nothing but wonderful. I have not ever seen it as bad as what you had in your pictures. |
| for those that only rode on Friday | laffeaux
May 5, 2003 10:42 AM | | For those of you that rode on Friday but missed Sunday's ride... Imagine the trails in the same condition, the amount of rainfall during the ride about the same, and the temperatures 5-10 degrees cooler and you had Sunday's ride. My shoes were still wet on Sunday morning from Friday's ride, and they did little to keep my feet warm.
By the time the "B" group - me, Bkrgrl, and Pimpbot - turned around my toes had been numb for a while. We took the road back part of the way, and then switch to the single track that runs from Skyline back to the parking area. I've never experience chainsuck as bad as I did on that section of trail - my chain was being sucked up even when I was not shifting! We made if back to the lot where Kyezle joined us. The four of us headed down the hill and to the warmth of Jake's in Saratoga for pizza and beer.
I hope next year is drier!!! |
| mmmm.... pizza and beer | pimpbot
May 5, 2003 12:44 PM | | Dang, my legs never quite recovered from Friday. I was pretty much jello by the time we got back to the parking lot and we were only at the 12 mile mark at that point. I'm sure the 4 hours of sleep I was working on didn't help matters either.
However, my chain didn't suck all day! New granny and chain did the trick. That, and totally saturating it in Cross Country lube the whole way helped I'm sure. |
| Missed you guys for post ride beer and polish dogs Nm | Jrm
May 5, 2003 3:25 PM | | |
| It was good to meet ya'... | Bkrgrl
May 5, 2003 4:40 PM | | ...thanks for keeping an eye on me. Man-o-man, was it muddy! Didn't really have any chain-suck myself. Next time beer's on me.
-Cathy |
| no problem ... | laffeaux
May 5, 2003 10:33 PM | | ... and when you said, "let's turn around here," no one was more gald to hear that than me. My fingers and toes were numb and I was ready to head home. |
| I think we saw your group | Sabine
May 5, 2003 11:04 AM | | We climbed up 9 to Alpine Road from Santa Cruz and saw a bunch of colorful muddy resigned mountain bikers heading back to the lot. I was too wet and frozen to do more than glance though. It was much warmer and drier in Pescadero and Highway 1 was sunny and delightful in comparison.
During the road ride, I would glance over at the trails and wish I was riding those instead, that was, until I saw how muddy everyone looked. |
| re: Mud by the Bay: Sunday's giant chainsuck fest. | Jrm
May 5, 2003 11:34 AM | | Thanks again for leading the ride. And also thanks to Laffeaux and Kyezle for helping me with my mechanical in the 1st 50 yards of the ride.
john...ummm jim or patrick.. |
| Sorry, Jim, John, Jim.,.. | Biking Viking
May 5, 2003 12:08 PM | | I am very bad with names. I did call you John in my pictures from the last MbtB, though. Now that I take a hard look - that certainly is you coming up the hill, not Patrick.
Sorry about the confusion.
BV |
| Thanks for the flattering shots and commentary ;) | wg
May 5, 2003 2:56 PM | | Good write up and shots as usual. I need to back down there and try to duplicate the ride in the near future.
It was good riding with you (or trying to keep you in sight). Damn, I thought the SS would give me a slight chance of maybe, possibly, keeping sorta up with you. Ha! You were the only one who didn't have mechanical issues... or any issues for that matter.
Too bad you left early you missed one of the better lines from a lady passing our bikes at the restaraunt... "Is that mud on your bikes?"
Nah, just character.
Werner |
| re: Mud by the Bay: Sunday's giant chainsuck fest. | Ghost Rider
May 5, 2003 3:30 PM | | Just curious, what kind of camera was used for those pics? |
| Thank-you BV! | Bkrgrl
May 5, 2003 4:54 PM | | It was good to meet you and everyone else. You were all sooo welcoming to a rookie. Good luck with your move back "home".
-Cathy |
| Thanks from me too. | Fast Eddy
May 5, 2003 8:27 PM | |
Thanks for leading up the ride so I could go to the Cubmobile races. I banked about 10 family points rather than spending about 100. I'm saving up for D'ville, but I'm bringing them along so I don't have to spend so many points.
Bummer we didn't get to ride together. Let's try to squeeze in a nighttime singlespeed ride at Coe. |
| re: Mud by the Bay: Sunday's giant chainsuck fest. | KennyCCc
May 7, 2003 4:14 PM | | Geir,
Great job on putting together an epic Saratoga Gap loop. To bad they didnt get to see what we get to see all summer long. Great call on riding a SS. I can definitely relate to the chainsuck since I had to pull over 5X times to try and lub my chain at the Shasta Lemurian.
Chat to ya l8r.
KennyCC |
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