|   Showing the locals their best trails | Biking Viking
Aug 4, 2003 4:06 AM | | So I hooked up with two former co-workers, and took them on my new favorite local loop, which none of them have ever done before.
I've found an additional trail down the mountain which can be combined with the one I previously. Combined, they make up a 5.5-mile singletrack descent which drops about 1,800 feet and has everything: Rocky, technical sections with 2" drops, get-your-ass-on-the-rear-rubber steep stuff, roots, rocks, more roots, and then ends in a super-flowy winding-through-the woods trail that spits me out on the road a 15-minute ride back home. The ride is nothing short of amazing considering it's proximity and the lack of riders who know about it. Here's Odd-Jostein (goes by OJ, only) climbing past some poisonous lillies that grow on the marshes up here. OJ claims that while fairly harmless to humans, if sheep, which roam the mounatains here in great numers in the summer, eat them, they get sick and die. I don't know - they look pretty anyway.
Geir |
| Crossing the tree line | Biking Viking
Aug 4, 2003 4:09 AM | | It was a wet morning, but not cold. Unfortunately, the weather somewhat screwed up the views. |
| Do those polls indicate how deep the snow gets? | Uncle Brian
Aug 4, 2003 10:34 AM | | oh my.
Looks like a good ride.
Hey, I took one out of the BV book on "Being a Dad and Still getting your miles in" this weekend. After my wife's soccer game in Palo Alto where I watched the baby, I rode home via some of your old favorites. Up Page Mill, south on Skyline, down Hwy 9 to Boulder Creek, and around hwy236 back home on Hwy9.
UB |
| I believe the snow drifts can pack that high in some pockets. | Biking Viking
Aug 4, 2003 11:16 AM | | Too bad I couldn't be on that ride - so far the only things I miss from CA are the beer and the road riding. We got the container shipment today, and the roadie rig made the transatlantic trip well. I just can't find the box that has the saddle in it...
Geir |
| Finally at the top | Biking Viking
Aug 4, 2003 4:11 AM | | Long climbs are easier when you know there's a big, fat reward waiting for you. |
| Reaping the rewards | Biking Viking
Aug 4, 2003 4:13 AM | | Starts out really good - from here on it just gets better and better |
| Haakon in the lead-in to a difficult section | Biking Viking
Aug 4, 2003 4:15 AM | | |
| Haakon? Haakon? Childhood flashback....... | Mackie
Aug 4, 2003 4:40 AM | | Kong Haakon Chocolate......
Sorry.
Your pics make me want to get back to Norway. Beautiful shots. |
| OJ going for it. | Biking Viking
Aug 4, 2003 4:18 AM | | The hairy line is to the left, down that rock. I cleaned it on the rigid SS, but took off the backpack with the camera first. About 4.8 times steeper than it looks - as usual. I've ridden more technical trails in the past three weeks than the rest of 2003 put together. |
| Boggy section with ladder bridges | Biking Viking
Aug 4, 2003 4:20 AM | | |
| Descending out of the clouds | Biking Viking
Aug 4, 2003 4:22 AM | | Yes - there's a trail there if you look carefully. |
| High speed section | Biking Viking
Aug 4, 2003 4:28 AM | | Looks like a road in the picture, but it's a trail. The ditch to the right collects the water that seeps down the mountain side. The rocks in front of OJ marks a ditch that leads the water that across the trail and out on the marshes to the left. Some of those ditches have the rocks perfectly positioned for jumping over. It's all about having enough speed, and perfect timing. |
| Last one | Biking Viking
Aug 4, 2003 4:31 AM | | Before it got so much fun I couldn't get myself to stop and take pictures anymore. |
| Good stuff.... | AK Ken
Aug 4, 2003 5:41 AM | | glad you're acclimating okay.
We're in day 10 or so of the typical August monsoony weather, and the tundra has lost its brilliant green hue and is looking a bit wan. Fireweed is topping out, indicating six weeks till winter.
Thanks for the tour.
Ken |
| Nice shots. Question regarding OJ.... | troy
Aug 4, 2003 7:31 AM | | How do you pronounce Odd? It can't be like the english word odd can it? |
| Pretty close, actually. Now, the REALLY funny thing is that... | Biking Viking
Aug 4, 2003 11:20 AM | | ..."Even" is also a name.
Pure coincidence, on both. "Odd" means the tip of an arrow, and thus has roots back in viking times. I don't remember what the other one means.
Geir |
| Beautiful Pics! Thanks for sharing! (nm) | michigantammy
Aug 4, 2003 8:41 AM | | |
| re: Showing the locals their best trails | Blue 'Goose
Aug 4, 2003 12:48 PM | | Amazing - gorgeous pictures - everything looks so clear and crisp -
like I could just ride into the pictures.
Where is the location you were riding? It looks beautiful - the
stark mountains mixed with the occasional trees and fields. |
| Great Pic's! Did you ever get your Moots? | merlin
Aug 4, 2003 1:03 PM | | |
| No - but I don't really need it right now. | Biking Viking
Aug 5, 2003 7:15 AM | | There's no time for racing at the moment. I am doing the one last MTB race of the season next weekend, on a borrowed bike. Then it's a long winter before I start racing again. By that time, I should have a new Moots. The Id and the SISS will have to do in the mean time.
Geir |
| So it was stolen or lost my the airline? | merlin
Aug 5, 2003 9:19 AM | | |
| Probably stolen, but insurancewise, I don't know if... | Biking Viking
Aug 5, 2003 12:12 PM | | ...it matters.
Geir |
| Trondheim, Norway | Biking Brazilian
Aug 14, 2003 8:31 AM | | BV's pictures continue to amaze...I am surprised he hasn't SuperGlued horns on to his helmet to complete the Viking look. Of course, make them out of Styrofoam or something similarly soft so that you don't impale a fellow rider.
Unfortunately, we'll have to put up with some crappy Santa Cruz singletrack this weekend, since nothing, even on CONUSA compares to anything in Norway! |
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