John W and I rode Demo on Saturday morning early. Good thing too as
there was an mtbr gathering there a bit later and when we left the
parking was insane. The trails are getting rougher & tougher all the
time down there. We rode Sawpit & Braille with the horrific Sulphur
Springs fireroad grind in between. It was fun, but the Demo aint what
it used to be. I'm really happy with the Reign and the way it climbs,
but I still have to get the suspension dialed in. It's such a
different feeling in the corners than the Bullit. The Bullit used to
sag pretty hard in the corners, whereas the Reign stays up higher. I
did a bit of descending with the seat up at full height and that was a
bit scary. When I dropped the seat, I was more comfortable in the
corners. Riding Demo is just so different than what I'm used to.
Much more rutted dirt and roots that aren't always visible in between
the shadows, made me descend like a poke-mon. John was railing
downhill, local course knowlege plays in at the Demo for sure!
Then on Sunday John W was riding over to Palo Alto to meet up for an
early morning road ride. My phone rings and it was John. He said,
"Jay I need a favor" I thought, oh he must have gotten a flat and need
a tube or something. The John says, "Can you come pick me up? My
bike is in 2 pieces....." Yikes.... I guess an old man pulled out in
front of him while he was riding down Homestead Rd, and he slammed
into the rear quarter panel of the car. Needless to say, his sweet
Merckx carbon frame is now snapped in two pieces.
Click here for a look see...
Major bummer. So I drove down and gave John a ride back to his house with his new
foldable road bike. John, I'm glad you were not hurt, as looking at
your bike would make you think otherwise.
After I dropped John off I went out for my standard Palo Alto road
ride. Up Arastradero to Portola, then up Old La Honda, then down
Skyline, down 84/Woodside and back via Foothill. Descending down
84/Woodside is probable my favorite descent. Nice smooth roads, good
banked turns and you can go faster than most cars. I would be really
fun to rip down it if it were closed to auto traffic for sure!
I thought I was making decent time up Old La Honda when I heard some
gears shifting behind me. I look back and there was what looked to be
the entire Webcor/Alto Velo Team just hammering up behind me. Most of
them passed me like I was going backwards. Then a few stragglers came
by later. I think I made it up in 23:35. At the top of Skyline/84 I
heard someone mention the fastest guy had made it up in 17 minutes or
something, that's some good fast climbing!
One last note I saw at least 2 dumbasses descending down 84/Woodside without helmets. Come on people, get a frickin clue and put on your brain buckets. I don't care if you are Ricky Racer, or Peter Pokey, just wear your helmets all the time every time!
