TiltShift Mojo

Tilt shift miniature Ibis Mojo (yes, old school steel with the Hand Job).

Taken a few minutes after dropping in at Nisene Marks State Park in Aptos, California. It is not the amount of miles in the ride but the amount of ride in the miles that is the important part.

I do enjoy going on multi-hour epics, don't get me wrong. There's almost nothing better than starting the roll on of a four hour nothing but riding ride. Well, the nothing but riding part might not be wholly accurate, there are photo stops, hydration breaks, smoke breaks and bathroom breaks.

But the point is that there's something calming and special about setting off for a long ride, be it road or mountain. The adventure is just starting and it will unfold (hmmm, accidentally typed funfold first, new word, cha-ching!) just in front of your front wheel. It sometimes takes longer but, eventually, the cares of the day are left behind, the worries, the hassles, the arguments, the seething resentments and that nasty pile of dishes you should have done before leaving. Don't worry, they'll be there when you return.

Worshipping at the Altar of Dirt

I don't quite know how and I don't quite know why but there is a meditative side to bicycling. I'm not talking about the roadies eating up 70 miles on an afternoon. I'm talking more about the meditative quality of picking a line up a steep hill, dropping into your granny gear and motoring up that hill. While you climb, you can't think of anything else, there are no problems save for the next turn of the wheel, there are no worries except whether your tires will grip that wet root, there are no fears except the fear of legs or lungs not carrying me to the top.

Bicycling is an act unlike walking or driving in a car, it is serene but can be marked by periods of intense speed, great technical need and, yes, the occasional puff of weed.

Titus Bikes Demo Day in Santa Cruz This Weekend!

When: Saturday, January 30th, 2009 – 9am to 3pm
Sunday, January 31st, 2009 – 9am to 3pm

Where: Saturday - DeLaVeaga Park
Sunday – Nisene Marks

Please bring - ID, Credit Card, Your own pedals, Helmet, Your own hydration

Come sample the new 2010 offerings from Titus Bikes! We’ve got some beautiful new full-suspension designs that are born and bred in the Arizona desert. We’ll have our “X” cross-country bike, the FTM 5-inch trail bike, and the all-mountain El Guapo – all available for demo on some of the best local terrain.

No charge for demo.

For any additional information, contact THE SPOKESMAN at 831.429.6062 or Jason at Titus Bikes 800.85.TITUS

I'm going to try and make it to Delaveaga tomorrow and I know Cyclelicious is going to try and make it out as well. And we'll both be sporting cameras for some suh-weet action shots! And there are bound to be some MBoSC members there too! Come on out and let's shred together!

Mix It Up to Keep It Fresh

The trail that I ride most often runs through a portion of Nisene Marks State Park in Aptos, California. The trail goes out of the park and then back in after a steep and tough climb up to Sand Point which looks out over all of Aptos and out into the Monterey Bay.

It is a fantastic trail with very technical sections, singletrack along the edge of a hill with occasional hundred foot drop offs a few inches away, wide redwood lined trails and some high speed bomber run areas. There are even water hazards, bridges and the occasional wild donkey braying somewhere off in the deeps of the woods.

It is, in just a few words, some of the best riding I've had the pleasure of being able to hit regularly.

But even filet mignon gets tiring if that's all you ever eat. So, yesterday, I mixed it up a bit and reversed my normal course. I opted to climb up the backside of the mountain, a sinewy track with carved in berms, single, double and even triple jumps. Coming down this trail is phenomenally fun even though I'm not really much of a jumper, I do rather enjoy hitting a nice berm and ripping around a corner sideways.

The ride down is lots of fun but I found that the ride up affords a very, very different perspective of the trail. I saw so much more, saw numerous new routes, shortcuts, alternative tracks and tons more. It was also damned hard work because of some of the steep sections and other sections criss-crossed with roots at all angle.

I also made sure to keep my ears and eyes open not only for the occasional mountain lion but for other bikers bombing down the hill at speed. But today I saw no one until I was just about out of the woods entirely at the end of my ride. I toiled my way to the top, having to climb off and push my bike a few times.

At the very top, I took a break, drank a whole bunch of water, soaked in the magnificent view and, for some reason or another, put my bike on the swinging bench and took some pictures of it.

From there, I kept on my reverse course and dropped down the hill in the bright sun. Its an old access road that's gotten badly rutted out and I nearly went tumbling after getting a little out of control. After getting things back into a more stable state, I headed back into the park and down from the Mesa Grande trail head.

The ride back down from there is pretty familiar territory as its part of the original loop I've ridden for many months now. Its well overgrown right now and there are prickers growing out into the trail all over the place. But it is still pretty fast and always good fun. It doesn't hurt that there are rarely other people out on the trail away from the parking lots.

I also got a chance to stop near the bottom of the trail to photograph one of my favorite derelict cars. I love seeing this car slowly be absorbed back into the earth over the weeks and months and years. I was also sorely tempted to go for a quick swim in the really cold creek but was running a little tight on time so that'll have to wait for next time.

All in all, a great and refreshing ride with a new perspective, a new appreciation for the bombing run downhill on the backside of the mountain and a really good sweat.

Nothing Like a Monday Ride

I hate to add more rain to the parade of the east coasters who happen to read this blog on occasion but Nande and I got back from a beautiful little bike ride along the lower flanks of Nisene Marks. My buddy's wife was off with his big hound dog so it was just me, Nande and my buddy who's still recovering from ankle surgery.

We've been having these gorgeous days with nice warm sun and it was perfect in the woods. There were places where the earth was still damp and wet from the night's fog and other places where we could just soak in the sun for a few moments.

The trailhead is a little sketchy as we park in private lot and drop in near some private houses. But we're respectful, quick and keep the dogs close so it hasn't been a problem yet.

But once you're in, the trail descends quickly and it feels really land-speederish like in Star Wars. The galloping hound at my heels doesn't really work for the imagery but it's alright. It is a ton of fun to burn hills with Nande sprinting alongside. And she was built for trail riding. Have I said that before? She is. She's tall and has long legs which let her float over the trail at good speed.

Unlike her usual companion, a stout black lab who I've caused to tumble off the trail because he insists on trying to run about three inches off my front wheel. And that works very poorly in tight single track.

Anyway, not too far in there's a car that got there a number of years ago. It is on its roof and the forest is swiftly dismantling it and turning it back into its elemental states. Kind of neat and a great object to sit and snap photos of for hours on end. The fact that its right near a cool little cliff above a four or five foot deep pool to toss sticks in for the dogs is just bonus.

This trail isn't especially long but you can ride multiple loops to just keep adding miles to your ride. The trail also leads into Nisene so you have to be careful of walkers and folks on horseback. We ran into one lady on horseback today who wanted to make sure Nande wasn't going to freak out around her horse. I truly didn't know what she'd do but she was, more or less, respectful. And we were able to cruise on to where we could either take another good fun descent that we'd have to pedal back up out of or we could turn around and head back.

We opted to heading back and retraced our path back towards the trucks. We didn't run into the horse again, which was nice, but we also didn't have enough time to stop and play in the water for too long. Unlike this video I took from a previous trip.

A really nice way to enjoy a beautiful Monday. Especially since my job training this morning was so quick. I'll write a short post about that later.