Phoenix

This blog has sat dormant for quite a while now. I don't know why, really. I have thought about about posting to it a number of times, but I never make the time. I realized, though, that I pretty much do the same damn thing all the time by sending long e-mails to friends, complete with a gigabyte's worth of pictures, which completely blow up their mailboxes.

For a while I am going to try communicating more though the blog, thereby saving people the aggravation.

Rise . . .



Back from the dead it rises, with a sinister new look, new title photo, and new name (couldn't believe SS29er was available). The title photo has special significance, which I will talk about another time. Let's just say it was the last glimpse of what life used to be.

Edit - 03/21/2010 - The title photo referenced above was replaced, so I thought I would drop it in here:



Later.

Cronan Ranch

Since my son started kindergarten I have been able to ride a little bit on Wednesdays, my normal day off of work. I usually throw my cross bike on the back of the car; after dropping him off, I can leave for my ride right from the school parking lot. I was getting bored with the normal road ride, so last Wednesday I took my single speed to a place called Cronan Ranch. It's a fairly new multi-use trail system on Highway 49 between Coloma and Pilot Hill. The map I saw stated there are various trails totaling about 12 miles out there. I figured it was worth checking out.

It took about 25 minutes to get there from the school, so I would have about two hours and 15 minutes of riding time before I had to go back. I left from the car with a rough memory of what the trail system looked like. After about a half mile I came to a fork in the trail with these signs:




Well, hell, I figure anything with a "no horses" designation must be the way to go!

The trail quickly dropped me down to a river trail that was rocky and pretty technical. There were some rocky sections that forced me off the bike. Other places were a mix of sand and river rock that were tough to power through on the single speed. After about 1.75 miles of this the trail kind of petered out here:



That type of rock was prominent on the trail. To my right was a dirt road leading out. It was a steep, loose dirt climb and I had to walk the last 50 feet. That was the only climb of the day that forced me off the bike.

At the top of the climb I picked up a trail. It was a nice, smooth trail. I figured I was now on the right track.

I crossed a creek and the trail started going up. And up. And up. I cursed the people on MTBR who called this trail system "mild and rolling." I would have gone with an extra tooth on my rear cog if I had known this was coming. I must have hit a dozen switchbacks as I went up the trail. Again, very well made trail with manageable grades on the single speed. Expertly made switchbacks. Nice.

I crested the top and was rewarded with a nice view:



I then went down just a little bit before the trail dead-ended at another trail called "Down and Up Trail." Unfortunately it was more of a steep fire road (think Olmstead Loop in Cool) and I lost all of my hard earned elevation on a descent which wasn't much fun.

I wound around for a while before picking up the Long Valley Trail. It was basically a straight, mild climb all the way to the main trail, Cronan Road. I then picked up one called West Ridge Trail. It started with a tough climb before topping out on a ridge. For once the name of a trail matched its description. It was a pretty cool trail. We don't often see a trail around here that is right on the crest of a ridge. It was awesome to have a 360 degree view as you rode along. It stayed on top of the ridge longer than this picture would indicate:



Another nice view at the end of the ridge. As you can see, the area has roads and trails all over it, certainly more than the map indicated:



I then descended for a while and ended up at river level again. There wasn't a lot of signage, so I rode on a singletrack trail along the river that eventually climbed back up to Cronan Road. I rode past the Long Valley Trail again (been there, done that) and continued up the road. Truthfully, the double-track road wasn't much different from most of the trails.

At the end of the road the parking lot came into view. It did not look familiar. It wasn't where I parked. I looked at my computer and saw that I had been riding for 90 minutes, meaning I had 45 minutes to get back to the car--wherever the hell that was. I panicked a little. Where the hell was I?

I rode down to the lot and looked up at the sign, which looked just like this:



The little "P" you see waaaaaay off to the right was actually where I parked. I had no idea there were two parking areas. The one I was standing at isn't visible from the highway because you come in on Pedro Hill Road.

So none of the trails I rode prior to Down and Up were even on the damn map. I knew I couldn't get back via the trails in 45 minutes, even if I DID know where I was going, so I rode out on the road to HWY 49. I rode about two miles on the highway and was back to my parking area. I looked at the sign and it didn't even SAY Cronan Ranch. Doh! My powers of observation are stellar!



I now had about 30 minutes to kill, so I decided to see what was up the first multi-use trail that I opted out of.

Well, I was only able to ride about 1.6 miles of it before I had to turn back due to time constraints, but it was the best trail of the ride. Smooth, flowing, expertly built singletrack. It reminded me of Auburn's Connector trail many times, and I think we all can agree the Connector trail is great. Here is a sample:



Most switchbacks and corners going through ravines had drainage pipes for runoff. Very nice work:



So I will definitely go back to explore a bit more. I'm betting that the above unmapped trail is the same one I ran into with the great switchback climb. If that is the case, there might be a nice loop out there that can be pieced together. I didn't hit a few of the Cronan Ranch trails, either, so more options to explore.

When I got home I couldn't find much of anything regarding the Magnolia Ranch area. Not even on the Nor-Cal board on MTBR. Maybe I found a little unknown jewel? Not sure, but I can't wait until next Wednesday to get dirty again:



Later.

Living the New Dirt Life

Today I finally got back on a real trail. It's been a long six months. It felt so very good to hear the crunch of tires on dirt.

I had a blast, but it was not without difficulty. The pain was relatively easy to endure, but the lack of mobility was tough. There would be absolutely no way to climb out of the saddle without bar ends. You can see that I am not symmetrical yet. My left arm has to be straighter at the elbow to compensate for my wrist.

Still, it was hard not to have a goofy grin on my face the entire time.

I put in a solid 34 miles and felt good from a fitness standpoint. Hopefully I am not suffering from too much wrist pain tomorrow because of it.

Later.

New Ride

I'm not quite ready to ride on the dirt yet, but I am getting close. In preparation I picked up a cheap Redline Monocog off Craigslist.

I tore it apart and built it back up with parts I had on hand. I think the seatpost is about the only stock part left.

I've never liked riding a single speed with a suspension fork, but there is no way I can ride on trails with a rigid fork at this point. Maybe someday.

Later.

The Breaks

I don't normally post non-bike content. However, this trip is somewhat related because it was definitely in jeopardy due to my broken wrist. Which was, you know, totally bike related.

Our trip would be spent in Cancún and Cozumel. In hindsight we probably should have made some adjustments to our itinerary as soon as I broke the bone, but we figured in six weeks I would be in much better shape than I was.

Our flight was a red eye out of San Francisco, so we drove to Concord and took BART the rest of the way. Here Jenn is ready for bed at 10 p.m.

This is the "please stop taking pictures" face.

We landed in Cozumel sometime the next morning, hoisted our backpacks, and headed outside to find a taxi to the dock. From there we took the ferry to Playa del Carmen where we rented a car. From there we would drive to Cancún.

I took a number of pictures highlighting all the damage just to protect myself.

Jennifer wasn't keen on driving in Mexico, so I told her I would. Unfortunately, this was under the assumption the car would be an automatic. When I asked the rental guy he said, "No automatics, señor." So I had to utilize my left hand to drive, which I hadn't done since the accident.

I had driven extensively in Europe, which can be pretty crazy, but Mexico was a bit different. The Carretera Cancún-Tulum (Highway 307) was pretty straightforward except for the random speed bumps that came out of nowhere. One minute you're doing 110 km/h and the next there are bumps manned by heavily armed police. Why? No clue. Also, the speed limit changes seemed pretty random. I tried to stay around the speed limit, but most cars were flying by me going very fast. There were a LOT of nice cars, but also a lot of old beaters struggling to keep up.

Once we neared Cancún things became much more interesting. The roundabouts were a complete free-for-all with cars, scooters, bikes, motorcycles, pedestrians and even a donkey cart jockeying for position. It seemed crazy and chaotic to us, but I'm sure for the locals it's normal and routine.

We arrived at our hotel completely frazzled and exhausted from our very long and stressful journey from Sacramento. Here Jenn is very relieved to be there.

Me? Cool as always, baby.

The drive took its toll on my wrist, so I needed to ice it. I asked the girl at the front desk, "¿Dónde está la máquina de helado?" She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "No sé." I asked two more people with similar results. When we got to the room I plopped down on the bed frustrated, my wrist throbbing. I laid back and played the scenes over in my head. Then I realized my mistake. "Shit," I said, "ice is hielo. I've been asking for the ice cream machine!" We got a good laugh out of that. Once I used the right word, I had a bag of ice in no time.

This is El Shrimp Bucket. We ended up eating here a couple times. Maybe this is referencing the Chum Bucket from SpongeBob?

Cheesy tourist picture from El Shrimp Bucket.

Big fella on the lagoon side in Cancún.

The view from our room.

Crazy blue colors.

A little bit of the hotel grounds and the beach.

Our hotel was OK, but they were very aggressive about timeshare presentations from the minute we walked in. Finally they broke us down and we agreed to go to one.

They took us down the highway to a resort somewhere south of Cancún where we were essentially held captive for six hours. We enjoyed a nice meal and were given a bottle of tequila. Then the hard sell came. We said no to everything for hours, but they were relentless. Finally, they gave up on us and we were allowed to leave. It was an awful experience and we will never stay at the Gran Melia again.

One thing we really enjoyed was our morning fruit. Pretty much every fruit tasted better in Mexico.

One day the wind really whipped up and the red flags came out. No beach access.

Empty.

Another iguana.

I had to keep an eye on these two. Dude's a total clown, but he does have that nice head of red hair going for him. And really big feet . . .

After not touching the rental car the entire time in Cancún, we drove it back to Playa. The rental guy was really nice when we rented the car, so I handed him the bottle of tequila when we walked in. It must have been good stuff, because he was very, very happy. He asked us where we were staying in Cozumel and I told him the Palace. He nodded and said, "You will enjoy your stay, amigo." I thought, OK.

It turned out he was connected. We later learned that he had called ahead of our arrival at the hotel and put in a good word. When we arrived at the Cozumel Palace we were treated like VIPs and very much taken care of for our entire stay. It's funny what one act of kindness can do.

One of the things we did in Cozumel was a submarine trip. When we first saw it I thought, damn, that looks small. And it was.

When they first took us down there wasn't much to see. I wasn't immediately impressed.

Then we approached a reef and the fish started to appear.

As we crept closer the colors became more evident.

Jenn peering out the window.

Run silent, run deep.

Look closely and there is a sea turtle center frame.

Happy to have survived our submarine adventure.

Yet another iguana.

The view of the clear waters of Cozumel from our balcony.

If Jenn looks unhappy, it's because this is the last day.

Goodbye, Cozumel.

Overall it was a good trip. My broken wrist forced us to really kick back and relax more than we would have normally, and in a way it was a good lesson. Sometimes we try to cram too much into a short vacation and it ends up being a little stressful. Except for the driving, this was a pretty relaxing week.

Later.

Back

I finally got back on the bike yesterday for the first time since the surgery. I had to keep my tiny little arm elevated to keep it from swelling.

This morning it's sore and stiff. I'm told this will be the new normal going forward after workouts and physical therapy.

Tonight we leave for a vacation to Cozumel and Cancun. This was already scheduled before the crash. The situation isn't optimal, but we'll make do and try to have fun anyway.

Later.

Cutting Update

 I had my four-week post-op appointment today. Apparently things are looking good?

Looks like a freaking mess to me, but what do I know.

Later.