Freemason

Hmm, I am running out of "mason" references.

Yesterday I took the Diamondback out to Salmon Falls. The last time I rode there I found the terrain to be a bit rough, so I figured it would be a good proving ground for the 27-plus bike.

The bike is still stock except for new grips, which were too thin and hard for my liking. I also converted the tires to tubeless. The rims were already taped, so it was simply a matter of removing the tubes, inserting the valve and adding some sealant. The tires aired right up. By far my easiest conversion to date. The stock tubes were very thick and heavy, and removing them saved 1.5 pounds. Nice.

Since I bottomed out once on the last ride on a much mellower trail, I ran a bit more air pressure due to the rocky nature of Salmon Falls. Right off the bat I noticed a huge improvement in the way the bike felt even with more air pressure. Tubeless tires simply perform better. Losing 1.5 pounds of rotating weight certainly doesn't hurt, either.

I am having a hard time finding any negatives with the 27-plus platform. It might be a little slower than a 29er in some situations, but I can't even say that for sure. To truly compare I would need to have two bikes of equal quality, and the Mason Trail doesn't stack up to my other bikes from that standpoint. Still, it holds its own.

The first part of the ride is mostly flat trail cut into a steep hillside, with plenty of rocks. It's my least favorite part of the ride, but the fat tires made it much better. Almost fun. On the very first downhill I opened it up and let it fly. I can honestly say I have never gone faster on that section. The slack angles and big tires changed my normal hardtail approach from "picking good lines" to simply plowing over everything. It's a different way to ride, and not without merit.

After some fun up-and-down singletrack comes the grind up Flagstaff, which climbs 675 feet in 1.6 miles. Years ago it was a fast fire road downhill, but today it better resembles a rocky, rutted, overgrown creek bed. I spent much of the first half in the 30x36 gear, but had to drop into my lowest gear (30x40) a couple times. I think for the most part I can get up any climb with the single ring setup, especially with the crazy traction of the plus tires.

The second half isn't as steep or rocky. The view from near the top:

The last steep stretch:

After a paved downhill is the back section, which is a fairly smooth stretch except for all the gopher/squirrel holes. If you've ever ridden a squirrel-holed trail, you know it can be a speed sapping experience. It's here where I noticed the flotation of the tires the most.

As I was motoring along, I caught up to a guy on a carbon fiber Stumpjumper FSR. He looked down at my bike, and the look on his face said, "Did this dude just catch me on that Walmart bike?" Yes. Yes, he most certainly did.

I passed him and he jumped on my wheel for a quarter mile or so. On a slight rise I hit the gas and I heard him gurgle something to the effect of "ughndwuh" and drop anchor. Bye now!

After that you enter a section with twisty, flowing trail. It's slightly downhill and fast. I had a blast testing the limits of traction in the corners.

With two rides now on vastly different terrain, I will say this: I think the 27-plus platform is the future. It's that good. You retain the rollover of the 29er diameter, have similar flotation to the 29-plus tire, yet eliminate some of the 29-plus heft I experience with the Krampus.

The ability to have one bike that can run a fast wheelset (29er) and a bomber wheelset (27-plus) is pretty cool, too. And for the most part you don't lose a lot when running the 27-plus wheels anyway. I haven't tried a 27-plus full suspension yet, but the three-inch tires definitely negate many of the drawbacks of a hardtail bike. It's just enough float to take the sting out of the trail.

More to come. Later.

Old Friend

Yesterday I rode out at Salmon Falls. As far as I can remember, I haven't been out there in over three years. Where has the time gone?

I had a really, really good time. It left me wondering why I have not been mountain biking more in general, and specifically here in my old stomping grounds.

A big part of what made the ride great was the new bike. The Canfield is simply fun. The more technical the trail became, the more it shined. Steep, rocky climb? No problem. The short chainstays allow for plenty of traction in or out of the saddle. Fast downhills were cake. The slack geometry allowed me to really go for it. I hit speeds I had never achieved on that ride, ever, and felt very comfortable doing it. Steep, technical descents were easy, too. The long top tube combined with the low bottom bracket makes the bike feel really stable. On the long, rocky climb up Flagstaff, the 32x36 low gear made it tough going, but I was able to grind it out.

No bike is perfect, though. When I was on flat, wide open singletrack, I was wishing for another bike. That's when I like to put it in the big ring, get low and go fast.

Something new for me was leaving the "real" camera at home and going with the cell phone. I recently inherited a lightly used Nokia Lumia 1020, which features a 41 megapixel camera.

It seems to take pretty good pictures. I always carried a phone anyway, so it was nice to leave the extra piece of hardware at home.

In the old days I used to always do at least two loops, which gave me 29 miles or so. I will have to work back up to that.

The average speed doesn't look great because I don't stop the GPS during photo ops. I'm faster than that. Really.

Later.

South Fork American River Trail

This morning I rode the South Fork American River Trail. Although it has been completed for over three years, today I decided it was finally time to check it out. I had been on some of the trail as part of the Cronan Ranch trail system, but today I wanted to ride the most recent addition that connected to Salmon Falls.

I started early, and I was not prepared for how cold it was. The trailhead is only about 20 minutes from my house, yet the temperature was much, much colder. I don't know what the temperature was due to a lack of cell phone coverage, but I can tell you that the water in my Camelbak drinking tube froze solid within minutes and I was unable to drink for over an hour until it thawed out. My finger tips were painfully numb even with warm gloves, and the wind hitting my face on the downhills hurt. I was colder than on any of my fat bike rides in the snow.

The trail is only 12 miles long, but the scenery is quite diverse, changing from open grassland to oak forest to pines and ferns to manzanita scrub.

As for the trail itself, you start off with a fine piece of well-made singletrack that rolls for a while before hitting a climb featuring a series of switchbacks.

From there you alternate between fire roads and trails for a while, and you are either climbing or descending; there wasn't much flat terrain. See the ride profile here.

Towards the end is a long descent down to the Salmon Falls parking area.

There are many trail junctions along the way, but the signs are frequent and I never questioned which way to go.

Overall I liked the trail. There was more climbing than I anticipated, so given my winter fitness level I ended up pretty tired at the end. When I am in better shape, I will attempt to add the Salmon Falls loop (19 miles). That would make a pretty tough 43-mile ride with a lot of climbing.

Later.

Salmon Falls

I managed to get out for a quick loop out at Salmon Falls this morning before little league. It was a bit cool, but not so bad once I got warmed up.

Trail conditions were just about perfect on 90% of the loop—slightly damp and grippy. The stream crossings were still running high, and there was a bit of mud here and there. Unfortunately, the poison oak was everywhere.


I worked hard on the climb up Flagstaff hill. By the top I was soaking wet. The descent after that was freaking cold.  Here's a view from the top:


Everything is very green from all the rain. This is what we mountain bikers like—smooth ribbons of singletrack snaking though nice scenery.

Oh yeah.


For all my fishing friends:


I'm really liking the new bike. The 130mm of travel and the stiff 20mm thru-axle really gave me a lot of confidence bombing down hills. Pretty fun.

The one downside of the front axle system is having to go old school with the tie downs. Back in the mid-80s, when all we had were bolt-on axles, this is how we transported our bikes until quick releases made their way onto mountain bikes. I'll have to see what my options are for a more sophisticated transport system.


That's about it for now. Later.

Got Milk?

The last race I had planned to do this season was yesterday, and I was not there. I elected to skip it because I was feeling pretty tired.

Last week was rough as far as rest and relaxation were concerned. The typical week is crazy anyway, with long work days, the kids’ homework, Taekwondo, running errands, making dinner, etc. We never get enough rest considering we get up at 3:30 a.m. for work.

Normally Friday night is a time to lie around and unwind, but we scored free tickets to the last Sacramento Kings preseason game Friday night. After working our 10-hour shift, we rushed home to grab the kids. We then ran errands related to the next day’s birthday party before grabbing a quick bite to eat and barely making tipoff at 7:00. After the game was the long drive home for me, in horrible post-game traffic, while everyone else slept. My head hit the pillow at 11:30 p.m.

On Saturday we got up (too early) and started preparing for my son’s sixth birthday party. It went off fairly smoothly, although herding six-year-olds through a movie and pizza party can be a bit stressful. We were finished and back home by 3:00. I was exhausted and knew at that point it would be dumb to race.

Yesterday I woke up and lounged around, eventually parking myself in front of the TV to watch the first half of the 49ers game. At halftime, with the Niners down 21-0, I suddenly wanted to go for a ride. Although it was late in the day, I decided to go mountain biking.

I performed a quick maintenance job on my single speed, which hadn’t been touched since the race two weeks ago. I threw it in the truck and headed to Salmon Falls.

I had not been to Salmon Falls in about two years. Due to how rough the ride is, I didn’t want to do it until I felt my wrist was ready. After banging through the 50-mile race a couple weeks ago with no issues, I was ready.

Right out of the parking lot is the most technical, rocky climb on the ride. I almost made it all the way up before screwing up right at the top. After that I cleaned every hill and rock garden the rest of the way.

Along the way I saw this guy:

Since I had my camera out, I took the obligatory MTBR bike + scenery shot:

Towards the end of the ride I was feeling a little weak. I really needed something other than water. That's when I saw this Holstein cow:

I hadn't milked a cow since high school agriculture class, but I figured I would give it a shot. I needed some energy drink!

It was tough to aim the milk into the small mouth of a waterbottle. Milking a cow is much easier with a proper milk bucket. I wish I could have taken pictures, but my hands were full of teats.

After the milking I continued to ride while the milk cooled in my bottle. Who wants 101.5 degree milk? (That's the body temp of a healthy cow.)

After a few miles I stopped to try it out:

Hot damn, did that hit the spot!

Later.

Punch Drunk

I have been a father for a week. Mom and son are doing great. It's been a whirlwind of a week filled with joy, but not without a little stress and fatigue. He's a good little sleeper so far, but that doesn't mean we rest easy. I am sleeping with one eye open because of the newness of everything, and I have never slept that well in the first place. The likelihood of a saber-toothed cat attack in the night is pretty low, but that doesn't mean in the deepest primal recesses of our brains, fathers aren't always preparing for it.

I slipped out for my first mountain bike ride today as a dad, just my standard loop out at Salmon Falls. If it's possible to feel completely drained and yet super strong at the same time, today I achieved that. Dad power.

As I said, a mostly joyous week.

 

But not without a little stress.

Saber-toothed cats beware.

Later.