Devil Mountain Expeditions

DIABLO SUMMIT:

Busy week over here – both riding and otherwise.  Been lagging on getting the trail reports up.  Started out with a Friday (8/6) Diablo Summit ride with Dan and Chris.  Sweet ride – that’s it.  Couple pics including the obligatory LT2/summit sign picture.  Gotta love Dan’s pose…

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE:

That following Sunday, I took the family to Tahoe for what was supposed to be a week, then it became 4 days, then it became “let’s play it by ear.”  We had a great time up until about 10:30pm on Monday night when Alexa woke up and decided she was going to scream for the next 4 hours straight.  No more sleep for her obviously.  At 2:30am I pulled the plug on the trip, loaded the car and took off for San Ramon at 3am.  Couple stops for coffee and Carter vomiting the backseat from car sickness, and I pulled into our driveway at 6:30am.  Rough one.

Unfortunately my plan to ride Toads was crushed, however I did get a sweet trail run in (not to mention a sketchy climb in pic 2) followed by a great round of mini golf with Carter and a fantastic dinner at Izzy’s Burger Shack in South Lake.  Highly recommended…for those meat eaters out there.

DEMO:

So after a bitter drive home Tuesday morning, Wednesday brought some sort of hope to my week.  Instead of heading back into the office early, Ja and I decided to take a trip out to Demo.  It had been way too long for me – too much golf this summer had gotten in the way of Demo trips.  With the new Blur LT, those golf rounds will have to wait – I forget how f-ing fun SDF can be.  Ja brought the Highline out and hammered a Ridge -> Sawpit loop.  I joined him on that section, then climbed Sulphur for more single track on Braille.  Topped that off with a couple beers at the truck and a sando at the Summit Store.  Stopped by my new favorite bike shop on the way home – Trail Head Cyclery.

NORTH PEAK:

Final addition to this never ending post – rode this morning with Dan, Chris and Tom.  5am start from Clayton – ouch.  Not gonna lie – I was hoping Dan would push the snooze button thus enabling me to sleep.  But it was not to be – and I’m stoked we made it out.  Chris thanks for the guide service – what a sweet loop.  15 miles of fun up on the north side of Diablo.  Some great views, great trails, great company.  Looking forward to doing it again…

THE END…..

Took the new LT2 out for a ride this morning.  It performed great – again the DH was fantastic as was the climbing ability.  Where I really noticed this bike shine was in the middle gear though.  It feels like I can climb faster in the middle ring than on my old LT1.  With that said, I’m not sure on the super steep climbs that the LT2 is better – this may be due to the 10 degree rise stem though.  I’ll have to make a decision on whether to go back to a 5 degree after a couple more rides.  Most importantly it brought a smile to my face on the downhills.

Oh, and this is how I got to the trailhead:

The new "adventure" mobile

Roof rack to be installed this week - still debating a hitch mount

This is simply classic …

Well, I figured I had to get some pics up here.  CK and I both picked up new Blur LT frames last weekend.  Had mine built overnight at Danville Bikes.  First ride was tonight, and I have to admit, this rig is sick.  The thing climbs like no other bike I’ve ever been on.  Again, I’ve only been on one ride, but my legs felt completely fresh at the top of Dan Cooke – normally I’m struggling to summit.  Tonight it was a different story.

The 2nd difference I noticed was how SWEET wider bars are when it comes to downhill.  So much better than my other set up.  I’m really glad I threw down for the OS Easton Monkey bars – solid upgrade.

But seriously – this bike is borderline unfair.  And if I eventually put a TALAS 150 or 160 on it?  Good night.

More testing will come this weekend.  I’m hoping to get 25-30 miles completed up on Diablo.  True test of brutal climbs and fast downhills.  The technical stuff will have to wait until mid-August (Toads) and September (Downieville!!).

In the meantime, here are a few pre-ride pics.  Jury is still out on my 10 degree stem rise.  That and I really have to add air to the RP23 – my sag is way off – approaching 50%.  I am happy I went with the large frame though.  It felt good on both the climb and the descent.

Let me know your thoughts on the build.  Here are a few pics:

The red accents actually are growing on me...

Thank you SC for upgrading your rear suspension linkage

The usual ass shot...

Sweet trail just outside Bellingham …

So I’ve dropped the ball again on a race report from two weeks ago.  My 4th consecutive Downieville Classic XC race – and by far not my best showing.  Rolled up solo (with the dog of course) Friday night.  Got into Dville at about midnight.  I was exhausted so I went straight to bed.

Drove up to Sierra City for the race start early Saturday morning.  Got there about 7:30am and proceeded to over think my set up.  Oh – forgot to mention that Friday afternoon I was scrambling to have new pads installed in my front brakes.  So basically I broke two of the major rules of racing – 1) race like you train, and 2) don’t ever break in a bike part on race day.

Well, like I said, I broke both those rules.  Brand new brake pads would come back to haunt me.  I didn’t realize my brake lever was completely extended – this made braking very difficult and resulted in my first crash.  Not only that, but my front skewer must not have been installed correctly by the bike shop the day before, and that came loose during the descent through Sunrise…awesome.

My other intelligent move was to decide last minute to take two water bottles instead of a Camelbak.  I drank the first bottle, then proceeded to drop my 2nd somewhere up on Pauley Creek.  At about the same time I cramped, so that was a problem.

In a nutshell, great weekend.  Challenging race like usual.  All in all, I crashed twice, flatted once, and nearly killed myself when the front skewer opened.  This combined with my leg cramps resulted in a time 20 minutes slower than last year – 3:30.  With that said, still enjoyed the heck out the weekend.  The river was great, beer was cold, and The Saddle Tramps were fantastic as usual.

Couple pics – nothing that exciting – just my attempt to capture the weekend.  Can’t say enough good things about this event.  I will be back for more next year…

Mandatory race bib shot

Big Moe in the Yuba

Downtown Downieville

The usual drinking spot

The Saddle Tramps

Post race nap time

Keep us posted on any and all rides out there in Saudi Arabia.  If you eventually ride the Alps, there better be a trail report posted here.

Or…if you decide to take up golfing, let me know how the Desert Lakes Golf Club in Jeddah plays:

Ya, I slacked on my post Downieville ride report.  CK covered all the good stuff.  Basically just a great time all around and a perfect send off ride for CK.

Couple notes to self – next time I decide to ride from Packer Saddle to Indian Valley, do NOT attempt with the VP Free.  That was a brutal 35 miles on that 40 lb pig of a bike.  What was allegedly “rolling” single track from Dville to IV was actually a lot of climbing and basically an XC trail.  With that said, I think that’s a fantastic add-on to the typical DH course.  Thanks again Ja for picking up my dead carcass and hauling us back to town.

Now on to the Classic!  Looks like it will be a solo trip for me this year.

Just a couple pics:

Big Moe making the trip again

Ja, Dan, Stone and CK at Packer Saddle

Stone at the bridge

Dan at the bridge

CK at the bridge

Ja and CK

Up close and personal...

Stone, Diablo Dan, and Ja

The VP Free and proof of the suffer fest