The second lap was more fun than the first. Folks were spread out and I was rolling at a good pace and chatting with other racers. Nearing the end of the lap, there is a long climb then a really fun section of singletrack. It’s not very challenging, in fact I often recommend it for beginning riders. It’s called Gail’s trail. Primarily just fast, smooth rolling trail with occasional easy to avoid rocks or trees. The only tricky bit about Gail’s trail is the fact that the edges are soft and covered with slippery pine needles. I was cruising down Gail’s at a good clip, really enjoying myself. I’d just passed someone and the fun meter was set to about 8, then my front wheel found those pine needles.

Usually time sort of slows during a crash. Every little detail pops out larger than life. It seems like you could pick out even individual dust motes as they slowly drift by… this time there was nothing. I went from flying down the trail to being on the ground in pain in an instant. There was no realization of impending disaster. In fact there was no post fall tumbling, no bouncing or sliding down the hill, just an instant stop. Forward motion was transmuted into one glorious rush to the dirt. Thump

A couple of riders caught up to me almost immediately. I was alert and didn’t feel too bad. One says “Hold on, make sure everything is ok before you try and get up.” The thing is he didn’t have to say it. I knew I couldn’t move… I tried to move my leg, but my body rebelled. Even as my brain sent its little messages to my leg, it refused to cooperate. There was a little pain then but it wasn’t bad, sort of a dull throb, but nothing telling me how bad things were.

My bike was sort of wedged awkwardly between my legs. “Can you move my bike please?”

Someone moved my bike and I tried to work out what I needed to do to get off that blissfully fun/ fast section of trail where riders were showing up by the minute at high speed… I tried some things, scootching a little but my leg had greater wisdom than my brain and it refused to cooperate.

“Are you ok? Should we tell them to send an EMT up?”

Hesitantly, because I’m still thinking I might be able to finish the day. “Yeah, I think the EMT is a good idea.”

Right about then Collette rolled up. I’ve been friends with Collette and her boyfriend Alan for about 7 years now. We don’t ride together often enough, but I consider them really good friends and for this particular race we shared a camp site. Collette has also spent a lot of time as a physician in the emergency room. I don’t recall exactly what she said but she asked me a couple questions and she looked me in the eye and said “You broke your hip.”

For the next 45 minutes, I lay sprawled across the race course, riders rolling up, many of them skidding to a stop. Collette and another campsite buddy Matt waving their arms stopping people from rolling right over the top of me. I’ve been in the mountain biking community long enough that I recognized many of them. Heck, I joked with them. What do you say when someone says “Are you Ok?” when I’m 3MM from pure agony.

The EMT along with Jim Northey, the race promoter show up and they assess the situation. I’m right smack in the middle of a long section of singletrack. It’s too tight to get a quad in safely and there is no way they could walk me out so Jim arranges for a stretcher evac. After a little more waiting, my chariot arrives, a 6’ long piece of plastic, with the other EMT and a couple stretcher bearers… It took them another 45 minutes to an hour to get me to the truck.

A relatively short, bumpy ride down the dirt road in the back of a pickup. I get to the heliport where an ambulance awaits my extraction to the hospital.

The crash was around 2PM. By the time I arrived at the hospital, it was some time around 6:30PM. I want to thank everyone involved in extracting me from the scene. Everyone was professional and tolerant of my tasteless humor and occasional ribbing. The EMT who shared the ride with me also happened to be a mountain biker which I thought was cool.

By the time I was at the hospital, the more or less non-stop jossling had caught up with me. My leg was in pretty constant pain and I could no longer find that magic spot where the pain was minor. The ER doctor arrives shortly after I  do and asks me the same questions I’d answered a dozen times already.

The doctor pokes me a few places “does this hurt bad” and nods. He quickly disassembles the neck and back braces which held me in place as he checks each place for problems. Finally he gets to my hip. I don’t recall what he said but what followed was probably the single most physically painful event I had ever experienced in my life. I don’t think I blacked out…

“You have a broken hip.”

I was about speechless. It seemed a little excessive to me, but I’m not a doctor. “Are you sure it’s broken.” (I wasn’t thinking quite straight then, Ok?)

“Well, I don’t think it would hurt so much if it were anything else. But we’ll know for certain after the X-Ray.”

Some time later, after a few more of those very painful and traumatic moments, I am all X-rayed up and prepped for surgery. I don’t remember much about the surgery other than making a few jokes in the prep room and that one final “*****GAAAAAAAAHHHH!!******” instant of pain which the anesthesia didn’t cover. Then lights out.

When I woke up the difference was nearly miraculous… sure I was in nearly constant pain. My leg also had a few positions which caused me to nearly black out in pain. But somehow I could feel that things were better. The nursing staff were great and really tolerant of what had to be a horrible patient. However by Sunday afternoon I was able to get out of bed and use the little boys room all by myself.

I nearly floored the nursing staff when I got on a walker and managed to hobble down to the nursing station and asked to be pushed outside to enjoy the cool and sun for a bit. The rest of my day was spent pretty baked on a morphine derivative which was quite enjoyable.

Monday morning I got up early and stole a wheelchair. For some reason sleep escaped me. Counter to my normal routine, I was up and active at 5am. My goal was to get out of the hostpital that afternoon or maybe morning so I had the nurse pull my IV and give me a few Percoset. I rolled out the front door to the hospital and enjoyed a brisk sunrise over Clearlake.

... more to come.

Our drive to the Coolest 24 Hour race (that’s the name of the event) was interrupted about 15 minutes short of our destination on the climb to Pilot Hill. Pilot Hill is a little town off of Highway 49 at the top of a steep windy road. When we got to the steep part of the hill the engine was running great, but the RV was slowing down, until eventually we had no power at all. I managed to pull the RV onto what is probably the only section of dirt shoulder on the side of the road big enough for a 34’ RV in the 5 mile climb, even so the RV stuck out into the narrow road for a foot.

We called AAA and arranged for a tow then waited. After about 30 minutes a highway patrol car showed up and gave us a good looking over and tried to push the RV further off the side of the road with his car. I wasn’t surprised to find his car was unable to motivate our RV up a 15% grade while the road was slick from rain. The tow truck finally showed up and the driver had a hell of a time getting our RV on the tow rig.  About 3 hours of jiggering in pouring rain and eventually the driver called out a second truck. We arrived at the garage in Placerville at around Midnight. Fortunately, they let us overnight in the RV there.

We woke up and my oldest daughter, Liz, came out and rescued us. We loaded a bunch of stuff from the RV into the van, they dropped me off in Cool for the race, and headed home. I was lucky Fred and Kelley Randle (my personal saviors) let me crash in their trailer for the duration of the race and gave me a ride home at the end of the weekend.

The rain from the previous night continued all morning and all through the afternoon. I was on a 5 person co-ed team with the Dirty Avacodos with Adam, Angel, Mike, and Rick.  Since I was late, they put me at the end of the roster (24 hour team races are relay races). My first lap was at about 5PM. It was still raining. Unfortunately, I had no front fender and forgot my glasses at the trailer.  That turned into a horrible choice for a rainy lap. Within the first 100 yards, I had mud in my eyes and was blinking frantically to clear them. I thought briefly about turning in and getting my clears but decided not to… bad call, my eyes are still sore a full day later from crud that flew into them on that first lap.

The trail was super slick and covered with a thin layer of slimy wet mud. In places it got deeper, into a soupy 2” deep goop best described as oatmeal that sucked your tires in and robbed you of momentum. There were also sections where the mud was even deeper. It was particularly bad near the creek crossings. There were 100 yard sections of 3-4” slop.

I had decided early on that using my single speed bike was the best choice so the rear derailer wouldn’t get clogged up with mud. Though I did suffer for it and stuggle on some climbs, overall I think it was a good choice. Lots of geared bikes were having mechanical issues. Fred opted to clear his drivetrain off twice a lap, stopping at a deep creek crossing to rinse the drivetrain and relube it. Even with the singlespeed, I layered the chain lube on thick. My bike choice and maintenance paid off. I didn’t have a single mechanical issue all race.

My second lap started at 12:30AM so I had time for some dinner, set up and cleaned my bike, layed out my clothes, and caught about 45 minutes of sleep before my lap.

Having good lights is a necessity for night laps.  I had some great ones my brother, Kevin, lent me (I’ll try and get all the mud off them before I return them). The rain had let up since sunset. I was hoping for better trail conditions. Unfortunately, though visibility was much better, the trail was significantly sloppier and my legs were tired. I still managed a decent lap time, but I think I could have done better if I’d changed to an easier gear before my lap. The views during night laps are absolutely incredible. As you come around a few curves, you can see the lights from Auburn on the opposite side of the ravine. Also, for me the moon was just barely visible behind the clouds.

I finished my lap, cleaned and lubed my bike. At the rate laps were going, I figured I could get a solid 5 hours sleep in. It turns out that that I could have gotten a solid 8 hours in. The rain had started back up at 4AM and was pretty solid all through the morning. The organizer decided to call the event at 10AM, 2 hours earlier than planned. In addition, our team was even slower than anticipated throughout the morning. We would only be able to get 14 laps in by the cutoff time. I had anticipated getting at least 3, maybe 4 laps in for the race, but I wound up with only 2 laps for the entire 24 hour event.

It turned out that our team won it’s division… I’m not sure how many teams in the 5 person co-ed, but a victory under those conditions is just gravy. Thanks to all the Dirty Avacados for putting up with me and thanks for Global Biorhythms for putting on a great 24 hour event in spite of horrid conditions.

I also wanted to talk a little bit about Mountain Bike Oregon (MBO). This is an amazing event, this was our third year attending and we have yet to be disappointed. You can read my previous review and of MBO. My only comment is that the popular Middle Fork ride was dramatically altered this year and the results were a bit disappointing. So a huge thumbs up to the event… but next year I will likely skip the extra $$ for the Middle Fork ride and just enjoy the closer in rides.

After MBO we spent a day riding the North Umpqua Trail (NUT) which is south of Oakridge along the North Umpqua River. This is an amazing trail filled with some spectacular views, long flowing downhills, it’s simply an amazing trail. Pictures and a more detailed review here.

Finally, I’m on a big push to get my weight down and my fitness level up right now (some people call this training) for a big ride coming up in September. As part of this I’ve been trying to get some longer rides and doing a little exploration in the Pinecrest area. We’ve discovered some great routes, and explored some really interesting areas over the last few weeks. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to share some of that on the site shortly. Not a lot to share yet, but I should have some GPS mapped routes up soon. Here is a route we did (motion based) that took us up to Eagle Peak and Pinecrest Peak. Some absolutely amazing views from those trails. I pretty much blew up early on that ride and never recovered so it was a looong day for me. I didn’t bring a camera but here are some older pictures of Eagle Peak and Pinecrest Peak

Every year the weekend before Memorial Day there is a gathering of people from the MTBR Norcal Forum called May By the Bay. This year there were 6 rides, with the final three days rides at Annadel Park, Boggs Mountain, and Oathill Mine Trail. It’s an informal gathering with no official sponsors and it’s 100% free, even the camping at Boggs is free.

Fiona and I went to the Annadel ride on Saturday and rode at Boggs Demonstration Forest on Sunday and Monday. Both Boggs and Annadel are amazing mountain bike friendly parks with miles and miles of awesome trails. If you like fast buffed singletrack you can’t go wrong at either place. I’ve been riding at Boggs for 5 years and every year there are more and more trails there.

Seth is faster than me and as such I had him do the first lap. Overall a great choice. Seth managed to be in the top 10 of the team riders out of the gate and then got back in 5th overall at 55 minutes, giving me a traffic free first lap. We managed to stay ahead of most of the traffic, leaving the dust and constant passing to the other teams. My times were about on par with the second place team but Seth continued cranking out amazing lap times, putting 10 minutes per lap on the second place team. By sunset our team was 30 minutes ahead of the second place team.

After sunset we started doing double laps. Seth got off to a bad start and had some problems with his lights and wound up coming back to the RV to swap out for his backup light. When he sees me Seth jokes “Hey, I didn’t know you were at this race too!” Referring to the fact that we’d seen each other for perhaps 10 seconds each lap prior to then. Then he tells me “Dude, we’re 45 minutes ahead of the second place team. It’s game on now.” Up to that point we’d just been trying to finish, neither of us had really seriously thought about being competitive.

Then it was my turn to pull a double for my 5th and 6th laps. The first lap was ok, maybe a little slower than my previous laps but not too bad. My second lap was tough. On previous laps I wasn’t worried about eating mid-lap. I would just eat enough between laps. I did eat on that lap but perhaps not enough or maybe too much between laps. I’m not sure. In any case when I finished my second lap, I was in bad shape.

I limped back to the RV and could feel my legs right on the verge of cramping up. I managed to shovel down a little food, some chocolate milk, then I got out of my sweat soaked riding clothes and crawled into bed and tried to eat a bowl of oatmeal. I was shivering uncontrollably and trying in vain to find a position I could put my legs in without them cramping up. Beyond anything else I just couldn’t seem to get warm. In spite of this, sleep claimed me with a half eaten bowl of oatmeal in my hand. Seth came in about 70 minutes later and I woke up still clutching the bowl which had somehow managed to not spill. He had more light trouble and had wound up following someone else in. I was so zonked and still hurt. I couldn’t even get out of bed to help him track down my spare light. When he left I was back asleep within a couple minutes.

At 4AM my alarm went off and I slowly started to get my senses together. I started to get dressed only to have a major cramp in my leg. I woke Fiona up and she massaged it a bit for me then helped me get dressed. We were still winning? I didn’t care, I wasn’t sure I could do another lap and if I blew up Seth would have to finish the race solo, not good. I ate a little more at that time. By the time I was ready to go Seth was all the way back at the RV. I’d missed our exchange. I talked to Seth for a minute and told him I wasn’t going to be able to do a second double. Then I pedaled off, hoping my cramping legs wouldn’t seize up on me somewhere mid lap.

My goal for my 7th lap? Just to finish the lap. I took it easy the whole lap, using the easy gear and walking the steeper climbs. Somehow my leg cramps just disappeared on me. My legs still hurt but it was just the ache of sore muscles, not the knife-stabbing cramps I’d been getting earlier. I was bundled pretty well and stayed warm for most of the lap and overall it was a good lap with some great dawn views, though I missed the sunrise. Somehow lap 7 wasn’t that near so bad as my 6th lap. I guess 2 hours of quality sleep does a body wonders.

After 7 I ate a nice breakfast thanks to Fiona and rested a little before my 8th lap. By the time Seth was back from his final lap at 10 AM, we were 2 laps ahead of the 2nd place team. All I needed to do was finish my 9th lap to cinch the win. I told every one my final lap was my victory lap and just took it easy. I had 2 hours to finish my lap and my worst previous lap had been less than 88 minutes.

I remember a bunch of people I know from MTBR cheering me as I rolled out and I spun up the hills in low gear. I walked all the tough climbs and of course chatted to everyone on the course. I stopped at the aid station and chatted with some of the crew while I drank a bit of sports drink. Then I ran into DJ from the Dirty Avocados. We rode together for about a mile talking about riding and adventure racing. My 9th lap didn’t seem much like racing at all. It was just plain fun. I wound up coming in at 1 hour 40 minutes.

Turns out we blew out the category. We beat the 2nd place team by 2 full laps. Looking at their team times, it looks like they were trying to do double laps in the middle of the night and their weaker team member cracked and couldn’t do his second lap. The third place team was a lap behind them.

I’m not sure what to do after this. Solo?

The real kicker that makes this the king of Grass Roots racing is the fact that the proceeds from the race all wind up going directly to improving the trails in the Whiskeytown/ Mt Shasta Area. Combine this with a great great atmosphere, awesome trails, and a laid back group that puts on the event and the $35 entry fee is dirt cheap.

Here’s some more fun for Sacramento area racers. There is a series of events at Granite Bay (NE of Sacramento) including several Friday Night MTB races, some Duathalons and mini-Triathalons. The races are put on by TBF Racing and there is a schedule if you follow that link. There are 3 MTB only races in June for all classes and age groups. Entry fees are $20.

I don’t race much, but there are a few races which I enjoy. These are generally the sort of grass roots or fund raising events where the fees are usually low and the atmosphere is generally awesome. I’m going to try and report on all the local/grass roots races in Norcal that interest me. Don’t expect to see Sea Otter or any of the big venues show up here. They just don’t interest me a lot and get plenty of coverage elsewhere. The first grassroots race I want to cover is actually a weekly series in the Sacramento area.

The Prarie City Race Series is a weekly mountain bike race series held at the Prarie City OHV park located between Rancho Cordova and Folsom off of Grant Line Road. The races are held every Wednesday evening at 6:15 PM (show up early for registration) starting April 2nd. The only prizes awarded on race day are random door prizes. This event has been growing significantly over the last few years and currently they average over 350 racers per week. The laps are short, 3-4 miles and the different classes all race varying lengths; 2 laps for beginner, 3 for sport class, 4 for expert and 5 for expert ‘plus’ (instead of pro). The course is very fast, SS friendly with lots of short ups and downs rather than any prolonged climbing.

On September 22nd and 23rd the TROGS, the Ogre (from Ogrehut.com), and some Sonora area locals are inviting you to a get together at Pinecrest Peak. Prepare for 2 days of riding, camping, and general MTB mayhem. If you’ve never ridden at Pinecrest, this is a great chance to try out some awesome Sierra Nevada trails which are a bit off the beaten track. Anyone is welcome to show up and we have plans for any level of rider.

Location : We will be camping at Fraser Flat Campground near Strawberry on both Friday and Saturday Nights. All rides will meet at the Strawberry Store (Big Red Store on Right).

Friday: We’re going to have a Friday night ride at 9PM along Fiona’s Favorite trail. The ride will be laid back and at a slow pace. Expect a mellow ride dodging trees through some fairly tame terrain. This is about a 9 mile loop and will be the only ride to start and finish at Fraser Flat campground. (Rain/ snow cancels)
Saturday: (none of the rides planned on Saturday are to be shuttled)
Easy Ride: Fiona’s Favorite Loop, down Ewok Trail from Strawberry, crossing the river at Spring Gap Road, then returning on the RR Grade to Strawberry. 10 miles, easy pace with very little climbing.
Challenging Ride: Climb up to Pinecrest Peak and alternately climbing up Willow Creek or Hammil Canyon then returning via Pinecrest Peak Trail.
Expert Route: This is a highly challenging ride for expert level mountain bikers, it’s a 35-40+ mile route with tons of climbing, technical cross country riding and finishes with the the killer Pinecrest Peak Downhill.

Sunday: Sunday’s plans are not set in stone yet. Here are the tentative plans for the day.
Easy Ride: 10-15 miles riding along the Flume trail above the Stanislaus River (may have a delayed start time due to shuttling Challenging riders)
Challenging Route: This will be a shuttled ride, the shuttle will drop riders off at the base of Eagle Peak and riders will climb up to Eagle Peak coming down some fresh new singletrack. At that point they can go directly to Pinecrest Peak via forest roads or drop down Willow Creek trail before climbing to Pinecrest Peak.
Expert Ride: A second day of high mileage, challenging cross country riding. The second day will likely not include Pinecrest Peak but will include 30-40 miles of challenging singletrack.

Cost: Zero $ (responsible for own campsite and food/ alcohol)
Registration: Just show up at Fraser Flat on Friday Night or meet us at the Strawberry Store on Saturday or Sunday Morning.

Weather seems to be deteriorating on Saturday. Still have a chance that it will blow over but I would suggest anyone day-tripping to come on Sunday rather than Saturday. The trails should be awesome post rain/ snow. I’ll be up there both days rain or shine and will likely ride on Saturday if it’s just limited to showers or a light drizzle. Friday nights ride is canceled if there is rain. Night rain rides are not fun (I’ve done it)

Also, note that Sunday’s Easy Ride will start at 11AM rather than 10AM as was listed originally.

The Mountain Bike Oregon event itself was very well organized. The cover price for the weekend is was right around $250 (depending on when you registered) and it was an all inclusive event. All ride shuttles and guides, a campsite, bathrooms (mostly portable), showers were available at the local high school, and food. Breakfast was excellent; eggs, pancakes, sausage, biscuits and gravy, and fresh fruit along with coffee and OJ. Far from your traditional camping fare. At breakfast time and shortly afterwards, a lunch spread was laid out in a pack-it-yourself fashion. All the good whole grain bread, lunch meat or peanut butter and jelly, cookies and munchies you wanted to whip up. The disappointment for me food-wise was dinner, a lackluster offering of mediocre pasta and dried burgers that was filling, but didn’t really inspire praise. Desert was excellent and the brownies with ice cream were great.

The one thing that really drives home how impressive this area is was the quality and passion of the riders in the area. Almost universally the guides were mind-blowingly impressive riders. These are people who are passionate about the trails and have migrated to central Oregon because of the quality of the trails there. The guides do an awesome job of keeping track of large groups of mountain bikers and every ride had a great guide to ‘paid client’ ratio. There were roughly 30 “Disciples of Dirt” at the event, all volunteers, all ecstatic about cycling and almost universally the most friendly people you would ever wish to see on a ride.

This is the third year of Mountain Bike Oregon and every year it’s gotten bigger and better. The trails in the area are so compelling that some of the people who went to the event were seriously considering a vacation home. One person was even talking about relocating to the area. All the beer you can drink, decent food, shuttled rides, and some of the friendliest, most accommodating organizers make this into a mountain biking event that people are going to want to go to again and again.