Author: Ogre

One of my favorite sorts of rides are point to point rides, particularly where I get to plan them out or if it’s a fairly unique route connecting a bunch of disparate trails. The last day of our January trip to Southern California was one of those rides. We were staying at my uncle’s house in Westlake Village and I’d scouted out some routes up along the ridge-line in the previous couple days which led up to Los Robles trail. So on the last day there, I pedaled up to Los Robles trail and pedaled most of it’s length to a short short connecting trail that led to Sycamore Canyon Trail and meet Fiona at the beach. The total ride was about 26 miles long with about 3700 feet of climbing. There there was a fair amount of just connecting stuff up with dirt roads, there was a fair amount of single track and it was a ton of fun with lots of great views and a really epic ending down at the beach along highway 1.

 

During the summer, the Sierra Foothills lose a bit of their luster. The days are often uncomfortably hot and the hills turn an ugly brown. The during the fall, things start to get better as the rains come and cool things down a bit and knock the dust off the trails, December we have to deal with rain, short days, and wet trails… But things are starting to green up again… It is this time of year though where the Sierra foothills are truly magical. The wildflowers are in full bloom and the days are moderate and lengthening. Trails are often muddy, but in the Sierra most of them drain well and we get a lot of hero dirt days where traction is amazing and it feels like we can turn on a dime. It is this time of year wh en I really feel like the Sierra Foothills are best experienced.

For those of us who live in the foothills or in the Central Valley, that simply means we get out a bit more often and the trails we ride regularly are just a little nicer than usual. For others, this is a great time to check out what the lower parts of the Sierra offers while we all wait for the snow to melt in the high country and the longer, more mountainous trails open up.

These are some images from Lake Hogan and Red Hills, but Auburn, Glory Hole, San Joaquin River Trail (east of Fresno), and many other great trails are lurking just on the fringes of the Sierra for you to explore.

The wheels are finally in motion. Sometime in the next 18 months, we are going to pack up and move to Oregon. This is a big deal for us, we’ve been in the same place for nearly 30 years now.

Northern California is a pretty awesome place, but we’re ready to move on… but before I do, I want to say goodbye to a few places which I think are awesome. So from now until I move, I’m going to be trying my damnedest to ride as many of the great trails I’ve ridden in NorCal. This is a pretty tall order, there are a LOT of really amazing places to ride in Northern California so it’s going to be really tough trying to cram as many of these places in while we’re simultaneously moving to Oregon, and I’m working a full time job.

I’ll be posting my progress and lots of photos here on my blog, but here’s a preview of my checklist. I’ve If you know some really great trails that I’ve missed, please let me know!

Continue reading Ogre’s Goodbye California Tour

Not a lot of commentary today, just a few images from Lake Hogan before the storm rolls back in.

It was supposed to rain all weekend, so I’d planned to spend most of Sunday indoors, but I got lucky and there was a 5-6 hour “window” of rain free day, so I tossed the single speed on the back of the car and boogied down to one of my favorite wet/ rain friendly trails, Red Hills and was rewarded with a spectacular (if a bit wet) day of riding with great views and amazing trails.

Continue reading Fording the Atmospheric River

A few months ago I got a new Niner Jet 9 RDO, and I absolutely love that bike… but that’s not what I’m posting about today. While I love my geared bike, it’s winter time, the time of super-sloppy/ wet trails and the time to build up strength for the spring/ summer riding. So I’m back on my single speed and raring to go. I’ve rebuilt my Kona Kula 2-9 with new tires, a new bottom bracket, and a new chain and she’s… as good as you’d expect an 8 year old bike with a blown fork to be, but still pretty damned fun to ride so I’ve been pounding out a lot of short steep muddy rides on her and having a blast.

Continue reading Back on the Single Again

Yoga is great cross training for mountain biking, it helps build core strength and increases rider flexibility, focus, and endurance. After a tough ride, practicing yoga also helps stretch out tight muscles and stimulates healing. But there are some fairly significant differences between any mountain biker should keep in mind when learning yoga, keeping this in mind will help you avoid frustration or embarrassment.

• In yoga they don’t call it an endo, it’s called downward facing dog, and it usually hurts a lot less.
• If you hit a rock or tree during yoga… something is seriously wrong.
• It’s extremely uncommon to share a beer in the parking lot when you finish yoga so leave the cooler at home.
• Changing in the parking lot before and after yoga is definitely frowned on, change at home, use the bathroom or changing room at the studio.
• In most studios, shouting “Fuck Yeah!” when you finally master a position is alsoYfrowned upon.
• No one has ever said “Best yoga ever” after practicing yoga.
• When you finish yoga, there are no mysterious cuts, scrapes, or bruises you don’t remember getting, but you are likely to discover entire classes of muscles you never knew you could strain.
• It doesn’t matter how long your yoga session is, you’ll never need chamois butter.