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We did a morning ride at Red Hills this morning to avoid the heat, but it didn’t really work, we got to Red Hills around 9:30 and it was already 85 degrees out. Surprisingly, there were still a lot of flowers in bloom out there though and they were spectacular in a semi-desert sort of way.

The color and variety were striking, my favorite were the abundant purple flowers on the north side of the park, but there were plenty of indian paintbrush, a lot of small white flowers, poppies, and several other yellow varieties.

Our ride kept us on some of the skinnier trails on the very north end of the trail system and included the stretch of singletrack along the east end of Serpentine Loop which is my favorite downhill on the north side of Red Hills. Lots of flow with plenty of chunky technical sections mixed in. Since it was so hot, we used the road climb instead of the brutally steep Red Hills Trail. Considering how blown up Gary was I guess that’s a good thing.

Great time had by all!

A few years ago Northern California had one the largest, most destructive wildfires ever. Last year we had 2 slightly smaller but devastating fires. In the next few years we’re going to see far worse.

I don’t usually make predictions like that, but at this point it seems impossible to avoid. What makes me so confident? Look at the trees in the Sierra. I took these photos along highway 108 just a few miles north of where the massive Yosemite fire ended. This isn’t a few isolated copses of trees, by the time I pulled over to snap these pictures, I’d driven past 20 or more miles of dead and dying trees all along the highway 108 corridor.

There are millions of giant dead redwoods in the Stanislaus National forest alone, just waiting for a spark to set them off If thing are this bad in late spring in what was supposed to be a heavy rain/ El Niño year, this summer is going to have some devastating fires. And in July or August after months more drying out when the temperature is in the 90s we’re going to see a firestorm like no other.

Maybe not this year, but this year is going to be bad and sometime in the next few years the Sierra is going to get very very bad. California is going to burn.

Spent the morning riding at lake Hogan with Finch and testing out Schwalbe’s new Magic Mary wheels on my singlespeed. I’m super impressed with the combination of these big super grippy tires on the wide (30mm inside diameter) rims I got from Light Bicycles. The Mary in the front gave me the confidence to roll a couple steep drops I usually bypass and overall traction was just amazing. By comparison, the Nobby Nic in the back which usually has decent traction felt almost sloppy and was sliding on terrain the Mary handled quite well. This is exactly the sort of front/ rear setup I like, where the rear tire breaks loose well before the front. The Mary’s grip was just so good I felt it more than I ever have in the past.

The super wide rims and big grippy tires gave me the confidence to run at much lower pressure than I usually run which is I’m certain a big part of why they were so effective. These are great tires, particularly when paired with wide rims.

(Some photos don’t include the Marys)

Tried to catch as many as I could during today’s guide training ride. If I missed you it’s probably because you were too fast… Enjoy.

Thank Jennifer for helping me get the names squared!

As spring winds to a close and the days start to warm up, the trails in the Sierra Foothills become less and less appealing. It is still a great time to ride, but the grass is getting longer and the thistle is creeping in.

It’s during one of these mid-late spring days where I rode Exchequer Mountain Bike Park. Exchequer is a a small, built for mountain bikes trail system at Barrets Cove on Lake McClure. The trails are maintained by a small but dedicated group of riders primarily from the Modesto area. There are about 12-15 miles of trails, with the signature trails being a couple of fast flowing downhill trails called Flying Squirrel and Down and Out.

 

The big appeal of this park is the trails are built by mountain bikers with mountain bikers in mind. You’ll find jumps, a rock garden, and all the trails have good flow from top to bottom. Finding your way around Exchequer is a snap, there is a single trail in and out of the park called Tarantula, which leads to the main climb into the park. You climb up the central double track and drop down the single track on either side of the trail.

The group I was riding with avoided the big jumps, but we definitely enjoyed the flowing single track on the return trip.

While the trails at Exchequer are well made and fun, they are short, and the high grasses and occasional thistle patches really detract from the experience. Worse, as the hot Sierra foothills summer dries the place out, the grasses will dry out and the now budding star thistle will take over.

Exchequer is one of those places which are fun to enjoy when you are local but not a place you travel to specifically to ride the trails. Also, the prime time of year to ride here is quickly coming to a close. Due to the tall grass and hot, dry summers, winter or early spring are the best times to ride here.

I just finished building a new Niner One 9 single speed and I’m extremely happy with the way it turned out. Final weigh in today puts the bike at almost exactly 21 pounds, not record setting by any means, but pretty darned good. I kept the weight down by using Next SL carbon cranks, a Fox Factory fork, and carbon wheels.

The wheels are easily my favorite new part, I went with some super wide carbon rims from a Chinese company which Pimpbot recommended called “Light-Bicycle”… yeah seems a bit shifty but a lot of people I know have had good luck with their wheels so I took a gamble. The wheels are super light weight, 1600 grams, and extremely wide, with an inside diameter of 30mm (almost 1.2”).

The wide rims push out the sidewalls of the tires, they are a bit wider where the rubber hits the dirt, and because the air volume is much higher, I can run them at lower pressure. And that’s exactly what I did, all the way down to about 20-25PSI which is pretty low for me. The result on ride quality was pretty great, super traction and the wheels were so compliant it almost felt like I had suspension in the back.

I love the bike and the new wheels in particular. I’ll try and give a more in depth review of the wheels after a bit more riding, but so far it’s a big thumbs up from me.