Back to a great mountain bike trail

Mountain biking has become an infrequent activity for me, since for the last several years I’ve ridden almost exclusively on my road bike. But last week, I put a mountain bike lent to me in the car and headed to the Sierra Nevada foothills to a place called Cronan Ranch. It has plenty of steep, rocky, rutted, technical single track, and two years ago I was introduced to it by my buddy Marc.

Low clouds and fog dominated the sky for most of the hour-long drive up to the foothills. But, just as I got to the ridge and dipped down a winding road to Cronan Ranch, the sky was suddenly blue and the sun was out.

Cronan Ranch, a vast unspoiled wilderness turned over to public use, was quiet with a steady cool breeze out of the southwest.  It is a huge expanse of rolling grassy hills sloping down to the South Fork of the American River, where hikers hike, dog owners stroll and let their dogs run off leash, and mountain bikers ride its dirt trails, both roads and single track.

The steady wind blew updrafts to a high grassy hill nearby where hang gliders floated back and forth over the sloping grass without much danger. The thick prairie grass provided a soft landing when the gliders came back to earth.

I rode a short warm up loop on a gradual uphill dirt road that then dipped steeply down and around toward another ascending road headed south toward the river. It turned into rugged single track before long, with plenty of dips and rock strewn climbs.

I used to mountain bike exclusively for years before my bike was stolen out of my garage. I got the insurance money for it and bought a road bike, since there’s a world-class road bike trail close to home, and my mountain bike buddies had stopped riding.

But I missed mountain biking. A friend is leaving the country for several months and lent me his mountain bike in his absence. It’s a good basic Specialized hard tail with Shimano components, but the power train is a bit trashed. My buddy rarely rode it, but bought it used.

I washed and degreased the chain and cassette and gave the chain a fresh line of oil. Made sure the cleats allowed a quick kick out, something I found out years ago will definitely limit chances of falling while clipped into the pedals. I adjusted the seat, aired up the tires and was good to go.

Once on the bike I soon learned that the largest ring of the three – the highest gear for speed – would not take the chain when attempting a shift to it. The derailleur was out of adjustment. But no worries, the middle and smallest rings -- the ones crucial for steep climbs – shifted on command. So I rode on to the challenging single-track trail ahead.

I wore my most padded riding gloves, since the last time I was on this trail, my hands needed a lot more cushion than they got. Lots of hard gripping and shake rattle and roll on this ride.

Before long I was in the lowest granny gear in a high-speed spin, eluding rocks and ruts in a long, steep climb. I made it up, and gathered my breath on the false flat at the top and kept on. The climbs kept coming, making low gear sprint spins necessary to keep moving. One climb was steep and long, an extra gritty gut check. By the time I got to the top, I heaved hard for air, and had to stop to get my breath back. Turned out to be a great place to stop. It offered a huge view of the south fork of the American River below and the steep gorge it flows through.

And as I rode on, first in southerly direction, then west, I came back under overcast cloud cover. Along with the cloud cover the temperature dropped from the sunny 70 degrees at the start, to 51 degrees. I brought long sleeves in case it was a cold at the start, but opted for a short sleeve T-shirt, since the sun was out at the start and I didn’t expect to be headed into clouds and a 20-degree drop in temp. So I learned, long sleeves were probably the better call.

I did a few more fast descents and gnarly steep climbs, and while I was pretty lathered up from climbing, it was cool and breezy. As I got to the spot where I needed to stop, eat and turn around to get back in time, I told myself to walk around and keep moving while I ate my snacks.

I know from experience it’s really easy to get a nasty chill sitting still in the cool air after being lathered up. The sweat turns icy and you’re suddenly cold and clammy.

So I ate and walked back and forth, and managed to keep warm. I looked up to the cold gray clouds, and felt the isolation of being in the middle of the wilderness, with no other people. It was a little eerie as I thought about all the climbing I had left to get back. Definitely didn’t want to get stuck out here in the cool breeze with a mechanical or an injury.

I hopped back on the bike and started back. The trail was a series of gradual descents and sharp turns, then I was on a huge almost vertical descent that had taken all I had to get up a few minutes earlier. After some more fast, down-slope trail, the first climb on the ride back was front and center. It was fairly steep and rocky, but not too long, and I made it up. But soon the second, toughest climb of the day was in the way: A long very steep pitch full of loose rocks.

I remembered I had to get off the bike on this sucker two years ago. I started in again, trying to pick my way through. I got about a fourth of the way up and my back tire wasn’t going fast enough to roll over a rock, so the bike just stopped. I hopped off and walked it up the rest of the way. This climb requires some speed to get through, but I lost the speed I had doing quick turns to avoid rocks, and eventually a rock stopped me.

Maybe next time!

I did get through three of four steep climb switchbacks on the way out, which was better than last time, so I took that as a gain in my bike handling skills. But I was still rusty on tight steep turns.

At a stream crossing I looked at my right-gloved hand and the glove’s foam palm padding had ripped out with the covering flap, dangling in the air. So much for well padded gloves!

As I got over the big climbs, the rest of the ride back was back in the sun and relatively fast with plenty of long descents. Top speed was a fun 25 mph rattle-fest fly-down over rocks, gravel, ruts and sand.

Back at the car, I’d ridden 15.6 miles and had spent two hours 23 minutes in the saddle. I packed the bike, got out my lunch and sat in the 60-degree sun with a cool breeze. Definitely a welcome change from the cold, cloudy weather I rode out of. I watched as the hang gliders, still in action in the late afternoon, put on a show off in the distance.

Here’s a good video of this ride done by a couple guys a few years ago. It doesn’t show any of the gnarly climb action, which is by far the toughest part of the ride. But it gives a good feel of how good a single-track trail this is.  Check it out…

Til next time, remember to pull on a helmet every time you get on the bike. Then, keep the rubber side down, ride safely, and have a blast.

-- Mark Eric Larson

Mt. Diablo, a ride with reward

Cycling to the top of Mt. Diablo and back down last weekend did not disappoint. The blue sky, mid-morning air was cool, the grass and trees along the road flowed with the deep greens of spring.

This was my first solo ride up and down Diablo. It's a great treat, ad so far my favorite road bike ride. 

The last time I’d ridden it was in early October with my cycling buddy Marc, who had moved to Texas over a year earlier, but was in the area for a brief visit. Then the grass was brown and the sun a lot hotter. It was so warm on the sun-drenched south side mountain climb that I spent a lot of time wiping away sweat pouring off my forehead onto my sunglasses. Then there were the lovely occasional stinging sweat bombs dripping into my eyes that made vision a serious blinking challenge. I needed a better headband for sure, and paid the price for not having one. I’d pull off my sunglasses while trying to keep my climbing momentum, and wipe my eyes on my sleeve. Easier said than done when pedaling up a steep grade in the sun. Sure, I should have stopped, and I think I did once. But I didn’t want to stop since I knew Marc was no doubt gaining on me.

But there was no such mental push for pace this time. I just started up the 13.5-mile twisty road to the top of the mountain at a pace that felt good. It is just shy of a 3,800-foot climb, or 281 feet of climb on average per mile.

Then, a mountain biker passed me. The guy had a strong cadence, and part of me wanted to grab his wheel and eventually pass him. But I just stayed at my pace as the guy slowly lengthened his lead.

Then a road biker passed me with a very strong cadence. I wanted to stay with this guy to build more pace. So I stepped on it, and worked on closing the gap he had on me. I had to work hard, and it took all the wind I had. But I started to gain on the guy. And I saw him pass the mountain biker. Before long, I passed the mountain biker and on some steep switchbacks, I gained on the road biker and finally pulled up next to him.

“You’re killing me, but at least you helped me pass the mountain biker,” I said.

“Yeah, gotta do that,” the guy said.

He was out to set his benchmark times on the mountain for the season. We agreed on the need to break away from always being obsessed with keeping a good time, and to sometimes actually enjoy the scenery on rides.

We looked around, and we both agreed, the view and the scenery before us made us lucky to be doing a ride as spectacular as this one. We were already glider high up the mountain, with a huge view down to Walnut Creek and beyond.

There’s a park ranger shack at the nine-mile point in the climb where most riders stop to eat snacks and top off their water bottles. As we approached it, the road bike rider said it was time for him to pick up the pace, and he pulled ahead. He got to the shack about 15 seconds before I did, and then he headed back down. I still had 4.5 miles of tough climb to the top.

At the ranger shack I started in on my snacks and the young mountain biker pulled in. I asked him if he’d ridden to the top before, and he said he hadn’t. “Get ready for a very steep long pitch at the end,” I tell him. “Good to get a running start. It’s nasty.”

He’s with about five other riders that start trickling in, and says he got his aluminum frame mountain bike over a carbon fiber one because, although it’s little heavier, it was about a thousand bucks cheaper. 

“You notice the weight, though, the longer you climb,” he said.

He talked about riding trails back down the mountain. I wondered why he would ride a mountain bike up a paved road. Probably doesn’t have a road bike. 

I used to ride my mountain bike on a paved bike trail before I got a road bike. It was just the quickest place to ride when it was too much of a logistical problem to get to a good trail with riding buddies who weren’t available. But I got tired of constantly getting passed by roadies on much lighter bikes that were perfectly suited for the paved trail.

I got back on the bike to for the final leg to the top of Mt. Diablo and wondered if the upcoming sunny part of the ride was going to cause the same forehead sweat-fest as last time.

The road is steeper than on the first part of the climb, and it brings a series of tough switchbacks. After about three quarters of a mile, mountain bike guy comes up and passes me. 

“Go for it!” I yell at him.

At this point I have to ride at my own pace, and not worry about him beating me up the mountain. But still...

Before long, I start gaining on him on the switchbacks, then pass him again. I rest on the false flats and pick up the pace on the switchbacks. A hammerhead rider suddenly passes me as if I’m stopped, and says “Almost at the top!” He’s way too fast for me to get on his wheel. I just keep my pace and drop a couple riders as I move up the mountain.

When I get to the very steep, extended pitch to the top, I decide to stand up about half way up as a way to get some sort of cadence. But this sucker is steep, about 15 percent grade, and it sucks the power out of my legs, and the air out of my lungs. I just grind and grind, giving it all I have to keep moving seemingly at a snail's pace. 

In October, Marc caught me about 30 yards from the top, and he was standing up with a strong cadence, in the lowest gear in his three rings. I only have two rings on my bike so all I could do was crawl along. Damn!

Marc went into oxygen debt to pull off his victory, and gasped, “That hurt!” about three times at the top. So, dude paid the price and earned his victory, no doubt.

The view at the top was an amazing clear-day panorama, with the Sierra Nevada range visible to the east and the Golden Gate and Bay Bridge and San Francisco visible due west. Back in normal breath mode I got on the bike, switched to my highest gear and flew down the mountain. It’s better than a roller coaster ride, with a smile inducing mix of technical turns and speedy flats that never disappoint.

Thanks again, Mt. Diablo. I’ll be back.

Til next time, remember to strap on a helmet every time you get on the bike. Then, keep the rubber side down, ride safely, and have a blast.

-- Mark Eric Larson

More evidence: Common sense? Not so common...

A new bill introduced in the California state senate would require all bicyclists to wear helmets. The bill, SB 192, would also require cyclists to wear reflective clothing when cycling at night. The fine for not doing so would be $25.

The state already has a mandatory helmet law for riders under 18. If the bill, by Sen. Carol Liu, manages to get passed into law, California would be the first to make adult riders wear helmets.

She recently told the Sacramento Bee: “This should not be a big deal. It is kind of a common sense deal.”

No kidding. Agree completely.

But believe it or not, the Bee found the California Cycling Coalition to be against the bill. The coalition’s Dave Snyder told the Bee: “We know that the most important thing to protect people who ride bikes is to get more people out there riding bikes. Forcing people to wear crash helmets is counterproductive to that goal,” he told the newspaper, because it will discourage people from riding bikes.

Please, how is that anywhere near logical? How is getting more people to ride bikes without helmets going to protect them? Sorry, that makes absolutely no sense. And where’s the evidence that it will discourage people from riding bikes? If people have ridden a bike as a kid with a helmet, and become an adult that must wear a helmet, why would they not ride a bike because they have to wear a helmet? Almost everybody has ridden a bike as a kid. Are we talking about adults that have never ridden a bike (where are they?) that decide not to take up cycling because they have to wear a helmet? Who ARE these people?

If that opposition isn’t ridiculous enough, how about Jim Brown of the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates who told the Bee that he’s seen studies that show motorists tend to drive closer to cyclists wearing helmets and give non-helmeted cyclists wider berth. He said he’d rather see more dedicated bike lanes be installed on busy streets.

Okay, wow, another ridiculous argument. If we take the logic of Brown’s “studies say” argument forward, (and I must say, such a study can’t be taken as a given in all cycling/car interactions, so what good is it?) are we to conclude from his argument that no cyclists should wear helmets in traffic so cars will give them a wider berth? WTF? That’s just completely ridiculous.

Sure, no kidding, we need more dedicated bike lanes. Where in the world are there enough dedicated bike lanes on busy streets? Brilliant observation. Nobody knew that!

OK, enough BS. This bill should pass. If people want to ride unsafely without a helmet, the law should say, uh hey, do it, or get fined. A cyclist crashing without a helmet is in real danger of getting an irreversible brain injury. As in becoming a lifelong soup sipper. That potential scenario simply does not make riding without a helmet worth it. Not to say a brain injury won’t happen if a rider crashes wearing a helmet, but hey, the odds are greatly reduced.

So what we’re talking about here is a vital safety precaution. If the adult riding public is too foggy about the notion that for their own safety they should strap on a helmet before riding, the law needs to clear it up for them. Kind of like seatbelt laws had to do. If it keeps them from cycling, GOOD! It’s just another irresponsible rider out of the mix. Too many of them out there already.

Some people bristle at laws making them protect themselves from possibly fatal injuries. But hey, this is really just common sense that helmetless riders need to clue into.

For example, construction workers are required to wear hard hats while on construction sites. Why? HELLO? BECAUSE THEY COULD GET HIT IN THE HEAD BY A VERY HARD AND POSSIBLY FAST MOVING OBJECT WHILE IN THE CONSTRUCTION SITE -- AND SUFFER A BRAIN INJURY.

Here’s are other examples:

• A parent riding with their kids. See this all the time. The kids have helmets, but the parent doesn’t. WHY NOT? Say the parent crashes, gets a brain injury from a sidewalk head smack, and becomes a vegetable. Who takes care of the kids then? It’s just plain and simple: Baffling Irresponsibility.

• Or helmetless riders that blithely dart in front of a driver without looking, making the driver helpless to do anything but hit the rider, either killing him or her, or a causing a a debilitating brain injury that may have been prevented by wearing a helmet. Great, the driver gets to go on living with the horrible memory of hitting and critically hurting a cyclist who didn’t bother to A) ride safely and B) properly protect himself or herself by wearing a helmet and/or reflective clothing at night.

• I even know a guy who doesn’t wear a helmet when he rides because he doesn’t think he looks cool enough in a helmet! He instead wears some sort of a black beret, satisfied that it makes him look like a hipster.

Hey Too-Cool-for-School, put on a helmet, Daddy-O! You won’t be very cool if you crash, hit your head and become a soup sipper.

And by the way, you don’t look as cool as you think in your “Hey, I’m badass as Che Guevara” beret. You just look goofy, bro! And, you look like you need to put on a helmet.

This California bill needs to pass in the interest of safety. Period. Here’s hoping.

Cluelessness, Part II

Rode behind a couple of cylists down a fast section the other day, when they suddenly slowed down and stopped. One of them started jawing at a man out walking with his big dog near the trail. Problem was, the dog was running around without a leash. The cyclist told the man in no uncertain terms that he needed to have his dog on a leash. Probably reminded him that not only is it illegal, it’s an injury accident waiting to happen. I didn’t hear the whole conversation, but as I rode by the man with the dog said, “I’m sorry to hear that.”

I could only conclude that the rider told the man that he had hit an off leash dog while riding before, and it was a traumatic experience. Hard to believe how clueless people can be.

Yeah, I’m gonna let my dog off leash near the bike trail, he needs to run a little. There are bikes that go by fast that could hit him? Really? I can’t see that ever happening… Why should he have to be on a leash?

Up ahead on the trail I caught up to a cycling buddy and told him about it.

“I had a bad experience like that,” he said. “I hit a dog that was with a homeless person and killed the dog.”

My buddy has to live with that awful memory all because the dog wasn’t on leash and under control of the owner. It was all completely preventable. Not good.

The weird thing is, I’ve even had problems with dogs that are on a leash, but the owner isn’t paying attention and the dog is about to get hit by me as I ride by. Once there were owners and their dogs on each side of the path as I approached. The big dogs suddenly jerked on their leashes toward each other into the bike path, ready to fight, all but blocking clear passage. I yelled out, and luckily the dog owners clued in in time and pulled their dogs as I squeaked by. But it was definitely an injury accident that almost happened.

Dogs, I find, are never to blame for putting themselves in danger. It’s always a clueless owner. Always. Every time. And that’s just plain wrong when it happens. The dogs can get hurt or killed, the rider can crash and suffer injuries, or worse yet, die. Shouldn’t happen, but unfortunately, the widely shared malady of cluelessness allows it to continue happening.

May luck be with us all.

Til next time, remember to strap on a helmet every time you get on the bike. Then, keep the rubber side down, ride safely, and make sure to have a blast.

-- Mark Eric Larson

Stuck riding the same route? Hey, BreakOUT, mix it up

For some reason, it’s easy for me to get into a rut of riding my bike on the same route. I hate that! I’m now in such a rut. Mainly because my go-to route is the most convenient high quality ride I can do right from my home. It’s a 51-miler out and back. It’s mostly flat but includes around 1,100 feet of climbing. It’s a dedicated bike trail with no cars. It’s a real gem of a ride. So I do it. All the time.

A big factor in this route rut is the current non-availability of riding buddies. I’m fine riding alone on my go-to route. But on a ride that involves getting in the car and driving for miles, I’d rather ride with a buddy or two, for the company and the back-up help if a mechanical or crash happens. Not that mishaps can’t be handled alone – usually they can, if they’re not serious and you're not alone in the wilderness -- it’s just a good idea to have help close at hand on the road.

My past cycling buddies have moved from the area or are available only on a limited basis because of work and family time. So no worries, I have to find new cycling buddies. One way is through joining a local cycling club that does group rides. I’m just not a fan of group rides.  Still, I recently met a local club rider who leads long group rides on a regular basis, so maybe I need to get hooked in to his group. Either way, I need to mix up my routine. Hell, I’m ready to plan an out of town ride and just do it solo. But when am I going to do this? I’m ready for a good climbing ride. OK, enough. Shut up and put it on the sched!

Learning cadence for speed

Last week did six rides in seven days for 300 miles, mainly to get as much riding in as I could before several days of rain coming in. The legs were strong on some of the rides and pretty tired on others. On the last ride when I was overall pretty beat, I tried to ride with a faster cadence on the pedals as a way to maintain a strong speed with less stress on the leg muscles. I haven’t mastered this yet, though from everything I’ve seen out there, higher cadence, or spinning, maintains speed with lower leg stress better than riding in a higher, slower cadence gear. I’ve gotten into the habit of riding in a higher slow cadence gear on flats to get up to speeds I want. But when I click down to a lower gear at a higher cadence, I definitely spin, but I’m usually not able to maintain the speed of the higher gear. I’m still playing with it and a couple of times, the higher cadence spinning has produced surprising speed for me. So I think it’s just a matter of doing it more to get in a gear that not only lets me spin, but isn’t too low. That is, high enough to maintain speed. The pedaling tips in this video are something I need to get in my head! Pretty useful info. Check it out…

Patience my son, patience

Patience is a virtue, no doubt, and it surely is when on the bike. I got reminded of that recently. After a long ride I was following a line of slow-moving cars on a school campus as they approached a T-intersection stop sign, where the cars will turn left or right. I was behind a line of about five or six cars and they were plodding along. I wanted to get home and got impatient, i.e., I didn’t want to move that slowly. So I veered to the right of the car in front of me and rode a narrow gap between the cars and the sidewalk. It was pretty tight and suddenly I had to slow way down to avoid hitting a car mirror. Then my front tire went up against the curb, bringing me to a stop. I couldn’t kick out of my right pedal in time and had to break my fall toward the sidewalk with my arm. This stupid riding move on my part, was all caused by impatience. It lead to an altogether avoidable fall – which was minor – but made me look like an idiot, especially when I yelled the F word in frustration upon my fall. I was yelling at myself, of course for my stupid move. But it just called attention to my awkward blunder. 

“Are you OK?” asked a student that saw it all from the sidewalk. I quickly got up and back on the bike and said, “I’m good,” but rode on trying to act like it didn’t happen. As I rode the couple of miles home, I said to myself, “That was stoooopid, total operator error. Slow down bro, have some patience.” Yep, definitely need to see the light go on when a lack of patience is about to cause me to rush ahead on the bike, and then remind myself: "Hey, slow the eff down, chill out.”

Gotta try this, sounds good. At least in theory!

Running the gauntlet

The one thing I’ve made it a habit to do on rides is to be thankful when I ride safely through heavy traffic. There’s a nasty heavy traffic section near my house that I have to ride through to get to and from the local bike trail, and it’s pretty damn scary sometimes. In both cases, heading out, or coming back, it involves riding on the side of a lane that has freeway onramp lanes on the right. And in heavy traffic there are times when I’m riding full speed with cars passing me on the left and right simultaneously. Then it is suddenly a white knuckle ride. Most times, drivers are cool and give me room. But of course there is the occasional driver that is offended by a bike to the side of what they perceive is their lane, a lane that in their mind a bike rider has no business being in. Some of them honk out of frustration, others hit the gas as they pass as close as they can, in anger. I just want to stay upright on this stretch because a fall would be a real problem with other cars coming from behind. Anyway, I’ve managed to make it through every time so far – knock on wood – and I hope my luck continues. Once I’m out of the traffic zone, either going on or coming from a ride, I always sit up on the bike and look skyward with one thought in my mind: Thank you. Because I truly am thankful. Not only for making it safely through a danger zone. But also for just being able to get out on the bike and ride. These are things I’ve made it a point to never take for granted. May all riders stay safe.

Til next time, remember to pull on a helmet every time you get on the bike. Then, keep the rubber side down, ride safely and most importantly, have a blast.

-- Mark Eric Larson