Mountain Bike Bill, The Dirt on the Dirt

Author: MTBBill

Local Running Amuckness

It has really felt good to be able to ride again and I have been working on getting back into shape while taking a measure approach to the riding as the knee gets stronger.   I certainly do not want to have a relapse of the pain issues.

North side of Lake Hodges

I have been able to get in three rides in this past week.    First of was Lake Hodges where I did the north and south sides for about a 20 mile effort.

Local Sauce

I did my local ride from the house and felt pretty good on it.

At the top of La Costa

And I meet my buddy Dave for a ride and La Costa which included some of the Back 40 goodness.    Maintaining proper social distancing was pretty easy with Dave.   I could barely keep him within 100 feet let alone 6 feet.

Came across this healthy looking bloke out on the trail.

On the backside trails we came across a Rattler.   He was pretty happy where he was at so we had to give him some encouragement to get off the trail.    There were no sticks of the appropriate length around so I stood behind my bike, held onto the saddle and rolled the bike up close to the snake.  One the front wheel got within a foot of the snake he figured it was best to give up his ground.    If you have your arm outstretched to you saddle and lean over while you do this you can keep seven plus feet between you and the snake.  I like to get these folks away from the trail when I encounter them as you never know when some Ahole is going to come along think these things need to be killed.

After we got this fellow to move along we finished up the ride.   I felt really good about how I finished up the ride.    It was a good week of ridin

Big Laguna Playtime

I meet Steve and Jim out at Big Laguna Meadow for a bit fun in the sun.  Road work had the normal staging area closed so we went further up road and started from Red Tail Roost.   Starting from there is a lot of fun as you kinda get to have desert before the main course.   After  the descent we climbed up Aqua Dulce but instead of doing the expected Los Gatos run we continued climbing up to Wooded Hills and took the trails up over that peak.

Playing around at the top of Wooded Hills

The knee continues to improve to the point of almost feeling good but I am making a concerted effort to spin more and mash less.   By feeling good I mean I don’t feel it at all.   It is back to just being part of the whole system and not making a fuss about itself.    I have lost a good bit of fitness but that is on the mend as well.

Jim getting some up and over action on the Wooded Hills descent

After descending the Wooded Hills trail down to the old county road we turned and climbed up that road to Chico Ravine and took it down to the meadow.    I can not recall the last time I have gone down Chico so it fun if for no other reason than it was a switch up from usual route.   We futzed around on the meadow and some of the side trails in the area before working our way back up to Redtail Roost

That last single track to get back up top is tough.  I was pretty happy with my effort on that section.  I was certainly slower with the whole spinning effort to this recovering knee but I had enough energy in the tank at the bottom of the super steep section that I was able to clean it.    It feels good to be able to put in a solid ride again.

F#$king @$$holes!

First I must RANT!  I am came across this dead rattler while climbing up one of my local trails.  This is such bullshit! I’m pretty sure there was no real reason to kill this rattler. If they show up at your house they are asking for a whacking. If you go over to their house you should leave them be. The only crime this snake did was probably blocking somebody’s way along the trail.

So Senseless! No reason to kill this snake!

Okay RANT over.

The “Perch”

Last week my doc shot up my right knee with a huge syringe full of  steroids, cortisone and other joint goodness.  My knee hurt from the injection for a couple of days and then felt much better.   I went back to out to my local trail twice over the last couple of days and while I have overall fitness I need to get back, I had no knee pain at all on the climb today. I was not pushing the knee but I was able to put in the required effort in the granny gear without pain.    Finally after three months I am seeing some significant progress with the knee.  Now if I can just keep the rest of my shit from falling apart.

Local Knee OPTEST

The next couple of days after my last ride my knee was really bothering me so I took some more time off of the bike.   I have another appointment with my doctor next week.   I decided I would take another assessment of how the knee is going.

I went out to a local riding spot that requires about four miles or so of a patchwork of streets and trail to get there.    Springtime is definitely going on!

The knee felt okay on all of the work getting up to the main trail area but it was also not much of a grade.   Once in the main riding area the trail requires some work and it has more grade than my previous efforts.    The knee went from some simple complaining to painful wanking.   I had to turn around before getting more than a third of the way up the climb.

 

San Pasqual Valley – Raptor Ridge

Well after almost seven weeks off of the bike due to injuring my right knee I got back on the dirt.   For this first ride back I decided to head out to San Pasqual Valley and do the section of the Coast-to-Crest Trail from Bandy Canyon Road up to Raptor Ridge and back.

Heading up to Raptor Ridge from the east. I started at the far side of the valley

I decided on this route at it starts out flat then has a very gradual bit of climbing before you have a more significant climb at you approach Raptor Ridge.   I figured this would be a good opening test of the knee in making the pedals go around.   If I had any knee issues I could simply turn around and have a mostly flat or downhill spin back to the trail head.

Spring colors were out on the trail

This whole COVID-19 virus mess has made it tough to get into see doctors and physical therapy places are pretty much shutdown.     The doctor currently thinks I have inflamed tendons  but I’m not so sure I buy that diagnosis.   I have to do some physical therapy first before they will go done the MRI route but getting physical therapy is tough as they are only seeing “critical” cases right now.

The turnaround spot on Raptor Ridge.

It was so nice to be back on two wheels.   I was purposely going to take it easy on this ride and not mash on the pedals.   Spinning was the name of the game here.    The knee felt descent for just spinning along but I was aware I had a knee.   It was not in pain but it was not quite right either.   The final climbing section up to Raptor Ridge was all done in the granny gear.    I was not straining the knee but the knee was definitely feeling worked.  While this was an improvement, it is still not right as I was also not really putting much force down on the pedals at all and when I did the knee would complain.

It was still a good day to be on bike.

Lake Hodges and Knee Injury

The last couple of weeks January was a busy time with lots of non-biking goodness. I had been getting in some rides but they have been pretty utilitarian in nature. Such was the case on February 4th when I got in spin at Lake Hodges. I started out on the north side near at the storage facility staging area and took on the north side of the lake.

I took the north side all the way out to the dam and back. I was feeling really strong and keeping up a good pace (by my standards anyway).


When I got back to the bridge I cut over to he south side of the lake and started the working my way through the trails there. I was still feeling great.     While doing a bit of out of the saddle work to press up a short rise I felt a sharp twinge in my right knee followed by a sharp pain as I neared the top of the pedal stroke.    Even in my granny gear just getting through the range of motion at the top of the pedal stroke was quite painful.    I had to cut the out rest of my intended route and go home.

Just walking around was a only slight uncomfortable but stairs and getting the knee bent beyond 45 degrees was painful.

Out on the Lower Santa Ysabel Truck Trail

So I have resigned to just walking and hiking to keep active.  The dogs are pretty happy about this they are getting some longer adventures in beyond just the usual walking circuits.

Out at Lake Calavera

It has been three weeks since I hurt the knee and it has only slightly gotten better.   I have a doctors appointment in a couple of weeks when I get back from a work trip to have it assessed.

More Black Mountain

Time to get in some more Black Mountain.   I continue to be impressed with the improvements that been made and the progress on the trails out here.

The Black Widow trail going down the west slope of the mountain continues to see love from the trail crews.

Word is there are future plans for access to the East Rim from the east side as well. That would be pretty awesome as all of the current access point are both social trails and brutally steep hike-a-bikes.   I’m so excited about this place is coming along from standpoint of how advocacy groups and willing community governments can actually make things happen.

Rocky Start to the New Year

Steve, Mark and I decided had a rocky start to the New Year.   Mighty rocky!

Steve picking through the lines. There is a line right?

Iron Mountain has some really technical bits on it and it has been some time since I have been riding on that kinda stuff so it took a little bit to my rock monkey motion dialed back in.

I forgot to shave last night

Iron Mountain is a very popular place with hikers so typically you only want to ride out here on a weekday.    Coming out here on New Years Days was a bad decision on our part as far as the start and stop aspect of the ride is concerned.    The people looked like a string of ants going up the mountain.

Mark dancing down the rocks

The trail lends itself to sessioning the various sections and “moves” so that was how most of descent went.   Good times as we had an audience the whole time.   There must have been 300+ people on that trail while we were out there.   Nuts!

Post HO HO HO Daley

After partaking in all of traditional Christmas time feasting it was time to try to knock a little of the growing HO HO HO off of my belly with some miles and some climbing.   Daley Ranch offers plenty of that.   I decided to switch my routes some on my two rides out here this week.  I decided to start out with a climb up the boulder loop which I have not done it quite some time.   While on the climb I came upon a Kangaroo Rat.

Ain’t he cute?

So I have seen plenty of Kangaroo rats out on the trail when night riding. This was my first time seeing one during the daylight and certainly catching one. I actually caught this little critter several times while trying to get the photos. Other than a couple ticks on its under side it seems to be healthy. I’m pretty sure its behavior is going have it being a coyote or hawk snack very soon.

Blue skies, green grass

It was has been really pretty out here lately with the winter storms bringing in some much needed moisture.

The Pacific Ocean in the distance

It was pretty nice to do some of this area in the opposite direction than what I normally take.   Seeing things from a different perspective as well as at a different speeds put a nice “new” twist on things.

Snow on Palomar Mountain

I  always think it is a treat to see and visit snow without snow coming to visit me.

 

Return to Black Mountain (RB)

It has been quiet some time since I have been over to the east side of Black Mountain in Rancho Bernardo.    Man I have been missing out.    There has been some really good contouring single tracks built on “Little Black Mountain” that are replacing the stupidly steep old jeep routes that were previously most of your options out there.

The great thing is these are fully above board legal trails.     The local community and the San Diego Mountain Biking Association working  with the City of San Diego have a good thing going out there.

The route I have been kinda digging as of late has me starting from the Black Mountain Open Space Park and head south along west base of the mountain to connect to the main fire road climb where I head up to the peak.   After the peak  I drop down the Black Widow Trail.    I climb back up the main fire road where I then cut over to Little Black Mountain and ride the loops out and then connection up to the Nighhawk trail to Miner Ridge Loop.   From there I do the eastern half of that loop to Lilac and then to the Ahwee that takes me back to the park.   Here is a link to that route.  The end of the Ahwee is cut off due to my GPS watch running out of juice so your distance should be slightly longer.  (I need to update my website page on this trail system)