General MTB – Page 21 – The Ramblings of MTBBill

Big Laguna Meadow Cruise

The weather was pretty freaking awesome this past weekend out in the east end of San Diego County. It was a wonderful time to head out to the Laguna Mountain Recreation Area for some playing around on the Big Laguna trail.

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While just a few days away from the offical start of summer, there was plenty of green and patches of wildflowers here and there.

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While riding technical stuff and challenging yourself is always fun and exciting sometimes just getting out on a nice sliver of singlerack in some beautiful countryside good for the soul. Such was the case of on this day.

Tasty Beer from Alpine Beer Company afterwards does not hurt either!

“Practicing” at Lake Hodges

My youngest son is playing on a tournement inline hockey team right now and he has practice at Kit Carson Park in Escondido every weekend. The rinks are just up road from Lake Hodges so I have been grabbing a ride there while Jake is practicing. You can grab some mileage out here and if you include Bernardio Mountain you can get in some good grunting. Here are few pics from a couple of weeks ago.

Here is a view froma bit of singletrack on the south side of the lake.

Out near the trails on the side side of the lake

Good springtime prettiness.

Alpine Return

It had been far to long since I have have been out to play on one of my favorite tech play grounds out in Alpine but I finally got back out this week. This ride was nearly called off due to impending rain, but since San Diego attracts on the sharpest weather guessing minds, the afternoon turned out to be a go.

There was some new trail side decorations on the climb up. Silly 4x4er, this is a bike trail!

It is funny how after a bit of time away for this trail the rocks look gnarlier upon your return.

The storm was coming in and the clouds made for some interesting backdrops for pictures that we typically do not see much of here in SOCAL.

Front row seats for Circ-de-Soul-Steve. In a rare moment seldom caught on camera Steve did prove that he is indeed not a green blooded alien from a far away solar system in the in the Dirtus-Major Constellation.

A mighty fine afternoon on a bike

San Juan Trail

Last weekend I decided to roll up to Orange County and hit up the San Juan Trail which I have done in quite some time. It weather called for cloudy but I figured it might be different once I got away for the coast. It was a bit misty as I traveled up I-5 before turning inland on HWY 74. The misting stopped but it was indeed cloudy all the way to the trail head. After getting all the bike and clothes bits all setup I started up the six mile climb to the first decision point “Cocktail Rock”.

As I climbed I could see a soupy cloud layer in the mountains up and ahead of me. I knew that I would get some cloud riding but I wondered the ceiling of the cloud bank was going to be as riding above that clouds can be pretty awesome. As I worked my way up the trail the clouds got closer and closer.

I did not start this ride at the ass crack of dawn by a long shot (think leisurely brunch time roll out) so as expected and meet a handful of folks on their way down that mentioned that it was clear up top. As I continued my climb I soon entered the clouds and visibility go down to around 50-100 feet which was kinda cool to be riding through. Moisture in the air was collecting up on my arm hairs giving me what looked like a water droplet sweater. By the time I got up to cocktail rock the clouds had moved up higher in the mountains so there was not sunshine to be had for me at the top.

From Cocktail Rock I decided the “Lollipop” at the top which is comprised of the Old San Trail and the current or “new” San Juan trail. There are merits to doing the loop in either direction on this day I decided to do the counter-clockwise direction. The clouds settled in amongst the old groves along this route made for a ride that a very ethereal feel to it. The cloud riding continued for the remainder the loop as well as most of the descent of back down from Cocktail Rock. By the time I finished the loop I was quite ready for six mile return to the trail that was all downhill except for one “bump” near the top.

As I neared the bottom of trail the sun even decided to make an appearance which was a nice way to finish off the ride.

Guajome Park

So off and on I get asked where are good places to take kids riding. On my website to-do list for quite sometime has been to create a where to take a kid guide. Lake Hodges, Big Laguna Trails, Penaqsuitos Canyon are places on the list but I had been thinking about some of the smaller places that would be good for the MTBer with little wheels would be. Guajome Park is one of those places good for the grommet MTBers to get a taste of dirt.

Guajome Park (Or as my kids like to call it “Yo Hommie Park” is located on the east side of Oceanside right off of Highway 76. It is a county park that has a campground, a couple of small ponds and a series of trails that are no so overly engineered with split rail fencing and compacted non-native soil dirt sidewalks like are prevalent in many of the county parks near the urban environment. This place still allows for kids to interact with the environment instead of just look at it. When my kids where younger we used to hike out here often and go just out the little nooks and crannies of the place.

Last week I was talking to youngest son Jake about the park and that I wanted to get a webpage together so Jake decided to join me on the photo, map recon effort.

With about 4.5 miles of trail out here it can be quite fun for newbie kid. Even an a newbie adult who is willing to do a lot of hamster wheeling can find the place fun.

There are mainly fireroads here but there are also enough singletrack bits to keep a kid well engaged. There are two different playgrounds at the park as well as large population of resident ducks that quite fond of stale loaf bread. This would be a great place to take a little kid out for his first “big” MTB adventure as there are lots of opportunities to do other things besides ride the bike.

When I say “little” kids I’m generally thinking newbies on bikes with less than 26″ wheels as once they get to that big, this place can get rather small and you would have to get creative at this place at that point. Here is Jake working on riding this telephone pole skinny. It took him a while to get the technique down but he eventually was able to hop up on the log at the skinny end and ride the whole thing.

This was an after school ride for Jake and we played around here until we ran out of daylight and had to head back for things like dinner and homework. Good midweek stoke.

Map File Links Back Up

So of you may have noticed that my National Geographic TOPO! files were showing up as broken links. broken_link

Turns my ISP had made some tweaks on the server setting that caused the file not to be recognized (MIME Type Associations for the geeks) even though the files were indeed on the server.

I have the issue all cleared up now so they are once again downloadable. For those of you who also asked about if I had KML, GPX or CRS files for the various places, the answer is maybe. As I get around to updating the various pages on my site I’m revamping my GPS files as well. In the interim you can convert them yourself through some many conversion utilities that are out there on the interweb.

Take a look at my FAQ on GPS and TOPOs to get yourself throughly confused on some of the conversion processes I use.

On a related note, I have had a new GPS for the last six months that I have been tinkering with. The Garmin Oregon 450. I pretty darn happy with it and will try to get some more verbage out on in the future. Finally on the subject of GPSs, sooner or later your GPS will stop working, wither it is due to dead batteries or a tumble off your pack, it will be a pricey brick on one of your rides. Be prepared to navigate without it. Now go have some fun getting lost! 🙂

Arrrgh….Swabbies get yer CPO Jersey

Okay so quite a few of you know I spent a couple hundred moons or so kicking around in US Navy. Wither you have already joined the ranks of the quitters like myself or you are still the country’s good work at the pointy end of the spear, here is a jersey you members of the Goat Locker might like. Some active duty folks have put in a good chunk of work with primal to get this custom jersey put together.

The front view

The back view.

“NAVY” is printed in nice and big letters on the yellow side panels. This will allow all your Army buddies to know exactly what happened when you shred past them on those downhills. (At least if there is a bar at the bottom the hill)

If you dont know what size you wear in the Primal apparel line check out their handy dandy sizing chart.

You can order these jerseys directly from Primal from now until March 9th. Orders placed by March 9th will be delivered the week of May 21st. Like most custom orders, they need to get a minimum order together the make the deal go through without someone taking in in the shorts

Here is the link for the Men’s Jersey and here is the link for Women’s Jersey.

I already have mine on order. Even if you are not interested pass this along for those that maybe.

I had to get one as it matches one of my bikes quite nicely.

A Nippon Weekend In Review

So I’m back in Japan for a couple of weeks of work. This marks the first time I have been here in the late January, early February timeframe. With the highs in the low 40’s and the night time temps below freezing it is downright cold for this San Diego Weather Weenie! Wednesday was spent playing planes, trains and automobiles but with the international date line thing after getting some sleep in the hotel I woke up to Friday morning. Friday was spent setting up for work that was start to start on Monday, give a presentation and make rounds of gripping and grinning. In the middle of all that I picked up a mountain bike rental that not only would be my primary means of transportation while here in Japan, it was also be my recreational vehicle. Friday evening was marked by the full blown onset of Jet Laaaaaag!

I have found that nothing helps to beat your body clock into a new time zone like some exercise. After some early morning work preps it was time to set off on the bike. Cold is cold, but the breeze was just downright biting so there was plenty of layering when donning my MTB apparel. As in all of it! I was pretty stoked with the hardtail rental I got. I was the first person to rent one of the newest members of their rental fleet, a well equipped (for a rental) Jamis Durango 1 hardtail.

The plan for Saturday was not to do any exploring, just stick to a series of trails that I know and love in the Fugatoyama area. It is a rather large chunk of mountainous open space that is for the most part quite rugged. It has been the source of many memorable head scratching intersections and brutal hike-a-bikes.

One nice change about riding here in the winter time is that you can see a lot more stuff as some of the trees have shed their leaves. The picture above would be of mostly a veggie tunnel in the summer. I had a good time out on the trails but was fairly skimpy on taking pictures.

The final segement of trail along this route dropped me out into an area called ghost-town for the number of old vine entwined buildings that are rusting back to mother nature. The little paths and streets quickly takes you back down into civlization where one can obtain tasty hot coffee out of a can. This is straight up yummy caffiene crack in a can! A nice warm can of coffee in the middle of a cold ride. Good Stuff! After the caffiene recharge there was a series of street riding back to my hotel. I caught up with old friends over a home made dinner that night. A mighty nice start to trip.

I did not get an early start on Sunday so as to let mother nature warm things up a bit before I went out. I had been wondering about a different route into the Fugatoyama area that in theory would cut out a bunch of the street riding. There is a foot bridge over the Yokosuka-Yokohama Expressway that seems to go from nothing but woods on one side of the expressway to nothing but woods on the other side of the expressway. There has got to be a trail there. I had never been able to figure out how to get down off the Fugatoyama ridgelines to this footbridge. I was going to figure this out from the opposited direction on this outing. The plan was to start from town and get up to the footbridge and then get up onto the ridgelines, where I should know where I am at at that point (That was the theory). So after some Google Earthing, some exporting and file conversions I had my GPS uploaded with with some waypoints and tracks to investigate. While not the most direct route to where I wanted to go the route took me through a pedistration tunnel. Pretty cool.

After a bit of here, there and to and fro I ended up at my first objective, an entrance into the Taura Plum Grove. Just after the spot pictured above I got in some stairway to heaven action.

The Taura Plum Grove is a park and while for the most part it is a rock sidewalk affair it was pretty cool looking. Springtime here when the plum trees are blooming must be a really awesome sight. Things are not flat here and my route was taking me to the upper west end of th park so it was a climbing affair.

Up near the top of the park the views open up. Tokyo Bay is in the distance and the large building in the distance on the left-hand side of the pictures is the Landmark Tower in Yokohama.

At the top of the park is a viewing tower where even better views of the area can be taken in.

I was more interested in what was just beyond the tower. Finally some dirt and the trail that would take me into the Fugatoyama/Muira Alps area. The trail became a skinny singletrack as soon as it left the park and before long I was across the footbridge and headed west towards the ridgelines.

I had a stupid grin on my face at this point.

Some nice little technical rooty bits to contend with. Big smile on my face here as well.

Okay, the smile on the face was about 50 feet back behind me at this point. The trail turnned sharply up a mega-steep ridge side. The picture does not do the steepness of this section justice. The good news was I was gaining elevation quickly even if I was not riding the bike. I was thinking that if this gets me up on the ridgeline where I think it might I will have lots of mostly downhill goodness to ease the kinks out of my hike-a-bike calves.

I did recognize the trail when I finally did make it up on the ridge. It was promptly followed by a big “Oh Shit”! I was much further to the south than I thought I would be and I was exactly at my most southern point of exploration along this particular ridgeline. The Oh-Shit was because I knew that I had three technical hella-steep hike-a-bike sections between me and the full-time ridable “money dirt” to the north. My GPS said I had one hour and 23 minutes before sunset. Farting around was no longer an option.

There were some exposure bits that are hidden very well by the flora, but wintertime has allowed them to me a bit more revealed. I had only ridden the section above only during the summer months before and I while I knew there was a bit of drop of here I had not idea just how freaking far one could tumble from here until today.

I made good time through the hike-a-bike bits and was soon back on the money dirt. I took the shot above and put away the camera and enjoyed some sweet flowing trails that was nearly all downhill to the north. I popped out of the woods just before sunset and enjoyed an extremely brisk street ride back to my hotel. A mighty fine way to get primed for a week of work ahead.

Good Question – My Travel Case

So I got a question in the email yesterday that I thought the answer would be worth sharing.

Don Maneth wrote:

“…I know you travel with your bike a ton. Which travel case do you use? Do the airlines accept it as recreational equipment for an additional charge? Typical fee?”

Well Don, I have traveled quite a bit with my bike and I would be glad to pass on some of my observations.

The Luggage:

The travel case I have is a Trico Sports Ironcase. I have been quite happy with the one I have have since 2005. It was first called into action for a trip to Copper Canyon in Mexico but it has been used for trips to the East Coast, Japan and the Pacific Northwest. When I first bought mine, I got it as part of group buy deal that run me $200. These days it retails for around $329. I will say this about the case. I have yet to have one of the airline baggage gorillas damage this case or the contents.

Packing these things are pretty particular and the TSA nearly always want to take a look in the book. I have gathered this from the numerous times of getting the “We looked in Bag” note from the TSA. I typically mention at the counter that the arrangment of the stuff in box is pretty particular and I would like to be prsent for the TSA looksee. It typically depends on the airport you are at wither they will accomidate the request or not, but I pack the box with the thought of this happening in mind.

Notice that my lightweight short-travel XC bike will fit with the fork still in the headset. With my longer-legged and slacker geometry bikes (6″ and 7″ travel forks) I have had to remove the fork from the headset. If you have to do this I highly recommend that you take a piece of string and runn it through the head tube and tie all the bearing/headset bits together. Also place any spacers back on the steerer tub and screw the headset cap back on to make sure the bits don’t go off an unplanned adventure.

The Airlines and Luggage Fees:

The only consistent thing about the airlines (particularly United with whom I do most of my flights through) is that they are inconsistent. You should however plan on paying the worst case scenerio costs which are steep. The Ironcase box along weighs 31lbs so unless you have a road bike (and since you are my site, I’m assuming we are mountain bikes) you are going to be over 50lbs. Being over 50lbs makes your luggage overweight. Being over 70 lbs puts you in the excess weight catergory. My Intens Uzzi (7.5 ” travel go do stupid stuff rig) weight in at 34lbs toss in a helmet, shoes, and multi-tool to put thing back together and you break the 70lb threshold. Here is an old story about getting my Tricocase packed under 50lbs

United currently can hit you for a Special Item Fee (currently $100) as well as overweight fee ($100 if between 51 and 70lbs, $200 if over 70lbs) This is for each direction! So that plush downhill couch could cost you $600 bucks for the trip. I have only gotten smacked for the special and the over 70lb fee once. I moved enough stuff around after that to get the box under 70lbs. I have sometimes gotten as lucky as to have the box just checked as regular luggage for no special fees whatsoever. More commonly I have often only got charged the Special Item Fee. It all depends on the airport, and the person at the counter. Being nice and cordial, calling them by there name on thier badge, and generally doing the social engineering/Dale Carnigie thing may help to keep you from getting both of you ass checks slapped while the airline has thier way with your wallet.

Alternative Shipping:

USPS: Big thing here is you have to get the weight under 70lbs and you can not let the width go beyond 10.5″ (This is part you sandwich down with straps) $107 each way for a shipment for San Diego to North Carolina and will typically take 8 days. For you folks that have access to military bases, USPS ships to all the military bases and you can ship through them parcel post on the cheap. It cost me just $68 to ship my bike to Japan once. Once, I missed the fine print when it said it could take up to five weeks to get there. They meant it!.

UPS: For this type of box, you will be paying for billable weight (96 lbs) versus the actual wieght. $170 each way for a shipment from San Diego to North Carolina and will typically take four for days. This is a fairly good way to ship, but you should call ahead to the local UPS store you are going to go through first as some stores and less educated on thier polices than others and may balk at the case.

Don’t use bike luggage: A carboard box and bubble wrap weighs a lot less than 31lbs. This could get your package down under 50lbs to reduce your airline luggage fees but it could also make your bike more likely to get damaged enroute. Particurly if bike gets handling by this gal or this luggage chimp. If you are going to go the cardboard box route, I would suggest talking to your local bike shop and have them set aside one of thier boxes after thier next incoming shipment.

The Renting Equation:

Sometimes bringing your own bike is the obvious choice, for a whole slew of reasons. However often times I have to weigh my options when it come to the cost. Some of the things I think about when it come to renting are: How long am I going to be at my destination; How often do I expect to ride; What kind of riding am I looking to do (what kind of bike do I think I’m going to need); what are the cost of the rental offering at my destination.

Rental Costs: In most places you are going to be paying a premium for a a full-suspension bike that is not of the department store genre. $50-90 a day is not uncommon. Hardtails are cheaper but you are most likely looking at $25-30 bucks a day. Now for you folks who have access/priviledges on military bases the Outdoor Recreation Centers typically have hardtails for rent at the best rates you will find anywhere. You also need to factor in the time required to go get the bike and return it. So if you want to grab and afterwork ride, you really need to rent it the day before and you may not be able to get back to shop prior to closing. You may have to rent a bike for two days just to get in a full day of riding particularly if you want to go someplace that takes a bit of driving.

Riding Style/Required Bike: A lot of my travel biking is work related these days. When I am on “The Man’s Dime” I typically ride more more within my abilities. I would feel pretty bad if I jacked myself up out on the trail that impacted by ability to do my job. So with that it mind maybe a hardtail is all I need and then maybe I will just rent a full-suspension bike for just a day or two if I want to go do some more aggressive type riding.

Here are a few of examples:

#1. A couple of years ago I was going to be in the Seattle area during the summer for six weeks. With the long days I expected to be able to get in at least one ride during the week after work and one a ride on Sundays. I was also contemplating a run up to Whistler for a couple of days should the job go well and were ahead of schedule near the end. So at least 12 outing and maybe some downhill fun bonus days. $50/day rental x 12 days = $600 bucks. Okay I’m taking the bike.

#2 I had a four week trip to Japan coming up. I was mostly going to be riding the local trails on the Muria Pennisula where the Yokosuka naval base where I was going to be working. Once again I was planning on two bike rides a week, but know that it was nearing the raing season that might not happen. Additionally, there was some talk with some folks I know there of a potential trip to the Fujimi Panaorama Downhill MTB Park. I could rent a hardtail on the base for $130 for a month (killer deal) and it runs about $100 to rent a full blown downhill bike and the protective gear for the day Fujimi. $230 was a no-brainer I left my bike at home.

Closing:

Just get on a bike when you are somplace out of your normal haunt. It is good times for sure. Airfare luggage fees and short length trips make it really tough to justify the cost. Then again luggage is typically a reimbursable buisness expesnse 😉

A Zushi – Kamakura stroll about

Okay I have been back from Japan for nearly a month now and I am just starting to get caught up of some of my goings on while in land of the rising sun. On one of my weekends there I set off to do a ride that I would involve a bit of this and a bit of that as far as riding goes. I know quite a few trails over here and while I wanted to get in some dirt time I was also interested in taking in some of the sights and sounds of Japan life as well. So I set off on my ride with a bit of eye for looking for new things along an old route.

I started out in Yokosuka on the eastern shore of the Muira peninsula (about an hour and change south of Tokyo) and pedaled the streets over to the city of Zushi. The route itself is always interesting with lots of Mom and Pop stores, stairways to temples and narrow streets and sidewalks. There is this school that I pass by along this route and while I Have seen kids at play on it a few times in the past for the most part it was empty during my passings. Today was quite different. There was some kind of the school function that involved both the parents, kids and facility. There were lots of chants, shouts, cheering and laughing on the playground. I was already well down the street before I decided I needed to check this out with more than a pedal by so I hit the brakes and went back.

There was a hilarious race being held that had me laugh my arse off. It looks like four groups of parents and children were split up into four teams. They were in lines at one end of the field and some guy/official was sitting in chair at the other end of the field. At the man’s feet were two burlap sack filled with something. One sack was small and the other was large. Once the whistle went off, the person at the front of each line ran across the field to their corresponding guy in the chair at the far end. As they approached the guy that had to play the guy in a single hand of “rock paper scissors”. If the runner won, they got the small sack, if they lost they got the big sack. Either way you the runners had to take their sack back across the field as fast as they could and hand it off to the next person in the line. For the subsequent runners, winning the rock-paper-scissors bout meant you got to keep or get the small sack. The entire race we exceptionally funny to watch.

After getting in my fill of giggles I soon veered off the narrow streets and onto trails on and around Mount Sengen. Most of the locals refer to this area as “Duck Pond” as the most common route has you starting at a small pond. It has rained quite a bit over the past week and the trails had a lot more moisture than I had expected.

The soil here is clay based and while it does not cake up on your tires at all , it is some exceptionally tricky stuff to ride on where power and balance but be carefully finessed to keep yourself from becoming an amateur geologist taking unplanned soil samples.

Now sprinkle in some leaves and wet roots over this clay and you have some exceptionally interesting bit of trail to content with. You can find more information about this kind of stuff on Slickopedia.

One of my favorite little curves along the route, the ferns in this area almost popping. Like many of the hiking trails in this area they have a long history of use to connect between the numerous temples throughout the peninsula. This particular trail dates back to around the mid 1300s. After dropping this trail off of west of Mount Sengen, I did a bit of residential street riding before hitting up another series of trails. Shortly after this I found myself at several trail junctions enjoying the scenery while I sorted through the scribbled on maps and disjointed GPS files floating around in my brain. Eventually I channeled “The Schwartz” and figured out my way (The other ways, are now officially on my to-do list).

The series of trails I was on at this point where leading me to Kamakura on the western side of peninsula on Segami Bay. These trails were created sometime between 1185 – 1333AD. It is really kind of cool knowing that you are riding a trail nearly four times as old as my home country.

The drop into Kamakura proper is not a gentle one, there is some seriously steep and slippery steps to contend with as most of your elevation is cashed out rather quickly.

The final bit of the trail before hitting tiny concrete pathways and alleyways that led down into the streets of Kamakura.

With its numerous temples and cultural shops and restaurants one could spend weeks enjoying Kamakura before they would feel as if they have done more than scratched the surface. For me it was a quick stroll along the streets.

The “scramble” crosswalk. All traffic briefly stops and pedestrian pandemonium ensues. Very cool to watch.

This was what I was really looking for on this day, some of the tasty street vendor offerings. This stuff is some form of grilled chicken skin/bits will tasty sauce and shredded veggies.

So what if is bad for me, but yeah there were a bunch of skinny Japanese folks eating this stuff so how bad can it be. After mowing this thing down and a bit of Japanese fashion watching I made my way back over to Zushi along the streets. I had big plans to hit of up the trails of Fugato-yama on my way back but by the time I reach the turnoff street my legs were wanking so I continued along the streets back to Yokosuka. Turns out I did just a few yards under 27 miles so I did not feel bad about bailing on the last riding area. Another good day to be on a bike and a great day to be out stroll around in Japan.