Travels with Pops

IT WAS JUST ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER

ALERT!!!!!: Californica Vacationus Bloggus Interruptus

Got to ride with Chris the Younger this weekend at my all-time favorite trail, Cooper's Rock in Wild Wonderful WV. We both got the crap kicked out of us, and we probably should have went golfing instead:

Sorry about the selfies.

Beer stop after climbing over dozens of blown down trees on Scott's Run:

Scott's Run before it makes the plunge into Cheat Canyon. Something about rhodo that makes things seem wilder:

Neither one of us were "feelin it," so we hiked out to Raven Rock:

A salute to the WV mountains for kicking my ass yet again.

Two OTBs and a shoulder skid stop, and we were back at Clay Furnace. A good ride. Chris is smiling on the inside.

Ok, back to the vacation pics.

The California Foothills are as beautiful as the mountains or the coast. Steinbeck knew what the hell he was talking about. I could live there:

Santa Cruz and Soquel Demo Forest:

Thanks to Family Bicycles for renting me this kickass Stumpjumper 29er, and no thanks to Epicenter Bikes who apparently are just too cool for someone like me. If you're ever in Santa Cruz, look up Family Bikes. Despite the name, it's one of the best-stocked bike shops I've ever been in. Good people, too. Epicenter Bikes. Way too cool.

After starting a thread on MTBR about the best riding in that area, I got some good feedback, and a local, Doug "Dirtvert" from San Jose, offered to give me a tour of the infamous Demo Trails. I felt kinda bad because I had to get the bike back by 6:00 or it would turn into a 26er, so the ride was a bit....brisk.

Riding among giant coastal redwoods:

Bombing some crazy shit:

 

Views of Monterrey Bay and the Pacific:

Quite a bit of climbing on gravel fire roads, but the pay-off was worth the suffering. Rooty and rocky and very fast. Good dirt. A lot of small roller jumps and some bigger stuff I didn't hit. Great proving grounds for prototypes, I'm sure

 

 

Sulphur (Suffer) Springs Road: my first category 2 climb. Damn good thing I did so much riding over the winter.

Artemis surprised me at the end of the ride by appearing out of no where, the way she usually does. She's cool. I like her.

Doug was a good guy for giving me the tour. I owe him because it wasn't really one of those places where I could have enjoyed the ride by myself given the time constraints. Good company, good rider. Rode a locally-produced Ibis Mojo.

That Stumpjumper ruled. It was stable over the jumps, cornered like an Australian Shepherd, and ate up the roots and rocks like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Oh yeah, it didn't suck the life out of me on climbs, either. I'd buy one. 

Made it back to the beach for a nice meal and my first ever dip in the Pacific:

Ok, I didn't actually go in. The feets convinced me that would be a bad idea.