MTB Mount Laguna

Enough cars (for now), here are some pix from a short trip up to Mount Laguna and Nobel Canyon with my friend Derek:

Derek's RV, "the shallot":

Obstructed view:

 Golden Hour:

 Mini freeride park, fun obstacles:

 Sunset session:

 Sea of grass:

 Golden oak:

Up above Nobel Canyon, at 5600', plenty of dead trees remain, victims of the '07 San Diego wildfires:

Some shady doubletrack:

Burnt trunk:

Found in the parking lot, $65 stuck in the weeds (since returned to the rightful owner):

Thousand Mile Month

Yeah, in the grand scheme of thing it's really no big deal. But it's still the first time that I've ever done that many miles in a month.

18 miles on the Pivot Mach 5 mountain bike
31 miles on the Gunnar Crosshairs cyclocross bike
954 on the Moots Vamoots CR road bike

And I had to ride 57 today to hit 1,000.

I am such a dork.

2011 Ride Stats

WARNING! - excessive gloating ahead, proceed with great caution.

A lot of time was spent pushing the pedals in 2011. 425 hours, 21 minutes and 57 seconds - if I believe the stats from my aging Garmin GPS.

During that time, 17.7 days or 10.62 typical work weeks, 7,715 miles passed beneath the tires of a few different bikes in the fleet (mostly my Moots Vamoots CR road bike). That's like riding from Carlsbad to San Diego then to Halifax, Nova Scotia, back to San Diego and returning to Carlsbad...

...with 185 miles left over. So up to Los Angeles and back as a parade lap.

And over those miles I had an elevation gain of 512,807'. 97.12 miles - or 17.66 Everests. But at least I had the benefit of plenty of oxygen and a near-perfect climate for my climbing.

458,775 calories were burned while on the bike, or converted to a standard that most Americans could relate to - 851 Big Macs®.

Virtually all of the miles were accumulated during my daily commutes to and from work, generally 18.5 miles to work and 12 from work, along with long Saturday and Sunday morning rides. Thanks to my friends Graham and Derek for joining me on many road and mountain bike rides this year.

I'm tired. And hungry. I wonder why...

La Costa Morning

Nothing more than a couple of pix snapped while riding the trails at Carlsbad's Rancho La Costa this morning.

into the white

wet web

Calavera Randomness

Five shots taken while riding at the local trails this afternoon:

rotting roadster

fennel

foliage

bees
wall

And one showing the red dirt of Rancho La Costa, clinging to my Pivot mountain bike:

Calavera MTB: Dirt and Detritus

I'm pretty fortunate to have a nice trail network less than a mile from home. Carlsbad's Calavera Preserve has a decent network of flowy trails on decomposing trails. I've posted pix and words about the park in the past, but this time I went out to try to discover some new connectors and loops. While riding I came across an old weathered boot...
...which inspired me to take pix of some of the other interesting (to me anyway) old junk that is spread about the preserve. Since this was a ranch prior to the city obtaining it, and, until a few years ago populated with a few migrant camps it's no surprise that one comes across such items. So I dialed up the phone's Hipstamatic app and fired away on the subjects that captivated me.

charred fencepost

nopales
banana palms
John Deere disc harrow
steel w/holes
Corolla
Corolla plate
British roadster
trail, Encina power station and the Pacific
handy ladder bridge
more trail
fridge
cairn
1970s Japanese pickup
a-arm, shock absorber
pickup bed
pickup dashboard
graders, for construction of Carlsbad's new high school
pale painted peeling plywood
tagged chair, describing my mood as of late
shack, view
junkman, watching the trails
self-portrait

Clear Skies, Dry Trails

After Saturday morning's rainstorm blew over (we're ready for our summer now, mmkay?), the skies cleared and provided some impeccable views from atop the hill at my favorite local mountain bike trail.
It's somewhat hard to see from this pic, but Santa Catalina Island, about 40 miles away as the crow flies, was visible on the horizon. Even San Clemente Island, 50 miles away, was visible to the naked eye (if not the tiny iPhone lens).
The trails themselves were absolutely perfect. Only a couple of small areas of mud and zero dust. Borderline-Velcro traction, thanks in part to the tubeless Continental tires. Beautiful Moab-like red dirt surrounded by a carpet of verdant green grass shoots. Too bad this little guy didn't have a good day.
First time I've come across a tarantula at these trails, looks like this guy might have been squished by an errant bike.