K
Keldridge
Guest
Sooo, in a couple weeks some riders in the Sacramento California area
are looking at doing a 16 mile muni ride. I've been looking for an
opportunity to go riding with these folks for a while, and it looked
like scheduling was going to work out great. But 16 miles (at least
for me and my son) is a long way.
On Saturday my son and I decided to try a 12 miler... So I mess around
on Google Maps for a while, and find what looks like a pretty great
course... 9 miles of dirt, and then 3 miles of pavement, ending at a
Taco Bell for lunch... with the option of going 4ish more miles home if
we were feeling great. (
http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=134445 )
My wife dropped us off at about 8ish, and we started along. We road a
nice dirt road up to a radio controlled airplane runway. We continued
down into what's called Brunswick Canyon... hit a bit of pavement by
some wrecking yards, and then back out on to the dirt. There were a
couple parts that were just so sandy it was impossible for us to
ride... so we walked a couple short sections, nothing over 50 feet.
At about the 2.7 mile mark we take our first break... We have a
choice... take one road up a rather steep hill or to take a road down
the next valley. We chose the second road. This was my first bad
choice...
The road in the next valley was really more of a creek bed. There were
tons of rocks and boulders, and we found ourselves happy to ride 20-30
feet at a time. It was rough... but I was actually surprised and
encouraged by how much we could ride. Note to self here... Google Maps
might show a road, but not how good of a road it is...
After surviving that, I go and make a wrong turn. We come down a steep
hill to a gully. I figure out its probably the wrong road, but I can
see where someone has recently driving down this gully... I knew I
wanted to be by the river, so I figured we'd just hoof it down and hook
up to where we wanted to be.
Well, we got to the bottom, and there was no way out... The gully
dumped into the river. We backtracked a bit, and hiked up a really
steep hill into the next valley.
Normally, I don't mind the weight of my Torker DX much... but carrying
it up a hill, and carrying my son's as well, was a heck of a work out.
The hill was too steep to push the uni ahead of me, so I put em both on
my shoulders and was barely able to walk up...
We got to the top, found the road we were supposed to be on, and took
that one down... Once again, we impressed ourselves with our ability
to ride down a steep rocky/sandy section, and we get to the river at
the right place... And take a break under a tree... 4 mile mark
roughly, an hour and 22 minutes total time... I am very encouraged...
especially considering the issues we've already had...
--
Keldridge
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are looking at doing a 16 mile muni ride. I've been looking for an
opportunity to go riding with these folks for a while, and it looked
like scheduling was going to work out great. But 16 miles (at least
for me and my son) is a long way.
On Saturday my son and I decided to try a 12 miler... So I mess around
on Google Maps for a while, and find what looks like a pretty great
course... 9 miles of dirt, and then 3 miles of pavement, ending at a
Taco Bell for lunch... with the option of going 4ish more miles home if
we were feeling great. (
http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=134445 )
My wife dropped us off at about 8ish, and we started along. We road a
nice dirt road up to a radio controlled airplane runway. We continued
down into what's called Brunswick Canyon... hit a bit of pavement by
some wrecking yards, and then back out on to the dirt. There were a
couple parts that were just so sandy it was impossible for us to
ride... so we walked a couple short sections, nothing over 50 feet.
At about the 2.7 mile mark we take our first break... We have a
choice... take one road up a rather steep hill or to take a road down
the next valley. We chose the second road. This was my first bad
choice...
The road in the next valley was really more of a creek bed. There were
tons of rocks and boulders, and we found ourselves happy to ride 20-30
feet at a time. It was rough... but I was actually surprised and
encouraged by how much we could ride. Note to self here... Google Maps
might show a road, but not how good of a road it is...
After surviving that, I go and make a wrong turn. We come down a steep
hill to a gully. I figure out its probably the wrong road, but I can
see where someone has recently driving down this gully... I knew I
wanted to be by the river, so I figured we'd just hoof it down and hook
up to where we wanted to be.
Well, we got to the bottom, and there was no way out... The gully
dumped into the river. We backtracked a bit, and hiked up a really
steep hill into the next valley.
Normally, I don't mind the weight of my Torker DX much... but carrying
it up a hill, and carrying my son's as well, was a heck of a work out.
The hill was too steep to push the uni ahead of me, so I put em both on
my shoulders and was barely able to walk up...
We got to the top, found the road we were supposed to be on, and took
that one down... Once again, we impressed ourselves with our ability
to ride down a steep rocky/sandy section, and we get to the river at
the right place... And take a break under a tree... 4 mile mark
roughly, an hour and 22 minutes total time... I am very encouraged...
especially considering the issues we've already had...
--
Keldridge
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keldridge's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/14019
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/61605
Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com