Went to Coe for a day of trail work.  Got there a bit early so I geared up quick so I could go ride the new Jim Donnelly Trail.  This one has a bit of history since it was just "re-aligned" a bit on the sly.  Turns out the guy did a real nice job.  Fun trail that is not super steep but is still challenging.  The trail in places threads through the trees.  The guy has an eye for a good line and I appreciate that.

Got down just as everyone was wrapping up signed the release form and pedaled off for trail work.  One the way there we rode Anza-Jackson to Elderberry.  I got a bit further on Anza-Jackson but still came up short.  Hopefully next time.

We took a bit of a side trip and went and checked out Rock Tower Spring trail which has some cool rock formations and a small bike playground.  Could not do to much since with all the wet the rock was quite slick.

From there we headed on to do our duty.  We made our way down to the top of Cattle Duster and began the work of cutting out the gutters that went straight down the trail in sections and made it a bit sketchy at speed.

Further down I got some good tips from Valerie and Paul on how to build a proper gutter.  How to live in one, I got that.  Building one is something else.  After my second coaching session with Paul I felt I had it.  I spent about 15 minutes with one gutter and in the end liked.  Later riding it confirmed my initial thoughts.

As the day wound down we all headed up the trail to begin the ride out.  First stop was Sierra Vista.  Named so because there is a good view of the Sierra.  Why else.  Then Domino Pond to Cattle Duster.  Ooh, Cattle Duster is now a nice rippen decent.  Whoo Hooo.

We bailed out early as the rest of the group did one more climb.  We had to skedaddle since we had an appointment at Home Depot.

Mudworm flirting with the old man (I mean Charlie) hey wait a minute!  That is the wrong old man.

The new Jim Donnelly

300 Coe Mile in one day in this picture

Did not quite make it

The guy in the back is thinking "Hey my bike nice to"

Working Hard

Coe Goblin

Waiting Patiently

The End.

==========
For a second, I thought I was at the Skeggs Point. This is atypical for Hunting Hollow parking lot.

ratpick about to take off on the ride/fly in.

The three Hard COEre giants.

Need a caption.

Siesta time.

Am I the only one who sees an angry animal in this photo?

Another Coe Sunset.

Originally Posted by ElHombre
I'm not sure what to make of this one (worshippers of the Great Bailout dropping to their knees during the advent of their overlord?)… someone should come up with a good caption:

As a dedicated trail Paparazzi, one has to get down and under in order to take brilliant shots like these.

All of the above photos and more (including originals) came from mudworm and mudncrud's cameras and can be found in Mud Gallery.

Extras for the extras:

And there was hard ice at the parking lot when we got there before 10am.

Either the ice was too hard, or Charlie was too light -- he and the bike combined was not able to break the ice! (Um, you might want to turn down your volume before clicking play.)

Two days ago, I sent out an invitation to quite a few people, and on the morning of Black Friday -- the day after Thanksgiving, we were joined by, with MTBR handles in parentheses, Charlie (Skyline35), Patrick (ratpick), Roy (plymmer), Chris (Diesel~), and Jim (Zener) -- yeah, the usual suspects.

Everyone was bracing for freezing temperature, but the frost on Spike Jones Trail was probably the only reminder of our "fear" (as Jim said in his email, "you know how us skinny guys love the cold!"). It was perfect for the climb though as Charlie here would have agreed.

The rest of the ride saw us sun bathe comfortably throughout like here at the top of Timm Trail. That, my friend, I call a perfect temp.

Okay, let me raise the pace a bit because otherwise, I'll never reach the end of the post. Here are a few pictures I took on the ride.

Charlie dropping down Timm Trail:

Here is a trail sign, now where is the trail?

Tallboy's virgin voyage to Henry Coe. That's Erik's new Santa Cruz 29er.

I'm breaking the photographing 101 rules here -- shooting into the sun.

Chris (Diesel~) taking in the view of Henry Coe.

While everyone else is going down Cattle Duster, Chris decided to check out the climb on upper Cattle Duster. To be exact, Roy coaxed him into it. Here, Charlie set up his camera. "Okay, you can go now."

Before long, Chris became a little dot.

I just realized and you might have noticed -- I don't have many close up shots of everyone on the ride. It's not my fault. Most of the time, they were so far ahead of me that no amount of zoom can find them in my view finder anyway. But considering that I was riding with a bunch of guys, there was plenty of chatting on the trail at almost every intersection.

Route:
Hunting Hollow Parking Lot -> R: Gilroy Hot Springs Road -> Coit Road -> R: Spike Jones -> R: Timm Trail -> R: Coit Road -> R: Anza -> R: Jackson -> Elderberry Spring Trail ->R: Rock Tower Trail -> L: Jackson Road -> L: Domino Pond Trail -> S: Cattle Duster Trail -> L: Coit Springs Trail -> S: Grapevine Trail -> L: Anza -> L: Coit Road -> S: Gilroy Hot Springs Road -> Hunting Hollow Parking Lot. (17.7 miles / 3529' ascent).
GPS track is available: Garmin Connect , MTBGuru , Plus 3

Photos and Links:

All our photos are in our photo album .

This MTBR Thread has many rad photos from Patrick and Charlie. Here are a couple samplers:
(from Charlie)
(from Patrick)

Erik wrote his own ride report . (I think he stole some of my pictures.)

Oh, by the way, it took me a while to put the report up. Well, after the ride, we stopped by a couple of bike shops (no Black Friday sales), went to the gym (for shower), went out for dinner (yummy Korean Tofu Pot), and then hung out with a friend from out of town at a bar. Didn't get home until midnight. This morning? We just got a little too comfortable to get out of bed. All their fault!

Read their accounts here: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=665755 !!!

I had been off my bike for a while because I was completely absorbed in my new job. When I was not thinking about work, I was obsessed with the kitchen remodeling idea that came up a little while ago and had been having fun doing researches on that. But today, after I saw their reports on MTBR, I rushed out the door. Erik and I did a quick ride at Skeggs — still had chores to do before dark to get ready for another busy work week. The condition of the trails we got on (Manzanita, Lower Steam Donkey, Giant Salamander, Lower Fir *gulp*, Resolution, ECdM, etc) was just perfect — tacky and mud free! I wish it could stay like this forever!

So, here… here is the ride:

Oops, wrong link. It was THEIR Hard COEre 100! (I accidentally stole it from Patrick's Garmin Connect.)

And here… here is MY ride:

I rode to the site with Patrick and Roy. Worked mostly with a Pulaski, but also spent some time sawing. Took a ride out in the truck so I could return the volunteer placard only to find out that Paul and Chris were going back straight to Gilroy Hot Springs. I'm keeping the card for now, which means I should try to return for another trailwork soon.

I had a good time, but was feeling a bit tired afterward. Erik and I went to Korean Tofu House in Cupertino for dinner. We finished everything on the table!

Many photos and some stories are in this MTBR Thread: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=657119

After our (mudncrud, ratpick, mudworm) extra little play loop on Spike Jones and Timm, we caught the big group (Sorcerer, Tom, Brian L, Zener, Eric S, girl_from_pitt, plymmer) on Coit Road at the north end of Anza. Damn, everyone looked fit, too fit! At that time, Skyline35, Chris (Sorcerer's wife), and Janet W were already ahead having started earlier than the others. They were then caught on the Poverty Flat Rd before Jack Ass Trail. Unbeknown to us at the time, Paul B and Jon R made their own separate starts (probably at a later hour), took their own routes (possibly more direct), and intersected the group later — Paul on Jack Ass Tr and Jon on the top of Willow Ridge Tr. That means this year's Henry Coe Rustic Journey attracted 15 riders in total (if I counted my fingers correctly).

I'm guessing the day could not be called hot by the Coe standard, but it was a warm day — much warmer than last weekend for instance (scroll down and see Skyline35's weather charts). That put a toll on many people, and alternate routes were chosen by small groups of smart folks: Skyline35 and Janet headed back after Willow Ridge Tr; plymmer and Paul B said goodbye at Pacheco Camp; girl_from_pitt and Jon left after the swim in Mississippi Lake; Eric and Zener did not stop by the lake and went ahead trying to get back in bright day light (sightings of them at Dowdy Ranch were reported, but we didn't know the exact route they took). The rest of us — seven in total — followed the ride leader who took us through a helluva journey.

Route: Coyote Creek Gate -> Coit Rd [-> Spike Jones -> Timm -> Coit Rd] -> Anza Tr -> Coit Rd -> Mahoney Meadows Rd -> Lost Spring Tr -> Los Cruzeros -> Narrows -> Poverty Flat Rd -> Jack Ass Tr -> Blue Ridge Rd -> Black Oak Spring Tr -> Hat Rock -> Rock House Ridge -> Narrows -> Willow Ridge Tr -> Willow Ridge Rd -> Hoover Lake Tr -> Hoover Air-Strip -> White Trank Tr -> Coit Rd -> Pacheco Camp -> Pacheco Creek Tr -> Heritage Trail -> Pacheco Ridge Rd -> Mississippi Lake -> County Line Rd -> Turkey Pond Tr (really?) -> Kaiser Aetna Rd -> Dowdy Ranch -> Burra Burra Tr -> Dormida Tr -> Vasquez Rd -> Bowl Tr -> Lyman Willson Tr -> Hunting Hollow Rd -> Hunting Hollow parking lot -> Gilroy Hot Springs Rd -> Coyote Creek Gate. (54.6 mi / 11945' from mtbguru)

Compared to my near three dozen rides (including two 10k's) at Coe in the past two years, this one felt the toughest. There were a few tough climbs on this route (see my annotated route description at the bottom of the post), which taxed the body more intensely. Bushwhacking was involved on this route more than one time too. It was on this ride that I first time experienced recurring leg cramps (the onset was on Heritage Tr). Depending on the movements, whether riding, hiking a bike, or even just sitting around, different muscles in the leg and feet threatened to seize up. I relied on my granny gear to keep the cramps at bay for the most part.

However, at the end of the ride, I had a grin that spanned ear to ear. The descent on Lyman Willson in the twilight was a great way to end a long day of riding. mudncrud, ratpick, and I plowed through all the creek crossings (some still deep) on Hunting Hollow Rd before heading back to our cars. The cool water that splashed on me and the sound effect from us entering the crossings one after another made me giggle.

At the parking lot, the seven of us, still sweaty and covered in Coe dust, congratulated each other cheerfully in all kinds of fashion (including hugging and kissing). It was then it dawned on me that it was the camaraderie fostered through long rides like this made these rides so memorable. Long live long (Coe) rides!

The brief fog enclosure on Coit Rd.

I somehow worked my way through the crowd and topped out on Jack Ass Tr with only Brian ahead of me. Paul B came up after me before I had a chance to pull out my camera. After that, I tried to take a photo or two of each rider who came up. (More photos besides what's shown here can be found in my photo album.)

Sorcerer — The fierce ride leader. I suspect he has built in engines in his thighs (motor doping?). He cleaned Jack Ass, Willow Ridge Trail, and various other steep climbs. I witnessed him clean the two tight and loose switchbacks on Hoover Lake Tr and was super impressed with his bike handling skills.

plymmer. While climbing Jack Ass, I kept turning my ears backwards to hear if anyone was catching up to me. I wanted to make sure I was not in anyone's way, especially plymmer since he is known as the angry climbing man. But he had a huge smile in this picture because he just cleaned Jack Ass Tr.

I always enjoy following Eric on trails because he seems to have a hard time to ride by hanging branches and other offensive trail blockers without giving a go at cleaning. And he is always very encouraging and would cheer for me whenever I manage a little tricky move on my bike.

Zener. I hope I ride as strong as he does when the days come that my hair is gray.

ratpick is always a pleasant company. But do not let his easy going manner fool you — he has the strong will to clean the tough climbs at Henry Coe. He cleaned Anza/Jackson last week and Jack Ass on this ride. BTW, if anyone found a pair of sunglasses (shown in the photo), please let him know.

Tom is a character. He rides a hardtail around with a plastic spoke guard. Which serious mountain biker would not scoff at that? And he rides platform pedals. When other riders marvel at the unusual sighting of those pedals (at Coe), he simply smiles humbly and apologetically, "Hehe, I cannot clip in." Yet, at the end of the day, he was still among the very few who were actually riding up those steep hills.

girl_from_pitt is a strong rider and a funny girl. When she talks, I laugh.

mudncrud had fun on his rental 29er demo bike. But has he made up his mind yet? During the USA-Gana World Cup game, he chanted from the middle of Mississippi Lake, "Go USA!"

Chris, the fierce rider leader's sweetheart. She endured the headaches from overheating; yet still finished the long route with big smiles.

Janet greeted us at Hunting Hollow Parking lot after having waited there for Brian for hours. That's a lot of patience!

Hi Charlie, Oh, Charlie! We were very sad to say goodbye to him at the top of Willow Ridge Tr. He was the one who crafted the perfect 10k ride for us last weekend (including the perfect temperature).

Plymmer looking very very wilted.

ratpick kindly posed the corpse pose for me when resting at Dowdy Ranch. I told him that I didn't want to make plymmer feel bad by posting his photos lone.

There are a few other photos I want to show, but I probably should not take up too much real estate in the thread (too late now?). Please visit My album for photos like these:

Appendix:

-Photos published so far: My album, ratpick's album

-GPS tracks: Garmin Connect, MTBGuru, Plus3Network (why all 3 sites)

-Annotated Route Description: Coyote Creek Gate -> Coit Rd [-> Spike Jones (gentle uphill) -> Timm (fun downhill) -> Coit Rd] -> Anza Tr (gentle uphill followed by gentle downhill) -> Coit Rd -> Mahoney Meadows Rd -> Lost Spring Tr (downhill singletrack) -> Los Cruzeros -> Narrows -> Poverty Flat Rd fireroad climb, short but steep) -> Jack Ass Tr (singletrack climb, steeper near the bottom and eases off) -> Blue Ridge Rd -> Black Oak Spring Tr (downhill singletrack followed by bushwacking through grasses uphill) -> Hat Rock -> Rock House Ridge (wheeee downhill) -> Narrows (flat singletrack) -> Willow Ridge Tr (steep singletrack that gets steeper) -> Willow Ridge Rd -> Hoover Lake Tr -> Hoover Air-Strip -> White Trank Tr (wheee downhill) -> Coit Rd -> Pacheco Camp -> Pacheco Creek Tr (flat singletrack) -> Heritage Trail (lots of creekcrossings with deep dips followed by very bursts of steep climbs) -> Pacheco Ridge Rd -> Mississippi Lake -> County Line Rd -> Turkey Pond Tr (?) (Wheeeeeee downhill) -> Kaiser Aetna Rd (first a screaming descent on a super fireroad highway followed by endless gradual climb) -> Dowdy Ranch -> Burra Burra Tr (gentle climb) -> Dormida Tr (fun downhill but easy to get off trail and end up bushwacking) -> Vasquez Rd (OMG, that's steep and long!!!) -> Bowl Tr -> Lyman Willson Tr (wheeee descent) -> Hunting Hollow Rd -> Hunting Hollow parking lot -> Gilroy Hot Springs Rd -> Coyote Creek Gate. (54.6 mi / 11945' from mtbguru)

=======
Okay, here is a photo that can belong here:

==============

This is about Charlie's training ride for the thread bearing "rustic 10k" event. Just like last time, he sent an invite to a list of friends stating "the route should be long and miserable"; but unlike last time when more than a dozen people responded to his calling, only three invitees, Patrick, Erik, and me, showed up this time. I don't understand why.

It could have been only Patrick though. At 10:16 PM on Friday, I sent out this email to them: "We partied too late and just got home. Dead tired, but nothing is ready yet, so I highly doubt that we would be able to get up at 4am to make the 7am start, even though we really wanted to join the ride. There are definitely many trails listed on the route that we are interested in checking out. Oh well, please count us out." At 3:45am, Erik woke up to do his usual mid-sleep chore, which disturbed and awoke me. A conversation began. "Should we go to Coe?" "Yeah, it would nice to do the ride, but I haven't gotten enough sleep yet." "Or, we can sleep in and go to Saratoga Gap. There is a Santa Cruz bike demo there today." "Let's go ride at Coe." "Bike demos are hard to come by. Let's hit Saratoga Gap." "It's already too late to get up now. There is no way we can get everything ready and be at Hunting Hollow by 7am." Through the conversation the light on the night stand was turned on, off, on again, and off again. Just when we were about to go back to sleep, the cats jumped into bed and started walking on us. It was 4:20am when I was driven out of the bed, and found this email reply in my Inbox from Patrick, "Some serious lack of kitten love this weekend! Charlie and I will do our best to save them all!"

Almost 20 hours later, at midnight when we were still driving home, Erik and I sounded like a broken record, albeit a tired one. "I'm glad that we got up and made the ride." "That was great ride. I'm glad that we made it."… What had made the ride so memorable? Oh, where do I even begin?

— We had two pinch flats on the ride. Charlie got one on White Tank Spring Trail. Obviously, he was hauling mail down that trail, an indication of the mad success of our trailwork last week. But when we stood around, Erik had to bring up that I said the reason he got flats often was his lack of good riding skills. Did he not know that Marriage Rule Number One is bedroom talks are not to be made public? Plus, that just made it even more embarrassing for me when I got a flat half way down Tule Pond Trail. I would say I fixed it pretty fast with the assistance of Charlie and Patrick while Erik rode/pushed up half of the trail to look for us, but it was 8:20pm when my wheels rolled again, simply too late for a flat!

— Two incidents of chain sucks when the chain fell into the spokes. One happened to Charlie and one happened to Erik. Luckily, neither caused serious damage.

— Two bent (or almost bent) derailleur hangers. One huge stick miraculously worked its way into Charlie's chain/cassette. It had all the power to break the derailleur or bend the hanger, but Charlie broke it first without much effort. the other time, I made some superwomanly powerful move and rode right into Erik's derailleur. That did bend it, but he managed to bend it "back" enough to finish the ride. The bend was visible when he took the bike apart the next day, when we also found that his bottom bracket had been half seized up.

— Imagine riding down the steepest trail you've ever ridden with one eye closed and the other half closed. Now, that's probably how it felt to Charlie when he came down Middle Steer Ridge trail (one of the steepest descents at Coe). About this, he has written, "To explain, descending Middle Steer Ridge Trail in heavy winds, tall grass obscuring the trail, and increasing darkness, my left contact lens dried up and fell out. It was surreal riding in fuzzy darkness. We had very bright quarter moon thankfully."

If you are about to shed some tears over the mishaps we had "unfortunately" experienced, thank you but please stop. "That which does not kill me makes me stronger." You see, we are all much stronger now… maybe except Patrick, since he was mishap-free all day.

— Of course, I don't know if Patrick could, or should, get even more stronger. He cleaned ALL the ride-able climbs on the entire ride, including Anza-Jackson (his first!), the steeps on Dog Trail and Dutch's Trail, and Serpentine at the end of the day! We were all utterly impressed. The sacrifice he had to make was he had to ride by a balloon on the side of the trail half way up Serpentine, but it turned out to be a god send for Erik when he needed a break.

— Speak of breaks…When we took a break (not the first one) at the Hoover Air-strip, I asked if it was our lunch break, or we would break again for lunch. Charlie looked at me as if the question surprised him, "We'll be taking breaks all day. We ride in between breaks." That's indeed how it was as Patrick has summarized, "8 hours riding time + 6 hours sitting by creeks, waterfalls, on ridges and generally soaking in the Coe atmosphere (and picking grass out of our socks)."

— I enjoyed every moment of the ride, but what stood out for Erik was the back country adventures. We got on some obscure (aka fun) trails. For example, on Dog Trail, When a straight line up a steep hillside looked impassable, we elected to explore a side path that circumvented the knoll. We ended up carrying our bikes bushwhacking cross-country and uphill. On Phoneline trail, despite the guidance of yellow ribbons, there was still mandatory pushing through tunnels and snaking around Poison Oak bushes. These things no doubt slowed our pace down, but they sure kept the mystery and excitement going.

— The most peculiar thing for us all though was the sighting of people pulling two-wheeled hand carts in costume and high spirits. We first saw them at Pacheco Camp and they cheerfully waved at us, and we saw them go by (after having heard their still cheerful voices) when we took a long break by the creek below Kaiser Aetna Road. Later when we passed by Pacheco Camp the second time, we learned from our trailwork buddy Rob that those were Mormon yoots.

— Our ride turned out to be about 50 miles (10k – 11k ascent). My GPS ran out of battery shortly before I got back to the car, but that was no biggie because we had plenty of equipments on our ride as you can see from: Charlie's MTBguru report and Patrick's Plus3Network report. My almost-complete track was also uploaded to Garmin connect, Plus3Network, and MTBguru. (Why all 3 sites?) From Charlie's report, you can also see (and envy) what nice weather we had been blessed with.

— We thought we were lucky to make it back in the moonlight without a light. Brian (knobs) rolled in 15 minutes later. All five of us gathered at Denny's to trade our tales and laughs, even though those laughs may have sounded a bit tired.

Charlie had warned us that he would leave his camera at home. I know, big disappointment! But Patrick had taken some great shots with his. So, keep your appetite up because his pictures will not disappoint. Below are some pictures I found in my camera, many of which were taken under the urge of Charlie, "did you take some pictures of that???"

Charlie coming up Jackson Trail.

Bike demo. Brands: Specialized and Titus. Location: Kelly Lake, Henry Coe.

When I asked why anybody would drag a cart around all day, Erik replied, "for the same reason why we ride our bikes around all day."

Erik (back) and Charlie (front) descending Dog Trail with Patrick at the bottom.

We didn't take that trail straight up the knoll, and ended up bush whacking.

For the completeness of this document, this is what we did during many of our breaks.

Charlie: Is the trail here, or here, or there? Hmmm… I think I'm lost…

charlie: Ha, I found the trail! It goes this way…

How did the stick get itself in like this???

Could not have asked for better weather than this.

Charlie and Erik on the skyline.

More of my photos can be found in my alum.

It was going to be a warm summer day at Henry Coe after a long California spring, so I dressed accordingly for the occasion — long sleeves and leg warmers (with fleece liner). The sweat started pouring down my face shortly after I got started on the Anza climb. All day, I resisted the temptation to peel a layer off. Considering the juicy PO bushes on the trail side and the tall grasses that I had to plow through on my ride in and out, I think I made the right decision. Last year's disaster (graphical content: pic 1 and pic 2) was not to be repeated!

The occasional breeze made the heat somewhat bearable, but I think most of us withered a bit in the sun. I was relieved when the end was called when the brushes had been cleared back. But then Sorcerer wanted to walk the rest of the trail (the more barren portion) to the other end because it would be "meditating." Most of us joined the group meditation session. Actually, Diesel~ and Sorcerer both found offending bushes to hack away while the rest of us mostly just walked, some of us in silence. We did get to admire our trailwork on our descend back though.

It was at the bottom of the trail where Paul's vehicle had parked that I got nurtured back to life by Paul's chilled Pink Lemonade and Chuck's water. Re-energized, I got on my bike and started riding with knobs and plymmer. I enjoyed eavesdropping on their conversations. While we took a break before Tule Pond Trail, guess who showed up? Wow, how did you know — Skyline35 rolled up all smiling. If I hadn't nudged them to get moving, I swear they would have stayed in that one spot just yapping away the day and the night. Have I ever pointed out that guys could be really chatty?

I was a bit beat by the end of the day, but it was another great day with great people. I was glad that the hubby got to watch the FIFA game. At home, I just casually, more out of courtesy, asked how the game went, and he went on for half an hour without breathing describing to me all the little details. I tried to nod at the right moments, but please don't ask me anything about the game because I was catching up with my online surfing during his enthusiastic recap.

Oh, by today, I only have a few itchy spots that are most likely from the mosquitoes at Demo where I rode the next day. But I found a small patch of PO rash in my left ear. I knew I should have worn my ear warmers!!!

My ride (21.2mi / 4651' Click on OSM view and zoom in to see the trail names.)

It must have been hot. Chucko's shoe de-laminated.

Diesel~ sweeping the trail.

Roy doing "high altitude brushing" (Sorcerer coined the phrase). I took the photo just because it would make a great butt shot.

And Sorcerer likes to get down under

Sorcerer meditating…

knobs meditating in his own way…

Look, Skyline35 is trackstanding!

Sorcerer, that last picture of Chris was great. Loved the beautiful and contagious smile!

I rolled out of the parking lot at the same time as the MTBR Henry Coe Spring Circus B group left, but I went the opposite ways. Having made some potsticker/potato salad, I knew that I could afford being a loner for a little while (Dan said so).  My plan was to start with Lyman Willson climb and then work my way over to the B route. I was hoping to get an earlier start, but I barely even made the official start time despite having to run over a few road riders. Okay, not really, but I passed probably two dozen road riders on this normally very deserted road.

Lyman Willson felt easier than I had remembered and I cleared it without much difficulty. Or, should I say my Titus FTM climbed it like a goat? I had always liked Bowl Trail going from LW to Middle Steer Ridge. Today it was especially interesting — it was wild! The grass was so overgrown that at many sections, the trail was completely closed in. It's a shame that this beautiful trail is not traveled more frequently. There were places on the steep MSR trail where the trail was narrow and loose aligned with talk grass on both sides. Since I wasn't technically flying up the climb, I had lots of time to contemplate. And it was then it dawned on me that being able to find traction on loose or slippery surface while climbing may just as well be like being able to manual a drop on descents. It will never look as dramatic and impressive as a manual, but it's a skill nonetheless. Oh, how I wish I could manual drops! I reached the summit of MSR while my thoughts wondered all over and realized that I just cleared that climb as well. Cool! I could go home now. Not! I needed to find my group.

When I popped out on Coit Road after descending Spike Jones Trail (not very far from the gated entrance), it was 11:10am. I estimated that my detour put me a little over an hour behind the group. Without a pause, I rode on. I didn't clear Anza/Jackson today, but I wasn't pacing myself to clear it either because I had some serious catching up to do. Riding alone, I had the luxury of not stopping. I first caught Bart (I met him at a Coe trailwork) and his friend on Jackson Road, who were not part of the circus but were going in the same direction, and down Kelly Lake Trail we went. My heart sank when I saw the flat ground by the lake that was typically used as a lunch spot completely empty. Then I heard someone call my name and looked over my shoulder. About two dozen riders were gathering at a high ground where the trees were. I think all the Spring Circus riders managed to rendezvous at this same spot for a break after having come from different routes. Amazing! Nice planning, JL and Dan! I was very happy to see some familiar faces and some unfamiliar faces.

Our group took Kelly Cabin Canyon Trail, which was interesting as usual and probably a little harder than I had remembered after the rainy winter. When I climbed to the top of Cross Canyon Trail, only Justin (jdubsl2) and Kyle (K-max) were there talking about the cold beer at the car. By then, the group had been stretched out. I had a long wait while people came and went. Finally, the A group showed up, and then Dan showed up with Jeff (JustJeff). I was happy to hear that Dan decided to stick to the original B route finish, which the A group also elected to go with. After the mellow climb on Coit Road, when Dan stopped to put his camera away and wait for the A group, I rode on knowing that I needed a head start because it was mainly downhill from there. I was surprised that I was never caught; instead, I caught the tail end of the B group right at the bottom of Grapevine rock garden. (Note: Most of the B group took the alternative route by dropping down Cross Canyon straight to Grapevine.) The first words Daryl (wddung) uttered when he saw me was "What the hell?!" I guess having seen me pop up out of no where a couple of times today made him start questioning life.  Then I said goodbye to the little group again (a habit by now) at the end of Grapevine and turned on to Anza. Not wanting to miss any good food, I pedaled fast, and then much faster down Coit Road and Gilroy Hot Spring Road. When I rode into the parking, I could hear Daryl's thoughts (he was putting his bike away) from the opposite side of the parking lot, "What the hell?!!!"

Now, where is the promised BBQ? Hmmm, no BBQ… But Peter (tburger)'s wife's famous cupcakes were there. If nobody had been watching, I would have licked all the tea flavored frosting off and then eaten all of them. That was a dream though because I only got one and they were all gone when I blinked. I think Charlie ate the pies Christine (theseawind) brought for appetizer, dinner, and dessert; not that I was really monitoring the delicious pies. I had fun hanging out and even more fun telling Erik, who had been working, how awesome riding at Coe was when I met him for dinner. Oh, someone asked, the dinner was at St. John's Bar and Grill in Sunnyvale. Their delicious burgers are 1/2 price on Saturdays, which I always liked for post ride refuel, especially because it's only 4 minutes away from my climbing gym where I can shower first.

For pictures, you have to check back on the MTBR thread: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=613395 . Knowing there would been canon sized cameras and could-be-pro photographers on the ride, I didn't even bother bringing mine.

Update: I just stole this photo of me from Charlie's collection. See what I mean by "could-be-pro photographers"?

For GPS track and stats, choose which you want to believe:

• Garmin Connect: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/33414667
• Plus 3 Network: http://www.plus3network.com/activity/henry-coe-mtbr-spring-circus/370703 (I earned $1.71 for IMBA)
• MTBguru: http://www.mtbguru.com/trip/show/13891-20100515-mtbr-henry-coe-spring-circus

Route: Hunting Hollow Road -> L: Lyman Willson Ridge Trail -> L: Bowl Trail -> R: Middle Steer Ridge Trail -> L: Steer Ridge Road-> R: Spike Jones Trail -> R: Coit Road -> R: Anza -> R: Jackson -> Elderberry Sprint Trail -> L: Jackson Road -> R: Wasno Road -> Kelly Lake -> Kelly Cabin Canyon Trail -> Cross Canyon Trail -> L: Coit Road -> R: Wasno Road -> R: Domino Pond Trail -> Cattle Duster Trail -> Grapevine Trail -> L: Anza Trail -> Coit Road -> Gilroy Hot Springs Road -> Hunting Hollow parking lot (28.58 mi / 6768' ascent)

That was what Derek had been claiming all day, to himself and to anyone within earshot. Well, I didn't really mean to trick him; it was some unforeseen circumstance. When Derek said the day before in an email he was planning to ride alone because he hadn't been riding much and would be slow, I said to him, "don't worry. Erik is sick and he hasn't been riding at all."  But this morning, Erik woke up and could barely breathe because his sinuses were severely congested and his throat was almost swollen shut. I, did what any considerate wife would do, abandoned him at home and drove out for my first Coe ride on my new bike. He would have felt guilty if I had stayed home.

I think I said the same thing (about Erik being sick) to my friend Jeanne. She is a strong and skilled rider and has been riding everywhere but Henry Coe. Her last ride there was in 1998! I guess finally my constant raving about Coe got her interested enough to commit to a ride with me. Nervous about how she might hold up on a Coe ride, she was also disappointed to see Erik did not show up. Guess everybody was counting on Erik to keep the pace slow.

I just didn't see what the problem was. It's not like I ever go fast. (I wanted to, but I'm a "mudworm", remember?!) Plus, on this trip, I had my mind occupied on the whole ride because I was still getting to know my new bike. When I stopped, I was always fumbling with the bike, such as the seat post height, the saddle position, the fork rebound and compression, etc. There are drastic differences between my old bike (which Jeanne caught me many times calling "my own bike") and the new bike, so my body was quite shocked and it made sure to let me know by sending out pains from various joints that I never had problems before. I don't worry about it too much because I know I can get to know her (my new bike) really well some day. I just need to pay attention and be patient. Until then, I must take it easy.

By Coe standards, this was an easy ride : Hunting Hollow Parking Lot -> R: Gilroy Hot Springs Road -> Coit Road -> R: Spike Jones -> R: Timm Trail -> R: Coit Road -> R: Anza -> R: Jackson -> Elderberry Sprint Trail ->L: Rock Tower Trail -> L: Domino Pond Trail -> L: Cattle Duster Trail ->L: Coit Springs Trail -> S: Grapevine Trail -> R: Coit Road -> L: Mahoney Meadows Road -> China Hole Trail -> Played at the first tight switchback from the Hole and then turned around -> China Hole Trail -> Mahoney Meadows Road -> S: Coit Road -> R: Cross Canyon Trail -> R: Grapevine Trail -> L: Anza -> L: Coit Road -> S: Gilroy Hot Springs Road -> Hunting Hollow Parking Lot. (29.5 mi/5848')

On this ride, I wrecked on a big log pile on Timm Trail. At that time, my fork was set up too soft and the rebound was a bit too slow, or I might have tapped the brake. Anyway, when I dropped down the back side of the pile, the bar tanked and then went sideways and I got ejected onto the ground. First thing, I checked the bike. Not a scratch, great! Me? I would have a bruised butt cheek to live with for a few days. Ouch! Well, I guess I got that out of the way, next was the mud. Over all, Coe was in its prime condition. We did cross a couple of creeks, one on Coit Road and one at China Hole. Then, there was mud here and there at a few other spots. I'm glad to announce that the FTM has seen mud!

The bike excelled on climbs. For example, it did not have much trouble clearing Anza/Jackson. When it comes to rocky descent (e.g. on Grapevine) and going over ditches, I sometimes found either too much of my weight was on the handle bar or the front wheel bounced around a bit. As I said earlier, it's just a matter of time to get her figured out. One thing I can tell ya, my new ride is pretty sophisticated.

Despite the humble cries from both Derek and Jeanne that they wanted an easy ride, they both handled the ride very well. Derek frequently pulled a wheelie here and there when I happened to have my camera out, and Jeanne displayed her solid skill throughout the ride. We played on the skinny (see my previous ride report) at the gate, but none of us had real impressive result there. We also spent time at that really tight right hand switchback right out of China Hole towards HQ. I got interested in trying it after seeing Drew ride up it (twice) in a video. Jeanne and Derek are the kind that enjoy this kind of challenges, so they readily agreed to pay a visit. It turned out they were more obsessed than me. I tried it multiple times before deciding it was still beyond my grasp and I spent much time video taping hoping to capture their success. Unfortunately, no success came out of this trip. Well, that just give everyone a reason to keep going back to Henry Coe!

I ran into many people on this ride. Charlie at the parking lot before he headed out to look for wild flower displays. Then I ran into Jay, Mike, Sue, Georgia, and Eddy. I got to know these people just by running into them from time to time on my Coe rides. Ranger Rob drove up the road just then. He must have been doing some maintenance work again. We then ran into Travis, who had just put up a well received Henry Coe MTB race the day before (see the MTBR thread), and he was there on his mountain bike to collect all the ribbons and signs on the singletracks while his dad drove a truck to meet him at the outlets so Travis could empty his duffelbag he was carrying. We saw them again when we got back to the car. It's a lot of hard work to put together a race.

After we go back to Coit Road from China Hole, we decided to take the fun way back — Cross Canyon to Grapevine to Anza. We ran into two mountain bikers at Cross Canyon and Coit Road intersection. At that moment, they were giving their bikes a rest by walking along side of them. They were apparantly inspired by the race talk online and decided to give one of the race courses a go themselves. They only had a printed map and it was late in the day already. I gave them my map and gently pointed out how far Tule Pond Trail was from where we were before we split. I was quite relieved when I saw them at the parking lot when we returned. They turned around and found their way back via a fast way. It's probably a good idea to give yourself more daylight for exploring Henry Coe the first time. And, I was happy to have my map back.

Well, that should concludes this quick writeup. Not really well organized or well thought out, but I had to type fast before going to bed. Just finished it off while eating my lunch.