XXCMag is an awesome magazine on endurance mtb/racing and they just published an article (in issue #14) on our big Coe adventure. I’m pretty proud and excited we made it in there! I’ve been a reader of XXCMag for quite a while and though online viewing is entirely free I would encourage you to purchase the issue (digital download is $2.25, digital + print is $11), to support the magazine. Below an embed of our article:
A lot has been going on in recent weeks and months, Henry Coe-wise, and an update here is way past due; here’s a brief summary and timeline:
- May 13, 2011: California State Parks announces a plan to close 78 out of its 278 parks due to state budget cuts. The list includes Coe park.
- It becomes clear that due to existing employee contracts, the closure will likely not happen before July 2012
- May 2011: the Coe Park Preservation Fund (CPPF) is formed, by a group of people mostly originating from the existing Pine Ridge Association (a so-called ‘official state park cooperating association’, which was formed in 1975 to assist park staff, create interpretive and educational programs for the public, organizing events and trail work days with volunteers etc). In recent years, mountain bikers in Coe have been very engaged with this group, in particular on the trail maintenance front, and fundraising for the CPPF starts.
- August 2011: we* came up with the Coe Everest Challenge, in order to raise awareness for the closure and more funds for the CPPF; it will run in conjuction with the new edition of our hundred miler (featuring a ‘bonus loop’). Trying to ride over 140 miles with 29k of elevation gain in more or less a single day in Coe (probably more) is somewhat crazy and probably overly audacious, but if we knew it could be done, it wouldn’t be a challenge! (*we = yours truly and a few friends)
- September 9, 2011: an agreement between the CPPF and State Parks is announced and will avert the closure of Coe. CPPF has raised sufficient funds to ensure the park will remain open until 2015.
Some very generous donations from a few individuals made this possible; the Everest Challenge is most likely only providing a very modest contribution, and perhaps the pressure is now a bit off, but it is important to show the state that this park is being frequented by a variety of user groups, including mountain bikers, who care about the place; and the funds will either way go to very good causes, such as trail work, the construction of new trails, an endowment for the future (post 2015) etc. So the challenge is on, more than ever. October 1st, 2011 is the big day!
Another month, another full moon, and the Perseid meteor shower is peaking tonight. It promises to be another fantastic night to go out and ride Coe. I won’t make it this time around, but some folks will be out there. Below some pics and links to the stories from last time, to raise the appetite…
On MTBGuru
Anticipation and aftermath on mtbr.com
A bat fell out of the sky on Hunting Hollow…
Lunatics
Middle Ridge thrills
Daybreak
Disappearing…
Full moon tomorrow… ride ’til dawn. With all the recent hoopla (announced park closures etc) it should be a memorable one.
Everything has its price, so in order to restore the karmic balance of the universe we got to pay (a bit) for the early February summer by a series of ‘storms’.
‘Storms’ and not storms, as here in California these are still very relative concepts. Either way, it resulted in some nice white fluffy stuff in the hills, both close to home, and on mountains farther away.
Of course the white stuff lends itself nicely to various fun activities, for both the young and not-so-young-anymore. Hitting up a deserted, ‘ghost’ ski resort in the Sierras for some showshoeing was certainly a highlight. But one can also nicely play in it with a bike.
It doesn’t happen too often I can ride to it from home and be done and back before lunchtime.
Meh. Hope this sign and gate will disappear some time soon. It is a shame.
Meanwhile, things – and temperatures – are back to normal and the snow is retreating again.
Was it the incredible, pinch-me-it’s-february azure skies and temperatures, fueled by powerful offshore winds, or the flow of those lovely trails in the forest, best enjoyed in the company of some good friends?
Point is, yesterday was a day of record highs. The three dudes (druids?) we ran into at some point must have taken that in a different sense, but this was Santa Cruz, and reputations have to be kept up.
Inge demonstrates that Titus lives, and today she had her bike properly baptized.
In other news, Coe-sorcerer and trail builder extraordinaire Paul has a new blog up, with lots of fascinating Coe-centric stuff – check out his photos of an amazing sunset.
In late summer 2010 I started to experiment more with gear and practice some bikepacking – so many exciting adventures out there that are luring – and getting your feet wet slowly seems to be the recommended course of action before diving into these bigger things. I’ve done my share of night rides, but a solo night ride in Coe last August will stand out as creepiest one to date.
There were many after work rides in summer to fondly remember; nothing like dragging your tired ass out of the office and up the mountain, to then watch a brilliant sunset and dive back down the fog blanketed slopes… I even found some new trails where I didn’t expect them.
In fall, my previously vague plans had finally started to crystallize, and a feverish obsession took hold of me… at last, was it going to happen, pull off that 100 miler in Coe? Many a long solo ride was undertaken to scout out trails and routes. The great thing, Coe being Coe, were the many chance (as well as intended) encounters with the regulars: Roy, Patrick, Jeff, Charlie, Paul(s), Mei and Eric, Jay, Bryan etc. I even managed to convince some of them to join in the madness. A nice side effect of my training regimen was that I was able to shatter my PR on Kennedy trail (another minor obsession of mine).
Our first shot at the Hard COEre 100 was very respectable on its own but left us hungry; I think all three of us knew we’d be back here in no time, for another attempt, now that we knew some bugs needed ironing out. I was grateful to still have the fitness and stamina required (it was mid-November), and was impressed by everyones resolve.
Few moments felt so good as the time this shot was taken – Roy, Patrick and I had just wrapped it up and tamed the monster, and found a merry Paul and shivering Bryan greeting us at Hunting Hollow – priceless!
There wasn’t much time to do a lot of exploring out of the familiar areas this year, luckily with one noteable exception; a lava ride on the Big Island – as well as some excursions through the jungle.
Before we realized it, the holidays were there again; this time I made it to the traditional Thanksgiving Turkey ride on Kennedy – what a crowd, and what fun!
Meanwhile, I had turned again to my road bike, which had slowly morphed into a ‘psyclocross’ bike… getting ready for new adventures in new places; such as Titus Canyon, in a gorgeous wintery Death Valley.
It also brought new excitement to familiar trails, and think it will continue to do so.
Looking back, there was a lot to be happy with and thankful for in 2010 – and I’m hoping 2011 will get even better; I’m wishing everyone a great, healthy, injury-free and accident-free year. Cheers!
…which means it’s year-in-review and list season. So below, my list of most-memorable-2010-riding-experiences, with accompanying photographs. Of course, almost by definition these photos helped make the rides memorable, but they may not necessarily represent the best ones. Sometimes, the best rides are those that go unnoticed, don’t leave photographic evidence, but are great because everything just felt right at the time, I was fully in the zone or in harmony with the environment and the universe at large.
But first: it’s 2011 now, with hopefully lots of new rides and some new challenges. How about some resolutions or goals perhaps?
- learning to use the ‘lap’ button on my GPS (this does have its benefits)
- growing the Hard COEre 100 into something much bigger (and perhaps even badder; I have a whole new and additional challenge in mind)
- some bikepacking; in particular, to get ready for this; a ridiculously hard challenge but oh so luring and it would feel so good to pull it off; and most of the route is awesome: in scenery, technicality and fun-ity. The ‘race’ is actually planned for 2012 but it doesn’t hurt to prepare oneself.
- roadie stuff: Climb to Kaiser, Terrible Two? Another clean sub-20 on OLH would be nice too.
- Xterra Tahoe? (requires learning to swim properly) A ‘hard’ hundie? (Breckenridge 100 comes to mind once again; Tahoe-Sierra 100 as well but I don’t like the vibe around it so much nor the qualifier stuff)
With regards to MTBGuru.com: I’m not in danger of overstating anything if I say 2010 has been a quiet year. Aside from minor changes and maintenance, the major new effort was the integration of Google’s Fusion Tables, something which proved to be a very useful feature. Otherwise, ‘steady as she goes’ remains our motto; since it doesn’t look like Tom or I will have a lot of time to develop new things, probably more of the same in 2011; perhaps a redesign (css) if we feel ambitious.
Now back to the program. I want to use photos that I haven’t shown here before so let’s start with this:
Jeff beautifully expresses his sense of wonder about those adventurous early spring Coe rides. Or is he re-enacting that time when he ran into a raging bull on the trail? Those rides, through lush blankets of wildflowers, the land teeming with wildlife, seem like vague memories now, but soon their time will come again.
Coe was a bit of a theme, obviously, the Hard COEre 100 being without contest the most memorable riding experience of the year; but the great thing is that Coe lets you explore a lot of new stuff, anytime you’re up for it – I think there may be still a few years left before I’ve touched everything, at the current rate. During winter and spring, Santa Teresa was another fine riding theatre – Rocky Ridge and Stiles Ranch trails being the main poles of attraction.
It was late spring when I focused on the ‘road’ ahead: the Wildflower tri, with my bike-challenged coworker (resulting in a near win), and more memorably, the Alta Alpina double century, which I sort of haphazardly tackled, together with Jeff and Peter. I learned how also the road bike can dish out formidable levels of suffering, though most of it was probably of my own doing (next time: do not leave the cold gear at home).
Then summer came by, and I tasted some more Tahoe, but now on dirt. This is highly addictive, so I didn’t think I got enough, but the rides on the Tahoe Rim trail, and the Hole-in-the-Ground + Donner Rim trails certainly made a mental mark, even with mechanical mishaps and all (Tom’s improvised ‘hard tail’ was a McGyverian highlight).
And the trip with Ria on a gorgeous day to the Flume was unforgettable.
The past year, I’ve become a happier practicioner of mountain bike swimming – or is that swim mountain biking? My favorite places to perform this refreshing endeavour are alpine lakes such as Marlette, Star Lake or Dardanelles Lake – it is of course really great in the summer heat, but even when it’s cooler I found it to rejuvenate mind and body quite well, in particular when half-wasted deep into a tough ride. Maybe next year I will graduate to swimming in Coe lakes?
Knew the video footage would come in handy to fill up a rainy day… prepare for iPhone-definition, in all its stunning shakiness:
Scenes from the Hard COEre 100 from Dirk dB on Vimeo.
Meanwhile, I’m somewhat stuck in an mtb-rut – can’t remember when I last rode or touched a mountain bike. Not to worry though, there is a psyclocross bike to keep me entertained during these rather rainy days. Since it is a modified road bike, there’s no real mud clearance or serious braking power, so I stick to trails and roads that dry quickly… such as those found in Death Valley:
Every year on the morning of Thanksgiving day, a spontaneous and rather miraculous gathering of close to a thousand cyclists takes place on the summit of Kennedy fireroad in Los Gatos. Food and drinks are carried up the 2000ft hill and shared. I finally made it this year, and it was quite a spectacle – great to see many familiar faces and to reunite with the other Hard COEre 100 riders (or should I say, my fellow Coe nuts?).
