MTBGuru blog

What beats riding Moab?

Riding more Moab, and this weekend the participants of the 24 hours of Moab will get to do plenty of that. The course - a single lap - is shown below. Here are GPX and KML files.

The GPS track is based on the Google Earth image overlay provided by the Granny Gear website, combined with DEM data we got from the USGS to generate the elevation profile.

One lap is a good 14 miles with about 1400 feet of elevation gain. In 2005 someone was able to do 18 of these in 24 hours - totally amazing.

During the race last year we were in town to witness rather apocalyptic conditions: there were enormous downpours during the night - this year we unfortunately won’t make it but we’re looking forward to read the reports.

When you create trips on MTBGuru, GPX and KML files are being generated and available for download through links in the sidebar. You can for instance configure your browser so that it automatically opens the KML file in Google Earth when you click it.

But KML files can also be read by Google Maps. That’s why we’ve added some links on the trip page that allow you to view your trips directly in Maps: one in the ‘Share your Trip’ section and one below the main map called ‘Large map’, which, as the name indicates, opens up a large map with your track on it in a separate browser tab - see screenshot below. This is useful for those cases when you want to have a full screen map view of your trip without any other clutter. This will only work for public trips.

Example:

Follow the ‘Large Map’ link underneath the map on the trip page and you get:

Earlier this summer I had the priviledge to go check out and ride some amazing trails in Chamonix.
Meanwhile, some MTBGuru users have posting a large number of great looking routes and trails in the French Alps - if you have the chance, point your map to the Alpes and go check them out.

For instance, this route connecting Chamonix and Morzine by Gareth from Endlessride, amongst many others mainly in the Morzine area. You can even hire him as your guide, check his site and blog.

Phil and Emma are another pair of English natives that are guiding in the Alps (mostly in the Massif des Ecrins) - check out for instance this hiking trip in Val d’Escreins, as well as their site, Alpine Break.

The summer is almost over, but there’s probably still time to do some these rides or hikes (before the snow falls), if you’d be in the area.

They call it the Lick Fire but to me it’s the Coe Fire, as it’s raging in the middle of Henry Coe State Park, one of my favorite riding areas in the Bay Area. (The area around the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton on the other hand is untouched by the fire.)

The whole South Bay has been covered in a smoky haze for the past few days, and on occasion the air is smelling of burnt oak and pine. This time of the year (fall), the sky is usually very clear instead.

The haze and particles in the air create spectacular orange and red sunsets and sunrises (see photo below). I’m pretty bummed though, as more than likely a good deal of trails and riding area will either have been flattened by fire trucks or closed indefinitely for restauration. Not to mention the tons of ash and dust that will be all over the place. Vegetation should be back in good shape after a (hopefully) wet winter - there will be some more open meadowland than before, as the fallen trees obviously won’t be back any time soon.

Pictures, maps, renderings of the fire in Google Earth and reasonably up to date info can be found on this discussion thread on mtbr.com - there’s even a firefighter/mountain biker chiming in once and a while…

Technorati Tags: Henry Coe, Lick Fire

That E100 was something else. Read here more about the gorgeous trails, the Spiral of Pain, the Aspen Labyrinth and how I’ll need to revisit this one…

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Update:
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Next saturday the Endurance 100 Solo, aka the E100 is on in Park City. Organizer Boris Lyubner’s tagline is ‘mind over mountains’ and promises to deliver ‘100 miles of technical, alpine singletrack’ - needless to say this has made be quite enamored with this event and a couple weeks ago I finally decided to sign up. We’ll have to see how my mind deals with the mountains, as it will be my maiden offroad 100-mile race. The course looks great - 90% singletrack, not too much fireroad - but intimidating.

This is how it looks like in Google Earth:

A profile with teeth!

There are 5 ’stages’, the 100 mile race consists of stages 1, 2, 3 (times two), 4 and 5 (the latter two are in fact also two laps of the same loop). Follow the links to check out the separate trip pages we created for the stages. And here is the overall 100 mile course (embedded map below). There’s also a 50 mile (stages 1, 2, 3) and 100 km event (1, 2, 3 and 4).

Needless to say, you should check out the official website to get all the latest info if you consider signing up. See you in Utah next week if you do!

The Shasta Summit Century is definitely one of the most scenic road rides you can think of. Clear lakes, winding forest roads, interesting geological features and of course the towering giant herself, they’re all there. Add to that for Californian standards fairly good road conditions with sparse vehicular traffic, a few real thrilling descents, a flawlessy organized event by the local cycling club (thank you Mountain Wheelers) and you have the makings of a great weekend trip to California’s North.

But it does have some venom in its tail: the main climb, a 14 mile grunt on Everitt Memorial Highway along the flanks of the big volcano, gaining 4200 feet and dropping you at 7700 feet of altitude, is at the very end of the ride - check out that profile, which is of the regular century - there’s also a 135 mile ‘long’ option.
Upon summitting, make sure to save some oxygen for the descent - it’s one of the funnest downhill runs on skinny tires around.
More stuff and photos on this trip page…

Technorati Tags: cycling, Mount Shasta

We’ve added a link to the trip page in the embed code that you can use to publish a map on your own site. See screenshot below - ‘Trip details’ will redirect you to the actual trip page.

This weekend I went up to Tahoe with a plan: circumnavigate the entire lake by bike, on trails, as much as possible.
Bikes are only allowed on parts of the Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT) and some sections on paved road would be unavoidable.

I’d try to do it solo and unsupported (except for Starbucks breaks), in a day-and-a-half, and I wanted to camp out in the wilderness so I’d need to lug quite some stuff along. My original route proved to be a bit over-ambitious, but I did manage to close the loop, as the below map attests! (didn’t have much choice, actually…)

It was tough but a great and rewarding experience - only noticeable really after it was done ;). Read the full report, download the GPS track or check out many more photos on the trip page.

Highlights are too many to summarize here - ‘gorgeous singletrack with equally gorgeous views all the way’ would probably do it. A truly memorable trip, and if you take some more time than I did, you could add the Stanford loop, the Mount Rose section of the TRT as well as the Punisher to Big Meadows and Christmas Valley towards the end, to make it an all-encompassing best-of-Tahoe trip: over 100 miles, good for two or three days of epic riding.