Local Rides by MTB San Diego and Orange County

July 26th, 2009

Where has the month gone already? Wow, I cant believe it is already almost August when it seemed like June would never end, July just flew right by! The heat has definitely cranked up and summer weather is in full swing. Lots of warm mornings and hotter afternoons, its been a little tougher to get out and about when its so dang hot! The beaches of course are always available and the water is just perfect. Torrey Pines, Ocean Beach and La Jolla are always good standbys while in SD, and when in OC, of course I have to hit Strands.

Where are the best local rides for MTB? I have been doing a bit more investigating now that I have the truck. The first true wilderness park in the area is Mission Trails. Its a bit of a drive but its big, easy to get lost in and to relax your mind in. Unfortunately there are a lot of steeply graded fire roads- so steep and so sandy that it is almost too hard to walk up if you can believe it. I have almost done the Cowles Mountain Trail Summit, but have yet to make it to the top. http://www.mtrp.org/trail_map/trail_map.asp

When in Orange County, there are a number of wilderness areas, but the closest to home is the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. The terrain is very familiar to Mission Trails, but you have to appreciate a wilderness area so close to suburbia and where one can explore for miles and for hours on end. http://ocparks.com/uploadgraphics/laguna2008.pdf

Other upcoming trails I will be hitting are Cuyamaca State Park and Malibu Canyon. Both promise local campgrounds and singletrack...Always on the search for more and better single track!

Ride Across the Pyrenees

As promised, I have secured a flight for a reduex cycle tour across the Pyrenees mountain range. Starting in San Sebastian, in the Basque country, we will ride across to the Mediterranean in two weeks, with an extra week for travel time and sight seeing in the big cities. The ride is demanding as you summit a peak a day and the inclines are steep to say the least. The exciting part is you cross many of the same peaks the Tour de France riders go over.

Not what most people would consider a vacation but exciting for me and a great opportunity to return to one of my most favorites rides ever! The adventure begins Sept 20th, 2009.

Buying a Car

July 8th, 2009 Buying a Car...

I had been playing with the idea of getting a car, not too seriously, and with the mild enthusiasm of someone who is waiting for a dream car to appear on their door stop for free. I cant lie and say I really wanted one, or needed one. I had been getting around quite well by bike and took some satisfaction in that accomplishment; this is after all, a car culture, and most people cant imagine living without a car anymore than they can fathom living without a right arm, or cell phone. Strangely enough, I have only lived here for two months, but I know places better than most people because of going by bike. So there!

Anyway, it seemed I still needed one for a) my status and b) the dream job I was supposedly getting any day now. My search began in the classified section of Craigs List. I dont know why everyone loves this site- is it the allure of some bargain out there being sold by some random, desperate person? Personally, I find the site shady, and that suspicion is confirmed by the "love" section, and the recent murder through one of those consenting adult encounters. Nevertheless, I too thought a bargain was yet to be had and embarked on a search for a Toyota Corolla for around $3000.

Hmmm....I only saw one in person- a nice mom-type lady was selling it. She didnt drive it far- no problems! she said, I just want to sell it. I had it inspected and we strolled Adams avenue sharing stories and a latte. I was almost babysitting for her until the results came back- $1200 of repairs, and she bolted.

Hmmm....I was discouraged for a bit, but eventually switched gears and started looking at trucks. Perfect for throwing mountain bikes in the back, I thought, ooh...here's a yellow one with a camper shell! Its the color of a banana slug and is just dying to have some flames or hippie flowers painted on it. The price was cheapish, albeit double my original budget, and I drove it around the used car lot. Perhaps I should have been tipped off the lot was next to the topless bar, and the salesman was just a hair too friendly, too personal, and texting me too much...was I really his "tree hugging special girl"?

What is going on here? Half an inspection later, and I pulled the plug. Why go on? Is there a way to do his withot getting a headache, without knowing somebody who knows somebody, without shady craigs list deals, help from Dad and a man who has to be my husband to go along with me?...argh!!!

Enter Car Max. Dad said so. I looked online, I saw a truck that would do. Triple my original budget, by screw it! I cant handle living in limbo! I called, I made an appt, and I went down there, drove it, bought it and got insurance. All in one day. Today in fact.

There is a 5 day grace period, and 30 day repair at no cost. I bought the extra repair insurance for breakdowns, and basically, although I go weary with all the paperwork, I didnt get a headache and got to spend the day with a friendly, but non-groping, used car salesman. In fact, he was almost like me- recently divorced and living in a studio, hoping for a real job to come through. Everyone has got to hit the reset button on life from time to time. It comes extra hard to people who think they wont have to. One thing I have learned, nothing is secure, predictable or trustworthy! You never know what is going to happen next. Hell, even someone like me might buy a car! Who would have thought that?!?

Now, I have a truck- 2003 Toyota Tacoma and when fitted with a camper shell will be my ticket to mountain biking destinations; not to mention, my parents house where I am sorely absent for dinner during the last month. All said and done, I still think that I didnt need a car, but I can upgrade my lifestyle a couple of notches and stop mooching off my friends that have cars for rides. Maybe I will seem less like a loser to people. Or maybe not, I still dont have a "real" job.

Best of all, I can tick this damn action item off my list! I am almost a teenager! Yeah, for me and my growing pains.

Why Go by Ground When You Can Fly?

July 6th, 2009

I typically think of July 4th as the official kick-off of summer-June gloom goes away and so does any lingering sentiments of spring. The temperature cranks up a notch and suddenly the sun is out from morning til evening- the endless days of summer.

To begin summer is true style, I was invited to fly by small plane to three national parks- Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon. I accepted without hesitation, and then wondered exactly where these parks were and what I would find there. Sadly, I have never been to a national park- not Yosemite, Sequoia, Yellowstone nor the infamous Grand Canyon. It begs to question why go half way around the world when there are so many beautiful places right here in the US?

We boarded our Moonie 94 at Mira Mesa municipal airport by throwing our bags in the luggage compartment and nestling in to the close but comfortable quarters of the plane. The lift off was quick and without incident and we quickly traversed the eastern desert region of California listening to the sounds track of "Garden State" and the Shins over the headphones, snapping photos of landscape and trying to identify landmarks like Mount Palomar and the Salton Sea. We previewed Bryce and Zion by passing them overhead and glimpsing the eroded cliffs and towers of iron-infused earth. A few thunderclouds kept us from getting to close and we touched down in a steady drizzle at the small airport of Cedar City, Utah where our rental car was waiting.

Off we went to take a spin around Zion. We did a short hike before the rain started coming down in heavy drops. A remarkable rainbow emerged. We rode the tram up to the end of the stops and back. It was narrated so we were able to plan our next day's adventure.

An early rise and we were off to Bryce National Park. You cant match the colors of the landscape at Bryce, nor the unusual passageways through the eroded soil. A short loop trail took us down to the valley floor where we could look up at the bright blue sky, puffy white clouds and brick-red hoo doos and odd rock formations. It was just a taste of what the region had to offer and I bought a Utah Mountain Biking Guide for more...

We had enough time to return to Zion for the Angel's Landing hike. If you only have a day or two, and not enough time to get into the Narrows, this hike is a must. It turned out to be the highlight of our time on the ground. We began smartly in the later afternoon where much of the trail was protected by shadows and cooler temperatures. Up and up and up you go...Until you think youre there, but wait, there is a long, much steeper trail clingy perilously to the cliffs. It isnt much of a trail at all in fact as you work your way up holding on to chains embedded into the rocks, stepping into divets in the stone, inching your way up higher, careful not to look down and the void the river has created all around you becomes more and more noticeable- the bottom of the river valley that much farther away.

I began to wonder if this was really something that the park could allow people to do. The sign said, "Falls from this trail have resulted in death." There isnt much maybe in that statement!

The view from the top was of course well worth the strain and labored breath. We spent a long time soaking up the sun from this height, and hoping that the thundering rain clouds would pass us by. We looked down on the tiny road of the tram and the river meandering its way down through the rocks, thousands of years in the making.

In the morning, we boarded the plane again did some fly-bys of Zion, Bryce and at last, the Grand Canyon. The view from the air shows the progression which you cant see as well close up, and time on land allows you to touch and feel everything around you. I may be a convert to personal plane travel as we were able to reach a relatively distant state in a couple of hours, no security check ins and no traffic, no roads, just as straight as the crow flies, liberated from the imposed restrictions of ground travel.