Tuesday, June 3, 2008

El Corte de Madera

One of the things I try to avoid is burn-out. I think cyclists in particular are prone to this, perhaps due to the repetitive motions involved. I try to break up the monotony with, of course, more cycling, but in the dirt. I started life as a mountain biker. I used to ride summers away at Upton State Forest with my friend Tony as we'd discuss what to build next in the basement: trebuchet, remote control hydroplane, etc... I stopped for a bit in early college, then realized I needed something to balance my life and got myself a new mountain bike. This time I really got into it and even took up racing, much to the chagrin of my GPA. I moved to California for its fine educational instituitions and mountain biking, noting that Santa Barbara had four thousand foot climbs right in its backyard. My MTB has remained a balance since then. Sure, road gave me a ton of fitness, but MTB invented it.

This weekend I went to Skeggs Point, aka El Corte de Madera. One thing I really dislike about the bay is the necessity to drive 30 minutes to ride a bike. The other is the speed limits on trails. I can climb faster than the speed limits on some trails, give me a break. Anyway, drive aside, I had the park to myself and the dense fog in the redwoods. It was beautiful. Sloppy at top, it dried out as I lost elevation along Fir and Resolution trails, remembering how to handle a bike in the dirt and slalom around trees. While reading a map, another rider came across the trail, so I followed him down South Leaf, a new trail for me. It was awesome ridge line riding with enough techy to keep it interesting. I kind of miss the death defying technical riding of the SB front side, but this was enjoyable for my lycra wearing butt these days. A long, beautiful climb lead me to Steam Donkey, which I rode up and down, savoring the huge bursts of power it took to climb the rock gardens and the flow of the descent. Next up was Manzanita trail, which had enough sandstone to almost remind me of SB, but all was over soon as I climbed back to the car. NorCal parks are small, except for Coe. It was a great reminder of how fun a mountain bike can be, and left me energized for the week. This kind of ride makes a bike feel like a logical extension of your being, while a road bike always feels like a tool to me. Hopefully I'll get out there more this summer.

One thing that always strikes me about racing out here versus riding is the difference in terrain. They'd never put a race on at a place like Skeggs, where I climbed over 3500' in less than 15 miles. Most races seem like dirt crits to me, and expensive ones at that. East coast racing seemed better about mixing up the terrain, but that probably has something to do with land usage rights. I never saw speed limit signs out there.

No comments: