5th Wheel Cycling Team

While we await the “official” race report, here is the GPS data from our second place finish.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/11265789

I’m usually pretty frugal when it comes to purchasing bikes and bike accessories, but I splurged a bit when I saw these shorts on Chainlove for $61.99.  Three years ago when I first started riding, I would have scoffed at spending that much on a pair of shorts, but now I guess it’s considered “cheap.”

I don’t really like buying clothing without holding it in my hand first, but I decided to take a chance on these shorts since I had good luck with some Chainlove Jett shorts and the MSRP of $125 must mean that these are some high quality shorts. When the shorts arrived, the color scheme was nicer than I was expecting, but I was disappointed that they didn’t come completely as advertised.  The key things that were missing were the two cargo pockets and removable liner.  I contemplated returning them, but wanted to test them out before deciding.

My waist size is somewhere between 34 and 36 and the size L shorts fit a little more snug than I was expecting.  They aren’t tight by any means, but I still find myself sucking in my stomach when putting them on.  Once on, it’s a near perfect fit.  They don’t go below the knee and I can move very freely in them.  The chamois is where these shorts really stand out.  On their maiden voyage, my ass did not get sore whatsoever.  That was enough for me to keep them.  Overall, I would rate these shorts 3.5 out of 5 stars.  I like the style and the chamois, but dislike the feel of the pockets and the velcro fly.  I also had to dock a few points due to the bait and switch.

http://www.sugoi.com/usa/usaeng/Products/Bike/Men/Shorts/Details/1705-36305U-Gustov-Short

After getting a taste of some Tahoe dirt, I wasn’t going to be content with hitting one of the local rides this past weekend.  Something awesome was needed to satisfy my thirst.  I put up a post on Dirt Treaders asking if anyone had anything awesome lined up and didn’t get much of a response.  A few posts and text messages later, I was set to do another Noble Canyon shuttle with Andy and Mike.

The route for today was the same as usual.  We started with the BLT trail and then descended Noble.  I enjoy riding with Mike because he has great technical skills and it’s always fun to watch him on the various stunts, jumps, and drops.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see much of him in action since he descends much faster than I do and I was unable to keep up.  We also didn’t stop to session any of the features as we had done in the past, which was ok by me.  My personal highlight of the day was cleaning “stairway” again from top to bottom.  This attempt was significantly smoother than my last time around and it felt great to be able to do it without any hesitation.

“bottom third of Stairway to Hell”

We flirted with the idea of doing a shuttle of Anderson Truck Trail on the way home, but on the final descent, Andy’s seatpost/saddle broke.  He ended up walking the last .25 miles or so.  Despite the mechanical setback, it was another great ride at Noble and a lot of fun was had by all.

I didn’t have my GPS with me this time around, but here is the data from a previous ride: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8028567

Since the helmet mount for my light is broken, my weekday ride options are now severely limited.  There are only two trails close enough that allow me to squeeze in a ride before it gets dark after work.  As usual, I chose the one that is closer, more fun,and off-limits.

For a trail that’s supposedly off-limits, it sure got a lot of traffic this Thursday evening.  Once again, I met up with Trent and his friend Doug.  They’re slowly getting back into the mountain biking swing of things, and it looks like they’re close to returning to top form.  Both those dudes are also tri-dorks, so it won’t be long before they are leaving me in the dust.  We did the usual route and came across a group 0f 9, a group of 3, another group of 3, a group of 6, another group of 3, and a group of 5.  There were probably more people out riding out tonight and there were any given night a year ago when the trails were still open.  From across the ridge, we spotted a white truck, which could have been a ranger on patrol.  I guess these rides are no longer “under the radar.”

Tonight was nothing different.  We did push it a little header than I was expecting since they needed to get home in time for a BBQ (a BBQ I wasn’t invited to).  Even though I’ve ridden these trails countless times, I still get stoked when I am zipping through the singletrack under the wooded canopy.  It’s getting darker a little earlier now, so I may have to shell out the $25 to get a new helmet mount.

Here’s some GPS data from a similar ride I did back in November: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7444274.

07/23/09 – Night Ride….or Not…

The Sweetwater ride from the weekend really took a lot out of me, so that, along with a combination of the heat and general laziness, kept me off the bike for most of the week.  Finally, on Thursday, I decided “enough is enough” and finally got my butt off the couch to go on a night ride.  Well, apparently, enough wasn’t quite enough.  When I got to the trailhead, I discovered the helmet mount for my light had broke.  Once again, my night was spent watching other people ride their bikes on tv (Tour de France replays).

07/25/09 – Saturday Double Header

Earlier in the week, I made plans to do the Noble Canyon shuttle with Spencer.  It was gonna be a later start since he had things to do in the morning.  I wasn’t going to waste a Saturday morning on the couch again, so I decided to join the Dirt Treaders group ride at Lake Calavera.

Lake Calavera is a relatively small area, but the trails there offer a lot of variety, and can make for a very fun ride if you can fluidly link all of the sections together.   There is rolling singletrack, some technical rockgardens, some moderate to difficult climbs, and jumps scattered throughout the area.  Luckily, our tour guide claims this trail as his backyard ride, so we were gonna get the full Calavera experience.  Unfortunately, about 15 people showed up for this ride, so this meant that the 7:30 start time turned into an 8:00 start time, and there were many breaks and regroups.  Ordinarily, I don’t mind taking breaks, but it kinda sucks when we stop the whole ride for 25+ minutes so a couple of people can session some jumps.  After 2 hrs, and maybe 5 total miles of riding, I decided to bail so I could rest for my afternoon date.

After a little nap and a snack, I headed off to Noble Canyon to meet up with Spencer for our afternoon shuttle run.  I was worried that it was going to be hot as my thermostat read 85, but the 4:00 start time turned out to be perfect.   The weather was very mild at the upper trailhead and we had a nice breeze for the entire ride.  To top it off, there was practically no one else on the trail.

The ride was a typical Noble Canyon ride, but since it was just the two of us, there were few extended breaks and we made it down to the bottom fairly quickly.  On the BLT section of the trail, we did the usual log rides and log rollers.  There were a couple of “new” logs I would have liked to try, but I still didn’t trust my balance enough to give it a shot.  As we descended Noble, we were able to hit our groove.  As usual, the upper part was fast and flowy, and we didn’t miss a beat when we headed into the chunkier section of the trail.  I love rear suspension!  Spencer was finally able to clean the Widowmaker and I finally cleaned Stairway to Hell from top to bottom without stopping or dabbing.

This may have been the first time I did two rides in one day, but I don’t see it  being my last.  Even though both rides were fun, I, unfortunately, didn’t quite get in the “training” I wanted to for next weekend’s race.

07/29/09 – Post-Work Poaching

After the weekend fun, I was itching to get back on the dirt and a quick spin on my questionably-legal-backyard-trail was on the menu.  I asked my old manager, Trent, if he wanted to go, and surprisingly, he said yes!  We used to ride together 2-3 times a week, but since we were laid off from our old company, a few months had passed since we last went mountain biking together.

I was hoping to go at a faster pace so I could be somewhat prepared for the coming race, but it wasn’t meant to be.  Apparently, Trent hurt his back on a mechanical bull and this would be his first time on a bike in a couple of months.  He brought his friend Doug who would be riding these trails for the first time.  We did a quick 8 mile loop and it was just like old times.  Despite being off the bike for a while, Trent still rode pretty well.  We went down one of the “tunnels” I haven’t been on in nearly six months and I was quickly reminded of how fun it was.  It’s a real shame that these trails are officially off-limits, but judging by all the tire marks, they still get plenty of traffic.

With only 3 days to go before my racing debut, I wasn’t feeling very confidence since I haven’t pushed myself on a ride in a veeeeeeeeeeery long time, and all the “training” I had set out to do was deterred by the lure of my couch and television.

07/31/09 – Tahoe Bound

The morning started off with a few fake coughs, a phone call to my boss, and an 8.5 hr drive.  Before I knew it, I was parked in front of Corey Rich’s home/office, and 5th Wheel Cycling was together for the first time since the team was brought back from the dead.  After eating a mediocre calzone and waiting for Vince to finish the days tasks, it was time to hit some Tahoe dirt.  It probably wasn’t the best idea to go riding since I drove 8.5 hrs on only 4 hours of sleep and  we had to race the next day, but I had to make the most out of my short time in Tahoe.

Vince, Corey, Corey’s dog, and I headed out from his driveway and rode on the streets for a short while before we picked up the High Meadows trail.  We climbed and we climbed and we climbed some more.  I’m not sure what the mileage was, and it probably wasn’t even that much, but my legs were shot the minute we started ascending.  Overall, the climb wasn’t that steep, but the altitude, calzone, and lack of sleep all caught up to me and I ended up walking a good majority of the hill.  Vince, on the other hand, was just flying up the hill.  I was really impressed.  It was quite a change from when we last rode together.

He was every bit as fast going down as he was going up.  Not before long, he was out of sight and I was left to enjoy the smooth, rolling singletrack by myself.  I eventually caught up and before we knew it, we had logged  nearly 15 miles.  I wasn’t expecting to ride for that long, but was glad I did, since the downhill was as fun as anything I experienced in southern California.

The long weekend was off to a great start and it was about to get better as we had the Kirkwood 9 to 5 coming up in a few hours…

08/01/09 – Kirkwood 9 to5

(This is where I expect Vince to chime in with his race report.)

As the weekend approached, I had the difficult task of choosing where to ride. There were two rides posted over at www.dirttreaders.com that piqued my interest: Lake Calavera and Sweetwater. I ended up choosing Sweetwater since I had ridden Calavera many times and was just there a few weeks ago. I rode Sweetwater once previously – over two years ago and it was a bit of an exploratory ride. I was looking forward to checking out some new dirt and getting a “tour” from someone who knew the trails well.

I knew the day was going to turn into a scorcher when I had the a/c running at 7am as I was making the drive to the trailhead. We had 8 riders total, and off we went. The pace was nice and mellow, and considering the rising temperature, I had no complains even though this was supposed to be a “training” ride for the Kirkwood race. During the first short climb, we were caught by one of the guys from the DT community… he was out for a morning jog.

The trail consisted of 90% singletrack. It was mostly rolling, but there was one brutal climb and a couple of fun downhill sections thrown in.  Overall, it wasn’t very technical, but the fun factor was still relatively high.

Sweet singletrack and the climb ahead

Two legs are sometimes faster than two wheels

After several switchbacks, some more HAB, and a bit of complaining, we finally reach the top

Finally, some descending

(The chick in front was on a nearly 20 yr old fully rigid Gary Fisher.  She was on a business trip from the east coast and really wanted to ride)

Some much needed shade

We ended up logging in a little less than 13 miles.  Apparently, there are a lot more trails and route options than what we did today, so I am definitely looking forward to going back.  My thermostat read 99 degrees when we finished, so I may wait a few weeks before my return.  It’s good to be able to add another trail to ride regularly, and even better to know that there’s always a fun group to ride with.

The final stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/9125524

P.S. – I am not even close to being in race form

After a week of virtually no physical activity, this handsome man decided he needed to end his dry spell, and America’s finest city would provide the perfect backdrop for his conquests. Unfortunately, I am hardly handsome and know nothing about conquesting, so I had to settle for a solo “night” ride.

I packed my lights due to my 7pm start, and after 8 or so miles of (possibly illegal) singletrack goodness, I was back at the car at 8:30 and the sun hadn’t even set yet. The overall pace was pretty mellow, and the climbing was minimal, but I did manage to finally clean a switchback that had always given me trouble. There was a log ride I wanted to session, but there were a group of questionable looking youths in the distance and I didn’t want to eat it in front of them, so I decided to save it for another day. Overall, it felt great to be back on the bike after a week of sitting on the couch.

Lesson learned: Going riding is way more fun than watching Tour de France replays. It took me all week to figure that one out.

On Saturday morning I found myself making the drive to Noble Canyon for the second consecutive weekend.  Originally I wasn’t going to go since it’s a 45 minute drive and I can be pretty lazy. But when it comes down to it, when Noble Canyon calls your name, you listen; it is the best ride in San Diego.

The crew this week consisted of Matt, his brother Spencer, and Jeremy.

After loading up the truck, we shuttled up to the Wooded Hills trailhead.  As usual, the ride started with some rolling singletrack on the Big Laguna Trail.

There were logs…

and some other logs…

Matt’s failed log roll from Dennis Lui on Vimeo.

and even bigger logs…

Untitled from Dennis Lui on Vimeo.

Once we hit the Noble Canyon trail, the cameras were tucked away since the trail is too fun to stop and take pictures.  It is about 8 miles of descending on tight and twisty singletrack, with enough drops, jumps, and rock gardens to keep you on your toes.

Here is Matt on the “Widowmaker”

We cruised down the rest of the trail with minimal stops.  Unfortunately, Jeremy ate it pretty good on a jump and as he was laying on the ground, this was all I could think of:

Family Guy – Peter hurts his knee

Then, on “Stairway to Hell,” Matt somehow managed to tumble off the side of the hill while he was already off his bike.  No photographic evidence exists, but I found it humorous until he revealed he hit his head on a rock.  He was okay and would have finished the ride just fine, but he got a flat and our experiment to use a 700c road tube was unsuccessful.  I ended up getting my car and picking him up.

Even though this was my 10th time doing this trail this year, the combination of fast downhill and technical rocky sections never get old, and I always end up having a blast.  Unfortunately, I still haven’t been able to clean “Stairway” from top to bottom, but I do feel myself improving with each attempt and it won’t be long before I nail it.  All in all, I can’t think of a better way to spend my Saturday morning.

The lack of content on this site may lead you to believe we are a bunch of posers, but we really do ride bikes. For the non-believers, proof will be provided this weekend.

-Dennis