Finding the Snow Mountain Ditch

A friend, a man's best friend, and I went out early yesterday to do some work opening this old ditch trail. We made good progress. More work needs to be done. This is going to be an awesome new trail when it's complete.

Looking towards Lower Scott's Flat Lake.


From same location looking West towards Nevada City.


You can see there is a great existing trailbed.



With some exciting technical features here and there.


The trail bed needs some work in places. Here we armored a section with rocks found right on site.


Leaving the ditch tender's trail to the ditch bottom will be necessary in a few places. This is a little transition we built.

The Breeder of the Pack -- Vroom, vroom...

I was passed today by a rather large SUV. The driver was courteous and gave me plenty of room.
This is not going to be some sort of anti SUV rant.
It was a rather large Chevy headed up Banner Mountain (where there is often snow in the winter). It was the abundance of stickers on the back glass that attracted my attention. I have often seen people representing each member of their family by a sticker; husband, wife, boy, girl, dog, etc. Perplexing to me. Some sort of bragging - "We are very fertile, see, we made all these!" kind of thing.
Well, this vehicle had at least (8) eight children shown. Eight. Eight! I'd say (2) boys and (6) six girls. That's a lot of breeding.
As the vehicle drove by I started to wonder if that car was big enough for the family, don't they need a bus? At least a small one, eh?
Later today it occurred to me that, after birthing so many children, at some point you just start feeling like a bread machine, rolling out bun after bun of fresh baked human...

North Carolina Congressman McHenry is a dick

Oh, I cannot make this stuff up. Yes, the American people have heard this. Their answer to our fuel crisis, the crisis at the pumps, is: Ride a bike.

I sent the Congressman an email:


Dear Mr. McHenry,

I would like to share with you my little human interest story.javascript:void(0)
Publish Post
I am originally from Cashiers, North Carolina and now live in Nevada City, CA. My wife and I rent a small apartment in town and walk to dinner, movies, coffee, the bank, etc. It's a wonderful life that we live.

I work in Grass Valley, CA, a mere 4 hilly miles away. Over a year ago I sold my pickup and commute by bicycle. Throughout the year I ride my bike to work. Riding my bike to work and on errands makes me very happy. It keeps me in shape, it keeps my weight down, it keeps my cholesterol down, my health costs down, my transportation costs down, it reduces local traffic and it is a great solution to my transportation dilemma.

It is very unfortunate that you view the bicycle as a 19th century solution to 21st century problem.

Sir, it is your kind of jaded disposition and lack of creativity and understanding that is degrading our country. And to think, you are one of our elected leaders who is supposed to be looking out for the greater good of the United States.
You really should be ashamed of yourself.

Think about it. How is the obesity problem in North Carolina? How about the poverty rate and it’s association with transportation costs? Air quality from pollution generated by automobiles?

I’ll be in North Carolina on Labor Day weekend and would be happy to take you on a leisurely ride to remind you how easy it is to ride a bike.

Thanks,

Hyland Fisher

Cascade Creampuff 100 Race Report

I did the 8 hour version of the Coolest 24 in Cool, CA back in May. I misjudged my nutrition requirements and bonked at around hour 5. I was able to complete another lap around hour 6, but I had a terrible day and felt certain that it was due to my nutrition.

I rode sweep for the Nevada City Endurance Ride, also in May. 50 miles on the singlespeed and I was very careful with my nutrition. I assumed they wouldn’t have any vegan sandwiches so I packed some baked tofu with me. I had a great ride, I was only suffering for about 20 minutes of my 8 hours and felt considerably better at the end than I had expected to. Not to mention I raised almost $500 for Big Brothers Big Sisters.

I’ve heard that Tour de France riders will eat big fatty baked goods during the race to make sure they get enough calories. I thought that this was a wonderful idea so while in Oregon we made sure to stock up on vegan baked goods. We went by Voodoo Doughnut in Portland and I bought a big bag of day old vegan donuts for $5. Score. My wife went by a bakery in Eugene and picked up some vegan cinnamon rolls. I also went Wild Oats and picked up some baked tofu, tofu jerky and Odwalla protein shakes. I had brought up with me a big bag of Bumble Bars (one of our team’s sponsors) and Gu packets.

I had a very good training schedule this past winter to early spring. I’d done some big rides, but none longer than 8 hours or longer than 50 miles. Life has gotten in the way over the past month or so and I’ve had less opportunity to do any dedicated training. The 10 mile roundtrip to work with 800 ft of climbing on the singlespeed road bike doesn’t hurt though.

We flew to Portland on Thursday night and soon found ourselves at Dot’s eating a fine dinner with friends. Dave (half of a married couple we were staying with in Portland) and I went out for beer around 11:30 pm to the Horse Brass Saloon. We played darts for a few hours and drank a number of pints, the highlight being the Lagunitas Brown Shugga. I think the term I kept using was “knock your dick in the dirt”… We made it back to his house at 4 am, a bit tipsy.

Up at 9 am for a leisurely bike ride around town with my wife, Dave and his family. I felt like shit.

Dave and I drove down to Oakridge on Saturday around 10am.

Caught up with a friend who works at the Willamette Mercantile and headed over to the middle school to pick up my bike. A friend, fellow competitor, and fellow Nevada City resident brought up my bike and race gear. Big thanks Debra!

Dave and I rode the Larison Rock trail. The gravel road climb took a few hours, my heart rate never rose above 130, and the descent took less than 20 minutes. I felt great after this, my legs were responding properly (no cob webs), I was breathing great, felt good about my tire choice and the bike was working perfectly.

We met up with our wives, I took a quick swim in the pool and we rushed back to the middle school for the race meeting scheduled for 6:30 pm.

I had spoken to Scott (the promoter) earlier in the day about dinner and was told that the dinner was cheese lasagna with the option of meat balls. Bummer for the vegan racer. Because of this we had decided to go to the Trailhead café after the race meeting. Honestly, I was a little impatient and annoyed waiting for the race meeting to start. The race meeting started an hour late and was very thorough. We left early, during the raffle, to make it to the Trailhead Café before they closed. Had a yummy pasta with tempeh and a beer. Good race food.

Got back to the hotel around 10:00 and got all my shit together for the race. In bed at 11:30, about 4 ½ hours before I planned to get up.

A light sleep with dreams of arriving at the race late (this is usually how I sleep before a race) ended at 4:00 when I got up, showered, shaved the legs again and caught a ride to school from Dave. I had time to slam a coffee and eat a little of my cinnamon roll.

I rode over to the covered bridge to check in and get my oh-so-uncritical start position. Met a fellow Organic Athlete rider at the start, Jon. Gotta know your allies. My friend Debra came up to me and asked how I felt. “Nauseous,” I said.

The pavement roll-out started and I started picking off a few slow rolling people, started looking around for people I might recognize and tried to relax and control my breathing. We hit the gravel road and I kept my eyes glued to my heart rate and cadence. My plan was to keep my HR below 160 and my cadence between 60 and 80 for as long as possible. Up to Aid Station 2 the group thinned out a bit, I passed people, people passed me. Past Aid Station 2 on the faster part of gravel to Aid 3 and onto the little single track loop. The sun was still low so it was hard to see some of the rocks and narrow sections of the trail so I took it slow. Back to AS3 and up the singletrack. Middle ringed it up with a few people stuck to me. I caught my friend Debra and she let our little train by. One stayed with me on the descent back to AS2. We chatted a bit on the way down, he was a nice fella from Bend. I let him by below AS2 so I could eat the final bit of my cinnamon roll. Never saw him again, he was fast.

I was running a little low on food and water and had decided to stop at AS1 and refuel before heading back up that long climb. Though my fork had too much air in it and was only moving from big hits, I had a great descent. I arrived at AS1 feeling great with a big grin, in fact, feeling so good I forgot to stop for water and fuel.

Lap 1 in 3:53. Average speed: 8.8 mph. Average HR: 148. Maximum HR: 175. Average Cadence: 69.

After climbing the gravel road for about 30 minutes I realized what a tragic mistake I had made by not getting water. It was getting pretty hot, I was still wearing a long sleeve jersey and I had started rationing my water…. I started looking around at riders, most were passing me at this point, to figure out who I could ask for water. I took my helmet off and put it on my bars to try to keep my body heat down. I pulled out my spicy soy jerky and started chewing on that. I was hoping the spiciness of it was make my mouth water and I’d be less thirsty. No go. About half way up the climb I saw the Organic Athlete rider on the side of the road and said to him “you look weak, you need to eat some meat.” This seems to be a favorite joke made by omnivores, so I’m taking it. He climbed back on his bike and rode beside me. I asked if he had a spare water bottle, he told me he didn’t like the GU20 and handed it to me. The bottle slid around in my hand, it was covered in a big loogey. We chatted on the way up and I tried to help him diagnose a chain skipping problem.

I pulled away from him after a while. I rotated between seated climbing and standing. I usually ride a singlespeed and am comfortable standing climbing. By this point my feet were killing me. My new shoes, not completely broken in, were too tight on my toes and my feet felt awful, like my shoes were made out of a bed of nails. Fun stuff! By the time I reached AS2 I was completely out of water.

My crew were now at AS2 and were ready to support me.

I got all new waters, GU20, ate a block of tofu (btw, I was rocking out to This Bike is a Pipe Bomb’s “Eat a Block of Tofu” on one of the climbs), downed some Odwalla shake, dumped the long sleeve jersey took a few Advil. I got my chain lubed, adjusted my shock and headed up the road.

I was looking forward to this second section because I knew I could big ring a lot of it and it was finally getting less crowded, the group was thinning.

I got to AS3, ate some watermelon and oranges, and headed out on the little singletrack loop. The sun was higher by now and I could see the trail very well, I made much better time. Watermelon burps taste good, they’re kinda creamy! Back to AS3, up the singletrack and I bombed down to AS2 and my friends. I got some more supplies, and headed down to AS1, passing people along the way.

Lap 2 in 4:47 (actually a little less, I hit the lap button a few miles late) Average speed: 7.1 mph. Average HR: 145. Maximum HR: 170. Average Cadence: 61.

Lap 2 was definitely slower than the first.

At AS1 I got plenty of water, even and extra one in my jersey pocket. Took my shoes off and stretched on the grass. Back on the climb I made sure to drink plenty of water, eat when I wasn’t hungry and pour water over my head. This was working well until I realized I was running out of water again. Damnit! About 3 ½ miles up the climb I thought I saw a guy standing next to his car under a pop-up tent. I asked him if he was real, he said yes, and I just blurted out “magical!” He filled me up with water and I headed up to AS2. I have to admit, I got a little teary eyed as I pulled away. Here he was, this angel of water, right when I needed him. People can be so good to each other sometimes, right when they need it most, almost gives me hope for our species.

At AS2 I dumped my mp3 player and most of my food with my friends, lubed the chain again and told them they could head back to the school and that I wouldn’t be stopping on my way down. Popped two more Advil before I put my shoes back on and hit it.

My plan had been to ride the first two laps conservatively and go as hard as I could on the third.

I stood a lot up to AS3, big ringed it as much as possible and just went hard. Oh, I should mention, back at AS2, I downed a beer with the Advil. It tasted great, but, about 20 minutes later, climbing up to AS3, I started feeling weird and my vision got blurry. I figured the best way to cure that was a Gu packet and some water. It worked and by the time I hit AS3 I was feeling better. I ate some more oranges and watermelon. Some older fella on a Salsa 29er stopped for maybe 30 seconds and was gone. Shit, I can’t let that happen, I gotta go too. Off I went. I caught him on the climb and he was very courteous and let me by. I flew down the descent down to AS2. My descent down to AS1 was the fastest of all and I just kept passing people until I heard someone come up on me right before the finish.

I head him skidding down, catching me. I got a little scared because the last ½ mile is gravel road and I knew it would end in a sprint if he caught me. I can’t sprint for shit. I poured it on to stay in front of him, I dropped him a little bit, but I think he figured it wasn’t worth it to try to sprint me out at the end. Little did he know…

Got to the finish just a bit in front of him (he was dressed in a full Felt kit), was given my finisher’s hat and I was done.

It seems that though my third lap wasn’t my fastest, it was better than a lot of peoples. My third lap is when I passed the most people.

Back at the school I showered and got my massage. The massage was much appreciated and I am very glad to have had it. My friends had gotten me some lunch from the Trailhead Café and I devoured it on the way back to Portland.

I felt better after the race then I did on Friday morning after drinking all night. In fact I havnt’ felt too bad since the race. I’ve been tired and hungry and a little sore but not paralyzed like I expected. I didn’t cramp once, no mechanicals, no flats, I never had to walk a section because I was tired. A very successful race in my opinion. My first interest in this “race” was to survive it, but now I could actually imagine racing the damn thing. I’ve never spent 13 hours on the bike before and I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. I’m hooked.

I stole this picture from Sasquatch over at MTBR.com.

I owe Erin, Dave, Minah & Miso a big thanks! I couldn't have done it without them :)

Nevada City Endurance Ride

Saturday, as you know, I did a 50 mile mountain bike ride to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Nevada County. I completed the ride on my singlespeed.

When I first heard of this ride a few years ago I thought that 50 miles on a mountain bike was insanity and that there is no way I could do something like that. I heard that people had done it on a singlespeed too, and was convinced they were not human. Well, here I am, doing this very ride on my singlespeed. Perception has changed for me and I am very pleased with my performance. You may, or may not, know that I am training for the Cascade Creampuff, a 100 mile mountain bike race with 18,000 feet of climbing. This race takes place in July and though I’m not ready for it yet, I really feel like I’m getting there. I couldn’t be training this well with out the support of my wife Erin! She’s been very helpful and supportive and I am indebted to her. Erin I love you!

The ride:

It turns out that the title sweeper really means, you ride as slow as the slowest rider. Not too bad if you have gears, but when the option is to pedal really slowly or walk, it makes things a little more challenging.

The ride was split into two groups, those completing 45 miles and those doing 50 miles. Our (myself and Xtreme Outfitters team mate Troy Groves) responsibility was to make sure the 50 mile riders made the correct turns and made it back to Nevada City safely.

We were some of the last riders to leave Pioneer Park in Nevada City about 7:30 am.

HIGHWAY 20 HEADING EAST

We rode through town and up Highway 20 to the Snow Mountain Ditch,

A 45 MILE RIDER ON THE SNOW MOUNTAIN DITCH

where we caught our first 50 mile riders. One was a woman that we have ridden with up in the high country, a very skilled rider. With her was a man who was setting a slow pace. We continued up Harmony Ridge on the Pioneer trail through rock gardens lined with flowers and some short steep sections.

A YELLOW MIMULUS ALONG THE PIONEER TRAIL

The Pioneer Trail is pretty fast and climbs gradually. I had been expecting to feel relatively good on this section as I am very familiar with it and it is well suited to the singlespeed.

TROY AND OUR 50 MILERS ON THE PIONEER TRAIL

We reached the Omega Road at about 10:15 am, had a few oranges and bombed down the fast road to the remote and toothless town of Washington, California. A few miles up the gravel road we reached our lunch stop.

I ate the tofu I had brought with me and had some Vitamin Water provided by BBBS. (Good thing I had brought the tofu, their vegetarian sandwiches were covered with cheese.) We sat around waiting for our two 50 mile riders to get ready to continue when someone asked the crowd of lunch eaters if we had a spare derailleur cable. A rider had sheared his off rear derailleur cable on the descent. I had a spare cable! The crowd remarked how funny it was that the singlespeed guy was carrying a spare derailleur cable. A few minutes more and I was informed that our riders had decided to do the 45 mile ride. This was a good thing as the gentleman was clearly showing signs exhaustion and I was concerned about his ability to finish the ride ahead.

We got on our bikes and headed downstream on the South Yuba Trail. 17 remote miles of singletrack and 12 miles of road awaited us. The singletrack was quite narrow in places and climbed away from the river and descended back to it time and time again. At about mile 30 I was starting to get hot and tired. Having to walk section after section due to the steepness of the trail I was starting to worry about my ability to finish the ride…

THIS IS ME WALKING AND GETTING WORRIED

A bit further down the trail came a section of trail that snakes up and down over 11 or so switchbacks. This was a good thing as I know knew where I was and had ridden the section ahead on my singlespeed before. Things were starting to look up again.

THIS IS ME WALKING AND STARTING TO FEEL BETTER

Within a few minutes we caught our next riders. Three fellas who had driven all the way up from Lompoc, CA to complete this ride. These guys were in their 40’s or 50’s, on good bikes and showing signs of exhaustion. We came to our next feed zone, a remote section of trail that BBBS volunteers had hiked into. They had brought food and bottled water with them. Troy and I checked our bikes, relaxed for a few minutes and I tried to wash off some of the poison oak in the cold stream nearby.

I’ll take this time to say that BBBS had a few volunteers that spent days clearing the poison oak from the trail. They did an amazing job and the trail was almost completely poison oak free!

A FEW SCENIC SECTIONS OF THE SOUTH YUBA TRAIL INCLUDING A WATERFALL ON ONE OF THE CREEKS FLOWING INTO THE YUBA

We caught back up with our riders quickly, they were slowing down and walking some of the climbs, fine with me, I walked them too. The rest of the section of single track was relatively uneventful except for the rattlesnake. As I was making my way out of a technical creek crossing Troy starting yelling at me “Snake! Snake! Snake! Snake!” To which I replied “huh?” I then saw and heard the little bugger about a foot in front of my wheel, quickly hit the brakes and rolled back on my rear wheel away from him. He then turned around and slithered off the trail down the hill. That was pretty exciting. Unfortunately he was moving too fast for me to get a picture.

Our next food break was at the end of the singletrack. We refueled and headed down the gravel road to Edwards Crossing, a location I had been cautious about since I had first contemplated this ride. The paved road climb out of Edwards is quite steep and usually takes about 20 minutes, it’s about 3.5 miles and 1000 feet of climbing and up to a 20% grade.

At the bottom I told my fellow riders I’d see them at the top as I couldn’t gear down, (as they could) and had to go at my own pace. About ¼ mile into the ride a pickup drove by with two young ladies in it, the driver, as if thinking I was a piece of meat, said to me “oh, yeah!” That gave me a little momentum J A bit further up the road someone driving down in a green Subaru yelled out the window “Go Hyland!” Being cross eyed with sweat in my face at the time, I couldn’t tell who it was. I rode up past the next switchback and the road pitched up again. This is where I got off and walked for about 100 yards. I heard a car coming again and as the road had leveled off a bit, I got back on the bike and pedaled the rest of the way up. It wasn’t easy, but I made it all the way. I was quite pleased with myself.

THIS IS ME TOWARDS THE TOP OF THE CLIMB OUT OF EDWARDS CROSSING

The five of us regrouped at the top of the climb and rode out North Bloomfield back to Nevada City.

This was a fun ride for a very good cause. I really appreciate your support and I probably wouldn’t have ridden my singlspeed if it weren’t for a few of you sadistic people offering me more money to do so.

I thank you.

Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Nevada County thank you.

The Wheel Of Unfortunate Circumstances

The Wheel Of Unfortunate Circumstances

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Back in the saddle

Oh yea, much better.
I took the long way to work today. I figured since it's raining and i'm going to get wet I might as well make it worth my while and spend 3 times as long out in it. I arrived at work wet and muddy. Rinsed the bike off with a garden hose and then proceeded to muck up the bathroom while I stripped down to shower.
It's almost quitting time and i'm sure my clothes are still wet. I've got to devise some plan to dry them out during the day. Hanging them on the hot water heater works when they are damp from my sweat, but not sopping from the rain.
I rode the CX bike in, i'm planning for this bike to be the winter ride. I have a CX race this Saturday and I don't know the bike very well, so more time on it is a good thing. Not supposed to be raining tomorrow, so I think i'll take the long way in again!
Oh yea, and the elections didn't depress me or make me sick like they have for the past 6 years. A welcomed change indeed.