Downieville lives in mountain biking folklore as home to some of the best riding on the West Coast. Site of the famous Downieville Classic bike race, it’s the spiritual centre of ‘all-mountain riding’; combining cross-country and downhill disciplines into one.
Booking at the last possible minute, we scored accommodation at the delightful Lure Resort – camping, but without the headache of tents.
The riding? Some of the most intense, varied and scenic riding I have ever ridden. And the town was probably the most genuinely friendly places I have been in this mad little country I now call home.
Bikes are loaded up onto the truck – it wasn't all being lazy; it was up in the 90s in the valley, and considerably cooler up in the hills.Insanely, we rode up alongside Paul, from Paul's Components fame … slightly star struck!At the top of the first climb, we topped 2200m … rather tired!Endless single track along the ridgeAnton takes a quick power nap at "A Tree"One of the many stream crossings of the first dayGo too quickly, and you might miss this crucial right-handerFirst of many!Day two, on the Downieville DH course … Anton rips one of the turnsHanging on the bridgeDominic managed four punctures … all by himself!Cooling the legs in the river after the rideThe Lure Lodge – I think I might be back!
A couple of months of expectation and marginal planning, and it was all almost ruined by yours-truly setting the Monday-Friday alarm on his iPhone, rather than the ‘other’ alarm, set for the next day only. So, 5:25am, and Marc is waiting outside my house with the engine running, waiting for the Brit to emerge from slumber.
Yeah, not that one (the 3200m one I keep around as a title, to remind me of the time I awoke to climb Kinabalu in Malaysia).
“We’ll have to go on without him…” (or more likely less polite words to that effect, and in German)
6:20am, I awoke, proud of the fact I tuned my body to wake before the alarm sounded – at least for all of ten seconds as I stare at the clock on the wall in horror. “SHIT!”
Throwing my things into the car (almost literally), I career off in the direction of Palo Alto, and screech to halt at the registration desk, apparently still with time to sign up. Frantic SMSs to Marc sent, new helmet purchased (yes, it was sitting on the kitchen table) and away I go up the hill, alone with my thoughts and Clif bars for quasi-breakfast.
Sounds of the forest waking up for the day were rudely interrupted by one panting British cyclist on his way up the first major climb of the day (“out of my way, scumbag trees!”). No souplesse, no elegance, just mashing the pedals on the way to the first food stop of the day. Check the phone for messages (Marc still 40 minutes ahead!), and off I go down the road, slip-streaming the first stragglers on the descent towards the Pacific.
Three quarters of an hour later I slide into the mid-morning fuel stop. More than half-way through the course, and with a crazed look on my face, I hear a ‘Jonny!’ and turn around to see Marc waiting with our other team member. In my exhaustion and jubilation at seeing them, I lifted my bike to turn around and dutifully knocked over both someone else’s bike, and my own in the effort to save the first one. “Hi guys…”. Further muffins crammed down my gullet, M&Ms poured mostly into my mouth, and we are away – I felt the relief washing over me, and could finally start enjoying the ride.
And so we did. Riding up Route 1 towards San Francisco, we took in deep sea cliffs, arid hills patch-worked with forested gullies and horses copulating by the side of the road. Some of the old stage towns around there were fascinating – I suppose there is no real reason why these ‘startups’ of the day weren’t successful against San Jose or Palo Alto, but at least we are left with the old buildings and odd general stores.
Turning inland, we began the climb back into the trees. At this point, we were both overtaking large numbers of slower participants, and being trounced by local cycling clubs – there is always someone faster than you. Twisting its way up through the hills, it was surprisingly steep, and suitably punished my 60-mile year-old legs.
One immense downhill and a puncture later, and we landed back in Menlo Park. Rolling past old-growth Silicon Valley stalwarts such as HP and Lockheed Martin was something special – especially when high on endorphins and adrenalin. Visions of barbecues guided the way for the final ten miles, and thus it came to be – we did it!
I’ll be back next time, but perhaps setting two alarm clocks. More importantly, we raised some good money for the American Diabetic Association – thanks to all those that reached into their pockets.
Rest stop at about the 65 mile mark.Girl on the right selling lemonade – 50c well earned!Marc at the top of the final climb. I had meant to get a more triumphant-looking photo, but I was too busy cramming my face with muffins (between three of us, these are literally all the photos we took).
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Hello all! I am raising money for the American Diabetes Association by riding 120km around Silicon Valley … and starting from the Lockheed Martin facility. Over 6100ft of climbing and a long day in the saddle.
I am pleased to say I am making use of the bikes I brought from Taiwan.
Highlights this month are without doubt my pilgrimage to Mt. Tam – spiritual home of mountain biking – and getting a ride in before work. Not just a standard pootle-along … a proper ride. Needless to say, I was a little tired in the office that day.
Mt. Tam
Prepping the bikes. I am pretty lucky to have a couple of others in the office that enjoy riding bikes (and skiing, and general outdoorsy things).Huffing and puffing on the up-hill … I think I pushed a little too hard early on, and struggled to keep up on the upper sections.Fantastic views from the top over to the Bay Area.… and classic down-hilling (though still lacking the seat-of-your-pants thrills of Taipei)
Stepping out early (my rental car and parking space in the background, incidentally)Climbing the not insubstantial hill behind my house.Ready to ride across the Golden Gate for the first time (!)An absurdly beautiful sunset over the Golden Gate … you can see how it got its name.Gulp.The Transamerica looking even more cryptic than usual.
Proper sub-zero conditions, and I had definitely not brought enough clothes – this is California!View from the top, looking down into Cupertino and San JoseI mean really … this is before work?!Lovely descending through single-track woodlands back to the car, shower, coffee (and a meeting).
First ride for my Santa Cruz Blur LT in California today! We took the opportunity of a day off work (Thanksgiving) to head out into the hills. This ride is a solid lung-buster climb, followed by amazing views (sadly not for us though) and a swift descent down sandy fire road. A perfect blast and work out for an overcast morning.
Start of the climb on pretty pleasant roads, following the ocean (amazing waves below us today).Checking the routeFabulous views from the top!Descending back down, and naturally the views start opening up – sadly not quite enough to really enjoy them though. On a good day I think it would be like Mt. Taimoshan in HK. Since it is a quick 20 minute drive from the city, there will be a next time!
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Within about 72 hours of landing, I already had my first riding date arranged with Marc Walliser from the office … I have yet to receive my own bike, so he was kind enough to lend me a very nice Rocky Mountain for the task. Awesome!
Ewok ForestNice riding – though lacking the killer technical sections of Taiwan so far!Looking happy with myself.
I have had some of the best days of my 20s up in the hills around Taipei – the days spent up there rooted in my memory. That’s why I was so delighted that, after six years of pestering, Ken finally decided to come up to Taipei for a round of mountain biking. Sadly, I managed to miss my alarm call leaving the rest of the guys stranded at Starbucks without us, but Ken and I managed none-the-less to string together a great day of riding and catching up before my departure.
Looking out from Starbucks at the rainMaking some adjustments to the Heckler brakesA new office chair post will probably change the riding dynamic; ie: less chatting!Need to do more of this in future.The rock drop section is never a cake-walk, but heading into this cameras blazing, knowing it was going to be my last attempt in a long time, combined with fuzzy status of medical insurance, definitely sapped my fluidity.The addition of steps on the intermediate section is not my favourite modification to the trail'Honestly, this is the way!'
I am itching to see what the trails are going to be like in San Francisco, and beyond …
Nenggao has been the ‘nemesis’ ride for the group for the last two years, attempts thwarted by typhoons and bad weather on two attempts: last year we even made it about a third of the way in before we had to turn around and high-tail it.
One of the highest trails in Taiwan, it climbs from about 1900m to 2950m, into the clouds. The trail itself, while well maintained for Taiwan, is beset by landslides. The bits that are not about to fall into oblivion, however, are very nicely graded, which is nice when you are climbing at high altitude and your lungs are trying to escape via your mouth.
Anxious e-mails were traded in the week leading up to the ride. Heavy rains were hitting Taipei in the afternoons, and we were not comfortable with the idea of being caught-out on the hill. Mark, Martin, Peter and I decided to go for it, planning to wake up at 5am and get to the top before the clouds were set to come in. Waking up at 5am, we were greeted with clear skies and cool air; it was now or never!
Reaching the police station at about 6:00am, we discovered they were not yet open for business, displaying only a sign that mountain permits were not being issued, and that vehicles and bicycles were not allowed to enter the trail. Ignoring the warnings, we ascended up to the trail head (a challenge by itself in a 2WD bus), prepped the bikes, loaded packs with food and water and began the long drag up, Martin clearly smoking EPO cigarettes and showing us a clean pair of heels.
The climb is about three and a half hours, broken with some scary sections of major landslide and rockfall. Legs were not quite calibrated with lungs and heart; they were able to put in far higher effort than the cardiovascular system, which would conk out unless you kept the effort at a moderate level. The cool air, clear skies and occasional views across the mountains kept the motivation up, though.
Reaching the top at about 10:30, we high-fived and whooped when we saw an almost flawless vista down to the smaller hills above Hualien down below. Clouds were forming quickly, however, so we ate lunch, and were engulfed in cloud within half an hour. Perfect timing. Negotiating the slipperiest segments of landslide in the dry, we were treated to 13km of sublime single-track descending; fast, slippery and technical. Minutes went by in a trance of speed and kicked-up mud. This is why we are mountain bikers.
5:20am, and clear skies!The sign says "all is really safe and you have nothing to worry about AT ALL – go and enjoy yourselves!" cough coughRiding one of the suspension bridgesMajor landslide, which stopped us in our tracks last time (that and the fact that we arrived about 6 hours earlier than last year)Kickin' itThis was to be our descent …Second of the major rockfalls. The junior workmen told us it would be fine to ride on; the site foreman told us to turn back. We smiled and carried on, but we knew we had to be back before it started to rain.One bridge out, and one bridge half-finished, slippery and dangerous.… but the skies were still holding for us!Double triple waterfall, and we are at the hut; a further 20 minutes of riding until we got to the saddle overlooking the Hualien plain, and lunch / brunch.We did it!Celebratory photographsOur timing was bang-on perfect; clouds engulfed us for the return through the landslide area.… no more photos on the descent as we were having far too much fun, and wanted to get off the hill in the dry. My filthy bike is testament to the quality of the ride.Austin Powers parking. Mark accompanies us as we ride down the hill back to the village to get washed-up."Can we borrow your hosepipe?" … 20 minutes later, mud covering the street and bags of used food packaging handed over, I think we were stretching our welcome!
Practicalities
We were all reasonably fit and riding bikes that were pretty well suited to hours of climbing in the saddle. I would not really recommend taking anything heavier than an ‘all mountain’ rig, since you will need to be happy carrying it in some sketchy situations. We were lucky and had no mechanicals or injuries, but had packed a spare tyre and multiple tubes and other spares. I almost had my rear dérailleur ripped off by a piece of bamboo and had a spare drop-out packed; we left the spare dérailleur in the van since someone turning around and heading back to the van would be able to coast with few problems.
Pack a range of clothes, nutrition, sun tan lotion (we are at almost 3000m remember) and whatever spares you are happy to carry. Start early, and enjoy!
A pretty awesome ride out to Wufen Mountain (五分山: 757m) in the first of the really deeply hot days here in Taiwan. Still, a pretty early start, some strong legs, and some good team mates, meant that I was back in time for lunch. I am, however, completely toasted!
98.7km … I should have gone out to buy some milk to bring it up to a square 100km!
Stopping for a quick rest at the saddle of the first climb coming out of the Taipei basin.PeletonLooking up at Mordor – a pretty beastly climb – and finally approaching the top. I was fairly satisfied with the kick I was able to give around the corners though (the mountain biking doesn't hurt for those explosive bursts!).The guys laying down some rubber on the main climb! This was less a 五分 mountain (5 pieces mountain), and more like a 500!It was a little frustrating to get to the top and not even find any shade.The weather station – I guess for checking Chinese weather.At least some people could find some shade!Looking back down at the technical and devilishly fun descent!This descent is going to be fun.Rollercoaster5 Pieces Mountain … or 500?Stopping to pose after some well-deserved icey treats in Pingxi.It's amazing that the views into this cycling playground are a mere 20 minutes from my house… like a crazy idiot, I added an extra climb into the end of my ride. I was ready for another Zoca pizza!
Hopefully some more photos and GPS information, as the rest of the guys send me their information. More rides to come this summer, for sure!
I have been pretty quiet on here recently, but I have some good excuses; a new road bike, an iPad 2 and a PS3 has meant virtually no time writing or sorting photos. Hopefully, things will return to some semblance of balance (though probably not).
First and foremost, is a heart-breakingly beautiful new road bike that is so far beyond my abilities to exploit it is silly. It’s a Cervélo Soloist carbon frame finished in a custom Cantabrian hue, littered with filthy bits of SRAM Red and Zipp wheels so gloriously spendy I feel guilty just thinking about them. It neatly eliminates both performance excuses and likely upgrade paths for the coming years, and I absolutely love it.
A carbon virgin, I was expecting an unforgiving, jarring ride, but instead it provides a pleasantly beech cricket bat snap and crack, and while not exactly sofa-like in ride cosseting waftiness, I do not come back from rides pummelled and abused. I am, though, still getting used to the strange plasticky sounds that emanate when you miss a gear or hit something in the road: imagine watching a toddler abuse some cheap electronic product and you get the picture; you know it isn’t going to break but you can’t help but grimace.
What it does do, however, is bloody shift. I ride a pretty swift fixed-gear bike here in Taipei, and riding the same roads at full tilt on this is like night and day; rise up out of the saddle and you demolish traffic light count-downs with a satisfying ‘whooosh!’ as the air molecules try their best to react to a set of Zipps on spin cycle. The higher gearing than a mountain bike leaves you fewer places to retreat to when you are sweating and puffing on a climb, but the stiffness and Fedex efficiency when you start dancing in the saddle is extremely entertaining.
Plans are afoot for several summer trips, but for now, let me show you some photos of the wee beastie, and some Garmin data from a couple of our rides; my next toy for sure.
First ride out to the fruit stand on route 106 (photo taken with my iPhone and filtered to death in Instagram)Pausing for a rest and grabbing some vitamins.I notice I am hardly taking any photos on these rides; trying my best to keep up, combined with few opportunities for rest stops.At the top of the Pinglin climb and looking a little harassed! The bike is pretty though, eh!DomestiqueTony, in one of his regular attempts to violate me. I guess it is the lycra.A bromance flourishes! Abe and I made it out to Shihding today, but will leave the climb for next time!
Cycling computer has come on a long way in the last ten years. Garmin is leading the charge to map, geo-tag and socialise riding, and their services look like just the ticket to explore some of the more obscure routes around Taipei. The first one is the ride up to the Pinglin budda (where I look like I am going to fall over above). The second one is our ride to the coast – before lunch!
