Caspar Trail workday 12/3/06

A small group showed up for the trail workday but we got a lot done! The trail is now ridable to the second switchback corner. After this corner is built trail building will be easier until some steep side slope areas just before it connects with the existing trail. I talked to JDSF recreation forester Tess Albin-Smith about building jumps, and drops, she said they would be o.k! This would be a good trail to have some stunts along side. The next trail workday will be in January but anyone willing to do work may at any time just stay up hill of flags.
Chris

Holiday Lights Parade

A lot of riders showed up to ride in the Holiday Lights Parade! Snow White rode the peddy cab driven by her Prince. The cross dressing witch with the poison apple was a hit, as where the not so dwarf dwarfs. Mirror-mirror on a bike ridden by the vain queen, the woodsman, and some rain deer completed our group. It was a lot of fun and we got a second place award! Our usual free for all parade riding formation was employed with Colin pulling off good wheelies, and Justin 360 whips. Stan and Rose hosted a potluck after the parade with lots of great food brought by everyone.

Chris

Caspar Trail workday

A Trail workday is planed for Sunday December 3^rd starting at 9am. This trail is progressing nicely! With a good day of work it will be getting very close to the existing trail. JDSF has done brush clearing of the existing trail so we should have little trouble completing the trail from Rd. 409 (Caspar/Little Lake Rd.) to Rd. 600 (Caspar Creek) before Summer 2007. We will meet at the easy access to this trail at the pull out (Rd. 690) north of 35mph sign just east of Mile Marker 2.76 on Rd. 409. Bring a lunch, water, gloves, and your favorite trail tool. Rain will cancel this workday. Chris

Trash Clean Up Day October 22nd

We had a good turn out for the Trash Clean up Day on October 22^nd. Most trash was small this year. A group collected shooters trash from the rock pit at the end of Rd 530. Another group pulled all fagging left on trails and picked up some four-wheeler truck parts and other trash on S/H Trail. Stan hauled a couch and other debris from the Caspar Orchard area. John Lowden brought his nail magnet and collected nails from party spots on Rd 500. Although we did not collect the volume of trash of past Clean up days getting the small stuff dose make a difference in trail enjoyment for all users and hopefully discourage abusers.

Taking a break

Caspar Cassic September 10th

Caspar Classic Mountain Bike Race

Mendocino Coast Cyclists' President Marc Tenzel
said of the inaugural Caspar Classic Mountain Bike
Race, "We had wonderful support and enthusiasm with a
great turnout on a fine course on a beautiful day."
Young Sophie Balme completed the children's
course accompanied by Cindy Ellis. Cindy, an
accomplished rider of our local trails, was impressed
with Sophie's riding as well as her ability to
maintain steady commentary and conversation while she
rides.
The Beginner's category was won by Adan Valencia
with a fine effort on short preparation. Adan rides
occasionally but hadn't been on the bike for a while.
He took to the trails several times last week and
showed good overall fitness and riding ability on the
fairly challenging course.
Adam Sherf of Willits finished 5 minutes behind
Adan but did so on a single-speed mountain bike. The
single-speeder handles well for Adam but sometimes
lacks favorable gearing for the hardest of climbs.
Near the top of "Three-post" trail the terrain pitches
up steeply and it was here that Adam had to walk his
bike. Adding to Adam's challenge was a wrong turn on
the course which cost him up to three minutes on the
backtrack.
Jake Madden, a relative newcomer to the wonders
of the Jackson Demonstration State Forest, enjoyed his
race in finishing third.
Visitors Susan Walsh and Nancy McAravy finished
the course together, walking their bikes where needed
and riding well within their abilities to tie for
first place in the women's Beginner division.

On the Sport/Expert podium were David Conrad,
Gary Calder, and Ed Balme. David rode his "96'er" to
victory in the division and continues a successful
year. Gary was three minutes off David with a great
effort for second place. Gary's been riding somewhat
seriously and very regularly for a little over a year
and has made remarkable gains. Ed rounded out the top
three in the Sport/Expert category. It was great to
see the participation and support of the Balme family
as father and daughter raced while mother and little
one cheered them on. The Balmes sometimes ride as a
family -- three bikes and trailer for the baby Balme.

Visitors came from points beyond -- three
gentlemen from Modesto left around 2:00am to make our
10:00am races and left quite satisfied with their fine
day. We're gaining a reputation for having a unique
trail riding experience. The word of the North
Coast's mountain biking treasure is spreading in bike
shops and in riding groups around California.
Mendocino Coast Cyclists expect this annual event
to grow and become a late-season "must ride" for those
who enjoy the beauty of single-track and cross-country
mountain biking. The MCC thanks its sponsors Catch A
Canoe & Bicycles Too, Fort Bragg Cyclery, and Down
Home Foods for this fine race. The volunteers who
marshalled the course and provided other support are
appreciated as well as the California Department of
Forestry and the Jackson Demonstration State Forest.
From Rick Riley

Campout August 18th-21st

The annual Mendocino Coast Cyclists campout at
Jackson Demonstration State Forest Camp One went just
as expected this past weekend with plenty of good
food, friends, and great mountain biking fun. The 20+
attendees included: Chris, David D, Marc & Naomi,
Jesse & Roanna, Stanley & Rose, Jim & Cindy, Michael,
Colin, Cate, Bill, Tom, John, Gene, Charlie, Gary,
Rotary Exchange Student Franco, and me.
Jesse had the impressive backwoods hot tub set
up, utilizing water from the North Fork of the Noyo
next to the spacious Tilley site of Camp One. Camping
here is always free and available on a first-come,
first-served basis. MCC makes great use of Camp One
and the Jackson Forest and are always grateful to the
State and its employees for the fine upkeep and access
to this local treasure.
The "Poker Ride" was won by Rose Fordyce with a
pair of Kings over Cindy Ellis and her pair of Queens.
Rose employed the strategy of collecting her cards
last in amassing the winning hand. Well played, Rose.

The Hill Climbing competition was won by Colin
Belisle as he bested Marc Tenzel and Gary Calder by
mere inches up the steepest rideable slope near the
camp. Later, Colin treated us to a demonstration of
"Big Air", launching his bike off a ramp built near
the top of the climbing hill.
Marc Tenzel, club El Presidente, noted that we
now maintain and use the greatest amount of the trails
in our area, more than any other group according to
his informal survey. Mountain biking has grown and he
is most pleased. Jim Ellis remarked that the number
of rideable trails has greatly increased over the past
several years. Still, the roads that crisscross the
Jackson Forest quickly become overgrown with brush and
vines due, in part, to the heavy rains this past
winter and spring. The solution: more riding. We
love our trails but the roads need some attention.
Next up: The Mendocino Coast Cyclists Mountain
Bike Race to be held Sunday, September 10.
From Rick Riley

New Caspar Trail

We got a lot of work done on the new trail. It was hot but a large part of the trail is now ridable. More work needs to be done to connect with the existing trail. Thanks to those able to help a switchback corner was completed as well as a lot of side hill bench cut. Another day of trail work will be set up soon. Hopefully it will not be as hot!
Chris

Trail Workday

Saturday July 22nd will be MCC's first workday this year. Everyone interested in helping should meet on Road 409 at the end of the pavement at 10am. Bring shovels, rakes, picks, or hoes if you have them. I plan on working until 4pm. Also bring water, a lunch/snack, and work gloves.
Chris

Fathers Day Ride

8am is early to start a Sunday ride but we will be able to check out a lot of trails befor all the good pies at the barbeque are history!
Chris

One of our costal buddys

  

Kicking it in the graveyard

  

I got my bike!!

hey, Well i got my new bike, another chameleon that is super sweet. I want to thank everybody for looking out for my old bike that was stolen and it's a real bummer but my new one is nicer so i'm happy right now. Also thank you Fort Bragg Cyclery for giving me a great deal on the bike.

Colin

sweet blog!

Life is Sweet!

Someone sent me a nice poem and gift of dinner for two at the Mac House. Whoever it was has been enjoying new trails and wanted to thank me. Well it is a pleasure to be playing a part in creating and caring for trails that are well liked! I am a small part of all the folks that promote build and maintain bike trails in our area. Every time I have asked for help many have come willing to do the hard work needed. Great new trails have been built with little or no help from me. I would love to take you all out to dinner but think I'll just take my wife this time. It feels very good to be appreciated. Thank you!
Chris

JDSF Cleared Manley Gulch Slide

A few weeks after I asked if JDSF could have a crew clear the slide on the Manley Gulch Trail and was told "probably not" they got it cleared! I was not looking forward to cutting all the downed trees and digging the slide off of the trail although I was sure to have lots of help from other MCC members.
Hope we don't have any more major trail problems!
Chris

Ready for the Tour of Unknown?

I hope to be able to sit on the bike for 8 hrs and get up all the climbs this year. The road should be really rough after all the rain. I will again be on my moutain bike hybrid. The triple chain rings and front suspention work well for me on this ride. Some of the local riders hate to be behinde a MTB and skip the lunch break to stay in front. It is a pleasure to pass a few of them on the Endless Hills at the end of the ride. I am looking forward to my complementary massage at lunch and after the ride befor the included dinner. Yes this ride is well supported!
Chris

What Does This Mean?

This univresal sign has me mystified. Dose it mean you may enjoy a maze? Dance to the Grateful Dead? Turn cartwheels? Anyone have an idea?
Chris

This Years Hot Frame Bamboo

I spotted this bike being ridden around at Sea Otter. A lot of bike companies had steel frames on some of their bikes this year but this may be taking retro a bit to far. Although it should hold up to saltwater better than steel. Check out the bamboo fenders and rack! Disc brakes to eliminate seat stay flex, good idea.
Chris

Sea Otter Classic

The sun was good to us at Laguna Seca and stayed out untill Sunday afternoon when we had to pack up camp in a light rain. Pre riding the Cross Country Course was a bit muddy after heavy rain Wednesday but by Sunday it had dryed out except for a few wet seeps. The crowd was fairly small to be expected with recent weather. This made it easy to collect much swag as I did to give away at our Cross Country Race this summer (yes I'm keeping the realy good stuff). The Cross Country was different this year. No hurl hill but it seemed like more climbing overall to me. We rode the racetrack clockwise so the race didin't start with the hard climb to the top of the corkscrew. The new singletrack sections were fast and rolling. Quite a bit of road, both paved and dirt made passing easy. Going up hill on last years down hill singletrack was steep and hard. Near the end of the course the trail did a switch back just below our camp (this made watching the pros late Sunday afternoon easy) befor hitting the racetrack for a short down hill to the finish line.
Marc rode the Road Race and said it was hard but fun. David Conrad, Matt, and I rode the Cross Country. David tied for 2nd place! His medal was cool having a usable stem cap. Check out his bike next time you see him.
In all we had a great time! It would have been nice to have more members and friends camp with us, but with the weather it was understandable. We will do this again next year and hope for more predictable weather.
Chris

Piper and the bunny 

Post one

Here is a little something that I came up with in my spare time.
Enjoy