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“Well, we’re not in the middle of nowhere, but we can see it from here.”
This past weekend was one of the better adventures I’ve had in a while. The guys have been trying to get sections of The Stagecoach GPS finished… only they have a weakness for stopping in a pub at night and it just hasn’t happened. So, they sent in the “A-team.”
Sarah came out from San Diego and met up with me in Brawley where I had a speaking/screening engagement at The Rock Coffee Shop and Café. After screening Ride The Divide (a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation fundraiser) and entertaining a thorough Q&A, we headed over to Sandra and Carter’s place for a late night of map scheming.
Day 1:
We woke up at 5:30, packed up and headed out. Brendan dropped us at Christmas circle in Borrego Springs and headed back to Idyllwild for a 3-day Zanderventure.
From here, Sarah and I, excited like school-girls, headed south in high gear! We dove through the “Texas Dip” which was our first climb of the morning – it’s enough to wake you up!
Heading east on Old Kane Spring Road, the excitement was building as we started feeling pretty far “out there.” We dipped and dodged around and through perpendicular washes along this powerline road while also ducking out of the way of dunebuggies and atv’ers on our way to Split Mountain Road.
Sarah and I haven’t ridden long distances together, so this was a good opportunity to chat and get to know each other, a little better. We were able to ride side-by-side and catch up on all things bike and non-bike. She’s a pretty rad chica and it was great to hear she just got a part time teaching gig. I won’t lie, we also get to gab about the guys when we have a girls ride, which is great fun!
Split Mountain Road took us to Fish Creek Wash, which is one of the cruxes of this route. It’s also a geological dreamscape.
After climbing for about 5 hours through sand and again dodging off-roaders (probably the busiest weekend of the year in the wash) Sarah and I had both skirted our mental pain-caves and the chat minimized.
It was a welcome break when we could get out of the sun for a map check, to make sure we were still on track in the main wash. We did an excellent job of not veering off route, which was very important since we were running the gps track for the upcoming race.We finally reached the “Pinyon Drop”, which is a rock face that very few people have ever ridden down and quite a hike-a-bike chore to go up.After the drop, you head up through the squeeze (the wash is usually done in the opposite direction by motorized types) then crested the summit of Pinyon Mtn. road before beginning a very zippy 7.5 mile downhill to S-2 (the very windy “Earthquake Valley”) where we stopped for the night at the Stagecoach RV resort.We had considered continuing on to the bottom of Oriflame climb at night, but it was getting very windy and cold and the woman at the convenience store offered to upgrade us from a tent site to a cabin for free – it was settled. We got the key to our one room cabin, which looked a little like an 8×10 shed, only it was insulated and had a log cabin facade on the front.
Day 2:
We reached the bottom of Oriflame canyon around 7:30 and began the climb. We ascended for about 2 hours fighting wind gusts that threatened to throw us into the canyon and adding layers as we cut through the clouds. It was a very cold and rocky, but beautiful, climb. At the top of Oriflame, we took Pedro Fages trail to the Sunrise hwy. This was fast and fun and a very welcome change.Once we got to the highway, we crossed over and hit La Cima trail, which paralleled the highway, and kept us out of the path of traffic. There was a little more climbing on the trail, but with the terrain contours, so much gentler than the highway. La Cima hooked us up to Lucky 5 trail, which had a bit of horse wear, but was very scenic and special.After Lucky 5 trail, we hopped on the Sunrise highway climbing to the top of Noble Canyon (a very popular destination trail.) I had never been to Noble before and didn’t do enough homework to realize it was buried in snow at the top. This was a good snowmobike experience and Sarah’s first time riding on snow – it’s always exciting!
Descending Noble was a blast; you start around 5,800 ft and descend down into the desert near Pine Valley. Coming out near the bottom of a road they call l’alpe d’wheeze, we began a 30-minute climb where we gained 1,100 feet of elevation in just over three miles.
From here, we descended on dirt for about a mile until hitting the Indian Creek Trail. We took a left and began a pretty rocky climb that would mellow out before winding through some beautiful meadows and bringing us to a primitive campsite. At the campsite, we hit a blazing fast doubletrack road for about 4.5 miles, and flew down to highway 79, with black clouds looming overhead.
Sarah and I were freezing by the time we got to the bottom of the dirt road. I was very worried about getting caught out in weather as we didn’t have great gear to be out in rain at these temps on a route we didn’t know well. I was a little confused about what lie ahead and just wanted to get us both warmed up, plus we were both out of food since we hadn’t had a resupply for the entire day. We decided to turn off the GPS and blast down to Descanso for the night.
We pulled into the Descanso fruit stand and market just before dark only to find out there was no lodging in Descanso – oops! Fortunately, the woman who ran the fruit stand offered us a ride BACK to Pine Valley where they had a nice motel room waiting for us. At least it was only 5 miles by highway.We got a room at the only hotel in Pine Valley, grabbed burgers at Major’s Diner, and crashed out after cleaning a bit of mud off of ourselves and our bikes. Our plan was to get a ride back to the route in the morning, which usually isn’t difficult for two smiling women to do 
Day 3:
Major’s Diner opened at 6am and we rolled in at about 6:30. There were a few trucks outside, but no real suspects. The group of high-school kids seemed hung over and the middle-aged guys who owned most of the trucks were already paid up by the time we sat down. After getting a couple mountain muffins (english muffins with bacon and egg) we also grabbed a large sweet roll in a ziplock for later in the day.
The waitress told us about Ernie, a retired cowboy who usually hangs out at the gas station next door. She said she trusts him, so he’d be the one to ask for a ride. We headed over to the gas station to find Ernie – big grey beard and black cowboy hat. If he didn’t have a pipe, he should have! We interrupted his morning bench warming outside the gas station and he was happy to help us out. He told his friend, he’d catch him a little later. I’m sure they resumed right where they left off after Ernie’s morning adventure of dropping us back at the trail.
Ernie dropped us back at the bottom of the fire-road and we bundled up and hit some great singletrack. We then jumped back on the highway and descended for a couple of miles before slipping through a gate onto the Merrigan trail – a very fun doubletrack which took us back into Descanso.
From Descanso, we climbed up to the top of the ridge then took a screaming descent on Old Viejas road to the Viejas reservation. Here we jumped on some twisty fun singletrack paralleling the interstate. I love looking down at the “other half” living life on the interstate going 85mph. The singletrack took us into Alpine, a very cool little town, where we quickly breezed through to avoid the temptations of creature comforts – we still had a ways to go.
Leaving Alpine, we headed through a residential area before cutting back out into wilderness. This skirted Loveland Reservoir, Syucan Peak and McGinty Mountain before dropping us into Rancho San Diego.
Winding and climbing through the trail system next to Sweetwater Reservoir, the work for the day wasn’t over, but it was rewarding with views of a beautiful wetland and well preserved little getaway.
After the reservoir, we started getting close to civilization with horse trails, and bike paths along the sweetwater river. We passed under interstates where homeless made shelter and rode along the river all the way to the harbor. The harbor was a welcome site, but as Sarah admitted, will be difficult for anyone living in the area as it feels pretty close to home. It was nice smelling all the restaurants and the ocean at this point. We headed north along a bike route and eventually streets to tie into the GPS route Brendan, Zander and I created weeks ago.
Success!
By this point, Sarah and I were a bit spent and happy to head to her house for pizza and unwinding. This was the best women’s ride I’ve ever had. Sarah was a blast to follow on the dowhills and we both pushed each other on the climbs. We kept moving and had lots to chat about, also.
Brendan and Zander met us at Sarah and Ernesto’s house and I got one of the best baby hugs ever. This was the first time I’d been away from Zander overnight! and it was for 3 hard days of pedaling.
More Pictures
Back at the salt mine now, with this to dream about!
He makes me smile… so I thought I’d share!
This is a wonderful colorful quilt my friend Maria made for him.
Well… it’s finally here! This coming weekend April 2nd & 3rd in Vail Colorado will be the world premiere of Ride the Divide film during the Annual Vail Film Festival. The documentary covers the 2008 Tour Divide following Me, Matthew Lee, Mike Dion and other racers as we battled the Rockies over 2,700 miles from Banff AB Canada to the Mexican border along the Continental Divide.
We have decided to support the film by putting up a complete beautiful divide-ready bike; We definitely know what that means, since we’ve had 3 bikes finish Tour Divide… so far! The bike will be raffled off amongst people who purchase dvds from the Ride the Divide website.
There are screenings scheduled throughout the Rockies and also at Sea Otter and even here in Idyllwild, over the next couple of months. I will be going to some of the screenings to answer questions and will be signing posters at Sea Otter.
Stay tuned to our blogs and we’ll have more details on the divide-ready bike and screenings. In the meantime, good luck to the guys at the Vail Film Festival this weekend!
We’ve gotta teach Alexander the ABCs soon, so thought I’d practice. Enjoy!
Alexander rocks… every day!
Back on the Bike with Brendan and Baby – pulling the Chariot and trying to get in a daily ride, even if it’s just to the Post Office.
Craziness on the road – took a road trip to NM to see family.
Dave Dog loves dirty diapers – it’s a doggy Hot Pocket, caught him in the act!
Everyday Excitement – it is more fun than I ever imagined.
Fatherhood – he’s wearing it well!!
GROWING – he’s gotta get ready to reach the ground on the push bike… I mean, after he can hold his head up
Bonus G – Gnar… what Alexander will shred, some day!
Hardcore – my definition of this has changed and riding for an hour seems pretty hardcore right now.
Interacting with the world around him…
J
Kid is Kicking – I think he’s getting ready for pedaling
Lungs awesome, Legs… atrophy! – Really, they were pretty sore after the first couple of days of riding to the post office!
Mommy – a new word for me and I’m trying hard to wear it well.
Naps… lots of them, the ones where he’s laying on my chest are the most precious.
Ocotillos – the family favorite plant – found in our favorite biome… the desert!
Pooping… of course!
Quiver – lip quiver that is
Riding – with a new definition and appreciation.
Smiles!!!
Bonus S – Stories to Share with our kiddo.
Trainer – it’s staring me down, but that really doesn’t look like fun.
U
V02 Max – this is supposed to be a benefit of Pregnancy – nice lungs.
Wendy – AKA Garner Valley Grandma (the shreddinest grandma ever!) – sent us Easter books – she keeps up with Alexander like a true grandma!
X.. hmmm… not much here, Xchromosome combined with Y = makes our little guy!
Yawning – It’s too cute.
Zone – this is where Alexander goes when he’s in the bike trailer!
It’s been a pretty mellow month for me as I’m moving into the final stretch before the baby arrives. Brendan has been working very hard to get the new place ready for the baby and get bikes out the door. Hopefully we can have a little hibernation time when he arrives. We went out to one of our favorite photo spots today to get some late-term belly shots and good family photos before the new addition arrives.
It’s a good thing we’ve got going here
Who knew you could have so much fun, without even swinging a leg over a bike. I’m working on figuring out how and this past weekend was a start. We went to San Diego for the Racers and Chasers Mountain Bike race at Balboa Park (see Brendan’s writeup.) It was one of our best California expo’s we’ve had and just a great atmosphere with good people.
We met up with Derek and Tessa (future Siren owners) there and hung out with them for the weekend. They showed us all around San Diego and even this 34weeks pregnant lady had fun! Thanks to Brendan and Tessa for taking all the wonderful photos.
Right after the race, we grabbed a bite to eat in The Village then headed down to the beach with Tessa…
and Derek.
The Seals were good at mugging…
And so was this guy!
After walking around at the shore, a little coffee was in order!
We stopped in at Tessa’s parents’ place to get some warmer clothes on and enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the ocean before heading back out.
We headed down to the gaslamp district for dinner and had tapas at Cafe Sevilla. The area was lit up with Christmas lights and the night was young!
We then headed out on a whilrwind tour of Little Italy and Old Town.
Couldn’t resist this one.
Old-Town Nativity
After a night in La Jolla the morning walk was chilly and smelled like the ocean. What a relaxing yet stimulating way for a preggers to start her day!
I’m always impresed with the plant life down by the water. It’s like all the annuals elsewhere can keep living forever down there. This Coral tree was very beautiful in the morning light. Before heading back up the mountain, Brendan got a ride in with Tessa and Derek. I pulled the preggers card and took the day off – a bit beat from all the walking Saturday but satisfied with all the wonderful sights.
With less than 2 months to go, we’re getting ready for our new little addition to the family. A week ago, we had a baby shower and were reminded once again what awesome friends we have and what a great extended family the little guy will have.
We had a fun shower with all of our bike friends, some family, and lots of my friends from work. We are very excited about everything we got so I wanted to share a few special things – the beautiful handmade stuff.
Becky made him this beautiful quilt, many panels with little intricate stitching and the other side is veeerrry soft!
Phil, Linda and Brett brought a couple cute sets of hats, booties and blankies and Janette knit this awesome blanket. She picked a color that would work for an earthy baby who just may turn out to be a redhead!
The piece above is very special. Brendan was brought home from the hospital in this – handmade by his Grandma Collier.
Here is the blanket that Brendan’s Grandma Collier made as well as a set of booties and hat that Becky knit and a hat that Emi knit.
Brendan’s godmother, Irene made the cute colorful quilt and Carolyn knit the sweet little blankie on top. What amazing work!
Yumi, from Pedal One Long, of course, made a custom Siren onesie and Tee – I think he’ll be decked out in Siren garb a LOT!
Grandma Brosterhous – Patsy, that is – made this wonderful paw print outfit. She loves to sew and I think the new grandbaby just gave her another reason for many projects.
Last, but not least, the creme sweater was knit by Lissa’s cousin and the blue one was knit by Finneas’ grandma. Finneas (Todd’s boy and fellow Siren team member) passed his sweater to our baby as somewhat of a family tradition. I felt pretty honored that they passed this along to us with a note that we are family!
This time of the year is so special and add a baby in the mix. I am reminded daily of the wonderful people in my life and am so happy that my baby boy will be surrounded by such amazing friends. At just over 8 months, it’s getting very exciting!
Another stellar weekend with Idyllwild fall weather. Saturday, I went to Orange County to have a girls night with CarolAnn and her friends.
Sunday, was for riding and enjoying Idyllwild.
As I passed 7 months and the belly is starting to touch my seat when climbing, I’ve gone to only shorter rides. This weekend I had a nice little ride out by the Arts Academy and Brendan took some fun pics. We ran into Don, Marlin, Dave, Doug and about 10 other people on a nice group ride. It was good riding for a brief time with those guys, but they’re too fast to be in the photos.
It’s kinda funny what the new curve does to argyle!
I definitely think the baby got in a nice nap while rockin’ and rollin’.
This past weekend, we took a trip down to the Salton Sea area. Below are pics from the Sea, Salvation Mountain and Slab City… all beautiful in their own way.
You can also read Brendan’s post about our Vegas/St. George/Hurricane trip but here are some pics from a few days off. We met some pretty cool people, hung out with some old friends and shred some new trails.
It started with Vegas Thursday morning. We helped out a little in the World Bicycle Relief Booth and also met up with many good friends. At the Magura booth, I met Nadine and Martin who are just about finished with their around-the-world ride. They’ve been riding since 2003 and cover between 50 and 80 miles a day. They live off of $3,000 USD per year, camping and cooking on a little stove. Nadine said their gear weighed between 130 and 150 lbs at any point. They’ve seen temps between -1degree and 120degrees F. and ridden between -1,292ft and 17,500ft and canoed about 2,600 miles of the route.
Here’s Nadine and Martin’s website – www.weltenbummler2003.de (click on the british flag for the English site.
I also met up with Tour Divide aficionados Matthew Lee and Jay Petervary at Cross Vegas. Matthew had ridden from Salt Lake to Vegas with a Cannondale crew and a Mercedes Unimog as a sag vehicle. It was good to meet Jay and catch up with Matthew.
Cross-Vegas Craziness – always fun to watch!
The other Vegas Spectacle that we indulged in was a VIP RaceFace party at some beautiful estate north of Vegas. RaceFace is a sponsor of mine, so they sent me an invite. How I got mixed up into this downhill/freeride crowd, is a little of a mystery, but they know how to throw a party. The party was sponsored by pinkbike.com and RaceFace and was hosted by Tippie and Wade Simmons as a preview to the new freeride flic – What’s Next? – a film by Aaron Larocque. There was a waterfall spilling into the pool with a hot tub behind the waterfall and a huge movie screen to watch the premiere. I felt a little old at a party of big-bike guys and gals, but it was a fun scene.
Cameraphone pic, but you get the idea – RaceFace limos out to the premiere
View from the balcony looking down into the pool with palm trees and the big screen.
After LV, we headed to St. George to catch up with our friend and fellow beautiful-bike builder Jon Hanson of Sabrosa Cycles (he models his own softgoods because he and the bikes are beautiful.) Somehow – we’re still not sure how this good fate fell upon us – Jon scored a tour of the supersonic test track on Hurricane Mesa wher Brendan’s great uncle worked in the 50′s. Jack was excited to show us around the largest privately owned test track in the U.S. and they still do ejection seat testing for private companies and the military. Jack said the track is “rated for mach 2, but we try to keep it around mach 1.”
The end of the track – where they used to fire things go off the Mesa (in ejection seats) – including pigs and chimps!
It was great hanging out with Jon, his wife Daleena and daughter Noelle in St. George. Wonderful people with beautiful bikes and VWs, an awesome garden, chickens and pomegranate bushes.
We headed out to Gooseberry Mesa for the night, only to end up back in Hurricane Saturday morning to meet up with friend and divide racer Dave Nice. He works at Over the Edge Sports in Hurricane. He had to work in the morning, but then we were able to get out for a ride on “Guacamole” with a group of good guys.
Need Coffeeee……
Ride leader – Dave Nice – super sweet guy and great rider
Saturday night, Over the Edge hosted “afterbike” which is an annual event with Dave’s chili, beer boiled brats, and lots of locals who brought potluck dishes. I also met Lucy Ormond, a local nurse, at the bbq. Unfortunately, no pic of Lucy, but she just finished riding coast to coast on the northern tier. We talked a little about that readjustment to every day life, which is what she’s going through right now. It was great to hear her stories and there are more to come on her blog “Lucy’s Big Adventures” http://clucygo.blogspot.com I always love meeting Lucy-types. She’s done lots of other long distance tours and has plans for future escapes and is working on a book.
Saturday night we headed back to the mesa for camping. I was feeling a little under the weather, so in the morning, when Brendan met up with a bunch of guys for a ride, I decided to go for a hike instead. I figured it’s good practice for when the baby comes and I’m wearing him around in a sling or backpack. I was also able to get lots of great pics that we normally wisk by when riding.
