SAMISH LOOP RIDE 'N' BUSHWACK

On Saturday, the Titanium Cowboys rode one of our favorite running routes from years past, the Samish Loop. Very simply, head up through Arroyo Park, continue south on the Lost Lake Trail--climbing one of the toughest sustained, no let-up climbs around (1,200 feet in less than 2 miles)--to Lost Lake, then across to the Land of the Lost, up another mega-hill (Sick Joke) to Pine and Cedar Lakes and down Hemlock back to Arroyo. (All phots are stills from the video I shot; in above pic, I look like some droopy-faced cartoon dog, don't I?)

John and Scott switchbacking through Arroyo Park.

South of Lost Lake, the trail is barely runnable, much less ridable, and requires what one of us had termed a "10-minute bushwack." However, when it comes to bushwacking, actual time has been scientifically proven to be three times that of the estimated time. Thus, our "10-minute bushwack" really took 30 minutes.

Scott and I took a couple falls; conveniently, my camera was turned off during my spills.

The Cowboys on the shores of Lost Lake. A hella ride: about 23 miles with 3,200 feet of climbing. Next week, Scott and I run the Deception Pass 25K; John runs B'ham's Jingle Bell Run. For those of you so inclined, here's the vid from Saturday's ride featuring a cool tune by Two Door Cinema Club (I hope).

Here's the route on Strava:

SINGLE-SPEED HURTS SO GOOD

Above, note mega-smile playing about the lips of our Titanium Cancellara whose wife, Gail, suprised him a week or so ago with a Valentine's Day single-speed, the Redline Monocog 29er. It's the same model I've been enjoying the past year-and-a-half (as well as spent a fair amount of that time in the pain cave) and well, now that Scott's got one, the single-speed rides are sure to get more fun. (And more painful.)

Last week was Scott's maiden S-S foray and I could tell it was love, lust, and long-term commitment from the first mile. He Ioves the simplicity--no shifting, no potential chain-suck, no choices really--just pedal.
"It's so quiet; it's like running," he said at one point.

I echo his sentiments. Now we just gotta Johnny Boy Clark (below) to take the plunge. 

Today's route was down the Interurban, up Fragrance Lake Road and the Lost Lake Trail--seriously steep, but S-S Cancellara rode it clean the whole way whilst I had to walk at three spots. (That's good for me). Then down into the Lost Lake basin and out north to Arroyo Park, with a detour for Lower Hush Hush.

The stretch north from Lost Lake is in a sort of slot between Chuckanut Ridge and Raptor Ridge and is always a crazy fun ride: arrow straight with a few dips, doodles and obstacles to keep it interesting and overall, slightly uphill. But you can ride it pretty fast if you're motivated and of course, we always pretend we're in the Arenburg Forest in Paris-Roubaix and push it as hard as we can. Today was no different; I hung onto Titanium Cancellara's wheel as long as I could and then had to let him go. So much damn fun!

While up on Chuckanut, we got off the bikes and went exploring to see if we're any closer to being able to use the So Easy trail. I'd say no. They've been logging up there for about six months don't look close to being done. Great views of Lummi Island and the rest of the San Juan Islands though.

Below pic is me after riding the Fragrance Lake Road stretch, trying to keep Scott in view. It climbs 935 feet in less than 2 miles and I think I rode it as fast as I ever have on the single-speed (heart monitor read 183 at one point), which probably explains why I look a bit knackered.

NEW YEAR'S RIDES

One year ends, another starts, but some things stay the same. In this case, the propensity for the Titanium Cowboys to hit some great rides. 2010 closed with an ultra-fun 3-1/2 hours up on Galby; 2011 got underway with 3 hours out to Lost Lake and back via the lower half of Hush-Hush. That's Hush-Hush in the above photo.



Both rides were frickin' cold--like 23 degrees--with a fair amount of snow on the ground. But cloudless and windless with views from the higher elevations (Whoopsie Woodle) to the Olympics and Mount Rainier. For Christmas, I got me a new HD Helmet Cam (which I'm still trying to figure out) which also takes high-res. photographs. Just above is Titanium Cancellara on the Arenburg Forest section of the North Lost Lake Trail; below is Johnny Boy Clark on Galby's Pipeline Road. (We'd been playing around on Banjoland and some of the lower cross-country trails but kept ending up in the same place so we high-tailed it out of there.)

The boys and I talked much about High Cascades 100-Mile Mountain Bike race in July--that might just be my New Year's Resolution.

MORE OF THE SAME, JUST DIFFERENT

'Nother killer weekend of MTB behavior. The Galby on Saturday, the Lost Lake Around on Sunday. Each ride about two hours 45 minutes. Sunday's was especially killer--first time I've ridden the single-speed to the top of Fragrance Lake Road--Lost Lake Trail: 1,400 climb in 3 miles, a couple stretches of which were darn slippery and thus don't exactly make the climb any easier. Had the jimmy legs hamstring shake on one section but was able to make it through. (Comparing mountain bike climbs to road bike climbs is like comparing apple pie to orange juice, but for those of you scoring at home, the steepest part of the Mount Baker Hill Climb race is the Powerline Hill which climbs roughly 600 feet in about two miles. In other words, this is a helluva lot steeper!)  

Above, Mellow Johnny maneuvers up through Arroyo Park, just moments after breaking a spoke on his front wheel for the second ride in a row. (I think he's trying to challenge me for the spoke-breaking jersey.) And just moments after starting the descent into the Lost Lake basin, I got a flat tire. And just moments before our Woods Coffee-Boulevard Park stop, the Titanium Cowboy almost lost his back wheel hopping off a curb. Eventful ride, that's sure. 

Lastly, I wanna thank DK Reinemer for a really fun eight-week Improv 200 session at the The Upfront Theatre. He's a hilarious performer and a great teacher too!

MTB-ROAD BIKE WEEKEND

Sunday--which was actually Monday b/c of the three-day weekend; in other words, yesterday--Mellow Johnny and I got out for three hours on the sleek elegant road bikes. First time since ... wow, can't even remember the last time. Super duper fun. Out to Birch Bay and back.

Funny thing on a flat road ride like that--you've got to pedal the whole time! (I'd forgotten about that.) Not like on mountain bikes where we climb, climb, climb, then climb some more but are rewarded with swerving curving descents where we turn the pedals only if we want to but we don't necessarily have to. (That's simplifying things but you get the idea.)

Had what felt like a stiff easterly headwind on the way back (in reality, it was probably 3 m.p.h.) but again, that's something we're not used to on the mountain bikes. As long as the wind isn't so bad that it's pushing trees over on top of us, when we're mountain biking, wind isn't that much of an issue. So we took turns drafting on the way back in and had a killer time-trial (ish) workout. (Photo above, by the way, is the morning fog over Bellingham Bay with Chuckanut Mountain in the background.)

Saturday--which really was Saturday--we MTB'd the Lost Lake Loop with Professor Steve and the Titanium Cowboy. Lotsa mud, lotsa fun, lotsa pain for me trying to outsprint the Cowboy on some of the climbs, all of it culminating with us scoring the outside fireplace table at the Boulevard Park Woods Cafe! It was a good day.

Watching lots of Olympics with the family--our favorite story so far: Alexandre Bilodeau!

AIN'T NUTHIN' BUT A MUD THING

I'm certainly not complaing about this winter's riding weather--last year we rode in snow from November through March, it seemed--but this weekend was by far the muddiest. Had a huge Team Unattacked turnout for Saturday--five of us, Mellow Johnny, Titanium Cowboy, the Professor, GG Tri Guy and myself--for the 25 mile (or so) Lost Lake loop; Interurban Trail first.

One of those days in which, from the first pedal stroke, I know I'm not 100 percent but I did what I could. We'd planned on doing the Samish Loop into the heart of Chuckanut-Blanchard No Man's Land and return via Pine and Cedar lakes, but I whimped out. That big climb out of the Mud Lake hole a-frighted me, I was soaking wet (it had been spitting rain the whole time), and not to be one of those big phonys about it like everybody else is nowadays, but I think I was a little despressed about J.D. Salinger having just died and all. ("Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.")

Mud was crazy thick especially on the descent into Lost Lake, but you get to that point where you can't get any muddier or wetter and you're not freezing cold (yet) and you're having the time of your life with a great group of guys. And this is what keeps me coming back again and again and again. Three of us stopped for a cuppa at Woods Coffee at Boulevard Park on the way back where we scored the coveted outdoor fireplace seat. (That's me, the Professor, and Mellow Johnny.)

Sunday, I was feeling even worse at the start and came close to cancelling on Johnny Boy, but I fired up the single-speed and we headed up for a two-and-a-half hours on Galbraith. Tried some new downhill trail parallel to the Three Pigs; I wouldn't say that it was made for a rigid fork 29er but it was fun nonetheless. Muddy as heck though.

It's no mystery why I felt so crummy both days: these past two weeks I've been doing two-a-day run-bike intervals on Tuesdays and Thursdays. (Essentially, four interval workouts in three days.) Then riding long-ish back-to-back on weekends. Anyway, I think it caught up to me so my grand plan to take it easy this week. ("Grand. There's a word I really hate. It's a phony. I could puke every time I hear it.")

LOST LAKE LOOP

The Lost Lake Loop is turning out to be this winter's favorite, it would seem. Each week we do some version of it. Above, Mellow Johnny Boy powering up the Lost Lake Trail from the Larrabee State Park approach: Fragrance Lake Road to near the bottom of the Chinscraper, turn right and head up. Some more. Early on, downtown was in a fog which we escaped in riding down the Interurban. All was sunny and still in the Chuckanuts. When we got back to town two-and-a-half hours later, the fog was still there. See below, on the Taylor Dock.