TITANIUM COWBOYS WELCOME DECEMBER

I've been doing mostly cyclocross and running this fall and thus haven't been out on the MTB in a while. So it was great to hit the Galby on Saturday for three hours with the Titanium Cowboys. We even got lost (sorta) a couple times which added a bit of variety to the experience.

Check out Scott's sleek and sexy Niner carbon fork which makes his already feather-light titanium rig even lighter. Oh goodie!

Mellow Johnny whooping and woodling.

Deception Pass 25K is this Saturday. (Yikes!) 

EARLY MORNING GALBRAITH MOUNTAIN RIDE

Super cool, super fun, super early MTB ride up on Galby this a.m. w/ Glenn G., Bryan S. and Asa K. (the Logos Crew). Glenn's partaking in some Strava contest and wants to climb a bizillion feet this week so we essentially climbed the Tower Road to the top of Unemployment Line, rode down it, then climbed the Tower Road back up again. Four times, I think. Finished off with some Mullet, Cheech 'n' Chong, Not Shawn's action. And then I dropped down and did the Padden upper loop. So much darn crazy-arsed fun it's almost not to be believed! (Bryan above, Glenn below.)

Glenn and I (me rocking a pair of ill-fitting and not-too-comfortable Lowe's safety glasses) on the Tower Road climb.

In other news, the book ("75 Classic Rides: Washington") has been getting some cool press this week. Yesterday, the Seattle Times ran a Q & A interview that I did with the very nice Mary Ann Gwinn. (Who, btw, is a past Pulitzer Prize winner!) And Biking Bis wrote a review of both my Classic Rides Washington book and Jim Moore's "75 Classic Rides: Oregon". Thanks a lot Mary Ann and Biking Bis! Much appreciated.

Oh, and here's our route:

GALBY DASH; EVERGREEN MOUNTAIN BIKE FESTIVAL

Did a quick up and down at Galby yesterday on the 'cross bike. (Still feeling the effects of Saturday's Skagit Century.) I rode Ridge Trail to Cedar to well, Rock 'n' Roll doesn't seem to be there anymore, to various dirt roads and out the Padden side. Madone, but the trails were dry. This hot (for us) sunny weather has them seeming all Winthropy, if you know what I mean, almost dusty. No precip in the forecast 'til at least Sunday. Get up there if you can!

In other news, June 8 and 9 Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance’s annual Mountain Bike Festival at Issaquah's Duthie Hill Mountain Bike Park. This year's event will also celebrate the completion of the park after three years and some 12,000 hours of volunteer labor. The festival is free. For more info, go here.

BELLINGHAM CYCLOCROSS RIDE

Yesterday, the excellent Glenn Gervais invited me on a lunchtime CX ride with some of his co-workers from Logos Bible Software. Beautiful ride on a beautiful day. (For Jan 12, that is: about 38 to 40 degrees, some sun, no wind.) Our route: south through Fairhaven, across Taylor Dock, the back trails at Padden, a traverse of Lower Galby and down the pipeline, Whatcom Falls Park and back to downtown. Enjoy the vid!

MORE POWERDIRECTOR MADNESS

School conferences yesterday so once that was done, 12-y-o Baker and I hit Galbraith for a couple hours. He's not ridden in a while--once in July and I can't remember the last time before that--but he's still a ripper. Lots fun!
(Conference went well, btw.)

EASTERN WASHINGTON IN APRIL; GALBY NEWS

Headed over to Eastern Washington this week for some more book route scouting, photo-ing and even some riding. Into your Leavenworths, Wenatchees, Watervilles, Chelans, Malagas, Ellensburg, Yakimas, Naches—stop me, please. (Above is P Road NW on the Waterville Plateau, above the Columbia River.)

Below are rock walls of the amazing Yakima Canyon between Ellensburg and Yakima.

Something else I'd not seen before--or at least not for a while--blue sky, as seen in the photo below at the top of Joe Miller Road, a seriously crazy-steep hill just south of Wenatchee. My Garmin sed it was 14-percent in stretches, which is even steeper than Bow Hill. They race the Wenatchee Omnium on it, which is crazy.

Below, a cool view of Wenatchee from Badger Mountain, the 4,000-foot wall that rises high above the east bank of the Columbia River.  

Don't want to get my hopes up too much but today's Herald story seems to imply that there's some positive movement in the Galbraith-B'ham-County-WHIMPs issue. If nothing else, it looks like runners, hikers, bikers, sightseers etc. will still be allowed up there after the original agreement with the WHIMPs ends on Monday. And unless I’m wrong it looks like they’ve got another agreement worked out. Yay! (Read the latest from club president, Mark Peterson here.)

THINGS WE SAW ON TODAY'S GALBY RIDE

Logging. Saw evidence of logging on trails we ride frequently. To the left would be Cedar Dust, to the right Rock 'n' Roll, both of which are closed now and for the foreseeable future. (The Wall would be straight ahead.) Also closed was Family Fun Center (see below) and the Intestine and probably a couple others as well. Good story with map of what's impacted can be found on the WHIMPS site here. Essentially, it's pretty pointless to enter Galby from the north side right now.

But the whole south side of the mountain appears unaffected for right now so the Titanium Cowboys and I made our way after a few fits and starts to the Tower road--Whoopsie Woodle-Three Pigs side of the world. Theys trails still is da' bomb over there, that's fer sure!

Saw the above, too, on the side the Ridge Trail on the way up. A pair of binoculars in a box for all to enjoy the great views of Bellingham, the San Juans and the surrounding mountains. (See B'ham and the bay below.) Thanks a lot for generously sharing your binocs, whoever you are!

Also wanted to give shout-outs and kudos to all those folks doing trailwork connecting Raptor Ridge to the Lost Lake Trail on North Chuckanut Mountain. Here's a story on the WHIMPS site. Seems to be a WHIMPS-Whatcom County Parks and Rec-Daniel Probst and his cronies production. Good on all ya'! (And if I don't have the credit right, feel free to correct me.)

SPRING 2011 'ADVENTURES NW'

Pick up the great new issue of Adventures NW--lots of great stories and photos including one story about a band of idiots who attempted to ride all of Galbraith Mountain in one day. (What a bunch of galoots!) We--I mean, they--were 50-percent successful!

Adventures NW is available free at hundreds of locations throughout Washington.

AIN'T NUTHIN' BUT A GALBY THANG, BABY

John and TC on the Mullet bridge, the kind of bridge I like: wide as heck, no more than a foot off the ground. Nice.

I dig that creepy smile I'm rockin'. The ill-fitting glasses too. Behind me is da' boyz: Glenn (Ricky) Gervais, Titanium Cancellara, Johnny Boy Clark and Professor VanderStaay.

The handsome Glenn (Ricky) Gervais pretending to do something important to his seatpost. I dig his new Radio Shack jersey. I hear black is the new black.  

Glenn rocks the Mullet bridge.

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.

GALBRAITH SATURDAY

'Nother great weekend of riding. Whilst the East Coast got pounded with some 25-30 inches of snow we enjoyed a beautiful Saturday in B'ham. Above, Dr. Steve Professor dude (Steve Vanderstaay) and the Titanium Cowboy (Scott Young) discuss something heavy near the Towers at the top of Galbraith Mountain. Mount Baker, just behind, appears to be listening in.

Below, Glenn Gervais and nice guy Richard (sorry, I don't know his last name)--each with their spiffy new 29ers--catch their collective breaths after the climb to the top. Don't care how many times I've done it, that climb's never easy. Below, Scott and I, who called each other earlier to find out what the other was wearing, about to begin the fun, rollicking descent. (Mellow Johnny was with us too but, pulling his typical diva behavior, refused to be in any of the photos.)

Funny thing, the way it worked out. Scott is coming back from a broken hand so we're trying to baby him by looking for non-technical trails. But somehow we found ourselves over on the north side of the mountain and the desire for fun takes over and we end up riding SST and that new one at the end of that (Bonanza Connector?) which has some seriously silly drops and berms. But we all lived and I think even thrived.

Sunday, Mellow Johnny and I got out for another two-and-a-half hours. Great, great fun!

SUMMER EVENING ON GALBRAITH MOUNTAIN

The boys of Team Unattacked did a killer ride on Galbraith last night. Neither record-breaking temps nor a slow leak could stop us from having a great time on trails such as Wonderland, Mullet, and SST, to name a few. Please enjoy the video. Song is "Everlong" by the Foo Fighters.

TITANIUM COWBOY

Team Unattacked's tallest rider, Scott Young, scored a titanium 29er this past week and in true Scott Young fashion, quickly got bizy widdit. In his first two rides, he tackled both the upper and lower Padden courses and a bunch of stuff on Galby including the Mullet, Rock 'n' Roll, Upper and Lower Bob's and lots more. He's a natural! Can't wait for Mellow Johnny Boy Clark to see this!