Pump Track Madness

If you can't have a pump track in your own backyard, the next best thing is having friends with one. I'll save pump track physics for another post, but you know something is going on when you can ride around a circular track without pedaling.

Pump Track Madness from Ed Price on Vimeo.

Log a rythym

Video of the log ride at the Los Gatos / Chico Ravine connector in Laguna. It's very ridable if you hit it with some speed and keep your momentum. Definitely a case where the bigger wheels help - all the bumps seem a little smaller.


Los Gatos Log Ride from Ed Price on Vimeo.

Sorry for the bad math pun.

mid-week semi-epic

Blame it on Lit'l Peppers - went for breakfast yesterday and had a generous pastrami croissant. I was already planing to go for a ride, but after stuffing myself I resolved to do something special. Four and half hours, nearly 40 miles, about 4k of climbing; figure that put me in the black for the day.

GPS track in Google maps

From my house, I rode to the Claremont side of MTRP, out the Rim to e-ticket, over the Fortuna saddle, up Spring Canyon, over the ridge to Sycamore canyon, over the switchbacks, up and around Martha's Grove, and back the way I came (more or less - took a different side canyon into Spring, and took Suycott Wash and switchbacks climb out of MTRP).

A few highlights:

• The ride started and ended at my house, no driving involved. Except for a couple miles getting to and from the trailhead, it was dirt all the way.
• I haven't ridden the eastern side of Fortuna saddle for years, but the fire roads between the saddle and Mast Blvd were one of the first mtb rides I did in SD, back in 1995. Don't think I got any further up the eastern approach to the saddle than I ever did.
• Wildlife count included 3 roadrunners, 2 snakes (racers? looked like garters but without a dorsal stripe), 2 deer (just before the rock garden in Suycott), and of course lots of lizards.

MBA article on suspension designs

On more than one occasion I've gotten stuck trying to understand my bike's rear suspension. So I really liked the June 2010 issue of Mountain Bike Action, which has a pair of articles describing the challenges in rear suspension design and analyzing the most commonly used designs. I'm not usually a fan of MBA (aka Wankers Weekly, as Josh calls it)... too many press releases thinly disguised as 'reviews'. But this is an in-depth and informative article that helps explain current rear suspension designs.

I can't find the article on their website, so here's an excerpt. I can send you the whole article if you email me. The full article discusses 4-bar links, single pivot, and designs used by Trek, Specialized, Santa Cruz, Felt, GT, Haro, Ellsworth. The color figures are much better than b&w, too.

mind the gap

If I were ever to consider jumping a 15' gap, I would want to do it on something other than a 90s era hardtail. You go, Mike!

Gap Jump from Ed Price on Vimeo.

Traverse race report

Maybe there's a universe where 40+ miles of fireroad is a good idea, but it's not this one. So was the 8k+ of climbing supposed to make it fun? There had to be some reason I signed up for the Traverse, a 44 mile race across the Main Divide of the Santa Anna Mountains in Orange County. 

Disturbing Wildlife

Saw this guy at the top of La Costa on Saturday. He's a little obscured by the grass, but if you click on the photo to enlarge, you can see him pretty clearly.

He was on the trail when I saw him, then scooted off into the grass on the side of the trail. I was about six inches away when I got this shot. He was in full-on "you touch, you die" mode, with every barb and bristle completely extended.