As soon as the snow melts, the high country awakens and goes into full bloom – elevation dictates when things take off. Ride Tahoe early in the season, and it feels like the clock has been set back a few months. It’s spring and wildflower time all over again: seas of sunflowers, lupine fields, the occasional Indian paintbrush, snowplants and dozens of other species are all over the place.

And the riding is pretty fantastic too, of course. (Stanford Rock!, TRT!)

The big lake is stunning in its beauty as always.

More…

This weekend: to Downieville or not to Downieville?

In favor: fantastic trails, lotsa climbing and technical descents. Rugged and tough riding, serious dirt.  Entertainment in town. Chance to check out Lopes, Weir and co.

Against: probably will be hotter than hell on that exposed fireroad climb. Four hour drive one way.

Conclusion: We’ll See. Meanwhile, I keep myself busy armchair racing by checking out the updates and reports on these amazing Great Divide races. Or, daydream about riding Kodiak Island… after seeing this thread on mtbr, I so want to go there.

First, it was the great Lick Fire. Then came the California budget crisis. And now, behold the third coming of the Monster that Wants to Eat Coe: Assembly Bill 2923.

This is a bill that intends to turn a number of state lands in California into designated wilderness area. We have nothing against creating new wilderness areas, au contraire, but it is ludicrous to apply this to places such as Henry Coe, Cache Creek and the likes, where it is merely a thinly veiled euphemism for a ‘let’s kick bike riders out’ policy change.

I can’t even start to stress how braindead it is to include a place like Coe in this bill, where mountain bikers live in near-perfect harmony with hikers, equestrians and rangers and where, given the size of the park and the range of mountain bikes, riders are the ideal stewards of the land. A place so big you can ride all day and all night, that fosters a crowd of die-hard fans, trailworkers and regular visitors; yet so close to a major urban area. I can’t imagine a better example of proper and responsible use of state lands.

IMBA recommends to take action and write/fax/bug our state representatives. We’re doing so and urge you to do the same. Write some lines expressing ‘you’re out of your mind to even consider this and I will never ever vote again for you if you allow this to get through’, but much, much more politely; here’s a sample letter from Passion Trail Bikes (warning: .doc file link).