…but a controlled burn in Henry Coe state park. Cross Canyon hasn’t seen a natural fire in over a hundred years, apparently, and the large accumulated pile of flammable brush and debris would pose a serious hazard for next fire season…

A fantastic Indian summer we’re enjoying here in CA by the way. We’ve had just enough rain to get rid of most dust, and conditions and weather have been stellar the past weeks/weekends: warm but not hot, brisk and not cold, and crisp skies everywhere. You could even *see* the entire Monterey peninsula from Wilder Ranch the other day…

for middle aged guys
for those who don’t shave their legs
for mountain bikers who are over 180 pounds and 6 feet

Great article in the NYTimes on Dave Wiens…

…with my summer garage project. More to come soon.

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).

Remember last week’s thunderstorms? Well, the lightning accompanying those mostly dry storms has set off a thousand wildfires in the state. Fire season isn’t even supposed to really take off until late summer, so we may be in store for something this year. Check out the satellite pic:this time of the year, you’d only expect to see the bright white stuff near the coast, our charming California coastal fog.

Now, it feels like we’re hanging out in one giant smoky bar. Air quality not quite approaching the Great London Smog ‘52 levels but going in that direction. The Western States 100 even got cancelled. I’m still going for a ride; hanging out in a smoky bar once and a while shouldn’t kill you, should it?

Well, it doesn’t seem to rain here anymore in California, but anyway. Here are some cycling related goodies in my bookmarks and/or feed reader:

• the forums on MTBR, always a good source of information and entertainment; use with the appropriate noise filters and you’ll be able to find out about some amazing stuff, such as this mountainbike-rafting adventure in Alaska.
• 2 epic: when I grow up I wanna be like Dave H and Lynda W… or something; riding incredible epics, trailblazing through Utah desertscapes. More endurance/adventure/long ride tales can a.o. be found at Matt’s (I wish I could hop over to Durango once and a while), at the Soiled Chamois and at Scott (Mr. Topofusion)’s site; ideal stuff to read and get all envious about when you’re not able to ride (like, when doing non-cycling work, or when in bed with the flu).
• Mountain bike video footage… often time only watchable if you star in it yourself (and then some), but there are exceptions: Pete Fagerlin’s videos/helmet cam footage and photos are consistently superb, and the material on Steve Wolf’s and MTB Bill’s sites is more than worth checking out as well. Also, good maps and trail info can be found on the latter two. The Ogre has a lot of that too, and is required reading if you want to find remote or obscure but excellent riding spots in California.
• Phil Ingle from Alpine Break and the guys from AlpSun, all Brits in the French Alps, have been posting some gorgeous-looking bike trips in the Alps on MTBGuru; I was lucky enough to do a few last year, and now I just want to go back.
• Now some pavement bike related links (as I like all kinds of bikes): Ken from Spare Cycles shoots great photos (mostly of road races) and posts an abundance of them on his site for everyone to enjoy; being a fellow Bay Area local, mainly of races in the US; we should get him somehow to hang out in Flanders in April (the Classics!) and in France in July (the Tour!). Steephill.tv provides a pretty interesting aggregation of cycling news and links. And I can’t leave out Belgium Knee Warmers of course: good stuff.