Saturday, December 27th, 2008

MTB: Skeggs to Half Moon Bay

We were supposed to go to a potluck with two other families on December 27th, 2008.  What are the odds both Erik and I did not make the connection between the date and the day, and we made our separate plans for Saturday: he would climb at Pinnacles and I would ride at Skeggs. We felt terrible when we found out that the coming Saturday was December 27th, 2008!  However, the ride was a commitment I could not get out of. Before I was able to commit, Christine called for peer pressure, Charlie sent me a spinning wheel to hypnotize me into going, and the whole group postponed the start time by one hour to accommodate my ride up from La Honda. At last, Christine said she would bring donuts. That did it! “I’m in!” And now that the ride was over, I was so glad that I did the ride. (We postponed our potluck to Jan 1, 2009, and this time we blocked out both the Thursday and the 1st day of January in 2009.)

Last time I gave myself an hour and half to ride up to Skeggs from home on my mountain bike. I had time to stop at Alice’s and then do a good stretching session while waiting for Andrew.  With that in mind, I was planning to leave home today at 7am for our 8:30am start time. What I did not factor in was the fact that I have a little cat now; plus, I’m feeding our neighbors’ seven cats.  By the time I left home, it was 7:25am. One good thing though was it was bright enough that I did not need a light.

Driving past me on Skyline (I already told them not to stop for me) when I still had 2 or 3 miles to go, they were sure I would not make it to Skeggs on time. So when I pulled into the parking lot at 8:30 on the nose, certain people were not ready to roll. Hahaha..they were sandbagged!

Let me introduce the group first. I heard the ride was Daryl‘s idea. He works at Passion Trail Bikes. I rode with him on some shop rides. He seems to be very popular and every other person we run into on the trails seems to know him. Oh, he rides an Ibis Mojo!!!  Charlie is the ride planner. I first met him on the Henry Coe trail work/ride day and he was pretty much our ride guide that day too. I met Christine also on some PTB shop rides. She is here on vacation from a job overseas. Only a couple of weeks ago, she organized an amazing Skeggs ride on MTBR. And donuts were involved too.  And Mike? Well, I ran into him at a trail intersection last time I rode Skeggs (with Andrew). He recognized me from my MTBR trip reports. I recognized his MTBR handle from many Henry Coe thread and had therefore already classified him as a cool guy before I even met him. He had to peel off for a family function after Manzanita Trail.

According to Charlie, here is the route we took:

Start Skeggs Point » CMØ1 » Fir Trail » Sierra Morena Trail » CMØ4 » Skyline 35 » CMØ4.5 » Steam Donkey Trail » Gordon Mill Trail » Crossover Trail » Crosscut Trail » Timberview Trail » Manzanita Trail » Fir Trail » Resolution Trail » El Corte de Madera Creek Trail » CMØ7 » Star Hill Road » Tunitas Creek Road » PCØ4 » Borden Hatch Mill Trail » Grabtown Gulch Trail » Purisima Creek Trail » PCØ5 » Higgins Purisima Road to Hwy 1, Half Moon Bay » Highway 1 » Coastal trails along the bluff » Kelly Road » Ride around HMB, get lunch » Highway 1 » Higgins Purisima Road » PCØ5 » Purisima Creek Trail » Grabtown Gulch Trail (Charlie only) » Borden Hatch Mill Trail » PCØ4 » Tunitas Creek Road » Star Hill Road » Swett Road » Skyline 35 » Skeggs Point.

Are you some one who like numbers? I strive to please you. Here are the stats of our ride seen from all kinds of angles:

My photos are available on Picasa with captions; and the same photos are also uploaded to our gallery (originals and multiple sizes but no captions).  My photos pale next to Christine’s photos. You really have to click the link to see her arts. Then you would think we went on two different rides.

Here is a terrain map of our ride from Skeggs:

My ride has been uploaded to MTBguru: ride from La Honda and ride from Skeggs.

Okay. It’s just a rundown of my ride. There were so many funny moments from the ride that I laughed my throat sore. But my Little One is pacing next to me waiting for me to play with her. I’ve gotta go.

5 Responses

  1. # Patrick Herlihyon 30 Dec 2008 at 6:22 pm

    Nice ride Mei! And very chivalrous of Charlie to lay down and be part of the trail for you.. “…Swett Road » Skyline 35 » Skeggs Point”!

  2. # Charlieon 02 Jan 2009 at 10:14 pm

    Hi Mei – today I put a few photos here:

    http://forums.mtbr.com/showpost.php?p=5235522&postcount=4

    It was a really fun day, and it is just epic to ride Skeggs to Half Moon Bay on a mountain bike. I plan to do the full version again on Labor Day weekend 2009; if you and Erik are not otherwise booked, please join me.

    ///Charlie

  3. # mudwormon 03 Jan 2009 at 9:21 pm

    Nice catch, Patrick. Yes, nowadays, I find myself pause at giving directions like “you go down on Skyline 35″… 😆

    How is your Death Ride prep going?

  4. # mudwormon 03 Jan 2009 at 9:22 pm

    That’s our anniversary weekend! Well, you never know. We might just choose to celebrate our anniversary by doing Skegss to HMB. :biggrin:

  5. # Patrick Herlihyon 03 Jan 2009 at 11:40 pm

    Training is going well! I did 100 miles today (right past your place).. I plotted a route that was supposed to give me 100M and 10K climbing but I only got about 9K climbing. Have done 254 miles in the past week (making the most of Sun’s shutdown week)! Still a long way to go, but good to have a goal!