Monday, September 7th, 2009

MTB: Henry Coe Challenge Preride

Did this ride with Patrick and Derek because Erik was on call, again. We followed the sport course of the Henry Coe MTB Challenge.

Sport/Expert Course About 24 miles
Climbing 5000+-
Start Coit Road
Left Cross Canyon Trail
Right Willow Ridge Road
Becomes Crest Trail
Right Kelly Lake Trail
Left Coit Road
Left Wasno Road
Right Tule Pond Trail
Left Grizzly Gulch Road
Right Serpentine Trail
Left Steer Ridge
To Wilson Camp
Right Bowl Trail
Left Lyman Wilson Ridge Trail
Right Hunting Hollow Road
Finish

It was a beautiful day and good to be out. Patrick was riding strong while Derek maintained a good pace too. The fun sections were Cross Canyon Trail along the creek and Lyman Wilson Ridge Trail except that a yellowjacket got in my jersey and stung me hard on my way down on LW. The tough sections were the climbs on Kelly Lake Trail and Serpentine Trail. I got off my bike once on Kelly Lake Trail and cleaned Serpentine, so I was quite happy. I hope to clear both next time (on the race day), but that requires a clear path. Patrick climbed those trails like a goat and was clearing every thing.

When Derek and I were chatting in the parking lot after the ride, the race organizer, Travis, came back with a couple of other riders from their preride. We ended up chatting for quite a while. When he mentioned that he might take Serpentine out because there were complaints about its steepness, I cried out loud, “no!” without even thinking about it. Then I felt bad and suggested that he should do whatever he sees appropriate.

Pictures are in the gallery.

Patrick at the steep on Cross Canyon Trail

Kelly Lake Trail goes UP.

Derek topping out on Serpentine.

The course map.

P.S. Later on the race day, I learned that the climb up Kelly Lake Trail was taken out of the Expert course, and both Kelly Lake Trail climb and Serpentine Trail climb were taken out of the Sport course. Those were the fun trails!

4 Responses

  1. # Paulon 19 Sep 2009 at 10:10 pm

    Mei –

    I saw you at the race start today but not at the finish! Hope you had a good time. I found it to be a beautiful setting. I wish that I could say the same for my technical skills on the course.

    -Paul

  2. # mudwormon 19 Sep 2009 at 10:31 pm

    Hi Paul, Thanks for checking. We had a great ride, just not on the race course. Please see my new blog post for the full story. Glad to hear that you enjoyed the setting. We did too and we always hoped that more people get to appreciate the beauty of Henry Coe!

  3. # Patrick Herlihyon 21 Sep 2009 at 3:00 pm

    Thanks for calling me a goat, Mei (not sure it should please me, but it does 🙂 I felt really good that day. I very much appreciated the invite to ride in Coe – I love it down there but I’m not adventurous enough to go riding in Coe solo. I suppose I should just get over it and go!

    Thanks also for taking photos.. I forgot my camera so can’t reciprocate with any great photos of your climbing!

  4. # mudwormon 21 Sep 2009 at 4:02 pm

    Great. Let’s go riding in Coe solo together! Well, with you being so fast and I being a mudworm, we pretty much do ride solo. You just have to take longer breaks at trail intersections. Next time bring a pillow or a book.