Saturday, April 7th, 2012

2012 Henry Coe Spring Classic

Announcement: The most complete account of this ride with many excellent photos, videos, and stories is actually on MTBR. As much as I love it when you, my reader, stay on my blog, I must say you’ll like what you see in that thread more. But still, following is my initial account of the ride…

It started out as an email thread discussing “Just show up and ride on March 24”, and then “Agua Extrema” on April 1, but somehow, it ended up being 2012 Henry Coe Spring Classic that actually took place for the 11 of us on this fine day, April 7. ElHombre was the proclaimed ride leader, but , Skyline35 seemed to always find a way to force ideas onto him by prefixing his sentences with “it’s YOUR ride…” Those were excellent ideas as Skyline35 took us on many quality trails that we would not have known existed.

I tried to stay with the three Henry Coe Musketeers, namely plymmer, ElHombre, and ratpick, whenever I could hoping to absorb some of their awesomeness, esp. in climbing, simply by proximity. I think it really worked because I was feeling fairly strong all day. Was very happy to clean the Serpentine climb at the end of the ride.

Lots of goofiness on this ride, which made this long (near 9 hours elapse time with 5 hours of riding time) ride seem to go really fast. I enjoyed every moment of it, and I think one man contributed the most. Guess who?

Oh, Skyline35, this bears repeats: pie or no pie, you *are* my favorite. Now, thanks so much for that Marie C. Pie. OMG, that’s the best apple pie I’d had in my life!

Without further ado, let’s look at some action shots. (There are a lot more in my photo album.)

ID the riders topping out on Jim Donnelly Trail.

Did you get it? … The joke.

Skyline35 dictated, “A riders go straight up (taking Steer Ridge Road); B riders go left (taking Jim-Jones cutoff).” But I’m an A-wanna-B rider, so it confused me for a second there. But the cutoff is much more fun to ride, so I went left.

So pretty!

d-bug always puts on a happy face when he rides.

A cross above Hoover Air Strip.

Pacheco Falls are that way!

Come on, what are you waiting for? Pacheco Falls are down here! Um… where?

Rock in the pocket

Rock in the pocket

More, Rock in the pocket

A ride with TahoeBC is guaranteed to have a lot of laughs.

Except when he tries to steal your bike… my bike to be exact.

The three Henry Coe Musketeers at the top of Serpentine Trail, waiting for TahoeBC to emerge. It was five for five. Others should all have gone this way because it was guaranteed success.

A short video (with sound). Sorry about the fast transitions.

What’s a ride without a track?

P.S. After a night of sleep, some more details started coming back to me. So, what did I miss in the first version?

Secret Squirrel staged a mechanical — ripped a side wall early on the ride. He managed to fail to mend it while the group were waiting, so that he could tell the group to move on without him. Guess what he did after that? He not only patched the torn tire, he went on his secret ride dodging the group. Mind you, Coe is a little place, but he somehow managed to stay away from us all day while having a blast of his own!

I missed taking a photo of tburger’s new bike. Someone must have it, or maybe he could share it himself. What’s really impressive was it is a rigid! I can really feel the bumps when I forgot to undo the lockout on my fork, so I can’t imagine riding all day on a rigid bike. That should earn him a hard man badge.

Also forgot to mention d-bug and the Law’s his and her Ibis Mojo’s. Those are two fast bikes, so sweet together! It was great riding with the Law; I was not the only one bugging Skyline35 with girly questions. Can you picture Skyline35 utter “ugh” and roll his eyes when he was asked the second time 5 seconds apart, “what is that little pond’s name?”

Tom, I think you should never fix your spoke. It’s nice to be able to always hear you on the trail!

Mr. Mud managed to come home around 2am and speed read the post through his half closed eyes before collapsing in bed. His eyes only opened up wide for a brief second when he saw the “Area Closed” picture. He’s off to work again. I hope his move is wrapping up soon and he can join our fun someday soon!

Last, but not the least, TahoeBC is such a goof ball! I look forward to riding with you again!

4 Responses

  1. # Alison Chaikenon 08 Apr 2012 at 10:00 pm

    Amazing photos as always, Mei. I feel like I was there! I’m going to climb Coe next Saturday, on the wussy pavement, but from the Valley.

  2. # mudwormon 09 Apr 2012 at 11:54 pm

    Hi Alison, thank you! You should check out the complete MTBR thread because there are many excellent photos, videos, and stories there, and I think you’ll like them. Oh, “the joke” was explained on Mud ‘n Crud (link). I saw the Tierra Bella workers’ pre-ride on my way to Coe, and you’ll be on the same route this Saturday. Hope you get great weather and have a helluva fun time!

  3. # Alison Chaikenon 10 Apr 2012 at 12:03 am

    Actually Mei, you’ll laugh, but as a true LKHC, the only part of Tierra Bella I will ride myself is the Henry Coe Hill Climb. The rest is too boring!

  4. # mudwormon 10 Apr 2012 at 12:07 am

    I did LOL. You are such a climbing snob! :mrgreen: