I’ve been meaning to make this video for a few years. As far back as in 2021, a friend asked me about my thoughts on the Wide Boyz’s knee lock technique. I shared with him basically what I shared in the video. He, being the very analytical type (and a PhD!), agreed with me. That’s when […]

I was showing friends how to climb this crack that starts off too wide for small fists and regular foot jams, which is typical of 4 inch cracks. A friend took this video. I’m putting it out there for anyone who might be interested. There are many other ways. Even with this one way, you […]

Made this video for a friend who was asking for pointers how to climb this finger crack in the Icebox at the gym. He shot the video of me climbing it at the end of my 45 minute block session. I try to annotate the nuances that made the differences (from not being able to […]

My favorite form of climbing is following multipitch climbs. The emphasis is on following. I love how I can be completely lost in the art of climbing, solving the puzzles that each climb presents, without needing to worry about the consequences of a leader fall. I’ll be happy to follow all day all the time. […]

The reward after a special day, a day I finally set aside my fear, anxiety, and self doubt, and led every pitch (linked all in 8 pitches) of Astroman. At the summit, while I took in the mystic view of the valley created by the special effect of smoke (wish my camera had captured the […]

Today is going to be special. I am on my way to Yosemite to climb the Regular Northwest Face on Half Dome. It will be my first big wall. And, I will be climbing it with a total stranger. (Half Dome, viewed from Washington Column.) I have left the Bay Area early this morning and now parked outside of […]

No Mountains too high, for you to climb All you have to do is have some climbing faith… My expectations for Yosemite are low, very low. I’m talking about my up coming vacation. Remember E, my once life partner and now best friend, a key non-player in my recent off-topic Astroman trip report? Well, he offered to […]

Postscript: After a month, I posted a modified version of this same report to SuperTopo (link). To my relief, the comments have been positive.    Ever since I came back to outdoor climbing in October last year,  I’ve been dreaming about returning to Astroman, one of the crown jewels of Yosemite free climbing. And now, I’m […]

Please add me to the list of men and women who onsighted Twilight Zone.   I took a leap. After all, I am a gym climber and here is the apparent evidence.   I don’t know what got into me — when it comes to leaping over anything, I’m usually like this:     No, no leap […]

My Supertopo Thread (which did not receive much love). :p We climbers in the Bay Area are fortunate to have access to the carefully crafted cracks at the three Planet Granite gyms: San Francisco, Sunnyvale, and Belmont. I’ve visited gyms outside of the PG Bay Area system. While some of them offer a few interesting […]

A trip (trip?) report was asked of me. Busy with work and sleeping, I have not had a chance to write a report yet, although I wanted to. In summary, life is like a box of chocolates. My sequence of events goes like this:  Renee, the PG owner, shutdown my secrete aid climbing practice at […]

For a while, our road trip to Oregon did not seem it would ever happen — it was postponed at least three times. Then we flip-flopped between tandem touring and mountain biking. I have always liked our road trip setup where we fit all our bikes and gear INSIDE the CR-V, but I didn’t think […]

We did Tahoe Sierra 100 mountain bike ride on Aug 23. Some say it’s the hardest mountain biking century in the country. I don’t know if it is true, but I know it deserves a ride report. However, some time has passed and I didn’t find time to write, but more importantly, I didn’t know […]

On the evening of July 9 while I was still at work, I received an email from Mr. Mud with this content: I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, […]

Late Thursday night, Mr. Mud said Chris was thinking about a possibility (among others) of going to Yosemite for a day trip to do Serenity and Sons, except that he didn’t have a partner yet. Then a light bulb went off in his head and he said me “you can follow him up the climb.” […]

Glad that Mr. Mud and I could both take the Friday off at a last minute’s notice. With the rain pending as well as friend’s plan to climb at Pinnacles for the weekend, this looked to be our only chance to get a ride in, so we made good use of it. It was a […]

“Did you get the license plate?” Mr. Mud asks while adjusting his body position on the couch cushion with a grimace on his face. Roxy, all her 14 pounds, rocked from his one leg to the other, but she seemed undisturbed at all. She did not see us the last two nights, so she’s content […]

20131003 Driving to Utah   20131004 Outerbike Day 1 Amasa Back and Bar M   20131004 Outerbike Day 1 -1: Amasa Back, Captain Ahab 20131004 Outerbike Day 1-2: Brand Trails (North 40 – Maverick) 20131004 Outerbike Day 1-3: North 40 small loop   20131005 Outerbike Day 2: Magificent 7 and Brand Trails 20131005 Outerbike Day […]

  mudworm ~A great day riding at Coe. Mr. Mud was in the lead pretty much all day, but I was happy with my own riding. Was a good day for cleaning — I rode no dab on most trails except for Center (Not) Flats where my new rear tire seems to slide constantly on […]

Our friends Jeanne and Iztok invited a few friends to join them at Courtright for 4th of July, and friends invited friends… when the day arrived, we apparently got an Occupy Movement going — okay, not quite, but we got 15+ who showed up taking up four campsites along with the hardcore dispersed campers. It […]

Today, Mr. Mud threw me out of the house so he could turn the house upside down without me getting in the way. We are emptying out the spare bedroom for my nephew’s arrival next weekend. I went and did a ride at Skeggs that I now call Skeggs Lite 2.0. While he was going […]

Vacationing in Mendo and found this route. Despite the GPS track, there were still lots of out&backs and stoppings trying to make sense of the “off course” alerts. Forgot to pack any trail food and sports supplements for the trip. Was surprised to see how tiny an Egg McMuffin was at the trail head. I […]

Beautiful day climbing with Steve. He knows the area well. He took both of us up a 4 pitch climb called Aloha Patrol (5.11b), and then when Mr. Mud took a break, he took me up a 4-pitch arete climb (5.10+). For both climbs, we did (by linking) in two pitches.Photos from Steve’s camera:   […]

Thanks to Skyline35, I did my first night ride. It was very fun. If I could figure out a way not to have headaches the next day after staying up late, I would do more of it. Just played with Picasa photo editing. Might have gone a little over board with the boarders. Oops.   […]

I’m proud to announce that we did it — Erik is now an official Hard COEre 100 (mile) finisher, and yours truly is a Hard COEre 100 (km) finisher as well as the course record holder. Yeah, as our dear friend Stephen once said, screw modesty! I wrote that very short paragraph (except the last […]

Ha, I figured the title will lure you in! Well, it is true, but partially true. After our successful completion of the Tahoe classic monster ride last weekend, I had a nagging feeling. In our small group of three, Mr. Mud appeared to be the strongest one and was almost always ready to roll, but […]

I’d read about this classic Tahoe ride for years. It was supposed to be tough due to altitude and technical difficulty; it was supposed to be very scenic traversing north to south on the east side of Lake Tahoe; and it was supposed to be fun covering many popular trails in the area such as […]

Morning Ride: Hole in the Ground Loop (15.8 mile / 2,473′) Track: Strava, MTBGuru, Garmin Connect Had some time in the morning before meeting our friend Catherine to be done with her work. She and Erik climbed together for quite a while and she kicked, and still kick, butt! One of the Erik’s Climbing the […]

Morning ride: Spooner to Kingsbury to Van Sickle (21.7mi/3,654′) Track:  Strava, MTBGuru, Garmin Connect Despite being a shuttle ride, it was hard! Felt altitude from the beginning when Mr. Mud dropped me. Then at a step up lower on Spooner to Bench climb, my pedal struk a rock and  the foot came off, resulting in […]

mudworm ~  We both took Friday off. Almost went to Tahoe (I have a killer two-day itinerary), but decided to be lazy. Glad to be a guide on his Skeggs Everything Hall of Fame Induction ride. I can do this ride without a map now, although I’m a little SE’ed out, at least for now. […]

mudworm ~ rode 27.3mi and climbed 6,532ft on Skeggs Everything. Incomplete track due to accidental second sampling. July 21, 2012 with a Garmin Edge 305   mudworm ~   Oh darn, I must have played with the “smart recording” vs “every second”, and left it at “every second” at one point. We were even talking about […]

This is crazy! Will Coe be alright without me? — plymmer That was plymmer’s panic cry before the trip. It was pure magic that somehow ratpick and ElHombre convinced plymmer that he needed to ride somewhere else other than Coe for once and they planned this “boys’ weekend outing” as they put it. Not to […]

Saturday: Scotts Lake, Round Lake (o&b to PCT), and Xmas Valley descent. (26.3 mi / 4,742ft) Other links: My Strava , Mr. Mud’s Strava, downloadable Garmin Connect track IMG_4564.JPG IMG_4565.JPG IMG_4568.JPG IMG_4573.JPG IMG_4575.JPG IMG_4581.JPG IMG_4583.JPG IMG_4585.JPG IMG_4587.JPG IMG_4589.JPG IMG_4590.JPG IMG_4592.JPG IMG_4594.JPG IMG_4597.JPG IMG_4598.JPG IMG_4599.JPG IMG_4600.JPG IMG_4601.JPG IMG_4605.JPG P1000618.JPG P1000621.JPG P1000622.JPG P1000626.JPG P1000630.JPG   Sunday: Freel […]

I’ve been working very hard lately.  I normally try not to work long hours; after all, 50% of the household is already workaholic, so I need to balance it out. But last couple of days, I stayed up late and got up early. I’ve gotta say, debugging an unpredictable race condition in the program is […]

It was hot indeed — this hot. The temperatures were recorded on Mr. Mud’s Garmin 800 on today’s ride: Here is the route (the best way to follow the route is to go to my my ride on MTBGuru and click on OSM mode in the map and zoom in): Hunting Hollow >> Jim Donnelley […]

Oh Bear Mountain, where do I begin? People who have visited Bear Mountain speak of it as if it was a giant beast hidden deep in Henry Coe. You can’t quite tell whether it is excitement, or fear, or joy of survival in their voice. I’m intrigued. This weekend, despite having not done any long […]

Has to be a quick post because we are back in action on remodeling the house. Will be leveling the kitchen ceiling joists and installing hood vents today. Willow Ridge was Mr. Mud’s idea. Not sure why he wanted to do it. Last time we did it was on the Henry Coe Rustic Journey two […]

The weekend started on Friday afternoon. Made a last minute decision that I would ride over the hill to meet up with Mr. Mud so we could ride up B-OO-B (Bohlman – On Orbit – Bohlman) together. I had to carry our tent poles in a backpack hoping to get them fixed at Mel Cotton […]

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… […]

Riding on this gorgeous day, even with the occasional encounters with some standing waters on the trails, I had a hard time believing how hard it rained yesterday and in the morning. People say Marin drains well, and I now see what they mean. Last night, I spent quite some time trying to make my […]

On the forum, a user by ID CruxLuv started a thread, How did you learn “the ropes”? It lured many interesting stories out and are all worth checking out. (My lame story is in there too.) But I just wanted to repost Mr. Mud’s account of “the early days” because I found the story very […]

Erik’s birthday was in the week. But unlike the other 12 hour days Erik spends at work (including weekends), his birthday had an online training class scheduled that started from 7am (east coast class) and ended at 3pm, so he took it at home. It happened to be my work from home day and my […]

Since we have been away from Henry Coe (esp. long rides we used to do) for so long, when we thought about doing a fairly long ride this weekend, I naturally thought about my first ride at Coe (see MTBR thread: First time to visit Coe. Route suggestions and first aid preps? ) . My […]

The first ride of the year had to be special. That settled the place – Coe. I’m all about chasing fad, so I logged on to MTBR to see what’s hot for Henry Coe right now. Sure enough, I found two rides on the first page. But sorry, Patric (ratpick), I couldn’t get excited about […]

I’m having a Déjà vu… Oh yeah, I said the same thing back in 2006. But that was when I took a long break from rock climbing and before I started mountain biking. This time though, it was after a long break from my extensive riding (mainly mountain biking) in 2010. I guess I just […]

I stole Erik’s post from his forum. Shhh… don’t tell him. Went to Coe for a day of trail work.  Got there a bit early so I geared up quick so I could go ride the new Jim Donnelly Trail.  This one has a bit of history since it was just “re-aligned” a bit on […]

Lots of good posts in this MTBR thread: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=671389 Following is my post: ========== For a second, I thought I was at the Skeggs Point. This is atypical for Hunting Hollow parking lot. ratpick about to take off on the ride/fly in. The three Hard COEre giants. Need a caption. Siesta time. Am I the […]

There was nothing black about it — it was a sunny day. We all expected a crisp temperature. Actually, when we left home, it was below freezing. And there was hard ice at the parking lot when we got there before 10am. Either the ice was too hard, or Charlie was too light — he […]

Despite having issue with the name — Tallboy — that’s the Santa Cruz 29er, Erik pulled the trigger.  Finally!!! His search lasted for more than a year. I’m not talking about half hearted search. He was reading about 29er’s almost every night!  So, I was more than relieved when he brought the Tallboy home (yeah, […]

Last time I wrote about their heroic attempt, a gigantic ride in itself. I guess they learned from their experience, and November 13, 2010 went down as the day when Henry Coe first saw any human being (or, superman?) measured 100 miles of its trails in one day on a two wheel vehicle that is […]

2 am start at Hunting Hollow Parking lot of Henry Coe on Oct 16, 2010. 1 big loop, 100 miles, +20,000 ft of elevation gain and loss. It even has its own website http://hardcoere100.org/ … Okay, time for me to fess up… I did not attempt it. But among the near 7 billion people in […]

I’m feeling lazy right now after a full day of cleaning around the house (washed all the windows  and more), and I didn’t have my camera yesterday (found it today), so there is not much of a report from me. I rode to the site with Patrick and Roy. Worked mostly with a Pulaski, but […]

I did it! Here is the proof: A few days ago after our last weekend’s ride, Skyline35/Charlie brought up this Everything Skeggs (aka All of Skeggs) ride, conceived by Biking Brazilian. I tried, but couldn’t get the idea out of my mind even though that meant I had to say to Erik that I would […]

Not many people would go “Hmmm… that sounds like a great idea” when they hear my proposal: Descender’s Delight ride (~20 miles) Replenish at the car … Perimeter ride clockwise: Sierra Morena, Whole Steam Donkey, Blue Blossom or Spring Board, Lawrence, V Mill, S+N Leaves, ECdM) (est. ~14 mi) Replenish at the car, and if […]

Following conversation took place this Sunday morning. E: Okay, I’m going in to work now. What are you going to do? M: I don’t know. *pout* E: Go for a ride or hike. Something. Anything. Just make sure you get out. Otherwise, I’ll sleep at work and won’t come home. M: Haha, you can’t handle […]

I really don’t have anything to complain about. Last Saturday was the get-together with Sean and Stephen and their families. Sean and Jennifer hosted the gathering at their place in Santa Cruz. Our host took Stephen, Erik, and me on a ride from his house to UCSC and Wilder. Following a local through UCSC was […]

I’ll be honest. “Go with the flow.” That was not a profound discovery through four years of marriage. It just summed up how this 3-day Labor Day weekend went for us… There were lots of plan changes, which I call “go with the flow”. Here are just a few to illustrate the case: Plan #1: […]

Before the ride, I could not find a GPS track online for the complete Middle Fork Trail, from Timpanogas Lake to Sand Prairie Campground. Most rides I read about were from Paddy’s Valley down. So, I had to ask for beta on MTBR and was glad to get confirmation that the top section was worth […]

For $20 per person, we got a shuttle ride up for Alpine Trail from Oregon Adventures company. The trail is called the “Crown Jewel” of Oakridge riding. It was on a Thursday morning, but there were four other passengers in the shuttle too. During the half an hour drive, we made friends with one retired […]

We arrived in Oakridge late on Wednesday. It was a hot day. We heard that the high was near 3 digits. We took our time talking to the local bike shop and based on their recommendation, we settled into Arbor Inn. After unpacking, it was already after 7pm. We rigged our lights on our bikes […]

This loop refers to: Ape Canyon, Plains of Abraham, Smith Creek, and Lava Canyon If our friend Tom had been on the ride, I’m very certain that he would have proclaimed that this ride had a very high BS factor, and I would have agreed. Riding at St Helens does not have to have a […]

Erik went into work in their Issaquah office so I had to entertain myself. It turned out not so hard. The guys at the Bicycle Center in town gave me detailed information on their local rides and even printed me a very nice map. So, my ride involved riding from the office to downtown Issaquah, […]

I didn’t know about this place until Erik’s friend Tom, whom we would be staying with the next two nights in Seattle, told us. We would be on our way up to Issaquah where Erik would spend a day working in their office there and Capitol Forest would not be too far out of our […]

We were supposed to get on our way up to Washington, but since Post Canyon was literally right there in town, I wanted to check it out before we leave Hood River. We followed the most popular trail, Seven Streams, all the way (Trails 100 to 116) and got a taste what this place was […]

Okay, I exaggerated… It was probably only 35.81 miles of awesomeness since there were a few miles on fire roads (still fun though) and 3 miles of grueling ascent on Trail 456 on Fifteenmile Creek (I didn’t mind the climb, but you wouldn’t see me with big grins on those steeps). Everything else was just […]

This will be a short report because the drive back into town is short. We didn’t get to Hood River until past 10am and went to Bette’s Place for a brunch (excellent Dungeness Crab omelet and free Wifi). Some more time was passed in a couple of bikeshops. By the time we started riding, it […]

Only one segment (okay, out and back) and only 7.2 miles? What happened? Well, it’s probably less embarrassing for me to say, “we are wimps” than for me to tell you what really happened… although we are indeed wimps in general. I’d like people to think that my husband is intelligent, thoughtful, and capable. That […]

In the hindsight, I probably should have stayed home for the weekend. Our friend Brad needed Erik’s help both days for his Sonora Pass Climbing Guide Book effort and I know that they would be hiking around crags and pointing at climbs — not my cup of tea. If I had stayed home, I could […]

It was probably 10 years ago when I was still in grad school that a friend told me excitedly about this innovative search engine, Google. It proved useful back then for academic researches, and today? It has penetrated in every seam of my life. I’ve asked all kinds of questions and learned all sorts of […]

Last year, when a Death Ride ticket landed in my lap 40 days before the ride, I panicked. This time, when Erik informed me, only four days prior, that he had decided to do the Death Ride, I said, “Okay, and  in that case, I will do it too.”  There was no second guessing. That […]

It was 4:30pm on Friday before the 3-day July 4th weekend.  Following phone conversation took place between Erik and me: — M: I’m getting off work around 6pm. After that, should I go to the Female Friday Fandango?  (Note: This is a monthly female MTB ride/gathering organized by Passion Trails Bike shop 5 minutes away […]

This is my post to the related MTBR thread where more photos and stories can be found. ========== After our (mudncrud, ratpick, mudworm) extra little play loop on Spike Jones and Timm, we caught the big group (Sorcerer, Tom, Brian L, Zener, Eric S, girl_from_pitt, plymmer) on Coit Road at the north end of Anza. […]

This is my post to the related MTBR thread. (There are more stories and photos there.) ============== This is about Charlie’s training ride for the thread bearing “rustic 10k” event. Just like last time, he sent an invite to a list of friends stating “the route should be long and miserable”; but unlike last time […]

When I did the Tour on May 7th, I did an experiment to see what would happen if I only took very limited amount of water and food. I bonked. But was it really in the nutrition and hydration (n&h), or was it that 85+ miles on a mountain bike was just beyond my limit? […]

This is my post to the MTBR thread: It was going to be a warm summer day at Henry Coe after a long California spring, so I dressed accordingly for the occasion — long sleeves and leg warmers (with fleece liner). The sweat started pouring down my face shortly after I got started on the […]

Daryl, Heather, and Lior kindly agreed to ride with me at Demo when I talked to them after the Hospice Ride yesterday. And they invited other friends too so eight of us came out. We did the first slice of Canadian Bacon, and then dropped down Sawpit (I rode around the rock garden). Four riders […]

Ride for Hospice, aka “Bra Ride”, is a charity ride for Pathways: Pictures like below can be found here and here. After that, since I was close, I went over and did a short ride at Skeggs:

It’s a gorgeous Saturday. The morning has passed quietly while we were just relaxing around the house. Feeling the need to get out though. It’s almost 1 o’clock. What’s Erik suggesting? A ride out to Pescadero. Sounds good to me. Here we are, in Pescadero. What’s that big intersection we passed before we came into […]

Erik witnessed the cute side of Tour of California on Sierra Road. (Source: http://www.mudncrud.com/forums/index.php?topic=1310) Leading the Break Away. Reeling Her In The Chase The Real Chase

For a while, Lyman Willson was my favorite start from Hunting Hollow. And then it rained, and then rained more. The creeks were filled. Last time I went out that way was on Charlie’s ride last December. Now water proofed with my Gortex socks, would I be afraid of  a few creeks? Of course, not; […]

– Ahh… what a beautiful morning! Earlier at Windy Hill OSP, I was able to get a view of most of the Bay Area to the East including San Fransisco. I couldn’t help but imagine the hustle and bustle among those tall buildings in the SF Financial District on a typical Friday morning like this; […]

The duration of my ride at this year’s Napa Valley Dirt Classic: 10:46am to around 1:50pm. Well, what can I say — mudworm finally got to play in the mud. Total immersion style, head to toe and inside ‘n out. What a day! It was hard but I had fun; then, it got harder … […]

The context was Napa Valley Dirt Classic.  I’m always interested in checking out the course of this unique race. The race seems to be well known because quite a few people I know have raced it; yet, it almost has that underground feel to it. Plus, the requirement of “no preride” has added some mystery […]

Mei Tricked Me! That was what Derek had been claiming all day, to himself and to anyone within earshot. Well, I didn’t really mean to trick him; it was some unforeseen circumstance. When Derek said the day before in an email he was planning to ride alone because he hadn’t been riding much and would […]

Finally, the search came to an end, and I am now the proud owner of this beautiful small carbon 2010 Titus FTM (short for Full Tilt Moto). For the past year or so, I have considered nearly a dozen bikes and test ridden a handful (see my earlier post). I almost bought a Santa Cruz […]

Our friend Mike’s wedding brought us back to Yosemite. Initially, Mike asked to climb with Erik on his wedding day just like how Erik climbed The Rostrum with Steve the morning of his/our wedding. However, when we got to the valley, Mike was no where to be found. It turned out that he was so […]

He does not know it; nonetheless, it’s true. See, last week on my solo ride, I cut the ride short after W. Alpine, OLH, Pescadero, and Stage, because I “was feeling a bit lonely and missed company.” Somebody up there must have heard me and sent me this message in the form of a forwarded […]

I signed on to Plus 3 Network more than a year ago, but last time I tried, it had issues with my GPS, so I hadn’t tried again … until today. And it worked seamlessly this time. Whoohoo. I elected Breast Cancer Foundation as the cause to support when I signed up. It’s a good […]

It only took us one month to buy a house (from thinking about buying to putting down our offer — the only offer we made). It took me a year to buy a mountain bike. You can’t say my priorities are screwed up, can you? It’s official now: I have placed an order on my […]

Ever since I broken a pedal on my first and only hooky ride at Henry Coe, I had been wary about repeating it. But I had to do it today, a Thursday, aka a work day, for a few reasons: 1) the reason that I a demo bike with me was because I told the […]

We went sight seeing.    The moment we woke up, we could see the blue sky through the skylight in our bedroom. It was going to be a nice day! In this bright sunshine and under the clear sky, we took in the beautiful view of the pine ridges on the Hastings Grade to Pescadero, the […]

It all started on MTBR. I strongly urge you to read the original thread, because you can find a lot of good information and fun conversation there. As far as I’m concerned, that thread shows following (so you REALLY should read it IMAO): 1. a video I made to document the makeover we did to […]

It was our last day of riding, and it was Christmas. So, the ride had to be special. What could be more special than an epic ride. We wanted to check out this Kentucky Camp (near Patagonia, AZ) ride, aka IMBA Epic Long Ride. Despite our best intention, we didn’t get started riding until almost […]

I wanted to go rock climbing at Mt Lemmon. After all, we transported all that climbing gear with us and would not want them to turn out to be some 50 lb dead weight. Tom wanted to ride down Bug Springs, Malino Basin, to Milagrosa (then home), so we dropped him off at the higher […]

From what we heard, Sweetwater is a new development and it has gained popularity very fast. I think some enthusiasm I sensed from online reading has spurred my interest. It seems to be a network of trails packed in a relatively small area. However, unlike Fantasy Island, this place offers some jagged and sharp rocks […]

Everybody said 50 Year Trail was a must ride. Somebody had the same feeling about Fantasy Island. But Tom was not interested in either. He had ridden both many years ago. Since today was his rest day, today I would be free to do any ride I wanted. Erik and I were lucky to hook […]

We brought our road bikes just for this ride. We started from our rental house, which made me very happy. After pedaling for about 10 miles, we reached the bottom of the mountain. The climb was the longest – 25 miles – I had done, and for a while it did not seem that it […]

Tom had done some research and found this trail in Cosmic Ray’s Arizona Mountain Bike Trail Guide: Fat Tire Tales & Trails. It turned out to be a very good introduction to desert riding. We did both the north side (3.5 miles to the creek) and the south side (8.4 to Three Bridges).  The trails […]

Charlie sent an email to a list (not that long really) of people saying that he would be riding at Henry Coe on Saturday and he had expected one or two to show up. Who would have thought more than a dozen people came out on a freezing cold day to ride at Henry Coe! […]

Three Candies? I’m referring to the three climbs: Lyman Willson, Anza-Jackson, and Serpentine. I envisioned the elevation profile will show three distinct peaks, but it does not. Oh well, those were the three interesting climbs on the ride; hence, three candies. It was a beautiful day. (Of course, we are in California!) While dropping down […]

I felt antsy to get back on my mountain bike, but it rained yesterday. Not too hard, but I decided to give the trails another day to dry out, so I took on my friend Alison’s invitation to a hike at Big Basin. It’s been so long since I did a serious hike last time […]

I took today off, but wasted the morning doing nothing at home. I needed to go to Pescadero to pick up an Olallieberry pie. Well, it’s not too far from Wilder, was it? I call it an exploratory ride, but I set out to ride the trails that I had not ridden before. I also […]

Highlights (aka bragging points): Team Mud ‘n Crud had lunch at Ed’s Mudville Grill in Clayton, our turning around point on our out and back ride. Yummy! This was my second century ride ever after Death Ride. It was my first time riding up Mt Diablo. It was also my second time riding up Mt. […]

SAG, acronym for Support and Gear in cycling. It was Derek’s idea to do this road ride. It’s goes from Pleasanton Reginal Park through Pleasanton, climbs to the top of Mt. Diablo via the South Gate, drops down through the North Gate, traverses east, climbs up Morgan Territory (9 miles of gradual climbing), drops down […]

When I cannot ride, I read about other people’s rides. I had heard of Furnace Creek 508 from our ultra distance cycling friend Mike. Following is a description of this race on their office website: Founded by John Marino in 1983 and known as “The Toughest 48 hours in Sport,” it is the world’s premier […]

The official MTBR Henry Coe Fall Circus happened on Saturday. But we could only do Sunday, so we did our Post-Fall Circus Henry Coe B Ride (as opposed to the Pre-Fall Circus Henry Coe B Ride I did with Derek and Charlie last week). To recap from my previous blog post, here is Charlie’s route […]

Oh, another weekend when Erik had to work (cliche by now). Not sure if we could join the MTBR Henry Coe Fall Circus ride next weekend, I got curious to check out their B ride. And Derek wanted to ride too. Great! When we were in the parking lot, Charlie and Roy pulled in and […]

I had always wanted to help out at Low Key Hillclimb Series and finally my chance arrived — on Week 3 in the 2009 series for Tunitas Creek climb. When I drove over, the sky was still a bit gray, but when the riders arrived at the Bike Hut on Tunitas where registrations took place, […]

Note: I wrote this while watching a movie, so I was mainly rambling here. I found it so hard to read that I couldn’t even go over it once to proof-read. I rode Old La Honda with other Low Key climbers. My personal best on it so far (before today) is 21:50. That was on […]

And my husband is in love too. Only that I with a Santa Cruz Blur LTc, and he with a Santa Cruz Tallboy. Ever since April, I’ve been on a quest for my next bike — a new bike, that is.  A small problem I have is there are so many good bikes out there. […]

Kids, do you know what happens if you play hooky and go ride your bike? Your pedal falls off. Like this: And then, you have to ride home like this: But I know, it’s just too hard to resist when you suddenly receive an email inviting you to go ride your mountain bike at Henry […]

What happens when the SO cannot go out and play? Well, Jeanne and I rode at Skeggs on Saturday, and Wilder+UCSC on Sunday — we had fun!  I concluded the weekend with a spin up Kennedy Trail (near Los Gatos) on my drive to a dinner party. It was supposed to be a very hot […]

Erik, Derek, and I were actually the few that signed up early (before September 10) for the Henry Coe Mountain Biking Challenge. And we showed up this morning geared up and ready to go. After the race announcement, the racers left for the gate at the end of Gilroy Hot Springs Road, the official start […]

My first time riding there. We took Monday off. We stayed with Jeanne, Iztok, and Tim in a condo in S. Lake Tahoe for Saturday and Sunday nights. Hanging out was fun except that Erik’s work place had an IT melt down before his trip, so he worked before and after riding every day — […]

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 […]

This ride was initiated on MTBR, plenty of stories and pictures there. Christine took this picture of mine on the ride: Here is my ride track:

Another short post just because I’m so behind. Started out in China Camp. Derek and his co-worker Cherie joined us. We did a smaller loop than I had planned for because we ran out of time while there were people waiting to meet us for Camp Tamarancho in Fairfax.Erik and Derek did play a bit […]

I give up. I’ve meant to write up a blog about the clinic after editing the video, but it took me forever to get to the video editing, and I still cannot find time to write a long post about it. So, I’ll be brief. I found out about the clinic from an MTBR thread. […]

Mr. Mud wanted the first trip for his new ride to be special, and what could be more special than taking her to his favorite place on earth, the Pinnacles? It was a smooth ride indeed, and Mr. Mud thoroughly enjoyed the USB port that even my CR-V does not have. (I’m envious.) After his […]

When we arrive at the Hunting Hollow Parking Lot, there are only two vehicles. The big lot looks very deserted. I wonder if we have missed any important announcements such as the park has be closed to public. Oh well, we drop four dollars into the collection box nonetheless and roll off to Hunting Hollow […]

No, I was not that crazy, but Erik was! We parked at Gate PC05 of the Purisima Creek Open Space (i.e. on the Half Moon Bay side).  It was a gradual but continuous hill climb towards El Corte De Madera. Erik found out that his rear brake was gone because the pin that held the […]

Just a short report on my participation in the 2009 Santa Cruz Mountains Challenge. There were a few reasons I signed up for the ride: Erik would be on call, so I had to “play by myself” (as in typical Ch-English), Erik had done this ride and even had a T-shirt to show for it, […]

We wanted to make the most out of this trip. So, after yesterday’s Death Ride, we rode the Lake Alpine Loop near Bear Valley on our way back. Here are some pictures. Bryn sent me this one. Overall, I felt decent considering I just did my longest ride the day before, but there were times […]

The short here-are-the-stats version: It was 40 days ago, I found out, OMG, I Would Be Riding the Death Ride in 40 Days and I had not done a ride longer than 70! During the five weeks leading up to DR, I did four training rides (I’m a weekend worrier) all in the Bay Area […]

This beautiful bird was just sitting on a fence on Stage Road. Wish I had brought my camera, but I only had my phone. Bet you don’t see that everyday. Did the ride with Bryn, a friend at work. Later Jeanne and her brother Alan joined us from Woodside.  It was a beautiful day for […]

When we left La Honda at 8:20am, it was already at a very pleasant temperature. I knew then that it would be a hot day ahead of us. West bound on Hwy 84 towards the ocean, we started our ride for the day. Half way down, three riders (one man and two women) passed us […]

In two months, we’ll probably be on our way up to Whistler again, and this time, I want to be better prepared. I must have thought to myself out loud because Erik started building these structures in our backyard and put them together on my birthday. They are all fun little challenges, some harder than […]

With one Cliff bar and two bottles of Gatorade, I dragged myself and my bike out of the house at 1:30pm (yeah, another lazy morning). 7+ hours later, I dragged myself and my bike back in the house. The sun just set. Erik had driven out to look for me. Oops. There, that’s my little […]

MTBR thread It was one year ago that I attended the IMBA monthly Henry Coe trail work the first time. I wanted to do it every month, but life got in the way and I only managed one other time. However, I had decided nothing should stop me from attending this one since it would […]

Quite often, I prefer riding by ourselves. It’s not that I’m anti-social. I just like the flexbility of not having to plan ahead. Plus, who would have approved of a start time as late as 10:40am? This morning, we slept in, had a relaxed breakfast, got my rear tire changed (first time in 2 years), […]

A fellow road diva, Cara, cannot make it, so she very kindly offered her spot on our mailing list. Erik and I were on our way home from our mountain biking ride at Annadel. When I read the email on my iPhone, I jokingly said to Erik, “maybe I’ll ride the Death Ride this year,” […]

First time for both Erik and me. We met up with Derek, Jeff, and Gil around 10am and set out for a fun ride. It’s indeed fun. Enough challenge (being rocky) to keep it interesting and yet, not too much to make it too taxing on the body and mind. We also scattered our laughs […]

We had a late start after sending off the little tweety bird to the rescue center, but we weren’t going to let it deter us from riding Coe, especially on such a nice day. While gray, foggy, and miserable at home (on the ocean side of Skyline Ridge), it was at perfect temp in the […]

This is Erik’s trip report on the forum: Went to the Pins today.  Fantastic weather, warm in the sun with a cool but not cold breeze.  The breeze was not strong enough or cold enough for it to be chilly while in the shade.  Still a few wild flowers out. Wet Kiss, Big Pucker TR […]

I went to the La Honda Creek Open Space Master Plan public hearing held in Half Moon Bay. The public access (user conflict) issue has always been a sensitive subject in meetings like this one. From what I heard, it had been the norm that mountain bikers were portrayed as the ugly monsters out on […]

I had known about ROMP’s monthly group rides at Skeggs for a while and this was my first time attending one after seeing Josh’s reminder on MTBR. We started with five of us, but we lost Hank shortly into the ride after he over-shot the turn off to Blueblossom. Later when we saw him back […]

BOOB — Bohlman/On Orbit/Bohlman Erik and his buddy Derek wanted to do this ride after work on Friday. I wasn’t going to miss out the fun, um, I mean, the pain. The traffic was surprisingly light when I drove down to Saratoga. I was glad that Derek showed up late because I needed the time […]

Update: After the searches described below, check out what I bought in the end. My List: Ibis Mojo Specialized Safire FSR Expert Carbon Yeti 575 Santa Cruz Blur LTc (current favorite) Pivot Mach 5 Turner 5.Spot DW (have not tried) Trek Fuel Ex 9.8 (have not tried) Titus Moto lite Giant ’10 Trance X Full […]

My friend Jeanne and I are both in the market for a new mountain bike with around 5″ of travel. We spent Saturday trying out various bikes at Santa Teresa County Park where Trail Head Cyclery is holding a demo weekend. The two husbands were there too. I couldn’t have asked for a better place […]

It all started from this MTBR thread: The Belmont Half Mountain Adventure, started by Krishna (kpd) in the beginning of April.  Adventure? I think Krishna is too mellow to call it, but it’s in its essence a race (or at least a challenge), only based on honor system. That is, people do the challenge on […]

It was exactly a year ago that I went to ride a Sea Otter Classic course with the dirt divas. (See Mudworm Went Riding with Eight Dirt Divas. Hot!) I did it again today. I hooked up with Cindy, Michelle, and Lesley. Unlike last year’s ride, we all did the course for the sport class […]

April 4 – Rockpile Rendezvous at Pinnacles National Monument A beautiful day. Jim, his brother Bill, Mud, and I carpooled over and arrived early (~8:10am). Saw Bruce and Clint at Moses Sprint parking lot setting up their display before they were headed to Discovery Wall for some rebolting. We spent the day at Discovery Wall […]

It’s funny how after an exciting event, the memories keep popping up randomly, for example, before you go to sleep, when you wake up, and when you are driving. That’s what’s happening to me these days. The bits and pieces during Boggs IV kept flashing back, which prompted me to write them down before they […]

I do not want to accept it, but I know when people look at the results in the future, that’s what they would think of me (or rather, that name printed on the result sheet because they don’t really know me in person). I can’t change the fact that I not only won the Beginner […]

Crosspost from MTBR: =================== Remember this Henry Coe ride a bunch of people did last year? (I wasn’t there because back then, I had never heard of Henry Coe yet. Oh, what had I missed out?!) Well, it happened again this year, but only quietly. Why? Some time constraint was in place and the group […]

We went up to Napa Valley for a mountain biking action packed weekend.  The weather was perfect on Saturday. It drizzled on Sunday, but as people say, when it rains, ride at Boggs and Angwin; that's exactly what we did and the trails were just fine. I did not take many pictures on the rides […]

Like this muddy… It’s Erik’s birthday again. I think the last time it happened was a year ago, but I’m not sure. Ever since two years ago I surprised him with a trip to Hawaii (he did not even know we were flying until I dug out the suit cases buried under camping gear when […]

Figure 9 is my favorite rappel knot because I believe it offers following advantages: low profile (maybe arguable depending on what you compare it with) quick to tie, stands flat when pulled over a rock, easy to untie when loaded, works well with ropes of different diameters. Some of these traits are shared by other […]

I did it last year, so I must do it this year. (Pretty logical, eh?) I expected improvement over last year just because I did train for a few weeks for this ride; however, I did not expect to beat my PR (30:44 set about two months ago) on this race. For one, the weather […]

Long Title: A ride in the beautiful wine country on a sunny winter day that covers a section of Terrible Two bicycling race on Superbowl Sunday. (Whew, that was a mouthful.) Since we were already in the wine country for our friend’s birthday, we decided to do a bike ride in the area. Erik wanted […]

The twisted story was posted to the forum. The real story is, Jenny, knowing that her husband would prefer climbing with friends over a romantic getaway for his birthday weekend, invited Erik and me as part of the surprise. While researching on climbing at St Helena, I contacted Jerry for the most up-to-date topo and […]

Erik’s post: ==================== Mudworm and I were given an excellent tour of one of the tougher Bay Area loops today.  The ride ended up being about 40 miles and 5,550 Hundred feet of vertical according to my GPS. A local racer gave us a tour.  He seemed to have an encyclopedic knowledge of local roads.  […]

Our spin class instructor Peggy has been trying to hook her husband Jim up with us, who I think is a Cat 2 rider. She emailed us saying that Jim wanted to ride Bohlman and Black with us on Sunday afternoon. However, after we replied, we have not heard back. I just did an epic […]

This is my trip reported posted to MTBR. I still could not commit last night. Erik had an orthodontist appointment this morning. I felt that I should wait for him and do something locally together in the afternoon, but Charlie just made the Coe ride sound too enticing. Right before we went to bed, Erik […]

Erik and his friends are on a roll. They went out to do rebolting on route Lava Falls yesterday, and the same four guys decided to go back the next day to rebolt Shake and Bake.  Poor Erik, he got up at 4:20am on both mornings. I on the other hand just decided to be […]

Today was another ROMP’s trailwork day at Coe (MTBR thread). Erik had made plans though to do some rebolting of a rock climbing route at Pinnacles (the equivalent of trailwork to mountain biking). Guess we would be paying dues to two park goddesses on the same day. Sweet! Usually, in order to get to Hunting […]

We went for a small ride today out of the house. I felt good on W Alpine, but I did not beat my time at Low Key. I also did not break my PR on OLH. On the other hand, Erik got a new PR on OLH: 22 min 51 sec. Good job! Mainly, I […]

So, due to our scheduling mistakes, we moved our potluck with Sean and Steve’s families to the first day of 2009.  Because it would be at Sean’s place in Santa Cruz, we decided to go for a ride before the party. Sean had been riding there for years, so he made a perfect guide. It […]

Actually it all started on my Skeggs ride. While waiting around for everyone to get ready, Charlie threw an unexpected question at me, “What did you get Erik for Christmas?” Huh? It was only 8:30 on a late December morning and I started sweating. To describe how I felt at the moment, I would use […]

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 […]

It started out as a challenge after a “failed” attempt the weekend before (see the story below).  The goal is to ride 10k at Henry Coe, in one day, where 10k refers to the total vertical feet of climbing.  We first heard of this notion on MTBR, and for whatever reason, it had an immediate […]

Erik was itching to go to Pinnacles. Pinns is great, but the type of climbing that Erik had in mind did not appeal to me much — he wanted to go new routing, which meant standing in one position hand drilling for hours. So, when his buddy Gilbert text messaged him about going to Pinns, […]

Three rides down. That should have made me a regular by now. For that reason, the series deserves a separate post on its own. Also, I met people on these rides and I’d like to make a note here so it will help me remember. I will be updating this post after every week’s ride. […]

It’s 5 o’clock this morning. I am waken up by Erik’s coughs. Poor guy, he has been sick for a few days. He has looked forward to this Sunday to go climbing at Pinnacles.  It does not look like it’s going to happen. I pat him gently and fall back to sleep. When I wake […]

We did not plan to duplicate last weekend, but it just happened this way. Saturday: Low Key Hill Climbs, Quimby Road We were planning to go climbing at Pinnacles today, but last night, we found out that our mountain bikes were not ready for tomorrow’s Coe ride that we had committed ourselves to. Since we […]

One is on Saturday; the other on Sunday. One is road riding; the other mountain biking. They deserve two separate reports, but I don’t feel like writing. Here is a quick run down. Saturday:Low Key Hill Climbs, W. Apline We barely got up early enough to make the Low Key Hill Climbs event although today’s […]

For the longest time, I thought my climbing technique sucked. For example, there were a few spots in Water Dog that Bryn, my lunch break riding partner, and I had named as our nemeses. And there were two that I had never been able to conquer: one of the Three Sisters and one at the […]

Day 1: La Honda, CA to Roseburg, OR Day 2: MTB North Umpqua Trail: Tioga and Mott segments out and back Day 3: MTB North Umpqua Trail: Panther and Calf segments out and back Day 4: MTB McKenzie River Trail out and back Day 5: Eugene, OR to McKenna, WA Day 6: McKenna, WA to […]

(Skip the trip report and jump to Beta Section) On the Saturday morning of this Labor Day weekend, we drove out of the bay area and headed straight to the Rostrum. Recently, our friend had tried to remind us that there were other climbs in Yosemite. It’s not that we had forgotten that; rather, the […]

We are thinking about doing a road trip up to British Columbia mid September with climbing at Squamish and mountain biking at Whistler.  Following are just a few links I found about climbing at Squamish . I’m collecting them here so I do not repeat the effort later.  http://www.tradgirl.com/areas/nonus/canada/fernbeta.shtml http://www.matthewbuckle.net/climb/beta/squamish/squamish.php http://www.geocities.com/climbingbc/multipitch.htm http://www.squamishclimbing.com/ http://www.squamishclimbing.com/traffic-weather-charts.php http://www.squamishclimbing.com/squamish_climbing_bb/viewforum.php?f=1 http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=656204 […]

The season is ending soon (we’ll be gone for two weeks), so I decided to write a report before it’s too late. I’ve gotten so much (friendship, practice, lessons) from these rides that it’s past due for me to show my appreciation in writing. It was 89 degrees outside when I drove to the shop […]

Christine and Erin led a ride at Tamarancho in Marin. There were thirteen of us total who showed up.  The ride is pretty much a loop, and we went the “easier” way.  Still, there are quite a few sections, either due to roots, pointy rocks, or rounded rocks, that are challenging to most of us. […]

This was an announcement from PTB newsletter. ============ What: Women’s ride at Water Dog Lake Park in Belmont followed by dinner & drinks at Passion Trails Bicycles Where: Passion Trails Bicycles, 415-C Old County Road, Belmont. When: Roll out at 6 pm Friday, August 22 The Friday Female Fiesta offers multiple routes for multiple skill […]

I had to take a pause and put my cup down on the 50-foot walk from the break room to my desk this morning because my fingers could not bear the burning pain from carrying that cup of warm water. Every finger tip is glowing red with unusual fullness. In a day or two, they […]

We climbed five pitches on the Rostrum and six pitches on Kor-Beck; hence, incomplete (as the title suggested). Maybe we are getting old because getting an early start seems to get harder and harder. When we arrived at the top of the Rostrum at 8am, I thought for sure I would see a line of […]

Following are a few hill climbs that I, or Erik, have personally ridden and have data for. I use a Garmin Edge 305. For distance and elevation measurement, the accuracy depends on the GPS system, the terrane (tree coverage), and the weather (cloud coverage). So, for the exact same hill climb, sometimes the data vary. […]

Following is my post to MTBR. Last year, I posted A (very) slow rider’s Downieville XC report here. In response to the generous encouragement I received, I promised I would come back. A promise is a promise is a promise. I did. So here I am again to report back. This paragraph is for the […]

I confess: I’ve been lazy. Not so lazy that I haven’t been riding Arastradero, but too lazy to write about it. After a few weeks away, Mei rode with us tonight. In her gentle way she gave me a small dose of guilt: “Has the group been riding? I haven’t seen any ride reports.” Yep, […]

On Saturday, we slept in as what most people did on the day after July 4th and did not pull into Hunting Hollow parking lot until almost 11. The sun was already cooking the ground by then. Perfect for heat training at Coe. Two riders returned from their ride of the day while we were […]

The weekend didn’t start out well. When we were about to board our shuttle on Saturday to Packer Saddle for a downhill run, I realized that I forgot my riding shorts at home. I had to spend $50+ on a pair of most uncomfortable MTB shorts (Mens’ Small was the closest I could find and […]

Friday: We took a three o’clock shuttle to Packer Saddle and did a DH run: Sunrise, Butcher Ranch, 2nd Divide. Sunrise is a very flowy single track. There is almost no obstacles. Butcher Ranch has some technical sections. You can see in this youtube video how the rock garden topples many racers. After that, don’t […]

When Erik and I topped out on the Downieville Classic Cross Country (XC) course at Packer Saddle on our third day of riding, it was a very pleasant surprise to see and chat with a couple of divas, DH Jill and Heather. Four divas were still on the climb and they were going to wait, […]

[Note: This was my post on MTBR, where I learned about this event.] 8AM at Coe HQ? That’s just too early! But Erik said since we had so much fun on our last ride (note: my only Coe ride), we should give something back. That makes sense. It was an impressive turnout — nine volunteers […]

[Note: Below was my ride report sent to the dirt divas.] All I did was I asked, “So, Janet, you are not riding, but you are still writing the ride report, right?” “No, but Mei, you are writing it.” *kicking myself* Why did I ask? Okay, here is my assignment. Who: By first name initials, […]

One nice thing about riding close to home is when we found out that Erik forgot his camelpak at home, he could drive home to fetch it while I rode around the parking lot doing my drills. It was meant to be a short ride on the last day of our long weekend, so we […]

It’s a long awaited three-day weekend, so normally we would have taken the opportunity to go somewhere that we otherwise couldn’t get to on a regular weekend. However, the weather in the Sierra looks crappy, the traffic in and out of the Bay Area sounds daunting, plus the gas price is rediculous, so a ride […]

It was two months ago, I made my first ride to Water Dog and immediately fell in love with that little city park. I went back twice during lunch breaks by myself, but I felt a little lonely. Plus, both times I saw an old man, once with a big stick in his hands, on […]

Erik and I had been away from real climbing at Yosemite for so long (two years?) and were itching to get back on some multi-pitch climbs. We were having a hard time picking one though because his favorite, the Rostrum, was still closed in order to provide privacy to a few big birds making babies, […]

I’m taking a Written Communication Skills class for ESL Speakers at work. The first feedback my instructor gave me on my assignments was “wordy.” Knowing my problem doesn’t necessarily mean I know how to fix it. But it enables me to warn you — this is going to be a long trip report. In an […]

Not having time to pack on Friday before work, so we decided to leave on Saturday morning. It’s been a while since we visited Yosemite last time, and I had forgotten how long of a drive it was. We didn’t arrive at Ron and Liz’s Yosemite Blue Butterfly Inn until past ten. It was a […]

I’ve already posted my ride report yesterday. Today I made sure I had my camera in hand all the time. Here is our group at Denny’s for breakfast on Sunday morning. Ryan whom Jeff and I rode with went home last night. Erik came down at 1:30 in the morning after work and went back […]

I patted myself on the back — I did it, the Sea Otter Mountain Biking Recreational Ride (aka MTB tour). I have to confess though my motive in signing up for the ride was not pure. :blush: Erik had ridden at Sea Otter a few times. Last year when he quit riding there (not interested […]

I know there is a reason why people say it’s important to build a relationship with the LBS (Local Bike Shop). My LBS is Passion Trail Bikes. I met Jill at PTB and heard about this underground group of female mountain bikers — the Dirt Divas. (Oops, did I say underground?) As soon as I […]

Because we returned home very late from yesterday’s ride, we had a late start to the Pinns this morning. Having had to stop at Mud’s work did not help either. It was a short day for us at the Pinns because we wanted to get home at a reasonable hour to get important stuff done […]

Once at Purisima and once at Skeggs (aka El Corte De Madera) on the same day.Our mountain bike ride started in the afternoon from Skeggs Point parking lot. After turning off Skyline, we took the Purisima Creek Trail down, a sweet fire road, to the bottom. After that, we were initially planning to climb out […]

The day started out dicey — cloudy, gusty, with occasional drizzles. In the afternoon, there was more sun and it warmed up a little. Finally, the day ended being spectacular.F4, Mud, and I were joined by the Landshark family at Discovery Wall. In the morning, we were almost ready to call it a day after […]

Today, a jogging partner suddenly said to me in the middle of a run, “You breathe in a 3-3 pattern eh?” He is an avid runner and a fast one too. He usually does a 2-2 pattern. That question prompted me to look into breathing patterns in running. A quick search turned up following references. […]

It is a beautiful day. I can’t believe that we almost decided to stay home this morning when we woke up an hour after our alarm went off. It felt so comfortable to just lie in bed and maybe even go back to sleep for a little longer. But since we told Uncle Stinky on […]

Yesterday, I signed up for the Mountain Bike Recreational Ride (aka tour) at Sea Otter Classic 2008. From what I heard, Sea Otter is a big event in bicycling. Last year, we went to the Expo the last day. Along with all the vendor booths, there were some competitions such as free riding and BMX’ing […]

[Note: this TR was first posted to the forum.] I’d heard so much about Mount Hamilton, so I got really excited when Delbomber and Mud made a plan to ride it this Sunday. However, this morning when I got up at 5:30am, the excitement was replaced by anxiety. 39mph gust (at 6:18am) on Mount Hamilton? […]

[Note: This TR was first posted to the forum.] JT is a friend of mine whom I met at Lynn Hill Climbing Camp three years ago. Ever since then, we have kept in touch. He became a close friend of Lynn. Over the past couple of decades, he has climbed all over the place such […]

[Note: This was first posted to the forum.] It was a lucky day for us because we found parking at the East side Visitor Center even though it was past 11am when we arrived there. We went straight to the Monolith. Mud led Cantalope Death (CD) and ran another lap on it before he got […]

[Note: This report is first posted to the forum. ] The ride is actually called The Webcor San Jose King-of-the-Mountain Ride. It starts from San Jose City Hall, but only the climb on Sierra Road is timed (using timing chips the riders wear on their left ankles). Here is the Grade & Elevation chart of […]

This TR was first posted to the forum. We didn’t think that we would make the ride — we slept in too late in the morning and we are expecting guests in the afternoon. Oh, too bad, I guess we’ll just have to relax at home then. At noon Catherine called and said that the […]

This TR was first posted to the forum. We were the first car there and last car to leave. But that’s not because we spent the whole day climbing. However, we were not slacking either. No wet kiss is allowed on Wet Kiss. Mike A now-whats on Cantalope Death. Mud now-whats on Yo Mama Step […]

First, my brief report posted to the forum: Not the best weather (rained and strong wind by the ocean), but it could have been worse. Course Map (not to scale). The run mostly goes through SF Golden Gate Park Butt shot not just happens when climbing. It took the entire time when I ran towards […]

Climb at Pins on Saturday and ride Hamilton on Sunday. That’s what would have happened if it had not turned out to be another rainy weekend. Instead, Strom went to work on Saturday, and I sank into our couch whole day and worked on my website. To balance it out, I designed a full day […]

[Note: This trip report was first posted to the Pinnacles Forum.] F4, Squiddo, Strom, Debby and I piled into F4’s car and we arrived at the upper parking lot on the west side around 8:15am. Wow, we were the first car there! A few minutes later, Mike A. showed up. F4 and I had only […]

[Note: This report was first posted to the Biking Forum.] When I can’t climb vertically on the rock… It was perfect day for riding. The loop goes for about 67 miles and 8000 feet. Next time, we’ll try to start earlier and throw in Old La Honda.

My friend Casey went to climbing in China this summer. While there, she sent out two emails describing her experiences. With her permission, I posted her emails to our forum. If you click on that link, you’ll see some pictures of the climbing area she visited. Part One: so after a long flight and even […]

[Note: I wrote this report after the race. I posted it both on MTBR and our Biking Forum.] I can see the finish now. A few hard pedals, I’m there! I probably have let out a scream or two in excitement. The support staff tears off the bottom portion of my bib. It is a […]

[Note: This is my trip report posted on the forum.] Another fun day! Strom and I camped near Bear Valley and met up with Delbomber, Nick, YETITIME, and my friend Melissa (I climbed with her three years ago). Uncle Stinky swang by and said hi. (Uncle Stinky, we met this really nice lady coming down […]

[Note: We hooked up with Uncle Stinky and he gave us a MTB tour of Bear Valley. I posted this TR on the forum.] An awesome tour indeed. Uncle Stinky (Jeff S.) is great! To us, he is a god-send. The MTB guidebook in the sports shop is sold out. The trails in the area […]

Erik was acting weird. He took out his camera and snapped a few shots of the highway, the cup holders in the car, and the dashboard etc. (see  photo gallery). When I started wondering about his sanity, he let out a statement that made me almost drive into the central divide: “Today is the most […]

Tim, Dave, and I had been talking about going climbing at Owens River Gorge and had even made plans, but well, plans can fail, and they did. This weekend, I had planned to climb with Debby in Yosemite Valley. But on Thursday, Tim and Dave informed us we were going to Bishop. There went OUR […]

All I know is this place is somewhere in Northen California. I was blindfolded, spun several times, and led through bushes and trees. When my eyes are finally uncovered, I am standing below a straight crack in a beautiful corner. The rock is granite that is familiar to me. The climb is almost 100 feet […]

Yes, I did it again, and better 🙂 Remember how excited I was when I did it last time? after two unsuccessful attempts, finally I managed to get up Generator Crack. However, I had to start off the tree because I couldn’t figure out how to get up the first five feet or so. But […]

Updated in 2017: For more elaborate beta, check out my new post (12 years later): What I know about Astroman… unsolicited beta Actually Astroman is perfect the way it is — it doesn’t need improvement. But we do, and we did improve. Erik and I got back on the climb again this Saturday. We both did […]

Updated in 2017: For more elaborate beta, check out my new post (12 years later): What I know about Astroman… unsolicited beta How many hard 5.11s can one handle in a weekend? Let me make it clear: That was Erik’s idea; I had nothing to do with it. I was too normal to come up with […]

Oh, my gosh! I was on the brink of freaking out. Well, maybe not that bad, but I did toss and turn for more than two hours on Wednesday night worrying about this trip. East Buttress of El Cap is a long route. The crux move on the route is rated 5.10b, my limit in […]

Lucky Weekend by Debby My good friend Mei and I decided to go climbing together for the weekend. As was typical, we agreed on the weekend, but didn’t bother to finalize any details about location, time, or anything else. Thursday night, we decided that we should go up late on Saturday (so we could have […]

It normally takes me two hours to pack neatly for a weekend’s trip. If I simply pile everything in the trunk without evaluating what’s really needed for the trip and what should go into which bag, it can take as little as half an hour to finish. Of course, I might end up carrying stuff […]

It is not looking promising. I need a climbing partner for this weekend, but I’ve been crossing out one name after another on my list. Erik will be on a wall, Bill wants to leave on Thursday, Debby needs to pack for Burning Man, Nate is leaving for Beijing, Hamid found a partner while I […]

Erik had to work this Saturday, so we made an extended day trip to Yosemite — drove out of the bay area on Saturday evening and returned on Sunday night. The trip was short but the route was long — we climbed a 15-pitch route: Chouinard-Herbert on Sentinel Rock. I posted following report to Supertopo. […]

      Yes, I did it! I had tried to toprope Generator Crack twice starting off the tree. Despite the best effort I could give at the time, I probably made three feet of progress the first time and five feet the second time before being shutdown by the crack. But today, Aug 13 […]

On Saturday morning, when my climbing partner Allen and I headed out for the The Third Pillar of Dana, I was aiming for speed. But the plan was soon doomed when Allen decided to “just relax a bit and enjoy” when we arrived at the plateau. I thought it was not smart to offend a […]

I was still recovering from the trip to Wyoming and Colorado, so it was a nice change to get on a relaxing rafting trip. I was invited to this trip by my friend Stan. When I rode up with Roy, Phil, and Rich, we naturally formed a team to fill a four man raft. The […]

“I can’t find a hold anywhere.” What do you mean? There’s a hand stack right there! — Odub, Album Offwidth, thats me What has happened to this woman in front of me? She has the tan of the rich people on Miami beaches, but the scabs on her nose, cheek, and forehead are those of […]

It all started from a message on a climbers’ Internet forum, SuperTopo — this guy, going by username climberweenie, expressed interests in training for a physically demanding classic climb, Steck Salathe (SS), and was looking for a partner. I responded to him before I regretted. was I really going to climb with some total stranger […]

Man, that was the best climbing trip I’ve ever been on! When I think about this weekend’s trip to the Needles, I somehow have a cartoon of Hamid bubbling out those words with excitement. They are my words, but they sound best coming out of Hamid’s mouth — if you know him, you’ll know what […]

Debby informed me that it was my turn to write a trip report, so here I am, pulling my hair out. It suddenly feels hard. The trip was too uneventful. Don’t get me wrong. The trip was fun. In Alex’s word: “Great climbing, great company and awesome food! Can’t ask for more.” Debby and I […]

What make a climbing trip perfect? Compatible climbing partners Climbing abilities match (or not as you get to follow hard routes or do more leading) Personalities complement each other (or match) No need to turn on the radio in order to fill in the uncomfortable silence in the car When one did not get chance […]

It’s been a couple of weeks since the camp. This trip report is overdue. For the past few days, I have been feeling like someone in debt. Not that I owe anyone this TR, but the memories of the camp are so fond that I feel guilty if I do not put it down and […]

It was not an easy decision. Going to the week-long camp required taking time off from work, and five days is one third of my yearly vacation quota, but I really wanted to join the camp to spend some time with the legendary climber, whom I had admired since the very early stage of my […]

Can you have it all? I had committed to this trip more than a month ago. But as the date approached, the knot in my stomach grew bigger and bigger. It would be my first time taking a trip in a private plane. I had known Tim, the pilot as well as one of my […]

This Saturday, I went to Castle Rock with Hal, whom I met at Pinnacles last weekend. Not being able to raise Robert on the phone, we left Palo Alto around 10:30 AM. It was a late start by my standard, but Hal’s driving made up for it. Our first destination was Indian Rock, only 5 […]

After two nights of partying and hanging out with friends, I was ready to get out. Mike from the gym has one more seat in his van, so I happily hopped on. On Sunday, Mike, Kent, Charlie, and I left the bay area around 6:30 AM and found ourselves at the Discovery Wall at 9:00 […]

It’s been a while since last time I put up a trip report. I did climb, but only got too lazy to type. We went to Gold Wall a few times and Jailhouse once — all were short trips. Sometimes, we went to Gold Wall with friends and there was lots of chatting and socializing; […]

Next time if you wonder why Allen is ___ (you fill it the blank), just remember that he was born on Halloween and hopefully that would explain everything for you. A group of friends are coming out this Sunday to Grotto for climbing, for Holloween, for his birthday, and for partying. Since we have to […]

By Friday, my back was hurting so much that I planed to read my book at the campsite over the weekend while Allen climbs with other friends. It started with me rolling on two tennis balls on Tuesday. The exercise was recommended by a friend and was supposed to help loosen up those tight muscles […]

I spent Saturday afternoon at Lost World climbing with Slate and Erik. It was overcast and drizzled a little, so we ran laps on Peaceful Warrior (5.10d, thin crack) and Green Monster (5.12a, sport, I had to hang on this one) that are on an overhanging wall sheltered from the rain. I returned to Lost […]

I had been having a knot in my stomach for a few days – ever since Allen brought up we should go to Cookie Cliff this weekend. Cookie is famous for its hard crags, but am I up for it? Well, up for it or not, we spent two days — two afternoons since we […]

This is the theme of the gathering at Royal Robbin‘s Cabin on Pinecrest Lake. There is abundant wine brought by Lani and her hunsband from their winery. I don’t drink — I lack the enzyme for alcohal — but seeing people, their faces glowing, pouring all kinds of wine glass after glass, I wish I […]

It’s 4:40 AM on Saturday, Sept 4. We wake up to a cloudless and windless morning at Big Pine Campground. I guess it’s a GO then. Yesterday, the High Sierra was blanketed by threatening and discouraging low clouds. We decided to play it by ear — if the weather would get better next day, we […]

On Saturday morning, we arrived at Bunny Slopes at 11 am. Surprisingly, there was only one party on the right side, and we went left. Wild in the Streaks (5.7) was supposed to be easy, so I picked up the sharp end (i.e. I took the lead). Looking up, I couldn’t see a bolt until […]

No, I was not on this trip…it was just too hardcore for me. Allen and Steve attempted it and finished a good half of the traverse, but they ran out of time. From what I heard, the approach took 6 hours. The heavy packs they were carrying made moderate climbs at the high altitude feel […]

On Friday, I cheerfully announced to Allen, “Supertopo says the approach to West Ridge of Mt. Conness is very confusing, but don’t you worry, because I’ve received beta from four sources.” Intimidated by the warning given by Supertopo, I had asked Gary and Ed, whom I met on On the Lamb, for information because I […]

It turned out to be a perfect weekend. I do not use the word “perfect” casually, so there is no doubt that this weekend was perfect. It first started out with me driving all by myself on Friday evening after work for four hours from the Bay Area to Tuolumne Meadow Campground to meet Allen […]

Spiderman at Matthes Crest I have not been to Tuolumne Meadows (TM) this year, and I can sense the itch inside me. But knowing that TM is a popular tourist destination at this time of the year — the July 4th weekend — I am about to settle for somewhere else. However, on Friday night […]

It is the Memorial Day weekend, which means I have an extra day off, which means I can watch a movie on Friday night and still climb. Troy is the movie we watched and I almost cried my heart out over Hector’s death. Hmmm…I can be pretty silly sometimes. Expecting crowds every where especially in […]

Having Friday off, Bill, Janelle, and Allen headed to the Valley on Thursday night. On Friday, they enjoyed themselves at Pat and Jack’s Pinnacles where Allen found a diamond ring sitting on a tree branch. Later he posted a note at Camp 4 which reads: “Found Ring! Contact Smiegel at 510-xxx-xxxx for more information.” (Note: […]

The weather was too nice, so we had to get out of the house. How about Yosemite? Allen and I jumped on Serenity Crack. The first two pitches were a foot killer. The pin scars provided nice finger locks, but my feet were screaming at the crack. Imagine this: place your big toe, and big […]

It was the beginning of May and the weather in the Valley was wonderful. On this beautiful weekend, I climbed with Ricardo the East Buttress of Middle Cathedral and Super Slide. Unfortunately, only later did I find out that Super Slide was “off limits due to peregrine closure.” I was actually wondering why we didn’t […]

Day 0 (4/10/2004): Gathering at Flagstaff and Preparing for put-in at Lee’s Ferry Day 1 (4/11/2004): Mile 0 to Mile 8. Camp at Badger Creek Day 2 (4/12/2004): Mile 8 to Mile 20. Camp at North Canyon Day 3 (4/13/2004): Layover Day 4 (4/14/2004): Mile 20 to Mile 38. Camp at Martha’s Day 5 (4/15/2004): […]

So far the climbing I have been doing is called free climbing, where you only use your hands and feet to gain elevation while the rope and gear only serve as a safty backup just in case you fall. There is another category of climbing called aid climbing, where you would have to or choose […]

Jon, Allen and I check out Consumnes River Gorge on a nice day. We meet Dave at the crag. He is a very friendly guy. We take it easy for the whole day, but still I get plenty of climbing in. Mei leading Dinkum, a short 5.9 finger crack. She’s not as flexible as it […]

Sunday 11/23: driving out of Bay Area Monday 11/24: sport climbing at Dogg Wall Tuesday 11/25: Geronimo, 4 pitches, 5.8 Wednesday 11/26: Crimson Chrysalis, 9 pitches, 5.8 Thursday 11/27: short trad stuff at Straight Shooter Wall and Brass Wall Friday 11/28: Levitation 29, 7 pitches 5.11 Saturday 11/29: Driving back home Sunday 11/23: driving out […]

One night in the dark This is the first trip report I have ever written. Didn’t mean to make it so long, but the words just kept flowing out of my finger tips. Ricardo wrote a trip report on his 7 day solo ascent of Zodiac for his first big wall. 7 days, and his […]

Ahh… This weekend was perfect. By perfect, I mean it was really perfect. The weather in the valley was perfect — not cold nor hot. The climbs we did were awesome. And most importantly, we got chance to hang out together! On Saturday, Allen and Steve sent Astroman, one of the best and hardest multipitch […]

Does it look fun? Or does it look scary? Well, check out a local climbing gym and find out for yourself! Allen working on a hard boulder problem Mickey’s Beach is a nude beach — officially called “clothing optional beach.” Sunset is always beautiful.

I spent a steaming hot day with Steve, Florence at Reed’s Pinnacles and Generator Crack. Florence on Stove Grove at Reed’s Pinnacles Florence hugging a tree after struggling in Generator Crack Steve high on Lunatic Fringe at Reed’s Pinnacles Mei attentively belaying. Mei getting higher and higher on Stone Grove at Reed’s Pinnacles Mei trying […]

It is my birthday. So doing a climb that I’ve heard so much about and have always wanted to do sounds like a perfect idea for this special day! Snake Dike is an easy climb on the side of Half Dome (note: it’s not the same as the hikers’ cable route). The approach from the […]

Following are my old photo reports. These were from the early days of my website when I didn’t write much.  But they marked the beginning of my outdoor adventures. May 24-26, 2003 Climbing: Lover’s Leap Apr 5 and 6, 2003 Climbing: Gold Wall and the Grotto Feb 16, 2003 Snowshoeing: Badger Pass in Yosemite Jan […]