Mt Tam Ride w/ Daron, Chef Greg, Will, Lily, Nate, Natalie, and myself

More Pacifica Shots

Surfing in Santa Cruz/ Pacifica DH

Thursday (22nd?) we loaded up the van with 5 bikes (Lily and I had 2 each and Daron brought his new Enduro), a crashpad for bouldering, and a bunch of clothes/food/etc.  Then we tried to start it.  DOH!!  Took 10+ minutes of cranking it over to get it to roar to life.  We were just about to move everything over to Daron's truck and have the 3rd smooshed in the back of his pickup.  We cruised to Castle Rock, CA for a brief but fun boulder sesh.  I hit most of the moderates that Eric had showed me previously.  Lily walked a problem that got Daron to sweat a little bit!!  We packed back up and rolled on to Santa Cruz where we were going to try to SURF!!!  We rented wet suits and long boards~ 9' 6".  We cruised across the street and watched good sized waves breaking (point break vs beach break).  Funny enough....by the time we got paddled out there and all the waves had diminished and the locals were scattered about in the waves zone.  It had to have been a funny scene.....I could barely stay up on the board- sitting or lying on my stomach.  NOT even trying to ride a wave!!  Didn't get a wave on day one.  We went to the Seabright Brewery for dinner.  The next day we tried again, but this time went to "The Hook," which was a little more serious.  But that's OK since I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing.  We paddled out (not quite as far this time), and began to get pummeled by the sets of waves crashing in.  It was actually kind of fun, minus the one time I started to get drug by the rip curl out towards a rocky point where I watched the waves crashing into the rocks with a LOT of force.  I started paddling with a LOT more seriousness and was able to make it back around the corner to where I belonged.  Whew!!  I DID catch a wave- even if it was on my stomach!!  It was a rush nonetheless.  From there we headed to Pacifica, CA and rode some freeride bikes.  We climbed up from Higgins road (off Adobe and the 1).  It had a lot of nice views of the beaches and mountains.  When I thought we were 1/2 way up it was found out that we were on top.  The trails were very indistinguishable.  The Crack started off pretty techy with some jagged rock rolls with loose rocks thrown in for extra pleasure.  It was fast but rutted and loose.  The trail was one which begged you to go faster but might slam you without notice.  I pushed the front wheel into the ditch a couple of times at various rates of speed and fear.  We rode the Crack to the Mile to Boyscout.  There were some small-medium jumps down low and a set of bigger jumps followed by some flowy medium sized hips.  We sessioned them for a little while, then busted over to Chef Greg's house for a cookout.  He cooked tri-tips and roasted veggies.  I loved it but Dawg got food poisoning (?) and ended up puking all night- keeping Daron and Natalie up as well.  We got up and met Dirtbag Matt and a CREW of dudes at Pacifica for a second ride.  There were 17 of us in all.   Funny thing.....I was trying to link up w/ Matt (and ready to leave my group if needed to make it happen), but in reality Nika knew them all and everyone was laughing when we found out we were all waiting on each other.  We made the same climb up fire road for a while then made a strategic error and hike-a-biked up the gnarliest, steepest trail there called "911."  It required stemming and solid footwork while keeping your bike up in front of you.  Lily took a tumble DOWN the climb and did not look happy when we met back up.  The crew laughed when we emerged from the climb (we beat everyone up somehow?).  We kept on climbing up to "The Cave," the newest DH run out there.  We had a little safety meeting at the top (they brought Sparks (?!) and beer).  We began to shred the DH......ruts and rocks w/ steep fast sections and delicate berms to negotiate.  There were a few waterfall moves and it kept me smiling the whole time.  I got some good shots of the group on a couple berms, plus some ocean shots.  One of the gang took a gnarly digger right in front of me and I watched his bike turn perpendicular to the trail before ejecto-matic-ing him to the ground.  I feel bad now (because he chunked up his lip) but I passed him in the heat of the moment (kinda hard to stop).  We hit up this moderately techy 4x4 DH section that had some hilarious moments (Mick getting squirrely a number of times to the roars of the crowd only to pull it out then stuff it OTB right in front of the group at the bottom!!).  We climbed up again (3300' of climbing by this point on the big bike) to the Crack.  There were some more photo op moments as the top had a couple of distinguished crux sections- steep w/ rocks and ruts.  After raging the Crack, we hit up the Mile which had another good grunt to get on top.  Daron and Will were the only people crazy enough to climb it.  We rallied that to Boyscout and sessioned the jumps a bunch of times.  The last/newest jump was still really loose (not packed) and required an abrupt berm corner into a double.  I kinda cased it first go and had a hilarious (kinda) wreck second go (jumped out to the side once I knew I wasn't going to clear it.....the loose dirt stopped me and tossed me OTB.....only my legs got wrapped up in the frame as I attempted to eject.  I ended up on all fours.  Just as I was about to lift my head up to get up my bike did a tail whip on the front tire and clocked me in the back of the head HARD.  Good thing I had my big helmet on!!  We pulled a train all the way to the bottom through the couple remaining jumps/hips/berms to the cars.  Mitch's mom (SF Dirtlab) hosted a BBQ just a block away and had great food and drinks much to our delight!!  Thanks Mitch and possee!!  Back to Chef Greg's for another night of improv stand-up from the man of the house.  

Andersen Peak and Benson Hut Tour w/ Daron and Lily

Motocross Shoot

After hitting Lloyd's Trail we went over to the Prosser Pit for motocross.  Immediately upon walking up with my camera a rider came over to me and told me a couple of spots to shoot if I wanted to.  He gave me a ride to the far end of the track and I started shooting.  Here are a few of my favorites from the ~15 minute shoot......

Catch up

On Monday April 13th Matt Delheimer, Lily, and I went out and rode Lloyd's Trail outside of Truckee.  It's low enough that it has started to melt out.  There are a couple of jumps that I wanted to hit (the last time I hit them was over 5 yrs ago and I was on my Enduro.....and it was the biggest jump of my life).  We warmed up by hackey sacking and riding a LONG wall ride along the dam.  Matt needs to work on his wheelie drops (crunch).  We proceeded to pedal the Dirtbag's up to the jumps.  They were dilapidated!!  We spent an hour and change fixing them structurally and adding dirt to the lips.  They came out great and I hit each of them 3x.  We kept cruising to the top and rode the fun swoopy trails w/ logrides abound.  Lily stepped up her game and crushed almost every logride on the mountain.....even one Matt couldn't do!!  You go girl!!  

Wed April 15th- Epic backcountry XC w/ Daron, Nate Dog, Socko, and Lily in Downieville, CA.  Halls Ranch to Fiddle Creek to N. Yuba.  20+ miles of uber tech gnar.  TONS of exposure, steep techy rock climbs with lots of do-not-fall zones.  I was pretty gripped.  Worst part- I put in new cleats on my shoes, and the release point was WAY farther out than my last pair-sketchy!!  I tipped over a few times, luckily to the uphill side of the "trail."  I need to get a smaller camera or just lug my big SLR b/c I could have had some SICK pics!!  Halls ranch is a 2k' climb over 2 miles on trail.  It was relentless.  To make matters worse, a dirtbiker had roosted a ditch through each tight switchback.  I could feel my heartbeat in my head for most of the climb and I had to delineate gnats from my blood pressure peaking creating spotty vision- but no- they were gnats!!  We got some fun ridgetop singletrack that ended with a ripper 4 mile DH.  We then climbed up N Yuba which was intense to say the least!!  More exposure, then some gnar, then more exposure.  I prayed that Lily was walking her bike.  She was!!  We finished up with grub and beer at Trout Creek in Downieville.  What a day!!  XC epic in Downieville.......CHECK!!

RIP Uncle Tim

Lots has happened over the past few days......mostly good w/ a good dose of reality thrown in.  I found out that one of my closest uncles was very sick (on Easter of all things).  My dad and aunt had been trying to coax him into seeking treatment, but true to his character he had refused.  But now it seemed like things were more at a tipping point.  I was shocked seeing as this was the first I'd heard of any problem at all.  I talked to Stella first, then called over to aunt Ann's house where they were staying.  I talked to her briefly, then to my dad for a few minutes.  He then handed the phone to Tim.  We spoke for around a minute or two.  He sounded very raspy and short of breath.  I told him that I loved him and was pulling for him.  Our call ended with "Ok, I've got to go."  There was a rustle and then my dad again.  I was more in shock than anything.  I did not grasp the scope or magnitude of the actual situation.  I was in a daze driving back from Santa Cruz.  We had spent soooo much time together as I grew up in Berea.  His house (and grandma's) were right around the corner on Fowles Rd.  Our visits had to be in the thousands.  I can remember times of Russ, James, and I pulling all sorts of shennanigans with Tim just shaking his head, trying to keep us under control and the cops away.  Then there was the infamous Browns trying to get to the superbowl, playing the broncos.  Up and down game with us driving around in the old Lemans- to Pat and Margaret's.  Every time we'd leave, they'd go up.  So we kept driving around.  Lots of laughs and stories.  I have so many memories......snowmobiling, watching him dump the Goldwing coming out of the barn.  Roofing jobs- countless shingle humping hours and stress.  And him laying down shingles faster than I could feed him.  It's really a shame that Tim did not get out more in the past number of years.  He was an amazing chatter and could surprisingly talk about any current issue in the world with a good amount of information and down home analysis.  Or course over a ice cold beer.  The Burke's can definitely drink when they want to.  But honestly looking back I can't remember a time when he couldn't play hoops, softball, or ride a motorcycle after a whole day of tossing them back.  When he put in a nice half-court slab of concrete on the otherwise gravel and pothole driveway it spawned a whole new direction for the house.  The family would always stop by sporadically to say hi or party down a bit (usually both).  Games of hoops would always spring up.  And although Tim's drive left a little bit to be desired his jumper was deadly accurate.  He would shake the rim with his patented jumper.  We played BB a LOT.  He was also the uncle who would buy sweet toys (motorcycles mostly).  I remember the first time I really got to ride a MC was around the yard at Tim's on a road bike that he was watching.  Then there were the ride the lawn tractor through the woods like a dirtbike until Tim would trick me into helping him around the yard as trade for driving it.  This later progressed to a mini bike, then the 78' Kawasaki KL 250 and all the fun times that it lead to.  Then came the 2 strokes- my RM 100 and 125.  Ian rode there a lot as did the local kids- Eric and his brother.  He used to kick my ass all the time.  Passing me all over the place.  No matter how hard I tried!!  Before that Russ and I used to ride our BMX bikes from Lakewood to Berea just to drop in on Tim because we always had fun hanging out with him.  I commend him for taking care of Grandma all those years.  He single-handedly kept her out of the nursing home (along w/ the help of the whole family).  He also helped my dad for years on a wide array of construction jobs- the largest of which might be Dorthea's sheep farm.  My dad got the ball rolling and Tim joined the team to help a 90 yr old woman who lived alone on a farm with tons of sheep stay in her home and happy.  Even after a whole wing of the house burned down.  They spent countless hours and money out of their own pockets to make it happen.  Genuinely good souls!!  

Fast forward to Tuesday April 14th 2009.  Tim reluctantly agreed to seek medical attention and was admitted to the ICU.  He was found to have a football sized tumor in his chest that was collapsing his lungs, and shutting down liver and kidney function.  Super sad revelation.  I'm still in shock that he passed away on Thursday April 16th, 2009.  He was 52.  RIP Uncle Tim!!  I love you buddy!!

Pic Descriptions:

1.  Looking back up The Cross (Mt Tallac).  

2.  Looking back up the main gut of The Cross

3.  Lily milking the end of the gut (untouched!?!)

4.  Lily loving the gut

5.  Lily tip-toeing through the first crux (which I ripped out after her....whoops!!).....solid 50+ deg!!

We had horrible visibility the whole climb, then the mountain gods smiled and the sun came out just in time to rip the uber classic Cross......thanks mountain gods!!

Mt Tallac and Zakir Hussein!!

This past week was a mixed bag of fun.......rode at Peavine w/ Nate, Natalie, Daron, and Lily.  Nate forgot Natalie's shoes and drove an extra hour plus!!  DOH!!  The trails are fun but definitely a barren desert environment!!  We climbed "Bacon Strip" and descended the backside.  One problem..... torrential winds!!  It blew soooo hard that it would push you around at the worst times (charging a rock garden or catching some mini air).  On the brief road ride back it had to have been 50+ MPH winds (steady).  There was tumble weeds flying down the highway, and cinders pelted us non-stop.  Then there was the challenge of force production.......  We got a little surprise in the way of a mostly powder day (~4" of dust on crust).  We were planning on hiking the whole day but ended up charging a bunch of runs on the 58's (1000' fall line runs).  It got better as the day went on which is always cool.  The next day (Fri the 10th?) we decided on Mt Tallac since neither Lily nor I had done it, and it was likely to have pow after another 3-5" overnight.  We got up at 5:45 and were on the road at 7 (w/ a 5-10 min start the van side note....@%!*&!!).  We had an unexpected guest in the way of our newby-ish buddy Nate Dawg.  He's climbed Mt Rose twice.......  I guess Tallac is only 3x as big w/ more commitment?!!  We started out by hiking Rt 89 North to a gated road that led back into some cabins and dead-ended into the woods.  The visibility was low and you couldn't even see the top of the climb!!  I tossed on my ski crampons early and was glad.  We climbed the ridge with a few high-exposure firm snow kick turns that I was glad to have some crampons digging in on.  The climb took 2.5 hrs (full on grunting).  We got passed by Glen Paulson (40-50 something bad ass) and his partner, and passed a splitboarder w/o poles (?!!) who was getting worked hard, and a group of 3 on the last snowfield (2 guys easily in their late 50's and a woman in her early 40's who had set the skin track the whole way!!).  Funny enough....Daron had rented them all their gear the day before!!  We waited a little while for Nate to catch up then wrapped around the back side and clambered over some rocks to the summit.  Daron poked around above the Cross where Glen had gone and declared that Lily and I should ride it.  He bit the bullet and rode the mellower line w/ Dawg.  He gave us the directions......  Drop into this first pitch but don't break off any cornice and make your turns cautiously.  Then you'll see a clump of trees in the middle of the chute.  Stay above it and go R.  That will drop you into the main chute followed by a large apron.  At that point start cutting down and L, cross over two ridges and then finish the descent as per the way we started.  The initial roll in was the crux and I unknowingly sent Lily in first.  She butt checked once and was visibly scared as she cautiously disappeared out of sight.  I got a few good pics and spotted her cut R above the trees.  I dropped in, made a jump turn that got me sliding DH faster than I imagined and accidentally broke off a 6-8" wind slab.  I darted L fast while yelling "slide!!!"  Lily was just out of the way as the wet slide ripped past her into the next chute.  "Do you think this is a good idea?!!"  The quote of the day by Lily.  Not ready to climb back up a 50+ deg chute I rolled into the next chute.  It was magic.  Untouched.  I ripped it without regard of the dangers we had faced on the first crux.  The turns were effortless and silent.  I stopped and got pics of Lily riding it.  We then proceeded to milk the apron (and catch a little air) before traversing L.  We encountered some burnt off bushes and velcro snow near the bottom.  We were down and done before we knew it.  Whew!!  And to think that we got a weather window when it appeared the whole run would be under cloud cover.  We beat Nate and Daron down, loaded up the van and drove Hwy 50 past Lover's Leap and a bunch of other amazing mountains/towns (Strawberry, etc).  Going to see Zakir Hussein at the Rio in Santa Cruz!!  We showed up at 6:30, realized we were locked out of Lily's mom's house (guess no shower), changed in the backyard and proceeded downtown.  There was a large line up already!!  I stood in line at this "fast" noodle place which was at a standstill and Lily got in and reserved a couple seats.  The show was an amazing collection of classical Indian music with a traditional hammer dulcimer like instrument with a TON of strings and of course the Tablas Zakir played.  The sellout crowd was in awe the whole time as were we.  They got standing O's every time there was a break after a crescendo.  They played 4 compositions with a good amount of improv (which you couldn't tell).  Soooooo tight!!  A true world music experience.  I didn't want it to end!!  They both made enough tones/sounds to feel like there were 10 people playing at once.  Hands of Fury!!  We walked out stunned.