After riding Sugarbowl on Thursday we were to drive to Santa Cruz where Lily had a Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course. Half way between Truckee and SC our van decided it wanted some attention and died after refueling. Gave it some gas at the stop sign, it sputtered twice, made some clicking noise and stalled. It wanted to start again, but this mysterious clicking noise kept occurring and would turn the van off like a light switch. Brad the tow truck driver was our unexpected companion to SC in a flatbed Chevy 5500. Rockstar and chew fueled him. Lily had to keep an eye on him as he twice tried to take us past our exit. We got it dropped off at the local shop around the corner from Lily's moms house. We jumped on our bikes and rode to the mile and change to her house. Her mom rents a nice house from her sister, and we had a nice bedroom complete with super cushy bed, large flatscreen TV, and remote control light/fan. Lily went to class the next AM on a nice 4 hrs of sleep, and I watched March Madness and rode around SC. The city has a nice progressive feel and lots of action downtown. There were also an abundance of homeless people that I noticed. I found some fun things to jib on and chatted w/ my mom for a while on the shore of a creek that ran nearby downtown. They have a sweet climbing gym/yoga studio/workout room!! The guy at the repair shop was quite the character. I had to go down to the shop and show him how to get a spare key to work in the ignition (wiggle the steering wheel and key at the same time). He must not deal w/ old hoopties like I've been around my whole life!! We had a nice dinner w/ Lil and her mom and hung out at the house. The next day I began to get antsy. The weather was calling for 9-13" that night and I HAD to find a way back to Truckee. Not that there was anything wrong w/ SC..... I got frantic and emailed everyone on Ski Pals a local San Fran database of rideshares to the ski areas. I got two replies...one from Ronald who wanted to skip the storm day and ride on Monday. Dave called and was ready to hit it early. I just had to find a way to Berkeley..... With the wheels rolling, Kathy (Lily's mom) gives me beta on how to get there on public transport. Two trains and a bus. I had to leave in 30 min to make it there by 12:30. I called a cab and rustled up my few belongings- camera, computer, and the clothes on my back. Out the door and onto the 17 to San Jose. The bus was a little late due to an accident (it was dumping rain). When we get dropped off we realize we missed the train and had to wait 90 minutes. What a trip. Hanging out at the bus station. With 30 minutes to go we get rudely ejected from the waiting room by a woman clearly ready to go home and take a nap. Onto the train on track 3. Not the comfy ride of a car that's for sure!! I swayed back and forth like I was in a boat in rough water. By now I'm pretty dazed and tired. I catch the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) which loads up with more people coming and going to the various clubs and events. I feel out of place since I haven't really been around that scene in a while. Quite a sociologic moment. You have to transfer to different trains a few times to get to your destination and I had to keep on my toes to make sure I didn't get lost. Finally I get dropped off at the El Cerrito Plaza. I made the mistake of passing on the cab which was parked outside and instead wandered around lost in the rain for a while before finding the right streets which were scribbled on a piece of paper in my pocket. While passing a 24 hr restaurant I decided to give into the 1:30 am munchies and got another lesson in city culture. The place was nuts. They had a security guard. I ate with my head down before continuing on to Dave's house on Van Fleet Dr. I wrote down the wrong address and had to wander a bit more before calling him at 2:30. This is where it gets funnier. I show up drenched and he tries to get me to sleep in his minivan which is parked on a steep hillside that is drastically off camber. After some grumbling he's like...."well, I DO have this cottage behind the house that you could PROBABLY crash in." I was kind of shocked at how reluctant he was at letting me crash on his garage turned cottages floor. I crashed on two couch cushions and a 5' tall sleeping bag and blanket. CLICK. Lights back on at 5:15. We're off after a breakfast of cereal and smoothies he made as a "peace offering." We got on the road by 5:30 in his 4wd Honda station wagon. I briefly passed out then stayed awake and listened to his tales of beating colon cancer and how trippy his life has been. He's an interesting but kind of weird dude. We were forced to go 30-40 MPH for most of the Donner Summit area as they had their crazy chain checks w/ trucks everywhere. I grabbed my stuff from the house, met up w/ Nate Dawg and rolled to the Bowl where they reported 13-18". It was already tracked a bit by the time we all got tickets (first one I bought this season other that the season pass). It was still sick as we hit Market Street and the Nose first. I aired Bacon Bits but the landing was pretty hard and I ate it. I kept w/ Nate and Dave for most of the morning before peeling from Dave and then Nate. I raged it hard until 4. Lots of airs and shredding of pow!! I crashed out on the couch watching a movie by 8PM. Up the next AM to ride Sugarbowl again w/ Daron. Went right to the Lake run on Monday March 23rd w/ D and Sarah who Tellies. We did the Mother Hen run in sick pow. I took a good header off a nice 10' rock drop after clipping a rock right before takeoff. It was soooo fluffy and deep that it didn't matter at all!! We dropped in on the steeper face riders L of where we usually go to the trestle. There were some boarders out ahead of us that were getting ready to hit an ENORMOUS booter that they built early in the AM. We hung out in the trestle as we were the first ones there and watched a couple brave souls huck themselves 30-40' out AND down while doing tricks. NUTS!! We also watched Peoli, Emily, Bozak, and Tommy ride Banzai. The Lake Run was getting hammered fast!! We ducked around the trestle and did the Blue House run which was FULL of sweet little boulder drops and pillows. Amazing run!! We met up w/ Matt Delheimer and Benji at the bottom and rode back up w/ them. We rode up Lincoln and did the Patrol Run all the way to the bottom (first time for me). It was intense at the top w/ the wind howling and powder blowing in your face HARD. The snow was blown out in parts and icy. Near the bottom we got nice turns then dropped into a lower cliff zone and Benji and I snow-coned ourselves off a cornice drop. We skinned up to Cornice Bowl and went back over to the Judah Chair. We then did the Lake Run again. And it was GREAT again. We did the first door out of the trestle which was really filled in and took a commando crawl uphill to get out. We all got great turns and sporadic airs. Then Benji dislocated his shoulder off a drop that I watched. He basically did a swan dive off a 15' cliff. Daron and I tried to get it back in but no dice so he headed off to Dr. Denny at the urgent care. We met Nate Dawg as we left and he jumped on w/ us. We went back up and got a call that someone w/ Daron's buddy Eric took a bad tumble down the heart chute and was concussed and had a broken ankle. Yikes!! No intention of doing that chute anytime soon. We rode Lincoln over to Roller Pass then skinned up Judah and dropped off the backside (Dawg's first time). Over to the lake run for #3. It was definitely heavier but was still fun. Daron and I went to Burger Me for dinner, then grocery shopping before heading home and watching 21 about a card counting true story. SNORE!!
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