Mountain Bike Ride Memorial Day weekend 2010

[BailOut]

Winter keeps hanging around and we've all been trapped indoors for a few days, so when the weather cleared and the latest snow melted I was ready to go!

I rode my favorite conditioning trails, the Whites Creek/Dry Pond/Thomas Creek loop at the base of Mount Rose near Reno, NV. It's a 6.25 mile ride with just over 1,000 vertical feet of climbing (from 6,000 to 7,000 feet).

I set out at about 9am and had a solid ride up to the Dry Pond. Here is a view of Mount Rose when winding up the Dry Pond Trail from the Whites Creek Trail:



When I reached the Dry Pond itself I came across this dead tree that is sinking into the ground:



It is named the Dry Pond because it only holds water for 2 to 8 weeks each year. This year it's doing quite well:



Here are some shots of my mountain bike, a 2008 Giant Yukon FX that has been modified with a Shimano drive train and Fox suspension as I wore out OEM components. It is quite dirty as there are many creek crossings in this region and it's been too cold to wash it for the last 2 rides:





At the beginning of the descent to the Thomas Creek Trail are 4 switchbacks (there are 3 switchbacks approaching the Dry Pond from the Whites Creek Trail). In road courses we teach bicyclists how to turn in 10 feet, and this is considered difficult. These switchbacks are on dirt, full of roots and rocks, and are about 8 feet wide on 4-7% grades:



This one always gives me the willies. You come in from the upper right from a high speed segment. I watched a rider go down here earlier this week:



Once home I took advantage of the warm weather and washed and lubricated my mountain bike:



Not a bad way to spend a solo Saturday morning in the spring.

[tomato]

no, not a bad way at all! Great shots and really cool bike!!

This is some serious mountain biking, though, not for beginners, i assume? The trail (3rd photo from the bottom) looks downright dangerous.

You just inspired me to get some air in my tires and head out to Marin County. I wonder if the local peeps would be interested in doing something like that. Could be really cool.

[BailOut]

Hi tomato,

I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures. These 3 trails are considered intermediate and are definitely not beginner friendly. I learned how to mountain bike here after not riding a bicycle for 15 years and, to put it mildly, it was challenging. I bruised two ribs my first time out.

I learn things quickly, though, and soon it was my favorite training/conditioning trail, especially as it's on my way to work. Still, I strongly recommend starting out on beginner trails.

Marin County is the birthplace of mountain biking so it's a wonderful destination for you. If you have Netflix grab "Klunkers", a documentary about the earliest days of the sport and the people that forged it by creating new frame types and having a lot of courage.

If you watch it look for a red-headed guy taking an over-the-bar digger on an old "Postman" steel bicycle. His wife came to Reno to be an assistant instructor for my League Cycling Instructor course a few weeks ago. Small world.

[tomato]

sounds good, Brian! Will put it in my queue, thanks.

[STC]

Thank you for sharing, Brian!

Very nice pictures...

The switch backs remind me of Brian Head, Utah outside of Cedar City! In the 90's we took a extreme biking trip, exclusively in Utah! Moab was awesome especially "Poison Spider" single track!

I needed the adventure because, at that time I lived in Miami. The flat Everglades back country rides were boring...

Once again... thank you for the great pics...