Mike's Bike Blog

I was recently (1/07-1/11) in Sequim WA, over Christmas my father passed away so I was there for the memorial and burial. The service was on Friday and before I get into the biking portion one thing on the service... It was an overcast day with some off and on showers in Sequim. When we got to the cemetery and started it was overcast still but not raining. Midway through to the west the clouds parted a little and the sun shown through down on us. It's not like the whole area was sunny, it was like it was a beam of light directed down upon us. Then as we ended the service and got into the cars the small opening in the sky closed back up and the sun was hidden once again. When we got back to my mom's house we stood around asking each other if they saw what had just happened just to make sure we weren't dreaming. It couldn't have been scripted any better in a Robert Redford movie. It was very surreal.

On Saturday my brother Mark picked me up from my mom's place and took me back to his in Chimacum for some mountain biking. He has a cabin on 5 acres that is completely off the grid. He gets power from a generator and solar panels. Just down from his property is Gibbs Lake that has miles of single track mountain bike trails. We only scratched the surface of the trails there in our hour and forty minute trek of 5.77 miles. I would say the trails we rode were of intermediate technically. There were a lot of roots and logs that got us to dismount and walk over. Adding to the difficulty was the fact that it had rained the day before so the ground was still damp thus making the exposed roots slick. In the short distance we rode we climbed 2103 feet.

The next morning I got up early and drove over to his place so we could hit the trails at the crack of dawn. This time we headed out to explore the logging roads that meander around his property and the lake. This is more my speed of mountain biking, nothing technical just miles of logging roads. Plus the terrain was better suited for the bike I was riding. We spent 2 hours exploring the logging trails netting 10.76 miles and 2077 feet of climbing. As I was riding this day I thought how fun it would be to be on a cross bike riding the logging roads. The terrain was perfect for a cross bike.

After the ride Mark whipped us up a raw recovery smoothie. He mixed up some cilantro, spinach, and some other greens into his veggiemixer into the best recovery drinks I've ever had.

If you're ever around the Olympic Peninsula area (Sequim, Port Angeles or Port Townsend) I highly recommend the Gibbs Lake area for mountain biking. In fact you can probably drive up to Mark's for directions and an after ride smoothie. He also has plans to add cabins so let me know he might be taking reservations!

Riding with my big brother was great fun and it rekindled a little fire in me to do more mountain biking. I love riding around in the backcountry exploring new trails and taking pictures.  Although I only had the iPhone with me for pictures.

Saturday's Route
Sunday's Route
Facebook Photo Album

Sorry for the no post on the race, I got called out of town for work. Since I was heading out of town my plans for the race changed. Sorry Jared, but I decided to pass on the race and spend the day with the family before heading out. 

First off all my apologies as I'm late on this post, Jared was very diligent and got his take of Reimers Ranch online a few hours on getting back from the ride. The goal of this expedition was to ride the beginner course for the upcoming Singletrack Stampede race. I really didn't know what to expect from the course, I have ridden mountain bikes for many years in many different places, but none as technical as the first 2 miles of the course. Since I hadn't ridden on a trail in 8 years this was quite the experience. The first time through the course I had hit the dirt about 4 times! At least a couple of them were pretty hard. I still have the bruises to prove it. At least I didn't get too bloody.

The first 2 miles is very rocky with logs and roots and trees thrown in for good measure. On the first lap I was mentally questioning what I had gotten myself into. Luckily after the 2 miles it clears out and gets into more manageable terrain. Still a few roots and trees to navigate through and a lot of switch backs but at least there are some straight aways to build up some speed. The first time through the course my time was 01:26:02, but 13 of those minutes were recovering from my spills, active time of 01:13:26.

The second time through was a lot better, I didn't hit the dirt at all. I made it through more of the technical section without having to dismount, but there were still sections I just got off the bike and walked over. The second time through my duration was 1:08:43 with an active time of 1:02:38, so it looks like I took 6 minutes in water breaks. My average speed for the second time through was 10.26mph and my max speed was 21.17mph.

It looks like my best strategy is to just get through the first technical part as best I can and then just hammer it the last 8 miles and hopefully catch up with everybody.

At least we found some great BBQ in a little whole in the wall on Hamilton Pool Road. We both had wraps and were they not only inexpensive but they were filled. I think the price for a wrap was $2.50 and as much BBQ they had in them it could have easily been double that.