One of our good friends, Dave, extended the invite to his annual Labor Day Weekend party/camp-out/bike riding awesomeness in Calpine, CA. Randy and I left on Friday night and didn't get there until 12:30 AM. I woke up on Saturday at 7AM and went into the house around 7:30, talked to Dave and everyone who was there. I met some new people (Toni, Steve, and Jason ["Jay," Dave's son]) and said hello to Kathie (Dave's wife). Randy came in after me since I let him sleep in. Ron, Randy's dad, got there around 9AM, and we all got ready to go on a mountain bike ride... with single track. Have I ever done any single track? Nope! But I wanted to ride anyway.
Other riders came by, Janice and Jay. Toni took
pictures of us, where I'm smiling because I have no idea what ride I have ahead of me. We headed out, a total of 8 riders, on a track that Dave is bu
ilding, which was fun. The climbing has never bothered me, it's the technical stuff that does. I guess it's normal for a rodie (hah!). Out of the 8 riders, I was the least experienced rider, with a dozen mountain bike rides under my belt, which have all be done on the easy Granite Bay trails. The second least experienced? Randy, and he's been riding/racing mountain bikes for 21 years. Yeah... I know.
More climbing, some single track. I was feeling pretty good. I was actually able to go over some stuff thatwould have terrified me in the past! The warm up was nice, the ride wasn't being hammered, and I was enjoying the views and the company. The trails are really nice. The loose spots would sometimes throw me off, but it wasn't bad. We'd stop at certain spots and re-group. I found myself doing better on the climbing than going downhill on the single track. Like I said, the climbing doesn't bother me. The downhill single track though, not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it was still something I've never done before and I was overly cautious at first. But, the more I saw the other riders simply trust their bike and let loose, the braver I got and the more I actually trusted my bike to go over obstacles (let's face it, you can never trust a road bike to do that!).
We had about 200 more feet of climbing when Ron heard a clank. Lo and behold, Ja
son's bike wanted to commit suicide. His front brake was gone. But, since I was with a bunch of mountain bikers, I got experience and witn
ess how prepared (ie they pretend to be pack mules since they carry EVERYTHING with them) and work their magic on something that has gone wrong. Ron walked a few feet away from Jason and his bike, and found the bolt that had fallen off. Lucky? I think so! So, they tried to put it back on, but one of the wedges was extremely bent, so zip ties it was! It was pretty cool seeing how they got to working on their bikes. Reminded me of when I broke my derailleur hanger on Iowa Hill and Randy turned my bike into a single speed. The only issue was that Jason didn't really have a front brake. Good luck on the downhill!
We got to the top and the downhill started. Itwas a blast and the fastest I've ever gone downhill on a mountain bike. It was cool just being able to go out there and let go! I had run out of water since Ithought the ride was going to be about 3 hours, but we were out there a lot longer. That'll teach me to forget my CamelBak!
After a bunch of downhill and a lot of riding, we got to Graeagle where Kathie, Toni, and Jay's girlfriend, Cathy, were waiting for us. My computer read 31 miles of riding. Now only was this my longest mountain bike ride, it was also the hardest and the most fun. Never did I imagine that I was going to be able to do all the stuff I did on that ride! Janice helped me a lot on some of the single track and the technical turns, which
was great to have another gal there helping me.
We all got back to Dave's and rested. Had some drinks and food by the campfire and talked a whole bunch. It was a fantastic night.
The next morning, Jay (Dave's son, not the other Jay), Randy, and I decided to do the Lakes Basin Loop. It's a 45-mile road ride with 4,500 feet of climbing. Randy then got a slow leak, was able to get it filled, and kept riding. Jason was a bit ahead, but as I was seeing him get closer, Randy got a flat. I got tothe Gay Eagle Lodge, didn't see him, so I turned around (for the second time) and realized that Randy's spare tube had a 3-inch slit in it... he had a defective tube! I tried to contact Kathie to tell her that we h
ad some issues since they were ahead of us in the truck, but the call wouldn't go through. I felt bad that Jay was probably waiting for us for a long time, but mechanicals happen. The good thing is that I decided to turn around, otherwise Randy would have had two bad tubes. We finally got to the top and told Jay our little adventure. We then headed down for a bit (after an 8-mile climb!) and then went up again for a short distance, which is when the fun downhill started. Jay then stopped at one of the views, which was gorgeous! He then took a picture of Randy and me with the view behind us:
We then headed down to HWY 49 and did that climb, which wasn't as bad as I expected it to be.
We got back to Dave's and ate some lunch and showered. Jay had to go to Reno, so good-byes were said and Randy and I waited to Dave, Steve, Toni, Kathie, and the dogs since they went on a hike. We made a fire, had dinner with some of Dave's neighbors, and had a great time around the fire. A lot of good stories, lots of great company, stars, and a fire... what more can a person ask for!?
On Monday morning, Dave, Steve, Randy, and I went on a 10-mile mountain bike ride. Dave was giving me some mini-lessons on how to ride over some of the technical parts of the trail. Some of them I was able to accomplish easily (though I was scared!) and others took me a little longer, but I was able to get a feel for what I have to do, and that's what's going to help me in the long run, I think.
When we got home, we packed everything and headed out. It was such an awesome weekend; the best Labor Day Weekend adventure I've ever had! I'm glad I was able to attend this and I'm so glad I was able to go on three great rides, meet new people, and have a lot of fun with friends. It's something I'll definitely cherish! And not only did I have a lot of fun, I learned a LOT of new riding skills and I surprised myself in that if I just stick to it, I CAN actually ride the dirt.
Thank you, Dave. This weekend was a blast!!
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