45. Ride other Downieville Trails

I went to Downieville and didn't ride any of the "other" trails besides the classic Butcher Ranch to 3rd Divide route. In my defense all of the "other" trails like Big Boulder and Pauley Creek were all covered in snow and the main trail is just so freaking fun.
This trip all began with my neighbor Matt Bettino, whose friend Kurt from highschool works for Rocky Mountain bikes. Kurt goes up to Downieville every June to demo some new bikes and ride the insanely fun downhill run that resides in this part of the Sierras. I tagged along with his crew last year and this year I brought a few of my buddies with me: BLC, Colin, and Johnson. We charged up there in Johnson's dope Subaru Outback XT and we somehow loaded 4 bikes, all our camping gear, all our bike gear, and 4 stinky dudes comfortably for the 550 mile drive up to Downieville. Leaving OC at 4:30 on a Thursday equals getting trapped in stupid traffic in LA. I hate LA! After a nice, long, straight drive up the 5, we finally arrived in Downieville at 3 AM, set up a tent in about 2 minutes in the dark and passed the F out. Woke up at 7 AM to pounding rain, which wouldn't have been a problem if we didn't leave our bags laying outside and the Skybox wide open during the night. It was supposed to be clear and 85 degrees but you never know what you are gonna get in the Sierras. Which is beautiful by the way: pine trees everywhere on endless mountains, a huge flowing river, and still lakes that look like mirrors when the afternoon winds die down.
Lets not forget the mountain biking. 15 miles of flowing, tree covered, bermy, rocky, rolly perfection. And we were booking, I think Johnson hit mach 1 while flying down the buffest single track on earth, the 3rd divide trail. The trails were still pretty wet from all the stream crossing, snow melt, and light rains from Friday. Just epic, and the whole crew loved it. We got 4 sick runs in with no crashes, charged a nice hike to upper Sardine Lake, we got to watch the US lose to Ghana at the only bar in town full of salty locals, and we attended a very entertaining mountain biker raffle give away stocked with strong beers and crazy characters having beer chugging and tire pumping till it pops competitions. We saw a dude with a chin beard that was about a foot long. We also ate 2.5 fire cooked bratwursts a piece that wreaked havoc in our tent later that night. Like I said, 4 stinky dudes.
Another quick weekend come and gone but a lot of fun was had. Can't wait to go again next year. Oh yeah, and Flat Stanley was there too...

Introducing Flat Stanley

The Flat Stanley project was a created by a teacher for kids to make connections with other kids involved in the project. Flat Stanley is a paper cut out that kids would take with them to some of the cool places they go or fun activities they do, kind of like the gnome prank from Amelie. I developed my own Flat Stanley for my 50 in 500, and it is my green Volcom hat Lina gave me for Christmas. I realized that I've had it in most of the trips on my BLOG, so I'm planning to keep it that way and bring my Flat Stanley to all the cool places I go and fun things I do. Italy, check.

My boss Todd's Flat Stanley is the rocker horns, which he attempts to show in 99% of the pictures taken of him. Here we are in Venice with our Flat Stanleys.

2. Give Back to Cal Poly

So I thought about it and figured the best way to give back to my alma mater Cal Poly was not to give it money (6 years of tuition was enough), but instead to share the knowledge I have gained working at Oakley for the past 7 years. I'm sure they would prefer money.
Cal Poly Industrial Engineering Lecturer Karen Bangs used to be my boss's boss at his old company. I volunteered to go back up to SLO and give a presentation about Demand Planning to her supply chain class since he wouldn't be able to go. You never have to twist my arm to go back to SLO for anything, and coupling this with the Wildflower race made it a no brainer. And it gave Lina and Audrey the chance to check out the biggest Forever 21 clothing store in the world!
So I developed a presentation but mostly winged it. I told them I had the public speaking skills of a 13 year old so they're expectations were low, then I blabbed about how being a demand planner is awesome because you are heavily involved in several levels of the business, and you have a lot of control over it's success by developing the proper supply. I think the students understood what I had to say, you never know though as there are always a few kids yawning and sleeping the whole time. I may have gotten a couple dudes interested in mountain biking too, but hopefully some of them want to go into demand planning after they graduate. I enjoyed being in front of the class and it just instills the desire to become a teacher that much more. All in due time I guess. It was also pretty cool to cruise around the school like in the old days, but some of the students look so young. I get older and they stay the same age man.
In addition I got go for an awesome MTB ride with my bro-in-law Robby. He lives in Paso with Lina's sister Tina and their 2 daughters Presley and Piper. We rode this wonderful trail called Morning Glory, that drops from the radio towers on top of Cuesta Grade at about 2500 ft. down at least 1000-1500 feet to the top of Poly Canyon. The trail is the closest thing to a dirt and rock rollercoaster as you can get, with bermed turns, small jumps, and mini rock drops that you can ride 50 mph through. One of the funnest trails in the state if you ask me. Also, you can see the great views from the trails out there, with SLO in the distance behind me. Freaking awesome, and 95% of the people in SLO don't even know these trails are here, I know I didn't while I lived there.

10. Beat 59 minutes at Wildflower MTB Triathlon

This one was harder than I expected. My training regiment this year included a decent amount of MTB/run sessions during my lunch break where I would ride Whiting and immediately transition to running shoes and do a 2.25 mile run around the Oakley building. I did no swim training which is probably the reason I couldn't break 59 minutes.

Here's how it went down, Wildflower is considered the Woodstock of triathlons, its a big festival with 3 different race lengths and like 7000 competitors. The MTB tri is the shortest and sells out the fastest (1000 competitors) as people that just want to try a triathlon do this one first. While the pros compete in the long course (half iron man) and a lot of amateurs do as well (because they are insane), the MTB race is short and fast and has competitors of all levels. In fact, I finished my entire race, ate lunch, caught up with friends, and took a nap all while my friend Gabe did the bike leg of his long course race (that would be 56 miles of road bike hell). The MTB tri is a .25 mile swim, a 10 mile bike ride, and a 2 mile run; sounds easy but isn't when you are trying to sprint the whole thing.

So it was a lot of the same old guys I've seen there the past 2 years, old surfer buddies from college that are doing this for fun like me, and they stay and camp and party all night (not like me). Last year I sucked so bad going 1:03.44, a full 4+ minutes slower than the year before. This year I was more prepared, and I had a sweet 29er hardtail I borrowed from my friend Andy. The bike weighed about 25 lbs and was faaaast, I almost didn't have to pedal. I did the swim this year wetsuit free, which was advantageous in the transitions and the water was not that cold. I felt alright, but was trying to cruise so I wouldn't get too tired for the bike. I was about 40 seconds slower than my first year, but I shaved that time and more in the transition. Then to the bike, I was smoking fools as I was only passed by one guy and I must have passed 500 on my way through the 2 lap course. Thank you Andy. When I got to the transition for the run, the was no one around me, the people ahead of me were too far to catch up to and no one was chasing me down so I cruised the run (I was hurting pretty bad). But with Lina there as my good luck charm, I saw her working so hard to take pictures of me that I was able to pull through and break the hour mark at 59:50. Close enough to my goal to be satisfied, and I placed 4th in my age group and 11th overall and was definitely the fastest out of all my friends (take that!). Come to find out that top 3 get some sweet plaques so I have a new goal for next year: Top 3 whatever it takes!!!

In addition, my sister Audrey tried the race for her first time. Although she was a good swimmer in high school, the open water swim got the best of her and she didn't enjoy it. Then turns out she doesn't like mountain biking as she hates going downhill. Unfortunately, she missed the turn for the 2nd lap of the bike leg and got disqualified. She still did the run, not knowing she missed a lap on the bike and ran it faster than me at just barely over 7 min miles. Turns out she is a really fast runner and plans to stick to running races where she can dominate!

31. Ride with the Laguna Rads

Although my intentions were to ride with the Laguna Rads on a Wednesday night sprint ride in Laguna, this was a great way to get to know a couple of the guys and ride a new trail out above Rancho Mirage and Palm desert.
The Rads are the original mountain bikers from Laguna Beach. One of the guys, Turbo, built most of the trails I love to ride and some I've never heard of. They meet every Wednesday night during daylights savings and do sprint rides through Laguna and Aliso. I still need to do this.
So this ride we did in the desert was sweet. 6000 ft of decending with 2000 ft of climbing. Normally wouldn't be too hard except it was 90 degrees and we had the best mountain biker in the world setting the pace, Brian Lopes. I think I had my heart rate up to 200 bpm at one point. The ride was sweet, beneath the rocky, dry peaks of Idyllwild mountains with awesome views of the Coachella valley. We had a big group of 11 guys, one of them was even the personal chef for Phil Mickelson, I thought that was pretty cool. The trail was mostly swoopy single track, not too technical but it had some fun ups and downs like a rollercoaster with rocky switchbacks and some steep rocky shoots that my bike handled like a dream, even with a broken seatpost. One of the local guys we rode with basically had only one finger on his left hand. He had both brakes on the right side and was able to grip the left side with just one finger. He freaking ripped, and was basically one handed!! The views were amazing and the ride was really fun, even though a couple of the leaders were going too fast and turned on the wrong trail for a couple miles. The last part was the best as we dropped down a steep technical rock section that had everyone on their toes, except Lopes who was about a mile ahead of us.
Just about everyone ran out of water on this 30 mile whopper in the 90 degree sun, so we were all thirsty beyond all sense. I drank 3 delicious beers like they were water as we chilled on the grass of our tour guide's Mike's house. The best part of the trip, believe it or not was the dinner. Mike turns out to be the owner of Wally's Desert Turtle Restaurant, literally the best restaurant in the Palm Springs area. I had the rack of lamb with herb potatoes and vegetables and it should have cost me a lot more than it did! The whole group was stoked and another cool tidbit, Mike is a big wave surfer that tows into monster waves in Baja. in addition to being a ripping mountain biker at age 57. This dude is my hero. The whole experience was pretty awesome, and the trail is definitely a spot i'd like to revisit... next time in Janruary.

Take Lina to San Diego

It's pretty easy to forget sometimes how awesome the beach towns of San Diego county are. Only 45 minutes away are the long stretches of white sand beaches of Carlsbad, Encinitas, and Del Mar where you can get some pretty fun waves without the aggressive strain of young punk rich kids clogging up every peak. Even though the waves aren't as good as my normal spot Uppers (not many waves are), I was able to find a nice stretch of beach that offered some fun shoulder high beach break with a light spread out crowd of old dudes. On top of that, I was able to get Lina away from our house and into some fresh ocean air.
We stayed at a cheap little hotel in Leucadia, named the Ocean Inn. It was OK, but really nothing special. They did have whirlpool tub that Lina enjoyed as she's been wanting to soak in a bath forever. While she soaked the bathwater, I soaked the Ocean water at a spot called Grandview. I actually scurried down the beach for a few hundred yards to a break called Avocado. The scenery was great, old cliffside houses perched on the bluff, all with private staircases down to the sand. Some had katamarans tied down on the cliff, but they were covered in ivy so I guess they were more for decoration. Anyway, waves were fun and the trip was relaxing and it reminds me how awesome San Diego is and how nice it would be to live there.
Check out the pic of Lina, 3 months pregnant and not really showing much yet. By the end of May, I'm expecting at least a cantelope sized stomach!

1. Have a Child

I can't take this one off my list yet but the good news is we are on our way. On April 12th Lina and I had a first trimester ultrasound. It was awesome! Lina is currently about 13 weeks pregnant with our first child.
The whole experience was pretty surreal. The doctor splattered some clear jello on her stomach and placed a small device on top and presto, we were looking at our 13 week old baby that is about the size of a large Cheetoh. The last 2 months have been tough for Lina physically with all the morning sickness and nausea, but she lit up like a bon-fire when she saw the baby. So proud and excited to be a mommy. Everything checked out normal and healthy so that was a relief, and the doctor was impressed with how active the baby was. Gonna take after its father! We even saw it put a hand towards its mouth, trying to suck its thumbs like aunt Audrey! What an awesome experience this was and we even got a couple ultrasound pictures to keep. This is a goal I will keep updating as the baby and Lina both grow. Wahooooo!

49. Ride Los Pinos and take pics

Awe man, I forgot my camera! Oh well, I can still divulge the conquering of my 49th goal of riding Los Pinos, a local trail in the Santa Ana mountains. The mountains that stare me in the face everyday on my drive to and from work and just beg to be ridden. There are tons of awesome trails up there that are flowy, challenging, insanely fun, and have the sweetest views of all of southern California. I found a dude's website that had some good pics that do not justify but at least give you a taste of the awesomeness of this trail.
Los Pinos peak hangs at 4510 feet, and it is the 4th tallest peak in the range. We were lucky to have my sister Audrey drive us up and take the car back home so we didn't have come back to get the car when we were done. Although this is a shuttle run, you start at about 3000 ft and have to climb "the wall" for about 1000 ft and then hike your bike for the remaining 500 to get to the top. My buddy Justin and I got an early start, on our bikes before 7:30 AM where we were greeted by 45 degree weather and low clouds flying through the mountain range. It was beautiful, and we could still make out the bigger mountains of the area through the clouds.
After about 45 minutes of hard work, we made it to the peak and were rewarded with great views and the anticipation of an exciting downhill. The trail itself traverses across a ridgeline taking you down and up 14 separate peaks. The pic on the right is one of the hills we had to go up. The trail is filled with loose rocks and water bars that double as sweet jumps, keeping the trail challenging and really fun. My initial thought was this ride would take 4 hours but we mobbed it in 2, swiftly flowing through every downhill with unbroken continuity and slowly pushing up each peak in anticipation of the next run of fun downhill. The final decent ends with some really tight switchbacks and rock stair cases that flow into carpet like dirt all the way into Lazy W. Ranch camp, just .5 miles from where we parked the car at the San Juan Trailhead.
It was an awesome ride and one I want to at least 3 or 4 times a year. It is less than an hour away from my house!

48. Mountain Bike Moab, Utah

Every mountain biker needs to make at least one trip to Moab. After the first time any rider goes he most likely tells himself he has go back. At least once a year. Or more if he has the time. The only issue is it is pretty far from home.
I had the pleasure of traveling with a really fun crew of rippers on this trip, including BLC, Colin, Johnson, Justin, and Ryan. We borrowed Lina's parents sweet Chevy Express XL van that is about 40 ft. long and can fit 17 passengers more comfortably than a 747. We fit 3 bikes inside, 3 bikes on a hitch outside, all our gear and everyone still pretty much had their own bed for the long drives to and from Moab.
We split the driving all the way there. While everyone was sleeping on the 1-5 AM shifts, Ryan earned some OT pay and drove a double shift through dumping snow near Bryce Canyon. We were cruising at about 40 mph, just trying to keep the van straight while a Mack Truck going about 80 downhill came barreling down behind us. Unsure of what lane he was, really because you couldn't see the lane line underneath the 4 inches of snow, we pulled to the right of the truck 2 seconds before it was about to crush us like a bug. Poor Ryan almost wet himself as most of the crew snored unknowing of their near death experience. Thank you Ryan for saving our lives!
A few hours later we arrived in Moab, and it was cloudy, cold, and wet. But that would not slow us down. After a BOMB breakfast and at least 1 coffee fueled trip to the john a piece, we hit the closest trail to Moab that seemed to have the best weather conditions: Amasa Back. While we were preparing to ride it was about 40 degrees with 30 mph winds blowing sideways rain, splatting us on our bare limbs while we quickly lathered on our warmest bike gear.
We finally started riding and as we hit the trail head all my fantasies of Moab mountain biking were realized within the first 20 seconds of riding: the entrance to Amasa was a playful yet heavy set of ledgy rock rollers leading to a 3 ft. drop, turn a corner to roll down a couple more steep rocks into the beautiful red dirt that makes Moab famous. Awesome! Then the climbing began, all the way to the top of amasa peak in the rain cruising through slick rock (not slick even in the rain) and red dirt (very red especially in the rain).
The ride back down was just a taste of how fun the place is. Rolling rock ledges and small drops that can all be taken at high speeds. Just so fun and everyone in our group cleared the trail like they had ridden here 10 times before. When we finally got back to the van where the cold beer was awaiting, we noticed these funny shaped mud streaks on our backs.













After a couple technical issues we had to hit up a local bike shop for repairs. On the way to the hotel we were unfortunately slammed into from behind by a hopeless young kid joyriding in daddy's truck. No licence but at least dad had insurance info in the glovebox. He f-d up Colin's bike pretty badly so back to the shop for more repairs. Everything ended up OK although it was an eventful day.

Day 2: Porcupine Rim. The trail that made Moab famous was so awesome. High speed rocky downhill filled with short rock gardens and awesome drops and hits all flowing together for 12 miles. Not to mention the first 2 miles were cruising through snow and wet rocks (still not slick) with amazing views of the La Sal mountains and numerous Moab canyons and cliffs. Looked liek the tazmanian devil would be right at home. We spent hours on this trail having the time of our lives and enjoying the scenery. I was following the ultimate ripper Johnson down most of the trail. He has an eye for the best sections of trail and I just followed his lead. It was epic.
After lunch, a couple Pabst BRs, and a chillout session playing our Gorillaz theme song for the 24th time we hit the equally famous Slick Rock trail. Thinking it was going to be mellow, it combined short spurts of insanely steep downhills with even more insanely steep uphills. Mountain biking is taxing and it was truly exhausting to get through this 10 mile loop. But so fun!


As quickly as our trip started, it ended and we had to make the 700 mile journey back home. We made a quick pit stop at delicate arch to take in the awesome scenary of Moab. I am coming back soon, staying longer, and riding more. Woo hoo!!!!

Get Bobby to take cool pics Mountain Biking

Although not technically on my list, this is something my boss Todd and I have been trying to get Bobby to do for a while. Bobby does not having any technical training for photography, but he has an eye for taking great shots; he's a natural and has a sweet camara. He is also a genius that got a 3.0 at UCLA while not attending class, ever (maybe it was a science experiment) and is absolutely fearless while giving presentations to executives at Oakley. The guy is the man.

Anyway, Todd got some buddies together including HSBF Andy, neighbor Eric, Crazy Corporal Steve, and el Jefe Steve. These pictures do no justify how fun mountain biking is. If you haven't tried give it a shot, it's great exercise with an added thrill factor you can take as far as you want!

15. Reorganize my garage

A boring but easy one, over Christmas I dialed in our Garage. Look at all the room, maybe we can rent it as an extra bedroom.