Trail Running in Cali - Mt Wilson

 

 It's been awhile since I trail ran due to the awesome cycling weather here in SoCal. This past weekend, I did just that. Before I headed out to the trails, I needed to grab a new pair of trail running shoes. I've always loved my Salomon Speedcross 3's, but recently I've been getting blisters on the tops of my toes. I headed over to my second home at REI, and went Christmas shopping. It didn't take too long to realize that I have a high mid-arch. Basically my Salmon's are a size 10, and that's fine when I was fitted while sitting, but once I stand up, my feet flatten out to an 11.5. No wonder my poor toes started to get blisters. I absolutely love the tread pattern on the Salomon's, but for fit and comfort, my next shoes quickly became the La Sportiva Ultra Raptors. I've read great reviews on these shoes and decided to break them in up a mountain for the first time.

     I headed over to Mount Wilson near Arcadia, purchased my Adventure Pass and laced up my new shoes. The trail is roughly a half marathon in distance, with beautiful views and quite some elevation. When you first pass the gate, you descend down a paved road to the trail. Once on the trail, you'll experience beautiful rolling terrain and you'll pass many old cabins that are still occupied. The only way to these cabins are by simply hiking in with all your supplies. At first I got a bit lost and made a right instead of making a left. I'm certainly glad I took this minor detour as the trailhead spit me out right at the base of a waterfall. After a few minutes of taking in this beautiful site, I turned around and went exploring for the correct trailhead. It wasn't long before I was back on track. The trail curves up and around the waterfall leaving you on the edge looking down at all the other hikers in awe. From the waterfall base, the trail takes a rapid incline and it's up, up, and away. I'd say you're gonna climb roughly 3700 feet in 5 miles. I knew that the tough incline, would result in a fast descend.

     As I approached a dry riverbed riddled with eroded rocks, I was in the groove with my music playing aloud in order to reduce the chance of scaring a bear along the way. I suddenly stopped dead in my tracks. A few yards away, I was eye to eye with a majestic deer that seemed to have no fear of me or my music. Perhaps he was a fan of Mumford and Sons. The deer approached and came closer and closer. As I reached for my camera, my gloves prevented me from snapping a photo of how close the deer was to me, but I was able to get one regardless. After the deer realized I posed no danger, it went on it's merry way.

     I then raced for the top of Mount Wilson. I was about a mile from the top, but gauging the time of day and the remaining sunlight on the East side of the mountain, I decided to turn around and run back. I made great time on my way back, until the beginning roadway. That was a slow and steady hike back up to the car.

     I'm glad I was able to experience Mount Wilson and what it has to offer. I will definitely be back.

Facing Da Bear

It was a normal morning, like most for me while living in California. The air was crisp with the hint of sun rays peeking through the cloudy horizon. I gathered my cycling gear, inflated my tires, and started to pedal. As my pedal stokes grew more in sync with the ambient alternative rock softly humming from my headphones, I regained that feeling from the first time I rode a bicycle without training wheels. Although my destination was known, my heart skipped a beat not knowing the adventure that laid ahead.

I rolled up to meet a friend at the local coffee shop around 9am. He was patiently awaiting my arrival, jittery from the multitude of espressos he had downed during my absence. We made small talk, clipped our helmets back on, and headed East. The road was filled with social chatter, a few other cyclists graced our presence, and the odd family straggled past like a swarm of intoxicated bees.

Considerably less than an hour, I was faced with a "Road Closure Sign" that prevented or in this case stalled motorized vehicles from entering past this make shift barricade. This was it, I thought to myself, "The Bear".

"The Bear" and I have a long history together. At first our meetings had always been joyous, but during the middle of May, that's when things took a turn for the worst. It was a cruel set of circumstances that led to the temporary demise of our fruitful relationship. But here we were, staring down each other, as if an illegal Cock Fight was about to take place. Sure my feathers were still ruffled, and the internal scaring will replay over and over in my mind for the rest of my life, but I was ready to size up my opponent, and go for the kill.

Legend would have you believe that on that fateful day, "The Bear", unleashed it's prowless powers and mysteriously made the road vanish right before my eyes. The disappearing road quickly turned into a gravel ditch. Regardless if this turn of events actually happened, only two people will fully know the truth.

I let my cadence lead me up the mountainside, with an enlightened feeling of satisfaction. The wind was angry that day, as if to have some sort of secret alliance with "The Bear". Knowing that I had to prove myself, if not to the world, at least to my family, I pushed deep. I continued to conquer "The Bear", at which point I pushed on and conquered its dirty half cousin "Camp 9". The feeling of this amazing feat will never be able to be written in any word form, for I had rejoiced at the top of the mountain. My celebrations quickly diminished as I knew that the disappearance of the road has only happened on the cold windy descent. I looked up to the sky to ask for assistance. I'm sure he heard me, but the ominous clouds creeping over the adjacent mountaintops flooded the sky with darkness and doubt.

Once again I tightened my helmet, and let my speed start gaining ground. "The Bear", knew I was coming for him, and he did everything he could to make my ride back down another memorable one. As the dark clouds chased me down, I maneuvered my bicycle back and forth around fallen rocks from a landslide caused by a recent forest fire. As the large boulders appeared to be jumping at my bike, I handled my machine with a carefree finesse that allowed me to always be one step ahead of "The Bear". As the end grew closer and closer, I refrained from showing any emotion. It was just me and "The Bear". As I zoomed past the "Leaving Angeles Forest" sign, my heart swelled up which made it hard for me to breathe. I had conquered the very beast that had taken me mentally out of the game. I proved that I had no problem jumping right back int the ring, and going the distance,

After defeating "The Bear", I feel that there's nothing else that can stand in my way.

Back to Hollywood for Poutine

Last Saturday I found myself itching for some more climbing. I loaded the Cervelo up and headed to Beachwood Drive in North Hollywood. Stupid me, and yes again I simply started the climb without a warm-up or base miles. The climb from the last house, to the sign isn't that bad. It's the 12-18% climb up through the historical and modern houses that are situated on the daunting hill leading up to the old Mulholland Drive.

Alright, here we go. 3 miles, and over 1000 feet in elevation gained. The walkers, joggers, and odd cyclist you meet along the way are well, eclectic. I was really hoping for some more sunset photos of Santa Monica with the new ride, but some Hollywood Hill sign pics would suffice for this trip.

For those of you who know me, you'll know that I'm part of the Velofix family. What is Velofix? Its a mobile bike shop in a Mercedes Sprinter van that comes to wherever you are to fix your steed. We currently have 55 trucks on the road in North America, and are actively seeking Owner/Operators and mechanics. You simply go online to www.velofix.com and type in your zip code to see a local service truck in your area, and you book your time, date, and location of service. Subsequently, you can do the same by calling 1-855-VELO-FIX. If you are interested in a franchise, or simply would like more info, please feel free to contact me at shane @velofix.com

You might be asking yourself, why would I drive to Hollywood to do such a crazy thing. Well, it's no secret that I'm a proud Canadian living in California. About a year ago, I stumbled upon the greatest thing that has ever been built in Merica'. A poutine store that rivals any fast food or fancy sit down restaurant for miles!. I stumbled upon Smoke's Poutinerie located at 1552 N. Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA.If you've never had a Poutine, or think that it sounds dirty, well, you guessed right. Smoke's takes a unique spin on a traditional poutine which is simply fries, cheese curds and gravy and blows apart your tatsebuds with everything from chili to kimchi. If you ever get a chance to make a pitstop, tell them Shane, the guy who always shows up in cycling spandex sent you.

Happy belated Father's Day

I've only gotten to experience Father's day twice in my life. I wish I could say I've had the joys of experiencing it more, but that's simply not the case. This year was extra special. My loving wife held the biggest secret of her life. "Shane, we need to bring your bike to the bike shop, and you'll have to take everything off of it. My heart was racing. Not because of the thrill of upgrading to a new bike, but my wife knows more about bikes than most spandex clad Fred's do.

We headed over to see our friend Fabien at Serious Cycling in Northridge. While I ran around the bike shop like a kid in a candy store, a Red Celvelo S3 seemed to jump out at me. "Do you like it"? My wife asked. It was love at first site. Well after seeing her of course. We were able o sell my beloved Giant TCR Advanced SL4 back to the dealer buy back program, and after a quick fit, Serena was on the back of my car headed home. The S3 is a super stiff, race aero road bike. My first ride unfortunately wasn't until a day later, which found me cycling up to the Bouquet Reservoir. The heat was blistering down and started to effect my ride. The temps reached 118 degrees, and I decided to salvage Father's day and head home.

The following day I was planning a giant ride with Selena, and I got about 30 miles into the ride and the temp in Tarzana California hit 122.4f. For my Canadian fans, that's 55.2
degrees Celcius.

All and all, I absolutely love this bike. This has been the greatest Fathers Day ever!
Can't wait to see what I get for Christmas.

Tour of California - Stage 2 DNF

Well after my first crash at the 2014 Tour of California, I was a walking spectator last year. This year I decided to ride to the KOM crest of Angeles Forest where Little T and Bear Divide meets. It started off as an awesome day ridding with two new cyclists. We headed out along the bike path and up and over Sierra Highway to Sand Canyon. Sand Canyon is one of the worst false flat roads that I've ever been on. Once we reached the base of the mountain, we climbed up to the Bear Divide picnic area and set up our cheering squad. We were parked right beside the BMC sag wagon, and waited till we could hear the faint helicopter sounds in the distance.

The break consisted of American Ben King which was exciting to see. The best part of the day was seeing the Pros ride on the same roads that I ride on. At this point, I knew that any and all KOM's I had worked hard to obtain, were going to be mere memories.

After we thought the Peloton had past the KOM banner, we hopped on our bikes and started to tackle the descent. With the mountain road closed, I was prepared to push myself more than I'd ever on this 2 lane road. I found myself chasing the BMC sag wagon and my Garmin said that I hit a top speed of 52 MPH. Thinking to myself, this would definitely be a new PR on Bear Divide. And then it happened.
Coming into a right turn, with the speed that I had obtained, and the high wind in between the canyon, I simply could not lean into the right turn. Knowing that if I applied any force of braking, I'd most likely go down on the road. I braced myself and hit the ditch going about 42 mph, landed on the left side of my body (Head First), and bounced hard before coming to a complete stop. Stunned, but not broken, I picked up my bike by the cock-eyed handlebars and continued to the bottom. Once at the bottom, I cleaned up my wounds, straightened my handlebars, and started to ride the 20 miles to get back home.

We popped out at Railroad Avenue not far from the finish line of the Tour, and out of the blue, Team BMC ride past us. Still able to pedal, we chase them down, and rode with them for a bit.

Later that night, I found myself at Henry Mayo hospital going through a battery of tests. Blood, Urine, Chest X-rays all came back negative. The CT scan looked good, but the final diagnosis was a bruise on the brain and a concussion.
This will slow me down for a bit, but it will never keep me off the bike.

Magic Camp taught by a Bear

I had a few hours to grab a quick ride today, and wasn't planning on much. Maybe just a city spin. The warm headwind, and my tired Mountain Bike legs from yesterday seemed to slow me down a bit. I headed out towards Lost Canyon, while slowly creeping on the base of Bear Divide. I've always loved Bear Divide, it's so peaceful, and the scenery is simply breathtaking. I told myself that today would be a slow ride. I would take in my surroundings, and grab a few pictures along the way. I've always gotten a bike picture at the base of the climb, but today, I decided to go above and beyond.

Sooner than I knew, I was at the Santa Clara Truck Road which apparently the locals call, "Magic Mountain". The roadway looks as if it once lead to a camp ground. The entrance signs give a mile marker of 31, and one day I'll make it to the end. These roads have long seen any sort of maintenance over the years. Even back in its prime, the roads yellow dividers don't give much room for passing vehicles on the sharp, "On the ledge" turns. 

I've only really ever ventured down this road a few miles, as it's a road that would best suit a Mountain Bike, and not a 110 psi Road Bike. Carefully maneuvering my bike up through the narrow roads, I decided it was time for an impromptu photo shoot. Since my GoPro mount wasn't functioning properly, I had to be ingenious with rocks for props. The outcome, to my surprise was better than I had expected. 

For those of you who don't know, I'm an Ambassador for Velofix Mobile Bike Shops in the USA, as well as Franchise Development. If you are interested in owning your own bike shop, or simply want to request service in your area, shoot me an email at shane@velofix.com . But enough about my shameless plugs. :)

After I went as far as I was planning on going up Magic Mountain, I turned around and braced myself for the sketchy descent riddled with rocks of all sizes. I kid you not. There are potholes that you could lose basketballs in, I was excited to use my GoPro footage for the ride back down, but with the broken mount, I recorded all the footage while biting on the GoPro while in my mouth. It was such an odd feeling. While I was flying down the mountain side, the inside of my mouth became dry as if someone had stuffed it full of cotton balls, but yet I was drooling like a rabid dog.

I headed back to Tijunja and Sand Canyon and finished the short half mile pedal to the Bear Divide picnic area. That's when I decided to finish the day out and head up to Camp 9. Camp 9 is a fire base with air support for forest fire suppression. And so I kept spinning up to see the trails of Magic Mountain slowly dissipate into the distance.

I was quite tuckered out once I had gotten to the top of Camp 9. I was about 24mi/40kms into my riding, and I was already over 4,000 feet climbed. Well, at least it was all down hill from here on out.

Once I got back to my starting point, I felt a satisfaction of "The Climb". It's such a nice feeling when you complete an epic ride on a day that started out with no route planned.

Holly-WOOD!

I found myself sitting at home alone on a Friday night. The sunset quickly approaching, and I didn't want to cycle around my hood. I quickly gathered my things and headed to the hills. My things consisted of, a backpack, and a DSLR camera and headed to the hills.
I parked my car at the bottom of Beachwood Drive in Hollywood, and I started the climb. Silly me, my warm up was immediate climbing. While I was racing the sun to the top of Mt. Lee, I was amazed at how many people were still making the trek up to the Hollywood sign, knowing it would be dark on the way back down. Or maybe not knowing.
I found myself beside the Hollywood sign, and then above it. As the sun set in the West, I setup my mini tripod and hoped for the best.

After I got some decent pics, I loaded back up and headed back down. I was eager to try some quick light painting, and one take with settings I had remembered seemed to do the trick.

Once back on level ground, I cycled down Hollywood Blvd, which by the way is packed on a warm Friday evening, and then back down Sunset.
I realized I hadn't eaten yet, so I made a pit stop at my favorite Canadian comfort food stop for some Poutine.

After pedaling around Hollywood for a bit, I decided to head back home as I was making the 72 mile journey to Long Beach the following day.

Fraizer Park, CA

It was a normal day like any other in February. The air was crisp, with a warm breeze. Today's journey had me feeling adventurous. As I did not want to stick to the monotony of the Santa Clarita bike paths. Don't get me wrong, 40 miles of paved paths are great..... If you have a beach cruiser and are retired.

So I loaded Sadie up on my Ford (Sadie is my 2013 Giant TCR Advanced) and we headed North. Not knowing what to expect, I hit the I-5 freeway and started rocking out to some KROQ alternative music.
I found myself in a small town called "Lake of the Woods", that is dauntingly recognizable to that of any horror movie. As I laced up my Giro's and waited for my Garmin to lock in on it's GPS, I looked around at the small run down town, with very little activity and started to pedal West. I was fighting one of that nastiest headwinds known to man as I gradually started to climb. It was one of those rides that since I didn't know where I was going, and the wind was so brutal, I almost called it quits. Then I saw what seemed to be deserted mountain road climb, sheltered with the help of lush green Christmas trees, which gave me the strength to pedal on. The climbing grade bounced around quite a bit, and the 9% grades seemed to feel pretty flat. I was hooked.

I was cycling through Fraizer Park, just North of Los Angeles into Mount Pinos, and it was absolutely breathtaking. It was a fairly mild day, with remnants of the winters snow. I was surprised that there was still this much snow just an hour North of LAX. Being from Canada, it was welcoming reminder of the Motherland. The climb was a beautiful reminder that California isn't always the Hustle and Bustle we've come to expect. During the descent, I had even topped out at my max speed.
The ride was great. It was only 22.5 miles, but I climbed over 2,700 feet. That's not bad when you consider half the ride is back down.