I was supposed to head up to Grouse Ridge with Sean today but a late night ‘BEEP!’ from the shop (which is only about 20 feet away from the house) got us a bit freaked out on what was about to blow up or was already on fire. Sean and I were supposed to meet early to head up high(er) and beat the heat in Foresthill (94 deg forecasted). The big ride at Grouse would have to wait for another day unfortunately.
I had spent the better half of Saturday putting in the seatstays, brazing the dropouts, and putting on the braze-ons of Heyride’s frame and forgotten to shut down the oxy/acetylene tanks. That shouldn’t make the carbon monoxide detector go off several hours later, so I was a little concerned of another gas leak somewhere (bad when you’re working with open flames and an arc). Being late and finding nothing obvious I turned on the exhaust fan cracked the door and went to bed. In the morning after I think I had narrowed it to a bad carbon monoxide detector I headed out for a ride of my own. I felt pretty good finally, even in the heat and high-ish humidity (35%).
My ride from home was only 25 miles over 3 hours but I again ran into nobody. It’s both a good and bad thing when you ride 15 miles of singletrack and don’t see a soul just 5 miles from town. It means the placed we’ve moved is pretty absent of riders (other than Sean who was probably having a sweet time up on Grouse Ridge). But it also means you get the trails mostly to yourself even on a Sunday morning.
Whit…I stumbled across your site through MTBR and instantly recognized Devil’s Thumb in the photo at the top. I too thought I was one of the only mountain bikers in Foresthill (Todd Valley) besides Sean, but I have yet to ride with him since our fitness levels are on different ends of the spectrum. After reading some more of your posts, I believe I know the property you purchased as I too checked it out before making my purchase two years ago…very nice. That shop is amazing! Maybe we’ll cross paths out there as I’m starting to increase my mileage and have been exploring the OHV trails out of China Hole (loop 5 and 6 with the Western States mixed in). Come to think of it, I think I saw you with a fat bike on the back or top…can’t remember…of an Outback as you were heading up the divide and I was returning home. If you see a beat-up red 93 Acura Integra in town with a franken-rack on the back, that’s me. And that’s some beautiful work you do building frames…true craftsmanship. Take care….Chad