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2014 Year in Review

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francois

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Talk about the people you met, the bike you rode, the trails you enjoyed, the beer, the food, the stoke.


And what were your favorite Norcal forum topics of the year? Links?
 
#2 ·
Met lots of good people at the DV Classic this year, and the free pint of beer after the race was possibly the most enjoyable pint I've ever had - not that it was really good beer (Ranger IPA?) just being exhausted and dehydrated it tasted really good.

The e-bike threads were my favorite - pass the popcorn please.
 
#3 ·
I moved back to Santa Cruz after spending the last 5 years in San Jose. Having fun riding Nisene from the bottom up.

I'll be spending my working hours at UCSC. Speaking of that, I had a fascinating talk a couple days ago with a person involved with security on campus. This person has a very favorable view of mt bikes on the upper campus. Seems the opinion among some there are that the bikes keep the riff raff migrating up from Pogonip down to a minimum. At least the illegal grow operations.

I am however ready for some dry, sunny weather....
:thumbsup:
 
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#4 ·
• Lots of cool new people were met, new friendships developed
• Started riding the Borealis Echo front-squish fatbike (OK, so this didn't happen until the end of July)
• Trails: UCSC, Soquel Demonstration Forest, STCP, Henry Coe, Tuesday Night rides @ Saratoga Gap, Almaden Quicksilver and Sierra Azul/Kennedy cardio beatdowns, the el Sereno and Belgatos QTNR rides (later on when the days started getting shorter)
• Too many new beers, although the Quadrupel Belgian Inspired IPAs and the triple/quadruple hopped IPAs really resonated this year
• Lots of food (plenty of quality sushi, mexican food, and BBQ meetups)
• Stoke was all over the map. Don't even know where to begin with this one.

• Favorite Norcal Forum topic: the M.V. threads are always entertaining. However, my being one of the first people in the SF/SanJo Bay Area to embrace the "fatbike fad", I was surprised when our own francois popped up with pro-fatbike threads… he was one of the first people to give me sh¡t about fatbikes way back when. :lol:
 
#6 ·
Leopold Porkstacker said:
• Lots of cool new people were met, new friendships developed
• Started riding the Borealis Echo front-squish fatbike (OK, so this didn't happen until the end of July)
• Trails: UCSC, Soquel Demonstration Forest, STCP, Henry Coe, Tuesday Night rides @ Saratoga Gap, Almaden Quicksilver and Sierra Azul/Kennedy cardio beatdowns, the el Sereno and Belgatos QTNR rides (later on when the days started getting shorter)
• Too many new beers, although the Quadrupel Belgian Inspired IPAs and the triple/quadruple hopped IPAs really resonated this year
• Lots of food (plenty of quality sushi, mexican food, and BBQ meetups)
• Stoke was all over the map. Don't even know where to begin with this one.

• Favorite Norcal Forum topic: the M.V. threads are always entertaining. However, my being one of the first people in the SF/SanJo Bay Area to embrace the "fatbike fad", I was surprised when our own francois popped up with pro-fatbike threads… he was one of the first people to give me sh¡t about fatbikes way back when. :lol:
Click to expand...
Stop whining LP, I honked at you riding home on your fatbike along Almaden Expressway/Branham several years ago.

Someone acknowledged fatbikes at that moment. Coulda' just swerved into you and got that monstrosity off the road...right? ammIrite? :thumbsup:
 
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#9 ·
- new job in the industry....and my commute went from 65 miles per day to 5.
- making new friends...who are crazy passionate about cycling
- kidlets just keep getting more and more fun...meaning they play together ;)
- went bikecamping for the first time....and am hopelessly hooked after a 3 day trip in Henry Coe with Plim and JustJeff
- got a pump track built..yay
- seriously ramping up on the MTB advocacy front.

2014 has been a very good year...busy as hell (wish I was riding more)...but very, very good :)


EDIT: Favorite forum posts? too many and too varied. I BM above stated...lots of advocacy talk I like to follow....good stuff :)
 
#10 ·
There definitely was some good, some bad, and some ugly for me in 2014. Had a real close call while out deer hunting when I rolled my Jeep Wrangler and my friend and I got ejected out the top. Busted up my wrist and shoulder, and my friend broke her neck. Luckily, it was just a small C-5 vertebrae fracture and she recovered just fine. Happy to be alive that's for sure.

BUT, this was also the year I got back in to mountain biking after 5 years of being off the saddle!! Just got a new T275C too so the stoke is really on now! I sure hope to connect with some of you guys in 2015....would be great to get shown around some trails in the South Bay, Santa Cruz, and I've always wanted to ride Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland too. Something other than my usual Marin & Napa county stuff would be awesome. Wild boar sausage and venison burgers will be on me. Let's do it!
 
#11 ·
- Put some time into the Flow Trail construction at Demo in the first quarter of the year and met a bunch of fun people along the way
- Got to ride Downieville for the first time (and several subsequent times)
- Rode some other interesting trails that shall not be named
- Spent a couple of months on flat pedals and learned quite a bit
- Upgraded several components on my Bronson, all of which improved things as I'd hoped
- Built a DH bike and sold it without hardly ever riding it after realising that a full DH bike without a shuttle or uplift isn't a great plan
- Bought a road bike and sold it after a few hundred miles upon realising that a CX or gravel grinder type set up would be much better suited to my needs

Also, I got a job & my wife had a baby, the combination of which pretty much killed off most of my riding in the later half of the year!
 
#13 ·
Great year!

I joined FATRAC's board and we "rebooted" FATRAC!
FATRAC has a great history as one of the founding members of IMBA and has built most of the rideable trails around the Sacramento, so I'm super stoked to be part of such a great history. I've met some great people working with FATRAC, learned a lot from them and we've gotten a lot of good work done.
Our reboot has been very successful so far with
  • a tune up of the Culvert Trail
  • Bike Dog Brewing event
  • Bike Demo Day
  • IMBA Trail Care Crew, school and work day
  • And right now we have a $5 Fundraiser going to fund next year's work on the Foresthill Divide Loop and Granite Bay erosion problems. Shameless plug: Buy your trail a beer, $5!
  • Multiple days of brushing
  • Working with State Parks on the General Plan

I surprised myself with almost completing Rose to Toads - unintentionally. Next year I'll get intentional!

I swam from Alcatraz to SF.

I raced my first and last triathlon. 3 hours of mindless pinning it. There is no getting rad in a Tri. And post event beers? None. I'll take the mountain bike, thanks.

But overall, the best part of the year are the people I have met volunteering at the Downieville Classic and Lost Sierra, and all the great people I've met in trail work and advocacy. They are the core of what makes this community so much fun to be a part of.

P
 
#15 · (Edited)
Highs and Lows

In 2014 I managed to get my ugly mug in a couple MTBR articles. These 2 articles pretty much sum up how my year went...

The first was last January at the Enduro-Compare-O. I got to be one of the regular "Joes" at the review session in Demo forest. Such a great time out in Demo riding/reviewing bikes w/ the MTBR crew. Just one of so many great days out on the trails in 2014.

The second was as a poster-boy in A.S.S.'s "Just Don't Get Hurt" article. I crashed hard doing a solo ride on one of my favorite Santa Cruz area trails last July. I pummeled my hip and crushed/dislocated the femoral neck. Dragged my butt out of the woods, had emergency surgery, and spent the next several months recovering. I am just now beginning to spin again.


2014 was still a great year of riding. Even with several months off I managed to get in about ~1300 miles, ~235k' of climbing over about 90 rides (so far). Back on the bike again:


  • Bikes: BronsonC, Lurcher SS, Camber Evo, new DJ… several demo/review rigs
  • Trails in 2014: Too many to list
  • Beer: Many DIPAs… shelf beers mostly: Pliny, RacerX, 831, Double Jack, etc
  • People/food: Several group rides on herodirt followed by burritos and beers at the beach. I joined up with Quadzilla after being a lurker for the past couple years. I made a couple friends with 2 other local riders that had the same crash/injury/recovery as me this summer too.
I can't even begin to list all the folks from the local rider community, QZ, and MTBR that reached out tome following my crash. Such a great MTB community around here… thank you all!

Here's to a smoother 2015 and hoping I can keep my bike rubber side down. Photo courtesy of Bruce Cook on instagram.com/brucecookfmx... that guy has had a rougher year than anyone around and he still has a great attitude.

Cheers!
 
#16 · (Edited)
My MT Biking highlights in 2014 were:
Trip to Prescott Arizona with Menso and racing the Whiskey 25.
PRA Pacheco camp weekend in Henry Coe State park with Jeanie.
Racing Sea Otter, CCCX and 2nd place in the Napa Valley Dirt Classic.
Murphy Mack's Mendocino Mountain biking Madness weekend with Jeanie.
Big Basin to the Sea and back ride with Al.
Riding the new Soquel Demo Flow trail and Sanborn's John Nicholas and Skyline trails.
Still managing to set PRs or get the occasional top 10 on a Strava segment.
I hope to do all the above and more in 2015 again!
Happy new year, J.L.
 
#17 ·
My highlights:
1. Bought my new bike for 50th birthday: Giant Trance 27.5.
2. Began training for the TS 100
3. learned how to ride better, longer, more technical trails
4. Attended my grandmother's 95th birthday.
5. Camped with my daughters and backpacked with one for 2 nights.
6. Camped more.
7. started the TS 100 and freehub promptly failed:(
8. Did the TBF 50 miler and came in 14th of 30 in my age group:)
9. Did my first bikepacking trip in Grouse Ridge area.
10. Put nearly 3,000 miles on the new bike. Still LOVE that bike but put on new drivetrain.
11. Best of all..........Spent time with my daughters.
 
#18 ·
Got bit by the bug HARD. Riding up to five days a week for a stretch there...

Two new bikes for me this year (AM geo rules), and have got my kids riding once a week too.... I think they may both be on new/used bikes this season too, come to think of it.

I can think of myself as a mountainbiker without qualifying it by adding, "for a..."

Oh yeah, bought my first set of stretchypants, but we're not going to discuss that.

And nothing like posterboy up there, but had a few significant spills which scared a little sense into my 41-year old (going on 15) brain. Setting PRs on the uphills these days.
 
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#19 ·
1. Got a new bike, much of the decision came from reading about it on the mtbr Ibis forum:


2. My 5 year-old started riding a real bike after learning on a balance bike.



3. My 8 year-old got a real mountain bike and is loving it.
4. Had a great time riding Downieville on my 29er.
5. Did the Boggs race, and was the sweep (official sweep, not just the last guy) for the Annadel race.
6. Many fun rides with the Annadel Mountain Bike Group
7. Got to ride trails around Bend, Oregon.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Great to hear everyone's stories this year.

2014 was in some ways one of my worst years, and in other ways one of my best years.

- My grandfather passed away in Jan. Requiescat in pace Hank.

- Rode with some fantastic riders who have phenomenal stamina and abilities - its amazing ... no matter how good I think I get, there is always someone who will blow you away - on some tank that weights 8lbs more than my rig.

- Had a bad crash in Jan in Pacifica, small concussion

- My son was born on St Patrick's day. When he came he didn't breathe, for 10min. They called a code blue and an extraordinary doctor and team of nurses resuscitated him. He made a miraculous recovery and never looked back, its like it never happened:

- Got a place in Tahoe, which opened up a ton of new riding, and met some great folks like SingleTrackMack and others not on MTBR

- Broke my clavicle on Livewire end of July, got the plate:

- Did a lot of this:

- Picked up a cross-bike for my rehab:

- That opened up some awesome rides I had never considered like this:
I think Leopold P could probably do that on his phat bike and smoke me :D.

- Clavicle is healed and looks like we'll have a decent winter so I hope to do a lot of this:

- As well as this:

All in all it was a good year.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year everyone!
 
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