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Downieville was a total blast. Thanks to Zonic, Cruizy and all who made this happening happening. Another specific thanks to Aussie Bob for the lift into town, Uncle MTB for the lift up the hill, and to the Trogs who helped fill in where our memories left off camping gear-wise.
Due to poor planning, work running over, delayed bike maintainence and such, my bud Snakedog and I took off way too late and we hit the git-outa-town traffic. There were 'chronic' delays on my 'bud's' part. And by the time we hit Sacramento, my bud realized that he forgot his sleeping bag and tent. I rang my wife at home, and she found out on the internet for us that a K-Mart was right at the exit where we were, so we pulled off and picked up a cheapo $10 kiddie tent and Joe Boxer sleeping bag, complete with yelllow smiley face. The bag's graphics reflected our mood once we learned we dodged that first bullet.
We ended up rolling into camp at around 10 PM, which was about five hours later than we wanted, but heck... not gonna stress about it.
Set up tents, chow some grub, hang out with the Trogs, pfunk and Scott... good times.
So morning rolls around, and I figure I oughta get the bikes off, do some minor wrenching on my bud's tweaked wheel...
'Hey man, where are the car keys?'
'Uh, I thought you had them!'
'Uh, this is bad, we gotta find them.'
'Ya think?'
So we tore apart the camp looking for the keys, my bud said something about sorta remembering something about a 'safe place.' This is the problem with boo.... everything is 'sorta remember'.
We came to the conclusion that we musta locked them in the car, so I rode over to the campground 1/2 mile down the road and used the pay phone to ring AAA. An hour later, I'm in the car. Good thing I locked the car without setting the alarm, which is my normal practice for campsites, cause my car honks when the alarm is set, which is annoying at 11:00 PM.
I managed to get my bud's bike off the locked roof racks with a quick jab of the palm of my hand, thanks to Thule's iron clad security, so he can get his wheel straight. Okay, one problem solved.
After tearing the car apart, and not finding the keys, we realized that I may have to call my wife to drive her keys up from Oakland, which is a 3.5 hour drive in no traffic. Okay, we should get ready to ride, cause we can't solve this now anyway, and we don't wanna add a rideless trip up to Downieville to all the other mess.
We got shuttled up to Packer Saddle by UncleMTB along with JRM, and met up with the shuttle folks, Impy, pfunk, scott and others.
Climbing up to Deer Lake, Snakedog's chain decided that 4 years of life is enough. After spicing it together twice, we got rolling again. By that time, the group took off without us. Somebody came back to check on us, and gave us direction, but we were cruising on our own at that point.
We did Deer Lake to Big Boulder, where we met up with Joe Steel, Gregg and JRM, who was nursing a flat. Then Second Divide to First and back to town.
I never get flats, and I got two pinch flats on this ride. The first was on Big Boulder, the second I got at first divide while misjudging the exit to a fireroad. My front wheel slipped a bit, I shouldered a rock going 15 MPH and the impact pinched my front tire enough to flat. That stung, and my shoulder imediately bruised like crazy. No real damage, luckily.
Dang. Gregg lent me a tube, when I exhausted my supply and realized I forgot my patch kit. Doh!
23 miles, 2:25 of riding over 4 hours. Good times. I have never had so much fun on a bike. For a shuttled downhill, there was a bunch of climbing, but that's cool. I kinda like grinding up hills.
So back to camp. Dang, the keys again. I gotta solve this one. We tore the car apart once again, stem to stern, and tore up the campground.
'Found them!' my bud yells.
'Where TF were they?'
'In with the tortilla chips.'
'No frickin' way!'
'Yep, for real, brah!'
'Dude, you gotta lay off the boo, man!'
We had a good laugh about it.
So it turns out that the 'safe place' was tossing them in a grocery bag, which contained an open bag of tortilla chips, which is where the keys ended up.
Okay, we're back in biz!
Pix!
Snakedog's Mini Tent. Yeah, he actually fit in that thing.
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pfunk and scott. Dig the sh!t eating grin on her face. No wonder, she was about to hit some mad singletrack. They were so cute in their matching little uniforms. They were like a newlywed Japanese couple on honeymoon in Hawaii.
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Impy tries to stay warm while waiting for others to arrive. Due to a little miscommunication, we ended up ditching her. Wups! I thought she went off ahead.
![]()
JRM crosses the stream. Again with a grin.
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Snakedog gets wet. Easy on that chain, eh?
![]()
Gregg, JRM and Joe Steel stop on Big Boulder for some Gatorade and snacks.
![]()
Backin town for Burritos and Beers. King George da Trog sports his Che Guerra-esque Ronald Reagan shirt, cowboy hat and Elvis Glasses. I also like his other favorite shirt, "Hippies Smell". 'It's not a judgement,' he says, 'It's an ovservation!' TFF! Dang, that was some tastey beer!
![]()
Francois and JFR trading elbows.
![]()
I love Sumo. I went up against somebody here, but I can't remember who won. Eh, it's a blast anyway. It kinda looks like were dancing to The Specials or something.
![]()
Jessica and Cruizy going at it Sumo style.
![]()
What a total blast!
See you all next year!
Edit: fixed a few names.
Due to poor planning, work running over, delayed bike maintainence and such, my bud Snakedog and I took off way too late and we hit the git-outa-town traffic. There were 'chronic' delays on my 'bud's' part. And by the time we hit Sacramento, my bud realized that he forgot his sleeping bag and tent. I rang my wife at home, and she found out on the internet for us that a K-Mart was right at the exit where we were, so we pulled off and picked up a cheapo $10 kiddie tent and Joe Boxer sleeping bag, complete with yelllow smiley face. The bag's graphics reflected our mood once we learned we dodged that first bullet.
We ended up rolling into camp at around 10 PM, which was about five hours later than we wanted, but heck... not gonna stress about it.
Set up tents, chow some grub, hang out with the Trogs, pfunk and Scott... good times.
So morning rolls around, and I figure I oughta get the bikes off, do some minor wrenching on my bud's tweaked wheel...
'Hey man, where are the car keys?'
'Uh, I thought you had them!'
'Uh, this is bad, we gotta find them.'
'Ya think?'
So we tore apart the camp looking for the keys, my bud said something about sorta remembering something about a 'safe place.' This is the problem with boo.... everything is 'sorta remember'.
We came to the conclusion that we musta locked them in the car, so I rode over to the campground 1/2 mile down the road and used the pay phone to ring AAA. An hour later, I'm in the car. Good thing I locked the car without setting the alarm, which is my normal practice for campsites, cause my car honks when the alarm is set, which is annoying at 11:00 PM.
I managed to get my bud's bike off the locked roof racks with a quick jab of the palm of my hand, thanks to Thule's iron clad security, so he can get his wheel straight. Okay, one problem solved.
After tearing the car apart, and not finding the keys, we realized that I may have to call my wife to drive her keys up from Oakland, which is a 3.5 hour drive in no traffic. Okay, we should get ready to ride, cause we can't solve this now anyway, and we don't wanna add a rideless trip up to Downieville to all the other mess.
We got shuttled up to Packer Saddle by UncleMTB along with JRM, and met up with the shuttle folks, Impy, pfunk, scott and others.
Climbing up to Deer Lake, Snakedog's chain decided that 4 years of life is enough. After spicing it together twice, we got rolling again. By that time, the group took off without us. Somebody came back to check on us, and gave us direction, but we were cruising on our own at that point.
We did Deer Lake to Big Boulder, where we met up with Joe Steel, Gregg and JRM, who was nursing a flat. Then Second Divide to First and back to town.
I never get flats, and I got two pinch flats on this ride. The first was on Big Boulder, the second I got at first divide while misjudging the exit to a fireroad. My front wheel slipped a bit, I shouldered a rock going 15 MPH and the impact pinched my front tire enough to flat. That stung, and my shoulder imediately bruised like crazy. No real damage, luckily.
Dang. Gregg lent me a tube, when I exhausted my supply and realized I forgot my patch kit. Doh!
23 miles, 2:25 of riding over 4 hours. Good times. I have never had so much fun on a bike. For a shuttled downhill, there was a bunch of climbing, but that's cool. I kinda like grinding up hills.
So back to camp. Dang, the keys again. I gotta solve this one. We tore the car apart once again, stem to stern, and tore up the campground.
'Found them!' my bud yells.
'Where TF were they?'
'In with the tortilla chips.'
'No frickin' way!'
'Yep, for real, brah!'
'Dude, you gotta lay off the boo, man!'
We had a good laugh about it.
So it turns out that the 'safe place' was tossing them in a grocery bag, which contained an open bag of tortilla chips, which is where the keys ended up.
Okay, we're back in biz!
Pix!
Snakedog's Mini Tent. Yeah, he actually fit in that thing.
pfunk and scott. Dig the sh!t eating grin on her face. No wonder, she was about to hit some mad singletrack. They were so cute in their matching little uniforms. They were like a newlywed Japanese couple on honeymoon in Hawaii.
Impy tries to stay warm while waiting for others to arrive. Due to a little miscommunication, we ended up ditching her. Wups! I thought she went off ahead.
JRM crosses the stream. Again with a grin.
Snakedog gets wet. Easy on that chain, eh?
Gregg, JRM and Joe Steel stop on Big Boulder for some Gatorade and snacks.
Backin town for Burritos and Beers. King George da Trog sports his Che Guerra-esque Ronald Reagan shirt, cowboy hat and Elvis Glasses. I also like his other favorite shirt, "Hippies Smell". 'It's not a judgement,' he says, 'It's an ovservation!' TFF! Dang, that was some tastey beer!
Francois and JFR trading elbows.
I love Sumo. I went up against somebody here, but I can't remember who won. Eh, it's a blast anyway. It kinda looks like were dancing to The Specials or something.
Jessica and Cruizy going at it Sumo style.
What a total blast!
See you all next year!
Edit: fixed a few names.
