4 posts tagged “bicycle”
As some of you know, I play some bicycle polo on Thursday nights in Oakland. I just don't post about it, because the original post pretty much sums it up.
But now someone has shot video! (I'm not featured because I missed this week due to Monkey Head Ale.) So check it out!
Also, here are some stills I took a few weeks ago.
Sometimes it can be difficult to get my normal biking friends, all of whom have "real jobs", to meet up for biking now and again, thus the craigslist post earlier.
Well, Saturday I met Jeni at her place and we bundled the bikes onto the Saturn and headed for China Camp for a day of singletrack! Wooo! I've been to this place many times, and it's always great riding, but I'd never been to the museum and portion of the state park that is the town of China Camp-proper.
A quick drive over the Richmond Bridge brought us to the park, and we unloaded the bikes in the free parking just outside the park entrance.
I strapped the GPS to my backpack so I could later get a ground track and profile, and we hit the trail!
First we rode up Shoreline Trail past the campground entrance and turned right to climb up Bay View Trail. This trail climbs past oaks switching back several times before rising into pine-territory. From time to time, you catch a glimpse of the view between the trees looking north and east across San Pablo Bay.
Bay View Trail climbs until it meets Echo Trail. We turned on Echo and kept climbing, the goal being the Nike Missile Site along the Bayhills Drive. In between is some steep paved road that's quite a workout to climb.
But the view from the top is worth it! You can stand on old Nike launch slab and get near-360-degree views of the north bay area...quite fantastic!
Following Bayhills down, we made a left on the Ridge Fire Trail, and then a bad right onto an unmapped unnamed path that it turns out went downhill a long way to nowhere. Yay. Climbing again to get out!
Back on the Ridge Trail, I was being way timid about the downhill after the endo incident a couple weeks ago. I was so far back past my seat, I was probably in 10x as much danger of washing out than I was of endoing--hopefully I'll be back up and correctly fearful in not too long!
Finally caught our proper right turn back onto the Bay View trail once again. This snakes through the forest along the face of the mountain (which is sometimes sheer), again punctuated by views over the bay. The trail rejoins the Ridge Fire Trail, and then, after a short hop on the Miwok Fire Trail, we turned right onto Oak Ridge Trail.
This was all easy fun curving slight downhill out until we reached a nice south-facing vista point with views of the Richmond Bridge, The Bay Bridge, and even the top of one of the towers of The Golden Gate. All the north bay islands were visible, as well.
We switchbacked down the Oak Ridge Trail to Shoreline Trail, and then out to the end of the park where the town of China Camp is. Of course, first we had to check out Rat Rock, which barely qualifies as an island, but certainly has the most piratey name of them all.
The town has a tiny diner, a small museum, and a pier, as well as a bunch of preserved buildings and items from when this was a big Chinese shrimp company in the 1930s. Turns out there were a lot of shrimperies (I just made that word up) in the Bay Area back there, mostly on Hunter's Point.
Inside the museum were featured boats and equipment used in the shrimp operation, and photographs from its heyday. Well worth the price of admission, we agreed. In fact, at $0, I suppose the value was near-infinite.
We were trying to roll out by 1:30, so we gunned it back along the oak-line Shoreline Trail, which runs the length of the park, but closer to the base of the mountain. I stopped to show Jeni one of my favorite geocaches (Willard!) but aside from that, we got back easily to the car, a total ride of 23.7 km.
Back in Berkeley, we had a slice at The Cheeseboard, an excellent pizza joint I'd been meaning to eat at for the past seven years. And now finally got my chance! Yum!
A couple days ago, I met an old friend of mine, Sarah. I hadn't seen her in 12 years, but it turns out she lives just five blocks away from me! We caught up over coffee, and in the course of the day, she invited me to join her for bicycle polo, which apparently happens every Thurday night in the Oakland DMV parking lot starting around 9pm.
I invited Mike, too, just so there'd be two people there I knew, and he grudgingly accompanied me. Not because he wasn't into the polo, but because he had a long day and was feeling tired. But in the end, his well-developed sense of adventure carried the day, and he biked over to my place.
From there, we went to Lanesplitter Oakland to hopefully meet up with Sarah and the rest of the gang.
Except Sarah wasn't there yet! She was still at work. D'oh! But she suggested we go inside and find the guys with polo mallets, which we did. They're a nice group of fellows, and we were just catching them at the tail end of dinner.
I hadn't eaten yet, so I borrowed from the Bank of Mike and bought some garlic breadsticks. Mmmm mmmm. Wish I'd had some real food, though!
With food and drink consumed, we all got on the bikes, about 30 bikes in all, and rode the dark streets over to the DMV nearby.
(It's great fun riding in a big group of bikes; it feels very friendly and safe. Maybe an old sensation of safety in numbers, wildebeest-style. Who knows. But it makes me look forward even more to Critical Mass at the end of this month!)
Although there are official rules for bike polo, this game was a little more fast-and-loose, and probably because of that, more fun than the official game looks.
Mallets were home-made using pieces of old crutches (light and strong.) The heads of the mallets were built from end-capped pieces of 5 cm PVC piping. The ball was an incredibly non-regulation Wiffleball. The field was a parking lot, complete with interloping lightposts and parking blocks.
The punkish crowd gathered around, leaned their scores of bikes everywhere and against everything, and drank what I can only presume were energy drinks from small paper bags. A few cyclists circled around the field. It was a scene straight out of Rumble in the Bronx. Except a little more friendly.
The goals (lopped-off tops of traffic cones set 2-3 m apart) were set up at far ends of the parking lot, mallets pulled out of bags, and the game was set to commence!
Teams are organized from the first six people to throw a mallet in the center of the field. These six mallets are shuffled and split into two groups to determine teams.
The ball is then placed in the center of the field, and the players gather behind their goals, waiting for the start order of, "Ready, Steady, GO!"
Then the "joust" begins, where all parties charge the ball and is probably the one part of the game where all cyclists are moving at their highest speeds. Once the ball is in play, the bikes slow considerably as they jockey for position and try to control the ball.
First team to three points wins.
Some rules:
- Don't be a jerk. It's supposed to be a non-serious fun game.
- You can dribble with the flat of your mallet or with your bicycle, but shots-on-goal need to be with the point of the mallet.
- If you touch the ground with your foot, you have to "tag up" on a predecided item (such as a lamppost, wall, or tree) before you can continue to play.
- You can throw a mallet to try to intercept a shot, but it is very bad form if your mallet should hit another player's bike.
- You should make every effort to not cause any other cyclists to crash.
- You cannot pass the ball backward through your opponents goal and then immediately shoot it forward to score the goal; a reasonable time must elapse before you do this.
The night wore on, six profane people playing at a time, while the rest spectated from the sidelines or chatted with one another. It was a very social event.
Before I left, Sarah convinced me to have one more go at it, which turned out to be really good. I had vastly improved since the first fiasco, making me actually "ok" at the game.
I lost the opening joust, but no matter. Our team quickly turned around and scored two back-to-back goals. At the end, our opponents moved the ball downfield, but got tangled up in our defense. I saw my teammate control the ball, so I moved up front downfield away from the pack. He passed way forward (that would have definitely been a two-line pass in hockey), and I picked it up and actually successfully dribbled it toward the goal! Amazing! 2 meters away, I straightened my mallet and took my shot, which barely made it through after hitting the post! The winning point!
Balancing well on your bike is quite important in the game, even if you're near or at a dead standstill. Many players are very good at this and some are able to balance still on their bikes indefinitely (a move known as a "track stand", which is easier to do on a type of bike called a "fixie".)
It's also important to know how to position your bike correctly relative to the ball, since the mallet is only easily handled on one side of the bike.
In fact, I'd go so far as to say that lots of this game would really improve ones cycling skills. We'll see!
I was on a mission today. Remember that whole thing from yesterday where I wanted to go to Skyline Wilderness Park but went to SF instead?
Well, today was my big chance.
I got all geared up, threw the bike in the trunk of the car, and took off for Napa. Traffic was clear, and it didn't take long to get up there, arriving about 2:00 in the afternoon.
I'd heard it was a couple bucks more to park in the lot, so instead I parked the car on the roadside on nearby aptly-named Penny Ln., reassembled the bike, and rode 0.1 km to the gate. It was $4 to get in.
After a brief chat with the nice man in the gatehouse to get a map and information, I took off down the main dirt and gravel road, Lake Marie Road, headed for higher ground.
I passed a group of young kids pushing their BMX and mountain bikes up the hill, parents in tow. Looked like quite an expedition. I guess those uphills really do get easier with practice--I'm not an entirely old man yet!
Suddenly off to the right, I saw a mineshaft sunk into the hill! If you know me, you know what a fan of these things I am, so you won't be surprised to hear that I immediately threw my bike down at the side of the trail and decided to commence a full exploration of the tunnel. This was completed in short order, as the tunnel was only about 3 meters long.
The kids loved it, though. They were all shouting, "A cave! A cave!" Ah, youth.
I got back on and continued the climb as the trail turned southward
Sweating up a storm, I stopped at a place called Fig Tree. I did not see a fig tree anywhere, but that was apparently the name of this picnic area with a little bench and outhouse. The outhouse was guarded by a lizard and a fleet (well, at least two) of wasps.
The trail forked here, and I turned more sharply uphill toward where I knew was singletrack. This was a total climb-and-a-half, since I think I was going the opposite direction that most mountain bikers go. But I managed to get up there only getting off my bike once (although I would be hoofing it many times over the course of the day.)
Once it reached elevation, the trail turned southeast again and made an effort of following the hill's contour. Bursting out of the oaks at the top of the hill, suddenly I was very much reminded of Bidwell Park in Chico, much the same was the terrain and foliage. And the sun beat similarly down upon me.
Not for long! The trail plunged into a long grove of oak, and I found myself looking at the towering stone chimney of a ruined house from long ago. Bits of the foundation were visible there, too, overgrown and covered with moss. I wonder what the history of this place is?
From there, the trail narrowed, and plunged into a long grove of oak, with easy narrow twists and turns. Lots of fun! Presently, Lake Marie became visible through the trees on the left, 20 meters down the hill, but the trail continued along past it.
Crossing the feeder creek, I made note of a few turnoffs I wanted to investigate later, and then kept heading uphill, looking for the end of the park. It wasn't particularly steep or technical, so it didn't take long to get to the fence.
But there was a gate on it! Apparently beyond the fence lies Sonora Ridge Trail, which I'd never heard of. Looked bike-friendly (I later verified that it was), so I went on through. This led me on a very pleasant 2 km loop, across two bridges over the creek, and back to the starting point near the end of the park trail. This is the perfect loop to do once you get up there. As long as you don't mind the familiar (at least to Chico folk) stinging sensation of starthistle poking at your legs, anyway.
Having had done some exploration on the south side of the creek, it was time to head to the north side. I pedaled up Cahparral Trail with views down onto Lake Marie. This trail quickly steepened and cut two harsh switchbacks which were impossible for me to navigate uphill. Even downhill would have been tough, and a crash would have sent you sprawling down a steep starthistle-infested slope. I walked it past, and kept going.
Dropping back to lake level, I crossed the earthen dam and met up with the man-of-the-family I'd seen on the trail earlier. They had come up to fish, but apparently only one of the bikes made it up. (They took the rest back down to their cars.)
"Do they stock the lake?" I asked.
He watched as one of the girls grabbed some bait from the tacklebox and ran eagerly back to the shore.
"I don't know," he said with a smile.
Turning around, I crossed the dam again, and ran west on Marie Creek Trail. This was a mostly good fast trail with some obstacles (big rocks and wood) and steep drops and steps. I had lowered my seat earlier because this allows you to actually lower your butt behind the seat while the bike is going very steeply downhill. It's important to do that so that the center of gravity doesn't get too far forward and you do exactly what I'm about to tell you I did.
The trail dropped off some rocks, losing about 1 meter of elevation in the span of 1 meter. 45-degree slope. As I approached, I analyzed the best slope, and took it, not looking far enough ahead to the bottom... where a nice stone ridge awaited my front wheel. The front wheel planted, and my center of gravity was not far enough back to prevent the bike from pitching forward and dumping me over the handlebars onto the trail. This is what is known as an "endo". It's not something you really ever want to do. Lots of potential for scrapes and bruises, as well as broken wrists, fingers, arms, noses, and teeth.
Down I went. Fortunately the trail where I landed was dirt. And maybe all the pushups I've been doing paid off, because my chin never hit the ground, and my sunglasses which were folded into the neck of my shirt were not crushed. My wrists and arms survived intact.
In fact, the only damage was a deep bruise to my left palm (still hurts now, but it should be 90% tomorrow and 100% the next day), and a small scrape and blood blister on my right middle finger knuckle. The bike has some scrapes on it, too.
Deciding I was ok, I went to move the bike, but the back wheel was locked up, and the brake was jammed closed. Curses. Luckily, all that had happened was the wreck had jarred the back wheel out of place at the hub by about 1-2 mm, and that was pressing the brake pads up against the tire rubber. I flipped the bike over, reset the wheel, and everything seemed good to go.
So I went, but a little more gingerly and scaredy-cat than before. The palm bruise made it a little uncomfortable to grip the handlebars, too.
But anyway! The trail paralleled a mossy stone wall that ran through the oaks, which I found fascinating. Greg has told me stories about these "mystery walls" around the Bay Area that predate western inhabitants, and I wondered if this was one of them. But there's no way to really tell. It was probably associated in some way with the ruins of the house, spotted earlier.
Cutting through the stone wall was the other end of Rim Rock Trail. I'd seen the far end of it by Chapparal Trail, but it was too steep to climb, and hardly utilized. Lots of switchbacks. So I thought I'd try it from this way. It was easier, to be sure, but in the end, I decided, it was still too steep. It would be a great hike, though--I suspect the views from the top of Sugarloaf Peak (497 meters) would be spectacular!
Instead, I followed a sign to Fig Tree which put me back to the picnic area I'd stopped at earlier in the day. I ate a PBJ, swapped out water bottles, and watched equestrians go by as I ate.
Rested, I turned back to follow Manzanita Trail on the north side of the creek. Some climbing put me back up a hill where, having lost momentum, I was forced to push the bike past a couple more switchbacks by hand. The terrain was very unforgiving with lots of rock outcroppings and big rocks embedded in the trail. I definitely was subjecting my tires, rims, and pedals to significant impact abuse on this. And it was technically very very challenging for me to ride and I was dabbing all over the place. Guess I need more practice! This trail makes all of China Camp look tame!
When I did stop, I could take in some of the views of the surrounding territory, which were good from this dry trail, aptly overground with low manzanita scrub.
As the trail rounded a hill, it turned into another oak grove, and began switching back to lose some elevation. The switchbacks were tight and steep and I was in no mood to be challenged by them. (I'd already lept over the handlebars on a switchback on Marie Creek Trail before the endo, and I figured that was enough off-bike excitement for a day.)
The last switchback was wide enough for me to negotiate, satisfyingly.
It was all downhill from there, past the disc golf course, past the archery range, and back to the park entrance. I ate my other sandwich, got another water bottle fill for the drive home, and hit the road.
