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After months of persuasion, Priscilla agreed to try DH with me. She was never a big fan of the technical aspect of this genre of riding, but since she’s super cool and a kick butt rider, she figured it was worth a shot.

Since she’s never done DH before, the protective equipment we had for her was pretty limited. We had to borrow Moe’s chest protector and Priscilla used the POC Cortex DH helmet. We did have some knee and elbow pads, but even those were a bit big. I told her that if she likes DH, then we’ll definitely invest in better gear for her.

So our morning started off with my packing up the van and loading up the bikes. She was going to ride the Ibex Ignition that I used to win the Shimano Winter Series. This time I was riding a stock KHS XCT 555 (stock except for the ghetto tubeless conversion).

We arrived at Fontucky and began to suit up, we hiked up the mountain and proceeded to go down one of the many courses we’ve raced before. Though Priscilla felt scared at times, she rode through the trail with confidence. I have to say I’m very proud of her and you can see in the video that she has some major potential. So this leads us to the question, “Will she ride DH again?” The answer is YES. I better start saving up for some gear for her! But let me clarify, she would do it again, but not race DH. I didn’t care if she raced or not, I was just glad to see her doing DH.

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A small crack commando group from the MtnBikeRiders Crew assembled a relaxed vibe ride that consisted of a fantastic lap around the Fullerton Loop. This ride was to be followed by an Easter Egg Hunt at the trail head. Invites were sent and our fab-O-luscious friend, Vince Rodarte (KHS Sideways Sales Manager), and his two awesome kids, Dylan and Erin joined us for the ride. We were also graced by the presence of our two great friends Dan and Khoa.

Man now that I think about it, I didn’t take a pictures of the ride, only videos. Forgive me if I’ve used this song before.

Watch the little guy wearing the FreeAgent jersey and helmet (Dylan R.). The fella rode about 8 miles of the Loop on a BMX bike!

By the way, I have to mention that Priscilla rode her single speed and she was on FIRE!

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Months of racing every other week can take a toll on a person. After seeing Joe’s Sycamore Canyon video, we set up a relaxed vibe ride last Saturday. One of the things we wanted to do was ride the trail on single speed bikes. I checked with our buddy Randall and he said that the trail was SS friendly. Well, I should have taken into consideration that Randall doesn’t own a SS and that he rode the trail on his 27spd bike.

The posse, I was showing off my new sunglasses that I purchased at the Ladies section at Walmart…$10 bucks and they even had a star on the temple!

With that said, we still set out for the trail. We met up with Jeremy, David, Val and two new friends, Dan and Ian. This was Priscilla’s first group ride on her SS and I have to tell ya, she did great! The girl was a natural. All her spin classes had paid off because she was pretty darn consistent, meaning she was climbing most of the hills and was able to keep up with the other multi-geared riders.

Since Joe was on this trail not too long ago, he was our tour guide. With his handy dandy GPS device, he was leading us through some tough climbs and sweet single track.

At one point…I think mile 4 of the ride, we came across some rocks that was beckoning my name…like a sweet sound of Sirens, I dared to go up on the rock in an attempt to jump it.

Here’s the entry…

The mid air shot

The rough landing…

and the result…

After brushing myself off, we continued on our adventure and found more miles of climbing and wonderful single track. But we stopped at another rock formation to get a group shot. Here’s Val and David taking a “sniper” shot of us.

This was also Jeremy’s first SS group ride. Oh I have to mention that he was riding the newly built Sette Razzo. If you’re wondering why David is walking down the hill, well he was trying to assist me. I was jacked up from this ride. My whole body was starting to give up.

There were many hike a bikes, but if you look, the guy with the sleeveless white shirt, that’s Dan. He made it up the hill on his granny gear!

We started the ride around 7:30am and didn’t get out of there until about 11am or so…by the end of it all, most of us ran out of water, and some were cramping up like crazy. However, I would like to thank Joe for leading the group and for being patient with me. Let’s just say I complained quite a bit…Here’s a helmet cam video that I took with the Vholdr. I wish I had more footage of the better single track, but my batteries died…bummer, but enjoy!

Sycamore Canyon Ride from RL Policar on Vimeo.

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For the past few years, I’ve made it a point to do a ride on New Year’s Day. Honestly its really hard to get a group ride going after a night full of partying. But luckily this year’s ride had a good turn out. We were joined by our newest riding buddy, David Sanderson as well as Eric “The Animal” Hunner. Priscilla, Moe and I met up with everyone this morning at 9:30am and rode the Loop at an easy pace.

Through out the ride, I was actually surprised by everyone’s performance. For the most part you wouldn’t think that any of them had hangovers…David recently purchased a new Redline Monocog 26 Single Speed and he was on fire.

Even though the rest of the crew did well riding, I was still recovering from being tired and fat. David and I actually rode Aliso Woods yesterday for a few hours. So if I include that ride, a long night trying to celebrate New Years, then my overall condition for riding was pretty sad…I was down right messed up. Luckily there’s this hot young thing that was kind enough to keep me company as I grinded my way through the trail…

David and Eric

The Moe

At one of the rest stops, we met up with our friend Christine. The last time we rode with her, she broke her derailleur hanger and chain. It took her shop a full month to get the hanger ordered and installed.

After the ride, we decided to eat at our favorite venue, Farmer Boys. Man that places has some great French Toast!
Moe, Eric, David, Christine and Priscilla. I was taking the photo.

As usual, we like to take short little videos of our adventures.

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Well the day came and went very quickly! The SC VELO XC CHALLENGE in San Dimas, CA was the kick off for our MtnBikeRiders Racing Team! I am happy to say we did these jerseys proud!

Race day started out with a lot of rain clouds and overcast skies. I was really worried about having to race in the mud but luckily the rain didn’t start until after we finished the race. The race course was 4 miles long and we were required to ride 3 laps. I know 12 miles doesn’t sound like much, but this by far was one of the most difficult trails that I have had to do laps. I would say the majority of it was climbing. There were only about three fun downhill drops and two singletracks, other than that it was uphill pedaling. Not my idea of fun, but it was a butt kicking race.

The first two laps weren’t so bad, but the third lap I really wanted to throw in the towel. I experienced a lot of cramping and had to walk a few hills that I had previously pedaled up. I was exhausted on that third lap but I was determined to finish. I was able to avoid a couple of crashes and my chain dropped on me twice..but other than that it was a pretty clean race.

This was a tough race and I am just happy to have finished!

Kim Finch kicked butt out there! 2nd place win!

Props to Joe “Gangsta” Solancho, Kim Finch, Eric “Animal” Hunner and “The Moe”! Great Job guys and gal. You guys rock! I really felt like we went out there and gave it our all, and I’m real proud to be part of this team. Thanks also to our sponsors: ERGON, HOSS, EVOMO and of course KHS for my sweet bike!!!

Thanks for all the support of families and friends that came out to cheer for us too. It was freezing out there and rainy by mid afternoon but everyone was a trooper about it. And a special “Thank You” to RL. He seriously put in a lot of time and muscle into the race for us. He was photographer, babysitter, videographer, water boy, snack boy, motivator and the set up crew. You are the best RL! I wouldn’t be able to race without your support babe. Love you.

My reward for a job well done: Pizza and a cold brew.

We’re looking forward to the next race in November! Check out our flickr account for more pics!

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