mountain bike headquarters home page
Subject: 10K Ride Report Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 14:08:51 EDT
Well, the day started out foggy at 8am in downtown Forest Knolls with 5 riders showing for the second annual Freewheeler 10K. These riders were Babs, Cody (the kid), Franklin, Vernal, and of course your Dictator.
We left up arroyo headed to the top of Barnabee. Were we slowly rised above the fog and were greeted with a spectacular view of ridgetops poking thru the fog all around. then we headed down Bill's to jewel and up Bo Ridge. At the top of the Shaft, the Babs bailed for school and we were left with 3. We continued with Bo Ridge where the Vernanator and I were paced by a good sized Buck for a 1/4 mile or so. Then we went on to Ridgecrest and down to Pantol for water.
We split into 2 groups here with Frankie and the kid taking Deer Park and Vernal and I doing Coastal and Heather Cutoff. The plan was to meet on top of Coyote Ridge via Middle Green Gulch. Upon arriving at the top of Coyote, I was joined by Vernal. This is where we witnessed the kid take a wrong turn at the top. Instead of making a left to the summit, he took a right and dropped down Coastal to Muir Beach again. DOOHH! I looked at vernal and said "we just lost the kid ." Then when Franco arrived we shifted the blame to him. You know he was the only father in the group. His reply was "he's not my kid and I don't know his mother."
We were now down to 3. >From this point we took Miwok to Dipsea to Pipeline to Newcastles at the Mountain Home Inn sans Frankie who continued up Gravity Car to Railroad Grade. We regrouped on Railroad and it was agreed that we would regroup at Joint Point on Upper Eldridge. I arrived at the point first feeling good and waited sometime for the boys to arrive. By now it was 4:30 and Franco stated that he wouldn't have enough time to finish. Vernal's leg were starting to tire and he doubted he would be able to finish too. At this point they wished me good luck and I continued on.
I proceeded down Eldridge to the Lake Loop around Lagunitas then pavement to shaver. On Shaver there was a control burn just winding down and the air was filled smoke. Off in the forest around me were small fires still burning. With no time to waste I went thru Deer Park and on to scouts. Scouts was uneventful with not a single person in sight. Then I slowly climbed the ridge to 17 knolls. Then up to the summit of Green Hill. This is the point last year where we hit 10,000ft. So when I checked my altimeter I was shocked to see that it only said 9,750. DOOHH! I decided that if I continued on the ridge all the way to the dam, I would reach the 10k. And that's what happened. Upon arriving home just after 7pm, it took only 1 hour and 20 minutes for me to shower, eat, and fall asleep on the couch! Maybe next year we will start at 7am.
Freewheeler 10K Stats:
5 starters and 1 finisher
10,150 ft. of climbing
70 miles 6.3 mph average speed including stops
11:01 hours
A special thanks to Babs, Cody, Frankie, and Vernal for making this a memorable ride.
Randy