Steve's Mountain Bike Page
Turlock, California

Downieville, CA

July 2, 2005

Today I rode at Downieville with Dick (Cohenfive) and Bill (GuruAtma). We did two runs, the first down Butcher Ranch, then 3rd and 1st Divides. The second down Pauley Creek and then 3rd and 1st Divides again. The weather was perfect, perhaps 80 degrees, and the trails were in excellent condition. We saw a few small patches of snow under a few trees towards the top and there was a bit of running water down a few of the upper trails. Pauley Creek was fairly deep but when the other guys hesitated, I just plowed through it, and I barely made it. This was my first downhill ride on my new Stumpjumper and it performed quite well. I went down nearly everything, made nearly all the switchbacks, and I only had to dismount a few times. 

Both guys are much better riders and I had a bit of trouble keeping up. But occasionally they slowed and let me catch up. The video camera on my helmet caused it to bounce and shift around quite a bit on the bumpy stuff so that made the ride quite a bit more challenging. I also forgot how many low branches there are on some of the trails and I had quite a time dodging them. These trails are perfect for me, super challenging, often narrow with steep drop-offs, and just barely doable. That means really paying attention 100% of the time, especially when trying to go as fast as possible. I only had one fall. I was trying to catch the guys on a fairly fast section, I hit a good size rock and I landed on my shoulder and elbow. The shoulder got scraped up quite a bit but one of the guys had some Neosporin, which he applied. Fortunately I was wearing my elbow pads, but even with them it hurt quite a bit. It would have been a disaster without them. 

Dick had a minor fall when his tire went flat and he just rolled off the trail. I've really gotten to like the Pauley Creek route. It has a four mile fireroad approach, a steep gnarly jeep road full of big babyheads, great singletrack, a cool stream crossing, and some nice bridges. It also dumps you out on to lower Butcher Ranch. I think both guys also preferred the Pauley Creek route. I've ridden with Bill many times at Annadel, but I've never seen him so excited, nor skilled. He was launching off rocks, whooping it up, and giddy as a schoolgirl. The only disappointing thing about the trip was that the Pauley Creek video didn't come out because I failed to notice the lens was zoomed out, causing all that footage to be out of focus. But I guess that's a good excuse to go back and do it again! Thanks for a great ride guys! Maps here.

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The shuttle Unloading at
Packer Saddle		 View from
Packer Saddle		 Nice scenery On the
trail
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Bill on
a bridge		 Shuttle
Company		 Bill Ready to
rock!		 Top of
Pauley Creek
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Bill attempts Bill attempts Both attempt Dick goes
back for more		 Missed again
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Dick out
of the creek		 Bill Bill, Dick
along Pauley Ck.		 Bill ready
to rail ride		 Bill liked
this tree
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Dick on
a bridge		 Dick Happy
campers!		 My shoulder
Photo by Bill		 Me & Bill
Photo by Dick

 

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