Steve's Mountain Bike Page
Turlock, California

Downieville, CA
November 19, 2005

Because of near record snowfall in the Sierras this past winter we got screwed out of at least one month of riding in the early summer. Well, the bike gods decided to make it up to us by greatly extending the fall riding season. Today I rode at Downieville, high in the California Sierras with Marshal (29erchico). It was 25 degrees in Downieville at 7:30 in the morning so we bundled up, expecting the worst at the 7,100 ft. starting point. However it turned out to be clear blue skies, no wind and perhaps 65 degrees! We shed most of our winter clothes and headed out towards Pauley Creek, intending to do Big Boulder, Second Divide and then 1st Divide. However, on Big Boulder we occasionally hit some frozen trail and even a bit of ice in some shaded areas.

I'm much more of a XC aerobic enthusiast so I've always felt a bit guilty just doing all the downhill stuff at Downieville. So this summer I mastered the Big Boulder Trail, which has quite a bit of XC and some pretty serious climbing. However, three years ago when I was just back on the bike I did 2nd Divide with Dennis (The 0gre) and all I remember was pushing my bike a lot and killing my knees walking down a lot of steep descents. But this day was just so perfect, reaching 70 degrees by the time we got to 2nd Divide, that we went for it.

Apparently I've improved quite a bit in the past three years because it was quite a blast! There were only two hike-a-bike sections that probably very few could ride. And since I could do all the descents I spared my knees the torture of walking downhill. 2nd Divide has a lot of really nice flowing singletrack and a lot of fairly gnarly stuff on narrow rocky trails high above a roaring river. I highly recommend it. On Big Boulder Marshal had what at first seemed like a fairly harmless fall. But he dinged his head a bit, bruised some ribs, and started feeling it later in the ride. But who would have thought we could have such a beautiful ride at the end of November in the Sierras? Thanks biking gods! It was pretty dark in the forests so I didn't get very many decent photos. Below are a few.

Click on an image to enlarge it

Unloading the bikes	Marshal	Downieville Outfitters hottie	Do we qualify?	Beautiful day
On to Big Boulder	Armor time	On Big Boulder	On Big Boulder	Marshal on Big Boulder
Marshal Post fall	On to 2nd Divide	Marshal on Big Boulder	Interesting tree	On 2nd Divide
Marshal on 2nd Divide	On 2nd Divide	On 2nd Divide	Marshal on 1st Divide	Me on 1st Divide

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