Coe - Charlie's Big Chill ride

Charlie called for a ride on this cold and chilly but otherwise beautiful December day in Coe. Hence this ride should be known as Charlie’s Big Chill ride I figure.

I only decided to join on the very last minute, since I was still licking my wounds from a crash on Jackson a week earlier; when I showed up on the parking lot, I saw a large group assembled. Amongst them were Paul and Chris, sporting their tandem (!), Mei and Eric, Ratpick/Patrick, Charlie of course and Roy, who wasn’t going up with us on Lyman-Wilson but was heading instead northwards, on a mission to clean the Willow Ridge trail climb.

I had to improvise a bit with my gear, as my bike shorts were rubbing my road rash the wrong way; so I went in running shorts and some band aids. Extra chilly, but oh well, the Lyman-Wilson Wall was there to warm us up. Quite a few folks were cleaning it, including Paul and Chris on their tandem – an awesome sight, that I captured with my cell phone camera (I forgot my real camera at home, duh).

Charlie had the idea of climbing Deer Logic which wasn’t a bad one at all: this turned out to be quite reasonable and entertaining – I think Ratpick climbed it clean – I dabbed on some of the steep sections so I’ll need to return and finish my homework.

The descents were giving me some trouble, as sudden twists and bumpy sections at speed became somewhat painful. So it was bye bye Kelly Cabin / Cross Canyon trail for me, as I decided to have some quality time on Willow Ridge road. I was hoping to run into Roy on Willow Ridge trail (the singletrack) – this is a great downhill by the way, first time I went down it. No Roy to be seen however, so I carried on to Los Cruzeros. To my surprise, I cleaned the Mahoney Meadows Wall and Lost Springs trail without too much trouble – traction is perfect these days and if you want to solve some hard climbing problems, now is the time.

More Mahoney Meadows then and finally I ended up on Coit road and Cross Canyon. I went down the singletrack a bit until I ran into Ratpick, and after climbing back out waited for the rest of the group. Time to head back then, and I chose the quick way out (Cross Canyon – Grapevine) as I was starting to get sore again.

On Hunting Hollow, I met Paul, Chris, Bryan and the Monterey guys again, amongst whom the now famous Jason, aka ‘T-shirt guy’ – he did the whole cold thing in just a T-shirt and shorts.

It was great to be out here today, good to see Mei back from injury, thanks Charlie for providing the motivation, and Paul and Chris for providing as usual great inspiration!

My edited iPhone video of the ride – check out the tandem cleaning the Lyman-Wilson Wall!