Tacky Trails for Bike to Play Day at Passion Trail Bikes

May showers are bringing us some of the best late spring trail conditions in years. No dust, plenty of traction, and not too hot! So come ride with us tomorrow on Bike to Play day, the day before Bike to Work Day! There will be a couple of groups heading out for the Belmont Half-Mountain Challenge, as well as attempting some of the other challenging climbs in the park. Patty will be back with her FBG coaching on the ride, so bring out your novice mountain bikers. And that’s the word on the trail, for May 11, 2010.

1. Wednesday Wrides, Tacky tacky tacky. 6:30pm
2. Belmont Half-Mountain II Time Trial
3. Trailwork in Waterdog After Work Friday 5pm
4. Save the Date! Ales and Trails – June 26, 2010
5. Bike to Work Day is May 13th – Get a Friend to Ride!
6. Ecocyclist: Ceanothus is Blooming


1. Wednesday Wrides, Tacky tacky tacky. 6:30pm
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Sunset is at 8:09PM this Wednesday 05/12/2010. Twilight ends and near-darkness falls right around 8:50pm.
Next week on May 19 the Regular Ride launches at 6:30PM, and will for the rest of the summer.

This week we are going to work on our climbing skills and speed, as ego-boosting conditions exist right now with tacky traction on the climbs and cool temps to keep your core from heating up as you work on a personal best. If you want to be extra tacky, some of us are bringing the brightest lycra roadie kits and sunglass-demanding socks out for this ride. Patty will be coaching any novice riders who want some tips on getting into this sport without too much pain and scabbing.

Peter climbing out the bottom of Finch Trail, with blooming ceanothus in the background

P. L. E. A. S. E. . . . P. U. T. . . . L. I. G. H. T. S. . . . O. N ! ! ! !

Please remember to put a light on your handlebar and have a blinky ready for the ride back to the shop! CA vehicle code requires it. Don’t get caught out on the streets in the dark! Also, a reminder that we need to be super conscientious about stopping at stop signs and lights, yielding to pedestrians, and operating our bikes predictably and responsibly while on the roads and trails. Let’s be safe and kind out there.

For all the details about what makes each group listed below unique, please refer to this webpage. If your questions aren’t answered there, you can also email us for info at info@passiontrailbikes.com.

All rides start pedaling from the shop: Passion Trail Bikes, 415 Old County Road, Belmont, CA 94002 650-620-9798.

The FRISKY rides will go out at 6:15 PM.
The REGULAR rides will go out at 6:30 PM.
The WHITE SOCKS ride will go out at 6:35 PM.
The FBG or Fat Bottomed Girl ride will go out at 6:35 PM.
The STRAGGLERS ride may form and start chasing around 6:45 PM.
For future planning, we have the upcoming start times each week for the first wave of the REGULAR ride posted on our Community Calendar

Note we may not have leaders for each ride but usually someone knows their way around. All groups will meet back here at Passion Trail Bikes right around dark for the usual story telling & beverage enjoyment. We will have stuff to eat plus chips and fatty snacks and EANABS to pair up with the Devil’s Canyon Brewery’s Full Boar Scotch Ale, Silicon Blonde Ale, and Little Devil Root Beer. We will hang out until about 10pm, so come on down, even if you can’t make the ride! Passion Parties are better with YOU in the mix!

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2. Belmont Half-Mountain II Time Trial
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Once again, Krishna has posted a self-serve Half Mountain Time Trial up on MTBR’s NorCal Forum.. This time it’s the climb up Finch. We have a time posted on our newsletter archive that quotes Krishna’s pre-fatherhood time as 6:28 without any time bonuses. Check yourself out and bring your stopwatch on your next trip to Waterdog!

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3. Trailwork in Waterdog After Work Friday 5pm
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Patty has an after work trailwork project scheduled for this Friday at 5pm. Meet at the dam. We will deliver some tool boxes where we can store tools on the Lake Loop Trail. We will unload, do some assembly of boxes, carry, deliver tools, do some needed project nearby, lock up tools and be done. Please RSVP to Patty at patty@passiontrailbikes.com, and let her know you want to join in so she knows she won’t be alone in this effort.

Patty and Benita filling a retaining wall overlooking the lake on the Lake Loop Trail

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4. Save the Date! Ales and Trails – June 26, 2010
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Save the Date! Ales and Trails – June 26, 2010
Don’t miss the seventh annual Ales and Trails – Benefit for IMBA California sponsored by Marin Bikes www.marinbikes.com. Join us at China Camp State Park in San Rafael, CA for guided rides and professional skills clinics, bike demos, beer tasting from seven local breweries, live music and a gourmet bbq from the Culinary Institute of America. All proceeds go to IMBA California!

Stay tuned to www.alesandtrails.com for more details!

2010 Event Highlights:

• Skills Clinics and Guided Rides
• Bike Demos
• Bike Tune-ups
• Skills Progression Zone
• Gourmet BBQ
• Beer and Root Beer Garden
• Live Music
• Silent Auction
• Dirt Rag Photo Contest
• Local Hero Awards
• Kids Fun Ride
• Pro Rider Skills Demo

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5. Bike to Work Day is May 13th – Get a Friend to Ride!
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May is Bike Month. Next Thursday, May 13th, is Bike to Work Day. Help get a friend who doesn’t normally ride, to ride to work!

The Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition has a lot of resources available on their website for people to plan routes, find energizer stations, and learn about riding safely on the roads.

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6. Ecocyclist: Ceanothus is Blooming

What does it take to be an ecocyclist you might ask? Well one thing you don’t need is a willingness to subject yourself to learning the latin names of plants and animals. Although some names are kind of cool and obvious, like Puma. Puma concolor being our local mountain lion. And last weeks’ subject, Crotalus oreganus, just sounds cool when you say it and it makes you sound smart when you drop it in casual conversation (umm, maybe not).

Interestingly, a couple of California native plants are best known by their latin names, and Ceanothus is one of them. Wild Lilac is one of its common names, but once you get close it doesn’t look a whole lot like a lilac, and although sweet in scent, it doesn’t smell a whole lot like lilac either. Another name for Ceanothus is Blue Blossom. Hmm. That sounds familiar, where…? Oh, yeah, a trail in El Corte de Madera Open Space Preserve, called the Blue Blossom Trail. This trail winds through an area that was more recently logged than other parts of the preserve, and as a result, the many gaps in the forest canopy let in light and allowed sun-loving shrubs such as ceanothus to gain a foothold.

There are dozens of Ceanothus species. The one along the Blue Blossom Trail is Ceanothus thyrsiflorus. It’s tall, lanky, and has sparse but pretty blue flowers. It lives about 20 years, during which time it has been racing for the sky along with much faster growing conifers such as Redwoods and Fir trees. When it gets very tall it has a tendency to fall over since the sandy soils its roots are in tend to crumble in the dry days of summer and slump in the wet days of winter. Many of the ceanothus bushes along this trail are nearing “senescence” and are starting to lose the battle for sunlight as the conifers overtop them and eventually put them in too much shade to thrive any more. Beware racing around blind turns as they are very stiff and woody, and when they fall over and block the trail they will force you to stop whether you have enough control to do so or not. Eventually the ceanothus along this trail will become rare as the forest closes over and only deep shade and the sideways skeletons of dead shrubs under the towering trees remain.

In Waterdog, the white flowering bushes along Upper Creek Trail are mostly Ceanothus cuneatus, or Buck Brush. Buck Brush is better adapted to the full sun, and is much longer lived than the species that grows in ECdM. Buck brush has interesting contortions to its trunk, which are nice to view as you climb up this south facing slope. Some of these shrubs are probably at least 50 years old, maybe 100, being the dominant species of this particular habitat. Buck Brush also has spiny thorns, which are not so nice if you have an up close encounter with your shoulder as you descend. I get the feeling that these two varieties of ceanothus are united in their desire to get you to go slowly and enjoy nature. Most of the white blooms are faded already but a few are still out there.

Ceanothus is a beautiful shrub and many varieties in all their different forms and colors can be purchased at native plant nurseries. My favorite place to go for natives is Yerba Buena Nursery which is off of Rapley Ranch Road, just north of Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve. One of my favorite varieties is called Ceanothus Yankee Point; it’s a low growing bush adapted to the salty winds off the ocean, and it puts out very dark dense blue flowers each summer. Make sure you have a site in mind before you buy a ceanothus plant and get a variety that is well adapted to the specific conditions at that site.

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Read back issues of the Passion Trail Bikes Community e-Newsletter on our website.

To contact us, email us at info@passiontrailbikes.com, or call the shop at 650-620-9798.

Happy Trails, from the PTB crew
Charles, Patty, John, Bret, Sterling, Pancho, Will, Derek, Matt, Peter, and Reba