My most recent ride found me in peak “search and get destroyed” mode. After several weeks of sniffing around for reasonable routes, I’ve begun to feather out into new territory like a slime mold searching for a new food source. I headed for my new ol’ faithful, Lake Youngs, east of South Seattle’s suburbia. This …
For me riding a bike is as much the smells as it is the sights. The things you get a whiff of while out on a ride set a subtle tone to the whole affair. Smells are seasonal, regional, and enable nostalgia. From the sweet petrichor fumes of my native New Mexico to the earthen …
Riding into a construction site here isn’t uncommon. In fact, if you got any measurable explorer’s bone in your body and regularly scout out new roads, then riding here means consistent jaunts through something being built. It comes as no surprise, considering a huge portion of the economy is propped up by construction and government …
With the CDC骑 race/ride series out in the open air, I’ve felt the pressure to get all my ducks in a row, and begin the process of scouting and designing the race routes. Sunday proved sunny and warm(ish), so it seemed an opportune moment to ride the upper stretch of the intended CDCL route (part …
I recently decided to pay a visit to Taipei. To start with, I’d spoken with my friend Jeff (of Factory Five). He has a habit of asking me to join him in whatever travels he may be undertaking. There’s always a rationale along with it, in this case the visit coincided with the Taipei Cycle …
The town where we’d spent the night was remote. By vehicle is was only accessible from the steppe above. Otherwise you were looking at a long descent through an isolated valley, tracing a line along Gongga’s back, downward. In the village the trail was a double wide track, that cut a steep path along an …
The next day was a mad dash to reduce our load, yet again, to make sure we could get everyone’s things through the final pass for our next night’s stay. The pass was closed to everything but local vehicles. We had a check gate up ahead, but figured we’d take a whack at getting the …
The evening before the ride we shuttled into a valley sitting above Xinduqiao. It’s an area I’d never visited before. The homes featured the traditional Tibetan bearing, but had roofs with curved awnings. The undersides, an overlay of wooden slats, were dyed in shades of bright turquoise or green. The hilltops were forested, and slowly …
Having skipped out on part one of two, of the round-Yala-MTB adventure, the second day of riding could be modified to cover a portion of the originally-planned route. We’d decided to stay in Kangding that night, in lieu of camping, which meant we could do the drive to the “finish” of the day’s intended route, …
The day broke and everyone woke up, shattered from the previous days of wet riding. Sleeping at 3800m didn’t aid the situation any. Abu (the trip’s lead guide), having taken stock of the day’s route from the previous day’s viewpoint, decided it best to scrap an attempt to make the pass and camp beneath Yala …
Day two was a beastie. We needed to shuttle to the start, a drive roughly 2 hours long. This put us up over the pass at Zheduo Shan, down into the valley that houses Xinduqiao, before making a right turn to begin the slow climb back up to Tagong. It’s this stretch of road that …
We started at Muya Holy Park. The manager for the 景区(scenic area) seemed like a solid dude. His associate hopped on the bus to get some photogs of the gang before we set out. Beautiful scenery as the sun began to burst out of the clouds. Highly auspicious. Until we hit the boardwalk down to …