Route: 1st Loop: Coit Road, right on Grapevine,
left on Cullen, right on Grizzly Gulch trail, left on Spike Jones trail,
right on Timm, down a "black diamond" trail with jumps and technical
stuffs (fun), right on Coit Road, right on Anza Trail, right on Jackson
Trail, left on Elderberry Spring Trail, left on Rock Tower Trail, right
on Domino Pond Trail, right on Wasno Road, right on Dexter Trail, left
on Grizzly Gulch Trail, right on Serpentine Trail, left on Steer Ridge
Road, right on Wagon Road, right on Phegley Trail, right on Hunting
Hollow Road to the HH parking lot.

Route: 2nd Loop: Lyman Willson Trail, Bowl Trail, Wagon Road, Coit Road,
Coit Dam Trail (to Coit Lake), Coit Ridge Trail, White Tank Spring Trail
(connector), Coit Road to Pacheco Camp. Back to Coit Road, White Tank
Spring Trail, Hoover Trail, Willow Ridge Road, Willow Ridge Trail,
Mahoney Meadows Road, Lost Spring Trail (preferred route), Mahoney
Meadows Road, Coit Road, No Name Fire Road (we missed Cross Canyon
Trail), Grapevine Trail, Coit Road, Gilroy Hot Springs Road to HH
parking Lot.

I arrived in the parking lot at 6:45 AM and found Paul Nam handing out
maps. I asked him for one and he seemed surprised that I would be
joining the group on the usual yearly insanity. I felt up for it and
handed him my credentials to qualify. He seemed impressed and allowed my
joining the group.

At 6:45 am we started off. There were 8 mountain bikes and 1 tandem
mountain bike. I'm always impressed of such a thing as a mountain tandem
and this husband and wife team were very impressive. Switchbacks and
steep hills were handled without fear and expert skill.
At this point we headed left up Coit Road and up the Grapevine Trail to
Anza Trail and a left on Cullen Trail. Cullen Trail is a 200 ft. climb
single track and down to a fun but technical downhill with some
difficult switchbacks. It's in pretty good shape. But it is a difficult
trail to negotiate. Paul Nam cleared it all. Nice riding. Even he was
impressed with himself. We turned right on Grizzly Gulch Trail and then
headed up Spike Jones Trail. Up a little past the second trail head for
the Timm Trail we headed down an unmarked trail with many jumps and some
switchbacks. I rolled all of the jumps except one (this one being a 2
foot tall launch that looked damn scary. I think we all avoided this
jump). Near the end of the trail was a sketchy s curve. The tandem went
for it and the woman on back pretty much launched off and rolled or
skidded on the trail and skinned herself up pretty good with some bumps
and bruises. We all stopped. She was ok luckily (apologies for not
getting the names of the couple on the tandem). Most of us didn't even
attempt this. I walked it. We finished this trail and it was back to
Coit Road.

Up Coit Road again and up Anza/Jackson. and up Elderberry Spring Trail.
Rock Tower Trail to right on Domino Pond Trail (this I cleared), and a
right on Wasno Road. The fog had cleared back by now and the weather was
very pleasant. Really a great day for a looong ride. We headed right on
Dexter Trail taking the various single track diversions originally made
by game and had a fun downhill trek. It was a left on Grizzly Gulch
Trail and up Serpentine Trail (of which I also cleared, no easy feet and
3 major climbs, the last being the most difficult). Once up at the top
we rested a while and one of the crew called Phillip who in last year's
Hectic Metric almost died. We mentioned the hope of doing 15K ft. and he
said the tandem crew should only get credit for 7,500 ft. each. He also
let us know that his wife was up there doing a short ride. And a couple
of us saw her not long after that (what are the odds?).

We turned left on Steer Ridge Road and right on Wagon Road for a fun let
go completely fly down. Wagon Road ascended to Phegley Trail as we
passed Redfern Pond. Phegley is fun single track that was recently
worked on by Paul and his crew. It's pretty nice but I flew off on a
difficult switchback. Sort of a easy "superman" fall with arms straight
out to break the fall. I banged my knee slightly, but no damage.

From there it was Hunting Hollow and back to the cars to end the first
loop. It was 27 miles and 6,275 ft. Small mileage for large elevation
gain. Ten thousand feet seemed very much in reach. Time was 1:30 pm.

The second loop: After about half an hour we started the second loop. It
was 1:50 pm. Back up Hunting Hollow to Lyman Willson Trail. The wall was
somehow cleared by me. In fact, we all cleared it. That tandem was
impressive. Up Wagon Road to Coit Road. I suggested a diversion to Coit
Dam/Coit Spring Trail. It was also suggested that we take a swim in Coit
Lake since the temperatures had climbed to swimming levels. That was
agreed upon emphatically. We all took a 15-20 minute swim break. The
water was lovely.

Back up Coit Dam Trail and left to Coit Ridge Trail. Down passed White
Tank Spring and onto Pacheco Camp for water. The tandem crew were
filling at various springs throughout this ride since all they had were
3 water bottles. This worked out very well for them. Once at Pacheco
Camp I got to try out my new water filter. It worked well.

We went back to White Tank Spring Trail and started up it (backwards).
It wasn't too bad. There were a couple of sections we all had to walk
but all in all not bad. Near the landing strip and after the Rose Dam
Trail I noticed my front tire was low on air. I pulled over and replaced
the tube while the others took a brake. It was mentioned that I should
have had this flat at the landing strip of Hoover Pond. I agreed and
apologized.

We took the level Hoover Pond Trail to Hoover Pond. I splashed some
water on my head from the pond and it felt glorious. There were 2
couples camping there. Youngsters. Past the pond the trail heads up. A
steep climb that meant walking the bike. My energy was waning. Luckily
the others were doing the same. Although Tom on the non-tandem bike
climbed up most of it. Tom has a hell of a lot of energy and I wonder
how many feet he could do in a day. Who knows?

It was onto Willow Ridge Road. I was seriously considering turning back
at this point. I looked forward to Willow Ridge Trail but didn't relish
the Mahoney Wall or Lost Spring Trail let alone the rest of Mahoney
Meadows Road. Once at the Mahoney Wall the tandem and Tom cleared it. I
didn't. Up Lost Spring Trail. I opted to go last. I didn't do too bad.
The tandem stopped at a few points because they simply couldn't clear
it. A couple of switchbacks were missed. Good. I didn't mind stopping at
this point.

We got to Mahoney Meadows and took a break. I had downed another cliff
bar as this was my fifth. Energy was waning. We were past 10k at Willow
Ridge Road (10,200 at that point) and I was in a rarefied level. I must
have downed 6 or 7 tums at that point also.

At Coit Road it was suggested that we turn left on Coit Road to
Grapevine Trail for a "fun" ride down. I was seriously needing to get
back. Tom was the deciding vote. He wanted to do Grapevine all along. He
also wanted to tack on the 2 mile Anza Trail at the end of Grapevine. I
was out voted and convinced to stick with the others. We went down Cross
Canyon Trail, right. The tandem missed the turn off by the tree as I
forgot to point this out. I yelled to stop the others but only Tom
stopped. The tandem was long gone. So we went down that No Name Road. A
very fast ride down. At one point Tom fell off his bike (going very
fast). I came up as he was on the ground and asked if he was alright. He
said he was but that he was very sore and said to go on. I caught up
with the tandem and explained that Tom crashed but he was alright. We
waited and Tom rode up looking fine. Down Grapevine and to Anza Trail.
We all decided to go to Coit Road and end the ride.

Back to HH Parking Lot for the second time. Sore but satisfied. A fine
ride and a hell of an accomplishment.