{"id":550,"date":"2011-03-12T22:23:54","date_gmt":"2011-03-13T06:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rides.actc.org\/?p=550"},"modified":"2011-03-12T22:25:23","modified_gmt":"2011-03-13T06:25:23","slug":"steeple-of-tres-pinos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rides.actc.org\/?p=550","title":{"rendered":"Steeple of Tres Pinos"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/address>\n

Ride Report, Our Favorite Kids ride, 2\/20\/11<\/h2>\n

by Guy Neenan<\/em><\/p>\n

This was a special Favorite Kids ride on the Sunday after the 2011 Black & Blue Ball. Twenty-one of us gathered in Hollister to do a counterclockwise Cienega Road loop with an out & back climb over to remote Santa Anita Valley. Our host, Jerome designed a simple 55-mile route with two 1000-ft. hills and an option to add an out\/back trip to the nether end of Qien Sabe Road. Special guests are Terry, from Sacramento, and Christine, a new member.<\/p>\n

Some of the special was the bright sun, crisp air, view to snowcrest on ridges of the San Benito Mountain Range, and the buzz about the events of last night\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ball.\u00c2\u00a0 No one realized how much shock, awe, and shaking this extraspecial adventure would bring.<\/p>\n

The entire week has been drenched and dreary.\u00c2\u00a0 Now the sun breaks-out like a thermonuclear flash in the sky.\u00c2\u00a0 Carbo-loaded major muscle groups are fresh and bloated with pent-up glycogen that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ready to burn.\u00c2\u00a0 In the hills of Cienega, leaders begin to break-off in twos and threes.\u00c2\u00a0 We regroup at Thousand Trails as usual.\u00c2\u00a0 We glide into the Harlan valley.\u00c2\u00a0 Riders cluster.\u00c2\u00a0 There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Jon, Joan, Donny, Stuart, Angel, Bryan, Ken and a new rider, Christie.<\/p>\n

As we begin north on Airline Highway toward Paicines junction, a discernable NW headwind begins to build.\u00c2\u00a0 Dutifully, I take my turn at the front of 9 riders.\u00c2\u00a0 We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re disciplined here because of the headwind, steady grade, lack of shoulder, and straight white line on the edge of the road.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only about a mile to Paicines and I feel good enough to keep pulling the group, head down.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Christie filters to the front.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Want a break?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00c2\u00a0My perception is imperfect.\u00c2\u00a0 Wind\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in my ear.\u00c2\u00a0 Excess T is in my veins.\u00c2\u00a0 I conceive that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Want to race?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No, lady.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not gonna race with you, here and now.\u00c2\u00a0 I only race if there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a tailwind or a downhill.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No, mister, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not challenging you to race.\u00c2\u00a0 I just offered to take a pull.\u00c2\u00a0 Wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you like to take a break?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Of course it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so.\u00c2\u00a0 The wind\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bore and so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m.<\/p>\n

We water-up from the hose bib in front of the Paicines roadhouse.\u00c2\u00a0 Stuart and I ask if others will join us for the extra Quien Sabe hill.\u00c2\u00a0 We leave the group here to get a headstart.\u00c2\u00a0 Possibly we can do the extra 8 miles and catch the group as we return to Hollister.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see you on Santa Anita Road.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

At the Paicines Road junction we see five local riders regrouping.\u00c2\u00a0 They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve come from the East on Paicines Road.\u00c2\u00a0 Stuart and I ride over to them.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey, are you guys going North?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yes, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re returning to Hollister.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going that way too.\u00c2\u00a0 We wonder if you guys could pull us 4.9 miles to Quien Sabe junction.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153OK\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Alright, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll lead-off here if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s OK.\u00c2\u00a0 Now are you all ready?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yeah.\u00c2\u00a0 Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s go.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Stuart leads-off. \u00c2\u00a0I get behind him, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m in monster gear.\u00c2\u00a0 I stand on the cranks and start a slow but showy chase after him.\u00c2\u00a0 Soon I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m able to sit and our new friends line-up behind us.\u00c2\u00a0 After a quarter mile, Stuart peels-off and I take a turn.\u00c2\u00a0 I peel-off and the blue demon takes over.\u00c2\u00a0 This guy is like a bull.\u00c2\u00a0 He pulls us for about 10 minutes, 3 miles.\u00c2\u00a0 None of his buddies interrupts him.<\/p>\n

The San Benito hills are smooth and tree-free.\u00c2\u00a0 They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re soft and soggy with rain.\u00c2\u00a0 Grass sprouts yellowgreen over a vast expanse.\u00c2\u00a0 The rounded hills appear like the sculpted flesh of mother nature.\u00c2\u00a0 We tred like tiny bugs across her magnificent verdant body.<\/p>\n

Past Bolado Park is a half-mile grade.\u00c2\u00a0 The demon fades and I lead again.\u00c2\u00a0 Eventually, the steeple of the Tres Pinos church begins to sprout from a low ridge.\u00c2\u00a0 Inspired, my left arm gestures to the steeple.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sunday.\u00c2\u00a0 I have to go there\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, I utter for some prophetic reason.\u00c2\u00a0 The others respond as if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re late for church.\u00c2\u00a0 Two guys burst forth, charging up the grade.\u00c2\u00a0 This is their turf.\u00c2\u00a0 They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going for the Tres Pinos town limit sign, just across the road from the church. \u00c2\u00a0Elev. 367 ft., Pop. 453. \u00c2\u00a0These guys are fresh, having had a free ride for the last 5 miles.\u00c2\u00a0 Stuart, the demon, and I are toast.\u00c2\u00a0 You see it in the Tour de France.\u00c2\u00a0 The sprinters never waste their energy by getting in front until the last meter of the race.<\/p>\n

We laugh & waive-off our Hollister hosts and start up the Quien Sabe escarpment.\u00c2\u00a0 Onto the road to remote Santa Anita Valley we enjoy the easy grades and intimacy of this sculpted narrow road.\u00c2\u00a0 There are only a couple of ranches along 7.5 miles of this deadend.\u00c2\u00a0 The surface of the road is like other remote roads in San Benito County.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worn pebbly asphalt, unimproved for 4 or 5 decades.\u00c2\u00a0 A rumbling boneshaker.<\/p>\n

Returning, we encounter Joan and Donny.\u00c2\u00a0 Joan has a distressed expression.\u00c2\u00a0 We stop to see if she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s OK.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No, I feel nauseated.\u00c2\u00a0 We just saw a parasailer fall from the sky.\u00c2\u00a0 It was horrible.\u00c2\u00a0 As we were starting up Quien Sabe we saw several parasailers jump out of a plane.\u00c2\u00a0 One of the jumpers got fouled in the sail and just fell right to the ground.\u00c2\u00a0 The chute was pinwheeling down.\u00c2\u00a0 There was nothing anyone could do.\u00c2\u00a0 After a few minutes we heard an ambulance siren.\u00c2\u00a0 But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure there was nothing they could do.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing for us to do, either.\u00c2\u00a0 We can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t console Joan.\u00c2\u00a0 There are sports more risky than cycling.<\/p>\n

Stuart and I continue over to the Quien Sabe Valley. \u00c2\u00a0Our lives and lust will roam a few more miles, a few more goats.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more scenic that ever.\u00c2\u00a0 The road ends in a soggy valley under Cibo Peak, a striking promontory of the San Benito Mountains.\u00c2\u00a0 A series of 50 meter pillars form like giant gills on the side of the mountain.\u00c2\u00a0 They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re composed of rugged burnt brown rhyolite.\u00c2\u00a0 They face West Southwest where they gather broadside sun this time of year.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the perfect habitat for a crust of golden yellow lichen.\u00c2\u00a0 If the photo were a postcard or a poster, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, this is a gory fake.\u00c2\u00a0 This image has been touched-up by an illuminator.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Descending Qien Sabe is a total body shock.\u00c2\u00a0 Earwax liquefies and drools onto the shoulders. \u00c2\u00a0The buzz has got to be good for the glands.<\/p>\n

We meet Joan and Donny loading their bikes in Hollister.\u00c2\u00a0 Now Joan seems relaxed and cheerful. \u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Good news.\u00c2\u00a0 We returned to the landing zone and saw several rescuers parked along the road.\u00c2\u00a0 They told us that the chutist had cut-off the fouled sail and used a rescue parachute to survive.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re looking forward to the next opportunity to swirl around Cienega hills, get a strong pull from Christie and the blue demons, see that steeple rise-up, win that sprint to TP, gaze at those soaring, plunging divers, and glide home with tweaked glands.\u00c2\u00a0 We wonder if our next adventure will have scenes, times, excitement, and friends like this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ride Report, Our Favorite Kids ride, 2\/20\/11 by Guy Neenan This was a special Favorite Kids ride on the Sunday after the 2011 Black & Blue Ball. Twenty-one of us gathered in Hollister to do a counterclockwise Cienega Road loop with an out & back climb over to remote Santa Anita Valley. Our host, Jerome […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ride-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rides.actc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rides.actc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rides.actc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rides.actc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rides.actc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=550"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.rides.actc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":553,"href":"http:\/\/www.rides.actc.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions\/553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rides.actc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rides.actc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rides.actc.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}