Apparently I can't read google directions, or somehow typed in the wrong address, but the map got us to Monterey city hall, right next to the police station which was at the moment getting exterminated. We were looking for the campground, which according to the bakery is a mystery sight, we weren't the only ones who had gotten lost getting there either.
After almost getting back on the freeway, we stopped by the youth center and asked a very very nice woman for directions. It turned out google almost got us there. We just had to continue a little further and there it was. A pretty nice (but small) campground, over looking the city, with houses overlooking the campground. Not sure how I would feel with my house being easily accessible by transient campers. Considering I was one of those campers this particular evening I feel like it's ok for me to say that.
We picked a great campsite, #28. Not that it mattered, we weren't going to get back until dark, we were leaving before sunrise, and we were sleeping in the car - but still.
Getting directions to parks or inside or around parks are hard. It's especially hard if you are trying to find mountain bike trails. In my little experience, reading directions from mt bike books or from online, bikers don't give the best or clearest directions. Or, it could be that trails actually change all the time, so directions can be outdated if they were written more than a year ago. On that note Im not even going to try and explain how to get there. Consequently we ended up in a neighborhood seeing trails on the sides of the rolling hills, but not sure how or where to get there. After asking a cyclist with one of those aerodynamic helmets he pointed us in the right direction.
The trail was boring for the first 45min. A wider trail, all uphill. Besides the gorgeous weather and view it was annoying. Without knowing where we exactly going or having any particular goal in mind (for distance or time), we took a chance and headed off on a different trail. This was awesome and brought us to some good singletrack. I felt good. My girl kicked some major ass. I think this was only my 3rd or 4th time actually mt biking and im feeling more and more comfortable. Although, as I found out yesterday on my ride, heavy mud freaks me out.
Race day was Sunday. The race for beginners started at 9am, registration at 7:30. We got to the park which was about 20min away from our site at around 7. Chatting with the only two other people there before the fog lifted and the sun came out, we found out they were hs coaches. There were a lot of hs kids there. It was a nice opportunity to get reacquainted with over bearing and obnoxious parents. Someone I hope I never turn out to be.
The race which I originally thought was about 4 to 6 miles was actually 4-6 miles a lap, and was about 18 miles in total. Yeah, 18miles (shit). The most mountain bike riding I have done is about 10 miles. And that was casual ride. Ive cycled about 50 before, but again, pretty casual (shit). Without more of the boring details I ended up actually being in 3rd for the woman for almost the entire race. Which actually I think isn't half bad with all things considered. The last 2 or 3 miles I just lost it though, ran out of speed and endurance and ended up coming in 5th. Again, not too shabby. It was a good first race experience. Everyone was super nice, and next time when I do place I get a big shiny metal. word!
On the trail I actually ended up passing some men and junior men who actually started 1 and 2 minutes ahead of me. That felt good.
Sunday was also Valentines Day. The dumbest day on the planet.
