OK, so this year is a wash. I accept that. I'm not happy about it, but what's done is more or less done this year. I don't even see any kind of MTB event that's even remotely possible for the rest of this year -- not that there's all that many to chose from -- so it's time to start thinking about next year.

And that's pretty much what I did for most of today's ride. I did the usual backside EG -- nailed The Crack -- over to the hidden motocross track, where three teens on CRXs were doing the jumps. Yeah, OK, now those jumps make sense. Seeing guys do it on motorcycles, they look easy, but when you come up to them on your bike, some of those jumps are up to your waist. Regardless, after watching these guys, the next time I'm there, I'm going to go for one of the jumps.

Across to the Fitz. I gave the White Whale a shot today for only about the third or fourth time all year and made it the bottom of the last step, about two-thirds of the way up. Not bad, but not the record. Pretty good though. The White Whale is a thin strip of trail that goes straight up from the paved road out to the USAF installation and Maverick's to the top of the Fitz plateau. Visible from across the slough, it was one of the first obstacles I attempted and named when I moved to the EG. Have never made it to the top. But I'll keep trying, I'll keep searching for my white whale.

From there I bounced down to Moss Beach County (MBC) where I pulled off a first: I successfully rolled through the notch in the huge log that crosses the trail just after the creek crossing coming into MBC from the north. This was only the second time I had tried it, but for some reason, the last couple of rides I've been visualizing the possibility of making it. It seems doable, but you have to commit to enough speed to pop your front wheel and then hang on (it should be noted that after passing through the notch the rider has to be ready for an instant, steep downhill into a stream crossing). I think Saturday's ride with the log obstacles (See July 31, 2004: Santa Cruzin') definitely gave me the confidence to give this one a go. As advertised, I just came at it with good speed, popped the front tire, kept the pedals level and rolled through it. It wasn't perfect, but I made it!

Zipped over to the POST area south of McNee and did a few laps in there then headed through some streets in Moss Beach I've never been on before and then back home through the Fitz. While I explored Moss Beach I started thinking about what I wanted to do for riding next year, what I wanted to do to my bike in the offseason, and how I was going to adjust to the loss of Bonzai. 24-hour events seem hopeless, unless the separation of the team means that once a year we all congregate in Moab or some place like that for a 24-hour race. Beyond that, I'm going to have to complete the transition from pure endurance to racing speed and start doing more cross-country events. And there I am so lucky, because Romulus is the x-country man, and I'm hoping to latch on to his jersey tails as he goes rippin' by.

Saw only one hawk today, compared to the nine I saw last week (See July 29, 2004: Under their merciless stare the cyclist toils). Legs pretty dead. Rear end still clunking. I'm going to have to get that looked at before Moab. Or maybe not. Fuck the Spinergys. The faster they're fucked, the faster I can rationalize a new set of wheels.