With the US Cup series and team obligations at slight lowell right now, there's nothing better to me than staying home on the weekend and just chillin.

Traveling some much during the year, plus as an amateur and professional motocross rider back in the day, I relish the weekend's I can stay home, catch up on some things around the house and get in some riding on the weekends.

Saturday started off with a cup of coffee and some laundry work. I headed out around 11:30am after the clouds finally broke for a road ride on my Tarmac Pro SL, which is one impressive bike if I must say so myself. Just a few years ago this bike would have been full blown S-Works technology with its 10r FACT carbon frame and cranks, yet in 2010 it doesn't get the S-Works branding. And at a price of $4400 retail, its amazing to see how the trickle down race technology makes its way into the public sector at a reasonable price.

After putting in a couple hours through one of our local canyons, I was back at the pad ready for some lunch and some afternoon shopping for house supplies.

Sunday, after I did some morning chores, I hooked up with a good friend to do a MTB ride up Glendora Mountain Road. Long famous for its opening TT in the San Dimas Stage Race, there's a dirt road that parallel's the famous Southern California climb. Its just a little over an hour to the top at a medium tempo pace and offers a mixture of good terrain. It’s a good break from the normal silty, powdery conditions that effect most Southern California MTB riding at this time of year.

Instead of our usual decent back down GMR, we hooked a right at the top and headed over towards MT. Baldy. Just a few miles up the road, was another system of trails that I had mapped out the night prior on Google Earth. While I had some idea of where we were heading, Bill and I were still essentially riding blind, hoping the trail would dump out at the bottom somewhere near our car.

After descending for almost a half hour and navigating our way around, we managed to pop out within a 1/4 mile of our car and the lot. The route was way better than descending back down GMR, which on the weekend is open not only cyclists, but every street biker hoping to be the next Ben Bostrom. Having a guy dive in on you as your going for the apex at 40+ on a bicycle can be an unnerving event to say the least.

However, this new route was a hidden gem and we both agreed it was the only way to go from now on.

Until next time,

The Red Cowboy