Club brings riders together for exciting evening rides
BY JEFF NACHTIGAL, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jnachtigal@bakersfield.com | Monday, Aug 20 2007 11:30 AM
Last Updated: Friday, Aug 17 2007 10:36 AM
Trace the inside curve of a wide-brimmed coffee cup. Your finger loops down one lip, across the flat bottom, back up the other side.
Expand that cup to a 300-foot wide bowl, with a single dirt track connecting both edges.
Now pedal your mountain bike over the edge, and slingshot down, then up, the whoop-de-doo. Momentum and gravity will fuel the adrenaline rush.
Monday nights with the Southern Sierra Fat Tire Association are geared for fun, riding together and encouraging newbie mountain bikers to take the plunge — or climb — on the club’s weekly bluff ride.
If you’re not quite up for every steep adrenaline burst, expert mountain biker Tim Strem, is happy to point out the alternate paths.
Some group rides never slow down, but the mountain bike club regroups every 10 or 15 minutes so everyone rides together.
“We don’t ever leave anyone behind,” said Jerry Moseley, who said he started riding with the club a few months ago. The bluffs stretch across an undeveloped area northeast of Bakersfield. Paths criss-cross the bluffs, giving the club numerous routes to explore.
After a few miles, the road rises for the steepest climb of the evening. But the long grind to the top of Hangglider Hill offers a pleasant surprise: a welcome breeze blows over the top.
The group pauses to catch a collective breath, and take in the 360-degree view overlooking Hart Park and CALM. The terrain, and views, change constantly.
For mountain bikers, the gullies criss-crossing the bluffs are a giant playground. Here and there the odd pump jack or abandoned vehicle hulk serve as mile markers.
“We always take different routes in the foothills out there, there are so many trails,” said longtime club member Jim McWhorter, who first rode the bluffs by motorcycle in the 1970s, and later took up mountain biking to stay in shape.
It’s private property, but General Holding Inc., which owns more than 800 acres on the bluffs, has eased up on its no trespassing rules for mountain bikes, according to McWhorter.
And it’s quiet, save for the birds, bees and bikes.
“We have a great asset out here on which to play,” Strem said as he changed a flat tire — the only mechanical issue, as luck would have it, the group faced on the two-hour ride.
Many riders do both weekly rides. Wednesday rides are faster: “You’re there for camaraderie and fitness, so when you go into the mountains you’re ready,” said Tommy Bryant, who often leads rides.
On this Monday the group rolls at a steady pace. Make no mistake, mountain biking on the bluffs is not for the faint of heart. Or faint of legs.
Regardless of your fitness or equipment level, enthusiasm is far and away the key ingredient to having a good time, Strem said.
The second half of the ride loops Hart Park. Packed sand along the Kern River provides a fast track to the final climb. Up and over Pistol Range Hill, and into the setting sun.
Repeat next Monday.
