Out and About

The Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes Unofficial Guidebook: Including the 300K Bitterroot Loop, details what to expect on the 185-mile network of trails that winds through 13 rural Inland Northwest communities and remote stretches of Bitterroot Mountain beauty. Now in its 5th edition, the guide previously covered the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes.

The 2012 guidebook has been expanded to include the entire Bitterroot Loop. Thousands of trail riders are drawn to the Inland Northwest each year to experience twoworld-class rail trails: Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes counters report 100,000 per year, and the Route of the Hiawatha drew over 34,000 visitors in 2011.

Friends of the Coeur d’Alene Trails and the national Rails to Trails Conservancy have cooperated to link these two anchor trails with other multi-use roads and a 12-mile stretch of state highway. Together, they comprise the Bitterroot Loop, and the word is starting to get out.

Business owners in the remote outpost of Avery, Idaho, (pop. 50, more or less) say hundreds of cyclists have already been showing up each year.

“All these people traveling through the remote backcountry need solid information about where they’re going and what support services are out there for them,” said Estar Holmes of South Lake Promotions, the north Idaho micro-business that produces the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes Unofficial Guidebook.

In addition to the superlative outdoor experience available on the trails, local communities have a lot to showcase: historical exhibits and tours, Native American culture, arts and crafts, live entertainment, locally-made wine and beers, intriguing shops and a variety of restaurants.

“The guide tells people how to get to trailheads by car, but anybody can do that,” Holmes said. “It also suggests how visitors can leave their cars behind and immerse themselves ina people powered vacation they will want to tell their friends about.”

The guidebook is available through Gray Dog Press of Spokane (509-533-0025), Amazon.com, and at selected stores in the region. A list of vendors appears atsouthlakecda.com/guide.htm.

There is a Trail of the Coeur d’Alene Riders group on Facebook with trail images. Contact author Estar Holmes at 208-582-2407.

UC San Deigo surfer Shaun Burrell, of Capitola, won the men’s division for the Tritons’ “A” team at the National Scholastic Surfing Association’s fourth and final event of the season Jan. 15.

He beat runner-up Kelly Zaun of Mira Costa’s Red team, and third-place finisher and Doug vanMierlo of San Diego State in the final heat at Seaside Reef in Cardiff by the Sea.

Burrell’s win was his best NSSA finish of the season.

UC Santa Barabra was the Southwest Conference College Team Season champion. UCSD finished sixth.

UC Santa Cruz graduate and former Santa Cruz Sentinel staff writer Leo Maxam is playing hard and working hard — both are obvious if you watch the balibelly.tv video below. Maxam films short videos for online every now and then, and they’re always a treat to find in my inbox. Recently, he filmed Bali surfing gangster Betet Merta during his trip to California, where they ventured out to the races at Golden Gate Fields….

Enjoy the vid!

Editor’s note: This video contains profane language.

Santa Cruz resident and Pacific Collegiate School student Tobin Ortenblad, 17, is currently in Belgium, training for the UCI Cyclocross World Championships coming this weekend (more on that later). I caught up with him through email and we did this short Q&A session about his experiences in the European country so far.

Q: What is the best food you’ve found in Belgium?

A: As far as the food here goes, I love the waffles here. Other than that, we haven’t been eating out at all. Haha. We usually just eat at the house. What a lame answer. Haha.

Q: What’s the best way to get around?

A: If you’re in a small town, the best way definitely is by bike. Everyone here rides and it seems like bike theft here is minimal — unlike Santa Cruz. Other than that, we have been driving.

Q: What’s your top travel tip for anyone heading out there?

A: If you’re coming to Belgium, bring warm, waterproof clothes.

Q: What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen there?

A: The craziest thing that we have seen are some old military bunkers from WWI. There are a bunch of little ones all over in one of the local parks. Then, there is this huge fort that we didn’t get to see much of — it’s surrounded by fencing. We went into a couple of the smaller ones — they’re all empty, but still pretty cool.

Corralitos resident and UC Santa Cruz alum Andy Jacques-Maynes has been a force in the Central Coast Cyclocross series races this season. On Sunday, he showed SoCal cyclocross racers just how it’s done at the NorCal vs. SoCal Championships — aka The Showdown — in Hart Park in Bakersfield.

Jacques-Maynes, who rides for Cal Giant, completed nine laps in 54 minutes, 54.2 seconds to beat the next closest finisher by more than a minute and a half. Jason Siegle [SDG/Felt p.b. iRT Wheels] was second in 56:30.7 and Gareth Feldstein [Ritte] was third in 57:23. The event was also the SoCal Cross Prestige Series Finale.

“Raced to the win in Bakersfield today, I’m CA State Champ (again?)!” Jacques-Maynes tweeted after the race.

Jacques-Maynes wasn’t the only local to win his race at Hart Park, either.

Santa Cruz’s Janel Lodge won the master women’s 35-plus race, going five laps in 42:26.2, and fellow Santa Cruz resident Aaron Bradford won the single speed “A” main, going seven laps in 45:18.2. Both ride for Bay 101/HRS/Rocklobster.

After two straight weeks of winning the Central Coast downhill mountain biking series pro race at Toro Park in Salinas, Kiran MacKinnon, the teen from Aromas, was pushed out of the spotlight Sunday.

Santa Cruz’s Jeff Kendall-Weed, 27, bested MacKinnon’s time by nearly three seconds, crossing the finish line in 3 minutes, 9.81 seconds.

John Hauer, also of Santa Cruz, squeaked by with fractions of a second under MacKinnon’s time to capture second place [3:12.63]. MacKinnion, who graduated from Soquel High and represented the United States at the downhill worlds last year, placed third [3:12:98].

Kendall-Weed rides for IBIS Cycles, Hauer rides for XFusion/Tomac and MacKinnon rides for Santa Cruz Bikes.

With that group of locals crowding the podium, it’s no wonder Santa Cruz County riders also dominated the other divisions. Read the rest of this entry »

Santa Cruz big wave surfer Ken Collins called the ASP out in a Surfline editorial this week … for doing what it’s always done.

Or, more specifically, he called it out for doing something better (making the World Tour more interesting) and then backpedaling and reverting to what looked like an old, unsuccessful formula. Read the rest of this entry »

Ppro cyclist Andy Jacques-Maynes [Cal Giant/Specialized] of Corralitos won the elite men’s division for the 2011-12 season of the Central Coast Cyclocross Series with 245 points. Fellow Cal Giant/Specialized rider Tobin Ortenblad, a Pacific Collegiate School student, came in second with 226 points, according to the CCCX website.

Other local series winners were as follows: Santa Cruz’s John Brown [Family Cycling Center] in the master men’s 55-plus open division [250], Santa Cruz’s Janel Lodge [Bay 101/HRS/Rocklobster] in the master women’s 35-plus division [245], Aptos’ Gabriel Forsythe [Scotts Valley Cycling Sports] in the men’s “B” Cat 3/4 division [186] and Soquel’s Brian Mcain [Family Cycling Center] in the master men’s 35-plus “B” Cat 2/3/4 division [217].

Also, Santa Cruz’s Scott Junker [Team Tubular] won the men’s single speed “B” Cat 2/3/4 division [247] and Santa Cruz’s Chase Cummings won the junior men’s 15-18 age division [236].

John Mel, a Santa Cruz native who now lives in Newport Beach, won the menehuene final heat at the NSSA Southwest Conference’s fifth Explorer contest of the season Saturday.

Mel dominated Pacific Beach’s Ryland Rubens (second place) and Newport Beach’s Tyler Gunter (third place) for the win in 3-5 foot waves at the Huntington Beach Pier.

Mel, son of big-wave surfer Pete Mel, also placed sixth in the Explorer boys division, which was won by Japan’s Kairi Noro.

Scoring was unavailable. Information in this report came from the NSSA website.

The National Scholastic Surfing Association is a nonprofit youth sports organization with nine conferences across the nation.

We have passes to the epic ski flick “One for the Road” showing at the Rio Theatre on Friday at 7:30 p.m. If you give us a good answer for what you’ve done to help bring in the snow (planned to hit the mountains this week) - voodo, dances, etc. — we’ll give you a pair of them. Email your (honest) answers to sports@santacruzsentinel.com or post them below with a contact.
Even if you haven’t done anything to bring in the snow, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it. Come check out the movie anyway. Tickets are $15 at the door, and the first 40 in get Kirkwood lift tickets!

Get psyched!