20 Hill Junction: A Month Getting Vertical On My Mountain Bike

I was doing relatively well. I mean, this hill was no joke—extremely steep, rutted out, and laced with wet cow poo. I made it though… and I only had to walk my bike twice. Definitely not in shape, that’s a fact, but maybe this insane patch of rolling steeps will put me somewhere near my goal before I attempt Yosemite again. Let’s hope, because if I’m in this type of shape in August, I feel the same thing will happen again, and one near-death experience is enough for me.

"my worn-out chain slipped off my worn-out chainring and then lodged into my cassette—all terms I just learned for these parts, by the way."

Unfortunately, after a brief respite at the top of the hill to properly pat myself on the back, I hopped back on my bike, and wham, tragedy struck! Feeling the strength that hype can provide, I pushed on my pedals like they owed me money, and my worn-out chain slipped off my worn-out chainring and then lodged into my cassette—all terms I just learned for these parts, by the way. I tried my best to fix it, I swear, but I am in worse mechanic shape than fitness shape, and that’s pretty damn pathetic, to say the least.

Not able to dislodge that damn chain, I pushed my bike 10 feet, and you guessed it, the chain locked, freezing my wheel, resulting in one long skid down the mountain. There was a plan though: get to the cul-de-sac at the bottom of the mountain, call my son to pick me up, go on YouTube, and figure out how to fix this pickle.

Plans work or fail though, and this one failed miserably—real miserably. My son’s phone was shut off, and I couldn’t lock my bike up to a tree due to a lack of said lock. What to do? Well, I pushed it home, locked wheel and all.

First, the tire popped, then the rim ground down to an unusable state of shit. The tire I noticed on the walk of shame, but the repeated abuse to the rim causing its demise was a surprise when I got to my garage. I had the headphones turned to 11 to help me with my plight, so I didn’t realize I was grinding down my rim!

Let’s cut to why we’re even here and why this qualified as a good blog post (something I haven’t done in years and, quite frankly, I’m not even sure blogging is still a thing anymore?). This particular day of pump and dump put my glaring issues with this marginally maintained bike on front street. A less-than-trustworthy mechanic recently laid out all the issues with my beloved gravel warrior. Some glaring issues a novice like myself could even diagnose, and a couple others that were just bullshit. The bullshit ones I handled myself through the aforementioned YouTube method, but the drivetrain I ignored like an overdue bill, resulting in a frozen back end and a whole lotta miles home.

"Something I haven’t done in years and, quite frankly, I’m not even sure blogging is still a thing anymore?"

The bike was dust by the time I reached my abode. Not only were the quick fixes destroyed, but there were too many other issues now that, quite frankly, I’m too embarrassed to mention. Time for a forced rebuild to get this pickle back on the road, and that was going to take some time for research and money on my part, both of which are scarce at the moment. Shit…

So what do I do? I can’t get out of shape! This year’s bike trip to Yosemite will be here before you know it, and I promise you I ain’t going out like a bitch again this year. Luckily, I not only have a spare bike to ride while this baby gets built back up, but it’s technically a better bike than this gravel joint. The only thing is, it’s a full-suspension mountain bike, and that means driving to mountain bike spots. These full-suspension bikes suck on the street, and I suck at planning out mountain biking missions. It reminds me of why I didn’t like vert skating as much as street skating—travel to the ramp, put on pads, big-ass gnarly terrain where you have to be on point or don’t bother. As opposed to street skating, where you just step out the door and the whole world is at your disposal. Just cruise or get as buck as you want—more possibilities and much easier to ease into.

Then, luckily, a bike bro told me about 20 Hill Junction, which just so happens to be right by my house. Not the most fun trails—as a matter of fact, the hills are painfully steep—but it makes for a great training ground to get me into some more exciting terrain, and no car rack needed; I can just ride my bike there without suffering too many street miles.

Now keep in mind these are the type of steep hills that I never hit before but seeing the challenge ahead of me I decided to spend the whole time my gravel bike was down on 20 Hill Junction. Definitely a great way of getting in shape to help me conquer any hill that will be thrown at me come August’s Yosemite trip. I figured I would suffer for a while as some sort of sacrifice to the bike gods on high. Suffer I did, but I actually ended up digging the challenge and used it as a great opportunity to get to know my new GoPro 13, get my skills up on shooting vertical, and film my first YouTube Short.

So here you have it, kids: "one month trimmed down to three minutes of my vertical adventure."

20 Hill Junction: The iPhotos

The Best camera for bikepacking? The camera you have with you of course! I took this time on 20 Hill Junction to see if I could get by just using a iPhone for my flicks on the trail. Will it replace my Fuji gear? No but it does serve as a great option when it's all you have...... very impressed Steve!

That's it for now kids! Get out and make something happen!!