Downieville

June 1-3, 2007



My favorite place to mountain bike is Downieville. Amazing trails, tough climbs, crazy decents; yea, that about sums it up. I went this year with Tom, Aaron, Rob, and Jim. We had a great time camping at Union Flat.

June 1: We left Sonoma at 6. We arrived at our campsite about 11. We decided that we would go for a "quick" ride. 3 hours later, we reached the top of the 14 mile climb to Packer Saddle. We struggled our way down Butcher Creek trail which is the downhill course. Crazy rocks, steep, and narrow. We limped into town 5 hours later excited from the amazing ride, but we were still limping. We had to ride another 6 miles back to camp, and that was painful.

June 2: We thought we were being smart by choosing the shuttle ride to the top. Unfortunately, a wrong turn on the way down turned into a 90 minute addition of hill climbing, creek crossings, and confusion. When we finally found Pauley Creek trail, we experienced the most amazing riding. Since none of us ride with body armor and huge downhill bikes, this trail suited us perfectly.

June 3: Some of our group, decided to ride to the top through Sierra City, and others decided to take the shuttle. We met at the top of a grueling ride with a couple of wrong turns. This is actually the toughest climb I can remember. The trail was 8 miles of climbing an exposed mountain side on loose shale. When we got to the top, it was nice to know where we were going as we made our way to Pauley Creek trail again. The girl at the bike shop suggested adding on "Big Boulder" trail, but we didn't want to push our luck. The decent was excellent.

Singing Beauties

Ella, Meghan, and Marley take center stage at the Sonoma square for a singing competition. What I find amazing is that my cell phone can video record them singing and then post it directly to YouTube.

Bear Flag Track Meet

Friday, April 18, 2007 marked the second time a Sutter has competed in Sonoma's Bear Flag Track Meet. This year we had 2 kids involved as Asher and Ella both decided to race. The meet is held at the Sonoma High School track and involves kids from age 5-12. Asher and Ella signed up for the 100 meter and the 200 meter. Their excitement built all week; Asher felt anticipation since he did so well last year, and Ella was excited to be part of the show.

Ella went first. You can see in the video she was the youngest of the group. Seriousness covered her face. Unfortunately, she learned a lesson about being the last as they finished the 100 meter race. She tried so hard and never gave up, but her heart was broken as she realized that she was last to finish. She was so sad, that she decided she didn't want to compete in the 200 meter race.

Asher placed first in both races last year, but he prepared himself to finish somewhere in the middle this year since he moved to the next age group. To our surprise he smoked his heat and took first. He went on to the 200 meter and also finished first. He likes that first lane because you get to pass everyone on the inside, but he almost ran out of steam as the race finished.

The competition is interesting. I want my children to experience it, but it is tough to watch. I worry that Ella will not want to compete next year because of the bad experience, or that she will get down on herself. She made the comment that she wasn't any good at running. Until this race, she thought she was fast. Asher has won every time he raced, so it will be interesting when he races someone faster. Regardless of the competition, we all had a great time. I hope you enjoy the video.

Changes to the Line-Up

This might be our Christmas card for 2007 sent out early. That would be a shocker. However, I don't think it counts when one of the children is a nameless gray figure. So this works more like a birth announcement letting our family and friends officially know that the fourth Sutter will be landing sometime in Fall of 2007.

Stefanie is 10 weeks into this pregnancy, and it remains a bit of a challenge. I operated under the mistaken assumption that pregnancy was like other things in life, it should get easier with practice. The reason I extended this idea to pregnancy stems from watching Monte Python's The Meaning of Life and seeing the baby just fall out while the mother does the dishes. For some reason that has always stuck with me. In my subconscious mind, I assumed that Stefanie would hardly notice her pregnancy, but I have been wrong. Instead of suffering from morning sickness, Stefanie suffers from all-day long sickness. This is true--water actually makes her nauseous. She has trouble shopping because she smells food through the packaging, and she needs to vomit. Don't get me wrong, the first trimester was always hard for us, but I had a different idea of how things would go this time.

THe sickness notwithstanding, we are extremely happy for this fourth child. All we are hoping for is to make it into the second trimester as soon as possible. I think we might find out the sex of the child early this time. We loved not knowing with the others, but I think the kids really want to know. In any case we will keep you updated.

Soccer Star

Yesterday marked the beginning of the end for Asher's first round of indoor soccer; it was the beginning of the playoffs. There are only 4 teams in his age groups, so every team gets to play. Still Asher was so excited and was sure his team would win. We were a little concerned, because he was such a poor sport the last time they lost, he was grounded for quite a bit. Fortunately, he went in with a healthy attitude about winning or losing the game.

I have been helping the coach with the team. It is interesting to see first hand how the team plays and improves. We couldn't believe how well all the kids plays. It was sort of shocking to us. We have spent weeks coaching the kids on some important skills and strategies, but we have never seen much of a result on the field. We went over it again before the game, and apparently something clicked. The coach and I were dumbfounded and actually looked at each other during the game and commented, "I think they finally listened." More to the point, they finally got it. Perhaps it is just persistence with kids this age? I don't know. But they finally played like a great team.

Asher had an especially good game. He scored two goals and had three assists. He has been waiting for a goal through two seasons now and got two of them in the playoffs. He was all grins as the game ended. We'll see what happens next week in the finals.

Carrie Illum: MISSING!

Have you seen this lady? She was last seen carousing in downtown Sonoma. It is suspected that the lady she is hugging in this picture shanghaied her to a taxi-driver boot camp in Northwest Montana. It is clear from all reports that this buxom lady is of questionable character and has taken advantage of Carrie's good nature and unsuspecting disposition. Authorities fear that Carrie has fallen prey to a notorious transportation syndicate and will soon be working the streets of a major US city from behind the wheel of a checkered cab. If you come across a smiling female taxi driver in a metropolitan US city, please call the local authorities at once. Remember, she will be smiling even when she should be unhappy. Thank you for your cooperation.

Biking at Spring Lake

We spent this Saturday riding bikes at Spring Lake located in Santa Rosa at the bottom of Annadel State Park. When I ride my mountain bike nowdays, I frequently ride it in Annadel. But today we took the kids on their first ride to Spring Lake.

Climbing up the hill to the bike path was the hardest part. Soon we got going, and the kids had a great time. It was surprising to see Ella though. She has not ridden much over the winter, and she was pretty scared of the hills. This is a new one for her since she usually is pretty fearless on the bike. Perhaps she has gained a measure of caution. Still she managed the hills and loved riding her new bike!

Asher on the other hand got his first taste of trail riding. He liked it a lot, except for the rocky areas. What was actually shocking to me is that I still don't get poison oak. I can't recall all the times I got poison oak as a kid or the inopportune locations it seemed to show up. At one point, Jeremy and I decided it was mind over matter and we decided not get it anymore. It seemed to work, or we had built up enough tolerance. Well, I wondered if that still worked, but I walked right into some bushes on accident (I never push my luck with my immunity), but I haven't had a single problem. I can say without hesitation that I don't miss it. So Asher and I finished our ride by meeting up with the girls at the park. It was a nice way to spend a Saturday.