I Rode My Bike Today...

Voodoo Tom said:
That gimbal mount is bitchin and gives an excellent perspective @tbarnesarc . Hero 5 sure takes a much better looking video than my session 4. Nice riding and nice looking trails and your bike is looking good @herzalot. Need to make a drive down and sample some of the goods.
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Come down! I think you'd like the route @herzalot @Cougar and I did last weekend.
 
Aliso today. Didn't ride the trail but hit the B-drop ending. Was on the bucket list since last time I walked it. That's a fun roller, made my day right there. Up Cholla casually. Down Lynx. Forgot there was some chunk about halfway down. Went flying through. Up Cholla again. Trail Angels were out and about. Down Rock-it. Cool run. Showed some other riders how to get up the rock about halfway down. Friends dropper seatpost was stuck. Quick cable adjustment. PR up Mathis.:thumbsup:. Then down some other trail.:whistling: A couple hikers said we were crazy.:eek: The bikes and crew performed well. Great day with nature, friends and mechanisms.:cool:
 
Most of the climbing trails this time of the year are covered in snow but luckily we’ve got Grand Ridge and Duthie MTB skills park. Pulled out 30 miles today. Light rain pretty much the whole time, temps not too bad mid 40s. Great ride!

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Grego said:
Aliso today. Didn't ride the trail but hit the B-drop ending. Was on the bucket list since last time I walked it. That's a fun roller, made my day right there. Up Cholla casually. Down Lynx. Forgot there was some chunk about halfway down. Went flying through. Up Cholla again. Trail Angels were out and about. Down Rock-it. Cool run. Showed some other riders how to get up the rock about halfway down. Friends dropper seatpost was stuck. Quick cable adjustment. PR up Mathis.:thumbsup:. Then down some other trail.:whistling: A couple hikers said we were crazy.:eek: The bikes and crew performed well. Great day with nature, friends and mechanisms.:cool:
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Sounds like a great ride. :thumbsup:

I need to ride with you here (Laguna/Aliso).
 
I had to cut out early for scheduled work this afternoon, but the Bomb Squad did indeed bomb today. Ed, Luis, Tom, David, Pat, and myself met on this chilly morning for a cruise through Cheseboro. Everyone rode well and only one mechanical (leaking tire plug). Smiles were abundant during the two bomb sessions, first down Bones, and then down Gas Pipe. They continued on to do Ireland.

I got:
14.48 miles
1929'
1057 calories

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We will call this ride "The Awakening of Kevin..." I don't mean that in a condescending way. He is a far better rider than I am.

I met Kevin nearly ten years ago on the trail and we have ridden together a lot since then, including road trips to St. George and Big Bear. However, I haven't ridden with him more than once over the past two years - until recently. Kevin is a strong rider with a MtB XC racing background. He is a docent and instructor. He is very fast on The Luge and rides Whiting often, as he works nearby and rides during lunch. I saw him handle some steep, powdery nasty stuff at Big Bear better than I could do. We used to do some Aliso rides, but mostly Rock-It, Lynx and Meadows.

Kevin has connections with Pivot, so it was no surprise that he got himself one of these:

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We started with 5-Oaks and I was glad Kevin was willing to give it a try. I don't think he has ridden it for the last five years, and it wasn't his favorite when we did ride it. Today, as he romped down the trail and rolled up to me just after the bridge, he was stoked. "That's the first time I've cleaned that trail." Huge smile. Palpable stoke.

On to Stairs we went. This time, @Cougar gave Kevin the tour as they graciously let me just go at my own pace. Not quite as clean for Kevin as his 5-Oaks run, but I could see a sense of satisfaction. Then over to Willow and Lizard. We all had a nice clean and fast run on Lizard and really enjoyed the slalom portion. Fast forward to T and A. Kevin had never ridden it before. The top portion is lower intermediate now. The middle has a few steep sections, but no chunk. Then, there's the bottom. A totally different trail. I did my best to describe the lower part of the trail before we started. At the end of the run, Kevin had the biggest grin I've ever seen from him on a ride. "Holy Sh!t - that was fun - and scary at times." Seeing his stoke was one of the best moments for me. Kevin is absolutely loving his new bike and the big bad fork, slack head angle and dropper post. A big difference from the XC oriented rigs with seat post locked in a sky hi position. He did have a Mach 5.7 at one time, but a non-quick release seat post and a Fox 34 fork.

Craig was a trooper throughout the ride, as I kept suggesting a little bit more. He was pretty quiet today - not feeling his best. Still a great guy to ride with. Never complains.

Here's Kevin and Craig - men in black - sharing a fist bump after Lizard...
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There were a TON of riders, hikers and runners everywhere today. Really busy. A big group on Felt bikes at the top of 5-Oaks, but they did the other (tougher) descent. We saw them again at the top of T and A, but they did the other trail there too. So we experienced no interference on 5-Oaks, none on Stairs, none on Lizard, none on T and A and a few slowpokes and large group of hikers scattered all over Rock-It. Awareness bells helped, but a couple of hikers yelled at my fellow riders to "slow down."

Great day out there - so fun! I think we have awakened a latent chunk monster in Kevin G.

18 miles, 3200'

Sorry that Kevin @Redman and I got our communication mixed up. He would have enjoyed this two-park (and two-Kevin) ride.
 
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First good ride today after a minor cold last week, which I’m still feeling the lingering effects from. Pedaled from home at 7 am since I had to be at work at 11. up water tank (felt like crap at beginning almost turned around but pushed through and felt better later), fenceline, down rattlesnake and hiked back up, then over to tna and home. Amazing what a bit of rain does to the trails, tna was in great shape and someone (lcf?) did some work on it, smoothed out the paver turn and put in a berm on the middle chute. Nice to see the hills finally greening up, hope for more rain soon. Very uncrowded for a Sunday in lw this morning, at least in the early hours when I was there.
 
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sir crashalot said:
First good ride today after a minor cold last week, which I’m still feeling the lingering effects from. Pedaled from home at 7 am since I had to be at work at 11. up water tank (felt like crap at beginning almost turned around but pushed through and felt better later), fenceline, down rattlesnake and hiked back up, then over to tna and home. Amazing what a bit of rain does to the trails, tna was in great shape and someone (lcf?) did some work on it, smoothed out the paver turn and put in a berm on the middle chute. Nice to see the hills finally greening up, hope for more rain soon. Very uncrowded for a Sunday in lw this morning, at least in the early hours when I was there.
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Glad to hear you had a solid ride. :thumbsup: And hard to believe it was empty given how busy it was between 9:30 and 12:00.

Yes, @tbarnesarc and I saw Mike Hall (of LCF) and a friend working on the middle section of T and A. Nifty little re-route across the rain ruts. It rode pretty well today. You can hear Mike razzing Taylor in the video a few posts up. They also cleaned up all three switchbacks on the upper portion. I think they did the first and worst one right after last week's rain.
 
Almost ran out of time this weekend, but squeezed in a quick out and back on the STT at dusk. I climbed like a sprinting 6 million dollar man--super slo-mo--but didn't have to HAB that dammed hill. Had a fun descent and the bike was quiet and semi-plush. Prolly need some quality time with resident suspension guru @herzalot for ultimate suspension grooviness, but bike feels good (and I think it's happy!). :)
 
herzalot said:
Glad to hear you had a solid ride. :thumbsup: And hard to believe it was empty given how busy it was between 9:30 and 12:00.

Yes, @tbarnesarc and I saw Mike Hall (of LCF) and a friend working on the middle section of T and A. Nifty little re-route across the rain ruts. It rode pretty well today. You can hear Mike razzing Taylor in the video a few posts up. They also cleaned up all three switchbacks on the upper portion. I think they did the first and worst one right after last week's rain.
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sounds like you guys had a solid 2 park ride! I was at the top of tna by 9:30. guess i got out of there before the hordes arrived, haha. Did come across a couple of hikers on the rocky section, and a dude on a hardtail who rode the whole thing (first time)
 
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After our quickie on the tandem yesterday I needed to get in a longer ride today....needed to get some climbing in.

So i slept in and headed out a little afternoon. Through Villa Park then over to Oaks. Out to Weir Canyon and then over to Deer Canyon Preserve. Checked out the singletracks today. The old oak tree is still blocking one of the trails...was able to HAB around it. Back into Weir Canyon ran into some friends doing thistle abatement.

Back into Oaks....quick down and up Chutes. Ran into another friend so did some catching up.

Rolled out of the park a few mins before dark.

It got cold on the way home.

39 / 6650'.....855321 smiles :D

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SnakeCharmer said:
I had to cut out early for scheduled work this afternoon, but the Bomb Squad did indeed bomb today. Ed, Luis, Tom, David, Pat, and myself met on this chilly morning for a cruise through Cheseboro. Everyone rode well and only one mechanical (leaking tire plug). Smiles were abundant during the two bomb sessions, first down Bones, and then down Gas Pipe. They continued on to do Ireland.

I got:
14.48 miles
1929'
1057 calories

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Wait What?!?!?
Is that @Tom the Bomb in the background fixing yet... ANOTHER flat?
What the . . . . ?
 
Went out to the Oaks yesterday with Rox and her nephew. He was on his new YT Jeffsy, his first FS bike. Boy that place is crowded on the weekends! And full of E-Bikes!
Still had fun showing him around the trails and he did really well! :thumbsup:

On a funny note, we were climbing the beginning of the 2nd B right before Snakey and there's this dude pushing his bike right on the blue groove, as we pass him on his left he sez to us "My battery died". Channeled my inner Nelson and gave him a "Ha Ha"


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doublewide said:
Went out to the Oaks yesterday with Rox and her nephew. He was on his new YT Jeffsy, his first FS bike. Boy that place is crowded on the weekends! And full of E-Bikes!
Still had fun showing him around the trails and he did really well! :thumbsup:

On a funny note, we were climbing the beginning of the 2nd B right before Snakey and there's this dude pushing his bike right on the blue groove, as we pass him on his left he sez to us "My battery died". Channeled my in Nelson and gave him a "Ha Ha"


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Did you really give him an audible "Ha Ha" ?
 
doublewide said:
Went out to the Oaks yesterday with Rox and her nephew. He was on his new YT Jeffsy, his first FS bike. Boy that place is crowded on the weekends! And full of E-Bikes!
Still had fun showing him around the trails and he did really well! :thumbsup:

On a funny note, we were climbing the beginning of the 2nd B right before Snakey and there's this dude pushing his bike right on the blue groove, as we pass him on his left he sez to us "My battery died". Channeled my inner Nelson and gave him a "Ha Ha"


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On our ride yesterday we were regrouping and a few guys came by. One was on an e-bike. As he passed by I gave him the brap brap brap!
 
No e here, just an old guy trying to get back in shape on a human/gravity powered bike.

Had to take my truck to the shop this morning for an ongoing ignition problem, so I threw my bike in the back to get home. That's an uphill ride on the Aliso Creek bike path, and it was a nice way to start the day. So "nice" that I decided not to stop! When I got to Cook's, I made a right and rode up Live Oak to the top; then mostly HAB'd up the Luge. No hate, please! Only 2 riders descending and I was off the trail for both. :thumbsup:

My goal was to do a detailed check on trail conditions, which is impossible when riding down it cuz at that point I DON'T CARE! Got to the top and decided to keep going.. up the STT to the next overlook (it's another 10 minutes or so). Plus it makes for a longer descent. Got up there and wanted to go farther, but out of water and only a chocolate muffin in my system. So pointed it down and had a fun descent down that part of the STT (smooth and flowy) and the Luge (loose stuff here and there, occasionally bumpy but overall good shape, riding-wise).

Truck report: '96 Tacoma 4X4/ 300,000+ miles/ faulty starter contacts/ opting for new starter. (Tried doing it myself yesterday, but don't have the right sockets/extensions to get the thing off.) Cleaned up the engine compartment and undercarriage though, so hopefully the mechanic won't kill me when I pick it up.
 
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