I Rode My Bike Today...

Stayed in Cottonwood AZ at Dead Horse state park campground (went to the Sedona festival) and the loop trail in the park is excellent. Per mtbproject
"a little known trail that can compete with Sedona." Rode it yesterday, bright sun, unlike the weekend festival. Temps in the 30-40s....perfect. Trails were a mix of xc, techy, flowy/banks, great views!! Some of it reminded me of Hahn ....PCE. Great way to end our trip.

PXL_20220306_162230525.jpg


PXL_20220306_162221947.jpg


PXL_20220306_162821889.jpg


strava2518389672105422604.jpg
 
First ride on squishy bits in almost a year... 1. The 2.6 Ground Control that was perfect on the rear of the Moxie is not perfect on the Hightower. With monkey motion, it's a pig. :gag: 2. My left knee was barking heading up Lower Sam Merrill. I'm guessing it's due to the difference in the seat tube angle. 3. My 32x42 granny gear was fine on the Moxie. It is not fine on the Hightower. Ordering smaller ring... Getting old sucks. :Roflmao 4. I miss being able to run a 33 ounce bottle in the triangle. I had to make a detour to the fountain after El Prieto. :thumbsdown:

I stopped after the Mount Lowe Trail to check all the bolts before heading over to Sunset. Just in case...

And 5... Halfway down Sunset, I told myself it was either a PR, or the bike was coming back apart when we hit the garage.:cautious: :D

6. The bike is still together... :laugh:

Edit: 7. @Voodoo Tom was right... 3 pedal strikes going up Lower Sam Merrill. :confused: I was more cognizant going down Sunset and kept the pedals off the rocks. :thumbsup:

15/2700

Squishy Bike Looking Down on JPL...
IMG_6672.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Redemption ride with the Professor on San Juan Sunday. First ride in weeks due to having to go into exile in Mexico for a week (visa reasons) and getting taken out with illness by a toddler :(.
The prof and I actually worked out that he was riding San Juan the same day I broke my collarbone there last year (cos he ran into @DangerDirtyD - yeah we were talking about you!:p) Anyway I wasn't to be the casualty today, Josh's bike has a sticking rear brake lever and it conspired in the right place for me to get front row seat to an epic otb in glorious slow motion. We cruised up to Bluejay and back, it was very clear this is his backyard and not mine, he cleaned most of the switchbacks without a problem, I wasn't fairing so well.

Such a good day to be out though, weather was spot on, great company and what a trail. I'll be doing it more often for sure. :thumbsup:
 
Santiago Oaks this morning with my riding friend. Longer trek to get there than I would have liked given all the traffic. Which reminds me why I don't get out as much anymore in part. Anyway, once there he got us to Irvine Park instead of Santiago, but whatever. We climbed Barham Ridge to the top which going into a hard Santana in my teeth was a workout. Once there we took (I think - he had the map on his phone, me no phone) Coachwhip, Yucca Ridge, Cactus Cyn, I think we climbed and dropped Bumble Bee. A lot of climbing. At one point, got sidetracked onto a skinny little sandy drainage ravine, through nasty pokey toyon only to end up a what is probably a 20' waterfall in the rain. No 20' drops for me. He was bouncing of of every feature getting his air on. Unfortunately, one big air found him getting hit hard by the wind and knocking his front wheel sideways. So he crashed. No major damage to bike or rider. I made the whole day unscathed. I think we headed down Oak to get out and ended up on the wrong side of the dam, which sucked. Overall, it was fun and very tiring. Cool place. Self-medicating with a tall Cadillac margarita right now.
IMG_1386.JPG
IMG_1391.JPG
 
Last edited:
Lost Kiwi said:
Redemption ride with the Professor on San Juan Sunday. First ride in weeks due to having to go into exile in Mexico for a week (visa reasons) and getting taken out with illness by a toddler :(.
The prof and I actually worked out that he was riding San Juan the same day I broke my collarbone there last year (cos he ran into @DangerDirtyD - yeah we were talking about you!:p) Anyway I wasn't to be the casualty today, Josh's bike has a sticking rear brake lever and it conspired in the right place for me to get front row seat to an epic otb in glorious slow motion. We cruised up to Bluejay and back, it was very clear this is his backyard and not mine, he cleaned most of the switchbacks without a problem, I wasn't fairing so well.

Such a good day to be out though, weather was spot on, great company and what a trail. I'll be doing it more often for sure. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Haha! That sounds like the Professor! Also, I promise I already sprayed my pads with alcohol and will continue to do so through 3/15 when I return to the OC for a ride!
 
For one reason or another I've been unable to ride Palm Canyon Epic this season that is until yesterday. I opened up an Uber account and drove to Von's yesterday morning. ( Thanks Evdog!)I prepped my bike and when I opened up Uber to get a 5 passenger /XL car there was nothing. I waited a couple of minutes and tried again and a Toyota Sienna took the fare. Chilly cold at the start of the ride but when I got to the bottom of the riverbed I shed my jacket. Fast moving well groomed trail for the most part. I cleaned more obstacles than on previous rides but mostly due to good trail conditions. I ate my PBJ at the Indian creek crossover while tapping my 2 scoops of tailwind water bottle to prep for the 3 mile wash. The 3 mile wash was hot, 80 degrees maybe. The rest of the ride cool. This was the first time riding this route solo. I didn't stop to long anywhere. I HAB the start of Hahn and the last little bit of Wildhorse. Other than that it was burn on the best I could. I rolled 1 or 2 of the switch backs going down Wildhorse and walked the rest. I consumed app. 60 oz. of the 96 oz water supply I brought along. I certainly love that Hahn trail. I particularly like the last half mile of it where it turns to faster rolling flowy jumps. There were very few flowers to be seen yesterday's ride compared to the flower bloom of 2 years ago. 28 miles/ 2,300 climbing/ I started the ride at around 9:30 am and rolled back to my truck at around 2:20pm. and made it back home to the Mrs. as promised before the street lights came on. :p

** The second from the bottom pic with the flowers taken March 31, 2019 for comparison descending Hahn trail. Courtney rode with me this entire ride this day and she crapped out ( bonked ) at the top of Wildhorse telling me to call in a helo that we would not be charged if I called in a patient with heart troubles. I told her I would roll her off the mountain before I made that call. :p
55A0EC39-8AE0-4745-BD9A-A53F358AF6AF.jpeg


67C7B2AF-BF56-4C37-BBB3-8CC04AE0BC19.jpeg


9C356D48-07B7-4CCC-A757-A4A362267C01.jpeg


706EEA27-3CCA-45E7-BBD4-824E70798001.jpeg


2E005A14-97E7-4BAF-A8CC-C7BAF159A9C9.jpeg


DDA6EB20-9078-4ABC-8ED3-74228FF66621.jpeg


46D35FB9-479E-464C-A1CD-D4A5522F9565.jpeg


88A54D9E-E6E2-4A90-9EA6-DC3C62AC024F.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Pressed for time, so standard Cheese loop was the call. Nothing particular to report, but Sheep Corral is running chunky fast. Felt strong today, and actually had a PR on the full Lookout to bottom of SC run that put me at 14th fastest year to date on the Strava machine. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't stoked about that. Helps ease the literal pain of severly lit up elbow that somehow got really strained on a punchy climb. Bikes were particularly fun today, even if I'm paying a price. 12.9/1558
 
Last edited:
buggravy said:
Pressed for time, so standard Cheese loop was the call. Nothing particular to report, but Sheep Corral is running chunky fast. Felt strong today, and actually had a PR on the full Lookout to bottom of SC run that put me at 14th fastest year to date on the Strava machine. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't stoked about that. Helps ease the literal pain of severly lit up elbow that somehow got really strained on a punchy climb. Bikes were particularly fun today, even if I'm paying a price. 12.9/1558
Click to expand...
did you get nice air where the top part of the trail passes between the boulders right above the dry creek bottom? When I am cooking down after that boring set of switch backs at that part I can really fly and then its high speed twisty fun with lots of smaller air choices. You should have seen quite a few flowers near SC on the up. Calif poppies, and wooly blue curls. 100 yds east of SC to just about my boulder there are oh so many Wooly Blue Curls. Best place I know. This is the only time I venture up the Cheese, just to smell the flowers

Screenshot 2022-03-10 at 7.34.43 PM.png
 
buggravy said:
Pressed for time, so standard Cheese loop was the call. Nothing particular to report, but Sheep Corral is running chunky fast. Felt strong today, and actually had a PR on the full Lookout to bottom of SC run that put me at 14th fastest year to date on the Strava machine. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't stoked about that. Helps ease the literal pain of severly lit up elbow that somehow got really strained on a punchy climb. Bikes were particularly fun today, even if I'm paying a price. 12.9/1558
Click to expand...
Digging your stoke.
 
buggravy said:
Pressed for time, so standard Cheese loop was the call. Nothing particular to report, but Sheep Corral is running chunky fast. Felt strong today, and actually had a PR on the full Lookout to bottom of SC run that put me at 14th fastest year to date on the Strava machine. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't stoked about that. Helps ease the literal pain of severely lit up elbow that somehow got really strained on a punchy climb. Bikes were particularly fun today, even if I'm paying a price. 12.9/1558
Click to expand...
THIS!!!

This is the essence of the thread. Those of you posting five videos and documenting your epic rides are missing the point!
 
da big hills said:
did you get nice air where the top part of the trail passes between the boulders right above the dry creek bottom? When I am cooking down after that boring set of switch backs at that part I can really fly and then its high speed twisty fun with lots of smaller air choices. You should have seen quite a few flowers near SC on the up. Calif poppies, and wooly blue curls. 100 yds east of SC to just about my boulder there are oh so many Wooly Blue Curls. Best place I know. This is the only time I venture up the Cheese, just to smell the flowers

View attachment 81055
Click to expand...
I'm trying to place where that is. The only place where I get legit air is the second of the two kickers built on the section right before the short uphill to the section before Shepard Flat. The poppies are definitely starting to come out. I wanted to stop and get some pics, but the desire to stop was less than the desire to not stop.
 
Whiting & The Luge with a 2022 Pivot Firebird demo bike. I started @ 9:30 from Kaiser.

Pretty mundane ride. Lots of bikes coming back through Whiting finishing up their early starts, but not too many hikers. I did meet a couple of hikers at the flag who were planning on hiking down the Luge, LOL. I told them there were about 10 more Pivot demo riders coming. I was glad I got in front of the hikers, especially since I forgot to bring my bell.

There was really nothing I liked about the bike. It had to be 4-5 pounds heavier than my bike (which is 28.8 pounds) and I felt it on the climbs. I suppose the big wheels felt a little easier on the flat parts, and the suspension felt a little more plush than mine, but yeah I won't be buying one. Monster truck would be a good description. Absolutely no poppiness or playfulness in that bike at all. I was not comfortable at all down the Luge, and was 30 seconds off my PR. To be fair, it was my first time on a 29er, so I really did not expect to be fully comfortable. I thought about another loop, but I just really hated climbing with it so I passed. I really wanted to like the bike, but that's what demos are for, LOL.

275668474_1844056655783515_5528567645101152811_n.jpg
 
I rode today with @Sasquatch9billion and @Luis. We parked at The Wall on Windsor and then road pedaled up to LSM. Typical weekend hiker crowds on the way up, many of them cheering us on. It was slow going, as expected. Once we made to the top, we rolled over to the Railway ruins to take a breather and to soak up the views below. It was just clear enough to see Santa Barbara Island out there (40 miles offshore). From there we did the gentle climb up Echo Mountain Trail to Sunset Ridge Trail. And then it was time for some fun. Luis led and I chased him. We decided not to let it loose today with expected foot traffic likely coming up. And there was indeed a few groups of hikers. The recent improvements to the trail were much appreciated by us as we rolled through. When we got through there, we did the short roll down the Chaney Trail road to Lower Sunset Trail where we dropped in and enjoyed the smooth speed run that it is. A few hikers through there as well, as expected. We passed through Millard CG which was buzzing with people. The climb out on the fire road was a bit rough but we made it to El Prieto for the grand finale. Once again, we rolled through semi-cautiously. Hikers and riders were encountered. We made it back to the cars and headed over for tacos. Fun ride, nice to have great trails so close to home. 13+ miles, 2600+ feet gain.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top