I Rode My Bike Today...

Good riding, lads – looks...adventurous!


New dirt, mostly for her, with some community service thrown in.

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We got the main creek crossing without resorting to the flipflops. Water everywhere and still snow patches above 7500'.

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Forest road or wetland coming in from the left?

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Highs in the 70s with a breeze. One SxS and two friendly hikers with their dogs seen. 18.5/2,270'/5:45
 
Fueledbyex8 said:
That trail looks tempting every time I see it from a distance! How long is the hab?
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From the low point in the creek, it is roughly 6/10 of a mile to the Lowe Road... But it gains over 600 feet. It is quite steep! I was surprised at how much of Tom Sloan was rideable. It's quite skinny in spots, but we rode long stretches. Even the switchbacks into the canyon weren't bad until we got close to the creek level. Creek level was not rideable...

The other option would be to follow the Millard Creek Trail back down to the bottom of Sunset. I'm guessing that route would have a lot of bouldering...
 
We’re lucky to have the month of July off, and early morning sunrise means I’ve been trying to make the most of it. Been trying to do 3 rides a week with some yoga and a few days of strength training. Last week worked out well, and I can leave the house and get back as everyone else is stirring from bed.
Staying local as I haven’t put a hitch on the Taos yet. But I’ve grown to really love my little local loop.
Managed a gold cup today even though it’s rutted and overgrown from the lookout and down the firebreak. Pike saved my ass in a bombhole of converging ruts a few days ago.
 
LCWP this morning. I figured it might be hot when I woke up at 6 AM and the sun was already out. Sure enough, super humid and very hot in the canyons. Climbing Willow & Emerald Canyon were both suffer fests.

BVD, Ol' Emerald, Fenceline, Lizards and Camarillo for the fun stuff. No matter where you stand on the BVD vs. Ol' Emerald debate, it is no contest right now. BVD is an overgrown mess and I could not wait to finish. Ol' Emerald is in great shape ... probably as chunky as I have ever seen and there are a couple of palaces where you don't want to miss your line. :eek: I am glad I climbed it first so I did not get any unexpected surprises.

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This is much gnarlier in person than the pic makes it look. Don't go right. :sleep:

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Camarillo has some new lines I need to figure out also. The rains changed some parts of that trail significantly. I hopped off the bike twice since I was too tired to experiment with sketchy rocks. :gag:

Overall, I had fun and I am glad I got out. I need to get back to riding twice a week.
 
Did section 1 and 2 of 007 with an early start of 7:30 am to beat the heat. No pictures because I was trying to get to the trailhead of section 1 in less than 1 hour. On my XC bike, no problem doing that, but the Beast is another story.

I'm getting the downhill run at 7 minutes.
The Strava boys have a best time of 5:04
I'm ok with what I have and don't need to push it any more.

The green is the climb and red is the downhill.

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Y-not said:
Did section 1 and 2 of 007 with an early start of 7:30 am to beat the heat. No pictures because I was trying to get to the trailhead of section 1 in less than 1 hour. On my XC bike, no problem doing that, but the Beast is another story.

I'm getting the downhill run at 7 minutes.
The Strava boys have a best time of 5:04
I'm ok with what I have and don't need to push it any more.

The green is the climb and red is the downhill.

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You rode up Central Camp?
 
Heart of the Front Range with @buggravy today... Although I presented a "cheater" option, Gravy Man insisted on earning everything. :thumbsup: So... Up Lower Sam, across the Echo Mountain Trail, and up the Mount Lowe Road to Inspiration Point. It was warm, but not really horrible as we were in and out of the shade.

We tacked on the Donkey Trail extra credit to the lookout above Eaton Canyon. The air was clear, and we had a good view of Henninger, Mount Wilson, Catalina, etc...

Middle Merrill and Sunset are running extra chunky. :eek: I've ridden Sunset a couple hundred times. Today I was taking it easy and managed a solid pedal strike, a chainring strike, and a pretty good burp of the rear tire... :laugh:

Fun times... 19/3600

Toasty in the Sun.
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Santa Anas
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Gravy and JPL
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Middle Merrill
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Right after the Widow Maker
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I've been in a weird rut lately. Most of my go-tos are kind of a mess, and I've been riding the same, relatively mundane stuff, just to retain some semblance of fitness. Really, I've just been kind of over it, and feeling like I've lost a few steps in terms of what I'm comfortable riding.

I was overdue for a ride in the San Gabes, and it had been way too long since I shared some dirt with @Faust29, so we made a plan to do a good chunk of the front range. There was some talk of a cheater version to skip the climb up Lower Sam Merrill, but we ultimately opted for the full climb up to Inspiration Point. It was a tough slog, but I've gotten to Inspiration Point feeling worse than I did today, so I'd call that a victory.

The run down Middle Merrill and Sunset were tentative at times, but super fun, and again, I've ridden them worse than I did today. Chunky and loose, but this was the first time that I actually found surfing the loose stuff pretty enjoyable. Views were absolutely epic today. Maybe the best I've seen. Unfortunately Steve had to nurse a flat down the pavement while I opted for the Horsey Trail finish. I always find Horsey incredibly fun. Some of the best turns and jumps around. Good stuff, great company, and killer Machaca and eggs to finish things off. Just what the doctor ordered. 19.7/3635

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Way to get one in before the heat spike, lads. No distance too short.




Clues led me to check out a suspected singletrack along a creek.

The way there includes gruelingly steep and rough forest road. Thankfully not a lot of it. It's deceptively serene before that:

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It turned out to be exactly what I'd hoped – circuitous DH singletrack through an idyllic bit of forest. Only mildly overgrown, AKA GTG. Salute to the motos doing the work. I beat back the couple of bad spots I found.

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Made a friend along the way.

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It's unbelievably wet out there. The trail crosses the creek many times; no hope of staying dry if you try to ride 'em. Mosaics of animal tracks were prevalent.

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Grazed one too many trees on this ride, so upon returning I made an adjustment.

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Finished up by 11am with 17/2700. Will be back...
 
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Santiago Oaks this morning. I got up at about 5:15 and was riding by 7ish. The goal was to beat the heat and it was mission accomplished. Pretty much perfect temps, even at the end of my ride. Super humid though. It was a two LMNT post ride type day. :thumbsup:

I parked at Anaheim Hills Elementary for the first time in forever. I actually like starting/ending my ride from that side much better than the other side.

Yucca twice, Peralta, Barham, Ridgeline, and Puma for the fun stuff. Well, Puma was too overgrown to have much fun on. :oops: I also did some drops at the flag, and some jumps behind.

Really fun day on the bike. Even better, there were not many other riders/hikers out there.

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Faust29 said:
A spin up and down the Toll Road to the saddle... The shorter stem is an improvement. Lots of hikers and riders below Henninger Flats. Not a soul above...

12.5/2800

JPL below... Verdugos in the distance.
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Turn around and see Santiago Peak...
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I like that climb up to that point. Things change for the rough shortly after that.
 
Did the maiden voyage on the Mullet Stevo today and I would say it was a success and strava seems to agree:whistling:. I did not expect to get a PR nor get some 2nd or 3rd fastest times but I'll take it:D. The suspension felt balanced but over sprung yet not harsh if that makes sense:rolleyes:. Also ran into a fellow Stumpy Evo owner who gave me some insight from his experience with it which was quite helpful:cool:. Temps were also surprisingly great for this time of year.
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Faust29 said:
@SnakeCharmer has been trying to talk me into riding Tom Sloan Trail for awhile now. We can see it across The Grand Canyon (real name) every time we climb the Mount Lowe Road. I researched the trail some time ago, and there is nothing about biking it... Back in 2005 there was a guy who asked about it, but was told by Dean Stepper that it most likely wasn't rideable. @evdog recently rode it, and I know of one other IMTBer who rode it a few years ago.

So... This is just a taste. You can see the canyon in front of us at the end of the video. This is the flatter part. We need to get to the bottom of that canyon in about 1.5 miles... I'll check out some of that footage later. @SnakeCharmer says the camera angle makes it look more treacherous than it was. I think the opposite is true. :laugh:

The F-bombs and nervous laughter are a coping mechanism. Apologies ahead of time... :laugh:

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Continuation of this one... @SnakeCharmer requested that I process some of the video from the descent into the canyon. The earlier video was the 2 mile skinny ride out to Tom Sloan Saddle. This video is the descent on the Upper Dawn Mine Trail. Most of it was rideable... quite pleasant. Until it wasn't. :laugh: This is also part of the planned route of the missing hiker. :thumbsdown: We met two forest service workers near the mine, and had a chat. They were surprised to see bikes, and wondered how much of the upper trail was rideable. We've met Brenda before, and seen some of her preservation and trail work. Brenda is incredible. :thumbsup:

The HAB out is brutal, but I'd ride it again... It's cool to see the canyons from a different perspective.

 
tbarnesarc said:
Did the maiden voyage on the Mullet Stevo today and I would say it was a success and strava seems to agree:whistling:. I did not expect to get a PR nor get some 2nd or 3rd fastest times but I'll take it:D. The suspension felt balanced but over sprung yet not harsh if that makes sense:rolleyes:. Also ran into a fellow Stumpy Evo owner who gave me some insight from his experience with it which was quite helpful:cool:. Temps were also surprisingly great for this time of year.
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I'm glad you liked the bike and double glad you posted your experience.

So up Phillips Road or down Phillips road? I see the ziggy zaggy must be that new trail LCF installed.

How was Stair Steps?

Is "Lynx DH" on STRAVA the same as "Lynx Downhill (official)?" That's the only one I have a STRAVA time for.
 
herzalot said:
I'm glad you liked the bike and double glad you posted your experience.

So up Phillips Road or down Phillips road? I see the ziggy zaggy must be that new trail LCF installed.

How was Stair Steps?

Is "Lynx DH" on STRAVA the same as "Lynx Downhill (official)?" That's the only one I have a STRAVA time for.
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Up Philips road, down the newish LCF switch backs right after coming down stairs. Better than going back down the road for sure. I was surprised I got my 2nd fastest run down them because some of the turns are really tight and I'm not comfortable with how the bike corners yet.

Stairs was fine but I don't do the waterfall line these days. Rest of the trial is running good.

There are a couple of Lynx segments from top to bottom from my recollection. Maybe you can't see "Lynx DH" due to it being a hidden on your end is my guess. There are always a ton of hidden segments on my strava. Some I leave them that way and some I unhide.
 
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