I Rode My Bike Today...

I was able to squeeze in 9mi/1k' at Oaks this afternoon. Good to get out there, I've been going for walks and hikes with my wife and son between rides as well. I still have a lot of work to do though, to get back where I was just a few months ago.

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Rode itchi scratchy and webb yesterday with Killer Kurt. Did same ride Friday. Good chit! It was dreary and foggy then very humid, weird! Tried out the new wolf tooth oval. Very interesting. Really feels like you have power through the whole pedal stroke. No choppy cadence. Found I was riding a higher gear all the way.
Steep and Chunky baby!
 
The Secret Society of Midweek Marauders completed the Santana Spectacular today. Which turned out to be a casual run up Holy Jim and over to Upper Joplin, Joplin, Cadillac. My usual Joplin route.

It was great to see rossage alive and well, riding like no beats were skipped. It was the maiden ride for the Czar:

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I wasted no time in getting acquainted, crashing in the very first rooty creek crossing of Holy Jim. Sheesh, I've done it successfully, like, a hundred times. And I test rode this bike at Turner. It was a completely lame start, albeit good in that, at that point, there was nowhere to get but better.

And better it got. The bike is a 24.7-lb XC rocket with trail DNA. Firm, lively squish...great to be back on DW Link. Very nimble and smooth on Joplin, belying its short travel when letting off brakes. The technical riding felt well within the bike's capability, and all of it was dispatched handily. I never felt like the bike was overwhelmed. Balanced and comfortable – I can see this being the tool for big winter days, maybe with gears, maybe not.

SS FS is an oddity but really fun in an evil way. The singlespeed drive's ability to retain the chain in the rough was completely unknown. I can say that, once dropping the business of Joplin, I never even thought about the drive. It worked as hoped – no dropped chain, no excessive slap, noise, play. Responded well on the punchy climbs.

The cockpit is all scrounged from the parts bin, and will need some fine tuning as I figure things out.

An incredible bike from our friends at Turner over in Temecula. Psyched to join my wife as a Homer, and the Turner trade-in program made it extra do-able. The new Flux has me thinking about upgrading the wife's Spot, hmmm...

Bikes FTW!!! :thumbsup:
 
Oh yeah. No rocks were harmed during this production

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Its was fun watching @mike crash his new bike 5 minutes into the ride but after that he rocked it. As I went down on a loose rocky section, the Czar rocketed around and floated above the carnage on its was to despot heaven. Bike is awesome. Had a great time, trails all to ourselves, on a fine SoCal fall day.
 
I rode my bike... At night! Black Star to Motorway... with @mtnbikej . 95 degrees when I pulled out of the garage. 90 at the tree farm. 60 by the time we got up to the doppler ball, and that's where it stayed. Perfect... The wind was blowing pretty well the entire way, but never so bad that it was a deal breaker.

The mountains are pretty special at night, and we had them pretty much to ourselves. A couple riders headed down Black Star when we were headed up, and a small truck parked at the entrance to Motorway.

I've been down Motorway three times in the last month, and it gets a little better each time... :thumbsup:

25 miles and 4200 feet...

The last of the light... Just before Hagador Peak
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Corona
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More Corona...
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Roadies!
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And the best thing about being out on the mountain tonight? We missed the debate and the Dodgers getting their butts kicked! Although, I suspect one of us may be a Cubs fan. :gag:
 
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mike said:
The Secret Society of Midweek Marauders completed the Santana Spectacular today. Which turned out to be a casual run up Holy Jim and over to Upper Joplin, Joplin, Cadillac. My usual Joplin route.

It was great to see rossage alive and well, riding like no beats were skipped. It was the maiden ride for the Czar:

View attachment 21497

I wasted no time in getting acquainted, crashing in the very first rooty creek crossing of Holy Jim. Sheesh, I've done it successfully, like, a hundred times. And I test rode this bike at Turner. It was a completely lame start, albeit good in that, at that point, there was nowhere to get but better.

And better it got. The bike is a 24.7-lb XC rocket with trail DNA. Firm, lively squish...great to be back on DW Link. Very nimble and smooth on Joplin, belying its short travel when letting off brakes. The technical riding felt well within the bike's capability, and all of it was dispatched handily. I never felt like the bike was overwhelmed. Balanced and comfortable – I can see this being the tool for big winter days, maybe with gears, maybe not.

SS FS is an oddity but really fun in an evil way. The singlespeed drive's ability to retain the chain in the rough was completely unknown. I can say that, once dropping the business of Joplin, I never even thought about the drive. It worked as hoped – no dropped chain, no excessive slap, noise, play. Responded well on the punchy climbs.

The cockpit is all scrounged from the parts bin, and will need some fine tuning as I figure things out.

An incredible bike from our friends at Turner over in Temecula. Psyched to join my wife as a Homer, and the Turner trade-in program made it extra do-able. The new Flux has me thinking about upgrading the wife's Spot, hmmm...

Bikes FTW!!! :thumbsup:
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Congrats on the new Turner! Better that it was a late arrival? Overkill for the Divide?

You have me eyeing up my old GT FS in the garage... Hmmm... Chain tensioner? Could be fun...
 
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Faust29 said:
Congrats on the new Turner! Better that it was a late arrival? Overkill for the Divide?

You have me eyeing up my old GT FS in the garage... Hmmm... Chain tensioner? Could be fun...
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Thanks, Steve! I'll just say that it would have worked on the divide. I can't ask for any better than the El Mar did, so yes, the late delivery worked out just fine :thumbsup:

Re-cycling, why not? Tensioners are cheap, and fun to experiment with. Go for it! :)
 
Yes, I rode last night.

Blackstar to Motorway. I put out an invite.....y'all missed out on a perfect night out on the Main Divide.

Yeah, it started out pretty breezy coming up Blackstar. However, once on Main Divide...it died down and was not an issue the rest of the ride. Temps did cool down up top, but remained comfortable. Motorway was fun as always. Oh, yeah...also cleaned 2 of 3 of my nemesis climbs along MD.

We did choose to skip the extra credit to Pleasant's Peak...at the time the temps were dropping and we were a little concerned being out there in the cold. In hindsight, we should have hit it.

The run down Silverado Canyon was a wind aided coasterfest. Literally did not pedal from the trailhead all the way out to the little climb between the church and the FS Fire Dept. about 1 mile from the end.

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I've had a crappy week, er, let's make that month. Started off October by taking a tumble on the bike and banging up my knee. I was pretty much off the bike for two weeks after that. Work's been crazy and I've been putting in long days and the worst part is that we had to put our dog down last weekend. After 13.5 years, her body was just giving out on her. That's a long way of saying that I really needed to get out for a ride today. I was either going to throw the laptop out the window or toss the bike on the back of the 4Runner and hit some dirt. I chose the latter. I didn't even care that the temp gauge showed 98 at 2:00 when I jumped in the truck. Went and did a quick ride at El Moro. Pretty much had the place to myself. Felt good to get in a good sweat and clear my head. Unfortunately that meant that I'm back in front of the laptop right now, but at least I can watch the Dodger game while I'm working.

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^ I miss that view in the last pic... I used to occasionally ride a similar loop after work when I lived at the beach and would bring a bike to the office. Nowadays I bolt home to beat bad traffic and ride to Oaks.

Oh, I also drive a 4Runner. :thumbsup:
 
Another Thursday....another Blackstar Cruize.

Temps were not as hot as the temp would indicate. It was very dry, but comfortable. Wind was there, but a non issue. Social pace on the way up. Neither of us pushed so the time was on the slow side. Dropping back down felt fast. Maybe we were fighting a headwind on the way up, so now we got the benefit of the tailwind. Thought we were gonna need lights. Turns out we beat the darkness by a few minutes. It is getting dark too early.

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Trial run of the battery-free ride. Just me, my friend's bike, half a bottle of water.. no phone, lights, gps, nothing with a battery. If it comes down to it, a pacemaker will be acceptable, but that's about it.

Rode fun side of Whiting-- down Vulture and Sage, up and down Sleepy Hollow, in and out Edison, up Concourse. Focus was on steady climbing and out-of-saddle descending. Followed a cool little bobcat for a short while on Vulture. :whistling:
 
With soccer season still going strong, Friday's have been my days for longer rides. Due to it being a HOT day today, I decided to keep local and spin rt from the pad. Up Monrovia canyon park to Rincon, to Pine Mountain, down Rincon and back home on the road down Azusa canyon. Temps were still pretty toasty most of the ride but not as bad at elevation and much of the ride was in shade which made it bearable.

Rides like these are the precise reason why I got a hardtail and so far I'm stoked to be mixing it up this way.

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Ran into a Bobcat! Nice!
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Panorama of the Angeles Forest - Mt Wilson to the far left, Crystal Lake far right
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No bobcat sighting... The last time I saw one was probably two years ago!

A quickie on the Bell Trail out to Caspers Park with some extra credit above Dove Canyon and Robinson Ranch... 21 miles or so. It was hot... No matter what it is in Rancho, it will be 10 degrees hotter on the ridge. Garmin was up around 90 most of the way. :gag:
 
Joined @herzalot at LCWP today... and it was a complicated ride. Chris broke a chain on the HAB rock thing on Lizards, and then I blew a figurative gasket going up Willow. I was going strong at the base, and then when it gets REALLY STEEP before it flattens out, I pushed harder (cause that's what you do at that part) and spiked my BPM to 195, with an average on that first part of 187. ... ... and then I was done. Couldn't get my HR down, and ended up just gassed. Got to the top of Fenceline/Missing Link and tried to take a small break, but I knew I was likely done at this poitn. Things weren't feeling correct and while I could have kept going ... well I'm not really training for anything, so why? So we dropped FL/ML and my HR spiked almost instantly and I knew that was it. So I waved good by to Chris as he went to do Rattlesnake and further, and I just headed back to the car.

Always stinks not completing the plan you set out to accomplish, but listening to your body will allow you to ride another day :)

It's always good to get out there with Chris though :)
 
kioti said:
Trial run of the battery-free ride. Just me, my friend's bike, half a bottle of water.. no phone, lights, gps, nothing with a battery. If it comes down to it, a pacemaker will be acceptable, but that's about it.

Rode fun side of Whiting-- down Vulture and Sage, up and down Sleepy Hollow, in and out Edison, up Concourse. Focus was on steady climbing and out-of-saddle descending. Followed a cool little bobcat for a short while on Vulture. :whistling:
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Can you post some pictures?
 
Cougar said:
Joined @herzalot at LCWP today... and it was a complicated ride. Chris broke a chain on the HAB rock thing on Lizards, and then I blew a figurative gasket going up Willow. I was going strong at the base, and then when it gets REALLY STEEP before it flattens out, I pushed harder (cause that's what you do at that part) and spiked my BPM to 195, with an average on that first part of 187. ... ... and then I was done. Couldn't get my HR down, and ended up just gassed. Got to the top of Fenceline/Missing Link and tried to take a small break, but I knew I was likely done at this point. Things weren't feeling correct and while I could have kept going ... well I'm not really training for anything, so why? So we dropped FL/ML and my HR spiked almost instantly and I knew that was it. So I waved good by to Chris as he went to do Rattlesnake and further, and I just headed back to the car.

Always stinks not completing the plan you set out to accomplish, but listening to your body will allow you to ride another day :)

It's always good to get out there with Chris though :)
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@Cougar Gracias mi amoeba! And thank you for the SRAM Power link. My chain repair bits were stuck inside a zipper pouch that would not open. Other than fighting the zipper, we did a pretty quick and effective chain repair. I bought two Power Links, so I will give you one - oh wait, I bought 11 spd. Will that work?

I felt pretty good climbing today because it was not humid. Not being drenched in sweat is either physiologically or psychologically helpful - probably both. After we parted company, I had a nice quick run down Rattlesnake - I love that trail, but I always crave more. Dropped down Mach 1, climbed I Think I Can and Moro Ridge back to Missing Link/Fenceline. At the end of said trail, I had more in me, so I headed down for a second lap on Lizard. Then the steep-ish climb up Laurel Spur and back to the top of the park for the third time. And ML/FL for the third time - then back to the car. 3200'

I found a new line at the Camarillo turn. I saw it a couple of months ago over the rocks on the right, but somebody has made it a more obvious choice now with some dirt and rock-work.

I was bummed that Craig could not complete his ride as planned, but the man knows when his engine ain't right.

Regardless - bikes are fun! :thumbsup: :cool:
 
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